bushido_man96

This may be the case with many Eastern Martial Arts, but it is not so for arts around the world. Western fighting arts, ranging from the Greeks to the Romans to the Europeans, had no Eastern roots at all. If you check closely a lot of those did have eastern influence. I don't really believe so. Style such as pankration, Hellenic wrestling, and Hellenic boxing do not have any Eastern roots that I am aware of. There are arguments that feel that many styles root themselves back into Egypt and even Africa.

I agree completely.

By the two basic strikes, I mean the thrust from below, and the downward thrust from above. I can see what you are getting at, cross, and they are all important points. However, what I am addressing is the idea of obtaining some useful muscle memory related to the initial response when defending against knife attacks. I did not say that is was the all-inclusive way to learn to defend against knife attacks; merely a method to gain muslce memory, and then use it to build on the facets that you mention. Even when we try to reduce things to the most basic concepts that we can, we still have to take things a step at a time. I am not saying that this will take years, months, or days at a time to accomplish. It just provides another piece of the framework.

6-15-07 Legs 1/2 Squats: 315x10, 335x8, 365x6 one leg presses: 102x10 each legx2 Abs Roman chair crunches: 20x2 Side raises:2x20x30 lbs. Swiss ball roll-outs: 10, with 5 sec. holds.

I have read before that a calorie is a calorie, no matter when it is consumed. If you eat and then sleep for 8 hours, your body processes do slow down. I don't know if that just means you digest slower then, or what. I don't know for sure, though. My last meal is almost always breakfast, and then I go home to sleep about an hour after eating. I have not noticed any weight gains.

Good point. I see what you are saying here. It is a very specialized niche, and would be very hard to keep interest in, I think. Here is some clarification on the credit hour system:

This may be the case with many Eastern Martial Arts, but it is not so for arts around the world. Western fighting arts, ranging from the Greeks to the Romans to the Europeans, had no Eastern roots at all.

Personally, I wouldn't concern myself with creating a "Kung Fu" style, or a "Karate" style, or any other "style" for that matter. Instead, you can do plenty of research on self-defense tactics and methods, grab a partner, and work on simple things to protect yourself. As you research more and more, you will fit different things together. Things such as conflict avoidance, awareness, etc., will also be valuable to you as well. If you do a search of such things on the site, you will find many different posts relating to them. KarateForums.com members cross and USCMAAI have made plenty of posts in relations to such things. There are even links to websites that can help to get you started in the right direction.

It is unfortunate, but it seems that the misjudgements of a few people will now set the stereotype for the MMA genre.

I think she means that she will be supervising the class on her own at times. That is what I got from it, anyways. Otherwise, I think you would be right; it wouldn't be as necessary. Do you have a black belt in Karate, Marie?

Welcome back to KF!

That is so awesome! He is a cutie, too.

You make a good point, cross. However, I do feel that by beginning with the two basic strikes that will be encountered, and training some defenses against them, will help to gain the muscle memory needed to get used to the actual defenses. Then, as you get them down, you can add the variations, and use variations of your simple defenses.

If you don't feel right doing this, then don't do it. If you feel that it isn't fair to yourself or anyone else involved (including teachers, students, and peers) then just exclude yourself from it. On the other side, I can see where he would ask you to do this, with all of the prior experience that you have (although it does still sound a little off). However, whatever you feel is right is what you should do.

I am not so sure that it is soley related to the Mixed Martial Artist, and I think it is kind of unfair to classify it that way. Anyone who would compete on any kind of national level could be getting into stuff like this. It just so happens that these sanctioned events have a testing system, whereas others may not. I think in the future, this may turn up in more areas more often. The only reason that you wouldn't hear about it coming from a "traditional" stylist is because most don't do anything to get into the national spotlight.

Both tend to be popular forms of attack, so learning to deal with both will be advantagous. Keep in mind the slashing forms of attack, as well.

I have never trained on one before, but I think it would be a challenge. I think they are mainly used to attack and then slip as they come back at you.

Man, I'll bet that was a rough class. I hope you heal up well!

Well, it will depend on the content of the class, and the proficiency level of the individual students, I think. Everyone is going to have their ideas, usually based off their particular style, of how long it should take to get to a certain level. However, I do feel that you are making a good point. Getting to 4th degree that fast is quite accelerated, in my opinion as well. Getting to 1st or 2nd, could be credible.

Well no one said that if you are on the run from some thugs and you've been training Parkour, you would automatically have to get up on top of that large building and jump off it. And if you actually were surrounded on top of a building, would you then rather be off not having practiced Parkour?If you look at the clips linked here and other clips on Parkour you would see that it's not only jumping from building to building and make fancy flips off something. Theres plenty of useful maneuvers being shown. Such as running on walls. Getting over really high walls quickly etc. Many of the maneuvers I've seen in Parkour clips are some I can definitely see being put to good use where I live if I had to run. It doesn't have to be dangerous like jumping off a building or fancy like doing flips and such. And about the adrenaline. You know that in a fight, you might avoid that dagger coming towards you and you might not. Adrenaline can be a problem, but you will still be better off than someone who have not studied Martial Arts. Same with Parkour and escaping. Anyway. Adrenaline can work both ways. It can just as well be helpful to you. You make a lot of points here. However, as far as "wouldn't you rather know how, then not" arguement, you can say that about many things. We should all wear ballistics vests, if that is the case, because the firearm is a very real threat in society. However, it isn't going to happen. I know that I picked out a very extreme case of the scenario (building jumping), but even running up walls, etc., can result in injuries as well, as can many different endeavors. What it boils down to is the practicality of being able to use it, and its applications. As far as adrenaline goes, you are right, it can help you. However, its effects on people are pretty universal.

This doesn't mean that they are ineffective. Fighting isn't pretty; it is nasty, ugly, and painful. There are may arguements that complexity can add to your options. There are also just as many stories of those who only train a few techniques, and then can apply them to an infinite number of scenarios. Not everyone is going to be able to have a "lifetime" to master techniques, or want to. I think it is great for those that do, though.

Unfortunately, this is the case, for the most part. It is best to find someone to learn with. Even if you just get with a friend, and start thinking about the types of attacks you may face when being jumped. Just experimenting may help you to learn some things. You can get some good tips and advice from books, and some basic technical ideas. However, what you can't get from a book is instant feedback, which is one of the best tools to facilitate learning.

Trying to put your own style together sounds like a very tall order, especially with little experience. You need to find someone with some kind of experience, pick their brain, and then start working on practical applications for fighthing/defense. It will take some time, and experience will be the ultimate teacher.

Wow. I don't really know what to think. We like to think the Martial Arts family is above this, with all the push for integrity, respect, discipline, etc. The bottom line, though, is that Martial Artists are all human as well, and not all share the same beliefs and philosophies. There are bad apples in every bunch. It is really too bad. Explanations would be interesting. The fine doesn't seem all that stiff, but I guess it is because I am used to seeing the bigger salaries of pro sports in America.

Yeah, I can understand your feelings, YoungMan. I would love to be able to check it out, just to be able to give a full, credible report on it, as opposed to just guessing and assuming. However, these types of things go on in Korea all the time, and no one thinks twice about it. I think, if it is done right, it can be a good thing.