bushido_man96

I haven't heard that term, but I have heard of "Menkyo Kaiden," which is a certificate of transmission. Is this what you are asking about?

Good points, both of you. A softening motion, so to speak, would work well with some angled footwork. Danielle, you are right about not meeting force on, with a front kick or a side kick. But a round kick, you really don't have that choice, unless you soften it and move at an angle, like JusticeZero mentioned. Sweeping style blocks, that would catch and lift the leg, I think would be a better option, like some we see in our forms, like Won Hyo and Yoo Sin. I do start to think that the Thai style leg check is probably one of the better options for low kick defenses.

Modern Arnis: The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting, by Remy Presas. I picked this up at a used book store, too, under $4. Its a typical Ohara publications book, so those familiar with them know the format. It gives a brief history of Presas' journey and style, and then gets right into it. It covers 12 main angles of attack, and 12 ways of dealing with the attacks. Stick and empty hand applications are demonstrated, showing how this style works off the same principles and movements with a weapon in hand or without. It also covers some flow exercises called sinawali and rodonda, as well as some disarming techniques. I liked this book. Short, sweet, and to the point.

I've been pepper sprayed. It can't be that bad.

TKD has done well evolving as a fighting art, I think. One of the main things lacking is low kicking.

I still really wonder about actually blocking low kicks with the arms. You have to get low to block them, and you are blocking a much stronger limb with a weaker one.

Welcome to KF!

You make an interesting point here. Martial arts often teach weapons such as a sword due to tradition, or in my case, because one could not really understand how to defend against a sword until they knew how to use it. I think the interesting point here however, it the correctness. Despite a sword being the easiest thing to emulate from a stick found on the ground in a confrontation, it is starkly differently from handling an actual sword. It causes me to wonder if sword fighting has fallen into the realm of tradition or if there is practical purposes. Face value I would argue for both. One finds that the control over their own bodies increases as you learn to make something an extension of said body. Reference the bold section, in some of the materials I've read, some weapons systems started with the quarterstaff, and moved on into sword techniques, and most of the techniques behind each were transferable. There are some nuances when using an actual blade, to be sure, but the concepts behind each were very similar. Thanks for the vote of confidence here, ShoriKid. Most of my knowledge just comes from reading and referencing. The ARMA is an organization that looks at the applications of techniques in actual combative sparring, and not recreationally like the SCA or others. I think HEMA is pretty close to the same as the ARMA, having study groups that work to interpret the texts and apply the concepts in sparring. I'd take to hear what Zoodles says here. He appears to have the actual experience through classes and studies.

It sounds like your school has quite a curriculum. Can you tell us what your testing consisted of? Either way, congrats on your promotion!

I don't think there was anything wrong with Mr. Cokeley's approach. He heard a disturbance, made a very civil request, and the got attacked. He even stated he was going to go call police, but seeing more coming, he took the right direction and floored the guy. Could it have gone worse? Sure, but any situation can. Who knows if the drunk would have stopped once he started? Good for Mr. Cokeley, I say.

11/20/2012 Early AM walk-thru of ATA and TTA 9th gup and 8th gup material. Songham 1, Chon Ji hyung, 3 ATA one-steps and 7 TTA one-steps. Songham 2, Dan Gun hyung, 3 ATA one-steps and 4 TTA one-steps.

Isn't that a bit like saying "I haven't actually taken a karate class yet - I want to be able to do a good board break and have all my katas down first"? I can sympathise with the money thing, but you become fit by doing, not before doing.I agree, JusticeZero. I hear that a lot, from friends that used to do MA, etc. They don't want to go back and look silly, foolish, or etc. Either they are truly concerned about how they'll look around other people, or they are just coming up with another excuse to not do it.

Abs are built in the kitchen...well, being able to see your built up abs happens in the kitchen. Like JusticeZero mentioned, you've got to basically cut the good stuff from your diet, or be really genetically gifted to show them off.

See now that's interesting. In our version of Se Jong that is a twin palm pressing block which is a technique I know already because it's seen in Choong Jang. We do it to catch or block a knee kick or a front kick / back heel kick kind of situation. If you have the condensed Encyclopedia, it's the block on the top of pg 226. Alas, I have the 15 volume set. I'll have to do some searching through it, find the form, and see what you are getting at here.

I have thought about sprints, but just haven't gotten up to doing them yet. I am considering giving the elliptical a go for a time, and split time between that and rowing, and see if my knees like me more afterwards.

It does appear to me that the Shotokan fighters have always had a hands near the waist/midsection, as opposed to being truly up to really guard against an incoming flurry of head shots. They are able to get their hands up to guard to make up for this due to the distance they tend to fight at, in my opinion. Just throw a monkey wrench into this conversation, here perhaps is a happy medium...decent contact level, along with hand techniques to the head: Enjoy!

