bushido_man96

You may want to research into different organizations to see what the ideals of each are. For the most part, however, most styles of Aikido are going to be evasive of striking, and tend to take a "lighter" approach to actions. But research a bit, and you'll get an idea of what they are about.

I think that you are right there, tallgeese. It helps us all come to better understand what we see happening. Its kind of cool, I think, because we have seen some major evolution take place right before our eyes.

Indeed, But I guess in a commercial world, you've got to sell yourself any which way you can. As an old traditionalist, I get a bit of a grumpy head on sometimes when I see people trying to "reverse engineer" self defense / MMA techniques into a traditional karate application. It seems everyone has gone a bit MMA mad these days, and if your art doesn't have "kata bunkai" as to how to get out of a reverse applied head lock, then it is lacking somehow. Whats lacking in this instance IMO, are good instructors and good students who understand that they are learning a complete system, not an instant fix self protection program or a sport. Anyway.. sorry...rant over, but hopefully you get my point. Z I think I see what you are saying. However, if you don't have a way to get out of reverse head lock, then it is a good idea, as an instructor, to learn how to do it, and then how to counter it, so you can teach it to your students. You don't have to find it in a form, but find it somewhere.

Blocks, I'm not as sure on. You really need something to block. One-steps are usually fairly static, so practicing them on your own shouldn't hurt you too much. Anymore, I question the validity of one-steps as anything more than a tool for low-ranks to learn to aquire targets.

I know that he has experience in Karate and Jujitsu. I think after learning a system of Karate, he broke off and did his own thing. Now, I think he is more into the protection based styles, and caters more to that. I would have to look into the 10 black belts statement. There may be something between the lines there.

Yeah, they are. Killers for sure. I hate them.

If you want to work on your reaction time, without a sparring partner, a good way to do this is to use the TV or radio. Set it to some kind of news channel, one where there is always talking, and then, pick a word, like "the" or "and" or whatever. Whenever you hear that word, throw a technique, whether it be predetermined or random. To really spice things up, pick two or three different words, and a different technique to go with each. That will help you to work your brain a bit as well.

Funny.

I liked this one. Man, the Joker was twisted. I was telling my wife after the movie, that when you watched the first Batman movie with Keaton and Nicholson, you knew that the Joker was Nicholson. When I watched the Joker in this one, I didn't really think I was watching Heath Ledger. He sold that part, big time. Nolan has the devil's task ahead of him to make the next movie as good or better than this one. It really is too bad that they can't bring the Joker back, with any kind of autonomy in futuer movies. Ledger was awesome. It is curious about Dent, too; as in what happens to him. Didn't see the deal with Daws coming, either. Shocker. Was she an original comic book character? Now, I don't know why, and tell me if anyone else felt this way, too, but when I first saw that squirrely guy that wanted to blackmail Wayne to keep his mouth shut, I thought of Robin for some odd reason. Anyone else? Or am I just weird? One thing I would like to learn is the Joker's disappearing pencil trick.

I have heard that Vista is nothing but a pain in the butt. I have not experienced it myself, but I hear enough bad that keeps me away from it. I would go with XP if you have the option.

Two words: hell, ya!

This sounds opposite to what I have always heard. It is said that we should actually use open hand strikes to the harder targets, like the head, and the closed fist to the softer targets of the body. I know that many people punch to the head, but it can be quite easy to break the hand when punching the head. I just found it interesting that this works well for you, being opposite and all. Cool, though.

You oughta throw some burpees in there, too! Just to be evil...

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Throwdown.

There are lots of bench press type exercises that you can do as well, if you find that you want to work the chest.

Good words on using the tap, and on focusing on rolling for a while, and not short bursts.

According to the info that I received from rmclain, the Changmoo-Kwan came from the YMCA Central Kwon Bop Bu. Was this a "kwan" as well? If I remember my readings correctly, Yoon Byung-in was a black belt in Karate.

Again, this is a form that I don't learn in my school, but the changing of the name to Chang Hon seems odd to me. I would like to see the technical changes made by this organization of the form. What does the "C" in ITF-C stand for?

The push-up conditioning they were doing was pretty cool. Especially that 4-person square thing.

Thanks. I wish I could hit the gym more often, but I get in what I can. If I ever get my work schedule changed, I can use it more.

Both of you are making good points. In the sense of the competition, there are those who have a ground game that pales in comparison to the others. But, to the layman, or even the "lay Martial Artist," if I can use that term, most of them would be considered more well rounded than most.

I prefer closed hands strikes as well. Perhaps it is because I like to punch the bag; I don't know. I feel like I have better power in closed hand strikes. Perhaps it is because of the way the feedback of a fist feels as compared to open handed strikes like knifehands.

Here is his website: http://www.lorenchristensen.com/ I have several of his books, and they are all pretty good.

Going to see it this morning. Can't wait!

I remember that game. Funny stuff there.