White Warlock

Yeppers, that's how i got my last knee injury.

isshinryugurl, It might help to discuss these feelings with the instructor and/or with your parents. It may be that you simply need variation in training, some challenges, or some friends to share your experiences with. On the other hand, you may be dealing with a little bit of burnout, or 'other' interests that your martial art sessions are intruding upon. To the original poster, An 11 year old is definitely hitting the 'social' stage of her development, in which interest in friends override interest in parents. If she truly wishes to quit, i recommend offering her alternatives... rather than letting her drop physical activities altogether. One alternative is to sponsor one or more of her friends to also participate in the class (i.e., ask her if any of her friends might be interested, then you approaching their parents and seeing if they want their child to join). In this way, she can socialize AND train. Another alternative is to go with her to visit other schools, studying other systems. It might be that particular school has caused her to lose interest, or maybe there's no cute guys there (hehe). Taking her out to witness and possibly participate in other schools (other systems too), may just rekindle her interest in the arts, if not necessarily the system she is presently studying. Another is to find out what other interests she has and using a little creativity in 'combining' her interests with her martial arts. Another is to find out if her studies are 'conflicting' with other interests.. timewise, or topicwise, then workign to make sure overlaps are no longer a problem. And yet another is to find out other physical activities she may be interested in, and allowing her to "take a break" from her martial arts to pursue her other interests. Of course, this means you need to sign her up for whatever other interests she might have, like dance, singing, soccer, etc. Hope this helps.

Other factors not considered are that 'most' students don't always have the luxury of staying in one place, or study consistently, and must move frequently or reenter the art, possibly at a different school, years later. Such things make it very hard to gauge on a sample basis. Anyway, isn't it the point to grow in the arts, and not merely obtaining a belt? No doubt previously indicated figures completely ignore the dedicated martial artist who has no interest in 'belt' advancement.

I've yet to see a striker escape from a lock from a very strong grappler. Accomplished strikers have 'experience' in taking a hit, just as accomplished grapplers have 'experience' in escaping from a lock. I'm a little confused about the argument your attempting to pose here though. I mean... what's your point? And where am i coming from? It is a rarity, nowadays, to find a 'pure' striker or a 'pure' grappler... so the basis for your argument somewhat confuses me.

In competitions, or during sparring, you take gambles. You experiment and you 'try' things. But, when your life is on the line... and there's no referee to keep someone from ripping off your testicles... EVERYTHING changes. Instead, you resort to that which you feel innately comfortable with. That which has been soaked into your muscles. I.e., muscle-memory. In every physical confrontation i've had, that i can remember, fear was definitely in the mix. In every case, i felt myself doing only what i truly felt would work. In my earlier years, i would find myself 'locking' into a safe zone. Getting my opponent to a point where we were stalemated. As time went by, and my skills became more ingrained, locking became less frequent. Never quite went away, and i know that... if opposing a sufficiently qualified or dangerous opponent... i may end up once again in a stalemated situation, which is why i still train. Every day i train, physically or mentally, i work to decrease the gap of what i know... and what i think i know.

I agree with you Bat

Found this video clip as a demo - http://www.fightauthority.com/play_video.php4?vidid=200

good counter. To avoid getting in such a situation in the first place, whenever someone shoots their upper body to tackle your lower body (waist or legs), commit to what is called a 'sprawl.' A sprawl is where you spread your legs out in a 'v' shape behind you, while putting the majority of your weight down on the head and shoulders of the person who attempted to tackle you. This will force them into a face plant, or at the very least... onto their hands and knees, with you on top of them... still sprawled. If there is momentum to their tackle, you need to sort of hop backwards while sprawling, to force you into an expectant angle... while simultaneously placing your hands on thier shoulders. Ask a wrestler to demonstrate.

Bah! Just caught that 'pale spellcaster' jab. /me turns Fat Donkey into a skinny newt Bullies are good topic for us to discuss. Anyone want to start a new thread about them?

Will agree with 47mm here. Everytime i get in a 'real' confrontation, i forget just about every friggin' injury i have. They don't even get in my way... until later. The only one that doesn't seem to disappear when adrenaline and distraction pop in the picture... is lower back pain. I've always wondered about this.

Wow! Reverse-programming?!?

Yeppers. None of them have actually had to use their skills in a 'real' confrontation in like... their lifetime.

Chuck Norris, if i recall, was a 6 time champion (can't call it World champion, since it was competitions in the U.S. only at the time) of 'point-contact'. It was this experience that allowed him to be great for 'screen.' Jet Li is a 'wushu' champion. A 'forms' champion, not a combat champion. Bruce Lee... mostly myth. His contributions to the martial arts community were not as much his martial prowess, as it was his assistance in getting the Chinese community to teach non-Chinese and to bring Chinese martial arts into the American/European mainstream, via his movies and the creation of his 'Kung Fu' series. Jackie Chan is a very talented martial artist and stuntman. A real action hero. But, he would be the first to tell you he is not a fighter. Chuck Norris has evolved significantly over the decades, including having studied bjj under the Gracies. Jet Li has not, Bruce Lee could not, Jackie Chan... i'm sure he has insight into such. I would write off Jet Li as an impressive dancer. I would write off Bruce Lee, because he died before the martial arts encountered its greatest span of evolution. That leaves Chuck Norris or Jackie Chan. Chuck is a horrible actor, due to his flat affect personality, but... i give the edge to Chuck Norris... as he has more of a killer instinct than Jackie. Jackie is just a nice guy.

