AndrewGreen

Being strong is bad.... I wonder if any other sports make that sort of claim...

If I have apples, and you have oranges, who has more pieces of fruit? That's basically what you are asking, both count, just depends on how big the differences in both are.

Well, first have a look at you ninjitsu club. A good number are nothing but geek clubs of people that like to believe they are super d34dly ninja warriors that could kill you before you could blink.... The difference in MMA and traditional styles is more in method then anything else. Everything is based around what you, as an indivivdual, can make work on the mat. No forms, no patterns, no set of techniques handed down, no "death strikes", just what you can make work in sparring, and doing so under as few rules as possible.

First you need to lear to hold them right; Step one, find a big post and beat on it, strikes and stabs. When you stop saying ouch that step is done. Step two, get someone to swing a stick at you, when your blocks (open and closed) are able to stop the stick and not bruise your forearms that step is done. Oh, and yes, I am being serious, the way most people hold sai would likely break their index finger if they actually hit something with them.

Crazy Penguin Ninjitsu aka Mixed Martial Arts...

Expect to get beat by the white belts, it is a completely different game.

There is some logic there, ever notice how sexually frustrated people are more "active", they run more, go to the gym more, etc. All to keep busy and null the urges? Basically you can think of it like eating, and help avoid getting moderated at the same time. When we don't eat for a while we get hungry, we spend lots of time looking for food. The hungrier we get the crankier we get, and the more aggressive we get. Our bodies need food, and they will trigger a response that aids in the getting of the food. When we are well fed we lie on the couch and watch tv, not really feeling like doing much of anything. So the jist of it is, deprive fighters of food, triggers an aggressive "go out and get some" response. Caveman roots start showing and men start wanting to hurt other men more to impress the cave ladies. The last part is a little off and "old" thinking as women get the aggressive "Come get some!" (Said in there best Bruce Cambell voice) response too. They just aren't as good at doing the Bruce Cambell impression as they're voices are higher.

No sex is supposed to make males more aggressive as stated. Kinda one of those things that has got to be rather tricky to actually do good research on, can't give a placebo for sex If you want to increase the effectiveness at getting the "fight" out of the fight or flight response you need to fight more, and fight hard. Really push it to the limits in hard sparring once and a while. Adrehnaline can make you strong and let you ignore pain, or it can make you freeze up and go into panic mode. If you want to control it, you first got to get used to it.

There are specific eku katas, and they should be learnt, same as for the bo. Doing a empty hand form with a weapon is not a weapons form, it is a empty hand form gone wrong...

McCarthy's stuff seems more interpreted and less translated.

Shadowbox, run, skip, hit the bag... But most importantly spar lots

Well, I'd say it entirely depends on what the other guy is trying to do to you, which is why boxers and Muay Thai fighters have different positions as well. Personally I don't like the Muay Thai High guard, punches slip through a little too easy and there is little hope of adequetly defending a shoot, either to the legs or just to get in for undhooks. But where I fighting with someone that was trying to kick me in the head that might change Adaptability is the key to winning in differenet environments, and part of that is adapting your defence to match the other guys offence.

My belief on crosstraining has always been that your best bet is to train at a place that combines all of the aspects you are looking for in sparring. Then, after getting some basics, crosstrain at more specialized clubs to further develop specific areas. So, train in Muay Thai, cross train in boxing. Train in MMA, cross train in BJJ/muay thai or boxing Doing Boxing and BJJ might cover a good deal, but without the connecting piece it is far from ideal. Tricky part is these clubs are not that common, but give things another 10 years and I think that will be the direction things go.

Good, keep losing for the next few months and you will start to see some progress. If you where winning on your first time there would be cause for concern.

There are 35 year olds with less mental maturity then the average 12 year old...

I've seen some pretty goofy takedowns done by Ju Jutsu blcak belts, you really should find someone with a wrestling background to play against. "then you would not see karateka beaten so easily when they do fight in mixed style competition." So... no one has stepped up and done well. Back in UFC 2 they got a top Karate guy from Japan in, got beat quick. Guess he didn't really know "real" karate then? You do? How about sharring some details. How exactly do you stop a basic leg shoot? Let's take a single leg attack.

