JerryLove

I'm not gonna comment on why the difference... I have no clue, but I'm probably more mediocre of a teacher than anything else. I would think that any time it takes 15 years to "start to understand a little bit", there is a problem. This is, after all, a fighting art. I, for one, would not choose to put in a decade in any activity with no results.

Generally correct. I am speaking of someone who has already gotten the correct mindset/aggression and wants to know how to manipulate a blade (in his own hand)... you are also right in your inference that the skills will likely go away if not actively "remembered".

2 years. Gimme a student that puts in "decent" effort and I'll have him with a useful fighting skill, decent Taiji, and the ability to teach (what he knows obviously) inside 2 years.

Open hands are also suprisingly effective once you learn how to hit with them. I tend to teach them first as they are more flexable and it's very hard to break your palm or wrist hitting someone that way. To address both the original comment and your response: I find elbows to be a generally good tool. I find spinning anything to generaly be a poor tactic unless you are very skilled at using it combatively (I know many a bagua person who can use turning away very well). Of-course, the effacy of any technique will depend on the person using it, the person it's being used on, the position of the moon, sheer luck, etc. I can only speak in generalities.

Have you considered that the bouncer was simply better and would have won even had the MT guy tried a different tactic?

With all due respect: I've interacted with people who have trained Chinese Knife work with the Chinese millitary. According to him, the millitairy won't attack the groin in a knife-fight because it's "impolite". This alone sums up my opinion of Wushu knife-work untill and unles someone shows me something different.

The first and most obvious knife art-group would be the Silats. Right behind them are the stick-and-knife arts of the FMS (Kali, Arnis, Escrima)... Systema has some decent knife work as well. I've not seen any others personally that I liked. And I disagree with dekta1 in terms of learning to use a knife. While fighting against a knife is quite difficult, fighting with one can be taught *very* quickly (hours)

If your mother does not have enough expertise that you are asking us rather than her, she would seem to lack the expertise to teach you Taiji well.

Not at all... depends on what you are trying to do with the elbow and relative positions. Ignoring all the options that would put hs head in range, why not try other targets? Of course, the libms themselves are excellent (grab is arm and raise an elbow through it)... the elbow also makes an excellent spike for most anywhere on the chest and back.

I know three versions of unbending arm... two I can teach in about 10 minutes each. I consider it more an effect of Yi (mind intent) than anything else. Do they bend? Of course they do. Are they much harder to bend, less prone to bending because of change in direction of force, and more relaxed than someone struggling to "keep his arm straight"? Yes. Is this body quality useful? Yes. I don't know that I would call this a "parlor trick" any more than I would call a Thai Boxer's hardened shins a parlor trick. It's a body quality that is useful and good to learn. I assert that the arm should not be locked in unbending... locked is almost invarably a bad thing in a fight.

An interesting position. So what happens to you in a real fight? Do you need to reschedule to reasearch his art?

I would have to call that an "improper sound". "Locking up" is a bad thing. Not just improperly applies, but actually improperly done.

Realize that the vast majority of "Kiai" teaching I've encountered (read: I'm implying it's the norm in at least American schools) is, well, crap. Ignoring some degridation into meta-physics, a "proper" noise has a different effect than an improper one.

Gracie JJ traces it's liniage back to a Japanese immagrant who taught it to Helio.

~looks out window~ OK, done

If you are in a fight with someone, and they stand back and stare at you, occasionally feinting... charge in and kill them. I don't recall a fight that lasted at anything but a grappling (or on the ground getting stomped) stage for more than a second or so.

Why name an organization with a word that obviously deontes a path? It would be like me naming my new quilting club "kick-fencing-style" instead of "Tampa quilting club".

He's trolling.. but not well.

But is there a 42-year-old named Marcus with one tooth in Spain?

Depends on wheather you are north or south LA. But he would be "the man"... I'd give out an idea of our skill differrences, but there's isn't one... we are not remotely comparable. If you want to meet someone similar to you who can show yo ua few things, do general MA, and point you in the right direction, feel free to visit me. If you really want someone with the skills, I'd point you at Mr.Clear. Though honestly, he'd be the first to point you at people who have more qi skills than himself, in my experience, they are harder to get info from

A competition originally propsed and pushed by the Gracies. Also, one heavily dominated by good ground grapplers... if you look at the early UFCs, most fights in it did go to the ground.

If you are like me... and I think you are... it helps a lot; but it's not a great acid test because it's subjective. To be honest, the only thing that truely got me "over the hump" was learning and experimenting (which I have detailed before and will not watse time retyping now) the qigong healing. After getting past that... which allowed me to be, perhaps more open than I was, I still have a great deal of "I don't know about that", or "I doubt it" on many issues... but I've also grown a good deal in my ability work with it. From a pure qigong standpoint, I do recomment TN over here... or here when / if Mr.Clear comes down for a seminar. If you are in the vacinity anyway... I welcome the visit. I'll even spring for lunch

Thanks, I'm just outside Tampa... sometimes we have been in the path of this one, sometimes not. Though it looks like a worst-case for me is a iht by a cat 1... not fun, but I'm out of the flood zone and in a well-bulit house. And there's another TS in the Atlantic set to become a major hurricane... tracking farther south than this one.

Well, you won't *see* it.