bushido_man96

Great news!

Rolling is good to know how to do, because it beats falling down. Breakfalls are useful to know, and they are a derivative or rolling. I look at it this way; rolling and breakfalls are controlled, falling is not. I'd rather be in control.

I've read it. Seems like it might be time to read it again.

I've always liked the group setting for classes, and have never really had many private training sessions. Sometimes I'd get together with my instructor and trained together, but wouldn't call them private sessions, really.

One-step practice is a part of every class we do. However, one-steps vary per belt level, so as a white belt, you drill the white belt one-steps a lot. Then you move up, and tend to only drill white belt when you have a white belt in front of you during class. Its required to know all the lower rank one-steps, as well. So practice is encouraged.

Congrats!

Kicking high, no, not really. But I can do all of my kicks low without much issue.

I'm open to the idea. A remake won't affect the notoriety of the original. I think Jason Statham could play Roper's role really well, and there are plenty of opportunities for relatively unknown actors to get a shot.

I agree, Martial Artists in general should not be termed "lethal weapons," nor should any person ever have to "register" themselves as a lethal weapon.But, if someone is known to be a skilled Martial Artist, it can change things for that person in how other people react to being attacked by them. We discuss this often in our use-of-force applications at work. If an officer knows that someone they are dealing with is a skilled Martial Artist, then it can justified in moving up the force continuum.

We use Korean terminology when doing basics and board breaking in our school. I've got a lot of TKD books, and I notice in reading them that the terms we use are different for many of the techniques. Not sure why, as I don't speak a lick of Korean, other than the terms I use in class.

Self-defense starts with self-awareness.

I think a lot of MA schools that run a cardio kickboxing program do so in order to expose more people to the possibility of what MA training can be. Through that exposure, I think most have the goal of trying to bring some of them into the actual MA classes. Himokiri Karate, thanks for sharing that information. It sounds like a good story, indeed.

I've heard the name, but never seen a school, or spoken with any practitioners.

Congrats!

Happy Happy Birthday! Hope its a great one!

This is really cool! Thanks for sharing this with us, Bob! Its great when KF members can get together, meet, and hang out!

I think OneKickWonder makes some good points. Human beings have been fighting since day one, and since that day, human beings have been working on becoming better at fighting. Whether that be with weapons to increase damage output, making items like armor and shields to protect ourselves better, etc. As a race, we've been at this for a very long time. With all that said, systems like Karate, TKD, BJJ, Wrestling, etc, are all focused efforts at improving our ability to attack and defend ourselves physically with our natural weapons. They are systems created in an effort to help us kick, punch, block, counter, etc, all in a more efficient and effective manner. So, in a sense, OneKickWonder is right on the money in his approach. We study these styles in order to make us better at some of the things we already naturally do. These systems also help us to refine what we do physically, and the focus of some systems can take us beyond the physical and into a more mental and spiritual aspect of our training. But, it all starts with the physical aspects. Now, with all that aside, and to provide a more direct answer to Oresti's question, yes, Shotokan Karate can be very useful in a self-defense situation. It all depends on how you train. If you train at a school that spends a decent amount of time on the self-defense aspects of the style, it can become a very useful and effective system of self-defense. If there is a healthy amount of partner work with some realist attacks and defenses practiced, or forms work with applications that are reasonable and efficient to perform, then any style can be very beneficial in self-defense (I assume that is what you mean when you mention a street-fight). The reverse can also be true. If the school isn't run well, and the curriculum isn't taught well, and no self-defense is ever worked on, then it could be tough to make it all translate. In the end, a lot depends on how the teacher approaches the training, and what kinds of things are focused on in class. Speak with your instructor to find out what kind of focuses he or she has in training.

Very cool, indeed. The ability to teach and translate skill is paramount for a coach. Not whether they are male or female.

The problem is that Wrestling and BJJ are not the same. Sure, the BJJ person will likely pick up things quick, but picking up the nuances of the sport will take time, and those who have actively competed will have an advantage. There are some other factors to consider, too. BJJers are comfortable working from their backs. Wrestlers aren't afforded that opportunity. If you hit your back, your pinned and the match is over. If a BJJ guy goes to his back and then decides he is going to "go to work" to reverse, he will find himself pinned. Therefore, Wrestlers tend to be very aggressive. That's an adaptation that a BJJer would have to make. Another aspect of it is the takedown game. This tends to differ from school to school, so it will depend on if a BJJer is skilled at takedowns or not. If a BJJer gets taken down and tries to pull guard, he probably just gets pinned. Another adaptation to make. Then there's learning to work from Referee's position...a whole other monster... ...and now that we've addressed all that, we haven't delved into what style of Wrestling we are even doing here. I'm assuming Folk Style, the style found throughout the US in Kids, Middle and High School, and Collegiate Wrestling. What if we are talking about Freestyle or Greco/Roman? More very different beasts to look at. The biggest bugaboo I have with your question is the lopsidedness of it; only one year of experience for the Wrestler. Kid's Wrestling is huge in the US, and "Kid's" is a bit misleading...high schoolers still participate in Kid's Wrestling. It is very possible that by the time a kid gets to his or her freshman year in high school they already have 8 years of experience in Wrestling. I'm not trying to discount a BJJer's knowledge at all. But its way different than Wrestling. What if the question was asked this way: "Say we have a BJJ black belt join a Judo club. Is he likely way better than those Judoka that have been training for a year?"

There shouldn't be. That's not the point of the thread. The question is, at different life stages, do different styles offer greater suitability than other styles. Would it be fair to sell a kicking style to someone that is never going to be a good kicker? When I phrased the question, I was careful not to ask, are there different styles for different age groups. We all pass through different life stages at different points in our journey. Except at the very beginning and very end, age has no bearing on it. I'm coming in late here, but I think I see the gist of what you are asking. I feel I have good experience here. I've been doing TKD for the better part of 25 years. Its a style that emphasizes kicking, and its Olympic style sparring tends to be benefit someone the more athletic they are. Being a short, fat guy for most of my life, I have first-hand experience in trying to compete in a kicking-focused style with tall, lanky, athletic kickers. Its tough. Now, physical talent and athletic ability aside, there are many facets one can focus on in TKD. Being older now, with my knees hurting the way they do often, I'm pretty well past my prime when it comes to doing the fancy jumping and spinning kicks, the 360s, etc. I'm not jumping around much any more. Which sucks, because when I test for 5th dan, I'll be required to do a flying side kick over three people.... However, there are many aspects of TKD that I am still able to perform. All the basic standing kicks are in my toolbox. Standing spin kicks are still within my ability to perform. Hand strikes/blocks are locked in. What I find now is that I spend more time focusing in on improving basic techniques and working on self-defense, if only in my head, especially through forms. So, over the years of training, I've adapted to listen to my body and keep on training and improving. Now, if someone my age with my current physical state was going to start looking into training in the Martial Arts, I'd tell the person to find what interests them, and do it. A good instructor should see what their students can and can't do, and help them along as best they can in their journey.

hey, singularity6 have you watched a film yet? pink Not yet. Eventually, though! I recommend jumping straight to Enter the Dragon.

Welcome to KF!

Welcome to KF!

Things are going great! Good to have you back, G95champ!

I think as a teacher I need my students to want to be better than me. This drives me to try to keep moving forward as well. Yes, I want them to get better than me, but I want them to earn it, as well.