TigerDude

Does the old system ehad have standing in the dojo? Does he have ownership, etc? I would think that the normal way it works is that once a person retires, he gives up rights to future decisions & direction.

It is certainly seems that women doing sports of all kinds are more succeptible to knee injuries. I do not know where, but I read recently that women should do more weight training, specifically squats & deadlifts, to improve knee stability and strength.

There is no good solution to fighting someone with a gun or knife.

Some parents (like me) want to take the class with their children. 2 separate classes means twice the time. I would not attend classses if they were separate.

Adidas Contest Gi. Combat Sports International

Power comes from technique AND muscle. If it were technique only, you wouldn't have weight divisions in boxing, etc. I'm not clear why being big would hurt your karate.

I wish they would actually show the fights. They show only a heavily edited & shortened version, which I believe is intended to keep you from knowing who the winner will be. A good show, tho. I enjoy it.

Very attractive young adults doing martial arts can only be good for the arts as a whole.

Crunches, etc. don't get rid of a gut. They just develop the muscles underneath. Only diet & exercise that burns calories will do it. And yes, it gets markedly harder as we get older.

Not a bad armbar technique. Needs to keep his Go on tho! ;^)

Heavy Bag. A Wavemaster will do as well in a pinch if you don't mind it walking all over the floor as you hit it.

Well said. I would probably say for #4 something like "personal choices and needs will determine the 'best' style for an individual." I recommend that this be a sticky in the beginner's forum.

I think you overestimate a CMA's ability to execute a throat strike against a trained opponent. Anyone who knows what they are doing will keep their chin down, anyway. I think that styles will basically amalgamate to what we see now - there are only so many ways to strike or kick someone. The people who are successful are the ones who are willing to put the work into beating & getting beaten.

In Funakoshi's time, karate (kara-te) was pronounced the same, but the "kara" ideagram was for Tang or China. More common among the old masters was simply te, or hand. Funakoshi (the Shoto of Shotokan) pushed to change the ideagram to the current open, or empty, to ease acceptance in the very nationalistic Japan. That's my understanding, anyway. From what I've read, the China influence was not seen as a negative in Okinawa, where Chinese culture was admired.

Your wingspane seems quite proportional for your height (you wouldn't want to look like a gorilla, would you?). This is an issue for everyone except the very tallest. Size simply matters. People say to use your speed, but that's not so useful against a fast tall guy. I think that you will need to close the gap & combat from close range. Practice, practice practice.

There's really nothing you do for a broken rib other than rest it. Obviously you just haven't given it enough time. All fractures are not hte same, so I doubt there is a blanket time for healing. Like all injuries, your body needs time to recover.

Just becasue a guy who wears thai leg pads & boxing gloves does not make him a kickboxer. These guys may have just been working on the "kickboxer's" kicking skills.

Since basically every muscle in your upper & lower arm inserts near the elbow, it could be an awful lot of things. There are bands that help some types of tendonitis heal (I've used them before), but you really someone who understands physiology well (dr., sports trainer, ...) to tell you exactly what is hurting & how to help it. Sohan's reco is how I was taught to practice punch also. We rotate out punches as well, but it doesn't make inherent sense to me that it would help your elbow.

Your chance of being hurt with a Chi ball is almost zero.

If you fight someone who knows what they are doing they will keep their chin down & you will not get a throat shot. More power is good.

Some people are just jerks. Don't take that guy's example to apply to the whole field. BTW, you didn't say, but I hope you're not going to give him money. Don't encourage such behavior.

I really don't think that gun ownership or the ability to carry is an innate, "God-given" right. There is SOME argument in the US, where it is in the Constitution, but even here, that constitutuional right is routinely restricted, and the restrictions upheld in court.

Systema may be effective, but the videos I've seen (by the systema people) make it look a bit squirrelly to me.

Bad idea in my opinion. There are some people who should not have a gun. If you want a gun as part of your martial art, join the Army. I own guns, but have ambivalence about it. Your gun is far more likely to kill someone in your household than ever be pointed at someone else in self defense.