elbows_and_knees

DO NOT do this. they don't even kick poles in thailand. All you need is a heavy bag. the filling settles at the botton - kick the lower portion of the bag, where it is hardest. do not kick poles, do not roll sticks down your shin, etc. Sparring is good also. eventually you become conditioned to it. Also, as has been stated, there is nothing wrong with wearing shin pads. I never saw it while I was training kali. However, it is a chinese three star conditioning drill. We did something similar when I was training in longfist.

traditionally, muay thai has no ranking structure. The belt is in the ring. some schools today have added a structure, be it colored trunks, mongkons, etc. american freestyle kickboxing in many schools has added karate belts, ranging from white to black. As for the kicks, muay thai has every kick you will see in karate. BUT, many gyms only teach the most commonly used three - the roundhouse, the tiip and the spinning back kick.

as far as I know, muay has never been grappling intensive. There's been one documented style I've heard of that's rich in grappling but that's it. muay has always been striking. Now, there are thai arts that do have a grappling side, but not this one, other than the few throws, takedowns and clinchwork you learn. some of these lethal moves are in fact the low percentage ones I am talking about.

Ok, say the tall guy throws a side kick. If you back away and block it, you don't gain any ground, and he still has his advantage. The next time he side kicks, you block and sidestep at the same time, at an angle towards your opponent. Now, you have blocked the kick, and gained some ground at the same time. You may even be close enough to start your own assault. Many people will teach you how to block, but the key to blocking is to stop the technique and gain ground/postition. Otherwise, the blocker just keeps backing up, and will eventually run out of room. bingo. get inside on your opponent, circle around him, making angles that maxmize your chances of hitting him while lessening his. Do not just stay in front of him.

everyone's assumption is that a bjj guy WANTS to go to the ground. If you have ever learned gracie self defense, for example, it does not involve groundwork unless absolutely necessary. It's mainly wrestling and judo type takedowns, throws and escapes.

Many Martial artists . I think that western disciplines are MA , like some of you agree. Yes. And I have seen many good wrestlers fighting like apes in street when I was living in Minnesota , that did not use their good wrestling skills . Wrestling is indeed an MA. And yes, a wrestler may swing like an ape, if they are swinging instead of doing their takedowns. But it works great in altercations. I watch my coworkers use it all the time.

Considering that muay thai has a huge buddhist influence, there is plenty of philosophy there. However, as it is primarily a combat sport style, you may not be taught that aspect.

different muscles? how so? with the fist vertical, the bicep is engaged more, but since you don't pull inward on the punch, the the bicep isn't really used any more than it is on a horizontal punch.

Having the palm facing you is actually safer. A proper hook punch is thrown with the arm at a 90 degree angle - it's a very close range punch. you only risk bending the wrist too much if you are throwing the punch from the wrong distance. A long distance hook is what you know as a haymaker. When done at the proper angle, the vertical fisted hook (palm facing you) ensures that you hit with the top two knuckles. Punching horizontally, you run the chance of hitting with the last two - and the pinky knuckle is very weak. There was actually a term for breaking this knuckle - it's called "boxer's break". It was named that for the high volume of boxers that were breaking that knuckle when it connected with an opponent's jaw when throwing a hook. that said, both versions are correct. If you want to interchange them, range should dictate which variation you use.

whether or not the ground aspect is COVERED, really isn't the issue. judo covers strikes, but would you train judo to learn how to strike? of course not. I don't know why a lot of CMA stylists tend to look over this. you will never hear a judoka say "Judo covers striking, so my training is complete" - the judoka will just go train a striking style if that's what he wants to learn. But CMA pride says "my style was battle tested and is a mix of several styles, so it is complete" - which while true theoretically, isn't always practical realistically. The only CMA style i've ever seen that has a focus on grappling is di tan chuan. Several other styles cover it, but to me, that doesn't count for much more than possibly knowing more on the ground than your untrained street attacker. As far as kung fu in war... I dunno... I don't think that's a fair assessment. If you are in a war where both sides train kung fu. SOMEBODY has to win, unless they all kill eachother. there is no comparison there in regards to how it fares against another style in general. THAT is what the ufc was intended for. (Before you guys start, no I am in no means saying that mma is the determining factor of what works and what doesn't) but that is what they were trying to illustrate. And in the beginning, it brought several styles, from kung fu to sumo. What you see now is the result of the early matches. What was successful (grapping and striking combos, like MT and BJJ or boxing and catch) is what is being used by most of today's competitors.

CMA having weight training is no secret. rings, vases and stone locks have been in the public eye for years. Other methods, like rock pole training aren't so well known. However, the concept of schools not sparring isn't necessarily a misconception. There really are alot of schools - REAL, traditional schools included - that do not spar. That goes for both chinese and japanese ma. This stems back to the old battle techniques and their lethal intent. The closest many schools would come to sparring were pre arranged drills, like two man forms, seen in many CMA. Funakoshi was against the addition of sparring to karate initially, claiming that it would water down the art - and to some extent, he was right.

That had to make you feel good about yourself, didn't it? A little bit of a personal victory there. Definitely. But it woulda felt even better to see him fall.

1. you admit your kata is far from perfect - try to make it perfect. If you're gonna be a blue, be the best blue you can be. 2. drill the movments in your kata. Can you use every application in your sparring? If not, then work to get it there. 3. if your kata is perfect, work on other aspects, like gaining speed, strength and stamina. 4. focus on your sparring more. 5. Do you know all of the applications of your kata? 6. by jumping ahead in class, you make yourself sound like an ingrate. Your teacher knows what pace you should be learning at. Trust him.

steps 3 - 5 - ko uchi gari 24 - 25 can be o soto gari if you reap instead of knee I can see a couple of locks, but those are the only two obvious throws I see. that was my favorite kata though - I may play with it later if I have time.

