ShoriKid

I've been looking at Asia World's selection of gis on line. Their judo line in particular. With the use I'm looking for, the Gladiator and Proforce are the two I'm looking to chose from. Both are single weave. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with either brand. Or a recomendation for either company based off of other gis you've bought from the same companies. Thanks in advance for any help here.

Are you looking for factual statements backed up by sources and links, or wild conjecture and theories with litle real evidence other than vague opinions? The former, I'd love to help with, but my sources for Navy history are my wife's grandfather, a retired WW II eara CB and...well, that's about it. Had an uncle in the Navy, shore side most all of his time as I recall though. The later, I can offer up some ideas based off of a basic tendancey through military history that I've studied and general Western martial tendencies. I love the idea. I'd also like to know if anyone has hard facts on why boxing as a highschool level sport disappeared. Without meaning to sound too Un-PC, I would lay good odds to Title IX playing into it some what, as it's been part of why wrestling went out of many schools as well.

I'll have to dig a bit, but I think mmajukie.com had the article, but Dana White has already said he will not/would not allow a fight between Anderson and Jones. Got to love that strangle hold he keeps on the fighters.

The high rear chamber for power side rounds is, as, I think, it was Zanshin said, an early stage teaching method. Get the gross movement down and then begin to refine it after someone can throw the technique without falling over. A good traditional "chamber" is bringing the back leg straight through like your about to throw a front kick. After that point, the body shifts and you alter the kick from there, chosing from what is open and can best strike the target. That method leaves you with the option to fire off a front, side or round kick. Body torque etc will change of course depending on the kick you end up using. So, the high in rear, swing around chamber is not really traditional no. It does offer more torque and power than the point of origin round kick in most cases though. Now hitting with the top of the foot is fine to the head in competion and sparring if your not looking to do too much damage. Other wise, the thigh, side of body and head/neck can, and in my opinion(which with a $1 will get you a cup of coffee), and will inflict much more damage. The ball of the foot, or toes if you've conditioned, limits your range somewhat, but has much more penitration. It also does not expose all the fine bones of the foot to the hard surfaces it may encounter during a kick. Taking and elbow, shin or knee to the top of the foot is very painful and can easily cause injury. The ball though, has a different set of targets compaired to the shin. Try and inside thigh kick with the ball of the foot and see the difference in reaction compaired to a shin. If you've trained enough to position the foot right, your toes are as safe as anything else for that strike. The front of the body, where the shin won't penitrate, is the other prime target for the ball of the foot. Instead of dispersing the impact area over the abs and possibly a couple of ribs, its in one small spot. Is the ball of the foot more 'traditional'? Who's tradition? For Okinawans, I'd say, depends on the target. With their love of conditioned toes and kicking the body with them, I'd say, very. Though most will lay shins on you just as hard as anyone else. For other types/styles of karate or Tae Kwon Do? Can't say for sure. Though I've trained with a lot of folks, I don't often get deep into the history of their style unless it's a whole lot of training.

Do I consider ARMA to be traditional? yes, I do. But, I don't fall into that lay person catigory. For most people what differentates ARMA/Western sword play from Japanese sword arts will come down to the philosphy and the liniage issues. I see where your coming from bushido_man, I truely do, but your perhaps asking the right question to the wrong crowd. As I said and DWx's link shows, you seem to need a "uniform", a tracable history/liniage that you can say, "I learned this from this guy, who learned it from the 34th grand master", and a lot of what is looked for is that philisophical, quasi-religous bent. I meantioned the arts most people will consider 'traditional'. Getting Kali, Thai Boxing{which has a traditional root}, folk wrestling of various nations etc recognized as 'traditional' is going to take work.

