baronbvp

My Shorin Ryu renshi trained Combat Cane. That would be great. You'd be one hella old man!

Southeast Asia: Muay Thai, then Okinawan karate, then JKD North America: MMA (has superseded American boxing IMO) Europe: Kickboxing South America: BJJ Middle East: Krav Maga Northern Asia: Russian Sambo

Technically, yes, but I don't think they are used much. Round kicks and front kicks are much more common. If the side kick is a good kick for you, then use it. Just be careful you don't open your support leg to a kick from your opponent. Your groin can also be exposed.

Them: "You do martial arts? Aren't you kind of...old?" Me: "Yes." Them: "Can you break boards and bricks?" Me: "No, I've never been attacked by a board or a brick."

Congratulations! Very well earned. I like your attitude: you are now a brown belt with something to learn, as opposed to one with something to prove. That will make your black belt that much easier to earn.

Exactly. I think you made a bigger deal of this than either the kid or parents. That's certainly a better way to go than the other way around. If it was my daughter or son who got hit, I would be using it a perfect example of why defense is as important as offense, if not more so. Both my two older children are blue-green belts in Shorin Ryu. I thought they didn't spar enough, but they actually sparred more than the adults. For the kids, it was required; not so for the adults. (Where's THAT logic?) Sparring is great for kids because it teaches them a few key things as you know: 1. You can take hits and not cry or die 2. Hitting someone else isn't as easy as it looks 3. The opponent is human and doesn't want to be hit, unlike a pad or mitt or heavy bag that is there as a target for your training. 4. You will get tired. 5. You need to learn how to breathe properly. These are confidence builders. Of all the things I think MA do to help kids, these lessons carry over best to school and other bully situations. I don't care how well they can do a naihanchi sandan or pinan shodan kata; I do care how well they learn their sparring lessons. That includes trying to figure out how to attack and defend against an adult sparring partner. You're doing fine.

"Howard Johnson's right that Gabby Johnson's right." (Sorry, that Blazing Saddles quote just popped right in my head.) I think the point of this excellent article is very clear. I also don't think there is as much misunderstanding going on here as some have said. People are human and comprised of the same parts. Some are more trained or in better shape or have stronger minds than others. But, unless you are not from here - like Klingon or something - we are all human. When I have fought, I have been aware of the humanity of the other person. Some can be reasoned with. Others cannot. The trick once fighting begins is to use your human mind, body, and spirit to defeat the other person's human mind, body, and spirit. The training is a detail - an important detail that likely will govern the outcome, but a detail nonetheless. Humans have the same pressure points, weaknesses, pain centers, need for oxygen, etc. That was MA's point. If you hit a knee, it will hurt, may break, may cripple someone. The biggest and strongest football players still cannot take overwhelming contact on weak parts of the human anatomy. It's human physiology. Remember Bo Jackson? One hit the wrong way on his hip during a tackle, and his career was over. Somewhere in here, probably in a Muay Thai thread, is a link to video of a good professional MT fighter breaking his own leg against the shin block of another fighter. Pure physics. I think this was a great article. I'd love to see more.

This is why dojos have the right to refuse to train someone or ask them to leave. If someone is creating a dysfunctional training atmosphere, and the instructors can't control it, they can refund the balance of their money and ask them to find another, more suitable place to train. That, of course, requires the lead instructor or dojo owner to decide. Your personal option is to find yourself a more suitable place to train.

Well said! That gives me something to think about.

Very true. Regardless of their application in sparring or real fighting, they remain very popular. Apparently so does this thread! 46 pages, wow.

Any idea who? That's a pretty stellar career path. I'll bet he hurts when wakes up in the morning, though.

A huge problem is that everyone trains to stop their blows to avoid the hard hit. Then, when the chips are down in a real fight, all of a sudden you aren't punching with power. That's why I like to picture punching the brain and internal organs when I strike. Aim for that point several inches inside the body.

I can understand everyone's frustration. I'm not sure who would hire him - at least not as a starter.

That is a good idea. I may do that, but I'm really not interested in training with legacy, traditional MA weapons such as Okinawan farm implements. Gun, knife, etc defense interests me - modern day weapons. Using a cane or umbrella to defend would be interesting. But I would most likely start fencing again before I did any other weapon training.

What's the word on the street about his future with the team?

Maybe Peyton will take Rex for a ride in his new Super Bowl MVP Cadillac.

Yep. I'll always have a fondness for Hulk Hogan. Those dudes now are so big and strong. Imagine what they do in MMA if they trained.

Spectacular! No, I love what I'm currently doing. Right now I plan to stick with Muay Thai and BJJ. If I find that I can't hang - and I'm pretty stubborn and feisty - then I'll worry about changing. I just like to have a backup plan. Quitting altogether is not an option now that I finally have the time to train.

I don't have your real-life or professional experience, so I will acquiesce. I agree that the buildup to any competition is worse than the competition itself.

One of the last times I sparred in shorin ryu, I threw some great punches to my opponent's head. It was light contact, but the sensei stopped the match. He and the student (who was way more advanced than me) asked why I was throwing punches to the head when that was against the rules. Nobody has ever mentioned it to me before even though I had sparred quite a bit. I was totally unaware of that rule and asked what could possibly be the justification. It was as you said. I sparred one more time with no head strikes, and it was just too tame. That's why I left karate for Muay Thai, which I like better. If you can't train to throw and defend against punches to the head, you aren't training to fight.

That's a great point, jaymac.

Great, I'll look around, thanks. That link to the senshido.com website told me I didn't have permission to enter the server.

Great answer! Thank you, and congratulations on your fortitude.

I understand your point but I disagree. A no-kidding life and death situation is more stressful than a professional fight. When you are literally fighting for your life, your motivation to succeed is as strong as it can ever get. MMA guys do not train how to attack and kill people with knives, guns, and other weapons - most military people, at least those who could or do see combat, do. You are right, no one trains by actually taking those lethal training encounters to real conclusions. That only happens in combat. But the mental leap required to take a life is not something MMA guys are exposed to.

I found CL last summer when I had to sell some stuff for a move. I started straying outside the boundaries of the For Sale categories. Once I got into Best of and Rants and Raves, I was hooked. It was a bit too vitriolic, so I had to quit. Now I just do KF. Are you hooked?