isshinryu5toforever

Common stance in kickboxing and TKD. Fight side on to minimise the targets presented and to make it easier to use lead leg side/hook/roundhouse kicks. But doesn't is make it slower to use the back leg? Do they use it seldom, or is there some stradegy for that? Thanks! You usually have your power leg back, just like you often keep your power hand back when boxing. Its is slower but you can throw more of the mass and hip into it. The front leg is a jab and when you want to land a more powerful shot you use the back leg. IMO in this set up also makes the reverse kicks (like backkick, spinning heel etc.) more accessible than a forward facing stance as they have to travel the same distance as you would to throw the normal kicks (roundhouse, front kick off of rear leg). That's 100% correct. The pretty much sideways stance allows you to use the back leg for power shots and for defensive kicking. Although, in that format power shots really aren't necessary. Which is exactly why I dislike sparring that way.

this is true. However I'm assuming that the original poster was referring to achieving high levels in sport. Within that staff of people there are other high level athletes to push them. The fastest way to figure out where your ceiling is, is to surround yourself with as much talent and information as possible and then pour yourself into what you are doing. It would save you the bouncing around even if that meant sleeping on that elite coaches front porch until he realized you were serious and not going away. That's also definitely true, but jumping into that environment immediately isn't for someone with little to no experience. That's why I advocate getting some sort of base first, then moving to a higher level camp. I'd be willing to bet that the coach he's looking at in that link isn't the one who would coach him if he has very little experience. It would likely be someone else first, and if he proved he was good enough, he'd move into more advanced ring-oriented stuff. So at the very least, he'd be moving up in their system. He'd also be moving to Thailand. I definitely agree that if you want to be the best sport competitor, you need to be around high level people to figure out your ceiling. Depending on what you're doing though, that could mean moving a long way, maybe even internationally. It all depends on how dedicated you are of course. No one said it would be easy. Money really is a decider for some of us.

A very valid 2 cents, imho!! Valid 2 cents, but MMA gloves are there specifically to protect the hands of the one doing the hitting. They don't take away from power transfer, which is great, but take those off, and it's much easier to hurt your hand on their face. The head is hard, teeth are sharp. I still advocate hitting with open hands to the head, because I can hit you with the heel of my hand just as hard as I can punch you, and I minimize the chances of hurting my own hand.

That's the problem with Romanizing things. There is more than one standard way to do it, and then they end up getting mixed together into something that makes zero sense. As far as the head being a crash helmet, I agree 100%. That's why I prefer open handed techniques. If slapping someone in the side of the head is good enough for Bas Rutten, it's good enough for me haha.

Because the head isn't an easier target. The head is small and moves a lot. The body is a much larger target. The targets on the body are smaller, but if you hit hard enough, you can do damage no matter where you hit. You're more likely to miss hitting someone in the head than you think.

You're welcome. I'm glad stuff like that is popping up on youtube. I had watched some of Bas Rutten's stuff a long time ago, and it definitely helped me with power production. He has a great way of explaining why things work, and he has the ring experience to prove that it does. His liver shots are pretty devastating, and never by accident.

That's what I'm getting at with my question. If the Okinawan royal family had their own martial art, that would be something interesting. If it is a specific style, it'd be something I want to know about, because it's something I haven't become aware of. Kamal, can you elaborate?

Which royal family? and what style are you talking about?

Kicking the air doesn't do a lot for power. You really do that to get the correct motion down, so you can transfer power into a target without hurting yourself. A heavy bag is a great tool to use for more power. Squats, dead lifts, and Olympic power lifts like clean and jerk and the snatch will help build power as well. If you decide to do weights though, you need to have a solid cardio plan or you'll gain unwanted weight. Also check out this video from Bas Rutten on kicking form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iTWCwlZyM He's well known for his powerful striking.

The best is difficult to be certain of. Also, you don't need to train with "the best." You need to train with the best person for you. That might not be the best. A great fighter does not make a great coach all the time. Who coached him? Who helped make him the best? A fighter has a whole staff of people dedicated to making sure they're at the top of the game. Just because it helped him succeed doesn't mean he can help you succeed. Also, there are different levels of coaches for different people. You don't start at the top, you work your way there. An absolute beginner would be helped by going to nearly any reputable Muay Thai coach. You would only be really helped by a high level coach once you yourself are a high level athlete. This isn't always true, but it tends to be. There's a reason why a lot of top level athletes allow their original coaches to take them as far as possible, then start seeking out more elite coaches for guidance when they hit the ceiling. That's just the way things work these days. I would say that training is better than not training 100% of the time as long as the person is legit, whether it's with the best or not.

Ego

That's a myth. There's no law requiring any kind of registration for military or non-military personnel of their hands as deadly weapons. Training does come into play in a court case, because a trained person is supposed to be more responsible than an untrained person when using force, but that's an entirely different animal.

That sounds like a sweet deal. Almost like being an uchi deshi, except less indentured servitude-y.

I don't think that's such a huge problem. It's encouraging punctuality. People have to learn responsibility. They do the same in the military. If you screw up, you get more PT. I've seen a lot of martial arts clubs do the same. If you're late you do pushups. If you forget your uniform, pushups. Forget your belt, pushups. Do you have other suggestions that would help a coach/instructor make things work?

