AndrewGreen

Get a few people to train with and go for it, on your own you won't get very far though. Martial Arts is a two person game. It's not as good as having a good coach and a class, but it will be better then nothing

Is it rank? "I'm gonna bust you down to private soldier!" Or is it a certification? You can loose rank, if you accept that it is not skill based, but pecking order based. Otherwise, they can't take away your skill. That's like taking an exam and passing, then 2 years later getting a letter saying "Sorry, changed are mind, we're taking your pass back"

By the simple fact that unless you have unlimited time, it isn't going to happen. I do MMA, part of that is punching. But are we ever going to have the same punching skills as someone that only trains boxing? Of course not, they devote far more time to it then we do. So you can probably guess from what I do that I prefer the "well rounded" approach, I like to punch, kick, tie up, take down, roll around, ground and pound a little, throughh in some submissions and then hit people with a stick. If I where aiming at "mastering" something it would be adaptability.

I see some non-Okinawan kata in that list But yes, define "exchange"...?

I agree, Those are nice gloves, but for really going into a bag you should have some boxing gloves and wraps.

Same lead - both left (or right) Opposite lead - One left, one right.

First off, work on your footwork: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=22890 next work on your timing. Learn to counter punch, learn to time his footwork, learn to stop punches by jabbing him in the face Keep your hands tighter, usually when guys are getting nailed with hooks all the time there posture is to blame. chin down, shoulders up, hands in tight. Cover up when he punches, don't go out to meet it.

That depends entirely on where the best place for them at the time is things are always moving, both people fighting to gain position and submission, nothing should be in a fixed position for very long. Any safe place is going to be accomponied by a "when" and a few "unless" statements.

Frapper Moved to a new domain, new adress is: http://www.frappr.com/karateforumscom

You want a MMA glove. Most big suppliers carry them now, Century has cheap ones: http://www.centuryfitness.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&productId=10372&langId=-1&product_parentId=13572&crumb=13501-13549&categoryId=13572&parent_category_rn=13550 Point sparring ones are not gonna cut it, especially the foam ones. They will get torn to pieces quickly. As for sparring, it just depends on how much contact you are making. If you are going hard you should be wearing boxing gloves, otherwise MMA gloves are fine. My personal preference is this type: http://www.canbox.ca/c267841p16712733.2.html for training as it covers the velcro which can do some ugly looking scratches. This way there is no need to tape your gloves all the time

Start saving now, don't plan on making any money at it for a few years. Best to get some students BEFORE opening a commercial space, so that when you do you at least got part of your rent covered. Find a partner, or someone that will rent the space from you when you are not using it. Piltes, Tai chi, dance, doesn't matter. Anytime your space is going unused is bad.

Ok, here's some more mount ideas that I posted elsewhere, figured they'd fit nicely here too: 1) In order to attack the arms or the neck you generally need to get the elbows away from the body. So, with your right hand grab there right shoulder, use it as a folcrum to apply a forearm choke across the neck. You won't get a tap but they will have to defend it, often by grabbing your wrist. As they do this grab there right wrist with your right hand, slip your left hand between there forearm and bicep and grab your right wrist. Same grip as a keylock/Americana. Push this to the floor to try and finish, you likely won't get it, but you will get pressure back from them, switch directions and pull it up, swing your left leg over there head for a arm bar. Or, after pulling it up duck under it for a arm triangle. 2) Another way to get there elbows away is to punch them in the face, they will bring there arms up to defend, when they do this use your hips to drive into them, and force one of there arms across there face. It is important to do this with your hips and body weight instead of your arms. Reach under there head and grab there wrist, their arm should be wrapped around there head almost as if they where trying to rear naked choke themself. Sit up and pull it tight. From here you have a few options, you can go to an arm triangle fairly straight forward, or: assuming you are grabbing their left with your right, bring your left knee up, foot tight to there belly and pull them up so that they are on there side, your right knee tight to there back. Feed your left hand threw and grab your wrist, in one motion pop yours (and his) arms over his head and swing your leg over and fall back to a arm bar. Alternatively from the sam position up to the arm feed threw, grab his free elbow and sit him up, scoot under and take the back. 3) From a low tight pin, left arm under his head, right arm out to the right, head on the floor. You will often get the opportunity to gain control of his right wrist, use your right hand to aid but you want to get a hold of it with your left (the one under the head). Set up your keylock hand postion with your left still around his head, you won't be able to finish it from here though. In one motion pop it over his head and free, and use your left shoulder to press into his face forcing him to look away. "Paint the line" to finish by slidding it down and bringing his elbow up, not twisting on it. 4) Bottom guy has his elbows tucked tight, push his left down and pop your right knee over it, bringing your foot up under his head, drive your hips forward and grab your right foot(which is under his head) with your left hand forcing his arm up, take the triangle while mounted, or roll to your back if you prefer. If he plants his hand on your hip to stop it, take the arm bar. 5) Grapevine his feet and suck them up as tight as you can, keeping the hooks pivot your self to face the left, bringing your left leg up and sitting back slightly. This will bring his hips up and cause him a fair bit of discomfort on both feet, Grab his right foot and pull it in to finish, there are a few other leg lock finishes here if you like, and the discomfort of being in this position will likely cause him to break posture and open up arms. Anyways, there is a few different approaches, pieces can be swapped around as needed, anyone else got any they'd care to add, I might add a few more options later as well....

