AndrewGreen

Or kickboxing so you can make better use of your hands

All depends on the judges. Forms competition is incredibly biased in the judging, if the judges are from traditional schools, the traditional forms will score higher. If they are from sport karate schools, the flashy ones will.

I'd vote open without the screaming. Course I've never done open forms and stopped doing traditional ones... My reason, I like they creative and athletic aspects of training. Of course the screaming tends to ruin it... Wushu stuff is pretty nice though, fancy with flow, and no screaming

Hooks are one of your most important punches in a fight, right up there with the jab and cross. If you are fighting opposite leads a good lead hook is a must. In a clinch hooks and uppercuts are your two main attacks. Now, here's another question for you all, on hooks, vertical or horizontal? Going bareknuckle, vertical hist on hooks might be a good idea, otherwise you can end up impacting with the smaller knuckles, the main cause of what is known as a "Boxers Fracture"

Overhand is a KO strike, and a good one in MMA. It's angle of attack is different then other strikes and it is difficult to counter punch off of if you use it properly. Step off on a angle, drop level and let it loose. It's also a good one to set up a shoot off of, or to use a fake shot to set it up Chuck Liddell is a good one to watch to see it's use. It can be practiced on a focus mitt just fine, just remember the limitations of the mits. They are speed, rythym, accuracy, timing, but NOT power. For that you need a bag or thai pads.

Guns are illegal in most developed countries How much truth there is too this I don't know, but here's a story I was once told. After the Nunchuku became popular in movies via Bruce Lee people started using them. Not just in self-defence, but as an offensive weapon, including against cops and particullarly in New York. This meant injuries and they are rather hard to defend strikes from without a bigger weapon, so they got banned in New York. It then spread to a few other places

No, think thumbs up and thumbs sideways. I've even seen the odd thumbs down punch in some systems of kung fu.

That's when you say "Yes sir" and walk out, never to question him again. Seems pretty clear he is on a bit of a ego trip, don't train there.

Anytime you are told you can't, you definately should.

Depends on where you are, in some places you aren't allowed to own them. In most places you will probably get in trouble for carrying them around.

Do you have anyone willing to train with you? That will open up a lot more options, otherwise your pretty limited to kata, conditioning, bag work and shadow boxing...

hit the hand, don't try disarms, usually you get cut trying, just hit the hand and they will drop the knife if that is what you want to achieve. Against most weapons nunchaku come up short, they are fairly short range and flexible weapons in general lack the response time of solid weapons. If you miss or get blocked, you are in trouble, not to mention blocking with them is a pain.

I'd go with wrestling, or a BJJ club with a heavy wrestling focus. They tend to be far better at takedowns and clinch fighting, and that is going to be rather important. That said pure wrestling, like pure BJJ is lacking, you need to add some basic boxing and ground and pound work into it.

Was taught vertical, now it goes horizontal. The evidence for the vertical being stabler is flawed IMO, it forces a twist at the elbow to show how the bones come out of alignment, of course you can keep them aligned exactly the same and still rotate at the shoulder, which protects your jaw line.

sel-defence techniques without live sparring is like swinging a bat at the air to learn to play baseball. It's all hypothetical nonsense that has no basis, and most of the stuff taught as "Self-defence techniques" is complete nonsense that will not work on a non-willing opponent, even if said opponent where to excecute the overly exagerrated and completely unrealistic attack the technique is practiced against.

Well, then you will find that there is not much connection between the two, and it is very rare that a school would be good at both, although they will tell you otherwise.

Muay Thai fighters have different things to worry about. The primary dangers are high kicks and elbows, not punches, which typically are not developed to the level of a boxer. With a greater emphasis on punching a tighter guard is needed. Same in MMA, where smaller gloves are going to hurt more and ger through easier and takedowns and wrestling style clinch work are also a big threat.

punching with weights in your hands is very hard on your joints, my first suggestion is you stop doing that. Next, try a few places out and stay where you have the most fun.

Just about everyone pads there hands for sparring, weapons are no different. If you want to train anything more then kata and preset sequences padded weapons are a must.

