ysc87

i use the lead leg a lot more now, but that's because i learned how to do it faster without having to shift my bodyweight beforehand (stances). i used to use a back/cat stance in tkd, now i use the bai-jong stance in everything, so that keeps me fairly neutral in balence. for a roundhouse or sidekick, you can shuffle your feet, and with your weight on your backleg in that instant, kick at the same time. faster, more powerful, non-telegraphic if you do it right, and has a better reach, because you just moved forward a foot or two in the process.

thanks-- looks like they added a lot of submission fighting to it.

That's not what I meant. I was talking about meditation and all that stuff. The Chinese MA schools here in Denmark do not care about this. The Japanese and Korean MA schools do however care and do practice it. Since I'm a Christian, I want to stay away from Buddhism and all that. Therefore I will only go for Chinese styles because they don't do stuff like that. that is really strange everywhere else in the world, it's the chinese schools that emphasize meditation. and besides, you don't need to be buddhist to meditate, and not only that- meditation does help in the long run, believe it or not.

well, all MAs that originate from all three countries have strong ties to buddhism, so that point is moot bjj- brazillian jujitsu km- krav maga

would you like fries with that?

looked up his bio-- pretty impressive. buff for an old guy not to mention that his pic with ali and bruce lee are pretty cool.

oh yeah, the full list is here, just in case you wanted to learn how to plan a tactical desert strike for some reason: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/

'combative fighting' -- i find that term to be redundant anyways, i used to be asked by my classmates (up until a few months ago-- just graduated) to teach basic self defense. and i did, to the best of my ability, to deliever everything in a simplified manner, everything from a shuffle side kick to a simple trapping sequence. however, i soon realized that not everyone that was asking me was endowed with certain physical traits needed to learn everything i was trying to teach them. so, i had to make this easier for everyone-- i couldn't exactly turn this into an all-out school, so i found an easier way-- found the army field guide (all of them are public domain) to h2h combat- to make a long and useless story short, i found that the guide was a good way to teach people with no experience whatsoever basic stuff without a hassle. not the most fluid, nor the most efficient way of doing things, but this guide can help everyone who is a little rusty on stuff like armlocks to kicks until they can properly learn it at their school of choice. think of it like bondo for your style. it's great for beginners and people who aren't sure that they haven't mastered their current art well enough to properly use it in certain situations. http://www.wanderworks.com/chilichokers/combatives_toc.htm as you can tell, it was 1 in the morning, i was bored, and i felt like being helpful for no reason whatsoever. cheers.

rhee? that guy from 'the best of the best'?

of course, because, as mentioned, what most westerners considered MAs during his time was karate. his writings and quotes are one the weaknesses of structures styles, karate just being the most obvious one. *edit* oh yeah, what is "american" tkd? jsut wondering.

if you're that concerned that two styles will conflict with each other, opt for a style that teaching a different aspect of fighting. there really is no reason you should dismiss a style just because it isn't the right nationality. simple idea: bjj/judo/jj- grappling boxing/jkd- mobility, ability to take punches KM- for mental drilling. as for the WC/tai chi mix, it's not a bad one, since you can apply either as you see fit, but that's like studying for a math test, then restudying everything because you found a different way to think about adding.

uh, no man-- "martial art" literally means "art of fighting/war" that dictionary meaning is just what we generally refer to as martial arts. as for "More of a sport art really, but were a real blade used it could be very effective. I would say if TKD or Judo can be called martial arts then so could fencing." have you ever fought against a person trained in tkd or judo? didn't think so. tkd is not an assortment of aerial kicks (as a matter of fact, it's closer to that karate you seem to enjoy so much), and judo is pretty darn effective. i'm quite tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. (curse this forum and its anti-cussing ) the fencing part: fencing as it stands now stands is a sport, but many of the concepts used is similar to boxing, and if you had a rapier or sabre, you'd be able to kill somebody pretty easily, so you can consider it a martial art, as long as you take 'martial art' literally, as i do.

go to your local library, and check out the tao of jeet kune do. it's an awesome read, and most readers aren't even jkd students. strong points are that it comes pre-mixed, taking most of the best and trying to put it together. you become a very well-rounded fighter. weak points: it really don't look all that intimidating compared to some traditional MA until you have to actually use it- i know it sounds stupid, but looking like you know what you're doing is probably the 1st line of defense when you're already in a fight. jkd probably isn't the best idea for anyone who has no experience in MA. train a few yeas in one art before starting to get a good base. jkd is basically what the student makes of it. I did tkd beforehand- so my kicking and sparring skills were pretty good. things that changed afterwards: my lead straight is now my go-to tool instead of a roundhouse/sidekick combo, i switched from left lead to right, and my footwork's improved drastically. and no matter what anyone says, it's not about bruce lee. it's about an idea we so readily embrace nowadays thanks to UFC and other stuff... instead of sticking to one style, switch off into different styles as you see fit.

more chinese than japanese influences, i believe. but saying "karate" is more understandable than "tang soo do"-- 'huh? is that some kind of food?'

this subject is of personal interest to me, because i also heard lee's quote about the karate vs the gungfu punch two years ago, and i wanted to find out for myself. i used to know a group of friends who trained in both arts (while i was taking TKD), and i asked to train along with both. the karate punch is essentially the same one that i was taught in tkd, so that was pretty easy to pull off. then i learned the lead straight that was so emphasised by lee, and that took a few weeks to get down to a passable level. i asked 5 or so friends to judge the difference using a kicking pad i had, and i found out that the jkd-style punch, where one movement accelerates the next one was slightly more powerful by a detectable amount. however, i don't think that anyone trained in karate for a long time should all of the sudden try to change their punches. you have to go with what you're comfortable with, not to mention that both styles of punches have their pros and cons. as for y2_sub, although you seem to have some issues everytime lee's name comes up, don't care so much, man. he's only a person. just a person who was a little too dedicated to martial arts, but that's why most of us love him. as for the "racist" thing, as an asian person, i'll explain it to all you yankees: this is applicable to most asian people who were born before the age of political correctness-- chinese and koreans don't trust each other but they both hate the japenese. but they were pissed because japan invaded and killed a lot of people in both countries. lee wasn't too fond of the racism shown to his countrymen before his time by the japenese, but he didn't hate them, just didn't have much love for them. but that really didn't have anything to do with his statement about the punches. he did, however, measure the power differences between the punches at caltech, i believe. (this i learned only a few months ago) oh yeah, props to IRKguy. best explanation i've heard so far.