tufrthanu

Well I agree there isn't much leverage involved in striking so you are correct in the assumption that if someone kicks or punches you in the body or can't hit the eyes every time they are in trouble. But without getting too far afield there are spots on the body that are fairly easy to hit that have instant benefits. We can go over some more of the points that can give a beginner a leg up if you want. You are correct in stating however that sparring is an important part of the learning process. Not least of which because it tells you what you should be doing for your particular aptitudes in a fight.

You missed the point. The point was that Judo or any other grappling art isn't solely for small people wanting to gain an advantage on large people and in fact alot of champion grapplers are very muscler due to the fact that there is so much grabbing involved. And it doesn't take long to teach someone the basics of striking. Those are really all you need anyway. From my viewpoint if I can't teach someone half my size to beat me with my own art I shouldn't be teaching.

I would like to add that the term grappling simply refers to grabbing an opponent...no matter what your physical positions are. As to the fact that smaller guys can beat larger guys that occurs in striking arts as well...any art worth its salt has aspects that allow a smaller person to defeat a larger one. BTW have you seen some grapplers? I have a book with pictures of various classical Judo practioners and the european and american guys are huge and very well muscled. You are correct in your statement about what if you end up on the ground vinnie however...no matter what you do there I personally believe your supreme objective should be getting back to your feet...not necessarily winning the fight. It's kind of like the military maxim that says control the high ground. If you can defeat the opponent while regaining your feet fine...if not fine but regain your feet. Standing is the high ground. From that position you can fight or run.

OK, let me try and answer your questions point by point. Actually head shots with the hands wouldn't put TKD people at a disadvantage because alot of them practice old style stop-point or continuous free sparring. If we are talking a San Shou type tournament I agree alot of TKD people would have a detriment with taking people down if they have not studied hapkido or some other grappling art...however I think the grapplers would have the same problem with having to learn how to strike. As to the leg kicks and sweeps those are taught at most TKD places only they are usually taught as self defense or as part of free sparring. I don't think that would present much of a problem anyway. One must remember that Muay Thai fighters are not the end all be all of martial arts...they can be beaten just like anyone else if you train to do so. As to the generalized grappling I agree the officials would have to get together and formulate a set of throws and assorted submissions that would be allowed. Aikido has both joint locks and throws, I don't see them having a problem competing except in the fact that most Aikido styles are very defensive. Once again I really think it comes down to a persons training. If their particular style is close...they can round it out to include the other stuff. I agree you can't make everyone happy but what I have suggested seems much more reasonable to me than having 6 or 7 very similar martial arts in the olympics.

Well obviously the Judo guys would be at a disadvantage in a striking competition, but perhaps we could gather the martial artists into these categories: Taekwondo, Karate, Kung Fu ~ Full Contact Kickboxing Judo, Aikido, Jujitsu, Hapkido ~ Generalized Grappling The only sport that I think could really combine the two categories would be some sort of San Shou. The problem with this that I see is I'm not sure how you would make it safe enough for the amateur competitors.

Well I would just like to say that as far as board breaking goes we should admire a group of people that get no recognition...the holder. A good percentage of a breaks success resides with the holder. If they give even a fraction of an inch the boards, bricks, will not break. Also I would like to say I saw an awesome creative break once. The guy, I think his name is chip something, had put 2 cinder blocks vertically next to each other on the floor, one of those concreat lego type block things on top of those, and two more concrete slabs standing vertically on that. He then proceeded to break the lower pair with a side kick, rechambered and as the pair on top started to fall due to the loss of their base he did another side kick and broke those.

