JusticeZero

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/30/first-aid-knife-crime-liverpool First aid skills are very important. I personally used to push students to take CERT training courses, which (along with other things) include first aid for serious injuries and injury stabilization - the class assumes that the skills are to be used in situations where calling 911 will get a response along the lines of "We're pretty busy, how is early next week looking for you?", and as such had to be a bit more in depth than just stabilizing the situation for incoming EMTs. I haven't lately, mostly because I haven't gotten in touch with the group here. This is the first time i've seen anything that specifically tries to teach first aid to the people that are usually thought of as the "bad guys" though. I thought it was an interesting idea. Any thoughts on the idea?

We actually lack that language of "styles" to a certain extent, and it causes us problems. Particularly when the terms for techniques differ, or when one line's good technique is another line's bad habit and vice versa.

Right; by definition they have no ground game, because someone hitting the ground is their victory condition.

Girls: As iong as you arent doing a bunch of silly machismo, just teach the class as normal.

Kata is like a textbook for a skill. It may be a good textbook, but I don't confuse the textbook for the skill itself.

4/17: Class cancelled on account of final papers. Meh.

4/15 snap sniping front toe kick and thrust toe roundhouse (for use with steel toed shoes). Entrance to cabecada/double leg takedown. Cruz (leg catch on shoulder).

Torchlight 2 and Arcanum.

If a Kata practitioner is worrying about Kata being worsened by the popularity of sports, they shouldn't worry about MMA. Instead they should worry about Kata sports competitions, because sport kata are ridiculous.

'Weights are bad' is a common misconception held by many, even teachers. Strength is strength. The approach he is using is a bit harsh if you havent worked up to it, but yes you will adapt to it after a couple weeks. One of the teachers I had had a similar approach, which you rarely see because it chases the money sources, students, away.

Or near it. I don't recall how the name came about.

Sure, but see who he found to train under? Very good gongfu masters of note, and passable Karatekas, IIRC. If he'd met different teachers, he may have come to a different conclusion. The statement seems to confuse the quality of product - the ability of a given artist to demonstrate martial skili - with the art form itself.

Mostly I was concerned that your standard was absurdly high. I only know of one teacher who might meet your criteria of a "self defense" teacher; i'm told he teaches tai chi up in the rustbelt somewhere to police and security types.

For me? Low. But they are much lower because of the situational awareness, negotiation, tactics, adrenaline and social management, and criminal psychology material I have studied and teach. For my students? Well. My current star student is a college age woman, pretty, looks very caucasian and American, and plans to spend several months doing research in South American slums or something similar to it. I think she has a bit higher chances of needing to know this stuff than I do. That said, she has a busy schedule, I don't own a red man suit, and I don't have the resources to be staging random paint-gun and chalk-knife armed ambush scenarios in the college quad, even if I thought the campus police wouldn't take offense. Therefore, i'm apparently not teaching any self defense.

Well. You gave a very specific and arbitrary definition and minimum target for the aspect I train, and deny it if that standard is not met. It seems only fair to offer a similar standard to your training. By that standard, then, you do not train Budo at ali. What do you train, then?

I'm curious about what level of training in 'Budo' is the equivalent of the minimum standard of 'Self Defense' training, and if, if that is your focus, you meet it. Daily debriefing sessions on every aspect of daily life to compare it to the ideals set down in writings on feudal Samurai codes of behavior? Have any of your fellow students needed to perform hark-kiri yet?

Silly.. overly floral and romantic/philosophical, but ignoring the practical. Like the difference between the storybook belt color story ('they never wash the belt and it changes colors like seasons signifying growth etc..') and the pragmatic ('I didn't want to throw a newbie who couldn't breakfall, so I had people wear colored belts to pick out senior students.') One is 'things you do', the other is 'things you tell rich tourists you do'.

Scavenging wire is pragmatically great for a poor precariat minority in Brasil. For an American with rivers of money in comparison, not so much. But seuroamericans love 'Tradition' so much and are so un-critical about it, indeed, considering the raw exoticness of the tradition to be a plus. As a result you see a lot of fairly silly stuff whenever the word 'Tradition' comes up. If a reason is given, it tends to be a slightly silly one. It's a bit like Marvin Harris and the sacred cows in India. People were so enamored of the whole religion-tradition story and feeling superior that they had never actually looked at how important the cows were to the economy alive. I posted in CMA on this today, actually.

There is nothing wrong with saving a few dollars scavenging. Having someone, while they are treating you to a steak dinner at a restaurant, explain that that is the only way to get the wire because tradition, on the other hand..

Well, it's this whole mystic tradition thing. Which revolves entirely around dumpster diving for a piece of technology that was introduced to Brasil about 60 years before I started and was told by many about how traditional and meaningful the tire was to the ancients.

Some do, but the heat crystallizes the alloy and makes it brittle. Anyways, why is there an Ancient Tradition involving car tioes invented in the '30's?

Well, fo instance, traditionally the Ancients since Time Immemorial would scavenge a radial car tire and dissect it laboriously with fire and knives to get wire. As opposed to, yknow. Buying it.

I understand 'tradition enough to not take it seriously. I do not add any actual value to my students by trying to act all mysterious and macho and treacherous and elitist for the sake of their hipsterism.

Just because I can't spend seven days a week putting students through boot camp doesn't mean that I am a fluffy cloud school. I teach strategies for dealing with adrenaline, I teach situational awareness and common criminal tactics. By your definition, i'm not teaching anything with self defense value. Okay, but neither is Kyokushin, Krav Maga, police training, or Army boot camp. It doesn't seem like a very useful definition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22061431 Female traditional Senegal wrestling and how it's doing right now. This is the article that I tripped over first, really. http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/3/12/4072478/senegalese-wrestling-laamb-zoss-profile Something else on Senegalese wrestling. Wrestling is pretty much a universal around the world, though the rules vary somewhat and change the tactics a bit. In Senegal, apparently some hand strikes are allowed, and points are earned when one person hits the ground, for instance. Obviously this tweaks the tactics. One of those videos contained a very long clinch for instance, with a bunch of slow positioning work with the arms; i'd assume that a clinch lock strategy would be pretty inevitable based on those rules, sort've an equivalent to the long groundwork that characterized early MMA matches. I couldn't track it well, because I don't grapple much, but I noticed it. Everywhere seems to have some kind of wrestling art. It wasn't clear whether hand strikes were on its way in or out; I don't track it much and i've heard both claimed. Just stuff I tripped over while checking the news. =)