bushido_man96

You can't do that, yet? Well, I can do it with my right pinkey, but not my left one. You know there was a movie where Sean Connery beat a man with his thumb. I mean if it's in a movie it has to be true, right?? I remember that movie: Red Sun Rising, with Wesley Snipes as well. Sean Connery is the man!

Since you've gotten so good at the sledge, Bushido, I just wanted to let you know I've got a few cords of firewood that could use some attention. As a workout, of course.... With respect, Sohan Sign me up, buddy! I'm all over it! I actually enjoy this workout quite a bit. I am hoping that it will make me better at swinging my weapons around as well.

Haha, i think ive said this before. Common sense is universal. Sometimes im lucky enough to use it. That is a good statement as well.

As far as moving and taking your rank with you, that will depend on whether or not the two schools are under the same association. The best thing you can do is ask. If it were me, I would start the training anyways, because even if you do have to start over, you will still have the experience, which is always a positive. You can train your body (lift weights) and learn proper technique at the same time. Just listen to the information from your instructor, and go with the flow. I don't believe that strength can ever be a disadvantage to someone. There will be a learning curve, that is for sure, but that comes with anything. Good luck with your training!

No problems. The key is simplicity and practice, like most things. Having at least a basic well practiced gameplan is much better than winging it or wondering what you could have done after the event. That is sage advise right there....say, have you been reading my signature?????

I agree.

Thanks for the info. That all makes really good sense. I like the idea of the distracting question as well.

You are welcome! Enjoy your heavy bag training.

This is a problem that I have at my school. Our school is very curriculum oriented; we spend time on basics, then forms, then one-steps---all things required to do for testing purposes---and then we do some sparring with the last 10 minutes of class, if there is time. Now, this process has given me great technique over the years, and even for an overweight guy, I can do a pretty darn good form. However, we rarely spend time on self-defense techniques, which is what I would like to do a lot more of. That, and competitive style sparring. There comes a point in time where you can back off of the basics a little bit. I have been doing TKD for 13 years now, and I am pretty sure that some of my basic techniques are not going to suffer if we were to spend more time on self-defense drills, and scenario training. This kind of the same sentiment that I feel as well. These are the things that will benefit a martial artist the most when it comes down to self-defense, I believe.

I have seen things like this before. Incidentally, I stopped watching after about 1 minute. Personally, I don't buy into it. There is another thread floating around that showed that kind of thing, and when the practitioners went outside of their dojo, and tried it on some BJJers, none of it worked. On a side note, the guy at the very beginning had a very nice Ryu fireball stance as he kiaied.

It sounds like you had someone who just wasn't cut out to teach. Not everyone can do it well. I've been pretty fortunate. I don't have too many bad experiences with instructors. The worst MA experience I've had was with my one-time pastor, who claimed to be a 10th dan. We got together to work out, and it ended up being a session of him trying to toss me around, and show me how it is done. I had to laugh about it, because he didn't toss me around all that much. We never worked out together again.

I can still do all of my lower rank forms. It is all about memorization, and repetitions.

To start off, I would like to clarify that I enjoy practicing forms. They are fun for me, and I feel that they are beneficial as far as physical skill development goes. I also know that there are applications for many forms systems out there as well. I always do my forms solo, but I would love to be able to do some partner bunkai work from the forms. I will also mention that I do enjoy doing forms a lot, and I really like to do them in competition. I like to use forms to work on technique, combinations, and pushing myself. These aspects all have merit, in my opinion. However, they do not fulfill my needs as far as self-defense training goes. I agree with this statement as well. When I do forms in class and at tournaments, I focus in, and let it all fly out. I burn myself out after each form.

I am a very big proponent of the pre-emptive strike. If you get surrounded like that, and wait for the first strike, it may come from all sides, and you will quickly learn how bad a beating can be when you are outnumbered like that. As for the technique I would use, I don't know. It would depend a lot on the aggresor's placement, what is open, and what the others are doing. I am curious as to what strike you would use, cross. I would probably punch, but that is just my nature, I guess. How about you?