Well that last statement is untrue to say the least. As to the difference between the Judo and Taekwondo in the olympics, judo doesnt have any strikes I dont believe...and they are limited on what kind of throws they can do...no neck breakers or anything like that...in judo it is possible to win the match just by scoring 1 point. It is set up so that each difficulty level of throw gets either 1/4, 1/2 or 1 point. First person to 1 point wins. So you could win off of one throw. In the TKD you get 1 point for a kick or punch to the body, 2 points for a kick to the head and I think you can also get 3 points if the kick to the head is aerial. TKD has rounds and the winner must either be ahead on points or knock the opponent out. At the end of the rounds they also administer penalties from the round...such as delaying and what not...so you might start out with having scored 10 points but lose 3.5 of them for penalties. Karate as an olympic event has been suggested before...I don't know why its not in...but they only have room for so many sports and if you can't get approval it doesnt go in. I know China will be doing a wushu demo game for the 2008 olympics in Beijing and they will be hoping to get that in in the future. Personally...I think they should just drop the TKD, Karate, Kung Fu...and just go for some sort of generalized kickboxing.

Well I assume that comes from tapping out or perhaps from being in a lighter weight category...in boxing at least if one of the fighters is knocked out they will be hospitalized for at least a day. And I would think they would not be prepared to fight...and it might be physically dangerous to do so again a week after having a concussion. I have seen the thai fighters and while I do agree very young fighters can have alot of fights they also arent very big. I can only think in that case either there are not many knockouts, or they are competing in very dangerous circumstances. In the US in most states you must have a doctors statement saying that you are fit to fight. Does this exist for the thai fighters and will it exist for the UFC competition?

There are 6 combat sports in the olympics they are: Boxing Judo Greco-Roman Wrestling Freestyle Wrestling Taekwondo Fencing The competition is very fierce...in taekwondo there is kicking to the head and it is full contact but there are no punches to the head and not much defense. Boxing and the 2 wrestling categories have alot of different weightclasses. Judo and Taekwondo only have four I beleive: Fly, Feather, Middle and Heavy...I think. I'm not sure that fencing has any weight classes however there are 3 sword classes: Foil, Epee and Sabre from least to most difficult in that order. As to the nations that dominate: in the martial arts it is usually the asian countries...in boxing it tends to be the US, eastern europe and cuba. In wrestling it tends to be eastern europe, the us and the middle east. In fencing it tends to be western europe. As far as who gets in the process is quite complicated for like the taekwondo...you have to win so many matches and if its against a champion you have to win more...stuff like that. The only regular tv channel that broadcasts karate regularly is ESPN 2. They broadcast the creative forms competitions form ISKA and also the american K-1 competitions...big whoop...but thats what we get.

I wonder how they will avoid having the same fighter(s) fighting in consecutive weeks...sounds like there won't be enough recovery time if they don't change it up somehow.

Uh...ok...? As to what sevenstar said...the whole point of the thread was a scenario. If you want to dismiss talking about specific scenarios the entire thread is moot.

You are right of course pineapple. Some people can make even a low percentage move work and some can't make the easiest work at all.

Well I personally have not heard of it...but federations are a dime a dozen. The big federations in hapkido are IHF, WHF, KHF, Sin Moo and I think there is also Bong Soo Hans IHF which is different than the above one. I think you should just look and see if you like the instructor and like what they teach...if you do it doesnt really matter about the federation.

Well it's not...because my sole strategy does not rely on rolling around on the worst surfaces known to man. And as to your vaunted mount I'm not impressed. You seem to have overrated the effect of sitting on someone. It's a school boys tactic that is not hard to escape when you act immediately and with power. As to striking sure I dont have to use my legs at all...or I can break your knee cap..not much of a gamble on kicking there. Also there is the fact that you will have to get on top of me...which I can gaurantee you is no certain thing.

Well first off I was just thinking we seem to have to explain this about ever 3-4 weeks maybe someone could write up an unbiased article on it and one of the mods could sticky it to the board. ITF is Choi Hong Hi's taekwondo. They use the Chang Hon set of forms and they do the Sine Wave while performing them. ATA is Songham TKD I think and I believe they also do the Chang Hon set. There is also American TKD which I do which is no relation to the aforementioned ATA. We do a mish mash of Jhoon Rhee, Chang Hon and modified Shotokan forms.