As someone who has been there - I was training muay thai, then spent some years in northern longfist kung fu and went back to muay thai - I would say when sparring, do what feels comfortable to you. When I was in kung fu, I did my forms the way I was taught. However, I had similar problems to what you are describing with my stance and guard. Also, he would correct my kicks. I was more comfortable with my muay thai though, and that's what naturally came out. Eventually, he stopped trying to correct my sparring, because even though I was different, I was still incorporating things he was teaching me and I was effective with it. I currently teach muay thai, and take a similar attitude. If a guy has trained before, I let them do their thing, as long as they are effective with what they are doing. Case in point, we have a guy who has been boxing for 10 years. His footwork is different from a thai boxer's, but he's great at it, so I let him work it into his thai boxing. He is truly making his art his own this way. That said, I will correct things like low hands in a guard (like our TKD guys do) but for the most part, if they can make it work, I don't try to change it.

as tall as you are, you are a little - medium sized guy, unless the + is way over 200 and you aren't stating that.

yeah, it is... I've tried - not against sapp though. at 5'10 and 220, I had a fight against a guy that was 6'4 and 320. We fought to a decision and he won. He was so big, It was hard to drop him. Afterward, he told my coach I had some very powerful strikes and that he almost fell a couple of times.

All martial arts derived from shaolin. Western MA, like pankration, fencing, etc had no shaolin influence. shuai chiao predates shaolin sumo was influenced by shuai chiao. I would wager it has no shaolin influence. jujutsu has no verifiable shaolin influence, despite claims that jjj originated in china. If jjj has no shaolin influence, then it's reasonable to say judo and bjj have no shaolin influence either. shaolin's influence extends primarily to styles created after it's inception via china - like karate. It's been said that te was around before the chinese brought their art to okinawa. If that's true, than it was not influenced by shaolin either, although karate was.

It all depends on the situation. In an all out brawl - which we have had a few of - where there are 10 or more people involved, we can do what we have to. If I'm by myself against multiple people, I can do what I have to. Plus, the cops on the street are friends of ours, so they usually have our backs as long as we are even somewhat justified. And actually, it's not different from an all out fight. They ARE all out fighting you. It's actually harder from our stand point, as we are supposed to restrain. Regardless of whether they punch, kick, scratch, etc. you are supposed to restrain if it's one on one or if we outnumber them. Hence my preference for choking someone unconscious. They can't fight that way, and they are out just long enough to get them out the door. I understand. I'm saying that I wouldn't count on those though. Especially the groin. It's amazing how little a groin shot hurts when adrenaline is flowing and theheart is racing. I've been kicked there and didn't feel it until the altercation is over. I've kicked people there and they just brushed it off. The throat is a small, mobile and usually guarded target. Hard to hit accurately. The knee is easier to hit, but if the knee is bent, you aren't gonna do too much to it. in a fight you don't always have perfect timing for such things.

I have a similar issue, but it's the opposite. I'm only 5'10, and I'm stocky. I usually hover around 230 - so I'm about tyson's size, but my arms are longer, so they are smaller. The problem I have is the guys that wanna test themselves. Many of them will comply to what I ask, but then there are the ones that think "hmm... I'm gonna test the big guy and see if I can take him." All of our tall and/or built guys have that problem.

Fighting is not an aerobic activity, it is primarily anaerobic. The principle of specificity in sports training says that conditioning activities that most closely resemble the actual sport are most effective at improving performance. If you want to defend yourself in a fight, which requires speed, power, balance, and high intensity (anaerobic) stamina, then you need to train the energy systems that will be called upon in that situation. I've never had a fight where my heart rate range stayed between 65 and 75% of capacity the entire time, so it is a waste of time to train in that range, except for building a base as a prelude to higher intensity training. I have done both. I have run marathons (Boston 2003 and 2004), and I have also done extensive sprint and power training. When I ran marathons my kicks and punches were weak and less effective. I had tons of general endurance, but I gassed when I had to grapple, punch, or kick with repeated intensity. With power training, I punch hard, kick hard, and can call upon much more useful and sustaining power than I could before. That is how the modern boxer trains, and that is why martial artists can learn from them. With respect, Sohan bingo.

yeah, restraint is the neame of the game. If the situation warrants - Like I'm getting attacked by three guys, which recently happened - I can strike. But under normal circumstances, restrain, restrain, restrain.

The beauty of restrainting someone is that by applying a good technique and putting them into the ground (notice I said "into", not "on" ) is that you can inflict just as much pain with a non compliant attacker as you could with strikes, sometimes more. Not that I enjoy hurting people, however, I sympathize with law enforcement personnel and their ability to counter a combative suspect and what the law will allow them to do. those same restraints can get your block knocked off though. Not everyone has the same pain tolerance level, so they may still be swinging while you are applying. I've learned to stray away from those, at least until I already have complete control of them. I prefer something like a chicken wing, where i have both of your arms restrained, or a rear naked choke. One results in you not being able to attack me effectively, and the other results in you being unconscious if you don't settle down. I use chokes and double arm holds more than anything else.

the most humble bouncer I work with is one that's never trained in anything at all. he's a nice guy and tries to talk things out first, as he should. Training doesn't necessarily facilitate that. This same guy is also one of the most vicious fighters we've got. THAT is what makes him so humble - he knows how badly he can mess someone up if he has to, and he doesn't want to do that.

And at the same time, you can't fully train those sneaky illegal techniques on your training partner. That is the disadvantage that makes sport fighting shine. I may not kick knee caps and punch throats, but I use what I learn with hard contact against an opponent all the time. And on my job - breaking up fights between the big bar guy, his big bar buddies and their big bar advesaries - I have never kicked a knee cap nor punched a throat, but the job gets done nonetheless.