ps1

WOW, Kyu certificates? Is this standard practice in arts like karate or TKD too? It's been the standard in every martial art I've trained. Kung fu was just under a master instructor, no big organization, and he printed and handed out his own certificates. Shotokan Karate and Aiki Ju-Jitsu were both under the Kwanmuzendokai, a very large organization. In BJJ, I'm under the Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Association, whose ranks are validated by Master Sauer (and was authorized by Helio Gracie himself). So, yes, big or small organizations tend to validate their ranks with a certificate of some kind.

Slow at best, but jiu-jitsu is a marathon not a sprint. I'm lucky enough to have Pedro Sauer as one of my teachers. He's spent more time on the mat with Rickson than almost anyone else. So he's able to translate alot of the ideas to us. On top of that, I have several training partners that went to train with Rickson a couple times. So I understand the concept, but making it happen in every position is difficult.

I've earned 3 black belts to date. Not only did each black belt come with a certificate, each increase in dan rank or degree came with a certificate, additionally, each kyu or under black belt rank came with a certificate. Even in BJJ, we get certificates that validate our rank.

Finding and creating a connection to my opponent. If you don't know what I mean, read below. http://jiujitsumania.com/technique/accelerated-learning/rickson-gracie-seminar-making-the-invisible-visible/

Nice.

Good to hear. Keep working at it. You're still very young in Jiu-jitsu

....Story of my life I usually feel like an idiot, because within 2 seconds, I'm squashed. lol. Isn't that the best though!!!!? It's another opportunity to work your escape. It's another opportunity to feel how the opponent sets you up for a submission. It's another opportunity to survive just a moment longer. Eventually, those opportunities add up, eventually you're on top, eventually you're not crushed anymore. See your mistakes as learning opportunities, learn in the school so you don't learn on the street!

Judo is a great art with alot to offer. Glad to hear you're having a good time.

No. It's a single arm shoulder toss. I'm not a fan of making you throw poorly. A better tactic would be to teach you to drop to you knees with it so your opponent doesn't have to fall as hard. Essentially they just do a shoulder roll instead. But, I defer to your instructor's experience. There may be other reasons behind what they are doing.

This is technically correct! Equal and opposite reaction...

Get healthy. Karate will still be there. Keep your chin up.

It's all about proper technique. Smaller people have no choice but to develop the proper body mechanics because they aren't usually able to muscle people around. Once they've taken the time to develop solid body mechanics, smaller people tend to add speed to their movements. While it's not a necessity, it certainly helps. Regarding strikers on the ground, Yes and no. The mistake that strikers make on the ground is that they try to throw strikes when they should be controlling their position. That leads to easy escapes. That said, once a person learns when it's safe to strike, ground and pound can be very very effective. Certainly, most strikes are useless from on your back. The focus of the person on their back should be on submitting, sweeping, or getting back to their feet.

Nope. You have mass, Brian has mass. Anytime you want to set mass into motion, or stop mass from moving, you must overcome it's inertia. That requires a lever. They type of lever and force applied to it changes based on it's position relative to the center of mass of the object being acted upon. Mass matters...

Here's a link to the story: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/vitality/98-year-old-woman-becomes-first-woman-ever-to-earn-judos-highest-degree-black-belt-2523297/ Very impressive. Congratulations to her and may we all live long enough and contribute enough to accomplish the feat.

Congrats Brian!!! It's great to have been a part of this community for you for so long.

Never witnessed a real one (except the Gracie Challenges...but those were a bit different). But most of the instructors I've trained with had a similar story. Never met anyone who witnessed the incident either.

I studied shotokan for several years and was never taught to step in front. That hinders your ability to chamber.

Any martial art, and most other activities, are going to put some stress on your knees. That said, the strength the arts will help bring to the musculature around the knee will aid in further stabilizing them. As long as you tell your instructor that you have theses issues, he will be sure you are safe during training. Don't be afraid to communicate your issues with any training partners as well. If someone is too rough...find a new partner. People train for different reasons, make sure you train with people who are training for the same reasons as you and you won't have any problems.

Did you consider a change in footwork and target? Most of the time, roundhouse kicks come in linearly. That is, you bring your knee up and fire your kick straight across to the target. If you aim for the back of the head, rather than the side, you'll be able to come on an angle directly from the ground up to the target...because the shoulders will no longer be in the way. This will make your kick faster. To accomplish this, you'll need to use footwork and setups to put you on the proper angle. I like a basic front foot sweep followed by the head kick. Also, you can use parry's and blocks to give you the angle. You should also consider that you may be playing into the strength of your opponent. If you know he's good at grabbing kicks, why give it to him? Use feints to get him to put his hands down and then finish with punches or different kicks.

Mauy Thai and BJJ

Certainly, kids as young as 5 should not be training with adults unless there is an instructor assigned just to helping the kids. Even then, it can certainly be a distraction.

You can't say either person is better. It's pretty clear that they are putting on a "stage combat" performance. This means that it is rehearsed and needs to follow no style or even be applicable to real life. Asking who's better is a bit like asking who's better between Neo from the Matrix and Ra's Al Ghoul from Batman. They're both fictional so there is no answer.

This really caught a lot of people by surprise. The strangest thing is that olympic sports are exempted. So Judo (the great crippler), boxing (famous for life altering head injuries), wrestling and TKD are all exempt from this legislation. It really only messes with sub grappling/jiu-jitsu, MMA, and martial arts other than TKD. I say that's fine...bring that revenue over here to Ohio!

You would think so. The OP did say they've trained before, but it's easy for someone who doesn't know martial arts to be deceived by someone who looks like they know what they're doing and speaks well. Ask the instructor their credentials. Ask if he minds if you contact his instructors.

Are these students coming from places other than your own school? It seems strange to allow someone to test if they aren't likely to pass. I do like your interview format. It's professional and respectful, which is what both the student and the art deserve.