JerryLove

The conclusion would be that the art whose randomly chose practitioners won the competition better prepares its practitioners for that competition (weather due to better choice of techniques, or training focus, or motivation). Although this conclusion could be reversed from the reality. It is also possible to say that the winning art is the one with more appeal to people better equipped to win said competition.

I suppose that's understandable.. I am an engineer

Wow, there's a huge variety from reasonable to people who have wathed far too many movies. I won't presume to try to discuss techniques; that's simply folly against an imagined attacker. We have no idea how he's using the knife, relative positions, etc., I'd just be jabbering. I will however, discuss basic ideas. Firstly, the people who said you will get cut are right. And even if you don't, I really recommend never assuming there is even the possability you will not. If you think you might not get cut, then you will try to avoid getting cut. If you do that, you are fighting defensively; which is suicide against a knife. Work range, you want to be as far away as possible or as close as possable. Far away you can minimize cuts, when you close, get in close enough to control the knife. Anything in between is chopping range. Your situation will not improve. The longer that fight lasts, the more you bleed. Better to take a hit and end the fight than to sit out and wait. Don't spar, don't play, don't hang out. That knife is the most dangerous thing he has; if you dn't have control of that knife you are probibly going to die... heck, you are probibly going to die anyway unless he's both uncommitted and incompitent. Get control of that knife and take his control away. I like braking the arm or hand as a general tactic there; but pinning it while killing him works almost as well. Really, all he has to do is put that knife in front of him, keep his hand movin, and poke anything that comes near, and you are in a great deal of trouble.

More like the depths of Key West (I was on vacation)... but I appear The practice is called qigong [chi-gung]. Ideally you would start with a qualified instructor and can then move out on your own. Without at least a practitioner, it's hard to tell real sesnations from false ones. What kind of help are you looking for? So are "car" and "dog"; but the meanings are not flexable. Then he's making up his own words; that's not a legitemate interpretation. But you raise a good point. I know what Chi is, but individuals asking may not. That said, I don't assume the poster has a false impression unless he indicates so. That conclusion is demonstrateably untrue. Let's walk through the logic: You claim that Chi is how you run, so the guy with more chi will run falster than the guy with less. You claim that Chi is how you jump; so I presume you would say the guy with more chi would jmp higher. The paradox comes in the fact that a sprinter will outrun a high-jumper; and the high-jumper will out jump the sprinter. So who had more chi? Hence we see the paradox that devalidates your logic

Sorry guys (and thanks for the compliments), I've been on vacation. The Chinese hold that sex releases chi from your body (specifically ejaculation); and if you go without sex for a bit, you'll certainly see the change in pent-up energy... Though there are a couple possabilityies, let's assume that you were feeling chi at the moment you describe... My first guess would be you got excited / nervous, and your bodey started preparing for action. Endorphins and adreneline were released into your blood, your body flushed and plams sweat, and chi starts coming circulating. The Dan Tien (tat spot below your belly-button) is a store-house of energy for your body... so that is one spot it would come from; though I admit that I have not felt it move out of there in the creeping sensation you seem to be describing. I don't believe chi has much to do with attraction (directly, it's probibly one of the many subleties taht comes across in establishing your opinion of someone), but I have no doubt that the nervous excitement probibly going on would cause it to start circulating. Sorry if I failed to follow somewhere... with whar aer we experimenting? Are you trying to discern weather this sensation in chi related or not? hmm..

I don't understand the question.

Last tried that about a year ago. There was some very good material there, and if they had a better schedule (compared to mine) I would have ben there on my off-days palying... but they did not have an efective response to fast, non-committal attacks that did not involve either attacking, or baiting for a committal attack. So, I'd still like to see that... it's not really possible. So you stood at punching range, and had uke try to touch you and pull his hand back as fast as he could, and you moved your entire body in before he retracted to a guard? You are the fastest person I have ever heard of (or your uke was very slow). We have an experiment in a phase 1 class (action vs reaction) where one person stands with his hands 6 inches or so apart, and the other has to reach between those hands, touch the person, and retact his hand without being hit. Superb reaction (the "I'm REALLY paying attention" kind) is around .1 seconds for most people. A jab thrown for speed lasts around .2 seconds. Meaning you have to move your entire body in half the time it would take you to throw a jab. Can you actually move your body twice as fast as you can move your arm?

