Ottman

Feels great

Last night I had my first Muay Thai class, which was also my first day back to training of any sort in almost 2 years. Got back into BJJ too, training with a Brazilian Top Team school now, and I'm wondering why I ever stopped. So happy to be back to training, I couldn't help but announce it!

This is by far my favorite kick. It's compact yes, but it's also extremely powerful and if you execute it correctly, you can eliminate telegraphing. I actually practice it in the traditional TKD way, which (as I was taught) is to keep your head and eyes forward while starting the spin to keep your target in site as long as possible. Contrary to other spinning kicks my head is the last thing to turn when I perform this kick. Also, after I throw the kick, I reverse my spin and end up back where I started, which takes a LOT of practice to get down (especially if you're kicking with full power), but I find I maintain much better balance doing it this way than spinning in a complete 360, and I'm also in a much better defensive position if I happen to miss the kick. (I wouldn't recommend trying it this way in competition however, until you've practiced it at least a thousand times and gotten your balance down.) One more qualifying statement: The above method isn't to suggest that performing this kick with a complete 360 spin isn't effective. It works very well either way. Just thought I'd present this alternative method.

He didn't teach me to fight in particular, but he did keep me involved in sports and working out since I was 3, so I'd be fit enough and tough enough to handle myself. He also taught to me stand up for myself, although not necessarily physically. In a sense, he gave me the temperament to defend myself no matter what the method I used was. (He was the one who enrolled me in TKD when I was 12 and paid all the training costs, so, indirectly, I guess you could say he had something to do with it. )

Hey, who says all this philosophical thinking and debate isn't hard work? In all seriousness, I completely agree with him as well, but I've found that it's taken my restless young mind all that thinking and consideration, and over-complication to finally be able to realize that it's the simple, straightforward path that always works the best. Maybe it's all part of the maturing process, or maybe it's just my own individual experience, but with all the mystique and superstition surrounding the martial arts, especially in our 'movie magic' culture, who but a master could bring it back to such a sobering reality? (Or am I over-complicating things again? )

The definition that I was taught and use is that 'internal' concepts focus on controlling your own movement regardless of what is happening around you, i.e. when you decide to move, it is coming from your internal desire and will to make that movement (your will power is focused on yourself), whereas 'external' concepts focus on reacting to outside factors and attempting to take control over those factors as a result of your motion (you're attempting to exhort your will onto to something outside of yourself). While you can focus your training onto one concept or the other, both can and should be used in conjunction with one another in order to execute the most effective strategy and technique, whether it is in the martial arts or for movement in general. This isn't to say that I don't agree with other definitions of 'internal' and 'external' including many of the ones that have already been mentioned in this thread, but I do think it's important to differentiate between internal and external energy and internal and external martial arts concepts (or more particularly: internal and external concepts of motion.)

I completely agree with you tallgeese, and this is exactly what happened to me after just a few months of Aikido (Aiki-JuJitsu to be precise) training. I have 14 years of Tae Kwon Do training and 5 of BJJ, with a few other styles sprinkled in and if you've ever read my posts here I'm kind of stubborn about training for practical self defense. However, I never even considered Aikido training until it suddenly dawned on me that that's what i should be doing. Even though it was a sudden awakening, it was definitely the result of years of prior training that I was trying to fit into my view of an effective self defense system. When I started looking into Aikido deeper and deeper, I realized it was what was missing from my skill set. Since I started training though, it's done more than change my style of martial arts, it's changed the way I think of motion in general (and I'm kind of a physics geek too, so it was a quite potent realization.) Anyway, I do feel that Aikido can make anyone better equipped to defend themselves in a relatively quick period just because of the way the training makes you aware of your own movement in such an effective way. Whereas I've experienced external arts like TKD and BJJ as focusing more on being aware of your opponent and their movement, and how to manipulate and control what they're doing (not that there aren't internal aspects to these arts as well), I think that Aikido and other internal arts shift the focus to being more aware and in control of your own motion and balance, etc. and therefore you'll be more ready to deal with what you may come up against, and less likely to freeze or hesitate as you try to get a hold of your own body and motion. Since Aikido (at least what I was taught) teaches you more about your body's motion in general, rather than just self defense, you begin thinking about that motion as it applies to every movement your body makes, rather than just self defense movements, and therefore, you don't have to shift from casual mode to fight mode. Motion is just motion, whatever is happening. (That's been my Aikido experience anyway (er, Aiki Jujitsu if it makes any difference to those out there reading this) )

Sad, but true.

