JusticeZero

It occurs to me, the other thing you can do is just test him. Walk up and hand him the shodan requirements, and say "You're testing in four months." and walk away before he can object. Get some reasonably senior student to talk to him or something if he wants to panic about it. Someone who can offer advice but obviously can't do a damn thing to change your mind or anything else. He'll either pull it off, or flee. Both are in a way a win for you.

Totally theoretical.. Try setting him some goal he could do in his sleep. then slowly notch it up in a way that it LOOKS like you're only adding really small amounts to it. But babystep it up REALLY OFTEN and in so many tiny ways that it's not immediately apparent that you're gearing up to a hard workout. However, i'd guess that you just can't change the guy. He'll crumple the moment any pressure is put on him, and you won't be able to fix that. fortunately he agrees that he doesn't want to advance, so he'll be content with helping the new people and such and paying regular dues.

Both arts you mentioned are about as far from "end a fight with quick blows" as you can get. Aikido -can- be really effective, eventually, once it steeps in long enough. Focuses on catching an attack and evading it and tying the attacker into knots with it. JJ - you used the Brasilian spelling, thus probably BJJ, which focuses on taking a person to the ground then slowly using awareness of the opponent and balance to be able to put them into a submission.

It sounds like you like the BJJ. One thing to note is that a lot of BJJ people do other things for standup too, and maybe one of your classmates will help you find something.

the problem with striking with the crown isn't the strength of the skull, it's that your spine is bent. When you follow through with your hips it puts strain on your neck and spine. The top of your head however is in line so better for many purposes, much the same as the importance of a straight wrist when punching. Striking with the crown is like punching with the hands bent in order to strike with the peak of the knuckles. nice in theory but try punching a bag with a bent wrist for power....

Ninjutsu/Taijutsu has 15 dans. 1-10 are skill ranks and 11-15 are 'giving back to the art' ranks. Subtract 5 and you get what other arts with 10 dans would give, since the difference is that those arts have 5 'skill' dan instead of 10. IIRC, you need 5th dan before you can teach. Nonetheless, 14th sounds oddly high. I don't track ninjutsu circles and haven't for decades, so couldn't speak to that rank.

I suppose. Not all that dramatic, though. Doesn't look all that flashy to me, no jumping or anything like that.

Does seem odd that Bruce Lee would have 'certified people in Wing Chun' as he never got to a very high level in that art - nothing that he could teach with certainly. Or any other art he studied that i'm aware of. One of the things that I always found sad about Bruce Lee was that he invested tremendous effort and hard work bouncing through systems creating, though sheer natural talent and perseverence and genius, a set of principles and ideas which any one of his teachers would have tought him had he invested the time in developing the foundations they were trying to give to him as a basis for the 'transcending of form' which he spent years trying to accomplish. Through natural genius and hard work, he discovered concepts that he would have been taught readily by his teachers if he would have stopped being so impatient to learn the 'secrets' for long enough to learn the skills on which the 'secrets' needed to be built upon. Pretty much the essence of most things American, though.

The way I learned it, it's effective. The way most teachers seem to teach, it won't be. Is it the 'ultimate fighting art for the new millenium', no. It takes certain focus to learn to fight with it and many teachers don't teach those things. Is it unbeatable? No. It is highly mobile and works at a couple of different ranges and has a few tools that are relatively unique to it. It has some very advanced concepts of timing in it.

1- AIKIDO - Modern/Traditional 2- JUDO - Modern 3- KRAV MAGA - Modern 4- NINJUTSU - Traditional 5- SIPALKI - not familiar 6- TAEKWONDO not enough info - Traditional/Modern? 7- JEET KUNE DO - Mixed 8- KICKBOXING - Modern 9- MUAY THAI - Traditional, often taught as part of Mixed 10- BOXING - Traditional 11- WING CHUN - not enough info 12- KUNG FU SAN SOO - not enough info 13- BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU - Modern, often taught as part of Mixed 14- ASHIHARA - not familiar 15- KUDO DAIDO JUKU - ??? 16- KYOKUSHINKAI KARATE-DO - Traditional 17- HAPKIDO - Modern 18- CAPOEIRA - Depends.. as the term encompasses quite a few arts (equivalent to ryu or forms of karate/jujutsu/gungfu) Main issue being how you are determining the difference between 'Modern' and 'Traditional'.

