ravenzoom

In Judo it's: White Yellow Orange Green Blue Brown Black Red (when achieving a high Dan grade - don't remember which one. As you acquire more Dans, your belt stays red but with more and more white in it. So once you're at the highest rank you come back to white (with some red)

Well Steven Seagal uses Aikido in his movies, although more violently. You should get a good idea of what it is though.

I love Aikido with its gracious moves, and I would love to take it one day. However, it is one of the martial arts that takes the longest amount of time to get proficient in. So if you're looking for a quick fix I do not recommend Aikido. However, if you're patient and don't care about quickly becoming street effective by all means go for it.

I'm fairly new to this forum and I must say I love it. And yes it does influence my perception on martial arts and its different aspects. Knowing other people's opinions is great and I must say that this forum helps me continue Judo. I think it is easy to discourage oneself, but this time I believe I will keep practicing Judo for a long time, which I like a lot, and I have to say this forum will help me in my accomplishment of that.

Where I'm from it takes about 4 years to reach brown belt. Then you have to earn 120 points to have the right to pass your blackbelt. You earn 30 points every year if you simply attend your normal Judo lessons, so for someone doing this it's another 4 years hence a total of 8 years. You can shorten the time between brown and blackbelt by competing and attending seminars (mostly by competing though)

Treebranch wrote: I agree

I don't wear any cups, and neither does the other students.

Good point Gumbi, I concur (some little british here!! ). Joking aside, I agree with what you said in your last post about Judo's effectiveness proven in MMA fights. And also, sometimes you don't want to beat the crap out of the guy, so grappling comes in handy.

Ray Mercer WAS an excellent boxer. I looked at him on this clip and he looked so old, and out of shape it was pathetic. Tyson is in a better shape than him that's for sure, so he'd surely fare better. If i would of been Mercer, I would of come in close real quickly in the fight to take out his kicking power. But then again, I believe Mercer was too old to even move quickly inside.

Well if you want to learn how to grapple, Judo is the way between these two (although JJJ has some grappling moves). But Judo comes from JJJ, and is concentrated on grappling. A thing that not all people seem to know is that Judo does teach a ground game and that there are chokes, arm bars, etc. And if you're in a good dojo you'll see a lot of ground game, at least this is the case in my dojo.

Well first would you rather practice a striking or a grappling art?

Well Seagal is black belt in Aikido, kenjutsu, and has training in karate, judo and jujitsu, so Maybe he mixes all those styles in his movies.

I guess it also depends on the style you practice. Boxers may tend to strike first compared to a Judo guy for example. When I did Wing Chun my sifu once said to me that with two untrained fighters the one who strikes first has a good chance of winning, but an untrained fighter who strikes first a proficient martial artist has a good chance of losing. So I guess it depends on what style you practice, and how trained you are.

Are you saying that Muay Thai fighters have better hand strikes than boxers? I agree with SevenStar

This thread really does surprise me. I never thought people in the US did carry so many weapons. Here where I live (Canada) few people carry weapons (Well I guess). I love the States and I go to Florida almost every winter, but I never thought of the possibility that the people I run accross when I'm there could be armed. This is somewhat frightning

Hey thanks for letting us know. I'm happy for your gold medal, and you seem to take our defeats positevely, that is a very good point

SevenStar: I agree with that. What I meant is that two guys who have the same physique, but one has some extra fat he should be able to deliver more power from what I have heard. For example one guy who ways 230 and the other 250 (if lean would weigh 230).

Perhaps. Could you name those you have in mind?

I'm 25 and I just started Judo which I really like. I did a bit of other martial arts earlier on in my life, but now i really believe I will stick with Judo for a long time

My reasons: Self-Defense Another sport outside of hockey to keep me fit (well lose weight also) Hoping to get some self confidence and self-control Because I really like grappling

I really don't take anything you say as criticism, on the contrary I want advice from other people who have experience on the subject. I'm a very calm person naturally, but when I get tensed up like that I have problems controlling myself and I hate it when this happens, and I would like to have better self control under such circumstances, so any advuce you give me is a great benefit. Thanks

Nice reply, I agree, but: Now that I'm my normal self I don't know if I could of simply made such a pacific intervention. Not that I would have punched the kid that's for sure - heck I'm a teacher - But I surely would have got hold of his collar and took him off the guy. Now, I don't know how I would've reacted if he or his friends had tried to jump me afterwards. I know these are all suppositions, but I believe they could have happened if the fight had went a little longer. I also know it sounds foolish, but you're right when you say it would have been an emotional reaction, but how do you control those?

Thugs or tough guys don't always pick on weaker people. Some just like to fight. Where I live, some just like to pick up fights in bars to act tough and probably prove to themselves they are MALES - a real man - ridiculous you say and I agree, but some people are just plain stupid and enjoy beating the crap out of someone just to speak about it with their other primates, and have the reputation of a tough guy. In big cities I'm sure this is not the same, but in place of 60 000 people like where I live you get to know the toughs and they like it. Luckily enough, every man meets his challenge and gets defeated, you just don't always know who your picking on

Oh boy I'm really not in your league!! If I do 15 really well done push-ups I'm done. I'm 5'11 200 lbs (weighed 185 last summer) and I could never have even imagined doing 50 real good push-ups at this weight. Not that I'm weak, I've always graded above average in strength tests (for hockey). I don't know I guess I ain't good at them. But I really do believe that push-ups are not really important for getting good at martial arts or earning a black belt - hell if this was the case I'd have no chance (and I hate doing push-ups!!!!!) p.s. Perhaps I should slack the beer a bit - ha Canadians!!

Apparently, having some body fat makes you stronger than if you don't have any. I don't mean obese here but a proportion of fat supposedly does increase power. This is one of the reasons why the world's strongest man all (or almost all) have some extra fat.