Hmm, I don't know that doesn't even really make sense. The only thing I can think of is that you somehow have developed a psychological block to throwing the kick to full extension with power because you are afraid of a leg injury maybe. It's obviously not a muscle problem as you are managing to do it to a heavy bag. If it is a psychological block I don't know what to tell you. As to the locking out the leg thing there was a letter from a reader on that in the new issue of Black Belt Magazine. Apparently Bill Wallace had brought up the same points as Shorinryu Sensei. Basically what the guy says is that he's been locking his kicks out for 27 years with no problems. He says the problem is not damage from locking out a kick...the damage comes from compression of the joint doing things like duck walks and jumping. He also says you can't compare a knee joint to an elbow joint as they are indeed different. However, there still is the issue of hyperextension. I personally always lock out my kicks...I have never had a problem just through kicking air or an opponent. The only times I have ever hyperextended my leg on a kick are when trying to do a side kick to a hanging heavy bag where the bag has spun out of the way and pulled my foot a little at the same time.

It should require no strength...if it won't go easy don't try to make it go hard. Try standing sideways to what you want to kick...say with your right side facing the opponent. Turn your left foot so that it points directly away from your opponent. if you can stand like that you should be able to do the side kick to full extension. If you can turn that foot away without chamber just raise your right leg straight up in the air. If you can do that then it might be a more complicated issue.

Well it might be because you arent flexible enough to have both legs fully extended at the same time at the height you are kicking...try more hamstring stretches and bending the support leg.

Black belt sells Ohara books almost exclusively I beleive which is the publisher for that Wally Jay book I mentioned earlier Jeet. If it's the same small-circle JJ book its very good. It's the one with the red cover.

Well to the dan promotion question...of course the head of the system can probably promote anyone at any time to any rank they want. As to the other people who want to get promoted I believe the general thing is to have several higher dans nominate them as a comittee. For instance if you wanted to become 8th dan you would need 5 8th dans to nominate you.

You remember a video that someone supposedly took of Renzo Gracie in a BACK alley in Rio...hmm...sounds questionable. And your one point to disprove using your fingers to claw at a persons face won't work is to claim that a trained martial artist had to bite someones ear off?...doesn't sound very flattering to me. And it may be quicker to take someone to the ground to try and best them..but try doing it on glass...on urine...with his friends around.

His testicles will be near you no matter what. As to the rest sure you may get your arm broken...better than to get killed though.

I can't beleive someone actually said be careful not to get submitted in reference to a street fight. The reason most fights end up on the ground is because one or more of the people involved in them does not know how to stay on their feet. A straight tackle is by far the most used technique...and that is usually used by an out of control or frustrated attacker. Important points to remember are to keep your center of balance and to redirect the opponents force...do NOT let him take you down...the ground is where lots of bad things can happen. If you do get knocked over or tackled your immediate response should be to do everything you can to get back to your feet. Remember this is a real fight, if the guy is on top of you scratch at his eyes, crush his testicles and tear at his nostrils and ear lobes. While you are doing this buck your hips to try and get them off of you. If they decide to pretend like they are a monkey and wrap their legs around you drive your elbow into their throat. I can almost gaurantee one of the above mentioned techniques will force them to release you long enough for you to get back on your feet.

I took a budo taijutsu (ninjutsu) demo class once from a guy whos GM is a 15th dan...seems excessive to me but it all varies...seems like most arts have a few 9th dans with 1 10th dan being the head of the style. So basically like freemasons have 32 technical ranks and 1 honorary...in alot of the MA's there is 9 technical dans and the 1 honorary.

Well I do see some TKD places listed in the yellow pages tkdtheatre. Chung Ho TKD. I see one place that calls itself Moo Sul which makes me think it might be some sort of korean self defense sorta like HKD. Also you might want to call the places that just list themelves as like Jims Martial Arts School and find out what they teach. The other thing is call schools that call themselves Karate but dont specify a specific type...alot of schools that call themselves karate are traditional TKD which is what it looks like you are looking for.