bushido_man96

Story: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5375561 I'm sure Patrick will be especially struck by this, being a huge, dedicated Yankees fan. I know Bob here is a big fan, as well. Many know that I am no Yankees fan, but my thoughts and prayers go out to the Steinbrenner family, and the Yankees organization. Love or hate him, one cannot deny the level of success he brought to New York and the Yankees organization. RIP George Steinbrenner.

Martial Arts should be about self-defense, first and foremost, in my opinion, or you aren't getting anything Martial out of them. As far as better awareness goes, improvement in self-defense will lead to better awareness, of your physical surroundings, of those around you, etc. If you are gaining a betterment of life through your training, then that's great. But at the heart and soul of Martial Arts training should be self-defense training. isshinryu5toforever makes a good point. Its great if other things stem from MA training, but self-defense should be a big part of what goes on in classes. Otherwise, we see those black belts that can't defend themselves that come out of those lower-quality schools that like to promote and push students through the ranks.

Welcome to KF, Ben!

Welcome to KF!

7-9-10 Jogged the mile in 10:57, and made 1.38 miles in 15 minutes. ATA white, orange, and yellow belt forms. TTA white, low orange, and hi orange belt forms. ATA one-steps, white through yellow belt. Stretch. Weights again. Nothing spectacular. Did shoulders, back, and bis.

I disagree here. I think self-defense should be taught as the core of a style, and everything else should come out of that idea. That way, you know that the bulk of what you are learning is self-defense based.

Its important that the training is tailored such a way as to be conducive to self-defense learning. This will help the learning curve in the self-defense aspect. Also, making sure that some stress-training is included will help in the fight/flight response.

I like that. Taking the time to evaluate why something worked the way it did is a great idea for sparring.

Man, that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

Is there any legal way to follow through with that?

I don't get annoyed by BJJ. Mouthy people are always annoying, but you can find them anywhere. I think that BJJ has a lot of good things to offer. Those who run it down likely don't have any experience with it, and those BJJers that run down other styles likely don't have much experience with them.

I agree, it is a good thing he defended his home and property, and others in it. There is no need to become a victim, or remain a victim.

That's great to see. More needs to be done about bullying, that is for sure.

Awesome!

Ok, I saw some of the others responses on the 3rd page, but, when I read this, I guess that we are to put ourselves as the person being choked, and discuss how to get out of it. That said, I think the first thing I would do is try to stand up. The power of my legs should overcome his arms trying to hold me down and choke at the same time, so I would try to stand. Once up, I would commence hard striking on any and every target available to me, including the arms, if none else is available. Perhaps multiple kicks to the groin would convince him to use his hands for some other purpose.

Not a flaw. Just a different mindset than about 90% of the people out there. Definitely not a flaw.

Welcome to KF, flatfoot! You're not a cop, are you???

Welcome to KF, Andy! I wouldn't worry about getting ranked fast. Worry about training hard, and what you are learning. The quality of what you learn is more important than the quanitity of ranks you can accumulate. Find out if the school is into competitions or not...not all of the do it or support it, and therefore, won't train for it.

Never heard of it. Sounds interesting, though.

I think that is a good pursuit, too. Its good to know many things, that way, you can do your few things well to counter those many things.

All true.

WTF fighters fight to KO, as well as points. They are fast, too, and are used to sparring with contact. That's why they wear the chest protectors...because none of them want a caved in chest from taking a spinning side kick counter. So, yeah, I'd trust it.

At 13 in the ATA, a junior student is elegible for the junior trainee instructor rank (or they were when I was still in it). I think the age requirement for full instructor is 18, and week long attendance at the ATA instructor certification camp in Little Rock, AR. Before going to the cert camp, a trainee instructor (after reaching age 18, I think) has to accumulate 1800 hours of supervised instrcution or assisting signed off by a certified instructor, along with making a demo tape to send to ATA headquarters demonstrating the ability to implement the 10 class management skills into the training session. The trainee also has to write a thesis of at least 10 pages, I believe, on a Martial Arts related topic, and send it to ATA HQ, as well, to be read and kept on file at ATA HQ.

We bow in and out of class, bow on and off the floor, lower ranks bow to the black belts, all bow to the instructor when he comes into the room. Line up in rank order. Answering up "yes sir" when instructed, or when asking questions. I like this set up. Perhaps its because I've put up with the rigidity of the "traditional" styles for so long, that I like the idea of something a bit more laid back, where there doesn't seem to be so much ego trapsing about the room.

I have trained in parks before. It can be fun, especially on those humid summer mornings. I'm not much for barefoot in the snow, though. Training outside can be fun, but I prefer to not have an audience.