Levers, in three dimentions, with moving fulcrums, rotating hinge-joints, and give. Or bend their arm, or resist the force, or move 2 feet and get ahead of you, or move you counter to your pivot. Except you have no accounting for stability, envorcement, rotation, etc. I can show you on a sitck figure how pushing on your knee causes the rest of your body to move in the same directio, but I fail to account for the resistance you can provid, the ability of your knee to twist instead of bend, the result of you moving your foot. Everything is math, and everything is quantum physics, and everything is relativity.. that does not mean that it's appropriate to look at everything from those perspectives. So strikes which begin from contact (V=0) have no force what-so-ever? So any two people who can move their fist from point A to point B in X time hit with the same hardness (assuming similar sized fists)? So there is no point punching through a target because it doesn't affect speed at impact? I cannot agree with you here.. the math is so simplistic that it fails to offer a useful model; and math appropriate to the task would seem so complex as to fall under chaos theory. That would be an appropriate field, and one I am not in. Considering my impression that this is not a field that is studied by people seeking to improving fighting (I am not aware that the Gracies, Tyson, Rhee, or any of their coaches are particularly adept at math), I would imagine that it has not proven itself successful at making accurate predictions, only in forming statistical models of what occurs. IOW, why have so many crash-tests if you know the phsics and how it interacts with the biomechanics? You could just model it.... in reality, most of the models are gotten through statistical analysis of actual data rather than through mathmatical prediction based on knowledge of underlying physics. Of course, that is not my field, feel free to point me at information indicating I ma wrong there. I'd love to know if I am.

kle1n, If I feint, you have three choices: do nothing, defend, attack. If you do nothing, one of the feints will connect and you will be hit. If you defend, you will not have a technique on me because I did not actually bring one to you. I can feint repeatedly and see exactly what response to expext, or I can hit on your recovery with a stuttered attack. If you attack, you have the opportunity to get me, but you are running into the initial problem. I'd pay to see that.

Aside from an economic model on operating an MA school? I don't think I have a good suggestion Coverting the biomechanics into math is somthing beyond my training, because it requires both a strong math and strong biology understanding. I'm an electrical engineer, maybe a physical engineer would be able to move from construction to biomechanics... or perhaps there is a biology degree that's heavily math oriented without being purely chemistry (bioengineering?). Personally, I think it's a poor choice of assignments. It's possible that this is deliberate, though I tend to think this was probibly a "take somethign you do and find the math" assignment and "martial arts" was put in by the asignee. That said, I think the most "true to the task" solution woul be a large statistical model of the effects of matial arts complete with conclusions... but the course you will probibly be happiest taking is levers.

It's kinda similar to how math is involved in swimming or running. Mostly it's explained by biomechinics, which contains a good deal of physics, which is based on math. But I consider this reaching. You chould just as easily argue that Martial arts is Quantum theory because we are all composed of superstrings. Numerology != Math A common mistake. Newton devised this to explain pointal masses, we are not pointal mass (unless you are thrown at someone, and even then not really). As such, this really isn't a useful theorm for martial arts. Computing this would be math, wrapped in biomechanics... actually measuring this is just measuring. Again you are talkin gabout the math behind the physics behind the biomechanics behaind the technique... It's a stretch IMO. But it's less related to the strength of the shape than the relative connections of muscle and sinue.

Different schools of Akido offer varying training in regards to initiating action. An art which allows only reactionary responses will fall if you cannot bait your opponent into comitting (IOW, you can't execute techniques to an arm off a jab, because there is no comittal). Often, Akido accomplishes this through the use of Atemi (strikes).

