Montana

Find an Okinawan school...50/50 hands/feet, grappling, weapons..and should be a real good workout for you. I'm partial to Shorin Ryu for some reason.

Each system varies in their requirements for rank advancement, and that can vary from dojo to dojo. These are the "guidelines" we use. They are by no means set in stone, but guidelines for a minimum amount of time in each rank before being able to advance. I've never seen, nor condone, skipping ranks in our system. 10 kyu - 7th kyu: Minimum of 2 months in each rank. 6th - 4th kyu: Minimum of 3 months in each rank. 3rd - 1st kyu: Minimum of 4 months in each rank. 1st Dan - 2nd Dan: Minimum of 2 years rank. I've rarely promoted anyone earlier than this guideline. The lower kyu ranks (10-7th) can be done easily enough, but I expect more hard work and effort with each belt advancement. If I see it, they advance, if not..they don't. I've had one student that has been a 3rd kyu for over 8 years now. He's reached a plateau and just can't seem to get past it.

Not for sure, but guessing...maybe Okinawan Te?

Same with me, but no cat stances.

I seriously doubt if you will EVER see any celebrity enter UFC, Pride, etc. Why? Think about it for a moment. They make how many MILLIONS of dollars to be an actor (even a bad actor) in a series, why would they jeapordise their face or limbs, not to mention their actign career, competing for a meager few THOUSAND dollars in prize money? Would Van Damm (however you spell it), Segal, Norris, Jet Li or any other martial arts actor enter the UFC/Pride? Nope...not going to happen. They have to much to lose, and little to gain.

Not really "one" technique, but a combination of techniques all rolled up into one movement and done very quickly and simultanously. IE: Attacker attacks (isn't that what they do? ), and all at the same time I sidestep, parry/grab with one hand, punch with the other and low kick to knee/groin area. That's pretty much the way we like to do things.

The groin area, certainly. But also the inside/outside of the thigh, inside/outside/back of the knee, stomach, ribs...all are "soft" targets and can bet kicked with the instep without hurting your foot. The shin is for more closeup techniques generally. Ball of the foot is to get around an arm, or to penetrate more into the torso.

Depending on the situation...such as at a friends gathering and meeting somebody new...if they ask me to show them something, my favorite thigsg to do is right from where I'm at, launch my fastest backfist (my personal favorite) and just touch the end of their nose, or damn close to it. Their eyes go VERY wide, and they don't say much else. Kind of depends on my mood and the situation I guess.

Hmmm...actually, that's pretty darn good stuff there. To tell the truth, as some of you know anyway, Shotokan had never really impressed me before watching that video. I was definitely impressed at the speed, timing and good techniques there though. Good stuff!

Actually, I do something similar to this that works a lot of the time...throw both of my hands in the air and KIAI real loudly then front snap kick...startles the hell out of them. You can't do it often, but now and then it really does work!

Question: Why does the instructor feel you need to have a black belt before helping him out in class? I see no problems with a green belt helping.

The link doesn't work.

Hey, if it wasn't for McDojo's, who'd we make fun of around here?

I taught children for around 20 years (I no longer do this) as young as 6. In my experience, kids between the ages of 6-8 (any younger and you're just babysitting IMO) can either get excited about it and do pretty well, or be a waste of time. I'd say she's not really interested...pull her out and wait a couple of years and try again if she shows interest. You should NEVER force a child to go to that sort of class if they really don't want to.

Rule #1 when using a roundhouse kick with the instep...don't kick a hard target with it!

Styles vary of course, but we use the ball of the foot (we don't EVER head kick) primarily to get around your opponents arm (extra reach) that is being used to protect his ribcage. You come around behind the arm and penetrate into that area, and he'll go down either out of breath, and more likely with bruised, cracked, or broken ribs. He won't continue to fight like that.

Agreed. It's something that would be an option to only a very small percentage of the population. Old farts like me with bad backs, bad knees and just plain old, wouldn't be able to do anything close to that. My outlook on the arts is that it should be something that can be learned by the vast majority of the people, not just those that are prime physical specimens. As for running from a fight...we do train in hit and run techniques often, along with stand and fight. I teach my people that if you put a guy down soundly, where he's not going to get up for a minute (knock the wind out of him for example), don't stand around and wait for him to get up. Get out of there to safety!

