bushido_man96

Sounds interesting. Have any pics or drawings of what it would look like? I've used the weighted pulley machines at my gym to work punches with weights before. Same idea?

Lots of solid advise here so far. I think what I have to offer is a bit different, but for what its worth... Everyone tends to develop some "bread and butter" techniques and tactics. This is the go-to stuff, they stuff they know and do so well they cand do it in their sleep. This is a good thing, I think. It can be bad, if its all that is done, though. Here is my suggestion. Being so close to tournament, don't worry about trying to change anything up. It will likely screw up his rhythm and timing. After the tournament, take time to work with him on some different things to change up his tactics a bit. Take those few other things that you say he does decently, and focus on them more than his bread and butter stuff. Do drills that present the opportunity for him to do those techniques, and make him execute them. Tell him to spar in class with a goal to hit with those techniques, and not his bread and butter so much. Sparring in class should be about growing and learning, not about winning and losing. This should help him to see different ways of scoring, and help him get better. Best of luck! Let us know how the tourney goes.

Its good to hear you've found something closer, and quality. Let us know how the classes go, please!

I voted for Kyokushin, but Shindokan is tied with it!

Hello, grapplers! I've been looking to increase my ability in BJJ as I go along, and at this point in my training, I've done mainly everything kind of one-step like; bad guy is in a position, and basically doesn't resist a whole lot while good guy learns and reps the moves. This is good training, but I'm wanting to move into something more interactive so my trainees, and I, can learn to feel a little resistance, and do more "alive" training, but not an actual free roll. Just briefly yesterday, I suggested a drill where one person is in full mount on the other. The person in mount either punches, chokes, or smothers (stays close), and provides a bit of resistance. The person on bottom has to reverse some how, UMPA or UMPA with swim and trap, or do elbow escape to get to guard or elevator sweep. At any rate, the goal is for the person on bottom to reverse position to get on top, in guard. Then the person on top breaks guard, gets to mount, and the series continues. I'm looking for any other suggestions for a beginner like me. Maybe something that would include getting to a sub, the other taps, and then the series continues to something else. I just don't have much experience with it yet, so I am looking for suggestions. We don't wear gis, as its a DT setting, for the most part, if that has any effect on suggestions. Thanks for any help!

Oh, that would be great to hear!....

If you read The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, you can see his references to Western Boxing, and how he viewed it. I think it had a pretty sizable influence on him.

Great interview, Alex. Are there any members here who have had a particular influence or impact on you? Thanks for the kind words, Alex. They mean a lot. I have always enjoyed your insight, and I always try to look at how you present things, and see how I can interact it with my training. I'd love to be able to see how your DT program is set up, and you always have good advise on the "cop stuff."

This scenario can be trained for, to an extent. The Defensive Tactics class I have had the opportunity to be a part of over the last few weeks had a "midterm" test a few weeks ago, and will have a "final" at the end of the semester, as well.They have each student run some sprints until they are good and tired, and their heart rate is up (to simulate the adrenaline dump and loss of fine motor skills). Then, the student walks into the mat room, and gets attacked by one (or two, as they did to one big football player guy) attacker wearing a Blauer suit. The defender has to defend, full on, and be successful at it. To my knowledge, the attacker kind of hides out in the room and surprises the defender. One person tests at a time, and the other classmates don't get to watch. The system works pretty well.

How the student reacts to this should show something about their character. If they take this punishment, accept responsibility, and continue to train and improve, then I think you've got a diamond in the rough there. Hopefully, this is what they do, and they grow from this experience.

Great interview! Ah, I remember the days at BlackBeltMag.com! Are there any members here who have had a particular influences or impact on you? Wow, I just don't really know what to say, except for thank you, Bob, for these kind words. They mean a lot to me. I'm glad we have been able to get to know each other so well, and I look forward to being able to train together again.

I think that's a great way to view things, too, and I really don't have an issue with it. I have a great admiration for those who can view things in this way. I know some clergy members that I see as being like that. I just don't feel like I can be that way. Statements like this concern me, though: Buying a gun or putting bigger locks on doors doesn't make one fearful. It makes one prudent. I don't feel fear to the point that I have to own guns. I feel its prudent, especially due to my line of work, and I feel that I should do what is necessary to protect my family as much as I can, inlcuding locking the doors at night. But I don't think that is grounds to consider someone fearful.

Interesting point, MP. In Thailand, lots of kids start learning and fighting early on, to help pay for their families.I love your new signature, by the way. I'm fan of the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Solid post!! So funny! My main concern was if I was going to fart when I went out....

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.