bushido_man96

Well, it looks like you are getting a lot of videos for $100. Hopefully, they are good quality. Unfortunately, you won't know until you get them. As for learning without an instructor, I say if this is your only option, then go for it. Perhaps later on you will be able to find someone to teach you.

14 events held at every modern day Olympic games: 100-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter races, the marathon, 110 m. hurdles, high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, 1500 m. freestyle swimming, and individual saber. Taken from By the Sword, written by Richard Cohen.

It sounds like things are going well, Kez!

Wow, you do better than I do, then. Whenever I fight sword against spear, I find it difficult to defend against the reach and thrust.

The nice thing about rattan is that when it breaks, it won't splinter off and cause serious injury.

Your feet will calous up in time. Just remember to keep your hands up for defense!

Congratulations! It sounds like you have a great supporting group there with you. Keep up the good work!

Cool! Congratulations!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KF, Clint!

You are very welcome!

Wow, another nail biter. I don't know if my nerves can handle many more like this! A pretty good day, overall; LJ had 155 rushing yards, 26 recieving yards, and 4 touchdowns, and Damon Huard had his first career 300 yard passing game. Tony Gonzalez was huge, and Eddie Kennison made some great catches. The defense played ok, other than giving up a big play where Ty Law fell down. If not for that and the special teams snafu, all would have been well. My college team also won their first game of the season this weekend, so hooray!!

I don't like peas, either. Peas are not a food and have no business in anybody's soup!

TMNT.!! I would use the rattan, or a hard wood staff, like oak.

I'm sure they could do plenty of damage. You can generate a lot of force with the twirling motions.

yes, I failed the jr nidan test, so they told me to wait until I was old enough to test for the real nidan. Just chalk it up as a learning experience. Keep practicing, and continue to work hard, and you will get there in time.

Good for you!! Excellent, excellent, excellent!

It looks to me like you summed up your options, as far as no-kata arts go. You could also add caporiea to the mix, I think.

This kind of relates to the points that I made earlier. When I teach self-defense, I don't advocate the "sit and wait" approach of making sure the opponent takes the first swing. One reason for this is the fact that not everyone has the fast reactions to properly counter before getting hit. Another reason is that counter attacking, which in most cases is taught as "block and counter," usually only assumes that one attack is coming. I am a big advocate of the pre-emptive strike. Now, that doesn't mean I like to initiate a confrontation, but if someone is being threatening towards me, then why should I wait for them to take their best shot?

This is a good point. To it, I would like to add: if effectiveness is comprimised, then so is the integrity, to an extent. Now, there are some things that we are going to do that are ineffective, but we do them just because they are fun. I am one of these people. However, we should always keep effectivness in mind.

An instructor of mine once told me that he did his form for testing a totally different way than he did it for a tournament.

I feel exactly the same way about my TKD training at this point, too. My school has a heavy emphasis on technique, basics, forms, and one-steps, and some sport sparring (but not enough). Basically, all we spend time on is the testing material. Once again, I have been feeling the same way for some time. I have been spending a lot of time thinking about how I would do things if I ran my own school again. I recently picked up a book that focuses on the applications of the system of forms that I practice. I am looking to start practicing them with whomever I can get to partner with me. I agree with this point as well. Just thinking about the applications of techniques, and practicing what I need to for my work scenarios helps to keep me motivated. I do not want to be unprepared.

I somewhat disagree. I think this will depend on the art being learned. If somebody learns an art through video they don't have anybody to tell them if they are learning the technique wrong when applying this to somebody they can do something such as break fingers/wrist with wrong punching techniques or even something more severe like breaking somebody's joint or tearing ligamints through joint manipulations. [edit] Also, back when the majority of the arts techniques were formed the legal system was completely different, and a lot of the arts were designed to do as much damage as possible. Now if you're just sparring with a friend, improper technique can increase the damage to both parties[/edit] Well, you make a good point, but if they don't have an instructor near by, then they aren't going to learn anything, period. At least they have a way to start. Like I said, it is not ideal, but it is a way. As far as what the arts were originally designed to do, and the former legal systems, I am not so sure that really makes a difference. Fighting competitions have existed in just about every civilization that ever existed, regardless of whether or not a "fighting style" developed out of it. It really isn't any big secret that if you stick your finger in someone's eyes that it will mess them up. Back then, even as now, they could only practice these techniques with control, because you can't run off all your training partners, because they didn't want to run them all off!

That's why I don't wear tight jeans. At worst I have a pair of stretch fit pierre cardin jeans that I wear out on the town, but the rest of the time I wear loose fit jeans. Can't stand boot cut or straight fit ones. Too stiff for my liking. When I'm trying them on in the cubicle I'll do some knee lifts, try a couple of stances (shiko or kiba dachi mostly) if I'm comfortable while doing that I'll usually buy them. You know, this is not only important from a martial arts prospective, but also lets you know that you will at least be able to work in the jeans. And you will know that if you bend over or squat down, you won't blow them out!!!

Good outlook. This is a nice approach, but I only have one issue with it. When you use the terminology "self defense," it seems to insinuate that you cannot go on the offensive. When people think this, and think that it is possible to block everything that comes at you, and then just wrap them up and hold them down until help arrives, it leads to misconceptions. It is important to know that you may still have to be offensive to neutralize the threat.