JusticeZero

You might see if there's any Savate groups around. If not, some JKD schools use Lee's somewhat fencing-like stance work. Both claim direct ties to Fencing.

Seven or eight years.

It's hard on everyone. I've dropped classes down to an hour of ginga practice and nothing else because of seeing things like that; basically "I was going to drill a combo entrance into a throw and two kicks, but since some of you are having trouble with ginga, that's what we're working today." I presume the Karate equivalent would be "I had planned to work on the next part of the form you need for your test, but instead we're going to practice stepping in front stance for the whole class."

If I see a bow stance appear in class, I pretty much drop everything i'm doing to correct that form mistake because a bow stance is just plain wrong on so many levels. If I were to take the body position that I correct it into in a CMA class, the teacher acts in the same way, dropping everything to go correct it back to a bow stance. In both cases the teacher is putting their full attention into undoing the other teacher's work.

I'm the same height as you are, significantly heavier, and I am teaching. Just do it.

Been noticing that my throws have been getting rusty, but I don't have anyone I can spend the time throwing, and I don't want to spend some of my students' days with him just getting thrown so that I can keep up, given that he's paying someone to be there (that someone not being me, so I can't give him a price break) and i'm not. Was wondering if anyone might be able to come up with some tips on how to keep in practice. The ones i'm trying to work on all work with the principle of stopping the ankle then forcing the knees backward, the one i'm worried about most does so trapping the lower leg between the thighs (taking form precautions to protect the groin - pretwist) and twisting with the hips so that one leg is behind the ankles, and the other crosses the knees. (Sounds strange and awkward, but it's an application of a movement we do all the time for other reasons.)

That's not so much a conflict with taiji as it is with CMA in general though. The things that make up a good stance in taiji or other Chinese arts will kill you in Capoeira because they're just plain wrong, incurably so. Then you try walking into taiji class with a bow stance where your back foot is facing forward, your heel is high off the ground, and your torso is leaning forward and you'll get both barrels for that.

The word 'but' negates everything before it. "I want to learn to fight but first I.." really means "I do not want to learn to fight". So far, the rule that if someone says they want to do some preparatory training before beginning training, that they will never actually do the thing they claim to want to do, holds 100% true. If there was a way to ensure payment, I would bet hard money on you never starting martial arts lessons if you insist on 'getting into shape first", and I would consider it free money with no risk. So forget this nonsense about getting into shape first and just sign up.

So in other words, you have no intention of actually going into a self defense class? Because that's what that sentence really means. If you want to take the self defense class, go there right now and sign up, even if you are roughly spherical and can barely walk. If you want to take up bicycling, get a bike from anywhere and hit the road in the morning or earlier. Either activity will help you to achieve the ends you want. Saying you want to get in shape first is like saying you want to learn how to speak a foreign language, but before you take the class you want to go to the other country so that you'll look cool in class. Kind've backwards.

No, yes, yes, yes. Make sure to work stretches after bicycling, it only develops a relatively small range of movement and many bicyclists have specific flexibility deficits from it.

Well, in future, schedule your dates around class, goof. =)

Sure, bones will break with enough pressure. I don't see many people discussing how to break a hip, though, even though that would be pretty darned effective of a way to end a conflict. How do you casually break someone's hip? It's strong enough and well enough reinforced as to make it pretty hard to generate the necessary force. Same with the neck; I carried a heavy wooden bookcase for half a mile on my head once, and I use my head as a striking tool for full body power strikes. The weak point there isn't the neck.

You don't need to warn the guy about anything. By committing a crime, you take responsibility fr some consequences. Tell him not to come near you, and if he does and does something that resembles an attack, then you can later say 'you were afraid for your life' and it fully justifies one good solid attack.

Yeah, you can get by with Spanish, but there's a bunch of linguistic traps to trip you up, so be careful if you do. And I don't find the combination of Capoeira with internal arts to be all that odd, though the conflicts with body dynamics drives me up the wall.

I double that. Just eat healthy, drink lots of water every day, not much sugar and soft breads, shy away from caffiene, fatty foods only in moderation, and stay active.

'Zum Zum Zum Capoeira Mata Um' (Zoom Zoom Zoom, Capoeira kills one)

Karate is a fighting art as a whole. Kata is a form, a type of exercize containing a number of techniques of the art connected in a specific way.

That's what dictionaries are for. We use long words because that's the word that means what we want to say, not because we're trying to show off. The meanings of the words is easily available.

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. If you ever find something you're good at the first time - give it up because it isn't going to impress anyone.

Judo usually isn't advertized in my experience, but it's not hard to find. The BGZ/XYQ/TJQ may or may not be martial depending how it's taught. And I wouldn't mess with those ballet people, they're scary hardcore.

We're not concentrating on beating each other up. We're concentrating on getting to the 'checkmate', where the other guy's face is wide open having just stepped into a chambered kick floating in front of his nose. The reason we aren't making a lot of contact is because we don't let the other guy make contact. We're slinging powerful kicks at each other in contact range and they aren't hitting, but it's the same thing as when you're watching another art spar and you're seeing a loot of attacks that are blocked/warded off/otherwise successfully defended. Our successful defense means the hit never makes contact, and contact of poor quality that wouldn't cause much damage doesn't help my ability toward getting that checkmate - in fact, it probably kills a lot of my tactical options and leaves me open - so I don't waste my time hitting things that aren't targets.

Bullies care about their image. So call one out, imply that he's afraid to take you on without backup, and throw down. Yeah, you'll probably get beat on some. Yeah, you'll get in trouble. ONCE. One fight and your problems are going to be gone. That's the sort of thing people tell kids so they can feel morally superior. It *never* works. The only thing I have seen that works is to simply make clear that you will NOT be a victim, and the way you do that is by throwing down the gauntlet and dealing with your problem directly, with your own hands and feet as the people harassing you would understand.Some might think it ironic, but in many ways, this is the most adult way to deal with it. Take responsibility for your own actions, roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be done instead of hoping someone else will solve it for you or that it'll just go away. Those are the sort of things kids do. If an adult is cold, they don't complain about it being cold hoping someone will fix it, or shiver whining about the cold waiting to see if it fixes itself. They acquire a blanket or a heater or they go somewhere warmer, and they don't let the fact that there might be some cost, difficulty, or other such thing to getting the coat stop them cold without good reason.

The essence of 'trip' is that either a person's center of gravity or their base has been moved so that the two are no longer in line, and the person must be unable to move the two back in line before falling. Push with your hands and they'll just put their feet under them. Your weight is going downward, not sideways. Key to attacking the base to trip is timing; key to weight shift is preventing them from moving their feet where they need to.

>I'm pretty sure no strict MA would call for picking up a rock and using it to end a fight. *coughs* Um, that's actually one of the reasons why we learn how to do those "flashy" cartwheels, actually.. =)

Blanka does not do Capoeira. Blanka jumps around and thugs around with wierd physics-defying tackles, and there is nothing remotely resembling Capoeira in anything he does.