thaiboxerken

LOL.. yea right. There are ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics of people doing martial arts.. Does that mean Chinese people were in Egypt? I think not. Martial arts were developed everywhere that people fought. To say kung fu is the Grandmother of martial arts is just plain silly.

I don't own a gym, I just teach and train there. Our most recent victory was in "King of the Cage" which is an MMA type of event.. grappling and striking. Our most recent loss was to Frank Shamrock in a k-1 fight, our fighter, Shannon Ritch, fought injured (which was a big mistake, but I'm not the head coach). Shannon lost 1st round because of that injury getting kicked. Anyway, injuries are something you need to think about if you want to go pro. My best advice is to tell you to get and education AND train to fight also, then you have options open if you do become disabled.

"better to train San Shou if you can" I totally disagree.. I feel that Muay Thai is much better to train in, and there are throws, locks and other techniques in the art of Muay Thai, just not in the ring. It's all subjective, but I think Muay Thai is much better than San Shou.

The history of martial arts is lost in mystery and legend. No one truly knows where and when Jujitsu originated from. The Chinese will say it came from Kung Fu, just like the Chinese say all martial arts come from China. Fact is, Jujitsu probably originated from necessity in Japan in order to teach people how to fight more efficiently for the environment. Really, who cares where it came from? Pick your martial art to fit your personality, this is where you exercise self-expression in the martial art.

Capoeria is.. FUN.. it is not as effective as other self-defense methods, but that is because it was incorporated into dance to diguise itself from the slavers. I personally think that it is outdated now and needs to be modernized, but sometimes tradition keeps it fun. To become higher ranked in Capoeria, one must learn to sing, dance and play the musical instruments. If you want to see some Capoeria in a movie, check out "Only the Strong" and "BloodSport 3".

San Shou is Muay Thai without the elbows and knees but with throws added in. It used to be more like what Iron Arahat says, but the popularity of Muay Thai had the Chinese decide to pattern a ring-sport to compete against the popularity of Muay Thai.

Rotate your hips all teh way around, point your support leg's heal at your opponent and keep your leg relaxed. The key to speed is repetition and technique, keep kicking the bags and thai-pads every session at least for 100 times each leg.

Back to the question... MuayThaiTB, if you want to fight for a living, you have a tough road ahead of you. You better be skilled and talented, you better find a good coach and you better find a good promoter. Unfortunately, fighting isn't just about fighting anymore, it's about marketing and image. Also, you better have a back-up plan, just in-case you get injured and can't fight again. A good education will help you with this, get a degree or certification for some sort of well-paying proffession just in-case your dreams don't pan out, or you are forced out. Other things to consider about proffessional fighting: 1. Health insurance 2. Retirement plan 3. Back-up proffession 4. Marketing 5. Trainers/ coach 6. Equipment/ training expenses Think things through.

If you work on your lats and get them really large, you could get some extra muscle protection for the ribs. Even then, it's not that much. To get bigger abs, to pull-down, pull-ups and rowing movements. Other than that, KEEP YOUR ELBOWS IN!

I put on bag gloves and that's it. I never wrap.. wrapping the hands serve as a crutch and the tendons/muscle that hold the wrist straight will not get stronger if you keep wrapping.

If you want to get your face bloodied up just to feel tough, go ahead. Full contact sparring is not a training method, it should be used to test one's skill once in a while. Sounds like those karate guys are just a bunch of macho, tough-guy idiots. (not karate guys in general, just the ones mentioned in the post)

Hehhe.. untrained people don't know this, but you can defend "block" and strike at the same time with the nunchaku. The end you are usign as a handle can be used to strike or block an incoming attack while at the same time, the other end will go flying right into the opponent. This is what is awesome about flexible weapons.

"Just because famous actors use a certain weapon does not mean that it is the best to use in a kata comp. " But what they do in movies is for show.... What they do in kata competitions in for show, what's the difference?! Oh, I have seen rope-dart in actual demonstrations too, and it's still impressive.

No katas, why do kata? Just get the weapon and find an instructor to teach you how to use them. Or you can learn on your own by just playing with them. Remember, you can do more than just strike with the chucks and also that both ends are weapons.

Sure, go ahead, to the TKD kicks in a Muay Thai match. You'll score virtually no points and won't do any damage to your opponent, unless you get really lucky.

Actually breakdancing has roots from Capoeria. Capoerista's in Harlem started to go away from the "fighting" aspect and just took it straight to dancing. If you ever get a chance to train in Capoeria, and you like to break dance, you'll see the similarities and probably even learn better "moves" for your dance arsenal. I have very limited training in Capoeria and I must say that it is very fun.

Come on people.. there are alot of women that have joined.. these are the pictures i REALLY wanna see. hehhe.. more pictures of Lori would be nice too.

I still think "semi" contact is challenging.. How hard should I hit the guy? Anyway, it seems that in point sparring and light-contact events, there are more injuries than in full contact. I think this is because the competitors aren't expecting a hard hit, even though the hard hits still come. Just remember, even though you follow the rules of "semi" contact, the other guy might just decide it's time to lay into you. That is the big problem I have with point and "semi" contact. In full contact, you know that the guy is trying to clobber you, so you protect yourself better. There is no choice but to fight.

The stick fighting in Best of the Best 4 is Kali. Pretty awesome huh? Anyway, to learn why something works is awesome, with the learning of the concepts, the techniques themselves become easier to do and you will learn more technique because the concept is already there. I teach concepts first, then technique. There are many moves which I have made up that work, just to find out that someone else already made up the move, but still it shows how important concept is.

I train about body mechanics as much as possible. Not so much vital striking points, but leverage points. It really helps when you are trying to get a person off-balance or to throw them. It is a crucial thing to know if you want to be successful at fighting.

Americans as in USA or Canada? I know most USA people are lazy and clueless, so they need the motivation of belts.

I think that the rope-dart is a very impressive weapon for anyone to use. I have seen the techniques used in Shanghai Noon by Jackie Chan and in Romeo Must Die by Jet Li. A truly impressive weapon indeed.. How do those guys do that stuff?

Yes, but it showed power. As far as soaking the bats in water.. that really only serves to make the bat softer, so no.. that is another cheat. Really, I don't think breaking in-animate objects is much of a challenge, more than a macho thing.

Some of these ProWrestlers are probably very good fighters. I know in Japan, they have very good martial art training incorporated into the prowrestling.. This is why Sakuraba, a prowrestler, has done so well in MMA type of events. For these people to fake the movements and not hurt each other, they should know how to actually do the movements so that they do hurt as to prevent accidents.

It depends, maybe the belt system is implemented just for that school so the instructor can keep track. It can be a good thing, or a bad thing. I would NEVER pay a belt-testing fee that cost more than a new belt though, and that goes for ANY martial art.