I am of the opinion that the nature of the art itself can sometimes determine the training methods. For example, in order to make Tai Chi function as a martial art one needs to nurture Chi and softness, i.e. Develope the internals. Without the internal training there is no Tai Chi. The use of soft energy is fundemental part (nature), of the art itself. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to develope this type of force and hence it takes longer to make Tai Chi effective in a relatively short period of time. RealWingChun This may be the case, but who says you can't alter the training to work in both at the same time?

This could very well be the case. As we all know, Bruce Lee was not one to fixate to a style....he liked to do things his own way. I don't have any personal experience with Chinese styles, other than what I read.

I have not been back to class yet. Just as Christmas was getting over, I got sick, and had to miss this week. I will be back to it next week, though, and I will be looking forward to getting back into lifting and conditioning as well.

I understand where you are coming from here, cross, but I would say that not every school is equal. There are instructors out there in all kinds of styles who tend to veer towards the self-defense aspect more than their styles' more 'traditional' aspects, and will teach a lot more self-defense.

I don't think that it is the responsibility of a martial arts instructor to impart spirituality upon a person. I think that the martial arts instructor's primary objective is to teach someone how to teach them martial arts. Martial arts, in my opinion, are first and foremost, martial; that is, relating to war, battle, or fighting. In our school, we don't focus a lot on spirituality. Our school is pretty big into discipline and respect, but not very big into spirituality. We train integrity by trying to get each student to put forth their best effort, and not cheat themselves, however, we as instructors cannot make them do it. Personally, I am more concerned about learning how to defend myself than I am about philosophical reasonings. I can look that stuff up on my own. When I go to class, I want to work on techniques.

I think that if you ask many people why they train barefoot, you would get an answer similar to "because it is tradition" or "because our master says so." In today's dojos, you will hear instructors say that they train barefoot in order to keep their floors in good shape, and so people don't track things in on the workout floor from their shoes. That aside, I can see some relevant points to training in bare feet. Imagine getting kicked all the time in TKD by a person with shoes on. It would probably get you scratched, cut, and knicked up a lot more. However, as cross has stated, it is important to be able to train with shoes on as well, because your kicks will feel alot different with that little extra weight on your feet. As far as my opinion goes, I can take it or leave it. If my instructor says not to wear shoes, I won't. If he says to wear them, I will. If I was the head instructor, I would probably do mostly barefoot, but throw in shoes and street clothes for some scenario training as well. Welcome to the Forums!

Here is a thought that I just had. I think that many practitioners worry about their skill level in one particular aspect, i.e., striking or grappling, because it is the basis of the style they are into. They worry about their striking skills sliding because of putting in time to grappling, and vise versa. Take a boxer, for example. If he competes in boxing, amatuer or pro, he is afraid that if he spends time grappling, his boxing skills will weaken, thus not being as good a competitor in his chosen arena. The same could be said about TKD fighters, BJJ competitors, etc. Now, if you are not worried about your competition level, or level of expertise in a limited style, then taking the time to broaden your horizons will be seen as more beneficial to you. Now, with the emergence of MMA competition to its current level of popularity, you can see the value of training in both. Now, would those guys be able to beat a pro boxer in the ring? Probably not. Could they submit Royce Gracie in the Ahbu Dabi tournaments? Maybe not. However, which one would you want to be on the street? This would just depend on what you want to focus on. If you were going to do MMA, I would say 50/50, if you have no prior experience. Now, if you are already an accomplished striker, then maybe you want to put in a little more time on the grappling in the beginning, like 70/30, just to get your skills up to par a little quicker. It just depends on what you like, too.

I have been doing some conditioning with the sledgehammer, and I have been enjoying it a lot. It is a part of my routine that I really look forward to. I found these articles, and I thought they would be of some interest to you all. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/inmag10.htm What do you think? PS: Thanks goes out to Sohan for introducing me to sledgehammer training!! You the man, Sohan!

I see your point, Tom. However, I feel that just because you spend time training in both, it doesn't mean that one has to sacrifice for the other. If you get into a fight with a better fighter, then the better fighter may win. Then again, he may not. There are so many variables in fighting, that it is tough to always predict an outcome. If it were me, I would rather be more prepared for both scenarios than be expertly drilled in just one. I feel that you can reach a level of expertise in both areas....like anything, though, it takes time.

I know of Black Belt and TKD Times, but are there any other good MA publications out there to go with?

That sounds great, Laurie! I hope it goes well for you.