Smitty

As said before, the whole "Do what works for you" thing has been around forever Every time I've heard someone quote Bruce Lee, it's been something either age-old ( i.e. Be like water, flow or however he put it) or common sense (Boards don't hit back). Does someone have to be a movie star before people will actually pay attention to what others have been saying for a long time?

You're better of with just a plain white gi. You don't have to look pretty.

Hey all. Would we happen to have anyone on here that attends the Blue Ridge Kung Fu school in Abingdon, VA? I understand that Sil Lum is taught there. I'm planning a trip down there to meet a friend and I'm wondering if it's worth my time.

Myself? I'm real comfy within elbow range. Get in a low kick, a punch or some other strike, maybe an elbow or knee, and go for a throw/sweep. Some grappling inevitably comes as well.

This, Smitty, sounds like a shot in the solar plexus to me. There is not much muscle protection in that area, so the layer of fat may have protecteed it before you started loosing it. The only real good protection for this is a good block! Is that what the area immediately beneath the sternum is called? I always just thought of it as part of the abs.

Still... 70? 1 kata every two months? Seems a bit much. It takes years to "master" a kata, and having that many to practice seems a bit time consuming.

The wind is getting knocked out of me. It's mostly in the middle of the stomach, but it's very sharp and lasts for a few minutes, then it disappears. It's really only after a solid shot. I realize theres a separation of my abs in the center, but it never really bothered me before. I've been sparring full contact since day one. I guess I'll just have to have people punch me in the stomache more.

I'm pretty sure I'm not over training... 3 setrs of 15 slow controled crunches, hanging knee raises, paralell leg raises (I think that's what it's called... sorta like knee raises but the legs are straight) and incline crunches. 3 Days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. What other info is needed?

Wait wait wait. What? Not that hard? 38 katas? I've never heard of a system having that many. Heck, mine has 12. Do you spend a long time perfecting every little thing, or do you just have to know the movements? That post made no sense to me.

Ok, I'm having a mid-section training problem, and it's baffling me. I've been weight training for a while now, and I'm seeing the fat around my abs go down little by little. But it's also happened that while the fat has been disappearing, I've been unable to take stomach shots as well. I've been doing ab training as well. Right now, I have a hard time taking shots even when tensed. Does fat act as some sort of protection, or can someone tell me if I'm training wrong? If I am, can someone give me a solution? Maybe I need to add weight?

The worst I've gotten is 2 chipped teeth.

I never wash my belt. It's worn down, and I'm proud to say that it happened naturally. I do wash my gi, however. I only bleach it whenever it's really dirty.The only stains ours are allowed to have is blood.

You should really wait at least a day before working whatever muscle group again. 3 sets of 10 doesn't seem like too much. But remember to eat right, lotsa protein, and get a full night's sleep.

100 pressups daily? That's a bit overtraining. I hear you can do that for your abs, but your chest needs rest. Take 2 weeks off your pressups, then do it every 3 days or so. Don't be suprised if your max pressup rep shoots up after the break.

I wouldn't call it plenty (3 years or so). But I'm pretty confident I know what I'm doing. I'm not a dan like some of the guys here, and I don't do multiple styles like alot of guys either, but I'm sure I can figure it out for myself. And if I can't figure something out, I have enough people around with enough experience to figure it out. Around here? I've met most of them, and I refuse to send her to one of the korean arts (no, I'm not biased, I'm not impressed with the schools), and the other arts aren't available. Which is also out of the question, sadly. I wish I could, because she's always receptive and remembers when I teach her an escape or hold, and can do it fairly well with little practice (I still have trouble figuring out how she absorbs things faster than I do.) I wouldn't know where to begin breaking Goju down, or what to teach. Most of what I've taught her was impromptu, such as counters to hair grabs). Which is why I'm seeking someone with knowledge of Defendo, because Haganah seems solid (I'll take your word for it, glockmeister) and I also investigated Krav Maga, which seems solid. Someone's gotta know something about Defendo.