The "generally accepted" way of defining TMA is that they are an Eastern fighting system, usually with a philisophical under pinning, that has existed for at least 50 years. Most people will think of Japanese(and Okinawan) and Chinese systems as falling into this mold. Along with the Korean styles they are what the vast majority of people, and even many martial artists, would define as TMA. While Boxing and wrestling havea history that can be traced back to the Greeks and Egyptians, and were used in a combative manner all the way up untill say, the early 18th century, most people are familar only with their sporting aspect. bushido_man, I think the difference of definition by a lay person and the dedicated martial artist, which is not to be confused with a casual pracitioner, comes more from prespective. People who have been around the arts a long time or have studied them intensively, are those neurosurgeons. And while you wouldn't ask a lay person to define the job of the neurosurgeon and expect a good answer, many will offer one. It's a tendancy to believe that you know more than you do and a willingness to offer up opinions on what you 'know'. However, the more technical the field, the less likely someone is to argue that their view is correct when faced with a certified expert. I've noticed this in acidemic circles. A scientist or mathmatician is rarely argued with by a lay person, or even someone possessing a non-related degreed. The lay person knows they are in over their head because they had that freshman survey of algebra and it was tough. On the other hand, they recall freshman English lit or history and, having read a book, or watched Shakespear/the History channel, consider themselves as much an expert as the person fully trained with a degree. They will argue points in the face of evidence overwhelming. The same happens to martial atists. People have seen movies, or trained for a few weeks and suddenly they are expert enough to argue with someone with more than a decade or two of dedication. So, in a way, the lay person is going to define what a TMA is to anyone not closely tied to a good, or experienced, martial artist. It's sad, but the best we can hope to do is educate one person at a time. Usually,this will happen once they've ht the training hall floor.

Picked up some word on this. Apparently Anderson as a pro boxing record of 1-1. From what I heard, his win was over a new fighter who was 0-0, the lose to a guy with something like 22-3. I don't know about the ko/decision status of the win and lose though. So Anderso has trained for boxing before and should know the drill as far as pacing and conditioning. He's smart and can work a lot of angles, Jones knows them as well. I'd have to look at the reach advantage and were it falls. Speed wise, I think that goes to Jones. I'd have to see some more tape of both, in the 12ozers and boxing only, to get a solid idea of who edges who though. Over all, I'm sure it would be close. Now if you put on the mma gloves and just let the clinch ride, without even the knees or elbows. Just dirty boxing, it's a no contest. Heck, even with the limitationof a boxer's clinch, it might be the best place for Anderson to work. What I think will stop this fight would be the money and the managers. Jones doesn't have anything to prove. He's a champ known round the world. He's made more money on a single fight than Anderson has made in his entire career. If the man can't get enough cash and the promoters and agents can't get enough money, it won't happen. Do I want to see it? Yes, heck yes. Who do I think would win? Jones unless Anderson can absolutely overwhelm him. Jones is smart enough to stay out of the power shots Anderson can line up and a can work the score cards, he's had to before. Do I really need to go into the judges? Well, I will, sorry. Unless they get a really good panel, you'll end up with some guys that are going to fall on the same side as a lot of the commentaters. They have no respect for mma fighters, calling them a bunch of brawlers or washed up, never was boxers. I don't believe that. And as money, public exposure and fame come to mma, it will definately not be the case. He could have gone to mma, but we all see where the money has led Mayweahter don't we? We'll just have to wait and see what Jones does.

Good article sir. When I'm not pressed for time I'll have something more lengthy concerning the continued tradition of mixed range fighting. If I can get my head around it and present what's bouncing inside my skull in a coheirent manner.

I see it that you did the right thing. You didn't pick the fight, you handled a situation. You didn't cause excessive damage, you did what came reflexively. You didn't fail as a martial artist. You acted to protect yourself from a threat that you didn't know the precise level of. If you had done less you might not have succeeded in keeping him from hurting you and the other people that were there. What I do have to so is this on your choice of technique. Years of Judo, but the man wasn't at a standing grappling range, you weren't on the floor. The man wasn't within reach of your hands. So, you struck at your longest range, with your strongest weapon. What I want to know is how much striking work did your Judo involve, or where the heck do I sign up for that Kempo class? Because man....a few days and you side kick, and hit well!, reflexively, I'm impressed with that. Your either a natural, and I envy you, or you've got great training, and I still envy you. Anyway man, good work. Don't be hard on yourself. You did what was needed and think of the damage that could have been meeted out had you not been there or had you hesitated.

Would you happen to need a personal servant or body guard? I work cheap and can bring my wife and girls to round out the staff of your new household servants. We work cheap cheap. I mean, floor space to sleep, food and training as all we require. Real money not needed. And if you tell my wife I made this offer, I will do the three things all husbands do in such cases. Deny, blame you for a drunken liar and beg for mercy! Good luck with the training sir. The sub work for judo, if you are in a good place would provide and excellent base for later BJJ work. BJJ may focus on the ground and do very well there, but their sylibus is 96% judo, just more technically developed. And if your aiming toward Kyokushin, and having judo, your going to have a strong pairing. A touch of combined work now and then and you'll have a super strong base.

