Menjo

Well yes, however I'll reword myself because I choose some bad ones. Re-worded, I meant that Boxing and Muay Thai techniques are not AS awkward or unusal at the beginning in relation to most other traditional systems, I realize theres alot of refining, however to get the basic idea into the basic beginner only takes so much. While other systems, practitioners have difficulty adjusting and actually seeing the point to the techniques taught. I was thinking though that this may just have to do with culture, but ultimatly it seems more compatible... But the point you did present I do agree with to a certain extent.. I dont think martial arts like Muay Thai dont GENERALY build character in the average way a person would develop character. I use characer as a word for humility and other classical definitions. This is what I also meant by depth including my section above. I hope that makes some sense.

Its not bad, in my opinion, but the numbers speak for themselves. Muay Thai and boxing have had much much greater success. I beleive this is the result of Muay Thai and boxing and some other MMA fiting the average human body type so well, as well with training. Because it is relativly simple to learn and easier to apply and faster to apply than other martial arts, it gets the glory. Somewhere I posted a more a slightly more in depth post on this idea.

One thing I always recommend is too hold your stances low and practice that alot, I'm not sure about the others, however Shotokan(if practiced properly) will give you very powerful legs.

Thats a great approach. I fall victim to fighting experianced practitioners often to this idea.

Thank you Its exellent you have practicle goals that lead to higher training. Sorry to the forum for the off topic question, however, how does this person talk about shotokan, is it agressive, or a silent ego...Sometimes asking progressive, assertive, and calm questions, can lead a person to change their entire focus. Not advice though, just a thought.

Actually empty your mind means to slow down your thoughts. As I said above, the idea is to not control your thoughts, but to be able to listen. One thing I find very offensive about some "Christians" is that they have no concept of meditation and prayer. What these people don't understand is that medation has a long history and goes back all the way through the Bible. I don't think you can really meditate wrong. You can try and not get anything out of it, but like all things that are hard, you will fail many times before being able to do it "correctly". As I've said, I'm still learning to meditate and I've been working at it for 10 years. And it will probably be another 10 years before I'm just good at it. And another 10 before I master it. But it's ok, as it's a journey not a destination. My take on meditation is quite different from this. I got this qoute from a book which got it from the Tao te Ching, I think its defitnaly worth a read. "He diminishs it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing( on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do." Now this is has a religious background in it so hold on: Although I'm not of the religion or any religion holding this value, I do hold the value of the ideal. I relate it to meditation, if you can reach this point(the qoute stated) then the desired meditation would be acheived...yet not... Other ideas I've read from similar writings and qoutes showed that one idea of meditation is to have the mind in a thoughtless, yet aware state. The classic "empty gourd on water example I think would be a sound example for this section. This qourd on water ideal pretty much says that if you touch(push down) a qourd on water than it will move, constantly if you try to move it, it will keep moving. This is supposed to relate to your mind, which at an elightened state, would never "taint" itself with distractions. This would also mean someone would have to not focus on trying to release thier mind as this would be "tainting" in its own sense. I'm sure somewhere in KF this(general idea of the post) has already been portrayed, but I thought it could give a base on to those who have mixed ideas on this area. Just thought it was interesting. In response to Fair_fax's recent post: When you say some people have no conept or little concept of prayer or meditation, now give me slack because I have no idea on the chirstian religion so maybe I'm defying a sound rule, but meditation for the average person doesnt mean clearing the mind or even slowing thoughts. Meditation for those who are untrained, is a way just to relax. Saying that there is a correct way could be very condrary to your own statements(if I understood your point correctly). So what I mean is that even though someone thinks they are on a certain path, they are on a path none the less... their desired destination is deluded( I guess this could apply to all sorts of thing), however they still achive(hopefully), some sort of accomplishment, in thier own sort of way.

Welcome Ali,

I recommend tedious practice of stances. In all ways, work on your stances and your techniques(with much practice also) will get the body connection needed. This will also help in every other aspect. P.S.- I think your status on boxing being to easy is a little mixed up.

That makes no sense at all... And no, 8 months is not enough time. I think it makes definate sense...however I dont think this(killer's post) would be a way or any way of classifing a karate master or identifing this trait with masters. I think that would be an example of a respectable person, but not their status. Earning great skill in any art requires many things. I doubt no matter how naturally skilled you are, 8 months will not give you sufficient EXPERIANCE to achieve a "higher level" of karate. My take is that the more I know, the more I dont know.

