JerryLove

I must ask how you get springing / unbending from a hand which is not extended. At the range one outstretched hand can reach another, one cannot yet kick to the body. That said, what is the point of a fighting posture that you drop before the fight could possibly begin... Also, what guard would you chose to adopt instead. I cannot say I agree with "immediately attack" someone who is 6 feet away as a universal strategy. It is also not a strategy I have ever seen employed by either a Wing-Chin practitioner i have interacted with nor one in magazine articles. I am not aware of an attack WC uses from 1-2 steps out of kicking range. At 1-2 past kicking, what should you convert to. At 5 feet, an opponent with a knife who has not yet presented an opening, you reommend charging? I will be happy to, but perhaps we should clear up one at a time.

Did you want some specific complaints? I'd start with the standard hand poitions (one forehead height and fully extended, the other heart height and extended to the elbow). From that position, the hands themselves are easy targets, particularly in an arme encounter. In my experience sparring with Wing-Chun practitioners, they did not adapt the had posture to deal with my attacking the limbs. This could be a failiing of the half-dozen or so people I have interacted with in this manner; but presently consider it a flaw in the underlying Wing-Chun strategy. I can be specific on other issues as well.

Failure to deal with unsual angles, attacks to limbs, poor footwork, limited weapon work....

Should it set off bells that someone in America took three Korean styles and a Chinese style and gave it a Japanese name? To both people. Which art do you mean when you say "Kung-fu"?

To ansewer the original question: I can't tell you what you *should* take on that little information. Yes, Muay Thai should accomplish your goal of "fighting better". "Defending yourself" is rather relative, so I cannot advise weather it will help.

Actually, Taiji easily has the most practitioners of any Chinese art (unless China is teaching one as a school cirriculum these days; which it may be). I would actually argue that it most likely as more practitioners than the "world's most popular art", Tae Kwon Do.

Oops, I submitted twice

Carridine got coriography for the original series. The only scene I saw that was descent was in the pilot. Somewhere leading to the second series, he decided he knew taiji; he does not (despite having tapes claiming to teach it). He is currently filming a movie (I'll need to look up the name) that has indeed forced him to take martial-arts lessons; but that is present-tense and will not be visable until the movie comes out. The earlier poster is correct; the character (kane) ostenably does a southern Chinese temple art. One sould presume Shaolin.

Which brings up another aspect. Typically, when a person opens up a martial art's studio; they do not wich the studio to close and themselves to become destitute because of a failure to attract students. With the premise that attracting students is important comes the reality that the public does respond to such claims. This means, weather you would prefer to go by "master" or not, it may be in your best interest to do so.

Let's assume for a moment that you get your favorite wrist lock. And let's assume that you get enough torque in to hyperextend the wrist. Don't expect any more than your opponent having reduced finesse in that wrist. Not only are most joint locks notoriously hard to get "off-the-bat", but with the chemicals running around during a fight; it's not difficult to continue with a hyperextended joint.

Actually, it seems our difference lies in the use of "stop hit". To me, a stop hit is any strike which stops a given action from completeing. It is funcationally a jam which is not maintianed.

Warmup (a Bagua routine done (ideally) at thigh's parallel) is about 30 minutes. Class is about 1.5 hours. Sparring ranges from 5 minutes to a half-hour. Then the upper phase class begins. That lasts until people's heads are full (anywhere from 1 to 3 hours). There's also a Taiji class before any of that which is about 90 minutes.

http://www.clearsilat.com/silat/Articles/MultipleAttackers.htm

Should I also presume that said kick is intended to prevent the opponent from completing his kick successfully? Or do you wish simply to hit him and then be hit by the technique. If your kick causes his kick to end, it's a stop-hit. You are using the same definition as I am.

If you can convince them to cooperate. That's what the twisting is for. I'm not personally a fan of reliance on pain-compliance techniques. I would be more worried about hypoerxetension, metacarpal tearing, sprains, and repetitive stress injury.

Because the have money or ego vested in making you believe it.

I know I responded to this, but I don't see the post Long and short, I'd personally like to see "master" assigned the way it is in all other trades (where you are a novice, apprentice, journeyman, or master). That said, "master" is commonly an anglicization of a foreign word, and we should look at the meaning of that word to determine when it is appropriate. To use the common Chinese for example: Sisook (IIRC) is more or less"big brother" and referrs to someone able to teach. Sifu (IIRC) is some combination of "uncle" and "teacher" and refers to anyone with a body of students. Sigung is more or less "grandfather" and referrs to a teach of a teacher. In a purely English school, I find "master" rather presumptuous without an accredidation system; which I would like to see. As to introducing one's self in a context of martial ars as "Master [last name]", it's just as appropriate (I would sumise) as introducing yourself as "doctor [last name]" in a medical or acedemic setting.

