DWx

So would you step into the ring with the current men's heavyweight Stipe Miocic? Or how about Michael Bisping? Conor McGregor? I'm sure you believe in your own abilities and I don't doubt that you have infinite skill and knowledge, but would that be enough?

Guess me and Devin better go see our instructors later... For what it's worth we are talking the elite end of the spectrum here with UFC. Men and female abilities are two overlapping bell curves. Top women have every chance to take out weaker men, but strong women are just at a disadvantage compared to strong men. I don't see why it would be any different in MMA than for other physical contests. Belief or no belief.

That's just the problem. They are inferior when it comes to muscle mass and athletic ability. You can't change biology. I'm all for championing equal rights and equal opportunities but there is no way an elite female fighter will compete on the same level as an elite man. We can't pretend that MMA is any different from other sports in that experience and tactics count too, they do in every other sport as well. Aside from pure speed or strength contests like weightlifting or running (where women can't compete, as per Lupin1's comment), I still can't think of any contest where women consistently hold their own when going head to head. It's not the movies where a female MA fighter might call on some mystical higher power to give her strength or outmanoeuvre the jock in some quick thinking. Like my previous example of Serena Williams. Tennis involves just as much technique, experience and cunning as athletic ability, and yet the Williams sister still couldn't beat the 203 male seed. And IMHO to tell a female MAist she will have success against men is irresponsible. She might have success against weaker men and might do OK some of the time. But against the vast majority of male attackers, to fight them for a prolonged amount of time drastically increases the female's chance of losing and of getting seriously hurt. In teaching women MA we are increasing the chance they might survive an encounter, but lets not pretend they will get a KO or submission on the street. The best policy is still for them to cut and run, to do what they have to do to get break, and when they have an opportunity to run like a bat out of hell. An unskilled, athletic guy still has a really good chance of winning in that scenario but at least with some MA training we're giving females a small chance. But in MMA or UFC? You're asking a female to go toe-to-toe for 15 mins+ and now you are no longer just asking her to escape, but to try to KO or submit her opponent. It's not going to happen.

It's simple. Starch the hell out of your sleeve cuffs. Be snapping and popping like crazy.

Lynn, first of all welcome to KF Your story sounds all too familiar to me.... What is your end goal? Do you want to open a school and teach full time? Or just help out at the current school? Either way, though it might be hard to do, I would take a step back and concentrate on your own training for a bit and taking as much as you can from the training. Once you've ranked up and have a few more years experience, other doors may open up and give you the opportunity to teach.

Women v Men won't be a thing Men are stronger than women. Fact. Look at Serena Williams. Undoubtedly one of, if not The, all-time greatest female tennis player of all time. And yet she still couldn't beat Karsten Braasch in 1998, the 203rd male seed who according to one journalist, was "a man whose training regime centred around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple bottles of ice cold lager". Or look at Olympic records and results. There is a disparity between how fast and strong men are compared to women.

By coincidence these two stories popped up on my newsfeed today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40718990 Brain disease affects 99% of NFL players in study http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40726858 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Stephanie Inglis has ruled out ever returning to her sport of judo competitively Admittedly the second story is about an injury that occurred outside of the sport but it does link in with the risks we face in martial arts and the precautions we have to take. Are head injuries a concern for you? Do you alter your training at all to reduce the risk? Personally I have 2 bad head injuries which stick out for me. One was in 2009 when I took a punch straight between the eyes and went down to the mat. The second one was earlier this year where I took a back kick to the face. Though I wasn't knockout with the second one, that's the one that scared me the most as I felt the after effects for much longer. In that particular incident, it took me a good 30 minutes before I could string a sentence together properly or think straight. A couple of years ago my optician also highlighted that I appear to have some retinal damage in my left eye, most likely from repeat blows to the head on that side (right leg roundhouses!). For me this means I have made a concerted effort to get better at protecting myself whereas before I would just eat a shot because it didn't hurt.

