DWx

Came across the Sparbar earlier: https://www.sparbar.co.uk Looks like a great bit of kit for solo-training. What do you think? Could something like this replace more conventional training tools? In-action:

Undertraining is easy but I don't think most of us ever reach the point of genuine overtraining. Overtraining is where training load exceeds recovery capacity. We're talking persistent fatigue, muscle soreness (+72 hrs), poor physical performance, coupled with mental fatigue.

Do your school have a logo / school colours? If so, do they symbolize something? how did you decide on them?

I can understand that this is frustrating. But you've achieved so much already. Have you thought about investing in a heart rate monitor and possibly with a chest strap? You could wear it all day and get a good idea of your heart rate throughout the course of the day and would allow you to better monitor yourself during exercise. The heart rate monitors on machines at the gym are ok for a rough estimate but aren't so accurate overall. How about something like this: https://www.fitbit.com/us/charge2 Or if you wanted something that looked more like a traditional watch https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/c10002-p1.html

I'm guessing you're talking about the NCLB Act that you had in America? I don't really know much about that and how it was implemented. That said, I think most martial arts instructor expect their students to practice outside of class too right? To be honest I have no idea whether this type of teaching method works in MA, just seems like there are some positives I could see being implemented.

Fight is this Saturday! Your predictions for the fight? I'm going with a Mayweather win via judges decision.

Welcome to KF Douwe

Happy birthday John

That's the point though. China consistently scores better on global rankings using this teaching method. In fact the Shanghai school district itself is producing students of a higher caliber than those found in most of Europe, the US and other Western countries. East Asian teaching methods clearly have the edge on what we're used to over here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment#Results They've got to be doing something right? I think there is some misunderstanding on the "no child left behind" part of this teaching model. Rather than forcing kids through the grades and subject matter, if anything it asks that the teacher slows down and really makes sure everyone understands what is being taught and teaches it in smaller steps. Over here, when the kids reach the end of the 5th grade, they automatically go into 6th grade and start on 6th grade material whether or not they fully understand. In the Shanghai model, the idea is that they don't begin looking at say fractions or algebra or even multiplication until everyone has a thorough grasp on addition. If you read the articles linked in the original post, some of the Western teachers were surprised at how slow the Shanghai students seemed to cover a topic. In the West we'd have our kids on more "advanced" topics already but in the Shanghai model there is a focus on making sure that the basics are fully understood. To bring this back to Karate, you'd have your students nail their kihon and Taikyoku kata first and really understand the moves inside and out, before moving on to more advanced material. You'd have them practice Taikyoku Shodan, and would really want them to have a solid understanding of 1 block, 1 attack and 1 stance before thinking about introducing further material. This foundation is slower to build but is more thorough, and as a result, stronger.

I'm speaking from a predominantly TKD background but I think the same logic applies... I prefer to think of stances as a more fluid thing. You transition through them but they are not fixed positions. What stance you are in at any given point is as a result of where you've just been, and where you want to go next. This is especially true of kicking styles. If you roundhouse someone with your right leg, you may just as well put it in front of you and land in a southpaw stance as pull it behind and land in orthodox. Whichever stance you take will give you different options to work with; it all depends on your current situation and what you want to do next. The choice of stance can also be a conscious decision based on how your opponent is standing. Do you want to go toe-to-toe, or do you want to be their mirror image? It'll impact on how you can respond to an attack and what you can initiate with. I will say training one side only limits your options and you'll be forced to return to the same stance each time. Of course there are some who have had very successful fighting careers fighting off of one side only such as Bill Superfoot Wallace however he fought this way because of an old injury. If you have the ability, why limit yourself?

I feel like we are straying away from the original question. The question and scenario posed was about male vs female in the UFC, that is male and female at peak performance doing this professionally. We're talking the top 5% of fighters at the top of their game. When looking at a population there will always be a distribution of abilities and in effect you have 2 overlapping bell curves. Some women will be able to beat some men, but at the performance end of each gender, women will still be lagging behind. Some food for thought: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/we-thought-female-athletes-were-catching-up-to-men-but-theyre-not/260927/ You can't tell me that the Olympians in the above article have "inferiority complexes and fears". They're pushing themselves to the extreme and still the women are falling short.