I dont think it matters, people in general just make this issue bigger than it should be. I dont know the feeling or effect judo can cause someone to develop, however on average and black belt shotokan and a black belt judoist... I hate to admit it, but from what I see from day to day, alot of shotokan practitioners bounce around for some reason, and I think this can cause so many problems, it should be another thread...my dojo doesnt support bouncing and those embarrsing flashy moves and kicks that I see coming up in tournaments, however other dojos seem to think it helps... But I wouldn't be able to go either way.

One thing that has remained is the passing down of knowledge through kata. For traditional martial arts kata(changed alot) has been one of the few critical factors of passing down the art(although as stated, it was mostly real combat that provided training). I just thought I'd make that addition.

Ummmmmm...yea....I dont think I'd visit that place... -Theres a very very small chance that perhaps theres an explanation for this...

Well now its become an addiction, other than that... my motivation is enjoying my known and yet to be known benefits that I'm developing from Martial Arts.

Depends on the situation.

I have to agree with AndrewGreen on this one. If it had been a boy hitting a girl or a girl hitting girl, then the school would have made some sort of appearance. Its good she defended herself.

Lol, I could think of better excuses than that. Seriously though: I tried/try it every once in awhile. The one downside is that I hate having to go back down the hill which I tend to trip and and get somewhat cool looking bruises and cuts.

I enjoyed it and thanks. It seemed more like brawling to me with some grappling to polish it but I dont know much of Jujitsu.

Doing Muay Thai doesnt mean you're invincible, and doing TKD doesnt mean that you cant fight, buts its a simple fact of the matter that Muay Thai produces far more full contact champions than does TKD- it simply has to do with their training regimes. For example, in Muay Thai, you are trained over time to increase your power, often by heavy bag and pad work. You work combinations, learn how to hit, and learn how to get hit. In the process, you also harden your body and become more resilent to hits- If an average joe took a kick in the leg from a seasoned muay thai fighter, hed be hurting real bad. TKD has a lot of focus on forms, high kicks, and less hand techniques. In a full contact striking match, punches are far more important than kicks, almost to the point that kicks could not really be considered a necessity, but rather a great addition to your arsenal. Pulling your kicks, by lack of bag work, less effective kicking techniques, and kicking with the instep of your foot, lessens the power you hold behind your strikes. I've done both styles, and with my minimal experience in Muay Thai, the only thing I can say is that Im 100% impressed with those fighters, and I've managed to be around a few guys who were top notch in TKD and TSD. Its not a knock against TKD, its just that standup striking belongs to the world of Muay Thai- they literally have worked it into a perfect science. I dont think its a perfect science at all. Now these statements exclude all famous stars and experts, only the average practitioner. Simply I think Muay Thai works for the average body type. The training methods, the tehcniques, even the people and events, are all based around what works for great fighters yet at the same time, works for more peoples personalities and body types than most other martial arts. I cant think of a martial art more based on stats and basic functions that work for everybody. I'm not attacking it, I enjoy Muay Thai greatly. Its just my view. Call it luck, call it perfect science, either way its one of the more simple arts to learn(not to master of course). I think of it as a movie, the more different types of audience you can capture the more profit you will get. This is why movie producers or whoever runs the show, include romance in many action films and mix and so on. This also means more people are going to say its the best movie ever, and chances are, its going to get the best reviews.

If I had taken your statement correctly, I would agree. I think you ment that this style has techniques that do not require the submission techniques suggested already? My ideas on your statement has a spin. Theoretically most styles I know suggest the learnings of another art is not needed because if you can properly apply your art(say a striking art) then why would you need to take another(grappling). Of course, even I would admit that its quite an extreme view.

I think this is a exellent thread. I would base the situation on many factors of course. The main one would be the students character and history, and talk to them and * the situation. Secondly I would find out if he/she started it and such. Then based on thier skill level I would set out a punsihment plan. Now if the student is only a white belt then chances are I would be very cautious to give them a second chance, as they probably havn't been tested in character. For intermediate I would talk to them and see from there. For advanced, no matter if it was there fault or not, they would recieve some sort of punishment(possibly small). Its the advanced students responsibility to react appropriatly.

I'd go with the selected martial arts above. Mainly you'll be basing your training on time restraints, so something which can be applied a little faster I find is Jujitsu.

Alright, thanks everyone for the info. I can see why they made the change.

Indeed. Do you or anyone else know if this is some sort of event? Like a martial arts tournament, or just a match between the two practitioners?

Interesting. I thought the same thing about the Kyokushin guy not really looking what I thought what it was like. I always pictured it a little more grounded.

Practice kata(especialy the ones designed for balance development). This way you not only develop balance, but strengthen your kata as well. I also suggest moving through movements slowly and tediously.