CQC

You'd be better off carrying a combative cane. No one will arrest or fine you for it, and it can be extremely effective in a combat situation if you know how to use one.

I agree. I'm not sure how intense your classes are, but I know mine require you to be at a certain fitness level, or else you will not do well. I'd first focus on conditioning, especially if you're starting, and moving on to various techniques and such afterwards. I know that I can workout much harder in and out of class if I'm extremely conditioned, in the end allowing me to learn and practice more material in a short amount of time. As for technique, just start and master the basics or whatever it is you feel you need to work on, whatever that may be in your martial art. You'll find when you go back to class you may be a few steps ahead of other students at your level.

Hey Jennifer, welcome to the forums!

Hey Ashley, welcome to the forums!

He doesn't sound like a responsible and serious instructor. In my opinion, I think you should go elsewhere where people are a little more serious and dedicated. If you honestly think you can't learn any more from him, but possibly can at another dojo, then leave for the other dojo.

Ideally, this is how most belt systems should work. Although different arts may have different colours or even more belts, the ideal is basically the same. White Belt Level: 9th The white belt symbolizes purity and innocence as well as lack of knowledge. The student wearing a white belt comes into training free of judgments and bias from other kinds of training and knowledge with reference to the martial arts. The student is an open vessel ready to be filled with the knowledge that the teacher desires to pass down. Yellow Belt Level: 8th As the student begins to train and be filled with knowledge, sweat and dirt begin to cover the belt. The belt becomes yellow in time. It is this point in training that students learn and practice the "fundamentals" that form the foundation of the system. Orange Belt Level: 7th This is a transitional belt. As the student continues to train and sweat and advance closer to the intermediate ranks, the belt becomes darker. Orange symbolizes this. It's at this stage that the student should begin to realize his or her potential. Blue Belt Level: 6th This belt is the beginning of the intermediate level of training. As more knowledge fills the student, the student practices and sweats more. The belt turns blue. The belt also demonstrates that the student understands and accepts the fundamentals or basics of the system and has chosen to persevere towards the goal of 'higher", more complicated techniques. Green Belt Level: 5th As more sweat and dirt fill the student's belt, it turns dark green. This belt represents the upper intermediate level. As the student is filled with more knowledge, he or she strives to add speed, power and fluidity to his or her movements. The student not only reacts more quickly in "fighting" situations, but also now begins to act of his own volition to control the situation or the opponent. Red Belt Level: 4th & 3rd This belt represents the lower advanced level of training. At this rank the student has made serious sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears to learn even more difficult techniques and to train his or her body for serious combat or defense. Red symbolizes this. As the student is filled with more knowledge he or she should become humbled as he or she realizes that this system of defense is only one of many and that mere physical skills will not defeat another who displays more discipline, courage and passions. Many instructors will teach to empty the mind of emotion when fighting. Brown Belt Level: 2nd & 1st This belt represents the upper advanced rank. The student realizes he or she is close to black belt and wants to impress the instructor that he or she is ready. The student tends to be most aggressive at this rank. As more knowledge, sweat and dirt are poured into the belt, it turns brown. It is at this rank that the student is expected to demonstrate superb skill and expertise in the basics as well as many advanced techniques. Just as an artist must learn to master the basics of color, proper strokes, shading techniques, etc. to create, so the brown belt is finalizing his or her learning to be able soon to create on his or her own. Black Belt Degree: 1st thru 10th This is the final change in belt color. This belt signifies mastery of all of the basics and expertise in even more of the advanced techniques than at brown belt. The student has been filled with so much knowledge, sweat and dirt that the belt has now turned black. The student must make a choice: to continue training or to quit. If the student chooses to quit, he or she will miss an opportunity to perfect the art and pass knowledge on to others through the martial arts. If the student chooses to continue, he or she will have many opportunities to share the arts; and when the student has trained a long time; his or her belt will begin to turn white again. This symbolizes the purity that comes from willingness to continue to learn, through perfection of technique and through faithfulness in handing down the knowledge that was given to him or her. Gichin Funikoshi, the founder of karate said, "Before I made black belt I was learning to begin. After making black belt I realize I'm beginning to learn." This is where the 'art' begins as the student places his own personality and values into the system. He begins to interpret and create from the 'well' inside his or her being. Now that the student has the mind of a 'warrior', and all of the 'tools' necessary to defend him or herself, the student continues a lifelong journey of learning how to apply these tools to different situations and opponents.

I completely agree. However, it's actually my Sensei's (and owner of the club) son. =\ I meantioned it briefly to him, but he basically shugged it off. Probably because his son doesn't really come to classes anyway. In all honesty I don't think the kid should have the belt. In my opinion, I think a certain mindset and responsibility must be present prior to someone getting a belt of any kind, really. This could have possibly been over looked due to the fact he has "special status", which he shouldn't.

Hey, welcome to the forums!

I agree with Aodhan, the time it takes to obtain one may vary. If the person is highly skilled and actually puts the time in, I wouldn't expect him/her to get the belt the same time as another student who joined the dojo at the same time, but only went to class once a week for say 3 years. I honestly feel there's no rush. I'm confident with my current skill level, the belt being a bonus to what I feel I've achieved. I could have the skills of a blackbelt but not have any interest for testing for my blackbelt. I know what my skill level is, regardless of what belt I wear inside the dojo.

