hanksohn

I would ask for advice. Assuming the instructor is competent, they should have at least a surface understanding of other styles that the student may not. If the student can articulate what they hope to get out of crosstraining, the instructor may be better able to help them find an appropriate venue for the crosstraining. It would probably also help the instructor to know what the student is studying to aid tailoring to that student's interests. If I were "forbidden" or strongly discouraged from crosstraining, I'd bail but that's just me.

Gotta go with the persistence- 1) It will cause you to spend more time practicing, training, working out, sparring. And most fights are won or lost well before the event occurs. 2) Single minded focus is an incredibly powerful tool. It gives you greater physical strength and reduces the effects of pain. 3) How do you stop someone who never quits? If you punch them and they keep coming. If you knock them down and they get back up every time. (Think the Terminator) By the time you figure out that you have to escalate the level of the conflict it may be too late. That's the power of determination. Plus you gotta love all those great stories about Samurai's acceptance of death as the greatest power they possess.

all those replies were about over coming a weakness not making it a strength. I have bad hips as a result of competing in cross country and track for years as a teen. I tried for year to develop high side kicks and roundhouses and they always sucked. With a lot of practice I have gotten struggled to mediocre roundhouse kicks and decent cide kicks. But it still hurts and they are pretty weak if I try them cold. Best piece of advice I ever got on the subject(after tons of people gave me stretching tips, supplements, kicking drills) was this: "You should develop really good front kicks." And so I have. Yes, I still work the other kicks but mostly I work on having the best damn front kicks possible. Bill Wallace tore a number of tendond in his right knee. When it was reconstructed he left jujitsu and went to kickboxing. For every 50 kicks that someone else did with each leg, he was doing 100 with his left. And his left leg became a legend. Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace.

LOL. and it sounds like you keep your eyes open too.

Hard to believe I have found a site and a thread that makes me long for the return of kungfu online forums. And I thought people were blind there. LOL I'll take empirical evidence over what I've been told without proof, thak you. Remember for over 1500 years after Aristotle people though objects fell at rates relative to their weight because they just believed what they were told. And no, NHB is not a real fight. But it's the closest thing that I've seen on video testing the effectiveness of various arts. Until we find ways to ressurect people and can hold fights on various terrains, with different weapons, against multiple opponents, and the things that worked in NHB suddenly fail, I'll take the lessons they've brought us and incorporate them into my training. And you keep telling yourself and your students that it's all bunk and any skilled person can escape any lock. The less people know about this stuff, the better I'll do if I have to fight for my life. Thanks.

from original post: "however several of my friends were drinking and soon got into the typical bar bragging about how i had just reached brown belt im karate" These guys were trash talking and telling people that he was into karate and it ended up in a fight. The odds of that involving him directly are pretty good and especially now that he did bail them out, it's even more likely to happen again. If my friends were getting into fights I wouldn't want them telling people I did karate. I already get enough of the"show me something" or the "what would you do if I..." and guy throws a punch at me. And I didn't say he should ditch them. I said he sgould reevaluate his friendship and decide. But he definitely shouldn't just let it go without saying anything. If he does that, it'll happen again; count on it.

'Just another hint: If you are skilled you can escape any joint lock _before_ it makes you immovable, while, if someone hits with a full-body strike to the head, it's over. This is the difference between movie and reality' Yes it is. And unfortunately you are quoting the movie position not the reality. Punches and kicks to the head make better footage than a flying armbar. And people have proven time and time again, that one shot to the head may end it but it's not a high percentage move. Also as to escaping a joint lock. True enough but a lot of the escapes just set up other locks. Why am I still talking? Angus, I'm with you. This guy'll never learn. This is one of those guys that even if he ever did roll with someone and end up folded like a pretzel, he wouldn't get it.

