elbows_and_knees

judo has a set of official guidelines for kids. They can begin training at age 8. They will learn throws and grappling. at age 15, they can start submissions, but can't choke. at 17, they can choke. I haven't read the guidelines in a while, so these may be off slightly, but you get the idea. until you reach joint locking age, they mainly drill throws and ground positioning only, as they can't lock or choke in competition.

and relax. a lot of newbies tend to try to tense up and muscle the hook. You won't get it that way.

anyone you have seen interlacing the fingers does not know how the clinch works. 1. you have gloves on. 2. even if you didn't, you lose mobility in the hands and run the risk of getting fingers broken. 3. you cant shove your elbows into their shoulder blades and fully control them with the fingers interlaced horizontally 4. people who lace them generally lace them behind the neck, which is the wrong place to hold for the clinch. Now that that's out of the way...How you get to the clinch depends on the situation that you are in - there isn't just one way. As legkicker suggested, check out a muay thai gym.

I'm just guessing as I wasn't there, but it was probably your form. I actually injured my shoulder a few years ago - it's healed now - from pushups... repettitive stress injury. ANYTHING can be harmful. But, considering that you can do so many more reps with pushups, you'd be more likely to get a repettitive stress injury like I received. The bench press is one of the greatest exercises out there.

that depends entirely on the person involved. I train the jab more than the backfist. Therefore, I would use the jab. Others may train the backfist more. What's most likely to be used all depends on your trianing - you fight how you train.

dude... who cares. Losing is part of any fighter's career. But, there are several of them who will lose the will to keep fighting after taking a loss. You are analyzing and continuing. This WILL pay off for you. They say you learn how much heart a fighter has not by how many wins he has, but by how he handles his losses, and my friend, you handle them well. Good Job. The aggressiveness of your opponent is something that can be dealt with, and I'm sure your coaches will have you training for that over the next couple of weeks.

Not all the time. In order to have someone in an arm bar, you'll want to hit a joint (i.e.; elbow) in order to put them in it; however, as they tense (by natural human reaction) up it'll become harder to keep that arm bar in place. that's what your body is for. with juji gatame, your legs lay across your opponent, keeping him immobile and his arm in place. his joint rests across your groin. Once you flinch, your hips raise, locking the arm harder. What type of arm bar are you envisioning?

Have you ever bitten someone in a grappling situation? I have been bitten. It ticked me off and I made the lock tighter. Also, think about it - when Something sudden happens, what is the natural human reaction? to tense up. If I have you in an armbar and you bite me and I tense up, the arm bar gets tighter... When you extend the arms to gouge, you generally leave yourself open to get your arm locked.

yeah, you can compete with the juniors. I wouldn't trust anyone that let you fight with only three months of training. I would say at least 9 months to a year, but I do know a few who have fought after 6 months. We can't tell you that though - that is a decision your coach will make.

That actually varies. many kung fu styles tell you to point your toes outward, as pointing them forward - especially in a low stance - can place undue stress on the knees.

the contender is an awesome show.

with the compound lifts, you are on the right track. those are specific to fighting in that you are using multiple muscle groups to achieve your result, just as you would with a punch or kick. Doing these heavy will also increase your strength and thus power output. Try some of the following: deads squats bench press cleans clean and jerk standing overhead presses dumbell swings pullups barbell rows spend time sparring and on the heavy bag - the benefits of these don't have to be explained.

why not? Increasing your max strength, also known as limit strength is excellent for fighters. you are increasing your power output, which has its obvious advantages. I'm sure it's not uncommon for fighters training for a fight to spend at least 4 weeks of their cycle to increasing limit strength. I've seen it talked about in boxing circles.

it will to an extent, once again, a limited one. by adding the weight, you have added mass. by adding mass, you must add speed to strike at the same speed you did with an empty hand. In addition, your hand is now more dense as it's full of cast-iron. That is known as a fist-load, and is illegal in fighting. it's illegal for a reason...

I am not sure that I agree with this. True, those parts of the technique are very important, that is Power=Speed + Technique part of the principle. Improving how fast your strike travels will improve your power as well. sure, but only to a limited extent. For example, I weigh 230 and am only like 15% body fat - size wise, I am about mike tyson's size, as I am only about 5'10. I have a longer reach than him though. Anyway, with my weight, training, speed and power, there is no way in the world karategirl could EVER produce enough speed to allow her to punch as hard as I do. However, she can do things to increase her power. Speed is one portion. She also needs to perfect her technique and increaser her strength and power output. She could also increase her weight, but she may not want to do that.

where in Tn are you? I am in Tn as well.

position over submission - grappling is all about establinshing a dominant position on the ground. I REALLY want you are anyone else here to show me how karate teaches you proper technique for a mount, side mount, north - south, gesa gatame or anything else, and how it teaches you to transition between those. THAT is grappling on it's most basic level (and it's most important), not arm bars.

many karateka get owned in street fights because they're only trained in long range striking. as soon as the range closes, their advantage is gone. Actually, all of the ones I've seen get beat were dropped with haymakers and sloppy attempts at jab / cross combinations. Most fights I've seen stay at punching range, unless they are going to the ground, or attempting something like grabbing their opponent's shirt and pulling it over his head. Now, if it started from one getting in the other's face, then it stayed at that close range and almost always ended on the ground.

what does his traditional background have to do with it? Not everyone trains for sake of tradition. It irks me when people insult things like wushu and xma. To be honest, I would rather them have my back in a fight than many people training "traditional arts" on these forums. The conditioning and mentality they attain from their training is top notch. that alone can serve them well in fights.

To be honest, I didn't know lau gar was taught anywhere outside of the UK...

IMO, the external will serve you better in terms of competition and in street fights, should they happen. Time to reach proficiency in internal styles always seems to be longer. Another style you may want to look into is choy lay fut.

first question is how old are you? you seem young - you may be too young too fight, depending on where you live and which organization you are trying to fight under. second, no, you likely will not be able to elbow. and you can knee, but not to the head. These rules are called modified muay thai and apply almost everywhere in america. Outside of the US, I'm not sure.

Then why do many karateka get owned in street fights? any MA with a decent understanding of principles and enough fighting experience will indeed be able to defend against those techniques. Although the TKD guy may not know the specific technique, he will be familiar with the angles and principles behind it from similar techniques in his style.

I know this sounds obvious, but the best way to improve your strikes is to strike. Hit the heavy bag at least 3 rounds per day. this will also help to build your shoulders, which are important in punching. train your speed and pick up the weights more often as well.

my only issue with emphasizing only speed is that we are human, not machines. a speeding ferrari can produce tremendous power. A speeding punch, not so much. This is why you will never see a lightweight box a heavyweight in the ring. The smaller guy is generally faster, but still could not generate enough force to KO the bigger guy. However, with more mass behind that speed, you have KO artists like tyson and dempsey.