bushido_man96

This is a very good point. I think Kane and Wilder made a point like that in The Little Black Book of Violence. I think it is seen commonly in bar fights where one guy is basically trying to establish his machoism, and the other guy is thinking live or die. Its also something to consider that may be churning in the other guys brain when things are going to get sticky. Tallgeese, I think you hit the nail on the head there. When it comes to talking self-defense, it isn't the time to think about idealism and what would happen in the perfect world. "Fight to win" is the perfect mentality for every Martial Arts instructor to teach. Avoidance is always good, too, and should be an important part of training. But once the battle has been joined, its time to talk about winning.

I disagree here. They may have been doing it a bit better than anyone else at the time, but they weren't the only ones. As long as there has been seperate civilizations, they have had the need to fight, and have trained armies thus.

One who can see that everyone learns a bit differently, and can adjust to teach differently. One who is not afraid to suggest other MAs to augment what I already know.

Who thinks he has nothing left to learn.

I agree. But, in order to start it all out, you have to start out by thinking about it. Evaluating why one response is better than another, how to recognize when such response should be initiated, etc. So yeah, letting "it" hit all by itself is important, but you have to start at square one.

Not unlike many of our kicks we learn. Also, as humans, we develop our gross motor skills early on (the hammerfist), and fine motor skills come on later (the punch). But, just because it isn't necessarily natural, doesn't mean it isn't good.

Like all things, it ebbs and flows. The nice thing about the MAs is it only takes a few of us to keep it alive.

I understand you here, but neither one of these guys is likely a grappler. Its just a natural human reaction when you are getting pummelled to close and clinch, to take away those weapons pummelling you. Even non-grapplers will end up doing this.

Nice synopsis there. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Way to go!

4/30/2012 Texas Method - Volume day Front squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 155x3, 170x2; work: 180x5x5 5/2/2012 Texas Method - Recovery day Front squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5; work: 145x2x5 Back extensions: BWx5x10 Stretch: quads and hams, and that pesky shoulder 5/3/2012 Kicking drills Round kicks: 5 each leg, with no set down between, 3x5 on each side. Side kicks: 2x5 each side of the same. 5/4/2012 Texas Method - Intensity day Front squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 155x2, 175x2, 185x2; work: 205x5RM Really had to grunt that out, too. Back extensions: BWx3x10 Stretch 5/7/2012 Texas Method - Volume day Front squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 155x3, 170x2; work: 185x5x5, and it sucked!

The Wing Chun guy looked sharper, but I wouldn't say he won. I didn't hear anyone give up, but I don't know the language. Even though the Karate guy got a little wild, and didn't look to be landing the same percentage, he didn't get knocked out. Aside from the fight between styles, we see a few things about fights in general: 1. Its real easy to lose your cool, and let training go out the window. 2. Its not as easy to knock someone out as might be though. The WC guy hit the Karate guy in the head several times. 3. Two apparently predominant strikers both end up on the ground. How important is learning to ground fight? As for exposure to other styles goes, here in northwest/central Kansas, we don't have a lot of opportunity for exposure to other styles, especially like Kung Fu. The most we could get is some grappling exposure and Aikido. If it were me running the school, I would gladly bring in outside talent to train with.

I have no qualms with the fact that I have thought of revenge in the past on various people, and probably for less than the story you have shared with us here. Knowing what I know now, it would be tough to drive myself that far, knowing what could happen in regards to losing my job, going to jail, and then being unable to support my family. With that said, a moment of passion can take someone in a flash. If something happened to a familiy member of mine, I would probably get driven quite mad. I would likely begin smashing things to release tension in anger for sure. As for the guilty party.... ....if I take into consideration your last caveat of "if I knew I could get away with it," then it would likely be a very bad day for the guilty party.

Imagine if there was only one style. Imagine if Funakoshi never made his changes. Imagine if Musashi never picked up a sword. Imagine if Pankration had never been banned.

Pretty much. I remember seeing a Sports Illustrated article a long time ago that had several pictures lined up of guys getting slugged like that. Feel bad for the guys getting hit, but the pics are kind of funny to look at.

If it is that much of an issue for you, keep the broken boards and burn them as firewood.

That's a pretty cool deal, Bob. Where can I sign up!

Unfortunately, you are correct there. Some people read way too much into it.

That's probably one person's opinion, rather than an established fact. The opinions of masters are still only opinions.

Can't agree more!!!!!!! Traditional squats are just excellent for you. Machines like the leg-press, hack squat machine, leg-curls, etc all put more stress on the knee joint than a good old fashioned barbell squat. By the way, I have heard stories about some schools and the sheer number of kicks one does in a class, I think it is crazy. I suppose if you are doing Tae Kwon Do you need to do a lot of kicking. However, I believe some instructors just think more is better, which it is not. There is a law of diminishing returns to any exercise technique. We do kick a lot, but the focus isn't terribly high. The only time we really do more than enough kicking is on heavy bag kicking days, where we do stations, and the kick count gets up past 500 easily. Those days get tiring, but they are few and far between.

4/27/2012 Texas Method-Intesity day Front squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 155x2, 175x2, 185x2; 200x5RM Looks like its front squats for the next two weeks. Felt pretty good, and didn't bother my shoulder any. Forms Bokken kata 1 x2...just easy walk throughs to keep the movements fresh in my mind.

Its basically kime in striking. Tighten everything at the end of the movement to focus the strength. Not so much chi; more biomechanics.

And not everyone has to drop a hammer on their foot before they realize its going to hurt. Learning through cause and effect is one thing, but not all learning has to be done that way.

Respectfully, I ask how you know for sure Aikido will keep you off the ground? I've trained in Aikido some (not extensively, but some), and although I see the merit in the style, I don't see it as a grappling defense answer. Nothing is a guarantee but an accomplished Aikidoist would be extremely difficult to get on the ground. Most grappling arts deal with one on one situations for the most part and not multiple attackers. Not for an accomplished Wrestler or Grappler. I haven't seen to many take down defenses in Aikido that I have done, and very little actual grappling, other than pin maneuvers. Aikido is very much a standup style, with a focus of joint locking and throwing.

I think that trapping as a "range" certainly does exist as the "in-fighting" range. This is the range were elbows, knees and headbutts come in handy. It is tough to headbutt somebody from kicking range.(unless you are E. Honda) Yes, you may have to use other tools to get the fight to this range, but once there, the combatant who is the aggressor wants to keep it here. Headbutts, knees and elbows are better "fight enders" than punches and kicks IMHO, therefore i believe that if a combatant is proficient in establishing the fight in this range, he or she has a distinct advantage. I can see both sides of the coin you two are flipping here, and how it makes sense to each of you. I think tallgeese posted something up a while back in regards to "ranges" in combat, and how some of the thoughts to some have shifted in regards to the ideas behind ranges. That being said, I think the crux is the actual trapping, as opposed to the range it occurs in. I've done some trapping in Combat Hapkido, and transferred it over to some DT very nicely in some spots. I think what's important is not trap for the sake of trapping, but to do so with intent to follow up or gain an advantage of some sort. Just because you can trap, doesn't always mean you should trap.