MW karate pants, a polyester dry weave t-shirt. Gloves are 16 oz leather, of which I have a few pairs or Grappling gloves, of which my favorite pair comes from boes. Cloth shin / instep Adidas Wrestling shoes

Again, I have never seen any statistics on the percentage of violent crime offenders with or without training. And it seems, neither have you, but if you can find some I'd like to see it. Until then it is just guessing. Newspapers aren't going to mention it, not unless it is there career. But otherwise they aren't going to investigate someone enough to find out. There are several well documentated cases of Martial arts instructors being involved in sex crimes though. My guess would be that a good number people getting in fights WOULD have some training, why? Because they like to fight. But unless they are a pro fighter or instructor, that fact isn't going to make the news, along with 1000's of other bits of information about them.

Well truthfully my chance of being attacked in any way are pretty much none, but that's not the point here is it There are a lot more former wrestlers around then BJJ though, and with the UFC gaining main stream popularity I think you'll see more of it in fights then 10 years ago, and more in another 10 then there is now.

"there's not a single mention in our daily newspapers or on TV for the months from January up to October this year of any kidnapper, carjacker, holdupper and other notorious street criminals as having a background of a formal training in a martial arts school. Can you cite your statistics in your area if you believe the majority of street attackers have been trained in martial arts, if you are of different view? " There is not a single mention of someone who did not. In fact, the subject isn't mentioned at all. This is not valid statistics, and you made the claim, it's up to you to produce valid evidence, not to redirect it when someone asks to see your evidence.

Well, if you're looking at it as a transition to something else you don't need to fully pin it, just get the grip. It you are looking to finish a keylock the trick is to use your shoulder to pin his face so that he is looking away. Then don't twist on it, slide his wrist down, imagine his wrist is a paint brush and paint a arc. Your elbow goes up your leg, but don't lean in and twist like many do.

My thought is why would you want to use TKD on the street, or any other martial art for that matter. I mean using it on a person maybe, but on the street? You'll just walk away sore from punching cement....

Well, given my goals and interests I'd say there is a 100% chance someone will try to take me down. Perhaps that's cause I don't plan on getting into any barfights, but do plan on doing lots of sparring. If you don't like it don't do it. But don't make up silly stats about why you'll never need it. Fighting ability should be a side effect of your training, not the main goal.

The problem is there are a good many people that do not have a single lineage, My training comes from many places and I would not trace myself back through any one, or even couple paths. The second problem is it says nothing at all about the person, just where they came from. It's like going into a job interview and being asked about your family lineage to decide if you are a suitable candidate, rather then actually looking at your skills.

no, not just Japanese. Chinese styles do it too, BJJ is really big on tracing lineage. Korean styles to some extent. More of a martial arts problem in general then a Japanese one.

Keylock is a great thing from mount, doesn't need to finish, but getting that grip and threatening it is a really nice way to set up straight arm bars and chokes

Body Builders.... ok, how about Heavy weight boxers? Body builders train for one thing, and one thing only, looking pretty. That's it, not cardio, not effieciency, just looking pretty. Strength isn't what is causing them to gas, the fact that they do NO CARDIO is, and they gas out as quickly as anyone else that doesn't.

Work on your wrestling skills If you goy his back, well, that probably calls for a back arch. Even if you don't do a full suplex, get him up and put him down.

Depending on their goals I'll often highly reccomend it. No school can do everything, anyone that claims they can is lieing or unable to see outside of their box.