Armbar

This brings up a valid point. How would you be able to defend yourself against more then one person wielding a firearm? Does anybody have any drills or techniques that would realistically work, besides using a firearm? I'll have to go work on that and see what I can come up with, if anything... Yes, I agree. Your primary martial art in a bad situation should always be the tried and tested art of the Track & Field Sprinter

I don't own a gun and I don't think I ever will, except maybe for hunting purposes. Tullers rule says that at 21 feet a person with a knife (this can be any weapon, or even someone unarmed) can reach a Law Enforcement Officer (who has the pistol in a holster on their side) and stab them before the officer can draw the weapon and fire. (this distance was lengthened to 30 feet by the FBI ) Based on this information, what chance does a civilian have at drawing a weapon, possibly concealed (longer draw time), at a much smaller distance during a mugging or robbery? IMHO, hardly any at all. I think I’ll stick with my empty-handed defenses in this one…

lol....good point.

Is it healthy to 'burn out' your muscles at every workout session, pulling as many reps of a exersice in each set untill failure? also, on the same note, whats the efect of working sore muscles? Is there any benifiet?

I like the spinning backfist. It's quick, powerful, simple, and aggressive; everything a good technique should be. Just make sure to watch your distancing. If you impact your target at, or below the elbow instead of the fist or forearm, you can injure your elbow joint.

I agree that you get what you put in. If I could train like this, or if there were a school that taught on a more individualized basis, I'd definitely check it out. I tend to learn things faster then most people in my school, which leaves me stuck at varying plateaus, waiting for the others to catch up. Perhaps if a school ran normal classes, like those commonly taught now, and then a more intense class for those hardcore students that wanted to push their limits and see how far they could go, a compromise could be struck.

Spiderman by KO, 3 minutes into the first round.......Maybe Batman by Rear Naked Choke, 2 minutes into the second round.

While I'm on the subject of Muay Thai, does anybody know of any sites that demonstrate this and other techniques? I googled in but couldn't come up with anything.

Shudokan Karate - I took this art because of limited selection. I'm glad that this art is what I found. It has no flashy moves (except for one spinning kick that we never practice, as sensei doesn’t like it). It stresses Movement through the ranges, with strikes, throws, takedowns, Locks, and submissions. It's great because my school is small, so we can mess around with our contact intensity levels, training levels, and such. Plus its FUN! Yoshin-Ryu Jujitsu - I've not progressed very far in this art, but have found it very interesting. It focuses on joint locks and leg kicks. Not many strikes, but its got some great throws.

Shudokan (not to be confused with Shotokan) = School for the cultivation of the way

The Early UFC's were more style vs style matches. It’s evolved since then, with strikers learning ground skills an grapplers learning how to strike. This has happened because of necessity. In general, a striker is only really dangerous on his feet, where as, a grappler can only submit you on the ground. If you have a little bit of knowledge for each range, your more likely to last longer in the octagon, as your not as one-dimensional.

You swing your leg at the hip, right? But instead of extension of shin at the knee, you just kind of dead leg your opponent with follow through? Is this correct, or am I confused? BTW, I’ve been kicked like this, and it HURTS like crazy when you’re not ready for it. I’ve leveled some guys like this; one kick, one knockdown.

What makes the Muay Thai round kick (Don't know the Thai term) so powerful?

Try this: Get into normal push-up position hands shoulder width apart. Now, bring both hands closer together and form a triangle with your thumbs and index fingers. Now push up from this position. I find it hits my Triceps alot more, and challenges my arm muscles.

I get this feeling also. He doesn’t seem like a fighter who’s had to fight extensively from the bottom. Diego seems like a solid fighter to me, but we won't know for sure until his skills are tested against a known UFC fighter.

Yeah, the second fight was awesome! Absolutely the best match I've ever seen. Anyone who didn't catch it the first time around MUST see the encore. You'll regret you didn't if you like full contact fighting. That was an amazing fight! Shamrock has made his mark on the world of MMA, but i think its time he starts thinking about retirement. He isn't as young as he was ten years ago. He'd make a great coach.