I'll agree with you there monk, but I also wouldn't necessarily call a head height kick flashy. Depends on which kick, and how you're performing it. I don't think I've seen many head kicks in UFC/Pride/etc. that I'd call flashy. (Most of them I'd call either devastating or sloppy, and even some of the sloppy ones result in knock outs). If you can stick a good high turn kick or front kick (etc.) in someone's face, not telegraph it, and keep your balance and control, I wouldn't call it flashy, especially if you knock them out. Knock outs are exciting and flashy in and of themselves, even if the technique used to get the knock out isn't, and for someone who knows how to kick properly, a knock out is easier with the feet than the hands, so I think the crowd is responding to the near knockout rather than the flashiness of the technique (just my opinion). If you're sticking a couple of spins in there and then taking to the air (maybe a couple more spins while you're airborne) before you kick, then you're being showy for no good reason. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I see it all the time in TKD sparring matches. It's certainly not everyone doing it, but enough to realize that it's become a part of TKD curriculum in more than a few schools, and there doesn't seem to be a distinction made between good sparring technique and strategy, and using techniques that should be for demonstrations only. Here's a converse to your example: have you ever heard the crowd's response to someone kicking their opponent out of the air (with a simple basic kick) when they're trying some overtly flashy, aerial maneuver?

This is definitely something that comes up in every martial art (every art really). There are always those individuals who are more concerned with image than anything else. The culture of Tae Kwon Do (particularly Korean Tae Kwon Do IMHO) seems to give this flashiness a bit more bravado than other styles do, but perhaps that's just my view of things as TKD is my root art and I'm most intimately familiar with it. In any case, TKDers seem very stubborn (to me) about making a clear distinction between demonstration and showiness, and practical self defense. I myself am impressed by the athleticism of it all, but I fail to see how it fits into a system of self defense. However that's not to say that all martial arts are strictly for self defense (especially in our modern times), but I'll have to agree with tallgeese that what really gets under my skin about it are those who falsely claim that the flashy techniques they're hyping in demos are practical and essential moves to learn for self defense. I always have to ask them: "so if I have a 65 year old student with severe arthritis, I should be teaching them 540 kicks as an essential part of their defense training !?!?!?!?" Forgetting even the impracticality, or more particularly uncertainty, of anyone using a 540 kick in a self defense situation. Drives me crazy.

I disagree. Under the circumstances it would be futile to try and teach her. Sorry, just a feeble attempt at sarcastic humor on my part. You're certainly right ineluki.

Very much agreed bushido_man. Thanks for the input.

I'm of the same opinion NE KyoSa, and I've already voiced my opinions about the dive in quality of technique, but my instructor seems to be in it just for the money nowadays, and she doesn't seem to care about quality instruction anymore. It's a real shame because we used to have one of the most respected schools around, and while it's still got a very good reputation in terms of a business, the newer students are really hurting in terms of the level of skill we used to hold as a standard. While I've trained at the school for longer than all but a couple other students, (over 13 years) and I do have some influence and try to clean up technique whenever I can (and to my surprise, students have thanked me for it frequently), but I unfortunately have been busy with my own personal world lately, and have only been teaching/training 1-2 days per week over the past year or so. When my instructor asked me to take over, I thought I'd be able to restore some of the old standards and attention to proper technique we used to have, but again, now that the plan seems to be to switch to this franchise, I feel like leaving the school altogether, unless I hear some really really good things about Mile High Karate. (And even so, I still wouldn't be thrilled with the switch.)

Heh. That'll learn ya. (On the other hand, you're clearly a good teacher if you're advice worked )

Hmmm, sounds like she was the type of black belt who thinks that the skill she has is somehow stored in the actual belt, rather than as a result of her hard work and training. If she was on the street and someone threw a punch that she neglected to block, so it instead made contact with her face, you think she'd be able to stop them from continuing to attack and get them to do any push ups by explaining to them that she was a black belt, and they should never hit her?? (Think they would apologize too?) If she really thinks that the belt around her waist will automatically cause people to never hit her, I think she may need to return to white belt, and start over again. My advice is stay in the class and continue to strike properly. Maybe she'll learn to block if you do, which it sounds like she needs. As others have said, never apologize for landing a strike, especially against someone who should know how to defend.