wolfen

fun story: I have a semi psychotic "friend" who prides himself on doing stupid things. he once did a rep of 500 lb leg steightening, when he tried a second rep, he couldn't (and got injured). not quite relevant but my personal word against 1 rep maxing

I know of a seriously difficult japanese bo kata called (I can't think of the Japanese name) "wind demon"... I stared in awe as it was performed. something that is a tad more standard would be (sorry about the lack of Japanese name once again) "twelve winds".

I also know that they work (whether they affect other areas or not) because as a student athletic trainer, one learns things that can happen and need to be fixed, when in a fight, life is much easier when you are making these things happen. general knowledge of human kinetics makes a fight a lot easier, you see the person in terms of structures instead of shapes. We are careful when we spar, as we both know anatomy and treatment that is there to prevent us from accidentally doing something really bad (as we know where the bad stuff is) and as insurance. as to saying he may end up on the floor, if you are referring to pain, he feels very little in the way of pain, the last time he experienced pain even enough to mention it was when his left leung collapsed (spontaneous neumothorax) and even then he was walking around almost like normal including wearing a backpack. in fact, most of our combined knowledge of pressure points has come from anatomy class. by knowing why something hurts, you are able to more effectively use it. BTW, the brachial artery is less anteriorthan the nerve cluster at the insertion of the pectoralis. when aiming at the second you are unlikely to hit the first.

me + much larger friend = no rules (other than no groin and no serious damage) sparring the one who taps out loses. we both practice pain tolerance so this tends to be a while. crane fist to the anteriolateral armpit works well as does butt of palm to the acromion. I give that I know where many of his points are so things are a bit easier (he knows many of my points as well). however, i can generically find those 2 points about 75 percent of the time. (the trap. PP about 25 percent and the kidney nerve group about 40 percent. a nice-well placed stomp to the interior maleolus is useful, but by the point you are in range for that, you are probably preoccupied with grappling). we are both moderately trained MAs. I am a sempai in my dojo (toshikan karate do).

MA is not important, taking care of yourself is. (i didn't say fighting). I'm glad he's interested in soccer. hope life turns out well for the both of you.

israeli is NEAR eastern. India is FAR eastern. MIDDLE eastern would be at the most western: Iraq (and this stretches it) and at the most eastern: kazakstan.

if they somehow had an energy barrier preventing running or cell phone signal: draw knife, stab left dude in neck, arm-lock/swing him into middle dude, ball shot right dude. then I screw the middle dude up while he's off balance, from there one makes sure they don't have more buddies before helping the unconscious man. note: IF they had an energy barrier... otherwise id be running like mad cursing myself for being out that late in such a bad part of town (and calling the police about the other poor man (if I had presence of mind (which I rarely have outside of fighting situations))).

a "martial athlete" or to rephrase, professional martial artist will have an advantage not because of rigor or style of training, but because its their damn JOB. most MA practitioners do it in addition to their work. so instead of: fit practice outside of 9am and 5pm; you have "martial athletes" saying: let's work (practice) and maybe do some practicing afterward.

yeah, with the kickboxing thing, he was probably thinking "hey, I bet kickboxing is better than karate, let's prove it"

I don't want to sound stupid, but what's the difference between hapkido and aikido?

they work. I freeform spar with a friend who can lift me at arms length. pressure points are the only reason we are CLOSE to even (and i have beaten him once or twice).

if the ankle sprain is recent DONT use ankle supports!!!! I am a student athletic trainer, i know these things, that would be VERY BAD! if it is a repeat injury in the same place (as it sounded) you should start with ankle-stabilization exercises (always useful but especially important after an injury). Then move to eccentric exercises (with supports or ankle tapes (I can send you video or text instructions for these)) from that point on, practice as comfort allows. Your feet support your ENTIRE body, take GOOD CARE of them. better to lose time training than to have permanent damage to foot. edit: i should clarify, the ankle supports aren't bad... the fact that people think the ankle supports make them all better instantly IS bad.

my first spar (and everyone in that dojo's) was against the sensei. As has been said above, two things happen, the student gets a feel for sparring in general (more imprtantly, understands that they are FAR outclassed and that they can learn a lot) and there is the fact that the student can be safely be shown weaknesses and try things to see what works or not. now, I am one of around 5 sempai (is there an "s" there? I am not so familiar with Japanese) In the dojo where my first instructor learned (he still visits every now and again). In any case, we are now used for sparring with the younger students; we go easy enough that they can keep their thoughts from lagging and try to incorporate techniques into their fighting. I am second/third generation Toshikan Karate Do (depending on which of my sensei I refer to). This seems like a fairly common practice. However, if it was a true spar (contact or even light contact) where the black belt simply wailed on you before you could think to block: then there is absolutely no purpose to the exercise (except maybe to show you that right now you suck and have a long way to go (but there still isn't much purpose there)).