bushido_man96

They are great books. Lots of character developments and plots twists and turns. They are kind of like the Tolkien books, but a bit more adult rated, I guess you could say.

English names and words may be translated differently by different people in Japan. I don't believe that there are exact translations for each letter of the English alphabet. Therefore, aterations have to be made.

I agree. Many times people will just train in using/firing the weapon, and not the drawing/deployment of the weapon. This is just as important as knowing how to fire the weapon properly. The deployment may even be more important. If you get held up with your gun in your pocket, it isn't going to do you any good.

I agree with the others above. Remember, MA instructors are people too, and none are perfect. One thing that I try not to do is put an MA instructor, especially one of exceptionally high rank, on a pedestal. They are people, and I don't hang on every word they say as the end all, be all. If they do something you don't like or agree with, that is ok. You don't have to agree with them all of the time. You may be their student, but you are still your own person. So stick with it, and you will learn and grow, and be just fine. Congrats on passing!

Just hard to tell, really. Scary to think about, so try not to dwell on such things. I know that a lot of people worry about caner and things like that. I try not to. Who knows what can happen? I work a job that puts my life in jeapardy every day. Cancer is just not something I spend time worriying too much about. I don't ignore, it, either.

No, it was taught by our state law enforcement's academy DT instructor. He seemed very knowlegeable, and also had experience in Japanese styles.

In this case, I would have him wear a gi and belt, perhaps the one designating his previous rank, and he would be charged the same monthly fees as my normal students. I think that this is a valid point, as well. I would not necessarily try to change the way he did his techniques, either, though. I would offer insights as to why we do it differently, and I feel that something I do differently would benefit him, but not hold him to making any changes. Now, if the person had some concepts and applications from his style that I did not have experience with, I would allow him to share them with the rest of the students in a class that he would demonstrate them in, if he was cool with that. If not, no big deal, either.

Well then, the same would apply to small-statured arm wrestlers who are arm-wrestling bigger-statured men who don't really train to arm wrestle.

It is kind of freaky. You hear about famous athletes all the time that come down with some strange thing like this, and it takes them right away, and you know they were healthy overall. Basketball and football players collapsing on the fields. I think that something wierd took Jackie Joyner-Kersey as well, a famous Olympic track athelte. (I hope that is the right name...) However, we should not look at these examples as reasons to not stay healthy and active, and proactive when it comes to screening for diseases such as these.

I agree. Power lifting recruits more muslce fibers, and helps to develop power, and this can be used to help build speed and explosiveness as well.

3-14-08 Ground Fighting Defense seminar: 8:00 - 4:00. Another great training seminar. I really enjoyed it, and learned a lot about some ground fighting. This was my first experience with ground fighting since Wrestling in the 8th grade. I loved every minute of it.

Gee, that means you only have 2 inche of height on me...damnit!! 3-13-08 Weapon Rentention seminar: 8:00 - 5:00. This was a great class. Lots of little nuances involved with an LEO having to be verbal during altercations. Good seminar.

no offense ying yang, but how do you know that any of your skills work? a punching bag isnt going to do it... do you spar? just a question.. Sport competition is a way of validating all the skill and training that someone would have.. Olympics or not.. and just because someone is in a marial art doesnt mean they have to kill them? look at Muai Thai? its a great Martial Art and is a Major "sport" in thailand.. I understand perfectly what you are saying, ying&yang. I just don't agree with your opinion, and am expressing what I think. Sparring can be a good testing ground, but it is not the only one out there, nor is it always the most legitimate. It just depends on the type of sparring that you do. Judo, Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, Pankration, TKD, and MMA are great because they are usually applying the techniques to fully resisting opponents, and at full speed. Even though they fall within a rule set, some of the technqiues are still legitimate.

I would teach the version that you were taught, and know the nuances of well, for the testing requirements. If you do know the other version, then I think that it would be something that you could have your classes work with in order to study the differences, and perhaps generate thought processes into why the changes may have been made. Have fun with it!

Iain Abernethy's website may be a good place to look into it. He does a lot of work on Karate Bunkai, and shows were some throws and takedowns appear in kata. He may give the names as he goes along, but I am not so sure that he just lists a bunch of throws.

