Ted T.

Go to http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/knifefighting.html and read it all. Get Marc's vid, Surviving a Knife Fight. Get Pentecost's book: Put 'em down, Take 'em out. Most knife martial arts teaches you how to catch a unicorn but what comes raging out of the dark of the night is a furious rhinocerous! (Thanks, Rory.) Thinkaboudid.

I sometimes practice this kick as a defensive kick. One scenario I like is when you are between cars, unlocking your car door and get rushed. To simulate that, we have one student rush the other with a kicking shield, and the kicker kicks from a very natural stance. To make this work, the size of the rusher and the speed must be calculated correctly or the kick is too soon or late or does not have enough body weight into it to stop the rush. Most often the difficulties being experienced are of the type kzshin is experiencing - with momentum replacing belly size.

Perhaps it is a combination of problems... If you are too deep toward the target, Your kick will place but instead of an impact, it will push. If he is stable, the push goes into you. Don't try to hit so deep, perhaps. If you are off balance, ie, leaning to far to the back, your impact will drive you further back. You must be driving in with your whole body, not just the foot. And, also, a big belly can be very strong and flexible. I can use my belly to sorta 'catch' a kick and push it back if it has no snap. I know the thrust is a power - penetration kick but done with more snap and less depth, he might not to be able to do this, if it is what is happening. Last of all, no matter the problm, aim off the belly just a bit to strike the qwa or linguinal (sp) crease, if it is imperative he go down, :evil grin:

Combat - one giant step above 'fighting' and if you are thinking of stances in combat, it's because you've already lost and have lots of down time in the hospital.

Once again a teacher may be maligned because of a stupid student... There is some controvesy on non-martial art, self defence forums who call it an edge of hand blow, about whether the thumb should be tucked in like karate or flagged out, away from the hand. I bet this was it.

I posted this before but it is gone... Look at http://www.gutterfighting.org/GTpreface.html and / or http://www.gutterfighting.org/files/Kill_or_Get_Killed.pdf and sift out the relevant details. Simple, brutal , effective. And don't forget: http://www.senshido.com since a fight is 60% psychological, 25% verbal and only 15% physical.

Think of yourself and your mates as in a concentration camp. In there with you are a bunch of numbnuts who don't know whati s going on but who you figure hate you. The guards hate you. The numbnuts hate you. You have a need to assert yourself as a man and prove you are not a wuss, that you can do the time and that you can be a man, survive and escape with your family. Who is going to take the heat? Whether it is 'right' for them to feel like that, it is often the way they feel. They get a lot of status from playing this game in a place where status is hard to come by. It is honorable to fight the enemy. It is honorable to help your brother fight the enemy. It is dishonorable not to help him. It also impresses the ladies. Now that we understand them. get a gun and gently teach them the error of their ways. Actually, having been thru this myself, Ithink it is a good idea to learn a bit of their language, get at least one friend of that culture to interpret to you how to communicate to them you are not an enemy but if treated as such will take as many as you can with you. No?

Sorry, no, but I doubt if it is up there with the Angry Monkey™.

First of all, you must realize your body hates you for doing karate. It thinks you have gone mental and are trying to kill it!! So it hurts, and it gasps and it complains as if it were dying, all to convince you to stop and lie down fer mutt's sake!! If you do stop and lie down for a bit, your body will be forever in control and you will end up doing nothing that strains it. But, if you keep stressing it and ignore its complaints, your body will get into gear and start to adapt. It is a great machine and once it knows you really mean it, it says to itself, "Ok, ok, I got it, he's nuts and I'll just have to look after him." This takes longer for some. My claim to fame is that when I started as a white belt, a young man was there who was two belts above me. By the time I got to where he was, he was a black belt. I was so slow in catching on to the "feel" of karate, people asked me (in my 3d or 4th yr) why I bothered. I was promoted because I could memorize kata and knew the basics....I just did them like a dork. It was in my 4th year that suddenly I felt a change and found myself riding the wave instead of having it pound me into the sand. Wow. Now, over 30 years later, that young natural athlete and I and only a couple of others from a club of literally thousands, are still training and teaching. None of the others who scorned my dweebishness have trained for twenty years, so who's the karate-ka? My claim to fame? As a toroise, I can say from personal proof, that you can beat the hare by concentrating on what you can get out of each class, now, and let the future unfold as it may.