You could always just split the amount of protein you usually take. Half prior to your weight workout (ie: after cardio, to give you energy) and half after your weight workout to help muscle recovery.

It all comes down to personal preference. Maybe attend some classes and get a feel for what you like. You can then research it and see if it's right for you. It's also funny that this thread is from 2001.

The clean and jerk is definately a full body workout, and is one of my personal favorites for strength training. I hate the exercise, but it has great results. Just make sure you're doing it properly, or you can get seriously hurt with heavy weight. The same goes for all lifting techniques, though.

I completely agree on this. If you have someone pushing you that extra rep or two, it can really add up, and your workout will be more effective. I usually weight train by myself, as my friend's schedules aren't the same as mine, however if I had some extra cash I'd definately go for a personal trainer just for that extra "push".

Try taking something to give you a little boost prior to your workout as meantioned. Even just a bagel with peanut butter or something. Just make sure you get some protein into you at the latest 1 hour after your workout. Within 30 minutes would be ideal, as the muscles are still in an anabolic state.

At the dojo we were doing a roundhouse kicking drill with pads. The guy holding the pad was also holding the top of the pad to take some of the impact. The guy came with a hard roundhouse, hit the guy's fingers that were holding on to the top of the pad (also over the top edge of the pad), and broke all four. It was pretty painful to even watch, let alone to see afterwards. If you can land a super hard kick to an arm or leg in a fight, you're set.

We have a cocky black belt like that at our dojo. Other, more advanced, sensei's have sparred with him in the past, going pretty hard. I think that kind of taught him that he definately wasn't all that. He only shows up every few months now, because he knows no one likes his attitude - which is obvious when he's sparring with others - going nearly all out and actually hurting people of a lesser skill level.

I currently have dropped down to 3 days a week due to work, however I usually go 6 days a week. Training includes boxing, jujitsu, BJJ, and Filipino stick fighting at the moment.

I think most would. But as a last line of defense most would try and disarm someone rather than letting themselves be stabbed. With the knowledge of disarmament comes with the knowledge of when to execute those techniques, and in which situations. Sometimes some people can't put 2 and 2 together, and end up getting themselves seriously injured. I'm also really pleased to read that most people would only try to disarm someone with a weapon as a final response to the attacker rather than face them head on. There's an appropriate situation in which to use techniques that you've learned, and common sense and practicality also play a lot into that.

I would much rather a stick if i was facing someone with a knife. With the stick you can attack and they will still be out of range to cut you. I'm with you, a stick would be amazing in a knife fight. It's so easy to land a strike and break someone's arm, and if you had to, you could definately knock him out. Especially if you know how to use a stick. I'd love to see a master stick fighter vs. a master knife fighter.

I agree, and you will at LEAST get cut. It all comes down to how skilled the person is. If he's sloppy, you will most likely be able to see a slash or stab coming, giving you a chance to dodge a bit. I'm not saying you'll have time to think during the fight, fights are all very fast, but if you're trained, dodging should be instinct. You could then follow up using various procedures, however control is definately key. Don't try and grab the knife itself, but rather disable the arm or even the wrist to prevent another attack. Once you disable him for good and there is no threat, run your * out of there and call the police.

I see your point, however the situation could drastically change and he could then become increasingly agressive. I'm not saying the person would ask for money and then try to kill you, that would be pointless, as we'll all agree. A lot of gangs tend to shoot people for the hell of it, though. That reasoning is beyond me. Maybe they're racists and don't like your race, thinking it would be better to kill you than to let you live. It's a pretty sick world we live in, who knows why people do the things they do.

No, it definately isn't worth your money. For for multiple attackers, I think it would happen more often than not. The success rate is much higher for obvious reasons, and 2 or more people can easily overcome the average person. I personally haven't trained to disarm more than one person who may be carrying a gun or knife, however I have trained to take on multiple assiliants without weapons. If two people both came at me with guns drawn, I'm not sure what I'd do - but I'd do my best and follow the disarming techniques that I've been trained with, and pray that one wouldn't shoot me first. It's all about taking the person(s) out before they have time to think about the situation. Let them counter to your attacks, not the other way around - especially when weapons are involved.

I agree, however the officer may encounter situations when an officer is forced to put the gun away and physically deal with the situation. Ie: if the person is refusing to follow police commands and requests to do something. True, they'll probably get maced, but then you have follow-up procedures. They teach a lot in the academy, but I'm pretty sure a black belt in an art similar to Jujitsu would be able to control the person a little more efficiently.

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

Justice, I too have trained against rifles and handguns, but as you'll agree it would be the last thing we'd do. I think it's important that people train against various types of weapons so they can execute their tactics in drastic situations like these. Still, the odds of you being held up with a weapon may be slim, but I think everyone will agree that it would be nice to know how to control their weapon, and if need be, use that against them. This would be increasingly useful for gang-like situations, especially if they all had weapons. If you controled the knife of their friend, disarming him then immediately going on the defensive, they might think twice to take you down. If you can expertly use a knife (or any weapon), I think people will agree that it will give you a huge advantage if you were forced to fight.