Shorinryu Sensei

I about fell off my chair that time! There are stories...true or not I don't know, that if you start training at a very early age (say 4 years old or so) that you can learn to control moving your testes (sp?) up inside your body cavity so that what you're saying might be true. However, I would doubt it very much. But then again, there are stories about some guys, normally nicknamed "numb-nuts".....

Well folks, two weeks from yesterday, Shorin Ryuu will brave the wilds of NorthWest Montana and hopefully, we're going to have a GREAT time learning from one another! June 24th-26th we hope to have a great time getting to know each other and share ideas and concepts. For all of those that aren't coming (which is everybody else on the forum, yes...we're going to talk about you all!

I also agree. The belt I have around my waist is around 17-20 years old or so. It's not frayed (cost me quite a bit at the time as I recall), but does show it's age. And a 19 yr old sandan? *shaking my head*

You said "i must write...", so I'm assuming (I know, silly of me ) that somebody told you to write this resume...why not ask them what they want?

That description sounds alot like another fighter..what was his name...oh yea ..Royce Gracie Good Point! lol

Just to clarify a bit, Sensei Ettish wasn't "a karate master" when he entered UFC2. He was a 3rd, maybe 4th Dan. That is not a master in that system (note under my name...same system). I have never met Sensei Ettish, but did train with his instructor, Sensei Greg Ohl, once. You have to give the guy credit for entering the octagon wearing a full gi, and being half the size of most of the other competitors.

Maybe they started training while in the womb? This topic has been discussed several times before on this forum, but I agree with Eruonen in that I don't think a young child has the maturity or skill to be wearing a black belt in the way that I believe a black belt represents.

The more advanced techniques are trapping, blocking and striking without swinging the nunchauku. Anybody can swing them and hit someone, but catching a punch/kick or blocking another weapon with them is more difficult, and then knowing how to counter after you have done so.

Your brain.

Showers? It all goes with the indoor plumbing Patrick...yes, we have showers. Camping was an option if people were interested in that. If not, that's OK with me also.

So far, the only confirmed person with an airline ticket is Shorin Ryuu. If anybody's scared of the camping idea, not a problem. Most likely we'll be staying at my house during the visit, but I'd like to take whoever comes up through Glacier Park on Saturday the 25th. It's spectacular! We'll have several sharing/training sessions. Do you suppose people are afraid of Montana in general? Hey people, we have indoor plumbing, TV, cell phones...everything that anyplace else has (no, we aren't still fighting the Indians up here ) except the huge volumes of people. If anybody has any questions about Montana, me, or anything else, just post it here or PM me. I promise not to laugh at you if you ask questions like "Do grizzly beaars actually kill people in Montana?"

Ohhh...I've been around. New job is taking its toll in headaches and time. I just sent you a PM about the gathering. Hopefully you and Sauzin are still coming.

It just goes to prove my point of what I keep saying on here. Forget the acrobatics and forget the kiddie foam "chucks".

I don't know the rules that you go by in yoru tournaments, but isn't it possible, if there's no one to compete with in your division, to go to a younger division and compete with them? In the open tournaments I judge/ref, competitors that don't have enough other competitors inb their division to make it worthwhile are allowed to go up to the next higher division if they so chose, or in the case of more "seasoned" blackbelts, can go down to a younger division.

The biggest thing that keeps my mind focused is when I get smacked in the head, kicked in the gut, swept off my feet, or thrown to the floor by the guy across from me because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. You learn to focus very quickly that way.

