younwhadoug

in my opinion, the fact that your wife was with you probably crossed your mind. and you weren't on the battlefield with you family safe at home. you have more to risk and making a mistake because you think you CAN handle it might have cost you your wife. either way, even though your a marine doesn't make you invisable. even if you train in martial arts, it doesn't give you the upper hand in a street confilct, but allows you to make a wise chioce to act or not act.

we have sparring night where we get geared up to fight with medium contact. my instructor and i spar without gear pretty frequently and hes not worried about hurting me and hes not worried about me hurting him i'm quite sure. his control is inspiring. but yeah we spar with only gloves once a week or so.

toby from what i can tell it stretches all the groin area the hamstrings all down to the knees on all sides from what it feels like. after i use it for about 30 minutes i get off and do the splits in three directions just to make sure the right muscles get stretched... i have also noticed that tightening the legs while very stretched out releives some of the pain of the splits... i'm going up 5% every two or three days and am suprised at the preogress

we have a local person always pestering us on our guest book that calls himself a "real martial artist". he hasn't done it in a while but our divission head does not promote it. but i have seen one of the masters invite the guy to a tournement. he hasn't replied back since. being an instructor, if someone walked in and challenged me in front of my class or discreetly i would tell him if he wants to spar me he can join the association or enter a tournement. thats what i would like to say. knowing my temper however i would probably say "hey i keep an extra pair of gloves in my bag just for this occasion" i hope it never happens but being in this buisness its likely to some day.

i'm about 40% off from maxin out this machine. i am looking forward to the progress. thanks for the tips

make you enemys strengths you number one priority in training. if he kicks either get hit block it or move or all but kick him back. the thais seem to like to exchange blows and over power. so kick better!

welcome to the site and welcome to the world youn wha ryu association. i train under zach shaw. doug hilton

sounds like our back stance is about the same, basicly an L shape with your feet. but i can pull off a roundhouse from this stance, its pretty obvious when i do though. if im sparring my back stance is wider then regular basic technique. hope that shed some light on things.. whats a cat stance?

i like back stance cause i kick the most with the front leg. and any kick can work from the backstance if you turn your hips at the right time. i have nothing but bad luck with front stance. kicking from the back leg may have more power but its most likely to be blocked. riding stance leaves you open for an attack which i would and have exploited. whatever the stance might be i want my side kick ready and available along with any other techinique

my wife brought home a splits machine or tool or what ever you call it. i have been using it for a week and have noticed some change. has anyone been successful with one of these or should i just rely on training to get me to do the splits????

i'm trying to get my instructor to visit this site, hopefully soon we will all be graced by his presence!!!!

unfortunately we don't have full contact in a sense of take downs and submissions. but we are slowly working it into our system. my instructor kicks my butt often, including take downs and submissions, the most recent being in a elementary school gym where we have class on tuesdays. we spar he throws me around, gets on his back and got me in a double arm bar. ouch! i can't say i've seen weaknesses though. we have a very well rounded system. like i said we are working in the jujitsu which resembles gracie style. when we spar in that class its no gear other than gloves.

i haven't while in martial arts but i have done it in a fight years ago, without the arm bar. i will get the oppertunity though. our fight nights aren't always for the weak hearted. i can't wait, but even if i can't pull it off agianst another martial artist, i'll keep training. i am currently a 2nd red so i am still in the diaper stages of a beginner

Which aspect of training specifically, would you say helps your temper? i have a horrible temper that i am ashamed of. i actually take meds for it. martial arts has definately helped me control myself. think about your early stages of martial arts. i would often get mad in sparring practice. i wouldnt act out agianst anyone, but i would get mad none the less. maybe you don't get mad or frustrated if you were that type of person youd reallize how martial arts helps with temper through the ART of self control. maybe you haven't learned that part if you take it just to learn self defense. i don't know. i'm not trying to insult you. just like you can't imagine taking martial arts for any reason but self defense i can't imagine training without all of the benefits of martial arts. i love the family atmosphere. the challenging kicks, forms, demos, teaching, testing, tournements, weapons, etc.........