This is a perfect example of competition sparring leading to bad habits. I wonder if those who consistently win at higher levels think this way, or with a more self-defense oriented approach. I have to make a distinction here between competition sparring and 'dojo' sparring. When we train for competition sparring, we're stuck with in the rule set of the competition we happen to be training for. In dojo sparring, we often wear little gear. pretty much anything is legal as long as you don't maim your partner. You can move through all the ranges, making you learn good defense/offense strategies at each one. We simulate punches to the face with openhanded slaps (not hard ones). These matches end when someone taps.

Do you take Cash, checks, or credit card? lol I am mixed on this issue. In sparring, it is always good to have variety in your opponents. This is one thing that competition provides in spades. I was recently at a tournament in central Washington, and they had nearly 600 competitors. This variety provides a good base from which to test your skills and see where you need improvement. (i.e. Do I need to move around more so I don’t get caught? Do I need to work on defending kicks/punches? Do I need to become more aggressive? etc….) However, competition sparring is far removed from a street encounter, as I'm sure most people realize. Competition sparring is based on certain rules that limit the strategies you are able to utilize. This is not so in reality, as I can use any method I feel gives me an advantage. If I train to fit the confines of these rules, I am limiting myself. I might unintentionally be trapped by these rules in a real encounter. Even worse, I might subconsciously assume that my attacker is abiding by these rules also, which would leave me at a huge disadvantage when the attacker uses some other strategy not allowed by the rules, as I would not be prepared. I guess I see it as a win/lose sort of thing.

Do you think that a focus on competition erodes or enhances the self-defense skills found in traditional Karate? How does competition affect your ability to defend your self on the street?

ninjanurse: I've heard of Alexander Archie, but I believe he's the head of a different federation then the one I train under. I have, however, trained with some of his students, which is always fun. Always good to see how your art has evolved outside of your federations influences. I train under Kathy Southwick, and also Albert Roy. Every once and awhile, we get to train with Morris Mack, which is a great treat. italian_guy: Shudokan was founded by Kanken Toyama, a student of Itosu and several other masters of various arts. It incorperates many shotokan-like strikes and blocks, along with some Judo-like throws and takedowns, with a bit of akido type stuff added for flavor. We do have a few Goju Kata also. Heres a good site listing information about Toyama and the origins of Shudokan Karate-do: http://www.usadojo.com/martial-artists-biographies/martial-artist-kanken-toyama.htm

Thank you all for your replies. We have done demos for the high school, but just a few short, 10 minute slots. We've also done a small demo for a church, which proved alright for inquiries, but we never received any new students. We are located in a smaller town with around 2500 people, so maybe that has something to do with low enrollments. Also, we don't have our own location, as we rent out and train in the local community centers gym. This means no signage. I'll have to find ways to create more growth in enrollment. Agian, thanks for your replies.

My instructor is moving sometime in the summer. When she does, our training program will be left to me. Although, I fear that by the time she leaves, we'll only have the hardcore people left anyway, and considering we are a really tiny school, that means we will only have about six students left. What are good ways to bring in more students, without resorting to a high elementary school aged enrollment? What are good ways to bring in adults and older teens?

[begin rant] Oh! This irritates me so much! We train in our local highschool, so often we have sarcastic people flop around with their knifehand imitations, hoping around like an intoxicated monkey, yelling elongated Bruce Lee style "WHAAAA!" noises. If they'd stay around for a few lessons instead of just walking by making a fool of themselves, maybe they'd see that Karate isn't what they've seen in Crouching Tiger, and other "wire-fu" movies........ [end rant] Wow.....I feel better now .

Hi, This message board looks great, so I decided to stop lurking and maybe post a little. I am six-or-so months away from my blackbelt in Shudokan Karate, not to be confused with Shotokan Karate. I also have limited experince in Tea Kwon Do (When I was a kid), and Yoshin-ryu Jujitsu. Looking forward to contibuting.

You don't know anything about martial arts if.... You claim you are the worlds greatest martial master. Your teacher? The Ninja Turtles movies, and every single season of the Power Rangers. You think a reverse punch is what happens after a night of heavy drinking. You call your bo-staff your twirly stick thingy of death.