bushido_man96

Hey, when you say it, it all sounds the same, right?

Good info. I don't use "equipment" to help me lift, I lift "raw." I don't even wear gloves to lift.

I got banged up today. Took some blows off the old fingers. My left ring finger is bruised up real good. But, I can type ok! I was wearing a gauntlet, but I took it off because it affected the way I grip the handle, and it was wearing my hand out real bad. Next time, I'll just deal with my hand being tired!

Get a good Basket guard and punch block like crazy block the shot with your hand int the basket or close to the bottom of the blade. Thay way you take most of the blow and impact low. Been working on that, and read some stuff on George Silver and his system doing it that way. Tried it, and it works better.

Belts do more than hold your pants up. They indicate to the instructor what you know, and what you need to be taught. The indicate your seniority level in the class. And they help in partnering you for rank specific work.

Just because a style is taught completely in English doesn't mean it is watered down. Let's use boxing as an example. Do all of the countries that train in boxing use the words jab, cross, hook, and uppercut? Probably not. They probably use the equivalent word from their language.

Just out of curiosity, is KarateKid1975 the leading all-time KF poster? She has, like, a LOT!

Training without socks toughens your feet. And, you have better grip, like the others have said. Also, when everyone trains barefoot, it ensures that nothing will be drug onto the workout floor with socks or shoes. Keeps it clean and safer.

First off, I have never washed my belt. It shouldn't need it, in my experience. The gi, wash on the cold/cold cycle, and tumble dry on low, or better yet, hang dry it if you can.

Very nice. Well explained. And I like the example of using a "non-expert" for demonstration purposes.

When you punch, you can hyperextend the elbow by locking it out at the end of the technique. When you punch really fast and hard, you actually lock it past the point it should stop, hyperextending the joint, past its normal stopping point. This will cause a sharp little twinge in the elbow when you first do it, and if it lingers, or you keep doing it, when not in action it will present kind of a dull ache in your elbow.

You got it there.

Hey, man, you sound like me. I am not slender and lithe, but I do feel like I have some speed in my techniques. When I do forms, I typically am not the first to finish, either. However, I am such a stickler about focusing and finishing my techniques, that it causes me to have a little bit of a pause between techniques. This slight pause also allows me to set in the proper stance for just a second, demonstrating another important aspect of all forms. The best advice I can give you is to focus on technique speed, and not form speed.

Don't know. Never been interested in head gears with face masks.

As an aside, your marine friend is in serious trouble should he actually get into a knife fight. In the ranges where a knife is dominant - which is, in fact, something like 20 feet or less, shockingly enough - a gun is at a SEVERE disadvantage. I'm talking a win/loss rate of 3% or something like that under a test situation that favored the handgun. The few wins were really only achievable if the gun user kites, fleeing from the knife wielder while they can bring their weapon into play in order to create distance. The only time the gun weilder is going to be severly disadvantaged is if he does not have his weapon drawn. The statistics you have are against a knifer with weapon in hand, and the gunner not drawn yet, I believe. Although, it is a good point. People would always pull that kind of thing on me, when they found out I studied MA. They would always say: "What are you going to do if I pull my gun?" I would just want to smack them and say: "You don't have one," or, "I guess you should have pulled it." Now, I would say, "I would pull mine first." It is a childish game, none the less.

the thing about it is that you will not find a dojo ANYWHERE that has streetfight rules. nor will you find a competition that allows them. So sure, you can say, "ufc is not realistic" but nor is the training you are getting in kendo, shotokan, taiji or anything else, to be technical. As for the statistics, they were police stats. This is a very good and true point.

Constant refinement and improvement should be the norm in martial arts training, and not a novelty. When the arts were soley used for fighting, things would have evolved all of the time. That is how it should be.

Very nice. Is this indicative of the officiating in judo?

the reason you don't see a lot of blocking is because being in such a passive defensive mode can get you hurt. Sure, blocks can also be strikes, but the defensive nature is the same. with evasions and parries, you are doing things like moving out of the way, setting up other shots, making angles, etc. It's active defense. That's a good way to put it.

The secret to Lee's success was practice, hours upon hours of practice. Oh, yeah, and he practiced a lot, too.

Yeah, try not to lock your arm out completely when you punch.

Well done!

By upside down push-ups, I assume you mean hand-stand push-ups. I have tried these, but am not good at them.

Which is probably as it should be. No McDojo there! I see that quite a bit in class as well. I have to ride some of the kids now and then, to get them to do what I know they can do. It is frustrating to see, but it makes me feel good that I know that I am giving it all I have, even if it only 50% of what some natural athlete is doing when he is slacking off. That is the epitome of integrity.