Yes, except for the technical fall. Last I knew, the technical fall was worth more points than a pin. I have seen high school matches where one kid would be so skilled that he would go into the match and just dominate a kid so much that he would take him down, put him on his back, and earn back points, just to let the kid stand up, and do it over again. Kind of a sucky way to lose a match, but when it is competition, and every point counts, the coaches have kids do it at times.

On 3-14-08, the day after my Gun Retention seminar, I got to attend a Ground Fighting Defense seminar. This was a very awesome class! I have read several books on BJJ, but have never really had a chance to try to do anything. In this class, we got to work on various grappling aspects, like working from the mount, open and closed guard, doing sweeps and reversals, and all kinds of cool stuff, like ground and pound, too. Just the few things that we covered as far as grappling goes really opened my eyes to the world of grappling, and I hope that I can get more opportunites to check into this stuff. What I also picked up on were the differences involved in grappling in work scenario, and grappling in a competition. Lots of things to keep in mind, and most of the stuff was geared at improving positition in order to get ourselves up to our feet in order to get out of danger and proceed with arresting procedures. Very cool stuff!!!

I did take some notes, during our little breaks. My DT partner was there as well, so hopefully between the 2 of us, we are able to recall most of the information.

Man, that would be cool. I appreciate the offer. There wouldn't be many of us coming; probably just me, if I ever get a chance to. I don't get to do much taveling, though.

I think that the fact that you found out about this description of yourself in this manner expresses a lot about what a Master is. If you name yourself Master, I think it kind of distills the meaning. However, you have been fortunate enough to be described, unbeknownst to yourself, as a Master by a group of peers and/or students who think you are worthy of the title. I congratulate you on this. You have impacted some lives in a valuable way, I believe. As for how a Master is defined...I think that this is tricky. There are so many things that can come into play; physical abilities, teaching abilities, achievements and accolades; there is so much out there that can be used as credentials. It really depends on what the people you impacted view as the Master credentials. For the most part, I think you have to consider two things: a considerable knowledge base of your particular field of study/style, and a considerable amount of experience to go along with it. Now, experience is another tricky word. What kind of experience? Teaching? Or fighting? Or just an allotted time requirement? It is really kind of hard to break it apart, I think. Not all of us are going to get into a ton of fights, but does that mean that we can't be named Masters? I guess tournament competition could come into play, but not everyone excells in this field, either (like myself, for example ). Likewise, just filling a time requirement doesn't seem right, either. Another consideration may be contribution to the Martial Arts in general, in many different forms. All in all, it could get difficult to put a finger on. I am not so sure I answered the question very well...I don't know if I could answer it accurately.

I have never had any experience with one of these, but I think it would be cool to try, just to see where you are at. I think that there have been studies done on things like this, and if you try looking some online research journals or databases that specialize in sports or kinesiology, you may be able to find some numbers and averages on them. Hitting at 800+ pounds per square inch sounds like you are doing quite a bit of damage, though!

I attended a Weapon Retention seminar on 3-13-08. It was an 8 hour course, and I learned a lot of useful information. It was one of the most productive MA courses that I have been to. We covered guns being grabbed while in the holster. Some of the defenses were using body movement to get outside of the grabbing hand, and away from the off hand, and using wrist lock maneuvers to break the grips and get away. We did defenses for both straight arm and bent arm attackers. We moved on to retention while on the ground, when in the mount, and in the closed guard. We worked into a Kimura/keylock situation, and also some standing armbars from a sweep. Very cool stuff. Lastly, we went over retention in situations when the gun is drawn, and may be grabbed, either on the gun or the gun hand. Lots of reps, lots of muscle memory. Overall, it was very good training, and I hope that I can retain most of it.

This is the very reason why I advocate the conceal and carry laws. The bad guys already have them, regardless of the law.

It is not a question of professionalism or skill. It is the simple fact that action beats reaction, and therefore you shouldn't want to put yourself behind the curve, especially when your life is on the line. That and the assumption that I will be making only one move. Once I committ, there will be a steady onslaught of blows. You may block the first, but there will be many more on the way.

Oh? And why is that?