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I spose you've already seen these, but here's a couple of clips of Benny The Jet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWRUHOBfusY&feature=PlayList&p=E77DE702B0295946&index=11[/url]

Initially, just watching guys on YouTube, like Royce Gracie, Buakaw Por Pramuk, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Kaoklai Kaennorsing, any K-1, UFC or PRIDE I could get my hands on.

Well done, but be careful, I heard you can get killed fighting in that Kumite...

I am indeed finding that, Akaratechick. I'm wondering, though, if that improvement would be more rapid with faster weight loss. The way I figure it, if I get down to a healthier weight, my movement will come more easily and I'll be able to go through the motions of a technique more easily instead of losing balance, forgetting to move one part of my body while moving another, etc. Make any sense?

What style are they supposedly being taught here? I thought I heard the commentator say "Gung Fu" but I guess in that region it might also be Pentcak Silat. It really looks to me like it was shot in the 1970s so I wouldn't be too sure they still train like that.

Maybe we could finally have Rickson vs. Benny The Jet!

Currently, I take beginner classes which cover both shootfighting and BJJ techniques. In a few weeks, I'll be grading for my yellow belt in shoot and the first stripe on my BJJ white belt, and assuming I'm successful, I'll have the option to choose to take more advanced classes in either or both styles. I enjoy both and would like to keep doing both, though I find grappling a little tougher than striking, for the most part. The catch, though, is that if I do both, I'll be training 4 nights a week, and the classes are twice as long as the beginner classes (2 hours and not 1), and I'm informed by my instructor that the intensity level goes up a fair bit. Given that I play other sports, and do other things with my life in general, I may not be able to commit so much time to my MA training. As for what I hope to gain, I want to be prepared for as many self-defence scenarios as possible, for safety reasons, as well as to be as complete a fighter as possible (which may be the same thing, I guess), which would basically be for ego reasons, as well as becoming more fit. From what my instructor told me, our shootfighting system involves stand-up striking, techniques from the clinch, takedowns, and a small amount of ground fighting. They don't do free contact sparring as such, so I assume most of it is striking pads and/or light contact drills. The BJJ training is standard. We're a Machado school, if there really is any technical difference between that and Gracie I may have the option to take one class a week in one style and two in the other, but I'd have to confirm that with my instructor. Any thoughts?

The red thing is a bean bag that they throw in that shows that the match is over. Ahh, I see, thanks. Wouldn't make sense to use bells, whistles or whatever with heaps of matches going on at the same time.

Does weight loss itself result in improvement in that area?

Thanks A couple of the drills we do are: * Partner stands a few metres away holding a kickshield to cover their torso, and aggresively advances on you. When you see them coming, you move into pre-fight stance. When they move within range, front-kick them, jump back well out of range and use a verbal fence - pointing and shouting at them to back off, looking as psycho as possible - to cause adrenal-dump and allow them to disengage. * Partner starts at close range, wearing Thai pads on each forearm and advances on you, speaking aggressively, using "fightin' words". You maintain a fence with your pre-fight stance and back away, attempting verbal de-escalation. If they persist, ask your engaging question and strike hard at one or more of the Thai pads. The strike can be anything, but we were given the guideline of using a right cross for relatively slowly advancing attackers, and a right elbow for quickly advancing attackers. We do a few others to deal with when someone is ground-and-pounding you, or throwing a haymaker at you.

That's right, before you ask the question, you should back away and give them the opportunity to disengage, too.

For anyone who's at any point gone from relatively unfit to fit, did you find it improved your co-ordination and/or motor skills?

This is something we drill a lot, so I'll contribute a bit of that... The pre-fight stance I've been taught is to have the hands slightly out, palms pointed down, strong side almost imperceptively back. Likewise, feet are basically in a normal everyday non-fighting stance, strong side almost imperceptively back. This means that you can easily move into your "question" stance, or your fighting stance, if the opponent kicks things off unexpectedly early. Basically, pre-fight is all about the sell, selling the idea that you are no threat and aren't interested in fighting. The "question" stance, I should probably also mention, when asking your engaging question, your feet should almost be in a fighting stance, not as long nor wide, and the knees shouldn't be perceptively bent. Your jab hand is probably touching or almost touching your attacker since they've triggered your question by hitting your fence, and this is good for orienting yourself distance-wise. Your strong hand is back and your weight is back, loaded for a strong initial shot (but don't clench the fist!). Your palms are up and shoulders shrugging in the classic "I dunno!" pose, which also can protect your chin slightly in the event that your opponent kicks off in the middle of your question, though you shouldn't tuck the chin in yet. Then, fire your shot and get ready to fight! * Fence * Question * GO!

Well done Now..I'm not a TKD guy, and this may be a stupid question, but in the video, what's that red thing on the floor at the end? Did the towel get thrown in?

My friend's aunt was married to my now-instructor and recommended him, and another friend, who did BJJ somewhere else, recommended him also. I checked out the website and it looked like what I was looking for.

Ok, haven't been taught those yet (though I am aware of them), will keep them in mind. While the closed guard might not be tactically advantageous, for the purposes of a drill, should it be possible to close guard around virtually any size opponent with correct technique?

My money's on Greco Carry on...

Had a class tonight and I was partnered with someone much larger than I. I'm about 5'10", 200 (I know, I'm gonna lose weight..), he was about 6'4", 260 or so, and I couldn't close my guard around him. I tried to get my hips as deep as I could, tried to find the narrowest part of his waist, tried pulling him in with his gi as close as I could but I still couldn't do it. Any tips?

Ahh right, I suspected it might be like that. So it's just indicative, not functional?

Try not to compare yourself to others.

Why do American-style kickboxers (of Full Contact Karate lineage) wear long pants and not shorts? I could understand if they were wearing gis, for tradition, but long shiny pants? I don't see any advantage. Anyone know?

Adidas make blue BJJ gis, you should be able to get 'em lots of places...

My instructor tries to eliminate gender differences in training as much as possible, a good example being "There are no 'girl push-ups' in my school. You fought for equality, you got it!", but we do have some slight modifications for things like pressing against the chest to spin for an armbar when we grapple; the female puts her other arm over her chest and the male pushes off of that. For striking, it's basically no different. We start off light and get heavier if our partner can take it, regardless of sex or size. Having said that, he did also mention, as part of a short talk about respect and looking after our partners, that we can't imagine what it could be like for a rape victim who has joined up to learn self-defence, and is immediately mounted, has someone in her guard etc, so the only thing we can do is make everyone as comfortable as possible. It's something I personally am mindful of when I train, and I think pretty much everyone I train with is the same that way. Of course, it applies in some way to males who have been beaten in the street too, though obviously it's not the same. As for my personal experience, I've grappled with one girl a couple of times, mounted her, had her in my guard and vice versa and there were no apparent problems with that. When she held the pads for punching drills, I noticed she either couldn't or just wasn't providing much resistance and the pads gradually shifted. Of course that could happen with a male too, just sayin' what I saw...

The pivot method suggested by baronbvp sounds like it'd work. Your opponent might see you pivot and assume round kick. On the other hand, since you're probably going to throw it near his hands, you'd have to be pretty quick to stop it getting caught.

Serkan Yilmaz has fought in K-1, is that who you meant?