EarthElement

parkerlineage, first off congrats on finding a new school! Second, is you kenpo school (Ed"s) located in either pasadena or burbank? And third, wheres your new ju jutsu school loacted?

I was having an interesting debate with a friend of mine today about the impact the instructor of a style has on the student. His argument was that all the instructor must do is teach his students the proper techniques and training regimen. Thats all. Then he says it is up to the student to practice sparring and such with the techniques he has learned and learn all the strategies and tactics through personal experience from sparring/fighting. In his eyes it is just a matter of who practices the most. (given the subject is practicing correct techniques.) My argument was that there is more an instructor must do. He must teach the students the strategies and tactics which my friend thinks are common sense. i. e. projecton, visual cues, patterns and such. Also, the quality of instruction plays a huge role e.g. the proper way to do techniques. It would seem that in his argument that all instructors are the same as long as they show you how to do techniques the right way. There is something worng there but i cant quite put my finger on it. I really cant think of anything else, so what do you all think about this?

Ok great, thanks alot BM, ill definatly check out that book.

Thanks for the idea BM. Ive heard alot of speak about plyometrics around this site. Do you know of any good places i can get information on its exercises, or can you tell me any good starting ones yourself? As far as a good base of strength, i do lift weights quite regularly, however there are some areas of my body that need significant improvement, but i am working on those. I understand the plyometric effect has something to do with increasing elasticity in the muscles, which then quickly contract to create speed. Is this true? And if it is shouldnt I increase my flexibility in order to be more effective? (Like streching and stuff)

Thanks for the tips but i didnt quite understand this last one. Are you suggesting counting the # of strikes in the 60 second interval and attempting to reduce the amount of time it takes to get to that # of strikes every session after? e.g. 150 strikes in 60 seconds, then next day go for 150 strikes in 55 seconds?

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there are any solid training methods to improve your striking speed. Im not talking about just punchs or kicks but knees and elbows as well. (and plam strikes) I work on my striking power with the most obvious of methods, the heavy bag, however, there has to be an exercise or exercises to build up the speed my strikes travel. This is kind of an important issue becuase of my body type. Im quite tall 6 2-3", and have a pretty awsome reach. The problem with that however: the distance my strikes must travel to reach the target. I feel it takes me far too long to reach across all that way and land the hit. (Id like to stay on the outside while i fight so i can actually use my advantage, instead of go in close and completly lose it.) Any help would be appreciated. (basically im the embodyment of the tall guy at your class that likes to stay far and attempt to hammer you as you get close. )

Fighting isn't very pretty either, lmao. I know a dude that has quite a few callouses on the knuckles and still manages to get all the ladies. Its not the callouses that make the man but the man that makes the callouses. But thank you iceman for that knucke push-up idea, i completey forgot about those, although i think that i might need to take it to the next level with those, e.g. knuckle push-ups on barbed wire.

Well i guess i see your point iceman. In the long run youd just end up doing alot of damage to your hands. but on the other hand, any bare knuckle punch would hurt your hand alot right then and there. So i guess IMO it be a good idea not to have extremly "soft" knuckles. So maybe it would be a good idea to do a few bare knuckle punching sessions and a few with the gloves. How do you think thatd work out?

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if there is any reason behind the concept of bag gloves? I mean i know youd put em on to hit a heavy bag, but wouldn't it be better to hit it bear knuckle? Because that way you would be practicing with more resistance, e.g. the padding wont be there to support and cushion your every punch. Are bag gloves just for boxers who want to practice punching with gloves on? Cause even then my reason above makes them unneeded. The reason i am wondering this is because im buying a heavy bag and wondering if there is a good reason to get bag gloves with it. (I imagine there is a reason, but i just havent thought of it) If anyone knows what bag gloves are for please do tell.

To start off, i have been working out for about 6 or 7 months now (minus about 3 for lazyness ) and i have a strange problem. I have pretty decent sized muscles but i am quite weak. I have i think something like 18 cm's around the arm (i think its cm's) and i am 185 lbs. and 6' 1" so a pretty endmorphic body type. (Skinny/Tall) I typically can only do 20's in each hand (2 sets of 12) and my bench is a pathetic 90 lbs. (same set/reps as arms) and my chest seems pretty big. And the funny thing is when i was younger i could easily do 30's in each hand, (around 13) now im 17, and i droped 10 lbs, but my muscles are way bigger. So my question is, does weight really determine how strong you are or is there something weird here? I mean i dont want to have big empty muscles. The reason this is really important to me is that i am planning on starting a very competetive, and very renowned MMA judo class around where i live. (mix of mostly judo then sambo/jiujitsu) And im REALLY gunna need strong muscles for that, so any suggestions?

Sorry to butt in but when you say experience, what kind of experience are you talking about? Like ring time, hours spent practicing techniques, previous streetfights, etc.