We have a couple of blocking drills that we do, or at least I've taught before. First one starts with you and a partner face in either horse or same side (ie. both in right leg forward) power stances. Measure your distance with a punch so that you will just hit them if they miss. Then one side iniates and will throw a series of 3 reverse punches at the stomach (chest works fine too). The defender will use use inward chest block, outward chest block and a sweeping high to low block, alternating hands. As soon as he completes the low block, he fires his own three punches. It builds reaction and timing on the first punch, sensitivity to the movement once you've made contact, and the reaction to fire back after that last punch. The Uke waza drills we did were partnered as well and pretty formal. Facing each other, again at a measure of a punch distance, the attacker would throw a series of punches, or kicks, aimed at one target from a moving stance, usually up right natural stance. Head, chest/abdomin, groin(belt knot for safety) were the targets. The defender worked a fixed defense, ie. rising head block, for the entire series. You worked to one end of the deck, stopped, made a formal, mirrored turn and went back up the deck in a new attack/defense pairing. The more advanced you were, the harder and faster the attacks were coming. It was also very important that the 'attacker' actually throw the punches and kicks so that if the block missed, the defender could be hit. Of course, control was used, but if your learning to defend against an attack that wasn't actually coming at your head, it screws up your timing and all the angles for when they really are flying at your face. you'll also learn at some point, why that the blocking hand already up and about to chamber down as the other comes into place drops into the center line! These drills taught you much of the same as the first one. Timing, distancing(some of the stances had to 'slide' to keep the distance right) foot work and timing. As I said, as you advance, the speed, and power of the attack will increase. As your skill increases though, while the speed of the block will increase, the power your using will decrease. It becomes about timing and technique. You'll refine the subtle twists and deflections of a block. A final one to mention here is what we refer to as a block/check/strike drill. Start in a lose, up-right stance. One side iniates action with a straight lead{assuming left lead to start for purpose of the description}. The defender will shift to off angle slightly to the outside. As you shift, the right hand will come up, usually open palm out toward the attacker, and 'block' deflect the attack off line toward your left. The left hand will then come in under the right, in the tradtional motion of a chest style block to 'check' the attack. This takes it further off line and keeps you in contact with the attacker. Firm, but supple preasure is applied so you can maintain the contact and read the attacker's movements. As the check comes into play, the right hand will strike, either from point of origin or chambering slightly, which again follows the motion of the traditional chest block. Once you've done this a few dozen times to get the feel for it, start alternating back and forth on each punch. The drill will then advance to block/check/striking on the inside of the attack etc. There are multiple variations, but it would take forever to put into text what can be shown in a few minutes. I can do a more detailed description if you want via a pm. I'm looking for some youtube video, but not really finding them right now for what I'm looking for, sorry there. Now, there you have a few drills we do, descibed(albeit not very well), but for free. We do some others, but those are the basic ones that you can build on.

Nightowl, that's great! Now, fess up and tell us which one! Jelousy you know.

Bj's book is one of the better ones out there. Better than the Gracie release concerning MMA. There is some transitional work and need to see how to change things up when both striking and grappling are an issue to contend with. That seperation is something that sometimes takes a while to get over. Some people are very good at both aspects, but getting the switch to click over in their heads can take a long time. It's like they start the fight up right and everything is good. Then they get taken down, or put in clinch with the intention of it going down(always seemd to 'feel' different to me than someone wanting to work standing clinch) and their brain doesn't make the transition until sometime after they hit the mats. Once there, give them a few and you'll see them come back alive and work well. As a secondary question, how many see the change in their ground game when you introduce striking on the ground as well? I know this may sound obvious, but it seems to put a little hurry in people and suddenly, having that top position becomes more important than it otherwise would have. At least that is the basic observation I have made about the difference.

Bruised or cracked ribs from a punch I caught during sparing. About three or four weeks after the hit I was still wincing at impacts...on the other side of my chest. Did something to an elbow once while I was an uke for a throw. I can neither confirm or deny if it was serious. All I know is it pops and cracks still and if someone starts to bar it out while rolling, I tap fast rather than fight it. Other than the odd assortment of jammed or broken toes and fingers, blacked eyes, swollen lips and tweaked backs that was the hardest to deal with.

