MizuRyu

I was readin through the martial arts books at Barnes And Noble, and saw this book: "The Little Capoeira Book" by Nestor Capoeira, so I bought it. It's extremely interesting, I think about an hour after I read through the history and half of the learning section, I downloaded well over 20 videos. Anyone here have any experience or input on it?

Well, I found a reliable ride there, took it up again. I brought the kid who was talking about it with me, here are the things he noted: The particular style that this dojo practices involves a lot of pok sao and like exercises, focusing on the centerline "drive", he talked about the "drum" techniques, instead of attacking or driving the center he was taught to control it through swiping movements and open it to attack. Also, Sifu Tom Tomlinson noticed that his style incorporated a lot of "dancing around the opponent", or "unnecessary trapping movements". I don't remember the names of the individual branches he noted, but he said they were fundementally different, but did not say that his was "modern", he actually seems to think that my friend's style isn't as true to roots, because Sifu Tomlinson trained under the youngest son of Yip Man, who holds true to the direct rooted past of Wing Chun.

Yeah, we do a lot of punches to the upper lip and temple. Lately master Soma has been whippin out focus pads and making us actually box. He says it's the one thing that tilts the balance on the art, the lack of hand speed and effectiveness. We should own at the tournaments.

I was taking Wing Chun for a while, but kinda stopped because of the distance from where I live. I have a friend who's dad teaches him Wing Chun, but when he watched a class of mine, he said it was too "modern" and ineffective in a serious situation. What're the differences?

Heard of him? I'm going to his seminar on the 4th and heard a lot of great things about him.

We train pretty intensively, 2 hour classes 3 times a week. We have a pretty equal balance of hand and foot techniques. Lots of punches and blocks, lots of low kicks. The real part I love about this art is the "snap", or whipping your force, Fa-Jing like. It's pretty powerful, Master Soma can snap so hard he loosens his gi. I'm really dedicated and take it very seriously, it's my 3rd day and I already know my first form (sorta). I really see a good future in this.

I had my first Tang Soo Do lesson Sunday. It seems to be to be a very complete and effective self defense system once you reach higher levels, it's very straight forward and balanced. We did kick drills, blocks, and punches. I have a feeling I'll really enjoy it. Anyone here with any advice or random info?

Are plyometrics a good way to go with jump and kick training or is there something better? If you've got any good routines I'd love to hear them.

I suppose it takes a high level of devotion to the techniques for them to be realistically effective. I know someone who can break cinder blocks with a spear hand, a Tang Soo Do master, that's pretty much what got me into it. I think I'll keep training though, it's fun, and makes for a cool party trick.. hahaha.

Yeah, they can be impractical, though I've done some talking and whatnot with a friend of mine who trained in Praying Mantis, and he showed me some very interesting things. It reminds me of Dim Mak, where you strike with spearhands to the jugular, side of neck, side of head, upper lip, under the clavicle, back of hand, inside of elbows, solar plexus... etc, in rapid succession. Also, I see this training to be beneficial in maybe combating finger locks or drasctically improving grip strength. By the way, what I have available in my area: Aikido, Wing Chun, BJJ, JKD, Escrima/Kali/Arnis, Shoot Wrestling, Okinawan Karate, Iaido, TKD, TSD, Kickboxing, Savate, Boxing... that's all I'm aware of, I'm sure there's a whole lot more.

That's dissappointing. I live in the Lansing area of Michigan and the nearest White Crane school that I could find was in Bloomfield Hills (near Detroit, 2 hours away).

What styles are heavy on fingertip training/usage?

I started doing fingertip stuff just for the fun of it a month or so ago, and I've gotten to where I can do fingertip pushups. I don't know what martial art these would be associated with however, my friend introduced me to it, and he takes Wing Chun and Tang Soo Do. Got any details? it would be nice if I could maybe put this mild obsession to use.

Well. women don't like bragging much, and in order for them to know you're a martial artist you'd have to bring it up, which is usually interpreted as bragging. Women typically aren't interested in those sorts of things, because they bring no social recognition, like sports or the like do. I get faaaar more attention from track than I would from bringing fighting into a conversation.

I'm a newbie in the martial arts world, I started Wing Chun a week ago and I'm looking into Aikido, which is offered at the same place. Anyway, I was at my 2nd lesson, and noticed someone who was looking for trouble, being too rough, a guy who gives jocks a bad name, you know the type. I was wondering what all your thoughts are on these sort of people? I think they're a shame to martial arts...