Excellent point! I've actually felt this in effect. We were doing "first response" training at work, and a planted individual faked a seizure during the session. Most people froze, but one of our nursing instructors sprung into action - she was calm and methodical in her approach. Training pays off! Yeah I think most would be surprised how susceptible they are to this effect. I remember crashing my car once off the road, no-one was hurt but I was a teenager at the time. No-one stopped to help. I had to call my dad to come and get me and at least 20 cars just drove straight past without stopping to see if I was OK. From personal experience I think the bystander effect is even worse when we have to physically change what we are doing to help, like pulling over and getting out of the car, or getting out of our assigned airline seat. In fact just the other week I was driving and the cars in front of me were all swerving to avoid something in the road. I got closer and it turned out it was a little Yorkshire Terrier that had gotten into the road. No-one was stopping I guess under the belief that someone else, not them, would sort it out. I ended up pulling my car over to grab the puppy and as soon as I did, the two cars behind me stopped to help.

Maybe the "everyone moves on together" bit would work better in a more structured setting. For instance a 6-week self defense course or other short course. I do think there are elements to the Shanghai approach which could be beneficial. A lesson objective is something I've been trying to incorporate into my lesson plans anyway. And I do think it could be useful to have a discussion-led lesson occasionally.

In situations like this I'd like to think I'd stand up and with hindsight it seems easy to criticise people who don't. However the Bystander Effect is a very real thing.

Professional fighters? The big difference versus a hobbyist is the amount of time and the level to which they train. Putting in the hours at the gym and in the dojo will yield a high level fighter.

The funny thing is, the female posters in this thread (myself and Lupin1) are agreeing with you. The opposing views are being presented by two men. Make of that what you will...

When it comes to academic excellence, China, or more specifically Shanghai, consistently places high on the PISA Global rankings. Due to the high levels of success, The Shanghai method of teaching is being adopted in British schools for maths and is very different approach to how most Westerners learn at school. The are some key differences in the Shanghai approach compared to how things are done in Britain (and I suspect in Europe and America). Notably: * The class moves on together In the Shanghai method, each student in the class must understand the lesson before the class can move onto the next topic ensuring no student gets left behind. The class will stay with a topic until every student in the class can explain the concepts and demonstrate understanding. It is an "all children will succeed" model compared to "most children will" or "some children will" model. * Small incremental steps Often we tend to place value on learning lots of things and progressing quickly with the material. In the Shanghai method learning is broken down into smaller building blocks for students to master and fully understand. The idea behind this being that the teacher can then build upon this prior knowledge and not have to recover the topic at a later date. * Multiple methods and conceptual understanding When teaching using the Shanghai method, teachers will discuss different approaches to solving problems. Students are expected to be able to think about a problem in different ways, with lessons involving questions and discussions. The idea is for a student to obtain a conceptual understanding rather than learning a method by rote. * Fewer distractions In contrast to most Western classrooms, Chinese classrooms can seem bare and basic. Rather than brightly coloured posters and displays, classrooms can seem rather stark to reduce sensory overload and encourage students to maintain focus. * Clear lesson goals Every lesson has a clearly defined lesson objective and the teacher doesn't deviate from this. http://schoolsweek.co.uk/what-is-south-asian-mastery-maths/ https://www.mathematicsmastery.org/four-lessons-from-shanghai/ http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38568538 Would this approach work in Martial Arts? In general we tend to treat martial arts as a very individual pursuit. Even though we all train together, we allow students to progress at different rates. Students test once we feel they are ready and sometimes this means that some students advance faster than others. Often we give students new techniques or exercises to do to keep them interested. If we were to follow the Shanghai model, students would thoroughly learn the curriculum at each stage, back-to-front and inside-out. The class would only move on once the instructor thinks everyone deserves the next belt. Would this work in your school?