These are not all "pressure points" in the truest sense of the word. The spot above and outside of your knee, for instance, is where a nerve trunk (L3?) comes above a bone near the surface. An impact shocks the nerve and makes it "screwy". This is the same effect as yout "funny bone". Under the chin does trigger a pressure point, one below the ears. People particularly prone to this working are said to have a "glass jaw". The back of the head is similar (with a greater chance of permenant injury/death). There are tons of good locations, but if you want to garentee a down opponent, I believe you will need to go for the structural support. The most obvious "quick targets" are the knee and ankle joints. Hyperextend the joint and run.

Silat is a blanket term covering over a thousand styles of Indonesian combatives. Most weapons one can reasonably imagine are in one Silat style or another. Personally, I focus on the handgun and knife; with more than a little interest in improvised and flexable weapons.

Part of a short dissertation I started a while back: There is a tremendous amount of variety in Indonesian fighting methods. They range from sports styles, to purely combative styles, to a style designed for a ritualistic challenge of a bridegroom for the bride. So I will talk in generalities. The Pentjak Silat styles are the indigenous styles which include cultural elements. Here is where you will find the wedding styles, the dance styles, and many of the sport styles. There are also quite a few fighting styles in here. The Pentjaks tend to prefer outside over inside fighting positions. They tend to go from open defensive postures to closed offensive postures. They will occasionally have mystical elements. The Poukilan Silat styles tend to be pure fighting styles without cultural elements. They tend to be direct and to the point. They tend towards close fighting (Poukilan means "impact"). They also tend to prefer outside positions. The Kuntao Silat styles are conglomerates of Indo and Chinese fighting methods. They tend more towards closed defensive postures that open to attack. They also tend more toward inside positions when fighting, preferring the availability of soft targets to the safety of outside positions. The Silats do have animal styles (Harimau (tiger) and Madi (monkey) being two of the better known). They have few if any unarmed styles. They tend to adapt rapidly. There is a tendency to throw out whatever becomes obsolete and add whatever becomes relevant. This is why most modern Silat schools to teach firearm retention and counter-firearm strategies, as well as more traditional weapons (knife, stick, spear). One noted difference between the Indo arts and the nearby Chinese arts is the tendency of the Indo arts to use already strong structures within the body (as opposed to the Chinese tradition of conditioning the body). This allowed the old, the young, the sick, and the wounded to effectively use these arts.

straightlead: A jab with your lead hand (the one closer to your opponent in an ortidox stance) finger jab: poking something with your finger. jao sau: Running hand palm smash, hooking palm smash shovel hook: A low-line hook against the body (You'll see boxers do this to one another's midsections). half knukle: I only know this as a "brass knuckle" shape knife hand: Your hand flat, fingers together and reasonably straight; a hit with the outside (near pinky) edge of the palm of your hand. (when and wher eon the body to use it): Varies by art; my favoirtes would be the head and neck. hammer fist: Just like a knife hand, but with the hand held in a fist. palm strike: A hit with the palm of your hand. Typically a thrust (as opposed to a swing with the palm, which is a slap). overhand left: An overhand punch (such as a cross) with your left hand? cork-hook No idea, other than the metal insturment used to extract corks from bottles. hook kick: A kick with the heel of your foot, powered by the closing of your leg at the knee. If you imagine a snap kick reversed, you have the idea. inverted hook: Not sure intercepting kick: A stop-hit performed with the foot. oblique kick Again unsure.

That's an interesting philosophy. So if someone asks about an art you've seen; and that you know is abosultely horrible and dangerous to the practitioner; what do you say? If I make up "Kirk-fu", based around putting your hands together (fingers interlaced) and swinging wildly, you would not discredit it? I know that I have been involved in several Hikuta discussions. Not once have I seen claims that evn meet a basic credability test; and rarely, if ever, have the poster promoting the art. They appear to be right in line with Ashida Kim. The more I look at Hikuta, the more enforced that impression has become.

Geoff Thompson has several books and videos and is a big proopnent of the "first hit knockdown". You may want to look up som of his material on it; he certainly has the first hand experience to speak intelligably.