we covered a lot in advanced class tonight but what i enjoyed the most in class today was drilling on hip throw and finishing with an arm bar. opponent cross jab-reciever open hand center block the downward fan block slipping a spearhand behind the opponent getting your hip and belt beneath their belt to where you can lift off the ground if that makes sense, after the hip throw, hanging on to their lets say right arm depends what side you start on in fighting stance left foot under or near the back of their head, sit down lay back and thrust hips up blah balh i'm sure most of you know all this already but i love to train in it with the black belts they know i love the abuse and am very willing to learn... other drills tonight were sparring drills double fan block downward and upward oposing fan blocks we did about two hundred of each on each side mainly emphisizing on turning the torso to rely on technique rather then power. it was a simple class but i got a lot out of it. simple meaning basic not easy just thought id share for the heck of it. comments welcome.

i think the old thought that tkd kicks are the best or most effective or are also called super kicks or mega kicks, is pretty much washed up these days. so many other systems have awesome kicks and extreme power, many from chinese arts. not sure about japanese arts. i know when i was in kerate as a kid they had us doing much of the technique and kicks that i do in tkd. i have taken a great intrest in thai kickboxing because of the power is amazing. anyways more kicks front snap kick-reholster-from the reholster without stopping the motion turn into a wheel back kick or wheel round house. include some blocking in those as well inside block or high block or high outside chop (to a high roundhouse or crsent kick to the head) while doing whichever block skip side kick or back kick- side punch or straight punch when you reholster agian and finish with say a spin kick. i'm just making these patterns up, but they are patterns with 3-4-5 moves including blocking and attacking. and the pattern is something you could set up for easily. anyone sparring will throw a round house or cresent kick to your head

i apply my training principles to almost all that i do. marriage, parenting, dealing with people i would rather not know, all that has been improved along woth many other parts of my life. i'd say its a critical tool for me and my family. we just dont refer to self defense in everything we do. there is much more to our system than protecting ourselves. i have heard of systems that are strictly self defense. i have no intention on causing anyone including attackers or any aenemy so much harm that i regret. with all that said, assuming we were similar in experience, i would put our system to the test with yours or any other system. i am that confident and i really don't worry about anyone that could harm me.

congrats for your perfomances!

why do they keep their hands down when fighting? is it really because so that they have more stability to do kicks? if you mean tkd people, couldn't tell ya. i'm in tkd and am always told to keep my arms in a guard. i keep a closed tucked in guard which keeps my arms and hands out of the way of my kicks. i think keeping your gaurd up is a rule for most arts. i don't know why a lot of tkd guys drop their hands

Kieran-Lilith, when ever you want to go through that old notebook in a forum let me know i would love to hear about it from a students point of view

i'm 5'8'ish i think the tall one has the advantage. i wouldn't want to fight a tall guy on the streets without knowing what i have learned through martial arts.... but when i was a little younger and confronted by tall bullies or short ones or gangs or any other threat for that matter... i acted nuts, totally psycho and when you do that you have to act onb it, grab one or two of em and go crazy. i can also remember a few times i got beat down for the same thing. i grew up in the poor a$$ part of denver. fun fun

can someone explain "wushu" to me?

i am cross training tkd tia chi and jujitsu that would resemble gracie style. but for much different reasons than you. but i am having fun with it. and feel comfortable going from one to the other.

well..... i didn't place this time. i don't like it much but i will take this defeat with the attitude of "ok what can i learn from this and what wasn't i doing that i know i could have?". its always humbling to lose, but on the brighter side my wife placed first in forms and my two sons won second and third in sparring each. my students did really well and were noticed by the masters present. so i really can't complain about much. oh yeah, that guy was not at the tournement so i was worrying about it for nothing.

i actually have a tournement today. will be fighting at about 4pm. i meditate with breathing exercizes. standing in a riding stance, arms crossed breathing in as they go out in front of me they uncross and start a circle, still breathing in asmy fists draw upward tward my arm pits, then releasing the breath as i push away making a diamond with the index and thumbs tightening all muscles wgile doing it. this is actually our breathing warm up for class, but i use it to meditate or just to collect myself if i'm angry or upset or even for a headache