Immortal

I think It would be a good idea to be skillful in both. I generally use the sit-down grappling position for training and learning techniques, or if it's just a friendly roll and there's no use for working yourself out too hard. However, for more training purposes and learning sessions, as well as serious and competitions, even with your fellow students, standing is the only way to go, and really is the only closest thing that one will get until a real-life situation comes along.

I've studied this art for a little while myself. It is excellent for the spirit, although, I don't believe it to be of MUCH use in combat, except where muscle is pitted against muscle (which shouldn't happen, in my opinion). I have used examples in my own power, and they have worked, much to my surprise...for example, the "unbendable arm". You use no muscle, yet your arm is unbendable. Also, the ring fingers...you touch your index finger and your thumb, and, without muscle, no one can pull them apart. interesting stuff, even if it isn't useful.

Respect is most certainly a mutual thing. Both must give at the same time, not one at first. One thing I like about my current sensei, is that he always gives respect to all students, while teaching us respect. It's a mutual thing.

Well, you simply have to learn more kicks. You can't only have a simple set of kicks. You must always have new material to throw around. Learn all of the kicks. Learn them well. Learn them fast. Be prepared to use them. Those are my thoughts..anyone else?

Whether trouble follows you or not, a group defense situation is one of the most tricky things around to handle. We've practiced handling many things such as this in our school. The main object is to keep yourself OUT of the middle of the ring of attackers. Do this by grabbing a wrist, arm, or by kicking an attacker into another attacker. While those two are briefly disabled, even if for a few seconds, you must strike out at the third attacker. Always keep yourself where you can see all your attackers. Another thing is, always keep eye contact. My teacher used this story as an example: One time, he was in a fight. A massive fight. And he was hit on the back of the head and passed out. This all could've been prevented if he'd been paying attention to the attacker's eyes in front of him. The attacker's eyes shifted to look past Martin (my teacher) and at his fighting partner behind Martin. If he had been quicker to pick up on that, he could've saved himself a nasty blow to the back of the head. As for weapons, they are a different story, and it is hard to go into detail on how to disable them without further illustrations, pictures, etc. I will see if I can look up some links for you.

Sounds correct to me, although I usually concentrate on performing the techniques rather than learning terminology, because I am still learning this art greatly.

Yes, I agree with the points. It's actually laughable how stupid some people are to try to do that in the first place. I have never had to use actual force on someone, but after a small group of people saw me perform the simple move "Yemenushi Shihonagi" (Aikido move, please pardon spelling) on someone who was "playing around" with me, I was left alone. 'Till next time..

Well, no one posted in here yet so i figured I'd be the first. These forums wil really be big, very well designed. Kudos! I look forward to sharing and gaining knowledge from all of the members. 'Till next time...

Yes, I currently study the 3 Storms style of martial arts, which encompasses Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, and Tae Kwon Do. I hope to make this forum successful, and will become a moderator in the near future. By the way, Jiu-Jitsu is my favorite out of the three.