Jay

Damn I just remembered my question I was going to ask! I wanted to know as you do not participate in martial arts, do you have any other hobbies and interests outside of KF that you enjoy doing?

Well Done!

I know what this is like. I had it for 3 Months its terrible. I think for long term insomnia like you have I don't really have any suggestions. Often if I can't sleep I give up get out of bed and read a book. Apparently distracting yourself is a good idea. Some people just don't sleep much as well. I have one family member that says she is lucky to get a couple of hours.

1. I believe most people recommend light stretching with RICE. 2.I think in general you would probably still train both but do more sets with the weaker arm. BTW shotokan kid im glad you are posting again as your styles follow the same as mine with Shotokan, JKD, BJJ etc. We are similar in that aspect.

There are mixed opinions on this especially in fitness literature. Some say suck it up and train, some say you should take a break. Literally with colds the only thing is sleep/rest. Because its a virus you can't cure it just let your body sort it out itself. It depends how you feel, if your ill but still feel motivated to train and excited then do it. If you feel like you want to stay in bed then do that.

Its sometimes hard, I remember I left about the age of 12 for about a year and a half. Kids at that age have alot going on and I think its really best to let them do what they want in life. I know you said you don't want to force them and thats exactly the right attitude. I know it can be frustrating that maybe they won't get to black belt which is most peoples aims, but if they don't enjoy the journey what is the point? Obviously we are all here either because we enjoy martial arts and/or believe it to be important. You have to remember that many people don't do martial arts because they don't think it is important or they don't enjoy it. Everyone has their own reasons. To be honest I would sit them down and ask them what they want to do. Do it individually otherwise one can follow the others answer. You will have to explain that if they don't do something properly then there isn't much point doing it. Also if they want to do something else either the swimming more or another activity then you should encourage it.

Interesting thoughts Just to clarify what you mean by directly does that mean just saying it how it is, as in straight up.

You know I can't remember, however I do remember being taught sprawls and takedown defense, my karate instructor was big on takedown defense and also falling correctly when you get taken down. From the top of my head I would also say a sprawl, long time since I did kanku dai can't remember all the moves but I know the you mean. Its a shame I can't remember it all because it was my favourite kata, in gradings I always picked it.

You have and continue to do a great job. Forums can get out of hand, I know because I have been on some of them, this is the only one I actively participate in because its fun to be a part of. Congratulations

I guess the saying is quality not quantity. This rule doesn't apply because you have been able to do both. Congratulations.

For some people, not necessarily pertaining to me or you, 'line' is simply where a person projects an attack from, or where he is 'squared off to face'. So I think considering, if you make someone get off his or her own line, your making your line change pertaining to where you attack would have to end up, especially if you have to then alter your body to 'face off' again if need me. Maybe not though, I just like to hear other people's thoughts on this. I myself have been in a few fights, mostly in highschool...small minor fights, it was only in college that I had a small knife pulled on me. Nothing really serious then, because I got off the line..and it seems everyone with a knife seems to lunge forward (and not just in movies as it seems, unless this person seen one to many Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal films). I guess there really isn't any right or wrong to this whole thing, simply it stands with the standards of the 'confrontation' dealing with the aggressor, and 'us'. But I do agree with you on the body movement (you mentioned foot play) In my school we refer to any movement of the body as tai sabaki, and that can also be similarly thought as moving 'off the line' or onto a new 'line' The general idea is that if you are getting off the line, you are doing so but still maintaining a good postition to attack from. By jumping to the side and maintaining an athletic position, you can still have a good attack line on the opponent. We train this kind of thing for DT all the time. It can be as simple as taking someone who is facing you and talking, and moving to their 45 degree angle while they talk. It gets you slightly off line, and better prepares you to see them make an overt move. That sounds like good stuff, I hadn't considered preemptive movement in this situation. I think as well if your not comfortable with someone you tend to remain that bit further away from them its just natural.

My ignorance is high when it comes to shindokan, I do not know it well. I was more talking about in a mma competition context, I mean you get clinching which can count as a type of trap but not really the type im alluding too, one where by the other guy is immobilised so you can hit at will, during ground and pound I have seen some people do this, they will pin the other guy and proceed to knock seven bells out of them.

Sometimes it is also good to put the other guy off his own line. I think this is where good footwork comes into play, if you can always remain in a position where it is easier to hit the other guy and he can't hit you as easily then your doing okay.

I do think as well it is very easy to get caught up in the various ranges. I usually see them more as guidelines anyway. The three you specified do tend to make more sense. The original published concept for the ranges comes from an old book. It may have been in the 60's, I used to know what book it was but I can't remember off the top of my head. I think as well anyway whatever way you look at it your missing out the overall view, because you will always get times when your transitioning from one area to another.

I think that the problem that can occur that has been eluded too is that you can become too preoccupied with trapping. The idea of the trap is to hit the other guy not to trap just because you can. Many a time has i fallen foul of this myself you just have to be careful. Just to add more into the mix, trapping in a sport context like mma how come you don't see much standing application of it?

