JusticeZero

>Should I expect a good work out from an MA class? Depends, but generally. However, it isn't just a bunch of cardio. Not everything that is a workout involves you bopping and getting your pulse rate up. Some of it is coordination, strength, efficiency, etc. And the focus of a MA class isn't to just 'get more exercise', the exercise is secondary. >Is there a big risk of injury with all MA or just some? Some. >If I am more interested in sport and conditioning than self-defense is MA right for me? Honestly, you should work more on the self defense stuff, regardless of whether it makes you 'uncomfortable'. Especially if it makes you uncomfortable. Expand your horizons and take charge of yourself. As far as worrying about not holding back, i've heard that from other females. In every one of those cases, I had at some other point stopped defending against them, because it had become apparent that their "dAngERouS attack of *berzerk fury*" lacked sufficient commitment and focus to make a kitten feel uncomfortable, let alone injure a training partner. People are not made out of tissue paper and thin glass. Work through it. >The class is supposed to be an hour and my instructor cuts it off at 45 minutes, is 45 minutes the norm for MA classes? Depends on a lot of things. My class is 90 minutes long. Twice a week. If I had more classes in a week they might be shorter.

This is true, but 'A kick on the street' isn't a universal bad thing, which is what the statement implied. That specific kick may have been a bit too high on the escalation to to pass off, but that has no bearing on it's intrinsic safety or lack therof. A kick, when used at a workable time, isn't all that much more dangerous than a punch, which has it's own dangers.

Frankly at this point you aren't practicing self defense. Your sister is in a horrible situation that she created for herself, and she needs help because she's self-destructive and you're not helping her. And you are letting this person who you know is a danger into your house? I tell people all the time: If you're in a bar and someone gets in a fight, that isn't self defense. You go to bars so that you can get in fights. If someone starts a fight when you're there, it has all the validity to me of saying "I flipped this guy the bird and called him horrible names, but when he attacked me I was so surprised! It was self defense!" Personally i'd disown my sister over this until she came to her senses.. probably after being found half dead in a basement or something two or three times, but if she choses to do that to herself, I don't want her anywhere near me. That said, the whole 'nonviolence' thing is overrated when dealing with ferals who can't comprehend anything beyond instant gratification of anger; this man certainly sounds like one.

I don't see the problem with a hook kick on the street. It's not that hard to find openings big enough to safely throw kicks with little fear, especially when you're the one taking initiative.

'opportun'? I'd rather not get hit while adjusting myself, which is what my art does - evasions as transition into attacks.

Just jump in. Beware of "Fluffy Cloud" style instructors who obsess over ki and pacifism and can't fight; nonagression is fine and good, but it can be distilled to a point where it's too pure to function in the manner intended, and no few people have gone to Aikido because they can't stand to see any sort of aggression, and let the functionality fall out. Taiji has the same sort of fluffy clouders who refuse to accept the fight and refuse to teach it and have their form disintegrate as a result. Some of these people are very dangerous, because they're state of "non-violent enlightenment" left unresolved issues with anger and violence within themselves, and so they are constantly finding ways to cause harm to people. They justify it because "Your ki was out of balance", "I was protecting the women in class", or so on. They can't recognize the hate and aggression in themselves and refuse to acknowledge that it exists. They become a danger to others as their anger explodes in clandestine ways, only to be justified in various "peaceful" and "enlightened"-sounding ways.

A black belt in a style is like a bachelor's degree in a field. In many fields, a BA or * is the bare minimum, you're considered to borely have scratched the surface but at least not you have enough principles that your eyes won't glaze when you deal with the field. To really get anywhere in those fields you need postgrad, and that's the MA, Ph.D, LL, MD, etc. that the 'black belt' means you're ready to start working toward.

If you're looking for self defense value, you'll need to look hard. My class has it if you're near Anchorage, AK, but many don't. In any case, it's self defense value is more esoteric; I can teach a lot of instant defense, and do, but the meat takes a lot of development of awareness and timing and internalizing of philosophy.

Decent, just like everything else.. it's very practical stuff, the main issue is that their "practicality" means that they focus a lot on joint techniques and other disabling techniques, which means they often have to train their stuff in pretty roundabout ways. The whole art is dripping with "..can't do this in the training hall/sparring because.." so it can be hard to be confident in the ability to apply what they are learning, but the material seemed decently solid.

Relax. Don't tighten your fist or whatever until the moment it connects. Relax. When it connects you should be already moving into a different attack. Relax. Don't tense up trying to put more "power" into it. Relax.

The one I usually use is to have two people. One of them carries one or two targets to hit - small ones. The target area shouldn't be bigger than a tennis ball in any dimension. Do footwork together, shifting in and out, then the person with the target will present it somewhere and you have to hit it with your next step. Another drill is that you range out the length of a common attack, cut a dowel or pvc pipe or such to that length, then you and a partner put it between you holding it up with your belt - not touching it with your hands - and move around the room, trying not to drop it.

