lordtariel

Not to mention the position of your guard usually dictates where your opponent is going to strike. If you have a high guard, odds are you can be sure your opponent is going to go low. Knowing where your opponent is going to strike is a useful thing.

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Way to go!

WooooOOOO!! Happy Birthday Karateforums!

Could I ask what type of sword? You'd use different exercises for slashing than you would for thrusting. Techniques you would use a gim with would be different than techniques you would use for a broadsword.

If you are looking to learn self defense you need to know how to deal with guns. Not just disarming techniques and such, but how the guns work. Can you tell how many bullets a gun has just by looking at it? How does the gun fire and how much damage will it do? Can you identify the type of gun to the police?(deringer, rifle, revolver, ect...)If you gain control of a gun from an attacker you should know how to use it.

Have you talked to the doctor about this in general or just about the pneumonia? I know I strained a rib muscle one time and the pain stayed with me for a few months. Not the same type of pain I would associate with a bruise though, but it hurt to breath deeply, twist my torso around or put pressure on the side.

I would say the difference is you should be asking your sensei for advice about cross training(whether he thinks it's a good idea, why, what's a good complimenting art, ect...) rather than asking for permission.

I'd say 25% of the time the samurai would win, 25% the knight would win, and the other 50% would go the way you said.

Just remember, you fight completely differently if you know your opponent is going to be able to go for your head. It might not have happened if the other kid had been prepared for it. And yes, he should have been anyway, but it sounds like these are young kids. It's good to put a positive spin on it for your brother so he doesn't get discouraged, but he needs to learn to control himself. That kind of thing can scare a lot of people away from competing. I hope he apologized to the kid he KO'd.

That's really curious, I've never come across anybody sparring in a back stance. But if the leading foot is facing your opponent, is it really a back stance?

A person with that attitude is probably never going to have to be busted down to white.

Here's a list of the sacrifice throws in judo(sutemi waza). Tomoe-nage -- Circle Throw Uki-waza -- Floating Technique Yoko-otoshi -- Side Drop Ura-nage -- Rear Throw Yoko-gake -- Side Hook Hane-makikomi -- Spring Wrap-around Throw Sumi-gaeshi -- Corner Reversal Yoko-guruma -- Side Wheel Soto-makikomi -- Outer Wrap Around Hikkomi-gaeshi -- Pulling-in Reversal Tani-otoshi -- Valley Drop Uchi-makikomi -- Inner Wraparound Tawara-gaeshi -- Rice Bale Reversal Yoko-wakare -- Side Separation You can see animated gifs of the thows here: http://www.judoinfo.com/animate.htm

That's what senseis do, keep you on your toes. I'm forced to regularly practice all the katas/techniques I know because I never know when I'm going to get called out to demonstrate a kata or technique. It gets worse as you get to be a higher belt and they ask you to do a beginner kata because it's been so long since you've done it. You may want to consider practicing your kata facing different directions in the dojo. Sometimes I'll be told to do a kata facing the northwest corner of the dojo or facing the east side of the dojo. The most difficult one I had to do was a synchronized kata with another person where we started back to back, went opposite directions and ended facing each other. Like I said... senseis like to keep you on your toes.

Sparring in the dojo: Love it Sparring in tournament: Hate it. Some people get so serious during tournaments, some people panic and just windmill with very little form. Sparring in the dojo is much more relaxed. By relaxed I don't mean necessarily easier, it's just that people's thoughts aren't wrapped up so much in winning so they can end up being harder to fight. Sparring is a good exercise because it gets you used to somebody trying to hit you. It makes you less afraid to stand your ground and teaches you not to flinch.

Chinese staff focuses on larger more circular techniques, you might want to take a look into some of those.

Do your fist kick slowly and bring your leg back to a cocked position without letting your foot touch the floor. Hold it in that position until you regain your balance, then kick again. Slow is the key, don't kick again until you are in full control of your balance, then preform the kick slowly. The more you do it the faster you'll start to get.

http://www.judoinfo.com/tomonage.htm If you actually do it right, they're pretty good. A well placed tominagi can send someone flying. We train with the foot kind of to the side of the groin, but that doesn't mean you can't stomp the groin while you're doing the throw if you need to. Do it right and it's an effective technique. Don't do it right and you're on the ground on your back and someone is standing over you. Not a good situation to be in. I would say it really has to depend on the situation.

The answer is Yes... Chi/Ki is a very nebulous thing. Let me ask you something. Define energy. It can mean a lot of different things. It can be physical force, it can be vigor, it can be attitude, there's really not one definition. Chi is like that. In application to fighting, I see it as kenitic energy. In meditation, I see it as breathing and state of mind. Different meanings for different applications.

Would a longsword really be that effective against heavy armor? I thought that's why the focus of weapons shifted to the heavy two handers and polearms.(At least until gunpowder arrived on the scene)

Look at it this way, someone comes in to check out your dojo and they see a higher level belt goofing off and making problems. Do you want that to be the impression your dojo gives? When a student is permanently stripped of rank, it's true they have to retest, but they don't have to pay for retesting.

I don't think you would gain that much weight in two weeks. Just be conscious of what you're eating.

This is how I feel on the topic of chi as well. We can manipulate it through our body, but I don't really feel we can send it externally. I like that term, Kenetic linkage.

I've seen it happen at our dojo, but it's usually a yellow belt. This is an effective technique and I feel a necessary one. If you don't have the discipline to be a higher belt, you're not a higher belt, end of question. I think this is the correct way to handle that sort of situation. Sure, you could kick him out, but I would rather change his way of thinking rather than just get rid of him.

Sadly, there hasn't really been many fantasy movies lately with really good, realistic fight scenes.(If there have been, let me know. I'd love to watch them) And the movies that do have good combat tend to lean towards the eastern arts for style. Think of the number of martial arts movies out there and compare them to the number of fantasy movies out there. Kind of lopsided. If we had as many movies with knights and fencers getting crazy with the fighting, we might see a different view emerge.