Works just fine on open ground... Most UFC matches are also fought on a lightly padded floor against a professional fighter...

Depends on what you are planning on doing... If your goal is to go to the Olympics on the TKD team, it would likely be a mistake as you should focus on what you need to do to win. If you want general hand to hand skills for all occasions, then yes. And probably reccomend some weapons stuff as well. If you want to fight MMA, then yes, but no weapons... All depends on the persons goals. I wouldn't call this crosstraining though, just training. MMA is a seperate entity and all the skills need to connect and work together. Crosstraining comes from doing everything together, then going out and finding a specialist to improve a specific area. Not looking at all the areas in isolation.

If you like it, go for it. You can always change your mind later. Deciding on a particular style is a bad idea, as the style isn't what really matters. You need a coach you like and teaches in a way that works for you and a class of people you can get along with. Without that, style is irrelevant as you will soon quit

How well do you know them? How well do they know you? Are the rules common enough that they wouldn't need to train for them for a good long time first? How did you convince the other schools it would be non-biased? I wouldn't compete in or send competitors to a full contact tournament without knowing who is hosting, how many competitors, who are the competitors and who trained them, who is judging, what safety measures are in place and having some trust in those people. To just walk blindly into a full contact competition put on by a small school with no other schools involved is not something most instructors aren't going to do. If hosting a competition is what you want to do, spend asome time building relationships with other schools first, train at there place once and a while, invite them to yours. Work with them to plan it, don't set things to your liking and expect them to come. They will likely just see this as a small school looking to make a name for itself, and not have much faith in the fairness and safeness of the event.

Point fighting is subjective, very subjective. And as such one person often has an advantage before they say go. Just continue as is and try not to let it get too you. Or, try to "play the game" and realise that you win not by the match, but by the judges interpretation of it. If you can influence there interpretation of the match, calling attention to your hits, you can take an advantage based on that. But it is subjective, and the judges are often biased (even if they don't mean to be) and chances are they've been doing this all day and are bored silly... They are the ones you need to score on, not the guy across from you.

Judo doesn't do much for leg takedowns, and when they get in, there buts go out and they get low. They do not stand upright. Wrestling does not allow submissions. One of the two major style (Greco-Roman) doesn't allow attacks too or with the legs, everything is upper body throws. " if they did, you'd see a big difference on the national level." So are you considered a national level coach?

Well, we all know someone is gonna say "Tao of Jeet Kun Do" so let's just get that out of the way... Anyone with Okinawan Roots should read the Bubishi, I'm partial to the George Alexander translation over McCarthy's. Also the books on the oral history are interesting read Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters - Shoshin Nagamine Weaponless Warriors - Richard Kim are a couple Another good one is "Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts" vol 1 & 2. Well, part good. 1 is Taira Shinkens book, translated... but instead of the original photo's the author used pictures of himself. The 2nd is a compilation of historical stuff... Kodokan Judo - Jigoro Kano , good for just about anyone, especially those doing Judo Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere - Westbrook & Ratti - Personally Aikido is not my thing, but the theories and ideas are well explained in here. Brazillian Jui-Jitsu: Theory & Technique - Renzo & Royler Gracie, Good starting point for BJJ theory, and basic techniques for the beginner with a very high quality of publication BJJ The Master Text - Gene Simco - Great book, lots of good stuff for BJJ, Submission and MMA Oh, and Something by Ahida Kim for kicks

innovativema.com <- My club

Sounds like you got the basic ideas, likely it is just details missing. I don't think you need to try and add another technique, but rather refine the ones you have and learn to transition from one to another. Very often a persons defence of one escape will open up the opportunity for another. One very basic one that isn't in your list (sort of) is just getting to your knees and driving into him. Similar to your 3rd. But work them in sequence based of the top persons reactions. So if he is moving his hips away from you to avoid being rolled you should be able to push him over backwards or get to your knees. If you want to roll him over you first push into him hard, he will naturally push back, use that momentum. And remember it is just a pin, if someone really clamps down a pin tight it is very difficult to escape at times, especially if they have good posture and are fairly large and strong. But, a pin is just a pin, in order to attack with strikes or attempt a submission they have to move, If you know where and how they will have to move you can plan an escape as they move.