Shoot him? Well of course that would work quite well but I think it would be frowned upon by the instructor. You mean shoot like tackle him or something? (Sorry my MMA vocab=bad)

Hey i never thought of it that way, thanks for the advice. I can imagine how that could work, especially with a strong shin kick or something to interupt the attack and force him to recover. I guess Bruce Lee needed to take some SCA classes.

First off by straight blast, i mean an opponent coming straight at you throwing a flurry of punchs. (JKD thing) However, i use this as sort of a loose term, in this thread, lets say it means any sort of attack that has many follow ups and speed can vary, (basically from very fast to a more moderate speed) with attacker following you vigorously. I notice this is pretty much the most famous tactic employed by street fighters. It is very difficult if not impossible to counter, as it leave no opening to do so. I know many MA's say to step out of the way, or try to out manuver, but its usually coming in too fast (to out manuver) and for the most part, the guy is not gunna be an idiot and go completely straight and lose balance so you can just circle step out of the way and do your counter: if he has his balance he will just move the 30 or 45 degrees and be facing you again. I apologize if this has been discussed before. Remeber: even bruce lee found it to be very effective. (Probably against untrained opponents though, as well trained ones know something that i don't) Thanks for your replies.

Ok say your in this situation (while sparring): Youring sparring someone who is very good at punching and kicking, but is really good at kicking. Say your get into just about outside kicking range and you rush him and he side kicks or front kicks directly into your stomach. (Kind of like bruce lee in enter the dragon where the guy rushs him and he just kicks him outright) When this happened to me, it was karate point sparring, i was sparring a brown belt (when i was yellow) and he knocked the wind out of me. Now what would you do (or what does your style teach you to do) or what would have you done differently? I find it a very annoying move. Thanks for your replys.

Thanks for your help guys. I don't really want to limit myself to a school that doesn't take part in competitions, because i have found that those kind of schools don't produce better fighters than those who do. (usually) But if the class seems solid ill probably try it out. If i see 10 year old kids in a so-called "Warrior Course," i think i will reconsider. When i see this kinda stuff written: "NOTE: This is hard and demanding, the mental discipline and spiritual discipline with the physical development will direct the Martial Artist to reach their ultimate potential." Makes me think of Old Japanese Master taking in a young grasshopper, and putting him through very difficult, physicaly and mentally draining training. But in the real world, this is never the case. Its usually a bunch of kids running back and forth doing jump kicks in a line or something. Nothing wrong with that just not my idea of super master hand to hand training thats requires "mental and spiritual discipline."

Well its been a long time for me since i last did MA. As a result, my reflexes seem to have slowed way down, and i have became quite slow and unable to react quickly to moves. My question is, whats the best way to train your reaction time/reflexes? I know a lot of people say sparring, and thats very true, but is there any other way you have found successful or have heard is successful? I know another aspect of dodgeing or blocking (strikes, tackles, etc.) is the ability to predict what your opponent is about to do and react accordingly. Now, im pretty sure the only way to work on this is sparring, and this aspect is probably a good half of evading your opponent, but for now im just more interested in my speed/response time. I'm sorry if this topic has been brought up, (i dont have a doubt in my mind it has many many times) but please give a noob a little advice. Thank you.

First off i was thinking of possibly starting a JJ related art, (Or a grappling art in general) and I came across this place: Pasadena Academy of Self Defense. Aparently they have a type of JJ that is pretty deadly, and i quote: "Due to the degree of effectiveness of the techniques taught in our Academy, we do not engage in competitions or tournaments." This is called "Kempo JuJutsu." And Here is more about this place. I kinda wanted to join a more effective combative art but im not really sure about this place. I haven't gone or sat in at a class which i am planning to do very soon, but i just wanted to get your opinons on this place, and on this art of "Kempo JuJutsu," Especially if any of you have had any experience with or know something about the effectiveness of combat JJ. (or if they turn out to be fakes And if this doesnt seem like the way to go for you, what grappling stlye have you found to be most effective for you? (Not so much ground fighting ala BJJ but more clinch or standup grappling)

Hi guys, I was wondering if any of you knew any good MA schools in the LA area around the city of glendale CA. I am a 17 year old guy and i am looking for more of a combative motivated place, a place where i learn how to fight with efficentcy. Athough i would like a place that retains tradition, i think when it gets to the more direct stuff (MMA) that kind of goes out the window. (Though not all the time) So if you guys could recommend any school thatd be great. Also how does this school look to you guys: Combative Arts Academy The only thing that kinda leads me to think its mcdojoish is the initiation fee they make you sign, but i dont know, maybe thats a common thing and im just paranoid. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

First of all I am knew here, so Hello to all of you. A little bit about myself: I am 17 years old and live in Southern Cali. I am planning on starting MA very soon and i might need help finding a good school, but thats a different story. My question for yall today, is how did you get to the piont where you could punch a guy in the face with no remorse? I am honestly wondering because everytime i used to get into the ring, like 3 or 4 years ago, (sparring) I couldnt stomach using some good contact. So how can i better stomach beating people up? Thanks guys