Honestly, in that situation i'd just do straight up Judo. The Judo is a solid base and it's relatively ubiquitous, you can find Judo in any hole in the wall without too much trouble. Judo is effective in self defense in many situations, and the training is no-nonsense.

They're all going to suck with each other equally. The Hapkido has striking and throwing already integrated, so i'd recommend that as a core if you can - just switch over to it and pretend you'd never set foot in a Judo class. Or stick to Judo. The problem is that you aren't just learning kicks, punches, and throws, you have to develop the body structure and power generation principles which back the art teaching them. Different arts use a different structure. When i'm teaching, i'm not teaching "Kick one, kick two, flip" mostly, I spend most of my time trying to teach people how they can do ome kicks out of what I am trying to hammer in with hips and feet straight and parallel, back heel off the ground, arms loose, etc. Of course if I go into the CMA class and do back heel off the ground, feet parallel, hip straight etc they'll tell me or my students i'm doing it wrong. Well, for their class we are, but in my class, an L-shaped bow and arrow stance is wrong and a bad habit I spend lots of time trying to get them to sear from their muscle memory. Master one art so that the structure is natural to you, then study others to pick up the principles and tricks that you can adapt to work for you.

Speak for yourself. Teaching people to evade attacks is hard, the timing takes a lot of practice to master, but the angles you get access to afterward are delicious. Blocking is a much more natural movement, to me something anyone could learn that isn't advisable for the reasons you mention, but then, i'm not from a blocking art. The blocks we -do- do, we meet force -before it's had a chance to blossom- with force - stuff the attack when it's still weak - or deflect it away from targets, instead of just interposing limbs.

When will you have an opportunity to train with other people? I thought no such opportunity existed for you right now. If you have anywhere you can train, go there.

Shotokan, trained with the same intensity and pounding that MT is trained with, will take you far. MT, trained in a 'kiddy aerobics' fashion, will be steamrollered under pressure.

The latest i've seen is the 'sex before a game' thing is superstition. Won't affect anything. There was just as many people swearing by a good luck romp as the reverse and there's no apparent correlation. Well, unless you go at it so much that your muscles are tired and and stiff when you get to the match or some such thing.

They both will. Hell, Taiji is adequate to defend yourself in a typical fight, if it's taught passibly well. Oh wait, you said "so you would be able to stand up and fight". That's very different from being "able to defend yourself in a fight"! It implies that you WANT to get into a fight and hurt the other guy. Jujutsu, spelled as you did, is generally referring to Japanese ryus, most of which have significant standup grappling components such as throws, standing joint locks, etc. Something like Judo, by itself, makes for a proficient brawler. So whatever you like will work fine. Though I don't advise cross-training until you have a solid understanding of the underlying body dynamics of the style you are focusing on (usually assumed to have clicked by a "black" belt).

Yes, always try to focus on what can be improved. However, do not be angry about it. Your performance is your performance. Relax and let it happen. Then review it and say "Okay, I need to work on X and Y." But don't get emotional about it.

You'll need to talk to the other instructrs in the space and get a good rapport with them. I have experienced situations where teachers teaching at different times in the space would end up having their own little turf wars around signs, training equipment, coffee machines, and the like. Each teacher is going to have different pet peeves around things in the training space, and it can be surprisingly easy to cause animosity based on something simple like putting kicking pads back in the 'wrong' place.

Only other idea I can think of would be to just show up on scene quietly, smile, as if waiting for their argument to end so you could politely ask the employee about some problem of your own. Basically just enough so that they recognize that if they start something, there -will- be a witness. I also agree with sending someone to find a manager.

First case, your sensei did good. There might have been something to work on that he could have given that she could do without worrying, too, but he might not have been able to think of that at the time. I agree though, that mother needed to be talked to, but later, not in class, when she wouldn't feel like she would lose face by agreeing.

Muay thai and Boxing are only the best strikers because of heavy specialization and very hard training regimes. Kyokushin karate stylists often train as hard and end up doing well in such matches. On occasion people turn up who train at a similar intensity in some other art. They seem to do about as well as would statistically be expected.

Hmm. Ones that spring to mind.. Hapkido (Mixed ranges, reportedly a fairly strong emphasis on self defense and a variety of tools), Judo (You get to practice full bore against resisting opponents, so many people find it to be quite street viable, plus has tools for controlling someone without permanently injuring them)..

What i'm saying is that you study one art, because it's more than just punches and kicks, it's a structure, a while unified set of principles of movement. Once you've mastered that underlying structure, then you can look into how to make your frame you've built have features and options you might not have learned before. If you just go try to learn lots of stuff at once, you can throw punches or kicks, but there's no foundation, no underlying structure, so everything you do has a 'weak link' in it.