JusticeZero

It's good stuff and excellent conditioning, but it contains in it it's own demands for stance training, footwork, and power. A lot of people cross-train it and MT; either they have to use the MT footwork (and severely compromise their boxing techniques) or the Boxing footwork (and foul their kicking skills). I don't know what stancework Chuan Fa calls for, but I suspect it differs significantly from Boxing stances and footwork, and uses different power generation principles. A lot of people seem to think that by training in an art that has a property, that property will magically become evident in their other practice in full force. This isn't necessarily true, an art often has an ability because it's structure is specialized in a way that you cannot replicate in the structure of the other art.

Boxing is a martial art. It has it's own demands insofar as stancework and such are concerned. I wince at cross-training in general, as good as the skills might be, because it slows learning down so badly.

The things i've been having him do is just stretches, jumprope with wide swings, etc.. it's tight muscles. He's used to holding his arms in position to block the throw, and his muscles set that as about the limit of his motion because he never had cause to move further... until I started harping at him to get his hands under his CG upsidedown and in line with his spine.

Get your feet dusty. Find the spot that wasnt swept up and samba in it a moment to get your soles dirty, so that the dust is between your feet and the floor and the dust sticks, not the floor. That's also how you get ready to practice spinning kicks in bare feet.

No.. with practice specifically at commanding the pace of the match (and by 'command" I don't mean drive it all the time, I mean know what's happening with it and be able to break it or change it) you can see that stuff and be able to manipulate them.

If ALL your kicks come offone leg, then it's pretty predictable. If you sometimes mix a rear leg kick in, you can get them to focus less on the one striking tool.

My senior student plays basketball. On the bright side, this means he's id decent shape and has good cardio. On the "meh" side, it doesn't help him have the muscles we need. On the down side, it also fudged up his flexibility - I make him do a LOT of shoulder stretches trying to regain the range of motion posessed by a couch potato, and it blocks him from doing a large number of techniques.

I guess not, since we do not use side kicks and we do not use a high small stance (too immobile and indefensible).

Quit retreating, and more mass won't give you the ability to be unmoved. Advance along their perimeter instead, or charge back, or move laterally then advance on a point just behind them, or something.

Jujutsu is the english romanization of the sound of the word that in Japan signifies what we call "jujutsu". In Portuguese. "Jujutsu" doesn't sound like the english word "Jujutsu", but "Jiu jutsu" does sound closer to the Japanese term thus simulated. In Brazil, there is a major descendant of that art, when people learn it they learn to spell it like their teachers do, using the Portuguese term "Jiu jutsu" as is used by their teachers instead of the American term "Jujutsu". I don't remember exactly, but I think if you put the word "Jujutsu" in front of a Brazilian and tell them to sound it out, it comes out as "Hoyyutsu" or "Hoyhotsu" or something of the sort - the pronunciation rules are diffferent. Obviously that doesn't sound like the japanese term.

You've bounced through three schools in a year looking for depth? For crying out loud, you won't get the secrets of the universe in the first ten classes. Find a good teacher and you'll have lots to think about in even a Boxing school. Find a bad teacher and they can make esoteric stuff shallow.

went at the pace of the opponent.. you mean you followed his motorset? Focus on being conscious of the other person's tempo. In training try to learn how to get people to speed up and slow down. See what sort of things you can mix in in between beats that don't disrupt the timing. If you see them tired out, push the pace yourself and watch them gas out.

Er, what do you mean by 'lead leg' exactly? Just trying to figure out if it even applies to me, since we work from a parallel pattern instead of a sideways fixed stance.

It is Van Donk's style, yes. They use forms, but they are extremely short - one or two movements. In essence, it's just a different form of jujutsu, there's nothing especially unique to it, and it's roots are jujutsu.

I don't think I remember seeing any Kali people kick yet. That's not necessarily a "weakness" as much as it is a value judgement on the part of the founders of the art. Adding kicks takes time away from other parts of the art, and if not enough time is taken, then the kicks don't have much value anyways.

Weight will not help your power. Strength and structure will help your power. Speed will help your power. Weight is just weight, and not synonymous with any of those things. In fact it might even make it harder for you at this stage to achieve the relaxation you need to perform well. Also, don't think of sparring as something to be "won". Think of it as a lab to experiment with your techniques and find how to make your untested moves tested and functional.

Stick to the new one and try to work with the new movements and the ones that you haven't had much luck with yet.

Is it stiff and sore like muscle aches from working the aych ee double-eck out of muscle groups that typically don't get any use? You know, the same 'stiff and sore' you get from spending the winder being a couch potato then wake up one morning and decide to take a 10 mile hike uphill? Because that's just normal.

not entirely sure, and it's not clear what your art is, but i'm guessing it's somewhere between #2 and #3, but instead of just "..." throw defenses and footwork.

While i'm not religious and answered #1 (Doesn't exist but a good tool) I would like to mention that there's no shortage of history of Christian figures - saints, monks, and such - claiming feats that in China are attributed to "Chi". (and which I attribute to trained body control and kinesthetics, along with the occasional bit of stage magic and applied physics)

If you have your hands on the ground, kicks are the most effective way to hit mid-level targets at range. We spend a lot of time with our hands on the ground for various reasons.

'no touch knockouts' are done by three groups that I know of. 'showman' martial artists, in large groups of people who know what to expect and are hyped to see it happen; certain showman charismatic preachers, in large groups of people who know what to expect and are hyped to see it happen; and stage hypnotists, in large groups of people who know what to expect and are hyped to see it happen. They all demonstrate the exact same methods in practice.

In a way - I adjusted the body positioning in the main stancework ever so slightly to adjust to the fact that my build is very different from my teacher's, I sequence drills differently. But it's still the same art and i'm still trying to recreate in myself the ability to move like his teacher moves. As a rule, those who 'invent their own style' are duing it out of profound ego, with the exception of those who are formulating an art out of the things they know well as a solution to a specific problem. For instance, one jujutsu-ka mentioned somewhere 'created his own art' specifically as an adaptation to the inability of his intended students to use their hands on account of climate. That is a valid reason. As a rule, the many 'new arts' I see don't have any such reason, they're just developed because the creator felt themselves wiser than everyone who came before and made up some garbage so they could have their own personal art.

You know, Kempo and Jujutsu should be fine for self defense. Train those aspects that you are uncomfortable with more if you need. Show your girlfriend some of the stuff you learn in class and do paired drills with her. In the street, people who attack you tend to suck. It's not really all that hard to defend yourself against them so long as you train decently well and familiarize yourself with the common street attacks.

There is no buddhism in my art to begin with. While it's probably less than effective to completely scourge buddhist influences from the martial arts, at a certain level you have to ask yourself "Does it really matter that I am passingly familiar with the philosophy that the people who made this art thought in?' You don't have to believe it. You just have to know the material enough that you will understand the references where they crop up.