bushido_man96

Oh, I see. Thanks for that.

Yeah, self-talk is usually silent speak to yourself, although, when by yourself, you could utter quietly to yourself. I think it is supposed to be a very meditative type of activity. In his book, Christensen referred to it as making a tape recording of positive points, and then playing it back in your head over and over again to filter out all of the negatives that you let get into your head, like thinking you can't kick fast and things like that.

Sometimes I do an "action visualization," where I actually kind of walk through physically what I am visualizing: parrying the hand, guiding the arm into my other hand, wrapping it around into a chicken wing, shoulder locking them, sweeping the legs out, taking them down....stuff like that.

You make a good point, TriangleMan. If someone can't breathe, then they are going to go to sleep. Its just a matter of getting into position to choke them out.

Rick_72 and elbows_and_knees make very good, valid points. I feel that it is a good thing to provide the lessons of morals and ethics to young people every chance we get. At the same time, trying to change an adult who comes to class, who has been doing things a certain way, and been brought up a certain way, may be more difficult. The teaching an old dog new tricks idea. I was raised in a very strict household by a father who probably should have gone to jail as a child. If he would have grown up in today's society, he would have spent much time in juvenile hall, and who knows where later. He ended up living in a christian camp for around a year, then going into the military and to college. He has been involved in law enforcement for most of his professional career. My father always told me that his father didn't care enough about what he was doing to keep him from doing it. So, he made darn sure that his sons weren't going to do things the way he did them growing up. I feel like I am a good person, and I respect my father very much, and I try very hard to emulate him, but I fear I will always come up short. I guess my point is this: when I encounter a tough task, I ask myself: "how would dad handle this? What would he do?" I don't even think about my instructors, and what they would do. Charles Barkley was quoted one time saying: "I am not a role model." His statement was a call out for parents to take control, and be role models, and make sure they teach their children right from wrong, even when they see it on TV, watching an athlete. I am not necessarily a Barkely advocate, but I do agree with what he said here. It seems that with being a teacher of the martial arts, it has fallen to us in many ways to help the students to become good people, to help them understand how they should act in society, and to be good, honest, upstanding citizens. However, most of that molding takes place in the home before they get to us. The defenition of the "true" martial artist is going to have different aspects and components for each of us. We will not agree on what it should include. The same can be said for honor, justice, chivalry, etc. Wow, I'm ranting. Sorry about that!

Welcome! Kind of like the system I am used to.

Didn't really mean it that way.... I am told that I "carry it well"...being let down easy.

I think BJJ is a very sport oriented style of jujitsu. There is the Abu Dabi Combat arts club that has the world's largest submission grappling tournament every year, and BJJ is a huge part of it. As a matter of fact, I think some rank advancements in BJJ are based off of competition participation.

Yes, that is great!

Oh, come on now....would you feel good about it then? Would you feel like you earned it?

He was also in a movie called Black Eagle. He was a bad guy, and the movie was terrible.

Can't wait to see it.

How about They Call Me Bruce, and They Still Call Me Bruce? Street Fighter pretty much ended Van Damme's career.

what style does Jason study ? Interesting question. I recently did some more research on Statham, and it appears he's had a mixture of training, but in his words, he's "never achieved rank." He's pretty vague on his MA background in interviews, but it seems he has studied TKD. He was an Olympic diver in '92, so that is likely where he gets much of his athleticism. Respectfully, Sohan That's cool of Statham. Imagine that, a martial arts star that won't brag! I like him, too, and can't wait to see Crank. As for my favorites, Best of the Best 1 and 2 are good, 1 being better. The Last Dragon and Only the Strong both have special places in my heart, as well. Enter the Dragon is probably my all time favorite, though.

This is all good info. I often wondered why he wasn't seen much after Enter the Dragon. Maybe he'll bring one of his schools to my hometown!

General Choi's encyclopedia doesn't offer much information on the meaning or translation of the forms, just the layout and moves. There may be a book on the subject; I'll be the guinea pig, and just buy the book! (like I need an excuse to buy more books!)

Thanks, Myth. What kind of pad drills do you do, and what kind of system do you spar with? Feel free to elaborate as much as you like!

Good luck! Advise on sparring would be easier to give if you give us some information on your sparring system. But, in general, don't go crazy and wear yourself out. You will probably be nervous, so do some breathing and try to relax yourself. Try to feel out your opponent by doing some stomps, or by throwing a kick or strike, and remembering how they react to it. This info will help you to set them up and counter their attacks. Hope this helps!

I don't think flipping on the street is a wise idea.

270 lbs, bench press, 1 time.

Welcome to the forums, timje_2005! Hope your training goes well. You have some good advise given in the above posts.

Thanks for the description, and the web site!

I don't like to slam any style, because I feel that they all have good things to offer. It does seem like certain arts tend to get the bad wrap, though.

Geez, Sohan, what were you thinking!!?? Attacking in a way they could not defend. The nerve.... That's good stuff!

Hit "upcoming event's" the flyers there with pricing. Looks like $165 a day, or 3 day seminar $395 without accomidations $585 with accomidations. I used to be stationed very close to there, that resort is really nice, or used to be. WOW!!! Lots of money! Can't do it, even if it was close!