dete

what I'm trying to say is that, and it maybe the def. is what your misunderstanding. when people ask me what school I recommend and such, the easy way to give them a solid answer to be helpful & not confusing saying something like, depends... blah blah blah I go with, a gym is tougher than a school. gym = competitive sport school = learning sure there are lots of exceptions, grey areas, overlaps.

as a knife combat instructor I can say that one of the strongest points about a knife is concealment. in this scenario there is no concealing. the surprise factor is highly limited, so in this case it's most likely to be a game of tag. So I'm gonna go with the broom stick. my biggest concern is when he/I will throw the knife at me like a baseball

believe it or not, it's Puzzle Fighter even though it's a tetris type game, it wonderfully puts in a combat feel. timing & strategy is crucial in this game just as it is in real combat.

hmmm, maybe because when I went to a boxing gym, it was a long time ago and things were more hardcore back then, also maybe cause I went to a pro-gym? the workout was REALLY hard and I thought I was in shape. I couldn't lift my arms after the 1st day. And I got challenged as well, the head coach who is a "name" was willing to let it go, even though I had no prior boxing experience. I think he wanted to see what I was made of. oh well those were the days

I got interested in Martial Arts because of a movie I saw when I was a kid, Return of the Dragon (Way of the Dragon) was my fav. flick. Motivated me to train later on in life (junior high) I was lucky my high school years there was a second martial arts craze with Van Damme, Seagal & all those low budget martial arts guilty pleasure flicks. Those helped motivate me as well. In college it was the UFC that motivated me. When I saw movies like the Matrix & Spiderman, I thought, I wonder how many people these type of movies are gonna motivate people to start martial arts? And I thought about my long journey, and I thought, thank goodness, I'm not just starting now, & to those that are, good luck! The path is long! Ok so what movies motivated YOU?

I think many people start martial arts for the wrong reasons. we want to win a street fight, look tough, get girls, impress people, intimidate people, do tricks, get muscles, do splits, etc. many movies portray that, and that is what draws people to hard training. as they undergo years of training they are suppose to mature, get humble & improve character. not many people go into martial arts because they want to increase patience most of these movies encourage the 1st few steps into martial arts training. I don't think it's so bad, but if you get stuck there or think that is all to it, then it's sad.

hope you have fun & meet nice people there!

loved Thundarr http://youtube.com/watch?v=1kIIc4tvtF0

in martial arts terms this is important, basically it's learning how to read a person because martial arts essentially can be said to be a form of communication, as in any art. actually it's important part of living.

my thoughts & prayers go out to your family.

I like Conan 1 & 2 & Red Sonja. great flick. Conan was my 1st rated R movie

with my ex we had a puppy, he was a mini dachshund. I treated him like if he were my son. We broke up and now he is with her, I miss him very much. And then I got a betta, he was a beautiful red one, and I was very close to him, & I accidentally killed him by using water that was bad for him. I feel so broken & hurt. I let his body go into a beautiful stream. I go visit that place & think about him. the other pet is a cat that is with my parents, he grew up with my family. He is over 100 yrs. old. sweet guy. I know his time is close. I'll probably get another pet when I'm in a relationship again.

I'm big into improvised weapons. I like to walk around my neighborhood at night and see what I can find in the streets. I use to live in bad neighborhoods and I have ended up with quite a collection of sticks. yes I train with them, and some of them are much more effective than my standard escrima sticks. if you train in Escrima I hope that you have at least once done a few of the double sinowali forms with a pair of tennis rackets, hammer & wrench. I'm also always looking for non edged material to use as a blade. I've also found the plastic bags from the grocery to be quite useful for self-defense. put something with weight in it and now you got a sling

ok that's your opinion I respect that. I think as a practitioner gets better he will move away from a rigid form and look more natural. In the end we are just humans moving, defending attacking. here is a video of what looks like a FMA group training in the Philipines there are more videos of them & other FMA groups doing ground techniques as well to show that they are evolving. I'm not trying to prove you wrong, just showing that I didn't just make up the info, you can say these are radical FMA groups & not the norm, I'm not trying to convince anyone, in the end it's just my opinion. -peace

like I said, I'm old school.

imo, a good FMA person will start to look like a boxer in empty hand movements & he will incorportate boxing. Same with Wing Chun, & Karate. This is just my opinion This does not mean however that Boxing is the best hand style. And esp. doesn't mean that Boxer's have the best method or path so to speak. If a couch potato decides one day they want to learn self-defense by getting good with their hands and goes to a boxing gym, good luck, I doubt he will last 3 days. On the other hand if you go to a martial art school I think the couch potato will have a better chance of changing his life style. once again, I realize I'm in a touchy area for many people, just my opinion ok.

to me we have TMA (Traditional Martial Arts) & Combat Sports I think RBMA is a link between the 2 and has quickly become a stand alone categorey. I recommend a person learn how to study and benefit from all three.

hello and thanx for the welcome, it's been fun posting here, and I'm stoked to recieve member of the month! thank you

what I am impressed by the Samurai is that they mainly carried only the sword. That doesn't sound significant, but most other cultures carried a sword & shield. This means the Samurai sword was used to attack & defend. that is some high skill.

I'm old school man, time wise I'd say 4 yrs. at a BJJ school = blue belt. and that doesn't include, your understanding of the style, how you represent the style, your level of skill, willingness to learn.

sparring with a girl, simple, be a gentleman, some people may say I'm sexist for that, but oh well there will always be critics, it's my upbringing. I've had only 1 girl complain about the way I spar she was a very well respected, and one of the few black belts in my style. She got upset that I took it easy on her. I'd rather her get upset at me for that then mauling her too hard. It's my style. Every other girl I've sparred with, has enjoyed sparring me and often times has told me so. Makes me feel very honored and happy. Because I have developed a volume control on how hard I go, often times when I was training I was chosen to spar with women & children. I try not to use any physical attributes like speed, strength, explosiveness, and purely only skill. Then all of a sudden, it gets much more challenging. On the other hand, I try to do this with ANYBODY that I spar, as much as possible, so in a way it's not sexist or prejudice.

The faster you end this kind of inappropriateness the better. There is a thing called verbal abuse. In other words it's ridiculous to even have a conversation at all. You can just walk off. I know it seems very cold & not normal thing to do, but this is not a normal situation. If thugs were to jump you, they would many times distract you by words. So the fighting part of self-defense starts here, verbal combat. many times if a shady person talks to me on the street, I don't hear what they said, because I'm thinking tactics already. I'm thinking about what range are they in, what are my options, what is the worst case scenario? I don't listen, I trust my instincts that I felt this is shady, so I defend that. If I'm wrong, oops sorry, but that's life, I have to becareful.

Austin Martial Arts Academy http://www.austinmartialarts.com/

Aikido is very difficult to learn. Not only does it require mastery of the techniques it also requires a highly mature/enlightened mind.

if your orthodox, & they are southpaw, and this is Muay Thai, I say, how good is your lead leg Thai kicks? they should be fast & still be able to generate decent amount of power.