omnifinite

The person who volunteers to have everything done on them learns the most in the end.

I lived somewhere once where someone left some equipment they apparently made. They took metal rings and filled them with concrete (bigger thicker rings is heavier of course... I couldn't tell you what weighs what). In the middle of the concrete he'd put a hollow pipe/joint/whatever which I guess might be used in fence-building... and the metal bar (also the type you might see in a chain-link fence) would slide into those holes in each weight. Then you'd put a peg in a hole through the joint and the bar to keep them from sliding off. That would probably be pretty simple to do.

I'm not sure you can decide all of that from reading one issue ever. Maybe there didn't happen to be any females submitting articles that month (or if they did maybe they had ambiguous first names). Maybe none of the female martial artists happened to be in the dojos the days those photos were taken. Maybe advertisers are idiots and can't be relied on for any sort of fair or enlightened representation of anything. I don't read martial arts magazines that often but I see plenty of women in them when I do. *shrug* I'd rather just look at them all as "martial artists" anyway... why do we need to separate them further?

I'm an ectomorph and I've noticed all my past weight-training efforts haven't gotten me very far... as if my body doesn't transform protein into muscle as easily as another person's might. The only time my weight has ever changed is when I was making sure to get over 100 grams of protein a day. That's expensive ... I'll go back to it when I can afford that again.

Jeff Speakman is the only Kempo movie person I can think of (guess it would be Kenpo since he's Ed Parker). If anyone knows of any others clue me in please.

If the credentials make them better teachers I'm all for it. I wouldn't say that's the case with all credentials though.

Science can explain absolutely everything... just not yet. As it is, it comes down to personal preference when deciding if we want to put our beliefs on hold until further notice from the science community, or if we just want to go ahead and believe in something we've seen and felt and read about because life is short and we may be dead before it's ever actually proven/understood.

I just don't bother telling anyone I train unless I'm close to them. Better for people to underestimate you anyway.

I have the most respect for the people who didn't need 9/11 to do these things... they were doing them before, during, and afterward regardless. Technically they would go in the "do nothing" column, wouldn't they?

Those arts in which every technique rips or shatters whatever part of you is attacked rather than just causing the usual damage you recover from in a week or so. I'd prefer not to be crippled I think.

Accupressure/puncture maybe.

I know someone who talked to someone in the State Department the other day. Supposedly the attack is already underway. All this "will we or won't we?" stuff is just for show.

Amazon.com is probably the only online (or otherwise) store I'm faithful to. The rest... whoever has it cheapest. I also bought from eBay recently. That's about all I can think of.

I think if there's passion in what you're doing things will fall into place on their own. Artistry will find a way to show through.

I was commenting on how no matter how you look at it people are selective about which movements they use and disagree on which are more effective... thus people pick different arsenals. I wasn't jumping on the single-style bandwagon... for the most part I've agreed with you. I just wondered how you felt about past masters who came to conclusions through tried and true experience, as you have, and wanted to share that experience with others, as you're trying to. Maybe their crime is giving what they did a name? *shrug* Oh well, I had a feeling asking the question would be a mistake.

I don't know the numbers at all, but how many American soldiers were in Nam/Storm/Afghan compared the to the number of soldiers from other countries? If there were more Americans there statistically I imagine if someone were going to screw up it would probably be an American.

If some styles are inherently more effective than others, wouldn't some techniques be inherently more effective than others? You wouldn't train for combat using every single movement the body is capable of (including wiggling your toes and trying to touch your nose with your tongue)... you would train using only the movements that have made it through the mental filter that decides what will and won't accomplish a goal. Wouldn't weeding out the bad techniques technically be "limiting" yourself? I'm guessing that the original creators of all of the martial arts out there felt that their arts were complete, otherwise they would have added what was missing. It's possible the students who feel their styles are complete are on the same wavelength as the creators and are trusting them to bring them only the most useful techniques and not waste their time with anything more. If they find eventually that another art has something they want, of course they should go after it. Focusing on one art without reason would be tunnel vision. But a person purposefully and knowledgeably focusing on one art, because they feel that in the end it will reveal every weapon they desire, and with time and dedication it can truly set them free... is their goal really different from yours?

I don't think I've had any one thing mean enough to me to brand myself with it for even just 5 years... I don't think anything could mean that much to me for 50.

If you never actually had to use it maybe you could keep doing it until your 80s (there are some 70 year old TKD people out there who can still kick all over the place). I think all those people are crippled from getting the kimchi kicked out of their extremities fight after fight... or possibly the leg conditioning involved (making your bones harder makes them more brittle eventually)... or both. Muay is like muy in spanish... thai is like thailand... unless I'm saying it wrong too.

This thread sparked a thought. If a person dedicates their lives to the study of many arts and develops their own art (which they practice and teach for the rest of their days) based on what they perceive to be the best elements of every art they've encountered... is that person mixing or staying true to a single art in the end? How many arts are there out there that were developed from scratch anyway? Haven't most of them evolved from other places?

One other minor advantage to grappling... who do you think the police are going to be easier on... the guy who pounded the guano out of his attacker or the guy who restrained his attacker until things defused?

Nail the first guy hard... it'll help lower the morale of the others.

I wonder which of those kids has the balls to spar Jesus. Watch out for that hail mary...

That would be interesting. I wonder how it would be locked and unlocked quickly?

I read it. It appeared to be (partially that is) about how to survive in a world where your life is in no one's hands but your own and combat is for keeps. Things are probably different today now that we're pampered and protected, but is there such a thing as an unfair fight when the goal is to preserve your own life? Whoever is left standing is the winner... the goal is achieved. I was going to add the bit about wooden swords against katanas, but LeaF already covered it nicely. I'm not hung up on Musashi, I just used him as the first example I could think of. Bruce Lee was a great martial artist who did a lot of great things, but I think to call him the greatest martial artist ever is a little insulting to people centuries ago who were surrounded by war and entered life or death situations on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis... the people who were only still alive because they hadn't lost yet. An environment like that can't help but produce some legendary fighters.