Rather than more talented, could you say more athletic? Athletic guys who are stronger and faster tend to do pretty well against most even though they might not understand or be the most technical. There comes a point though where knowledge and experience outweighs athletic ability.

I do ITF TKD so have been taught to do sine wave... I think the important thing is that, just like fundamentals and form practice, it is a tool for developing (correct) mechanics. In a free fight situation I'm not going to do perfect technical sine wave, but then neither am I going to form a perfect front stance and block. The problem is most people who do it don't understand it properly so when it is taught it is taught wrong and over the top. Bigger isn't better and not every move should have it either.

What does normal even mean? If it's just someone who shows up to class does their training and go home again, I don't think any of us are normal. We're all on an internet forum talking about this stuff after all.

So many things... I guess just the opportunity to meet so many people and visit so many places.

Congrats

We've done it before a few times, usually as a fun exercise rather than serious training tool. Have also done kata in reverse or as a mirror image.

I'm female but the Nike Pro gets my vote. I've also tried Adidas Techfit range but prefer the Nike version.

Welcome Luke

For what it's worth traditional ITF TKD contains defences against a bayonet and the original books detail attacks with it.

Alan, if you don't mind me asking, what was your intention when you attended the TKD class?

Great post and great story tallgeese. Ego can get in the way all too often. I actively avoid sparring people who just want to take my head off. I don't have anything to prove and can't be going home with injuries every day.

I'll preface this by saying that I come from a country with tight gun-control laws (the UK). I guess this depends on what type of tournament it was. Guns wouldn't be traditional but neither would someone spinning a bo and doing a 540 kick. What did the form look like?

Some stats to consider: Age: Floyd Mayweather 40 vs Conor McGregor 28 Height: 5ft 8" vs 5ft 9" Reach: 72" vs 74" Fights: 49 vs 21 Total Rounds: 387 vs 37 Win-Loss-Draw: 49-0-0 vs 21-3-0 K.O.s: 29 (53%) vs 18 (75%) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/40285344

For a class demonstration is it really helpful to be non-compliant? Seems a bit obstructive in my opinion. Not to mention a bit rude. A certain technique or tactic might not work on you, but when someone is instructing it is better to give a little and go with it. For one, if they are teaching everything will be done at a slower speed with time for explanation and to show those learning the proper mechanics so of course it is easier to resist. In a live situation the technique or tactic is part of a flow of movements so has a higher chance of working. But even if the technique isn't effective in your opinion it shows a lack of respect not to just go with it for the time being in front of the class and then discuss the technique later. In the video the person teaching shouldn't have lost his cool but they the guy in the white gi was asked to loosen up while he was demonstrating.

You can't target fat loss. You can only consume less calories than you burn and see an overall reduction in body fat percentage. There's no magic cure, it all comes down to hard work.

There is some evidence to suggest that profanity helps us cope with pain, though the effect is strongest in those that don't swear often. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-we-swear/ Personally, if you are teaching kids you should not be using any kind of bad language though you can be a little more free when teaching adults only.

I find a lot of the time when you ask people to touch their toes, they round the back rather than hinge at the hip properly just like this video says. So they don't really engage the hamstrings anyway when stretching. To fix this, I give them a broom handle or similar to hold across the hip joint and encourage them to bend from there.

First of all, great post MatsuShinshii. You bring up some great points. Would it be fair to say you are talking about traditional martial arts from a Bujutsu 術 perspective rather than a Budo 道 one? Whilst I do agree that that traditional styles and schools can and are highly effective at combat if practiced it the right way, that doesn't mean that every student specifically goes to the dojo to be a warrior and fighter. I don't think we should look down on those who train without that goal in mind. Some people honestly just like learning to control their own body and learn the intricacies of techniques. I don't think anyone is asking for systems to change to cater to fitness goals. People train and get fit (and learn to fight) in the process. The problem I see here also is that pure combat isn't the sole goal with all "traditional" styles. Yes what you say is true for true-Koryu schools but not necessarily for those styles developed after the Meiji Restoration, if you label them under the "traditional" banner.