Whats everyones opinion on trapping techniques? Do you like them, dislike them, think they don't work in reality, or think they can be useful. A wikipedia page for those who don't understand me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapping_%28martial_arts%29

Great knockout but im sad for couture he is increadible at his age. Im sorry but I can't resist 'If do right, no can defense'

No money been taken out yet! Is it just me or did you get annoyed with the payment system them being free to take money from your account at any time. As a student and im sure you will agree, its hard to guarantee that theres going to be money there to take. So im keeping an eye on things at the moment to keep expenses down for a whole month. Im very lucky in the fact that im actually from london and know it well. Travelling to most events will be around 20-40mins on underground. So im not having to pay for food and board as it were. Im pretty optimistic that we will both get tickets.

The beermug down is what we call a corkscrew hook, we use it from longish range. Personally I hate it, can't get any power at all. In close I tend to go beer mug up but tilting away from you for body shots. Its a cross between an uppercut and a hook, we call it a shovel hook. Standard to the head from close range I tend to go again in an uppercut motion diagonally. I get more power this way, of course good form is to keep the elbow level, but I just do what I like tbh. There is no right or wrong only what works, so just have fun with it.

I think im running a 19'' inch at the moment. Really good deal I like LG screens.

Aw Sweet that sounds amazing. I applied for the judo in my weight catergory Mens 66Kg and also the Womens 60Kg I think it was. Im not so sure about the womens weight categories. I also applied for the fencing which I like alot. JKD isn't called fencing without the sword for nothing. I really wanted to see alot of different ones, the wrestling, boxing ,TKD, I love them all but alas tickets were pretty expensive. Im pretty sure we both will get tickets for events such as these. They tend not to be as popular as some. I also heard they will resell tickets later on if they don't fill them all. Which is highly likely looking at the previous olympics seats in lots of events were empty. May be able to pick up some other events cheap later on.

I didn't really care for it to be honest. I was wondering how many millions of pounds they spent on security and transport and all the rest of it when the governments money is already non existant and could be put toward something with a long term use like a school or hospital or something. But hey thats just me. I know that the girls like to watch weddings but I didn't mind missing it to be honest. It seemed to me that I was in the minority that wasn't going to watch it judging from the people in the supermarket. I think it will probably be on iplayer if you haven't seen it yet and want to watch it DWx

Im actually rather fond of a few apps. Theres a snap one that I like. Basically the game snap but it records your reaction speed and can be quite fun. The second one I don't really think it helps my training in any way at all but its fun. Its called fruit ninja. You basically have a katana and cut fruit up. I haven't got it but theres also a good app that has lots of different weight lifting exercises in it, like pretty much all the common ones so when your stuck for training you can look up a body part and it gives you exercises. Im sure some will find it useful.

So a long while back I read an interesting article http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/juggleyourway.html So I thought why not and gave it a go. As im not training at the moment I thought I would revist it and have some fun. Bear in mind that when I read the article I couldn't juggle at all. Now im fairly proficient with three balls and even can do some tricks. Maybe somebody would like to try this out and see if it helps your martial arts. It has helped me with my spacial awareness and reactions for parrying etc. Plus the other fact is that I really enjoy it, im not at the stage when I can juggle sticks on fire but thats not really the reason I do it anyway. Some tips that helped me when I first started. 1.When your starting practice in front of the bed so you don't keep having to pick up balls all the time. 2.First start with just two balls to get the 'half' motion. Catching and releasing. 3.Then practice with two balls on the same hand. You catch the thrown ball at the back of your hand while rolling the other to the front and then throwing it. 4.Then try with 3 balls, 4 balls and other random objects. I have been trying for ages with my vitamin bottles, its very hard but I will get it eventually. Have fun and see if it makes a difference

BJJ is no magic bullet. You still have to work hard at it like any other art. Its probably not the best measure but I think the average time for a black belt in BJJ is about 10 years. Now against the majority of arts this is a long time. BJJ is all about application of your technique. Something lots of arts don't do enough of. Now for me if you show me a technique once I will usually be able to do it pretty much straight away, my problem however is applying what I know when the other guy isn't just standing there. Which is where the BJJ type training comes in. Application for most will always be alot harder. Now if you do a lot of randori type training in your JJJ classes then thats fantastic and keep doing it. But if your not up to the standard compared to other guys then BJJ may be the way to go. The comments you mentioned about JJJ and getting taken down and not having a good ground game. Well these comments are generalisations or sterotypes. Alot of people don't agree but generally sterotypes exist for a reason, its because the large majority are not as good on the ground. It was a similar situation when the UFC first started. Alot of traditional martial artists couldn't accept that what they had been doing for years and years was not as good as what others were doing. This is life and you have to accept that. I agree with the practitioner over style argument, but only in a certain condition. This argument will generally hold true against an untrained opponent which for most people is perfectly fine and all they need to be good at. Because again generalizing most people out there won't be trained in anything. When it comes to style vs style it becomes a different argument. A reasonable analogy would be one style is a handgun and another is a rifle. Both are good against someone that is unarmed, but put both in a long distance firing match and the guy with the rifle is likely to come out better. Which is what the UFC did with BJJ.