baronbvp

Yep, except my natural instinct right now is to avoid my shoulders being pinned and go to my stomach. That's the worst place for a grappler! I also don't know how to finish yet. Pins don't mean much compared to chokes and locks.

Oh, bummer!

I'd say you did great, brother. Sometimes they won't let it go and won't let you NOT fight. Great job protecting your wife and yourself. Chalk up a success and thank yourself and your instructors. Then uncork a bottle of champagne with your wife.

NightOwl, I am doing Combat Submission Grappling right now. Here's the blurb from my JKD school's website: I haven't seen the biting and pinching part. My previous post was about freestyle wrestling. I wrestled for a year in high school and wanted to research those moves again and perhaps practice some.

Definitely. You don't want to be a lead foot, but rather light on your feet. I think when you see a good fighter who is light on his (or her) feet and has great footwork, they rarely if ever bounce. This is especially true if they train for long matches and don't assume the fight will end in one minute.

Or stop bouncing. Save your energy.

Sensei Tom, thanks for the complete rundown.

How did it go? I was still on the road and missed it.

From what I've seen, no MT guy or drunk human is going to be punching Buakaw in the face while he's round kicking them. I have seen this discussion a few times, about guard during kicks and whether to 360 spin on the round kick follow through. From what I've observed, a good MT practitioner delivering a solid, well-timed round kick can do almost anything with his arms and hands he wants, including swinging them to get more power. You either defend against that kick or get dropped.

I don't see shin guards, but this stuff comes in pink: http://www.karatedepot.com/pr-se-001.html

Good post, gzk.

Thanks, men. Good discussion.

This is great stuff! The military trains this way very often in military combat arts, survival training, hostage training, etc. The value of training against an unpredictable, realistic opponent equally determined to win is what makes full contact sparring so worthwhile. My school doesn't do things quite this exotic, but we do spar on Saturdays from the getgo all the way to submission or knock out. I haven't done it yet because I would be tapping soon after ending up on the ground, but it can get fairly...um...robust. I think you are right on, cross. The more realistic, the better. I will mention these ideas to my instructor to see if we can have some more realistic sessions. I love the testing you use, ps1 - a great idea. Obviously, people have to agree to be trained this way before hand, but I haven't seen anyone who didn't think it valuable afterward. One thing this kind of training can lead to is an honest assessment by people about whether they are really prepared to do what it takes to resolve a situation. If anything, I think most people realize even more that street fighting or threat defense is not a game. They soberly remind themselves not to get involved in situations that don't concern them.

In my school, we say "tap tap tap" because it's what you're thinking anyway. If I was winning a street fight and someone yelled "STOP!" I might. If I was losing, no way.

Congrats DWx! KF MOM props.

Wow, that's still impressive, Ottman. My hips are WAY too inflexible for Capoeira or anything like that. In fact, I have to really wok on my lower body flexibility just to grapple properly.

I do too. My MT instructor kept harping on me for facing too forward instead of sideways like boxer. I like to switch leads and often do, and I love to lead with my left. But my right is just weak as a reverse punch. More practice!

True, very true. I just think those opportunities don't arise that often in real fights or intense matches. But I've seen video of some mean Muay Thai high round kick knockouts, so I know they work. One of the reasons I don't like them is because I can't do them.

I agree that MMA is the rule set. But today's MMA guys, the younger ones, often train exclusively for that environment. The example you give also works for street brawlers. They don't just take "anyone" in the ring. You have to work your way through the lower levels of MMA before being accepted to fight in Pride, K1, or UFC. You wear MMA gear for punching and grappling. I think the closest analogy is boxing. If you call boxing a martial art - and a lot of people didn't used to because it was western, used no feet or weapons, etc - then MMA fighting is similar. The real discussion should perhaps revolve around definitions of martial art, martial sport, fighting style, martial artists versus martial athletes, and so on. Ultimately, IMO, when someone says they're an MMA guy or their style is MMA, it puts a certain understanding in our minds about what martial art they practice or train - the newest one.

VERY nice, Bushido Man! That same line of reasoning could be used about tattoos. That would make a good signature.

Ah, motivation! Pilates and JKD. Thanks, James. Would you say it was worth it to fight power side forward as a primary style?

Looks boring but effective.

True dat. I have been reading about Pilates to try and lengthen my long muscles and become more flexible. I plan to add Pilates concepts to my stretching regimen. There's a good book I checked out of the library called Pilates for Men, by Elyse McNergney. It adds dumbbell weights and leans out the moves to those that will help men specifically build core strength, flexibility, and power.

Now you're talking my language, Bushido Man! One of the funniest times I ever spent was with some other dudes, trying to demo to each other what we thought was effective. We'd had many beers and ended up laughing and saying a lot of, "well, what I was TRYING to show you was..." I think these conversations are very fruitful. I'd love to hear more thoughts people have.

Me too! I am way too linear. As a lefty, when I do straight lead, I feel like my right cross power punch is a weak little thing. My round kick is better since my preferred right leg becomes my back leg, but it just does not feel natural. I switch to straight left lead when I get tired, but I prefer leading with my right jab. I still don't duck, bob, or weave enough. (Or maybe well enough.)