I'll dig around for the stats later when I have more time, but that would suggest your either seeing a small sample that is out of proportion with the national average bushido, or your local is unusal. Last I read of it, the ratio is more than 3 to 1 in favor of the man being the arest subject. I'll see if I can find the numbers and/or article again.

I think that question has a lot more to do with what people think of men and women fighting each other than it does with sexism just on the man's part. Women tend to view any man who would hit a woman, no matter how much she deserved it or whether she started it, as some sub-human monster. That view is just as bad the way men look at them too. Look up thread and you'll see several responses that are aware of this, or play into it on some level. Others have mentioned as well that the legal system takes a very dim view of a man striking a woman. Without video or a lot of witnesses, the woman with the black eye talking to the police is going to have her side believed faster than the man talking to the other officer sporting the same bruises. Think about the number of public inciedents involving a woman berating a man, of even smacking him around. If you've been around long, you've seen it. Now, replace that woman with a man and ask yourself if that behavior would have started a fight. Or, reverse the roles and ask yourself would people have stepped in and said something or called the police? It's not right, it's not fair, but it is a reality that must be delt with. Of course kkennedy, I agree with you. Randomly attacking other people is not a nice and social thing.

Hopefully it's more writer's strike mess. I know that Human Weapon, along with a host of other shows were added this season by a new head at the network that runs the HC. So, they may not have opted to buy new episodes until they saw what sold and what didn't. Then toss in the strike and you have everyone sitting around.

Yeah, most work with a little modification. Just saying we need to work them more. We have some staple throws that we use, but I think we need to break out of that box and try some new things. If nothing else to get the feel for some different mechanics. Now teehsirts for collar chokes can work. But we shred seams and 'pop' the collars half the time when we try. Stretchy things, may need to invest in better quality shirts to train with. Wait, that's a bad plan I think. Not saying I wouldn't wrap up a bit of collar work with a tee, but a lot of sleeve work etc goes away with them. We try to train enough to be familiar with what to do wwith them, but not be reliant on a gi like garment.

I'll take John L any day! Just don't make me calculate weight in stones or let the production cut to comercial every time a knock down is scored and fighters have 1 minute to come to the mark.

Get everyone to start conditioning their legs a bit too? Control on your part and padding(others investing in thigh pads might not be bad either) are good ideas, but in the long run everyone getting more used to leg kicks wouldn't be bad either. See, these are the ideas of an un-coffeed mind.

Shakey future? Jason and Bill are enjoyable, if not always accurate. What have you heard or where NightOwl?

I'd say for point competition the writer was dead on. Besides, don't we all develope our favorite techniques that we use when things get heated? A stiff lead left ad a side kick are my go to techs when things have to come out my way. Or they are dependant on the rules set. But, that's a completely different book to write.

NightOwl, That just reminds me of something my training partner said. "If you fight a girl there are two ways to come out of it. You either win, and you beat up a girl. Or, you lost and got your butt kicked by a girl. Which do you want to do?" Saddly though, your spot on about the legal system. If you don't have stab wounds, your in a world of hurt without a room for of judges and nuns as witnesses to her attacking you first. Even then, it's dicey.

The idea of introducing the person to the class isn't a bad one Techbrute. Thing is to make sure the person is comfortable with that. I've been in a few places training where everything was good until the more senior students found out you had rank. Then, it's like you suddenly grew a bullseye on your chest and back. Some just feel they have to show you that they are the senior student. A lot of what the person will want will depend completely on that person I guess. Skill level should become readily apparent within a class or two though to anyone who isn't a rank amature.

Mostly no-gi here, for practicallity and lack of a judo gi(Which I'm working on correcting). I'm a jeans and teeshirt kind of guy most of the time, so training and gi pants and rash guards/old teeshirts is what we end up doing most of the time. If it came to it and someone had a good jacket on, hey, thanks for the handles! Sometimes we kick our jackets on and have to remind ourselves to go for something other than a straight collar choke. Having all the extra things you can grab and work with a gi will slow you down. I've noticed that once you get used to grappling one way or the other you (or at least I do) seem to get worn down more quickly working the other way. We put on the jackets now and I'm worn out in no time. We get used to that and working no-gi gets tiring quickly. As to the throws, msot of the ones we do, and we need to work ours a bit past shots and hip toss/trips, will work either way. You have to adjust your grips and get into knowing how to leverage a body.