bushido_man96

No but I'd imagine a 50+ year old blackbelt would also have a hard time doing it. Bruce Lee was an advocate of a Martial Artist being a representative specimen for his age group. An old man may not be able to hang with a young man, but an old man MAist should be able to shine against the layman of his age group, as far as being in physical form goes.

I'm not sure if I like the versus setup. You end up looking at different spots in time, different technology, etc. In some cases, it would be like sending in 300 of today's Marines, with modern weaponry, to fight in the battle of Thermopolae. I think there would be different endings there.

Yeah, and then get charged with obstruction...

Thanks for the clarification.

Using an ab wheel can help stretch them a bit. Also, standing at pulling the leg up behind, you grabbing the ankle, and stretching can help, too.

That is a good point. Getting them thinking about one attacking tool, and then using the other, especially when changing levels of attack, is a good idea, and would cut down on the chance to recognize the attack.

Although I wouldn't say that most kicks above the waist are useless, I would agree that you can do a lot of very effective kicking below the waist, and there is nothing wrong with focusing on this. There are a lot of good targets below the waist, and they are easier to get to. Kuma has good advise on stretching. Take slow and easy, and don't expect too much all at once. I have been with TKD for 15 years, and have never done a full split. If that is a goal of yours, then you need to spend some time fleshing that out. If it isn't, then just stretching when you have time, and especially whenever you are warmed up, will show improvement in time. Welcome back to the MAs, and welcome to the Forums.

I have read that the Japanese translation of the word "uke" is more practically "to receive" or "to accept," or something along those lines, instead of "block." So, you can take that into account when interpretting movements, as well. Welcome to KF.

I agree with using slower, more deliberate movements to help develop reactionary skills. I think that as you progress, increasing the speed and spontanaiety of the drill gets you to where you want to be. I'll give a good TKD example; countering the back leg round kick with a spin back kick. Basically, we'll start out in an open stance, which means both sparrers have the opposite leg in back; one's fighting orthodox, and the other is southpaw. The attacker will throw a back leg round kick, at slower than game speed, and the defender will counter with the spin back kick. The goal here is for the defender to recognize the body shifts that come with the delivery of the back leg round kick, and as the defender sees them, he spins and counters with the spin back kick. You can begin at the very basics by making this a block-and-counter drill. This stage is good for giving the defender time to take in all of the physical cues of the round kick attack. But, it is not a true "reaction" drill, in my eyes. Yes, the block is a reaction, but the goal is to defend/attack at the same time, not defend-then-attack. So, you try to move on to the defender seeing the shoulder movement, or the leg chambering, so that he works up to beginning the spin back kick before the round kick has reached its target. From there, you can move on to variations of the round kick, and setting up the counter from closed off stances, etc.

And I think that is what it is about; being true to yourself, knowing that you are doing all that you can to better yourself. After all, the MAs are an individual activity.

When Bruce Lee describes his lead vertical fist, he struck with the bottom 3 knuckles, as opposed to the top 2. Has anyone explored this much? I find that striking with the bottom 3 knuckles is fairly adequate when doing bag work, at least.

I got a call from the sempai today, telling me that he and the Sensei spoke, and that I have been officially extended an invitation to test this season, coming up on April 23. I am pretty jacked about it, because I didn't figure I would be invited to test. So, I am looking forward to it, and my uke partner and I have been working pretty hard on the requirments for the test. It should be a good time.

Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz……………………….Shamrock………..Sub Cristiane Santos vs. Hitomi Akano…………………..Akano……………Sub Benji Radach vs. Scott Smith………………………...Radach…………..KO Gilbert Melendez vs. Rodrigo Damm………………..Melendez………...Dec Brett Rogers vs. Ron Humphrey……………………..Rogers……………KO Luke Rockhold vs. Buck Meredith…………………..Meredith………….Sub Eric Lawson vs. Waylon Kennell……………………Lawson…………...Sub Raul Castillo vs. Brandon Michaels………………….Castillo…………..KO Zak Bucia vs. James Terry…………………………...Terry……………..Dec Jeremy Tavares vs. Shingo Kohara………………….Kohara……………Dec

The fight card has been updated above.

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you aboard.

Thats a good point, tallgeese. Its unfortunate for LEOs, but the criminal has to elevate the threat level before we do, for the most part. As far as carrying a "traditional" weapon, aside from the knife, I would go with a cane. Its completely legal to carry, and you can use many stick, sword, or jo skills with it, plus it has that handy hook at the end. Something to look into.....

I see a lot of good points here so far. Good contributions, everyone. I have a few things to add... Actually, Karate Sensei Pat Nakata does this. No belts; just gi pants and a white T-shirt. I think it is a great idea. I don't agree here necessarily. I think it can be viewed as that way for some, but I don't view it that way. Like tallgeese mentions, the mindset should be something that you can get into, regardless of what you are wearing. Remeber, the ancient Greek Olympians fought naked.... I agree here. If you get jumped, you won't get a chance to change clothes. I found this idea intriguing. I think it has merit; kind of like having a certificate of rank does.

I've seen the ads, and I want to see it. I just have to try to catch it. What did it cover?

That sounds like a fun game. I think it would be worth a shot.

That is one of the main things to do. Hey, how often do adults get to play? When teaching kids, take advantage of it, and "play" with them. Also, I think that Rateh really ran down a good list of ideas there. Keep it fun, but focused, and get the kids involved with taking and stuff like that, but make sure it is focused. Like working on mitts as targets, have them punch with their right hand, and shout "right" each time they hit it. Then do the same with the left hand, the help them learn these. Do the same with kicks. So, instead of just hitting a mitt, they are hitting it, yelling at it, and learning right/left at the same time. And it all sounds fun to them....

Man, that sounds like it would have not been fun. You really ran the gamut of emotions, huh?

A student that was in my TKD classes years ago was an exchange student from Brazil, and did some Caporiea. He did what I think he called a "hammer" kick, which looked kind of like a side kick that would shoot straight up to the head level. Do you do a kick like that at times?

I have some ideas in mind, but I am curious as to what you use the folding chair for? The primary thing that I use it for is as an easily portable intention focus. Without a designated target or partner to keep in range and center one's eyes on, it is easy to let one's focus wander into practising techniques aimed in a relatively random and unfocused manner. A chair is an excellent stand-in for a training partner in this regard. If you aren't looking at the top of the chair, you're doing something wrong! Furthermore, it is just the right height that you can practice throwing kicks just over the top - the top of a folding chair on a standing person often approximates floating rib level and the level of the upper abdomen; the seat is around knee height. The legs of the chair are shaped in a handy way to plant foot sweeps on; you can train not just the basic sweep positions, but also deeper hooking and entering techniques by hooking legs other than the closest one presented. The chair is also a useful aid in stretching, or for things like pushups with raised feet. One can tumble over or off of one to train breakfalling techniques. Lastly, while not the most inspiring tool for this purpose, it can be used as a light unbalanced weight to practice lifting and manipulating far from one's center in the more exotic body positions when trying to develop familiarity. Very cool ideas. Thank you for sharing them. I will begin looking at my folding chairs differently now. I also have to add my new Aikido uniform, which is a double weave Judo gi.

I don't think one should have to buy from his school, but when one doesn't, don't expect too many favors when stuff comes in wrong.

Well, at the same time, it depends on the reaction abilities of the defender. I have always been a proponent of action being faster than reaction, so you could just end up splitting hairs. But, it could still be a concern, especially when using it to initiate a combo. Working on the initiation speed would help that.