bushido_man96

I like to feint a front kick to the body, and then turn it over to round kick the head.

Cross has good advise. It appears that intervention on your part has worked so far, so hopefully, it keeps working. That is the route that I would take. Watch him, though. Watch him close. Try to know where he is when he is around. Be aware.

Slightly off topic, but i find it interesting that people often train to learn certainly skills... and then you are tested on these skills. However, in this case your required to defend against 3 people, yet it hasnt been covered or practiced in class before? Is it just me or do that not make a great deal of sense? I would have thought that if you are required to do something in a test that the content of the test would reflect what you have learned during the lessons leading up to said test. I can see your point here, cross. However, I think that when it is done, it is meant to be impromptu at times (at least in our school) just to give a surprise element to the testing. We do 2 on 1 and 3 for alls in class from time to time, but not often. I think we do it so seldom to keep it from getting out of hand. Sometimes, we get a little squirrelly!

Thanks for the updates!

I see your point, and I think they are very good. I never though about the slap hitting "heavier" than the punch, but it makes sense. However, if a punch misses, I think you can open your hand, and have all the previous options available as well. What do you think?

You make a good point. However, the initial question was regarding punch or palm. In order to palm effectively, wouldn't you have to have the criteria of the punch present as well?

This is very interesting. I have never had the experience myself. I did have an instructor tell me about a guy he choked out in a fight, and he went out completely. He came to ok, but I think he had a headache when he awoke. I don't know if you could just shake the awake, or if you would have to use smelling salts, or just wait until they wake up.

Very cool. Thanks for the link.

Agreed. One of the main benifits of palms is that they flow into so many other things, you can rake, rip, grab, tear, etc without having to retract your hand. This is a good point. I don't think much about tearing or ripping; I just usually think punch.

I think that they will experience some long-term affects, just like any retired professional athlete does. I don't think that it will be as bad as what some boxers experience, though, because of the limited number of rounds that MMA fighters go through. I think that boxers feel more of the punch drunk effect because of fighting more rounds. Does anyone know how many rounds the average proffesional heavyweight fights per fight? Most MMA matches are only 3 rounds or 5 rounds long, and they don't go the distance very often. Although they don't wear the heavy gloves in MMA, they tend to knockout sooner, if they do with punches, decreasing the number of punches that a fighter gets hit with. However, there is also the arguement that with less protection, more damage is caused. As has been said, we shall see, eventually.

Welcome to the Forums! I was under the impression that most styles of Karate were Japanese.

I hope not. Surely they would have some kind of deal worked out on that. I can see it now....Liam Neeson as Eddard Stark! I don't know why, but it just seems to fit. Have they done any casting yet?

If it makes you feel any better, the NFL Network will be covering the combine!

I loved doing Kwan-Gae. The fast and slow made it a great competition form, and I did well with it. However, I now have trouble with some of the moves...I need to spend more time on it. I enjoy my current form, Gae-Baek. I feel it is very powerful, with a few slow moves to give you a break!

When sparring females, you will want to try to direct your punches more to the stomach and rib area, as opposed to the chest. This will minimize the problem, I think. However, I would ask the instructor if you should or should not punch the girls, and why.

You could probably easily build a dip station. You could even build it as a part of the chin up station as well. As for upside down sit-ups, I don't know what to tell you. Let us know how you do!

The first thing you need to know is what rules you will be sparring with. We can give you some more specific advise then. That said, just relax when you start out. Try a few simple combinations, and see if anything works for you. Keep it simple, and see what happens. Best of luck to you!

I agree with you here. Most of the time, regardless of style, whether many stay or go is reliant on the instructor's approach to teaching.

No doubt. It's kinda like the BDU and ACU (our camoflague uniform) tops we wore in the military. Some of the guys were amazed when I used them to choke em out. I am looking forward to getting into training some of these moves in our Combat Hapkido classes. We usually train in t-shirts and dobok pants, so it will be interesting trying these different things.

Another thought that I had about Bruce Lee's training goals: I don't think he was concerned about "finishing" a style, or being a "Wing Chun guy," per se. I think he was concerned about fighting, and he trained as he though would best prepare him for fighting.

1-24-07: I made it back to class today! Today is usually our kicking class, but we changed it up, and did forms, because my instructor has a testing coming up. I did a total of 17 forms. We did the first 8 forms without breaks, at a consistent speed and power, but not full on. Then, we did the next 9 forms with more power, and breaks in between. Then I had a good stretch out.

I am 5' 7", and just use the standard rope you can get at Wal-mart or the like. I imagine that would work for you as well.

I will agree with you that TKD tends to be more attractive to children than some other styles.

I know that HBO's series Rome is making its way to DVD, so I hope this series does as well.

1-23-07: Missed the gym again, so I improvised again. This is a workout set that I have done in the past. It is a kicking exercise. You start out in a fighting stance, either leg forward. Then, you pick a kick. I started with the front kick. I did 5 front leg kicks, then 5 back leg kicks. Then, I switched my stance to the other leg forward, and did 5 more front leg kicks, and then 5 back. For each kick, you get a total of 20 reps. Front kick: 20 Round kick: 20 Side kick: 20 The above where while holding the afforementioned toddler! 45 degree round kick: 20 Twist kick: 20 Front stretch kick: 20 Side stretch kick: 20 Hook kick: 20 Outer cresent kick: 20 Inner cresent kick: 20 Finished with a total of 200 kicks. Another note: Yesterday and today's training was done in street clothing with shoes on.