I am actually 'less' flexible than i used to be.

Agreed. Large muscles can be a significant hindrance to learning, due to the dependence on strength over technique. I was encouraged, by more than one instructor/coach, to study without strength, and then develop muscles at a later stage. I've found women tend to learn soft techniques quite a bit more quickly than men do. Again, due to the inherent dependence men have on strength.

hehe, i would have aimed for his center, but he was too tall. The head into the groin was merely a pivot point, to ensure the goliath fell backwards, whilst i held, and then lifted his heels. A simple technique really, but it was sufficient to make my point.

Hmm... example, eh? Okay, i attempted to demonstrate chi sao to my brother, the physicist. He grabbed my shirt and head-butted me. --- this action cleared up a misnomer to my wing chun training. Another? while defending with a bo, I performed a lifting parry against the attacking bo that my friend, a brawler, was striking with. Before i complete my action to counterstrike, he drops the bo straight back down and smacks me in the nose. --- this action cleared up one of the misnomers to my training, which is that commonly taught defensive actions that leave an opposition's weapon stranded above chest level, provide quick recovery opportunity for the opposition. Others? How so very often us males forget about the threat of nails and teeth, and thus fail to properly maintain a defense against such. Blah blah blah

yes

Staring down has got me in unexpected trouble on a few occasions. Not due to a violent response, but because my staring was perceived as a come-on.

Cracks me up when i hear "realistic," "martial arts," and "video games" posed in the same sentence.

Umm... i fight anyone who attempts to hurt me or someone i love. On a side, i often examine actions and techniques with 'untrained' fighters. The reason being, they aren't programmed into thinking something will or won't work, and thus approach it from a different perspective. Sometimes, this can be very enlightening... so don't dismiss an untrained fighter merely because he/she doesn't study the martial arts. Everyone you meet in life... can teach you something.

I will kick any part of my opponent's body, just as long as that part of the body is at, or below, my waist level.

Many years back, when i was in the military, there was this 5'7" 140lb guy who was arguing with a 6'6" 225lb guy. I will refrain from posting their names, and instead refer to them as Little guy and Big guy. Big guy, a rather obnoxious fella, with over-large legs and a smallish head, was ridiculing Little guy. Basically, Little guy had been stating he was a kung fu artist and Big guy said Little guy couldn't possibly take him down. When verbally pushed to state how, Little guy said he would punch Big guy in the nose and do a few other silly things. At which point Big guy guffawed and said that Little guy couldn't even 'reach' his nose. Well, this scene was rather comical, and you had to be there to enjoy the humor of it all. What i was looking at was a rather odd looking big guy, with a high pitched voice, arguing with a rather unimpressive little guy that may or may not have actually been a martial artist (to tell you the truth, i had my doubts). The Big guy was ridiculing martial arts as a whole, and not merely the Little guy, while Little guy was doing a piss-poor effort at attempting to explain how a little guy could prevail over a big guy. After a time, i couldn't bear it anymore. I courteously interjected and agreed with the Big guy, stating that aiming to cause damage to high targets on a Big guy wasn't even remotely a good idea. Entertainingly enough, Big guy happily responded with an exuberant, "YEAH!" A few more comments by me, followed by a series of yeahs and whoops by Big guy, and i snuck in a little comment, "before you aim for such targets, you need to bring him down to your size." Big guy entertainingly responded with, "YEAH!... Huh? What?!?" Suddenly, all that obnoxious fury was directed at me. "Oh yeah?!? How do you think you would bring someone like me down?! Huh?!" Hmm... it seemed rather obvious to me he wanted a demonstration. Well, i'm always up for a demonstration, so i told him i would first distract him, causing him to go off balance and then throw him on his back. On cue, he guffawed and repeated his challenging mantra. On cue, i open-hand slapped him straight in the face (blocked his vision, spooked him, and encouraged his head to move backwards), then dropped down, cupped both his heels, and while lifting, thrust the top of my head into his groin. *whoosh* (sound effects included) He flew in the air, a full 4' clearance, and landed firmly on his back... against the pavement of the barracks. I watched and wondered what his response would be. I was surprised to see him just lay there for a few moments (counting his body parts i assumed), and then yell in excitement at what just occurred. He got up and clearly showed his newfound respect for the arts, and for me. And... in all this story, what does it have to do with the topic? Well... pretty much everything, but i'll leave that to the readers to decipher.

Batman