bushido_man96

I have a book called Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training, by C.M. Shifflett. It has some good ideas on learning to roll, and Aikidokas are some of the best at it. It might be worth a look for you.

I take the "one year advise" with a grain of salt. My TKD training never covered ground fighting. So waiting a year to learn how to fight on the ground doesn't do me any good. If the styles to be cross-trained are similar, then I can see the reasoning behind the one-year wait, but even then, depending on the student, it may not be necessary.

Hehe, if only we could find the fabled fountain of youth!

Shayna Baszler made some comments on Catch Wrestling in this article here: http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/439555/Baszler-Catch-wrestling-was-the-beginning-of-it-all/ I found her brief insight rather interesting. You don't hear much about Catch Wrestling any more, but it would be a lot of fun to work with.

Well, the Chiefs pulled out another one, but they just can't make it easy. Offense struggled agains the Bills. That defense isn't going to be able to bail them out every week. Perhaps the bye week will help them get something figured out with some consistency on offense, especially with Denver looming.

Hey, it just makes your division look better!

I don't think this is a given across the board to all styles and philosophies. ITF TKD grew out of the Korean army. Styles like Aiki-jujutsu come from battlefield combat, as well. This is more of a personal choice than a hard fast rule of the Martial Arts, in my opinion.

Welcome aboard, and I want to wish you luck as you start your MA journey. It looks like you are doing your homework, which is important when deciding where to study at. Let's tackle each of the these questions... There are a few schools of thought on this style of sparring. One, is that it teaches control. The thought here is that if you can control a hard, fast technique to a specific target area without making contact, then you should be able to use the same control to make contact when necessary. The other school of thought is that it teaches bad habits. I tend to agree that it can teach bad habits. What I've seen happen is that respecting what a technique can do as a defender goes out the window because the defender never actually has to block or evade anything. So, they don't learn how to defend it properly. The other side of that is that the person throwing the techniques doesn't get that kinesthetic feedback of what happens when you hit someone; how to offset your balance and things like that. Also, what you think is a good combination thrown in the air without making contact may not be realistic when you are actually close enough to hit someone and see how they react. These two-man drills can be very beneficial training tools, if they are done properly, and incorporated into some kind of sparring, or something that is "alive" as far as training applications. I think the instructor's explanation has some good points, but I don't like the aversion to sparring altogether. It lends itself towards the "our stuff is too dangerous to be hitting each other with" mentality, which isn't the case with the training gear available today. With that said, I won't presume to know what this instructor teaches in two-man drills, or how he does it. Two-man drills can come in many forms, like one-steps, or bunkai training (training of the applications of the moves of forms/katas). One-steps can be a good training tool, but I feel that they are only a step in the training ladder, and should evolve and grow out of their pre-planned-ness. Now, the ideal training place, and I think tallgeese would agree with me, would have a conglomeration of all the types of sparring listed above, and mix up the training accordingly. No-contact, to work on developing sound technique and refining things like footwork, body position, etc. Two-man drills would allow for the refinement of technique with a partner who gives you targets and limbs to attack, twist, etc. You get your reps in at different levels with different partners to learn how to tweak things when you need to. Two-man drills would also include different things like pad work and the like. Finally, you would have some medium-level contact sparring to teach you how to hit and get hit, without really getting beat up. This would lead into the full-contact, which would be done to bring it all together, like training for a fight or for self-defense. That's my long spiel on sparring. Keep looking into the schools available in your area, and most important of all, keep in mind what your goals for sparring are (self-defense, competition, etc), ask the instructors what their sparring goals and methods are, and then make your decision based off the information you cobble together. I hope this helps out. Keep us posted, and let us know what you decide to do. I look forward to hearing more from you on KF!

I'm fortunate in the South East, there's a Kyokushin Dojo, Shotokan, GKR and Wado Ryu. You are lucky. That's quite a few choices.

This is along the lines I was thinking, but I don't think I could say it this well. Start out low to the ground, start from a squat position, and then work up to doing it from kneeling, then from standing. It takes time, but it will come. I think some instructors will have students wrap themselves around a ball of some kind, like maybe one of those bigger balance balls, and pratice that way a little, but I've never done it that way.

Thanks for sharing this with us, monkeygirl. Perhaps when things slow down a bit, we'll get to see you back here more often. I did pick through that thread some, and it was a very interesting read. Lots of great discussion on both sides of the coin. I'm glad you were able to share these things with us.

I'm glad this article was bumped. I am approaching the 40 crowd, and I've found that I don't move as well or warm up as quickly as I used to. I've also found that the family schedule has affected my training time more and more, so I have to take different approaches to training. I've read the book by Sang H. Kim, and its a good one, and one I'll probably be re-reading in the next few years.

ShoriKid, you've been a great contributor to the community, and I enjoy reading your posts. I think its great that you and your brother are able to share your MA journey together.

Thanks for sharing this with us, MP. I hope to see you around again soon. I always enjoy your feedback and insight, as well as your sense of humor.

Congrats again, Heidi! Very well deserved!

Thanks for sharing this with us! Its great to have you as part of the community, and I enjoy reading your posts.

Welcome to KF!

Because if you want to list every Martial Artist as a leathal weapon that could kill, then you would also have to inlcude anyone who has gone through military training.

I don't think its fair to consider Kyokushin merely a combination of two styles. Its more than that. Those may be the styles that Oyama previously studied, but Kyokushin is more than just these two styles combined. Its a different training methodology and approach altogether.

You are welcome. As AdamKralic mentioned, spar more often. As often as you can. You will get better. But when you spar, don't just spar. In class, take some days to spar with a goal in mind. Pick a day that you will focus on learning to use and apply that defensive side kick. Pick a day where you work mostly on footwork, to move sideways and not backwards so much. Other days, focus on putting it all together and winning. Use those days to learn, so when you get to tournament, you have worked on those things in class, and have them down.

Thanks for sharing this interview with us, and thanks for the kind words. Your contributions here at KF have always been great, and the help I received early on when I joined the staff have helped me so much in the beginning, when everything was still confusing and a mess for me. I don't think there is any question that the fact that you and Heidi being the links between the two groups of staff members Patrick mentioned has affected the quality of the staff, both then and now. Thank you. You've been a great part of this community, and I look forward to seeing you drop in again. On a side note, you joined the site on my birthday! Pretty cool! Its like were connected....

Congrats! It's well deserved.

I haven't heard any complaints for a while, but I'm not the head guy, so I may be bypassed. My suggestion is to run your school your way, and not be swayed by those that complain and may not really understand what is going on. And don't worry too much about it. If they keep complaining and leave, then they probably weren't that committed, anyway. You'll keep the better students that way, and those that don't want to train will find any excuse to filter their way out.

That's a good point, one I haven't thought of. But, it makes sense, with the way schools standardize things for testings and what not.

We usually breathe out on most techniques, or after a combination of a few techniques. Like DWx mentioned, kind of like a silent kihap. My style does many of the same forms that DWx does. My current form is Yoo Sin, but I don't do the sine wave motion, I tend to put moves 3 and 4 together as a combo, a short rest, then combo 5 and 6. I don't dip up and down when I do them, though, so they are completed faster. This is what I mean when I talk about not really concerning myself with someone else's pace of a form. I do mine like I've been taught, and how I feel comfortable with how I think the moves flow and work together.