Montana

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.

All three--instep, ball and shin. Each has it's own purpose and targets, depending on what is open and what your objective is . Oh, almost forgot...kicking the same as you would with the ball of your foot, but using your big toe as the striking point.

Congratulations! I'm trying to remember wh3en I was at the same point in my training....I think it was early 1977 somewhere....wow, that was a long time ago.

Although this is a good rule of thumb normally to look for, it isn't always the case. In my case, for example, I belonged and have tested up through 4th Dan under a good organization, but since the head of the system passed away in 1999 the organization pretty much splintered and died. People went off in different directions and the successor of the organization (his son) turned more towards a more "sporting" attitude about the art. Nothing I wanted to be a part of. The organization I currently belong to is small, but dedicated to preserving the art as taught by our deceased leader. Nobody's ever heard of the organization, nor likely to, as we like it small and sort of "elite". So if a knowlegable prospective student came into my dojo looking for a large, well known national/international organization that I'm affiliated with, they won't find it. So TRUE! This I don't agree with. Novice martial artists don't know squat about what they're looking at. They are easily impressed with flash and that BB worn around the instructors waist. Break a board or two for them and they think you're a God! BAH! Shhhh...don't tell them that they are paying to get abused...an instructors got to have some fun now and then! OK...serious now (that's not easy for me, but I'll try). You have to have safety in the dojo, but only to a certain extent. You have to expect to get bumps and bruises now and then. We're nto teaching ballet you know...we're teaching a fighting art form here. True. I don'[t know exactly how many different sensei there are in this particular area, but I'm not at all shy if somebody asks me about any of them in particular and will give my honest opinion of them and their art. Some are quite good and I would recommend them...while others...well, let's just say...not so good.

Just using myself as an example, I've been in around 8-10 real fights (not tournament sparring) since my starting the arts and have successfully...using techniques I have trained in...defeated my opponents. I was referring to defending agaisnt weapons, not traditional kobudo. We train in defenses againt knives, baseball bats, clubs in general, and all sorts of other things. That is the training I was referring to. I was referrign exclusively to the physical aspects of defense against weapons/guns, not verbal/mental aspects. Yes, we train in those also. True that some dojo don't keep up with the times, we don't a lot, but do the obvious things like against an armed mugger as opposed to somebody attacking with a katana or a spear.

Same here, but we call it Matsumra Kenpo...same stuff, different name.

EXACTLY!

In cross's origional post, I get the feeling that you are inferring that all stylized martial arts (meaning traditional arts I assume) are not practical or deal with the modern day world of hand to hand combat...correct? I agree with that to a point about many martial arts, but not all of them. There are quite a number of systems out there, the old traditional ones that have been around and well proven to be effect in combat, that are several hundreds of years old. Defenses against a weapon or empty hand are little different now as they were then. In fact (my opinion of course), an attacker today is more likely to be LESS skilled with that knife than an attacker of 1-200 years ago, as that weapon was much more common and used more often then. The human body can only move in certain ways, or attack with a weapon in certain ways. That has not changed since...well, forever! Not all systems are lacking in one area or another. Some systems are quite well rounded and effective in all ranges of personal combat. When talking about a hand gun pointed at your face, there's only so much you can do if he isn't within touching distance. But if it is within touching distance, yes, there are techniques that are little different than knife techniques for disarming or controlling the weapon. If you are taking a "traditional", or otherwise martial art, and you don't feel that it is covering all of the bases that you think it should, then by all means, look elsewhere. I would. But if you're taking an art that does all levels of combat, why seek out something else if you're satisfied with it? I've taken just the one art for 30+ years. Is it perfect? Of course not. But in all of my time i nthe artsand taking every possible opportunity to observe every other system that I have the chance to, I haven't seen a system yet that I think is better, or more complete than what I'm already doing. Yes, there are systems that are better at ground fighting (BJJ for example), but are limited in other areas. There are systems that are better from a sports aspect than what I do and there are systems that are far flashier and colorful than what I do, but I feel they are flawed from a self-defense aspect..which is my primary perspective.

The advice you've gotten so far is all good, but there's always the problem with a new, novice prospective student in that they have no idea what is good technique, and what isn't. The majority of peopkle see an instructor wearing a gi and black belt around their waist and assume that yes, he's good...no matter what he does. Add a few dozen (hundred?) tournament trophies (no sign of skill really), and your typical new student with no knowledge of what they're looking at, is impressed. Every instructor you meet will tell you that what they are doing is the best...period. If he/she didn't believe that, then they would be doing something else. I'm no different. When someone invests the time, the sweat, and yes, the money into learning an art, they become followers and believers of that art. As mentioned before, talk to the instructors (don't believe everything you hear though, especially really wild claims), and his students (wthout the instructor present if possible), take free classes, watch out for contracts, get on the net and research the heck out of every system that you have available in yoru area. Can you tell us what systems are available in your area...maybe we can help there. Good luck! Oh...one thing to watch out for is someone that is in their 20's and claims to have a very high rank...say 4th dan or above. MAJOR red flag there in my opinion. Or anybody that claims national champion of this or that. References are good also. If an instructor takes offense to any questions you have of him/her...RUN! It's yoru money and you have every right to find out his/her qualifications before you sign on the dotted line.

I've used Shureido gi for a long time. Can't hardly wear the dang thigs out! Of course I have 3-4 of them, and they get rotated...that helps. Supurb quality.

Although not your typical "well rehearsed" demonstration video...if you know what you're looking at anyway, that video shows some very fine basic blocking technique (note a couple of good examples of body shifting) of Okinawan karate! Got any more links like that?

I met a young (mid-20's) Seidokan Karate instructor via another forum a few years ago by the screen name of sauzin. Some of you might know him, as he has his own small forum. He and another Shorin Ryu stylist came to me and we worked together for a weekend Unforunately my back went all haywire on me the day they arrived, so my participation was very limuited. Anyway, as sauzin explained to me, Seidokan Karate is an offshoot of, or highly influenced by, Shorin Ryu. All I can say is, that sauzin impressed me a lot, and if he's typical of what Seidokan Karate, then I'd say go for it...it's a good system!