bushido_man96

I do think it is important for an instructor to have an idea of the character of the people he or she instructs. The problem with adults it that they are usually set in their ways, and changing them can be difficult. The same can be said for kids, because we are not their parents, and only have about 2 to 3 hours of their time in a week to affect them. So an instructor fights an uphill battle when it comes to trying to influence their students. It can be done, but not to a great extent. So, the other option is to monitor them, and if they act in a way that is counter to what the instructor wants to represent his school, then it needs to be addressed on an individual basis with the student. Then its on them to fix it.

Taekwondo is largely based on Shotokan, so there is a great deal of overlap. Normally, the body mechanics are different in TKD than in Shotokan, though, and training both will get you confused and hold you back. It is possible that the TKD instructor at your dojo has changed the way they do things to match Shotokan, though. In that case, it may not be much of an issue. Its really going to depend on the style of TKD you get. I do a style that does ITF forms, but not with sine wave. I think we have a very "Karate-like" approach to how we do technique, so if you have a place like this, then it may be beneficial for you. As far as looking for bunkai goes, you could look up Iain Abernethy, who has done a lot of work in researching bunkai. Some agree with his points of view, and some don't, but either way, he's worth a look. Welcome to KF, and we look forward to talking with you!

Well said. My knees hurt quite a bit, and I'm not even in my 40's yet. I think whenever anyone stays active for so long, it eventually just starts to wear on the body. I think for Martial Artists, the joints especially take a beating, especially doing hard striking in the air for so long. The answer, some anti-inflammatories, taken as needed.

Very nice, Patrick. This might be helpful for someone like me, who has to find time to work out at home anymore to get something in. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Thanks for the tips here, Alex. Sorry I just saw it, I've been sick. I did dig into one of the Gracie books I have, and found that where I messed up is by not blocking his hip with my arm. At least that was one problem, anyway. I plan to work on it with him when I get back to training. 9/22/2014 Defensive Tactics Club: 1:00 - 3:00 pm. Warm-up with shrimping and pummeling. Self-defense review. Then we reviewed the shrimp defense, and getting guard back from side mount along with elevator sweep. After that, we had the students in small groups, and they had to talk their way through the process of getting guard back from side mount, and the shrimp defense, while demonstrating it. This was a really good learning experience for them, and they did pretty good. 9/29/2014 Defensive Tactics Club: 1:00 - 3:00 pm. We got the opportunity today to train with a former club member who was also an All-American Wrestler at Fort Hays, and is now a professional MMA fighter out of the state of New York. His name is Andre Harrision, and the guy was a real treat to work with. Very nice guy, very humble and soft spoken. Here's a link to an article on Andre: http://combatpress.com/2014/09/ring-of-combat-champion-andre-harrison-healthy-and-ready-to-do-work/ We worked some stand-up and some ground stuff today. With stand-up, we did some stance work, hand position, and worked jabs for measure, and jab/cross combo. We did some close-in work, doing a combo of an elbow strike and a step-up knee strike. We also did a repeat jab, followed by a grab with the rear hand, followed by a back leg knee strike. From there we went to some ground work, starting by drilling a sprawl. Then he showed us what he called a Bravo choke (I think), which started from the sprawl position. Next, we went to some guard work, where if the top guy postured up to punch, we would squeeze our knees together and crunch him towards us and control them. From there we went to a Kimura, and then did a variation that started with what he called a knee shiv that worked into a triangle. Overall, I had a great time working with this guy, and learned a lot!

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you!

mal103, what is your experience with Krav Maga?

I think I'm happy training at home. Going to see Kukkiwon would be interesting, but I don't do that style, and an ITF headquarters wouldn't work well either, because I don't do sine wave. And the old politics of Korea screwed up TKD history so bad for so long, who knows what I would get? Yeah, think I'll stay home and train.

Thanks, Bob. I think the instructor wanted it to have an intro feel, so I wasn't going to see anything really advanced. I realized stepping onto that mat that my TKD career itself is probably only a few years younger than most of the students that were there. I missed a chance to return to a follow-up class because I got sick this weekend. Maybe in the future I will get to see something more. He did say something that struck me odd at the end of class...he mentioned if I wanted to join, I'd have to like take a ride with him and talk, and talk with the grandmaster or something to that affect....? Not sure, but I just let it lie.

This is a well written article, Bob. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us. There will likely not be agreement on this topic, ever. I think the problem arises in the drawing of hard and fast lines for one or the other. That makes it easy, though, either you qualify or you don't! What needs to happen is informed discussion over each candidate, in my opinion.

Congrats!