I tell knife students to practice spinning, twirling and flipping their knife as much as possible. Go from forward hammer grip edge up to reverse grip edge out to sabre grip edge down to reverse edge in. Flip and catch. Two turns and catch. Why? Because I have developed my 'feel' for my knife (dexterity) to the point that if I'm starting to lose my grip on it, I can feel that and restructure my grip, or even recover it when it is almost completely out of my hand. James Keating has a great little dexterity system the includes defensive and offensive postures. Why postures and not techniques? Because techniques implies using this stuff while fighting and that would be just silly. I hope that by 'fighting' you really mean 'sparring.' Don't ever get into the mind set that sparring is = to fighting and prepares you for the ugly reallity.

When my brother tried that on me, I stepped behind a tree...he still hates me for that!

Try this: from the TMan: http://stickgrappler2.tripod.com/kbox/dempsey8.html A better description of the drop step then dempsey's doesn't exist. __________________ Tony Manifold "Attack, attack, attack- come at your target from every possible direction and press until his defenses overload. Never give him time to recover his balance: never give him time to counter" - Stover https://www.members.shaw.ca/tmanifold

Now that everyone has said their bit, I'd like to say that it was in a pillow fight that I sustained my worst injuries. My brother had beaten me dizzy so I took off, out of the house and back in thru another door that had a glass window in it. I pushed on the window as I turned the knob but the window broke and the glass sliced up my arm real bad. This is also the only time I ever saw things go in slow motion: My hand was thru the window and I saw a triangular piece of glass falling in slow motion with the point aimed at the inside of my wrist. I thought about it cutting my artieries and to stop that I chose to turn my wrist over and saw the point go in the back of my wrist - then it all hit normal again. Twelve sticthes and a scar up the length of my forearm to yak about for the rest of my life!

In western terms the kiai is used for: 1. The victory shout - the classical warrior holding his sword high over his fallen opponent and just letting loose. 2. The battle cry - pretty self explanatory 3. To enhance effort - the vocalization that accompanies a physical surge of effort. Often used to enhance the focus or "smashing" quality of a strike, one of the most common uses of a karate kiai. The emotion here should be that your enemy is now d-e-a-d. None of these kiai's are useful without emotional committment or at least emotional involement. The lame kiai's of many dojo's the extended kiai's of the those showing off, the kiai on every move, all miss the point. I had one girl, a lower ranked belt of 15 years old, who stopped whole rooms of tournament competators and spectators witht her kiai, and it wasn't just the volume.

I've solved this problem--- I only punch thick air.

I won't vote until the poll includes the option to hit him with a chair while your buddy stabs him in the back.

My advice for video training- get a camera and video yourself doing kata and waza. then, humiliate yourself by watching it in super slow motion with your sensei. Ouch. If you do this once a year with your basic (preBB) kata, the results shold be stupendous. No sensei? As a brown belt, you should be able to self evaluate and self correct.

Just be aware that full tension (real dynamic tension) throughout a whole kata can raise your blood pressure by 20 points or more. If you are susceptable to high bp, don't do it,

Nah, I've trained both Shotokan and Shorin-ji Ryu karate while in an umbrellla organisation that included Goju. Shorin-ji is higher in the stance than Shotokan and stresses an avoid his force precept so is softer. Goju is very hard in their kata but hey, they all spar the same!!!

Hey! Is that Coops in the third picture??? I can't vote because *it depends* tm and there is no vote for "any of the above when applicable,"

The Addidas shoes I got tied only at the top of the arch, ie no laces, just a tie. Very inadequate (I really goofed). They also stretched immmensly within a week so my feet slide all over the place. AND, they are really hot. Argghhh! (Can ;yo tell I really don't like them???)

Chin jab or edge of hand to the side of the neck - the throat is good but deadly and I don't expect to have to kill anyone soon.

The story I tell after my class is exhausted and just before we enter another session of down low and dirt drills is about the two monks travelling. The young one kept asking, "Are we near yet?" and saying, "Can we rest now?" the old mank just kept ignoring him or mumuring "not yet" and continuing on their way. Finally the young monk sat down on the side of the path and claimed he could go no further, he was stopping for the night. The old monk said, "Well stop if you must but please don't harrass the tiger that is sneaking up in those bushes." and with that he took off down the path very fast. It was no surprise to him when the young monk passed him and ran all the rest of the way to the next village. Next of course, comes lecture #7, your mind is your worst enemy, don't trust your feelings,you can do more than your ever imagined, now next drill 1, 2, ...

95% join the dojo that is most convenient to their home... the remaining 5% look for something more. It is not the style that will be superior but the teacher. Are they haveing fun but still showing discipline and control? Are they being treated like adults or spoiled children? Will the Sensei allow you to talk to his students? A good match between Sensei and student is priceless and worth searching for and testing out for at least 3-4 months before you make up your mind. Tell your friend "good luck",

Hi SevenStar, don't you consider your muay thai cutting kick (roundhouse) a snap kick?