Underwater BJJ: I think pools can be a useful tool. To aid in supporting bodyweight or in adding some resistance. It is also great for practicing jumping techniques without fear of injury.

Why does the tournament make you nervous? I think it's important for you to understand the root cause of the stress and nervousness before trying to tackle it. Exposure does help and the more tournaments you'll do the easier it gets. Try to perform your kata in front of people in the run up to the tournament. Ask your sensei if you can get up in front of everyone during class and have everyone watch. The more you put yourself in these positions the more natural it will be. The other thing I would do is to forget about the outcome of winning or losing. Try instead to give yourself smaller, easier to obtain goals. For example think to yourself you are going to nail all of your stances in your kata. Or you're going to try to land at least 5 side kicks in sparring. Winning will come with time but you can't focus solely on that. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Why EVERY Child Needs Jiu-Jitsu by GracieBreakdown Thoughts?

The kids fight I believe. The other three were less than impressive. Take the MMA fight. The guy had the opportunity to drop the hammer many times but barely hit her in the gut. The sumo guy wasn't giving it much effort in the least. I would never say that a woman couldn't best a man or that a smaller person couldn't destroy a larger one. Having said that these vids were a very pour example. The kids fight was pretty much spot on. Larger kid gets bested by better technique. That one I'll buy. I still do not think we will ever see a top ranked female and male fighter in the same weight class going at it. I don't think the crowd would watch a female getting knocked out. The natural tendency of men is to protect not harm women. I just can't see a sanctioned UFC fight on prime time coverage between a man and a women. And personally I don't think this is a needed spectacle for women to feel equality. They have captured the spot light. I personally think most of the female fights are ten times more exciting than the men's as 90% just go 100% out from the start to the finish making for a more exciting fight. However if a top ranked woman is willing to step in the ring with a top ranked man and both parties agree to it. More power to them. I just can't see it ever happening. Totally agree with your assessment MatsuShinshii. For kids you don't really see much difference until they hit puberty and the hormones kick in. And the rest didn't seem like fair match ups, the guy either held back or was a lower skill level. Here's a video the other way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nldh_QQORE

No one here is saying that. UFC is for elite fighters. And elite females are always going to struggle against elite males. As they do with every other sporting activity. Self defense or general fighting is a different thing.

And now you've subsequently demoted me But anyway.. I agree with you on the above approach, should I ever need to defend myself I would do the same. But self defense is about survival, MMA is about winning. Plan or no plan, belief or no belief, an elite female is going to have a rough time trying to submit or KO a male elite fighter. In all honesty they're going to have a rough time surviving the 15 min fight without serious injury. Now I know it's not the same as MMA, but I have competed and coached on a international level within ITF TKD for the last 10 years. I've seen the cream of the crop and work with them on a weekly basis, both male and female. These athletes are no joke and the majority train hours a day, 7 days a week. A good proportion of them have also medalled at continental and world level. These aren't your average hobby-martial artists. Would I stick any of the females in a competitive setting against a male fighter at the same level? No. They'd have no chance. I'd genuinely be concerned for their safety. Personally I have a decent enough ranking in female heavyweights internationally and I train on a weekly basis with my male heavyweight counterpart. But I'm under no illusions that should we face off competitively, they better have an ambulance on stand-by because I'd probably be going home in it.

Thank You

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.... In all seriousness this has surely got to be something you look at on a case-by-case basis? To say "I'm not learning from anyone under the age of 25" might mean you miss out on something great. Fictional (but probably not uncommon) scenario: suppose a young school owner had parents that also ran a school and had their kid at the dojo every day. That person may have been training since 4 or 5, and assisting in classes from age 14 or 15 every day after school. If they then decided to open another location down the road aged 18, more power to them. They've probably had a lot more actual teaching experience than a 40 year old teacher who picked Karate up as a hobby in his 30s.