On Oct. 3, I attended a "bring a buddy" trial class for a Martial Art called 3-in-1. The instructor referred to is as a Jewish Martial Arts system combining TKD, Hapkido, and Brazilian Jui-Jitsu. I was invited by a co-worker, so I accepted, because I always like to check out something new, and just train. We started with quite a bit of calisthenics, including jogging, some fighting stance footwork and punching, breathing, and stretching. After the stretching, we did some kicking. We did front snap kicks, using the ball of the foot and the instep. Next we did an ax kick that used a little different hip movement than I'm used to, and then we did round kicks. The round kicks, they chambered like front kicks, and then rotated the hip over with a snap upon extension, and at a 45 degree angle. I don't mind kicking this way, but its not my preferred way of doing it. From there, we did some punching work from horse stance, which was nothing new for me. After kicking, we did some breakfalls and rolling. From there, we did some Hapkido, working on a 3-finger lock as a defense against a push from the front, locking 3 fingers and pressuring down to take them to their knees, and then reversing the pressure to bring them up into an escort. Next was a thumb lock that ended like a kote-gashi/wrist turning takedown. All in all, I had fun at the class. I would have preferred less time exercising, and more time doing technique, but that's just my preference. It appears that the instructor is of the Jewish religion, and takes from the basic tenants of the religion as far as his moral and ethical code for his style. That's just a guess on my part, and I would have to talk to him more at length about it to be sure. One thing I wasn't too game on was that he wanted me to wear my regular TKD uniform and belt, and I was lined up at the front of the class. I would have preferred training in do-bok pants and T-shirt, and lining up at the back; its his class, and I was just there to learn. But he was very respectful about it, even though I preferred him call me by my first name, as opposed to a title. But, I imagine that I what I will face if I go back and train. Anywho, there's my recent new MA experience. I'd love to discuss it with you all!

ps1, jaypo, and AdamKralic have all made very good statements, and I don't think I could add more to it. Very well put! As mentioned, it depends on what you are seeking in your Martial Arts training. Lots of people could care less if they ever fight or not. And on the other hand, there are plenty of fighters out there that could beat a Martial Artist, but aren't Martial Artists themselves. Fighting and self-defense is part of it. But not all of it.

I enjoyed watching this. He has some interesting views on some of the techniques there. I really liked the circular motion in the single had block he did, and the slower demo of it. Thanks for sharing this.

I'm not sure on the Kyokushin styles, but Thai kickers will rise up on the ball of the base leg to drive the kick around. In most "traditional" styles that I watch, kickers tend to keep their base foot flatter on the ground, more in contact with the floor. That's just one subtle difference I've noticed, at least in the way I kick usually. There could be some differences in the way the base foot pivots, and how the hip drives the kick, as well, but someone with more experience in them than me will have to put forth an answer there.

I agree. Its really tough to find a happy medium. Competing helps build up certain skills that can translate to helpful self-defense, but there have to be rule sets in place for safety. Likewise, its important to realize the deficiencies in the rule set and do what one can to alter the training from time to time to work on them for self-defense purposes.

Its not that you will be able to "take on anyone after 4 hours of training." I trained for 5 days, 8 hours a day. The goal isn't to take anyone on. The goal is to provide some tools to individuals in the form of certain concepts to make them easy to pick up, so that people that need to use them, but don't have all the time to train that others might, can learn to do so.I would also caution that "becoming combat effective in the least amount of time possible" equals being done learning and training sooner. The guy I trained with is a "career" Krav Maga guy; he believes in it, and studies it, a lot. He was also a Muay Thai fighter in Thailand quite a while back, so he's a guy who knows some stuff and has seen some stuff. Anyone who sticks with it is going to gain as much from it as from any traditional style.

I think that some of the blocking and striking concepts of Kung Fu would be very beneficial for any stylist to learn. I think the methodology of each might be different enough that you could keep them separate.

I think it comes down to preference. I think what really adds to a good side thrust kick is use of the hips rotating over and adding some drive to the kick. When we do spin side kicks, we do them kind of in the Olympic style, where we buzz the heel of our kicking leg tight by the knee of the base leg. This would really be using more of the ham and glutes, I think, to drive the kick. Now, with that said, you really can't isolate the leg muscles too much when doing a side kick. The quads are going to be involved, because the whole leg gets involved, either in pushing the leg out, or in supporting the leg in the air to do the kick.

Welcome back to KF!

Welcome aboard! Glad to have you here!

how can something slower and lighter hit harder? a rear cross uses most of your body weight, and travels really fast, a donkey kick uses very little body weight and travels at a slower speed, how can the donkey kick do more damage in some cases and about the same in other cases? Because the force of the impact isn't only supplied by you, it is also supplied by the person being struck. Typically back kicks are only landed or effective against someone who is moving towards you. They themselves are supplying lots of mass and velocity. Of course, any strike will be more effective when the opponent is moving into it, but it is pretty much the only way to hurt someone with a back kick, short of using a spin, or a specific and specialized kind of switch. This is easily demonstrated by back kicking a stationary heavy bag, then back kicking it again as it swings in to meet your kick. The kick has significantly more impact when the bag (our hapless opponent) swings into it. I would also like to point out that it is the rapid acceleration of tissue caused by the force that hurts people, and I think you will get a better grip on this if you learn about acceleration and vectors in general. Very nicely put. When it comes to these techniques, I think its also important to think about how the power is generated. The power linkage of a cross starts at the ground, and goes up through the leg to the body, and out the arm and fist. With a hook punch, you get some of the same factors, but you add in the added affect of rotating the striking tool around the hips. I imagine this changes things, too.

Krav Maga does award black belts. At least Krav Maga Worldwide does. Maybe some of the offshoots don't, but they do provide rank. The police instructor/defensive tactics courses though, do not. It sounds like you did a good job of de-escalating the situation there. Hopefully, these fellows will come to understand each other in the future.

Other than some marked clothing, I don't usually pick up on it. I hear that some people can see it in others, but I don't always pick up on it.

Early on in my career, I found that it was something I wanted to do for the long haul. So far, so good!