She doesn't like my Sensei because she came to the dojo one night when we were fighting, and he tried to help out. She told me "He needs to butt out and mind his own business." As for my friends, it's mistrust towards her because of our less than perfect relationship in the past, and I guess she doesn't take kindly to that, even though they've never met, save for one of them. No, she doesn't. I just figured I'd feel out how well she could take care of herself, as her town isn't the best place in the world (full of crackheads and thieves...and I'm not exaggerating). She couldn't fight at all, which prompted my search. As for your comment on play fighting, I thought of the bad technique, and I do my best to use good technique, and I treat it just like kumite. I know students from most of the other schools in town. There's a Tang Soo do school, and I've participated before with them, and there is 0 personal attention, and no philosophy. The tae kwon do school in town isa mcdojo. The Judo/ jujutsu school is only for the local college students, and there's a group of practicing aikidoka, but they don't teach, just practice for themselves. Which brings me back to my original problem.

1. In my experience, Shotokan is VERY linear in technique. Very powerful. Also gets a bad rap for being a sport-martial art. 2. Yes. You'll be grounded alot more... as in, hardly, if ever, going to the air. I'm not sure about the katas you'll learn. There's a tang soo do school in town that my Sensei taught one of the blackbelts all his kata. (My Sensei is also a sandan in shotokan.) I'm not sure how much it bleeds over. Waayy fewer kicks. 3.I don't think grappling is taught in most schools. I'm sure most of the katas have grappling techniques in the bunkai, though.

Ok, here's my situation. I have a girlfriend. She doesn't like that I practice Goju... at all. We play fight all the time and her skills are... limited, and I worry about her. I tried to get her to come to my dojo, but she doesn't exactly like my Sensei, nor any of my friends there. I'd love to teach her something, but I don't feel my Sensei would like me teaching her Goju, but she said she's open to learning. I refuse to send her to the other school in town, they don't teach ethics, and there's no personal attention. Anyway, I was reading through an old issue of Blackbelt and saw an add for the F.I.G.H.T. Hagana (spelling is off), and then later, for Defendo CQBs C.O.R.E system. This got me to thinking that maybe I could buy one of those, and perhaps teach her that instead. It's not exactly my favored choice, but it's the only path I see. Are those kind of programs any good? And if so, can someone recommend me one of the better ones?

We learn 5 foundational katas, and 5 taikyoku katas, with several variations to them. Then we learn gekisai dai ichi, gekisai dai ni, and saifa at 5th kyu. After that, we learn a new kata at each belt, until shodan, when you learn 5: Seiyunchin, Shisochin, Sanseru,Kururunfa, and Suparumpei (I know I botched the spelling on that one.)

Are you sure? Alot of "jujutsu" techniques are contained within karate. Throws, joint locks, ect are contained within karate. I'm positive when you dissect your katas, you would find that karate is not "just" punching, blocking, and kicking. Most katas have some sort of grappling bunkai to them.

Sanchin ni ?? That's a first yeah that was the first time I've heard of it too.Maybe his sensei or organization made it.Also I've heard of sanchin being practiced with closed hands and open hands,so maybe he's reffering to the open handed version.He also might be referring to Yamaguchi Sensei's version of Sanchin. From what I understand, it was made with turns to make it more tournament-usable.

It varies by school. As I understand it, only one "branch" of Goju-Ryu does. I've seen the kata... it starts out like Seisan, with the 3 punches, does 2 step back low blocks, then it's basically Gekisai Dai Ni.

yes I should add that to my profile eh.....hum.....done. and the childerns first kata are tiakiokogedan (not sure of spelling just quite yet) Taikyoku gedan? We all learn it. It frustrates most everyone that there are minor variations that we have to practice again and again... it's irritating.

Could anyone out there give me a link to information, books, or videos pertaining to the Martial art CQC?

I'm aware. The whole point is to find out if any Goju-Ryu practicioners were taught katas not "offically" Goju. Sorry if I'm being vauge.