It still amazes me the number of people that spout this stuff. Empirical evidence to the contrary and they still cling to their positions. "A true master would not enter a competition" "If you tried to shoot in, a well rooted punch to the face would stop you." "BJJ is no good against multiple opponents." "My style won't compete in these tournaments because our effective techniques are fatal." And btw, ChangWuJi, I never said BJJ was a better style but it certainly has its place. And yes, I've seen real masters perform(you can argue Dan Inosanto doesn't know his stuff but I'll just laugh at you) and the masters I've worked with have all acknowledged the strengths of BJJ. In fact, Inosanto put on a BJJ white belt after training for over 35 years. I also respect people who acknowledge BJJ and then say it's not for them. But to say, oh that'll never work against a true master... thanks for your opinion. Because until you prove it in some fashion, that's all it is. And everyone's got one. I'll go with the ones that have been backed up. Which are: If you don't crosstrain, you better pray you never face someone who has. My instructor has better speed and rooting than I do. Better kicks. Better footwork. And yet, if we spar and allow it to go to the ground, I consistently beat him because I crosstrain.(and my BJJ is weak at best but his is nonexistent) He knows his weakness and has started training takedown defenses harder but he has no interest in training BJJ. And that's cool. But he never says,"BJJ will never work." because he knows better. He's tried stuff out. And at least he knows what to avoid now. And I still don't think BJJ is 'better' a number of the bjj students I train with can't get me to the ground because their stand-up game isn't good enough.

The biggest thing to think about is that 2 of your friends effectively got you into a fight. If your focus is truly self defense, time to evaluate your relationship with your friends. Sit them down and explain that starting sh&* isn't cool or ditch them. Friends who get drunk, start trash talking and end up in an altercation you have to get them out of aren't exactly the best of friends to have.

And now why I am loathe to respond to this sort of thing. 1) I have a student who thinks he keeps his guard up even tells me it's up then is surprised that people consistently score on him. Believe me, it's not up!! 2) Talk to your instructor about the contact level. Don't ask on here. We have no idea what's going on. I had to show a student a video tape the other day to get her off my case about contact level. My leg is actually contracting from a side kick when I hit her. Saw how fast she was coming and I pulled it in to avoid hurting her. She moved in so hard that she actually impaled herself on my foot. Slow mo is a glorious thing. If what you say is going on, is actually going on, that's a problem. But you are early enough in this game, that you may not be reading the situation well. If I had a dollar for every time a skydiving or karate student told me what happened and it had nothing to do with the facts...

None of the NHB people I know claim that NHB fighting is 'real streetfighting'. But it is the closest thing that we have at this point. Certainly there are things I might do in an NHB fight that I wouldn't do on the street. Same is true in sparring. Any time you establish rules/limitations people will play to those. As to the notions that fights will go to the ground. It depends on whther the participants want it to go there. If both parties like to fight standing which most untrained people do, then it will stay there. So lots of fights don't go to the ground but if someone wants it to go there, it probably will. And what NHB proved is if it goes to the ground and you don't know what you are doing there, you're done. Also, for all the moaning I've heard about UFC and other events, I've never seen the counterarguments backed up. Call out NHB fighters on the street and have someone tape it. The BJJ guys step into the ring with fighters out for blood. Skilled professionals. And they proved the validity of their art. I've seen a lot of traditionalists in forums, making claims about what they've seen, what will work 'on the streets' and what won't. Back it up. Get video of it. I like kicking and punching; I like trapping; I like forms. I will always train a traditional style. I also crosstrain. Rolling is tons of fun and an excellent workout. Plus until someone shows me a high percentage move for stopping all possible takedowns, I am not going to rule out the possibility of a fight going there. And if you do rule it out, I hope and pray you never find yourself there. It's seriously scary if you don't know what you're doing.

moobrack, Since when has price indicated anything about quality. Best sensei I have ever worked with let us camp out on his floor one weekend a month and trained us for 8hours a day for no charge. And to think I could have thrown down $5000 for S.C.A.R.S. training. Then I'd really be a bad ass. Or maybe I could sign a contract at a WTF school for 5 years and 4 figure testing fees for Dan ranks. Then I'd know I was getting great training!!

I really hope that you don't live in the US. Because if you do that is a scary statement about cops and their understanding of the law. There is no statutory requirement for this. That means it's a question of what a lawyer can convince a jury is an appropriate use of self defense, and it seems unlikely that any jury would say,"2 warnings? I don't think that's enough" Of course, many cops also believe they have the right to search a vehicle following a speeding stop. So one might actually have said something this stupid. Sigh

Definitely BJJ or something similar-catch wrestling or the like- is a good idea. Kali is solid and will build your speed as well. Plus found my Japanese and Korean knife training to be woefully lacking compared to the FMA stuff.

No need to apologize Jiggy. Just an opportunity to learn. Samurai practiced sword arts and jujitsu which was originally taught because of it's effectiveness against armored opponents. Hard to punch a guy in armor but if he has enough flexibility in the joints to move, he can be broken at that point. Hence armbars, leg locks, etc. Karate was passed down(according to popular folk convention) amongst the peasant class becuase they were barred from weapon ownership.