bushido_man96

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.

My books on Japanese styles include: Jujitsu Techniques and Tactics: skills for sparring and self-defense Doug Musser, Thomas A. Lang Karate Techniques and Tactics: skills for sparring and self-defense Patrick M. Hickey Judo Techniques and Tactics Jimmy Pedro Aikido Techniques and Tactics: the ultimate system for street defense Gary Bennett Dynamic Aikido Total Aikido The Master Course Gozo Shioda The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Karate Randall G. Hassell, Edmond Otis Kodokan Judo Jigoro Kano Small-Circle Jujitsu Wally Jay Secrets of the Samurai The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere Adele Westbrook, Oscar Ratti The Way of Sanchin Kata The Application of Power Kris Wilder Best Karate series 1. Comprehensive 2. Fundamentals 3. Kumite 1 4. Kumite 2 5. Heian, Tekki 6. Bassai, Kanku M. Nakayama Karate's Grappling Methods Bunkai-Jutsu The Practical Application of Karate Kata Iain Abernethy

Hey, welcome back! I wish I would have found this site 2 years ago.

Yeah, me too! Usually, it is when no one else is around, though. I don't like to embarass myself too much!

As always, Clint, a very informative read.

Nope, not one bit. My daughter plays the violin and the flute, though.

I got this info off of the website listed in my signature: Kansas City clinches a playoff berth: 1. Kansas City win vs. (8-7) Jacksonville 2. Cincinnati loss/tie vs. (7-8 ) Pittsburgh 3. Denver loss vs. (6-9) San Francisco 4. Tennessee loss/tie vs. (11-4) New England If all that happened the Chiefs would be one of the two wild-card teams because only Kansas City, Denver and the New York Jets would have a record of at least 9-7. The Chiefs would win a tie breaker against the Broncos because of a better record in AFC West games (the Chiefs are 4-2, the Broncos are 3-3). So, I guess I have 4 games to watch this weekend. The Chiefs play at home at noon, so that will give them a little bit of an edge. Some good news that I read is that Trent Green will be back as the starting QB next season, although he will be 37 years old. The Chiefs have had a history of hanging on to players for a little too long from time to time, but I really think that Green still has some game left in him. Hopefully, next year the offensive line will be improved, therefore protecting Green better, and allowing for even more production from Larry Johnson.

I didn't get very much, but me and the wife agreed that we shouldn't get each other a whole lot. I got a pair of Chief sandals, and a new Chiefs T-shirt. The wife and I also got some cash from her dad. We will be going back home to my folks' house in February, so we will have some more Christmas then as well. I also just sold my truck today, so I picked up some cash there, too. The kids really cleaned up for Christmas, though. It was a load of fun to watch them.

From what you describe, bearich, I think MisterRadley has it on the first site listed. It sounds very cool; maybe I should look into some as well!

Very nice.

This is what I consider to be one of the major problems behind "traditional" martial arts. One person does something like what Oyama did, and now there are people who will blindly follow along with what he did, with no questions asked. You can see the same with Funkoshi, and many other masters as well. Why did he do katas hundreds of times a day? My guess is becuase he was by himself, and it was a good solo exercise. How do you practice the bunkai by yourself, though? He also did loads of push-ups, and kicked trees hundreds of times a day as well, while he was up there. My point is this: just because it worked for one person, doesn't mean it will work for another.

Agreed. And if you are most comfortable striking, or are trying to escape, some working knowledge of grappling will make it alot easier for you to get back to your feet. I would also mention that the more that you know about takedowns from groundfighting/grappling, then the more easily you can defend from being taken down. Depends on your goal. If you want to be a good artist than i agree. However if your goal is self defence then doing one without the other leaves you with a huge gap in your training. I think I would have to agree with cross, here. I think that striking and grappling are different enough that it would not be very detrimental to train in both at the same time. This is a good point here, and very relevant. I have done a study of the Grappler vs. Striker challenge matches, and in all of the scenarios that I have read, the grappler was able to beat the striker. Now, I am not saying that this is always the case, but even grapplers have a very basic knowledge of striking. They especially know that if you are on your back, and they are on top, they can just swing away. I hope to never be in that position.

I also feel that smoking is detrimental to almost any other physical activity that you can do. One of my former instructors was a chain smoker. After being away for a while, he returned for a visit, and came back to our school to spar, for old-time's sake. He was superbly talented, but after about two minutes of sparring, he was sucking wind real bad. I am not in great shape, but I was better off than he was. Smoking was definitely a detriment to him, and he was in fairly good physical condition. He wasn't overweight or anything like that. It was just the smoking slowing him down. I knew you would have good information here, Kerry, speaking from experience. I'm glad to see that you have stuck with it! That is a good article, ps1. That pretty much sums it up, I think.

I was wondering what everyone's homepage on the internet was. Contrary to what many may think, mine is not KarateForums.com. I just have Google as my homepage.

Hopefully, that isn't the case, but best to get it checked out.

Bag gloves are personal preference. I don't really use any right now, but I am going to look at Wal-Mart to see what they have. Wrapping your wrists is important as well. You can get them at Wal-Mart as well.