That's not what I said. I said there were 62,900 sites found on the search, and that I had no intention of filtering through that much static to refute your assertation that there is a fundamental difference between a punch and a strike by a ball which renders it impossable to cause death through a strike to the throat. In the future, please endevour to read more carefully, we've wasted more than enough time on this already. Which law of physics would that be? There is nothing that would disallow every molecule to have a vector that sent it to the other side of the room... except the statistical unlikelyness. Can you throw a 15lb ball that fast? Let's ask an easier to picture question... you have a baseball coming at you and you punch it with a punch heading in the opposite direction. Ignoring the damage to your hand, which one would transmit the most force? Would you stop the baseball or would it stop your hand? The pitcher cannot impart more force to the ball than he can generate... the high speed comes from the relatively light weight, but in the end, the ball can only have less force than his hand did, not more (second law of thermodynamics). If someone did not get the "required hospitalization", what would be the result?

Yes, trying to force a throat shot against someone in non-contact (IOW not grappling) sparring when the opponent is waiting for such a hit is quite difficult.

There's a couply. some more obvious one's would be: 1. stand up with your feet near one another; when you move, step straight forward. 2. Take the MT fighting posture, but bring the rear foot in / forward and lower the body, you end up with your read knee almost touching your front hin, and it takes very little movement (mostly coming up on the ball of your rear foot more) to touch your shin with your knee. 3. Very similar to above for leg position, a T-stance with your knee near your shin.

Actually yes, positions I'm most likely to be in while sparring / fighting have closed legs.

You assume that "leanring from video" equates to "solo training". You are also aguing "you won't try as hard" as an issue, which is a danger, not an absolute. Truely, what you miss, is the hands-on nuances, and the correction of someone who knows the marterial. I certainly don't recommend any fighting art be trained completely without a partner... that's just unrealistic. And yes, we all agree, nothing equals hands-on insturction. I don't think anyone buys the videos from teh school down the street rather than attend. But there isn't always a school you want nearby.

I like the "keep your legs closed" concept.

I don't like the term "never". This further requires that no one ever got far without an instrutor that had gotten far which has a problem of infinate reduction (who taught the first instructor). While I strongly support having hands-on instruction wherever possible, I don't discount the ability of other methods to succeed, nor the advantage of accessing other material through these methods when that's what is available.

Hear Hear, Sai

The videos my school sells are direct tapings of class, including the questions from students and answers. Basically the only thing missing is having an experienced partner correcting mistakes you don't see. That said, I agree that the best option is to learn first-hand... videos sometimes represent the only way to get material you want but which is not otherwise accessable.... though yourmileage may vary.

Since no one has claimed that all punches to the throat will kill, so your anticdote is interesting but not terribly signifigant.

There are standard forms in place by the Wushu governing body which are compulsory in competition or as part of Wushu instruction. If you don't learn them, you are not learning official "Wushu".

62,900 responses, not counting what a search of "blunt force trauma" or "strike" or "kick" will get me that punch ddi not. I have no interested in sorting through those for you... just cause it's out there does not mean it's simple to cite (or I would have initally). For teh search engine try "killed punch throat" and start sifting. Sure thing.. I'll try to "do some reasearch on the subject of self-defence". I know, why not get a boxer to punch you in the throat and see what happens? Speaking mathmatically, it's possible for all teh molecules of ar in the room to be heading towards one wall, creating a vacuum that suffocates you... just cause it's never happened... And if my conversions are correct, a 15lb arm is heavier than a 1lb baseball. Oxymoronic; if it can't kill you how can it "require" hospitalization.

Taiji Chang (lit. Grand nexus boxing) - One of the three primary Neijia (internal arts) of China. A fighting art with a heavy use of the open hand and upright grappling. Qigong (lit. breath work) - Any exercise focused around the building, packing, or storing of Qi. Xingyi - A second of the three Neijia. A fighting art with a heavy emphasis on liniar power. Bagua Chang (lit. 8 trigrams boxing) - The third of the Neija, known primarily for it's use of circles... an excellent multiple-attacker art as well.