Blocking/Parrying is where it's at. Without a good defense, you have nothing. What I guess I'm trying to say here is that if ALL you do is offense, and you're fighting somebody with a good defense...say a good boxer for example, then you're screwed. Blocking/Parrying in a fight, the countering quickly and effectively makes you a much better fighter than just being aggressive and attacking. Sure, against an unskilled opponeent, hard fast attackers work well. But not against someone that knows what they're doing. My thoughts and experiences anyway.

Ahhhh...Sensei Lindsey! Folks, in a world filled with self-promoted, chest beating, and phoney as hell "masters" of the martial arts, Sensei Lindsey is the real deal! Although I've never met the man myself, I've trained with other high ranking sensei from this system (Shorin Ryu Matsumura Seito) and his name always comes up. He's highly respected in this country and on Okinawa as being a true master of the art.

Very nice! I've been a judge/ref at tournaments for about 25 years now, including kobudo kata. The video wasn't real clear, but your technique appeared to be solid, good control, proper positioning of the tonfa on the arm during tecchniques...all in all, I'd have given it a little higher score. Good job!

Either that, or there are more than one of them and they will run you to the ground like a pack of wild dogs. Unless you're an Olympic class sprinter or a marathon runner, you stand a better chance of learning how to deal with multipe opponents and standing your ground and fighting. Agreed. Running is a last ditch effort IMO. Walking away is OK if it's a posability, but not running. People are like animals...run and it sparks an instinct to pursue. I'm not "most" MA schools. Knife defenses are worked on often, as are baseball bats, guns, chairs, etc. Yes, learning to use your environment and what's at hand is very important. We do this often.

The physical portion is very small when it comes to self defense. If you spend the majority of the time working on physical responses (which is the impression that i get from your post), then you are focusing attention in the wrong area. The "how to avoid confrontations", "how to effectively defuse an aggressive situation", "why do these situations commonly occur", "what is going to happen to your own body when you are placed under large amounts of stress and how can you use this to your advantage" are all things that need to be covered in a fair amount of detail before you get to the physical if you are serious about teaching these kids applicable self defense skills. By that im not suggesting you follow the common trend of most schools where you begin by saying "always avoid violent situations if you can and be aware of your surroundings. Now ill show you how to kick". So the genuine advice i would like to offer you(assuming you dont already have all the needed information and ability to teach the above mentioned) is to refer the class to someone else who specializes in teaching self defense. Whilst i have no doubt that you are a highly skilled martial artist, keep in mind that martial arts often dont translate to real self defense. Sure they have alot of similarities, but so does being a vet and being a doctor. In the event that you cant refer the class to someone else, then you may be able to find enough information to get you through. Here is a good place to start: http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/ When you are offering the service of teaching self defense, you have a duty of care to the consumer. To give them anything less than the best, most current information, or purely focusing on the physical is not adequately fulfilling that duty. With respect, Cross. 100% in agreement here! IMO, teaching anything physical to people in a short course on self-defense is wasting not only their time and money, but yours as well. Two weeks after the course is completed, 98% of the people won't remember what was taught, and won't have the muscle memory ingrained nearly well enough to use what they learned. A waste of time. Teaching them how to avoid conflict and defuse a conflict can last them a liftime.

Each of the 4 different foot weapons...the instep, ball, shin and toes, is used for a different target area. For example, you wouldn't kick a hard target, such as an opponents hip with the toes, but rather you'd be more specific and attack softer nerve centers in the lower abdomen and inner thigh regions. Once learned, it is an easy and natural transition for your foot to form which weapon is needed.

Not in my dojo we don't. Yes, sometimes running is your best option, but usually after you've disabled or stunned your opponent so they can't run after you. I'll have to do some research on this one. I've never heard of the art of running away. Dare I take a guess as to what country this originates from? No...better not.

Good point! Here's the video of him performing it. Wow..that is so far from the Okinawan way of doing Passai that it's barely recognisable.