Ok, looking at punching technique, and just covering off some tips and pointers to make things work. Feel free to add as I am just doing this here and will miss a few things... Jab - Move when you jab, don't stand still and punch. - It works going in all directions, learn to jab moving forwards, backwards and circling. - It covers not just your enterance, but your exit. On your way out throw one, even if you no it isn't going to hit, it will help prevent the counter attack. - Jabs get you out of corners, learn to circle and throw multiple jabs, in both directions. When cornered it can get you back out in the open. - Jab at or above your eye height, not below. If you're jabbing low, get down their with it. - The power comes from weight shifts, this can be done in many ways. Timing it with your step forward is one, shifting the weight to the back leg is another. It can be a power punch, but doesn't have to be, it doesn't even have to hit to be a useful one. - Don't flair the elbow, it can have a lot of power if you are behind it, but if the elbow flairs even a little you just gave it a shock absorber. - You got many good combos using nothing but jabs, it is your most important punch and is heavily integrated with your footwork. You can never train it too much. - Cover your jaw line, if you can hit him he can hit you. your punching arm should be shoulder to ear, and your other hand up and tight. - A good rule to try and follow is always finish with a jab and never withdrawl straight (angle off, drop levels, or jab as you go, most counter punches are coming straight at you to wear your head was, get it off that line or stick your own there first to cover you) Cross - Power comes from the legs, not the arms. - As you are hitting your toes point forward, weight shifts to the lead leg and your back knee turns towards the front, your weight shifts to your front foot. - Again, cover the jaw line, look down the punch, shoulder to ear and lead hand up. - "sit" into it, meaning drop your level as you punch, this will give it more power. Always stay low. The strike is at your eye level or above. - Do not flair the elbow, or wind up. It is not your arm that powers the punch but your legs, turn into it and drive from the legs. - Practice stepping as you jab, often people train to mainly throw it while standing or on a jab-cross combo using the step on the jab. Train jab-cross with a step for each as well. Lead Hook - Get off center to set it up, load your weight to your front foot, facing forward (to his outside) and drop slightly. - Again the punch is thrown fron the legs, the arm actually does very little. - Drive from your front leg and pivot in, from both feet forward with weight on the front the do a 90' turn and shift the weight to the rear and rising into it slightly. - Do not wind up. The punch stays fairly centered. - Do not let the shoulder get in front of the hand, if it does it absorbs the impact and give you a weak punch. - All that your arm really does is rotate so that the forearm is parallel to the floor, ALL of the power comes from the legs and the rotation. - Follow through is important, you are in tight and in his punching range as well. The hook "hooks" back towards you and stays up, don't drop your hand, at the end of its path its almost like a vampire with the cape covering him pose, your elbow then rotates back down and hand is in proper position. - Against a opposite leaded opponent the hook is a even more important tool, stay outside his lead foot and you can land it while he can't. - To train the mechanics the "Shovel punch" is a great tool. Throw a hook to the body on the bag with your elbow staying right to your side (virtually no arm movement.) Rythm Thought I would mention a little about this, rythym is important, it is what gives you the mechanics to throw combinations with power in each punch, to let them flow into each other. One punch should set up the next in terms of mechanics, and punches lead into each other. A very simple and important excercise is the cross-hook. The cross shifts to the lead, points the feet forward and drops into it. This is where a hook is thrown from, A hook turns the feet to the side, shifts the weight to the back and rises slightly, which is where a corss comes from. A simple drill is to alternate the two in place, not worrying about the hands as much as the legs and the body. It should be a consistant beat (not 1..2.....1..2....1..2 but 1.2.1.2.1.2) You can also do the same thing with other alternating punches, get used to this flow with all your punches from each hand. Of course don't get to fixated on this, it's just a basic drill and drills are aids, if your training becomes based around aids you're in trouble

Thanks

Define studied, does having read a book on it count? If not then 65 is no where near accurate. He trained with many different people, looked at lots of things, and added things from those sources to his style. He did not formally train and get ranked in them. Think about it, he was 33 when he died, how old when he broke from wing chun? Durring that time he was teaching, making tv shows, movies, studying, getting married, having kids, writing and studying over 60 distinct systems? I don't think so.

Different attacks do different things. Sometimes it is breaking a bone, other times it is disslocating, or ripping tendons or ligaments.

Welcome back (and can I reccomend the enter key? that is rather hard to read in one block)

I would disagree. Maybe 10 years ago, but not anymore. MMA is a unique system, not simply doing a few different things. Trying to pass guard the way you would in sport grappling will get you hurt in MMA, as well as a good many other techniques. MMA has it's own strategies, techniques, and training methods. The name ia poor one though. It came about from the first UFC, billed as a "Mixed Martial Arts" event, meaning competitors from different styles. Somehow it stuck and got applied to the system of fighting, which is rather misleading.