bushido_man96

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.

I'm not sure there is an app like that. There are some Martial Arts apps out there, though. Just do a search in your phone's market and see what you come up with. What you could do is just right down some floor drill combinations you want to work on, and practice that way. If you reall want random still, set up some moves on a piece of paper, and number them 1 through 6, and then roll dice and see what pops up. Might be faster than flash cards.

Shotokai was a breakaway group from Shotokan. They claim to be the "true" version of what Funakoshi envisioned for Shotokan, I believe. Probably still more Japanese than Okinawan, though.

If its done right, it can be. After all, most demos are done in public, too.

Danielle, I am in a constant state of hunger. Probably why I have so much girth, too. But hey, I love me!

In a word, Bob is mean. Just kidding, my friend. But you did throw me across a room.... We do a semi-contact in class, with chest gear, head gear, foot/shin and hand/forearm padding. No kicks below the belt, no hands to the face. In tournaments, its supposed to be "trembling shock/body displacement" for point scoring, but it doesn't always go that way.

Whey protein is just another way to add the calories you need, and the protein the muscles need, when trying to gain strength. I'd like to see your scientific proof sometime. Thanks for sharing here.

I laugh when I see these adds implying that you can have a super body in 30-60-90 days. It is impossible and ridiculous. This stuff takes a long time and very few people have the discipline and patients to make it happen. I am sure you will. You are right. The journey to awesomeness is a long one.