Cory Reynolds

I'm a point fighter too, and that's the way that I use the technique that I use It's a little unorthadox, but it works for me. My shoulders do move, only in a reaction to what my hips are doing. They don't telegraph my actions, but more of follow after the kick has been thrown. And my spine must be made of jelly, because I don't bend over very much to counter balance my high kicks. I hope I don't end up with back problems in the future

Even if you're the fastest fighter in the world, it won't make a lick of difference if you don't have something going on in your head to make it effective. Even the best fighters physically will crumble if they don't have the mental skills to create a strategy to match whoever they are fighting.

This is where you have to draw a very wide line between sparring and self defense. Sparring, especially point sparring, is mostly possible because it has rules to prevent many injuries. A couple of these rules are 1.) usually no grabbing the legs and breaking them you catch them and 2.) no full contact kicks. Sparring is a game of tag. I want to hit you ASAP to score a point, while remaining within the rules. Even if you hit me after I hit you, it's ok, because if my judges are paying attention they will most likely see that I hit you first. Those are some of the rules. In the street, there are no rules. And IMHO, if you're not training to grab people's legs, you're not preparing yourself for those people out there that think that they can get away with a kick to the head in real self defense.

I feel that the physical development can't occur without the internal/mental happening first. You must learn to think, act, and control your own body which is a level of discipline that only your mind can enforce. Even very simple things like correctly stepping back into a proper fighting stance requires a ton of thought for most beginning students. For a lot of students, just getting up enough courage to step into the school/dojo for the first time takes a ton of effort. While both are important, I don't think that physical can occur before internal.

Thai round kicks are generally done this way. While they may be more powerful, they are slower and telegraph the technique (turning the shoulders, etc) way too much. My rear leg round kick begins by coming straight up through the middle like a rear leg front kick. Then at the very last moment, when my knee is pointed at my target, I explode with my hips to turn my hips and my leg over to connect with the kick. My shoulders have little to nothing to do with the kick, so they don't telegraph my actions.

My opinion almost exactly matches Spinning's statement. Except for the last part about the side kick. IMHO, when your round kick is completely extended, your hips should be turned over into the same position as when doing a side kick. Otherwise you're not really doing a round kick, you're doing something inbetween an round kick and a front kick which is an easy bad habit to get into. This causes a loss of power in both your hip rotation, and your line of fire.

I think the word "studied" is being used very broadly in this instance. While Bruce Lee worked out and discussed techniques, ideas, etc. with many, many people, that doesn't mean that he necessarially "studied" their martial arts in the way that the term is normally used. Otherwise I could boast that I've studdied Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muy Thai, Judo, Ju Jitus, BJJ, Kung Fu, Ninjitsu, JKD, underwater basket weaving, etc, etc......

Come on, you're talking about exercises that are used to help you get better at Aikido. Are you suggesting that you get down and kneel when someone attacks you? I didn't think so. The principles CAN work from any position, but that doesn't mean that you would want to do them from any position. And Seagal learned the latter form of Aikido that is characterised more by the use of physical body power combined with the redirection principles used in traditional Aikido.

My common mistake is being to nice to the people that I'm sparring.

Be careful with those fakes, the high hand to mid kick is one of the oldest in the book. In Wing Chun we do the same thing whether it's a fake or the real thing - we kick/hit you - if you're in range. So you kick/hit without blocking first? Or do you block first and then attack? Also, isnt attacking your opponent if they're in range just a given? the latter involves changing the direction of a kick or strike mid-way through the stroke - a little harder to counter. Hmmm, sounds like basic faking to me. Appear to go one direction in the attempt to deceive and then redirect to go another? In fact, only going half way is going to totally give it away. Why react to something that doesn't appear to be a real threat?

They surely have to mean JKD instead of TKD, someone really messed that up.

Yea, that's it, "They Call Me Bruce." You have to like movies that are so stupid that they are funny to appreciate this one.

Joint locks are commonly used in many different kinds of martial arts. It's a technique, not an actual form of martial arts. Grappling usually begins standing on your feet and then commonly both fighters end up on the ground. In classic Aikido, the defender always remains on their feet, only in more recent times when some jujitus restraints have been added to some styles of Aikido has this changed SLIGHTLY.

I guess we deffinately use the term differently where I train. We call it a fake, as in faking your opponent into thinking that you're attacking somewhere, then when they lower their guard you attack somewhere else. Or faking by moving your body in a certain direction, etc. [ This Message was edited by: Cory Reynolds on 2002-02-26 14:14 ]

I'm with 360, the Best of the Best movies (1st and 2nd ones at least) were very inspirational to me if only in the area of motivation. Has anyone seen "I Am Bruce?" Terrible movie but so funny!