These are, IIRC, fairly standard external gungfu styles. Techniques of joint and muscle manipulation - focusing on using anatomical knowledge, lots of grabbing of muscles and twisting of arms and wrists and things. Internal style - usually softer and gentler which, depending on the teacher, can be good (Efficient!) or bad (Lazy!) - that focuses on footwork.This is, of course, coming from someone with limited knowledge of CMA styles.

Also, don't just look at the phone book. Most MA schools can't afford to be in the phone book and use word of mouth. Drive around, ask people, look in the community center's event catalog, and so on. There is no Capoeira in the phone book anywhere in Alaska, and yet there are two other teachers in my area other than me, near Anchorage. I think that most of the kung fu styles I know are around are also not in the phone book.

Sure, it's extremely practical for a woman, but usually women aren't "practical" anywhere near as much as they are confined by extremely restrictive comfort levels.

It doesn't matter, continuing pain for the better part of one week is enough to direct you to a doctor, let alone two.

Not familiar with the key shapes (depth, hand position, transitions) of that version of that stance, so it's hard to say. I know that forward force can be deflected with the arm in the step into ginga on the sides, and the guard arm is useful for stuffing in that position, but that's likely got some differences.

I don't have people do 'calisthenics before class', I have them do exercizes that will warm their core temperature up so that they won't tear anything when we start drilling the kicks and such that follow it.

*shrugs* Ginga in my room. Do reps of queda de rins and esquiva. Not much else you can do, but those I can do even in a shoebox apartment as long as the floor is clean.

Grappling is a good tactic when you have the friends and control of space. Jujutsu was developed as a police art, for instance. It works great if your opponent is the rogue element in an area where people are basically cheering you on or giving you space. If you're the rogue element, it falls apart. Issue is that if you're the rogue element and don't have control of the area, then it's advantageous for the other guy to use grappling against you. So you'll want to at least be familiar with it so that you can counter the basics. The reverse is true however, if you try to grapple someone who wants to escape the situation, you'll need to expect a rain of strikes coming your way.

Teach an attack, teach the counter to the attack, teach a different attack, teach the counter to that attack. Have people drill against each other dynamically slowly using only those four techniques and being very picky about proper form.

If someone comes to my class with a martial art background, I want to know what it is. In fact, I ask directly. I also ask if they have dance experience or do any other sport with great regularity. Reason: That means there's some things I can pick up on that will be contradictory to their experience, or be meaningful to someone in their art, and highlight them for them. For instance, I can tell the taiji person the exact points where the stances differ and where they are similar, and with a bit of research I can get some of the CMA terminology of hard to explain concepts. I can specifically point out to the BJJ guy the points and tricks i'm using to avoid turning my back. I can watch for the things that are a good habit in their art that are a bad habit in mine instead of taking the shotgun approach. I don't want to hear anything about wearing your other belt to class. You may have a brown belt in Isshin-ryu Karate. That's all well and good. But you still haven't even earned one in my class. Likewise, if I go to your Isshin-ryu class, i'll be wearing a white belt. I haven't studied Isshin-ryu before. If I go there, it's to learn how Isshin-Ryu does things, not to show off my mighty skill. People who just came into the class and don't know how things are done in that school don't get to wear colorful belts.

Totally depends on the framework of the art you're building onto. And I don't know anything about yours. so I can't help in that regard.

I'd just get comfortable shoes with boot soles. But on the closing thing - if he attacks you, you don't need to worry about "closing the gap". He'll close it for you.

Sorry, but I don't do stuff barefoot. That's one of my main targets for hand strikes. I can go for ear slaps if you prefer? I'm sure the chinese stylists will be annoyed by having one of their favorite techniques removed.. Sure the grappling stylists who use that for a large part of their arsenal won't be pleased with that.. sort've like telling a boxer they can compete as long as they don't punch, i'd think. Personally, i'd prefer something about 15 feet diameter made out of asphalt or concrete. The edges I don't mind, so long as hitting them pretty much ends the fight. A dropoff works, maybe.

Just keep doing it. It does help.

I've heard it claimed that Boxing does, but it doesn't seem like it to me. Asian, African, etc. arts are based on their own things.