omnifinite

I use the ball of the foot. You could try that and see how it feels. Though if that isn't how your art does it I'm sure there's a reason for it. Tomato tomahto.

That's what I did... found a style that integrates a hard style and a soft style. I think that's a good way to go. I don't think I'd pick two hard styles or two soft styles. I also might not pick two styles that contradicted each other (i.e. some styles focus on doing things at 45 degree angles and some styles focus on centerlines) to ease confusion, but if the two contradicted I don't think the same school would be teaching them both anyway. If you go to two different schools you're on your own in that decision.

I dunno... Musashi killed, what, 60 people? And those people were armed. How long would Bruce Lee have survived a life like that?

I would assume that's Savate. I'm sure more than one country has thought of fighting with the feet. A lot of arts probably originated on their own in different places.

Make sure they're high-quality and balanced properly. It'll make life much easier.

Yes, I would think you should.

You asked a question. He gave you his informed opinion. You threw it in his face. What kind of answer did you want?

That's one of the small advantages to your attacker having a weapon. If they don't really know what they're doing, they tend to forget about using the rest of their body on you.

Good punch to the neck would probably do it... chances are it could do more damage than you intend to.

In some Asian languages (I can't vouch for any but Korean, but there are probably similarities) they use sounds that aren't a "k" sound or a "g" sound but somewhere in between (or both at the same time). Same with "p" and "b" (pinan/binan katas)... "r" and "l"... that sort of thing. Maybe the word "kung" uses one of those sounds that doesn't have an english equivalent... we just kinda have to pick one letter or the other.

I agree. I prefer Jackie Chan's action scenes by far. Using wires or special effects just seems to break up the flow of the fight unless it's very important conceptually (and even then it can be weird unless it's done really well... which is what makes me nervous about The Tuxedo ). If he needs wires to make one kick look good maybe he's using the wrong kick... and if he needs to, umm, "stretch" the realm of logic in order to make his fights "work", maybe he needs to rethink the sequence. Jackie Chan's fights usually make sense, no matter how complex they get. And Jackie Chan always has a humbleness that puts you on his side every step of the way. With probably every bone of his body broken at some point... no one can touch his dedication. Plus he's incredibly good to his fans. I love the guy. I'm glad he started working in American movies or I never would have found out who he was. And he probably never would have had the budgets to make his best stuff.

Depends on your ki too, I'd say. More of a severe tap than a pinch.

I think he might mean other websites. I don't know of any personally.

Sorry... my answer is... no, I can't think of any ways my life or training have changed personally.

I read an article the other day where someone said that going on and on and on about 9/11 was starting to make America look weak in the eyes of future terrorists. I think I'm starting to agree. I don't mean to be insensitive to the people more closely involved in the tragedy, but there's a difference between honestly and genuinely covering a story and bleeding a story dry because you know it has guaranteed emotional impact and you don't want people to know you have nothing else to talk about. I think the media crossed that line quite a while ago. Shouldn't the people most hurt by it be given the chance to move on, rather than to relive it every time they turn on the TV? There are tragedies going on every day in the rest of the world... some that we're a direct cause of. Why don't we direct some of our energy toward those? Unfortunately it's a lot easier to fix a building than a society.

I have private instruction for $20 a session (an hour)... once or twice a week.

Ninjitsu, Aikido, Wing Chun, Wu Shu, Tai Chi, Hsing-I, BJJ, Jeet Kun Do... one of those would do.

In my style, striking with the pinky edge is knife hand and striking with the thumb side is called a ridge hand. I don't know if it's called that in other systems too.

From what I'm told a lot of bo practitioners have two or three bos. One really heavy one (some people even use thick metal rods) for using slowly in katas, one that gets a beating when practicing against other weapons (sometimes one for edged, which will splinter it, and one for blunt), and then maybe a really nice pristine one for use in competitions. Only other advice I can think to give you is not to use PVC pipe or something like that to practice with. You need the weight in your hands. Straight ones are heavier than tapered ones of course.

Once I thought I had appendicitis. I was sick for a while, and it turned out my ab muscles just hurt so much because of all the coughing and throwing up I'd been doing. So you might have nothing to worry about, but go get it checked out of course. I can't think of any reason not to.

Just like the mcdojos, I tend to see religion as mcspirituality. Fast prepackaged belief systems on auto-pilot suitable for the masses who might not feel like putting too much thought into that sort of thing. Religion might help you figure out what you believe, but whatever conclusions you come to probably won't exactly match the doctrines (if they can even agree amongst themselves). So applying a common exterior label to what's in your head will probably be inaccurate anyway. You believe what you believe, and you believe it for a reason (hopefully). I guess that means I go for the first two definitions.

Yes, I didn't mean that any martial art itself is watered down... the trick is actually finding someone teaching the real thing.

3 billion people don't want one thing. This is one of those questions that will just bring a person confusion.

I'm more afraid of being mangled or maimed. Death is the easy part. This is the place to be concerned about.

one bokken one pair of low-quality sai You are impressed, no?