STR33T GUY

Once upon a time, I was riding my mountain bike when a car hit me. My left leg was messed up good and it took years for all the pain to go away. As a result I’m not a good kicker and realistically I never will be. Most know the dangers associated with kicking high and that goes double for me. I’m also slow to get a kick off, I telegraph my kicks so badly that you could go for coffee and come back in time to block it. To keep kicks in my bag of tricks, I have adopted these tactics. 1) I believe it’s better to be good at one thing than to be poor at many. So I practice only two kicks, the roundhouse which is my main kick and the push kick that I use as a counter to kicks thrown at me or as a feint. 2) I never kick high, almost always to the legs, mostly to the knees. 3) Because low kicks can be thrown from punching range I throw my roundhouse kicks at the end of a punching combination. This helps immensely with my telegraph problem. I’ve actually managed to make the roundhouse kick to the knee a high percentage technique for me. I’d sure like to read other peoples tips to help the poor kickers like me.

I call myself a mixed martial artist because I have cross trained in grappling and striking arts. I train solely for self-dense, however I think competition would be a lot of fun, but then being 20 years younger would be fun too.

Since my last post I have changed my combos (again). I do this periodically, party because I’m on the ever elusive search for the perfect combo but mostly because I get bored with the old ones. It takes me a week or so the make the change over as the new combos feel a little awkward at first. 1) Left jab, right cross, left hook, lifting elbow, horizontal elbow, swimming elbow This is actually an old combination of mine that I haven’t used for a while. This is a good combo for closing the gap in order to get a clinch. 2) Lifting elbow, horizontal elbow, swimming elbow, straight knee, swimming elbow This is a new twist on an old combination; it’s good for when your opponent is covering up. 3) Left jab, right cross, left jab, right roundhouse kick This is another old combo, good for when you want to keep to the outside. 4) Left cross, right jab, left roundhouse kick This is a truly new combination for me that use’s a south paw stance. It’s intended for keeping to the outside.

Just the jail house kind.

Thanks for posting back guys. Judo sounds better than I thought and I thought that it was good to begin with.

I know next to nothing about GoJu Ryu or any of the other arts that are Master Jules style. I also don’t know what Master Jules knows about my style, so I’ll go first with my stance (I have only one fighting stance). From The Fighter’s Handbook by me (but unpublished) Master Jules, how do your stances compare/contrast with mine?

Hello Master Jules A couple of points; 1) I believe that you have been there and done it. 2) That your personal style is very different than mine. I ‘m not saying that one style is better than the other, just different, our respective styles work for each of us. I enjoy reading your posts because it gives me a different perspective, yet one that comes from experience. Cheers

Umarmungen und küsst

The fight with Renzo biting the guy’s ear is on a BJJ instructional video tape, done by Renzo Gracie and Greg Kluchuck (spelling?). I’m sure that I’m not the only one on this forum to have seen it. I guess you don’t believe me. Well you’re entitled to your opinion. Have a nice day.

How about a radio? (Bravo actual … fire mission grid xxx yyy … will adjust … over)

I don’t know what mental image you have but maybe this link will help you. http://retromud.org/weapons/polearms.html

If you kill someone with a knife you will be typically charged with murder and you can try your self-defense plea out on the jury, if you lose you will get LIFE! If you kill someone with a bludgeoning weapon (hands included) you will be typically charged with manslaughter. If you skip the trial and plead guilty you can be out in a couple of years. BIG difference, isn’t it?

Hi Rock-fght Shane is right on the money with that last post. Good luck with your MA training.

I prefer to stay on my feet but I have taken people to the ground deliberately before. It’s sometimes easier to take someone out quickly by taking them to the ground. My last fight was like this.

I remember watching (video) Renzo Gracie fighting some guy in a back ally in Rio. Renzo was in the mount and the other guy tried to claw his way out, he even tried to bite Renzo. In retaliation Renzo bit the guy’s ear off. I use to role with a guy that was trained by Rickson Gracie. Rickson could kick his butt and he could kick mine and every guy that I have mounted in a street fight got their butts kicked by me. So much for the clawing your way out theory!

Oh, MA wise. Good to see that you are still working out. I’m still looking for a club that will suit me; I figure it will take me two months to get all the rust off. There is only one MMA club near me and I haven’t had been able to check it out yet. If I feel that this club isn’t any good then I will get into Judo and find someone there that will train with me on the side for the striking part.

True, but you can reach the point of diminishing returns. Btw, how far along the road of self improvement are you?

What do you mean if? I have! Well it’s really a work in progress and I will probably be refining it to the day that I die. The striking component is based on Boxing and Muay Thai. I have made some changes like hitting with the palm heal instead of a fist in order to make it more street worthy. I think that I have just about perfected the striking part and I am quite pleased with the results on the street. The ground component is based on Wrestling and BJJ/Jujitsu. I figure that I’m about two thirds of the way to having it perfected. The clinch component is based on Muay Thai, Wrestling and Jujitsu. To be honest my clinching is in a mess right now and I’m focusing my efforts to bringing it up to speed.

Hi wingedsoldier Have you done this on the street? I asked on another thread if anyone had used a lock to dislocate a joint, perhaps you missed it.

I hope this will help you. http://www.kyokushinmail.com/koya/KickInstruction.htm

I disagree. If your trainer swings the focus pad with weight behind it at the same time you punch the pad, it will develop power. If done correctly your arm will come to an abrupt halt as you hit the pad. A real good way to develop power is to have someone stand behind the heavy bag and gab hold as they lean on the bag. It’s like hitting a wall.

Which throw/takedown have you had the most success with on the street? For me it’s easy to say, the high-crouch single leg. Honorable mention goes to Ippon Seoinage, used once.

Re: parrying vs. blocking It’s been my experience that parrying requires better timing than blocks do; therefore blocks are a higher percentage technique. Of course the blocks that I use are very basic, nothing fancy at all. Has anyone else found this to be so?

Blocking, parrying, catches, evasive movement and clinching are just some of the ways to defend against strikes. What method/s do you use to defend against strikes? How successful has this method been for you on the street? I primarily rely upon evasive movement (both foot and head movement) and passive blocking (using a peek-a-boo guard). This has worked very well for me on the street. Since I’ve had mixed success with parrying on the street, I’ve dropped parrying in favor of active blocking, which I’ve had a better success rate with. For the most part, I use clinching offensively rather than in a defensive manner, and I haven’t used any of the other defensive methods on the street.

Sparring isn’t a competition; it’s a way to develop your skills! Because you know that you won’t be hit in the head doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to defend against the strike anyway. Conversely, if you get hit on the shoulder and you didn’t do a block to stop it; you can consider that you would have been hit in the head in a real fight.