Whoa, Aikido is deffinately not a grappling art. Throws and takedowns, yes, but I don't think the followup restraints could be considered grappling.

Pizzaboy, when you mean feints, do you mean the same thing as fakes? Where I train, we use the term "feint" the same way as boxers, a certain technique that involves shifting your weight to the left or right slightly to avoid a kick or punch.

I have a friend who trained at a fantastic Aikido school in Atlanta, Georgia who was extreemly effective when he shown me different techniques. The only problem though is that like you said, they don't have very good attacking skills. An Aikidoist, from the limited bit that I've seen, has to draw out a pretty dedicated punch or kick from the attacker to use many of their techniques. I'm not sure how effective they would be against someone like a boxer who throws very quick jabs and other punches. I've wondered this for years actually.

I train in American freestyle Tae Kwon Do. The "freestyle" refurs to that it takes advantage of different martial arts. Primarially Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Western Kickboxing; but also Judo, Aikido, etc. Overall I can't truely say that we don't cross train, because we're always searching for better ways to do things while still keeping our foundation strong. But overall I don't take classes anywhere else though. I'm feeling a need to learn some BJJ though, so that might change soon.

On 2002-02-23 15:18, thaiboxerken wrote: "Don't they all lack something? That's why we cross-train. :bigwink:" So far I don't cross train. The freestyle school that I'm from is already made up of many different kinds of martial arts. I'm not saying that we know how to do everything, far from it. I'm just saying that I feel fairly well rounded where I'm at. I know that eventually I'll hunger for more though. "A person handcuffed by tradition is truly stagnating the growth and evolution of a martial art. For something to be considered a martial-art, I feel that it should be alive and dynamic. Without the self-defense and fighting, a system is no longer a martial art, it is just art." Excellent way of saying what I was trying to get at. I believe that the term "martial arts" is very loosely thrown around these days. While most people will disagree with me, I think that most traditional martial arts should be put into a classification all it's own. When origionally created, the traditional arts that we practice today were at the top of their league as far as innovation and advancement. A modern comparison would be what I would call freestyle martial or fighting arts that combine many different forms of self defense. I also think that the miltary in all it's forms use the most modern of "martial arts."

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would add a couple of thoughts since Death revived it (thank you!) Niel0092 said it perfectly about punching to the head. WTF created rules that helped move their style of TKD more towards the sport side in the areas of sparring. Because of it, TKD is now officially an olympic sport. This alone should answer your question. And if you're really that concerned about defining the targets of full contact in reference to real life self defense, I want to know why leg and knee kicks are not allowed? I hope you get the point that I'm making. Olympic TKD while it is defined by many as a "sport," deffinately isn't anything that should be laughed at. Often the compeditors in this type of TKD are amazingly fast and also have amazingly good defense for the most part. Many of them train to the level of any other olympic athlete, and they are at the top of their field. And if you have any question as to how strong their kicks really are, try to block them like you would in a normal sparring match. If you don't get your wrist or arm broken, you deffinately won't make the mistake of getting in their way again. You'll learn to move out of the way really fast. Their strikes have to cause "trembling shock" which means that just hitting their opponent square in the chest on that nice big circle isn't enough to score.

Oh my, are we the only ones who think this is crazy? Balance to the ITF??? Hmmm, they arn't making any money, are they? All of our belt testings are $10.00 each up until black belt which is $100.00, but that's because you get a heavy duty school black belt uniform that usually costs around $70.00 + printing costs. What do you get for your testing fees besides a belt and a piece of paper with a bunch of signatures on it that sometimes has your own name spelt wrong on it?

This is exactly how I feel. You can do a few different things. 1.) Search out other TKD instructors that will inspire you to get over this "hump" in your training. This might involve some traveling. 2.) Try something else. There is so much more out there that can be learned right in your own back yard. 3.) Look to your self for the truth and knowledge. The lessons best learned are the ones that you learn by yourself. And I also agree that once you get your black belt you've finally now reached the point where you can begin to learn.

This is very true. Your head is the most important part of your body to protect. 360, I'm still not quite agreeing with you yet. If you're rolling around on the ground for a few minutes one of you is deffiantely doing something wrong. Maybe both. It should be ended as soon as possible.

Exactly. And it also depends on what kind of effective you're talking about. Effective cardio work out? You might want to try something like cardio kickboxing. Effective sport sparring art? Maybe olympic TKD or kickboxing. Effective punching art? I like good old fashioned boxing. You can come right back and tell the aikidoist that he probably isn't very effective at kicking or punching, etc. They'll probably reply by saying "I don't believe in all that," or "I don't have to do that" which is fine. What they practice is their perogative. But they at least have to admit that what you practice is more effective at some things that there's are not. Everything has its place and time.