bushido_man96

How do we know that Bruce Lee was misinterpreting the arts he learned? He may not have liked the way things were presented, and felt that time could be better spent on other facets of the arts. The same goes with many other styles that don't incorportate forms/katas. The Martial Arts are not the same that they were when they were conceived, no matter what style we look at. People get so caught up in what a form is that they forget what else there could be. They worry about "tainting" their "style" and don't want to go against the grain. In the end, it stagnates learning. I am not a proponent of what I am going to say, but think about it. Take two individuals. Put one in a Martial Art to study for two years. Put the other on the street to fight for two years. Who will be more the Martial Artist at the end of the test period?

Good posts, NightOwl. I think you hit the breakdowns pretty well on the three styles of grappling that you mentioned. One thing that I would add to this: .... I would say that they realized the advantages of Judo and JuiJitsus' other techniques, and decided to capitalize on what the others had "forgotten," so to speak.

As an employee of the County Jail where I live, I would have to say that I agree with ninjer here. The officers that are pretty good at the Defensive Tactics are the ones who are certified to teach it, and therefore spend more time working on it. More often than not, if things get physical, there is a taser involved. If it does get physical, the majority of techniques used are tackles followed by arm bars, or just working into a standing arm bar. Hardly ever does something like this go down while you are alone, though. The other night, I did see a small joint manipulation work on an inmate, but the reason it worked so well is because he was being combative while he was being uncuffed. Two officers already had contol of his arms, and another stepped in to crank him, to keep him from getting unruly. Aside from that, you want to control the whole limb, and not the just the wrist. Getting ahold with both hands is the most advisable. The problem that most LEOs have with making these things work is exactly what ninjer said; they don't spend enough time on it. When LEOs go to Academy, they typically spend one week on Physical Training/Defensive Tactics, and then that is it. I think that it should be a more focused-on aspect of the job, and should have a recertification done every 6 months to a year, at the least. In the end, you really aren't going to take much away from a 1 week course that is going to stick with you and help you out in the mix. The bottom line is that you will fall back on what you know. Incidentally, the officer who put the lock on the guy wrestled some in high school, and he prefers to get people down to the ground, where he can work them into custody from there.

You are correct from what I have experienced. Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do schools use a red stripe through the center of the black (or midnight blue) at master level and above (4th degree in TSD). The folklore was that students covered their redbelts with black cloth that would wear through in the middle, exposing the red.... It probably just looked cool Folklore or not, it is interesting none the less. In one style I studied, the red belt came before the black, and symbolized "warning" or "danger." The philosophy behind this was that the student had all of the technical knowledge of the black belt, but not quite the control and discipline of the black belt.

Congratulations, James!

The question is, if it isn't good for you, is it bad? If it isn't bad, then no big deal, drink it anyways.

Oh, no, I don't think so. Think about throwing it to the upper thigh (Muay Thai style) or into the knee. I don't think I would thow it head level, but definitely to the leg.

I have read both, and I enjoyed both. They are full of anecdotes and historical information to back what they talk about. If you liked Secrets of the Samurai, I think you will enjoy Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere.

5-1-07 Back/biceps/shoulders Assisted pull-ups: 6, 10, 7 (palms out); 6, 6 (palms in) Back Hyperextensions: 20, 2o Dumbbell shoulder press: 30x10, 40x8, 40x8 Jump rope: 3x1 min. rounds. I am getting better at this!

In this book, the author attempts to lay out a 12 week boxing course that you can do where you live, with the help of a partner with some drills, and by yourself on others. It starts out with general stretching and conditioning drills, which focus on the abs and upper body. Along with the lessons he lays out, he lists conditioning drills to go along with them. The lessons seem to be fairly easy to follow, and with a partner, I think that you could put together a fairly nice routine. Would it prepare you for the ring? Not likely. However, it would be a good, fun way to get the basics of boxing down. I thought that this book was ok. If anything, I took away in the lessons a lot of ideas for mini solo-training workouts on heavy bags or shadowboxing. I also may try some of the partner stuff out, to see if I can make the defensive aspects work. Overall, this book is alright. It does lend some decent drills, I think (based on my limited boxing knowledge), and the author has some good credentials to back his stuff up.

Welcome aboard!

Nice!

One thing that boxing/kickboxing might do for you is teach you more of the slipping/bobbing/weaving defenses for punching, which may help to augment your other blocking techniques. But a grappling style would cover a whole other facet of fighting.

I think it all depends on approach, teaching methodology, and the ability level of the student. Each student will learn differently, and some will be more natural than others. That said, I think that learning the basics is the best place to start. You have to crawl before you walk, and then you can work towards running. At my school, we spend almost every class on basics to start out, and then move into forms work. After a student has been through the Orientation, they get into class and do the basics, and then their first form afterward. Sparring usually doesn't come into play until the second belt level. I boxing, they begin with the basic hand techniques, and then build from there. Most MA schoools I have been to do the same. But, sometimes instructors do things differently, and if it works for them, then that is great. Welcome to the Forums!

Hehe....thanks, Baron!

What is it that you don't like about it? Is the fact that they don't grapple, or just the way the fights are set up?

When sparring, we at time do some side-stepping drills to get our body out of the way of an attack, and at the same time get into position to counter. I also work on slipping and ducking drills with a friend from time to time.

That is very cool.

That looks pretty good. Thanks for sharing it with us.

It is just one of those things that it feels good to accomplish, being able say that you did it. There are lots of things that we do in life everyday that don't have anything to do with being used in a real fight, or for what we do for a living. However, we still do these things, just becaue we enjoy them. Overall, I am not too worried about injury at TKD; I could get injured at work everyday. I just don't choose to worry about it.

I don't think that a sensei or an instructor is someone that should be feared. I know that argueing is not a good thing, but if you want to approach him about something that you question, it should not be something that frightens you.

Congratulations, lordtariel!

Hey, I hear ya there! 4-30-07 Chest/triceps Bench press: 195x8, 205x6, 215x3 Incline bench: 135x6, 145x4, 145x4 Decline bench: 145x10, 155x10, 185x6...the first 2 sets were too easy; I will raise them next time. Triceps push-down: 90x10, 105x6, 105x6 My arms were still sore from the one set of bench that I did on the Friday before. My arms are tired after this! Abs Roman chair crunches: 2x25....OUCH! Side raises: 3x25x25 lbs. Conditioning Jump rope: 3x1 min. rounds Steppers: 3x30 sec, 1 min. rest. Combat Hapkido from 4:15 - 5:30. Taught Orientation from 5:30 - 6:00. Traditional Class from 6:00 - 7:00. My knees were feeling very good tonight, so I let the kicks fly! I really hope I can have some more classes like this in the future. Sparring went pretty well tonight, too. Stretching during Traditional Class: Splits: middle, left and right: 2x20 - 30 sec. each. Seated splits: middle, left, and right: 2x20 - 30 sec. each. Reverse hurdler: 2x20 - 30 sec. each. Butterfly: 2x20 - 3. sec.

Thanks, Tom. Those are all very similar drills! I have been working on a flying side kick that I have to do for a board break...it is coming along slowly.

This is a very good approach to take; I like it a lot. That is something our instructor gets to view in nearly every class, as the black belts line up in front for basics, with the lower ranks falling in behind. The low ranks always have a good example in front of them.