ysc87

learn these by heart: 1) grab attacking arm, lean in towards opponent's body to go under his armpits while twisting his arm at the same time. you've got a basic arm lock 2) when your opponent throws a punch, be ready to dive in. get your arms around his thighs, put your head against his back, and put all your body weight into him. your basic double-leg takedown. learn how to grapple with friends if you can't get an instructor. i learned my grappling from the wrestling captian from my school, and i've enlisted my buddies as "sparring partners" aka punching bags. nothing beats experience and basic knowledge of attack, defense, and mobility.

it's easier said than done, lol. i used to be in the boy scouts, and i taught knife fighting/throwing to the older kids. it's not as simple as he throws a hook, you let him over your shoulder and you go back at him with a straight lead. the guy has an edge, and you don't know where the knife is 1/2 the time when you're in that range. it's not martial arts, it's a 2-man orgy.

you really don't have the advantage in the senario where a sharp edge comes into play, trained or not. you have be aware of EVERY movement and accept the fact that you're most likely going to get CUT. attack the joints immediately while getting out of the way. your most likely reaction will be to squat or swing wildly at the knife, which wont do anything. 1) assume a fighting position 2) keep yourself mobile 3) don't try to kick 4) keep your distance. 5) put all your effort into keeping the * away. from there, i hope you live.

there are people pushing for it, but not even close to passing yet... either the state leg. heard it already and threw it away, or it's still in the long and painful process of getting a bill to pass. it's doubtful that it'll get approved.

thanks for the clip... i needed a good laugh. and ditto on the "ouch"

you'll be decent with the techniques, and much better off than studying at a mcdojo thanks to your previous experiences, despite the fact that the equipment available at those locations are decent. however, don't expect to get anything more than a smirk and a shaking of th head from those serious about the MAs. don't bother considering yourself a black belt. my question is: why bother asking for an answer you (should) know already?

as time goes on, tradition becomes less and less important number-wise. mcdojos will still be around, and mmas will make up for a much larger portion of the schools available. arts such as jeet kune do, brazillian jujitsu, and muay thai will be much more widespread, thanks to media coverage. however, traditional martial arts like karate, TKD, kung fu... all will maintain it's number of participants. that's just my prediction for the next 10 years or so.

it's all about the motivation. if you hesitate, you're likely to a) not break the brick b) end up breaking your wrist instead break wood before even thinking about bricks.

because in the ufc, they are trained to see ANY opening and take the opponent down. but, TKD is an effective martial art, and i still can't figure out why everyone assumes all TKD kicks will go for the head.

lol... flashy. the faster and stronger your kicks, the more of an advantage you have. just keep planted when up against a grappler.

sounds like isometrics.

think muscle-wise... since triceps are used when extending, just flip around on your back and do dips.

let's just say it's much harder than beating a master of pilates.

good, because it's slightly more realistic in training. some places discourage head hits because of liability issues.

lol

taekwondo is the decendant of hwarangdo, a very old MA which appears very flashy, but is actually a very effective combantant art. closely tied to CMA. to me, it's like TKD is hwarangdo with all the complexity watered down, the hand movments simplified, the weapons training cut, the internal aspect taken out, and much more linear. As bad as that sounds, TKD is probably among the most straight-foward MAs available, and i find the kicking i learned from it valuable. if you like upper-body power, kungfu is pretty good, as "flashy" as you may think it is. but if you think any complex move is flashy, stick to boxing styles.