I'd be interested to find out more. As far as I understood, Choki Motobu was the founder of Motobu Ryu?? Sojobo It depends on if you're talking about Motobu-Ryu in the Japanese manner or the Okinawan one. When they talk about Motobu-Ryu in the Japanese sense, they're talking specifically about Choki Motobu's personal style. He never propagated it, never codified it, and never taught it in an official way. His influence, especially when it came to the idea of jissen kumite, was wide. He, like Mas Oyama after him, believed in the hardening of the spirit through battle. Some people have named their systems Motobu-ryu after Choki Motobu, but they do not belong to him. His brother did transmit the family style, which I think is called Motobu Udundi. From what I've heard about the two styles, they're much different.

No offense, but I despise the doboks and do-gis with stripes or stars or patches all over them. BJJ guys are the exception, because it's usually for their tournament sponsors. Competitions get expensive. If you're just doing it for a ranking system though, I'm not really big on it.

I've never been a fan of flash. I'd rate the kata as follows based on the following criteria. Black belt competition is generally scored on a 9 through 10 basis despite the fact that it's a scale of 10. If you get bellow a 9, it means you forgot the kata completely, or you were just that awful (rarely happens). These are by sport competition, like the ISKA, standards. weapons Extreme bo kata: 9.6 It was above average, but it lacked power. The stances were not solid, and the strikes were fast, but never looked strong. Traditional bo kata: 9.9 Strength, speed, strong stances. The only deductions could come from minor things. Empty hand forms "Traditional" form: 9.7 Better stances, quick movements. The movements were fast, but sometimes weren't sharp. The stances were much better, but there was too much up and down movement, and not enough hip movement in the techniques. Also, WAY too much yelling. Unsu: for some reason my computer crashed out twice trying to open this, so I couldn't view it, except for the title and the opening sequence.

You can rig it up any way you want, it will still slide. I hate wavemasters with a passion unless they're being used for little kids classes. They're very difficult for adults to use proper, powerful technique on. I'd rather get some kick pads and a competent partner to hold them.

Ancient boxing was more brutal. They have dug up a few pairs of those boxing "gloves." They were basically metal pieces with a big spike attached in the middle.

We give out Olympic gold medals for curling. Don't get me wrong, it takes skill, but it's basically a huge game of shuffleboard on ice. With all the other junk that gets judged, why not one more thing that looks silly? If anything it gives some people a confidence boost. As long as they don't tell these people they can now go out and defend themselves, I'm ok with it.

Donnie Yen isn't in the third movie. I haven't seen it, but I heard it's not very good.

I'm sure you judge it based on form and foot placement, just like everything else that involves some sort of non-fight performance. Does it look really stupid? Yes. Would it be a heck of a workout? Yes. I could see its application for cardio purposes. You couldn't ever convince someone that here is another benefit other than getting more kicks in and working on your endurance, but I would give it a shot. It would mix things up a bit instead of running, swimming and/or biking.

If you're going to go the sandbag route, it's pretty much only for conditioning. Don't have someone hold it, build a makiwara. You will get some power benefits, but your hands and shins will benefit more as far as being tougher. Here are people talking about it http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1269.html They give a few links, some work, some don't, but they also give dimensions, which would be helpful if you're going to build one. You can fill it with marbles instead of sand. You'll get the same benefit, but they'll go nicely back into place instead of sand, which has a tendency to pool in places. One more note, if you have zero training in Makiwara practice DO NOT do this. I repeat, DO NOT do this, you will pay for it with bad joints in 30 or 40 years. Only do it if you have been trained properly to do makiwara. If you want some tips, I can give them to you on here, but it doesn't replace an experienced instructor. Your style field says Kyokushin kaikan, they should have all this stuff at your dojo, why not go there?

I think you're right. It was a sport though, not a fight to the death in ancient Greece. Deaths were common, but an opponent could submit, or the judges could halt the match if someone wasn't intelligently defending themselves. That would make all the stuff we see today, arm locks, leg locks, etc. important. Some people would fight with a broken arm, but quite a few wouldn't. Pankration wasn't gladitorial combat, it was a part of the Greek Olympics. Maybe they should consider bringing it back? As far as the Spartans not competing, I'd believe it. First off, given their nature, they probably believed that it would be unfair, and they would dominate the competition, because they were professional warriors. Second, they were professional warriors. That's all they did. I have no reason to doubt that they would have dominated the competition even sans eye gouging and biting. They probably used it as an excuse to rest on their laurels. Why risk injury in a stupid game, when your ultimate goal is to have a clean (spiritually) death on the battle field?

Another thing to work on would be stance. If we're talking about squaring off in a fight, not a self-defense situation, then stance becomes important. A lot of traditional martial arts teach to fight out of a fairly high stance, with your legs pretty close together. That's like asking to be taken down. If you want to stand a chance, and you're not great at sprawling, those feet need to be a little farther apart, and your base needs to be lower. I also think that grappling is more natural than striking. You take any two little kids in a fight, and one is trying to tackle the other and get on top of them. It's just natural for them to do it. Telling someone to put their hand in a fist and punch someone else, that's not so natural. That's why so much time is devoted to the form of punching somebody. Striking takes a lot more time to get competent, note I didn't say good, at than grappling. If you fail in grappling, you might still take the person down. It's not going to be pretty, but you can still get the take down, even if it's a good ole' fashioned tackle. Notice that a lot of guys in the UFC who do BJJ, and haven't wrestled (mostly from outside the US), didn't take Judo either. They can still take people down. It's not as pretty as say Parysian Judo tossing Sanchez, but they still get the take down. If you screw up hitting someone, not only will it not hurt them, it'll probably just make them angry.