I think the one thing that everybody is overlooking here is the difference between a martial artists "end goals", and a boxers. A boxer trains to stand toe to toe with ONE other boxer for 10-12 rounds while wearing gloves, a mouth piece and a groin protector. A martial artist, in the old traditional sense, trains to protect his life against one or more armed, or unarmed opponents, and to escape that confrontation with their life intact. A boxer trains to fight for possibly an extended period of time going nearly full out for 2-3 minutes at a time, whereas a martial artist trains to disable or escape an attacker as quickly as possible. There are a multitude of other differences, such as a boxer trains to fight in a ring with a certain type of material under his feet, and special shoes on, and a martial artist should be training for any sort of environment...from sand, to hard flooring, to ice, to tile, etc. As a martial artist of quite a few years, I have never been in a street/real fight personally that lasted more than 1 minute from its onset, to its conclusion. I have successfully defended myself a number of times against younger, stronger and multiple opponents, and once against a weapon. I am certainly not a super human or in anywhere close to the physical conditioning of a boxer in fighting shape. I have never had the desire to train as a professional, or amateur fighter and go into a ring to try to knock a person out that had never wronged me. If I had that sort of desire, yes, i would adopt a more "boxer" mentality and train for that goal. Sport oriented martial artists certainly would benefit from a boxer training regimine also, as their "end goals" are similar to a boxers. I have no problems if someone wants to train like a boxer, but a non-sport/competative martial artist doesn't need (IMHO) to train to that extent to survive a street encounter. If all we were allowed to use were our hands, and only certain types of blows wee allowed to be thrown and only at a small number of targets while wearing heavily padded gloves, then yes, more conditioning would be necessary I'm sure, as injurying an opponent would be much more difficult than it is. That's my $.02 worth anyway.

Do a search for "Trevor Gorringe"...he's a member of the International Martial Arts Alliance (whatever that is), and a few other deadend links. Otherwise, nothing.

Don't do figure 8's. Outside of asthetic reasons (just for looks), a figure 8 movement has little use.

I had the opportunity to watch a capoeira demonstration in a mall back in '92 or '93 in Atlanta, GA. After the demonstration I went up to the instructor and introducted myself and talked to him at length for about an hour. During that time he wanted to "spar" a bit with me to show me how they went against a more "traditional" martial arts. He started his dancing movements...back and forth, which I had seen them do extensively during their demonstration, and I can easily see how it would be confusing and deceptive it I had not seen it before. However, his attempt to sweep my leg and kick my head didn't succeed. You need to just keep you cool, fight your fight, not his...move as you would normally do (you sure don't want to stand in the same spot all the time..ever) and above all, don't let them intimidate you. Yes, their fighting systems is unorthodox to say the least, but they certainly aren't unbeatable...anymore than any other system is.

Yep...I'm going to run right out and try that! Sheesh, I started martial arts so I WOULDN'T have to run! I'd have to have the paramedics standing by if I did HALF of that routine! Personal preference of course, but I train to end a street fight in seconds, not fight in the ring for 10 rounds.

If the guy is truly a "Master", then there would be no possibility of us getting into a fight anyway. So, it's a moot question. But just suppose I did get into a fight with him. I'd stand back, watch him do his "breakdance" routine upside down on the floor (where's my video camera when I need it?), then smack him.

I get that "Show me something" now and then. What I've found works best is where I'll stand in front of them, feet about 2' apart, relaxed, hands out in front of me in a non-threatening manner, with palms facing outwards and tell them "OK, throw a punch or kick at me"...they won't usually because they're afraid I'll hurt them. Either that or I'll tell them to grab me and put them in a wrist lock or drop them on the floor maybe. I'm always up to give someone a quick demo if they really want to see something. It's never anything to earth shattering or what they expect to see...but that's the way this system works. A long time ago a guy at work asked me to show him something (we were on break and having coffee) and I grabbed a styrofoam cup and placed the cup on his head upsidedown and said "Now be VERY still and don't move". For some reason, he changed his mind.

I assume you're talking about the knuckle/fingertip pushups? No, they don't cause any damage to wrists or fingers.

Uh...no it won't. If you want to strengthen your wrists, do pushups with your hands in a fist and make sure your weight is over the index and middle knuckles. if you want to strengthen the fingers, do fingertip pushups where the fingers are extended and splayed out, but the only part of yoru hand that touches the ground are the fingertips themselves. What I described above me FEEL like it's causing damage...but really, it's not.