I've done brush blocks in Combat Hapkido, but have never done it in TKD. I'd done some parrying style blocking in the past, and in my ATA days we did a "triple pass" that contained a brush follwed immediately by brushing or grabbing action with the other hand, as some secondary Self-Defense training. In Defensive Tactics, my partner and I do a lot of block/pass/pin drills, and in Combat Hapkido we did a brush/trap/strike set, too. Just seeing this still frame in a book showed similarities in the positions for me.

It sounds like you've made an awesome comeback. Kudos to you.

These guys are giving good advise, so I can't really add much. I just make sure to take time to breathe. When it feels like things are stacking up, I just take a step back, relax, and know that I will be ok and get through things alright. And then, I always think that things could be worse. We are often more fortunate than we take the time to realize.

That's very solid advise there. Good post, Zaine.

Right, the "flinch reflex" is what I've heard it referred to as, and that is how I've worked with the crossing arms actions before. But now, with this brushing block/trapping motion, it doesn't appear that it happens quite as simultaneously as the flinch response would. I guess its a few different options. It also changes the way I see some of the high/low blocking moves in some forms. Perhaps the hand going high represents the hikite going high, as opposed to the ribs, to open up a lower target to strike? Just a thought that I will have to work with if I get a chance. We do share some similarities here, Danielle. Our down blocks do cross with the blocking arm inside, but this block crosses up higher, up to the side of our head, than the other blocks. Our middle blocks do cross the same as yours, with the palms in, so we can get that twist in at the end. The high block was a bit different, but the arms would be parallel (but not touching), and the blocking arm would travel on the outside of the pulling hand, kind of making a + sign as they went past each other. The down bock was the odd ball again, being on top of the pulling arm, blocking arm crossed to the shoulder, and basically "scraping" down the pulling arm to the block position. The parallel arms position worked out pretty well for getting to target areas ok. We didn't do a lot of low section strikes, so strikes chambering on top didn't really impede anything. And since both arms move at the same time, they get out of each other's way pretty well.

I think you are really going in the right direction here, and its sad that it is the case. I've really only been told that its a position that is used to build the power into the blocks or strikes. Now, with different research I've done, I feel good knowing that I can at least put some meaning behind the design here. Even if it is reverse engineered, its still a workable idea. This has been discussed at length, to be sure. My goal, since I am in a style that utilizes forms in its system, is to have a way of taking meaning from them, and being able to explain in a reasonable manner why something is the way it is. I won't be able to change what I am doing for some time, so I'm just trying to get the most out of it I can.

Yes, it does. I've never wrapped my hands before, but when I start to work my heavy bag again, I may consider it. The gloves that came with it are MMA gloves, but if I wrap up, it should be enough support. I also liked the instruction given for the left hook in this book. A pretty straight forward explanation on a complex punch.

In TKD and Karate, we see that many of the blocking and striking motions are chambered by crossing the arms in front of the body. In my current TKD style, we do a crossing of the arms like an X, with blocks typically crossing the blocking hand on the outside and strikes crossing the striking hand on the inside. In the ATA, we did more of an arms parallel, "hugging yourself" motion to really build tension into the snap of the technique, with blocks being chambered on bottom, and strikes on top. But why? For power? Sure, that helps put snap into the techniques. But is there another reason that it developed that way? Guys like Abernethy have used this crossing motion as a cover to defend a strike, and then move into seizing actions. Whether that was the original intent or not, who really can tell. But, he makes it work. I've been reading in Remy Presas' book, Modern Arnis, and on pp 64-65, he demonstrates an inside defense against a right punch, in which it begins with a brush block with the right hand, then a checking or grabbing motion with the left hand of the attacker's wrist. At this point, I can see how the two arms are actually in that "crossed" or "stacked arms chamber" position that we use so much in our TKD basics and forms. The technique finishes by striking to the face with a backhand while pulling grabbing arm back, like maybe to the ribs... Pages 66-67 show this defense in close-up, where you can really kind of see this idea in play. So, that all said, I'm not claiming the reason why we as TKD stylists chamber our arms the way we do is because the application is a brushing strike/checking and grabbing motion to set up a strike, but, if you're looking for something to justify that chambering motion, this is an idea to play with. You even get that "hikete" (is that right?) non-striking hand back to ribs motion justified in there, too. Maybe I'm late to the game on this one, but seeing some still photos in the right places just kind of turned on a light bulb. I'd love to hear other MAists thoughts on this, as well.

Boxer's Start-Up: A Beginner's Guide to Boxing by Doug Werner. I picked this book up, along with a few others, in a used book store. This book went to print in 1998, but I still think its a good read if you are interested in Boxing. The author writes with a pretty loose, conversational tone that makes it fun to read, and there are plenty of illustrations to boot. It covers equipment needs for the beginner, stance and basic footwork, basic punches and basic combinations. It also covers bag work and focus mitt work briefly, and defense and counters. Its pretty straight forward, and not too complicated. It is a Start-Up. What I really like about the book is that the author kept a journal of his training, and he includes enough of his journal at the end of the book to give an idea of how his training came along over the course of 6 months. I paid under $4 to get it used. Not a bad deal, at least not to me.