ShoriKid

I see what you're looking for Drew. I do. You are looking for the integration of skills so that they more fully mirror an MMA competition format. However, I think you may be missing the forest for the trees here. Coaches train the skills they are imparting in isolation. Doing it in the competitive format that they are familiar with allows them to start with a frame work that makes the skill easier to transmit. How do you teach hand fighting, which in the context of controlling an opponent, is important, when everyone keeps getting punched in the face? If you are so worried about outside attacks that you cannot concentrate on the skills you are most needing, it slows the learning. It's back to the most effective way to build a skill set. Integrating the skill set is a whole different matter. It's one that doesn't get enough time. But, if you have a weak foundation to build off of, the full skill set will be shaky. If you want to talk about how to better fit and flow the base skills of an MMA fighter together, which it seems like what you are really getting at, cool. I am totally on board. We teach a handful of wrestling skills, BJJ and karate together, with some associated sport influences. Getting it all to fit into a holistic unit that you can make sense of is a pain. Getting guys to see the times to transition between ranges/skill sets is tough.

Congratulations sir! I've been watching the forum like a hawk for word of how this went and asked my brother yesterday at the start of class if he'd seen any news. I'm glad it's over for you, the constant pressure from your board. I look forward to hearing what sorts of things a a Kudan has to do to pass a test. Again, congratulations sir.

Drew, I think you may be missing the forest for the trees on this one. Yes, when training for combat sports, like MMA, that call on a wide range of skills, training specific elements does tend to help. If you throw a new student in with someone who is already skilled in all ranges/areas of the sport and then try to teach them all of that, while showing everything that attaches and relates to it the training time is so diluted that there will be little progress. Most MMA gyms now have an "MMA" practice as well that goes through all of the ranges, or days that fighters will work say, striking to the take down. Grappling from clinch down to the ground, perhaps with strikes from the ground. Or clinch work to the take down with strikes involved. They will start along the fence and have to work out off of it, pinned against it on the ground and have to escape to their feet. All while facing the full range of offense. A new competitor will need to learn all of the foundational skills to be able to work up to these drills. If not, say starting from the clinch, you have to teach the body control, the take downs, striking, counters to the trips, throws, take downs and how to counter the strikes. How to control position on their feet and turn off their feet, how to make that turn open up or close down offense. That's just one aspect the student has to learn. Try teaching all of that to a guy with no wrestling and MT base. Try teaching offensive and defensive foot work, opening and closing range, power generation, defense and cage/ring control to a guy without a boxing base. You've just made the coaches job a lot harder, frustrated a fighter and made their progress much slower. It's about acquiring skills that you can use to compete with quickly, efficiently and reliably. From the coach's side of things, it is very hard to teach something so comprehensive with a structure that makes it possible to track the progress of the fighter. Along with that it is very hard to find the high level of skill in so many combat sports. Would you rather see a single coach who is of a fair level of skill in 3 or 4 areas training fighters, or 3 or 4 highly skilled coaches training fighters in different areas of the sport? I think the evolution of MMA over the past 10-15 years shows the approach of coaches for each aspect, with a segregated skill training, has yielded better results than a single coach doing all of the training. Keeping in mind that there is almost always a "head coach" in a gym who over sees all of the training.

JJ is different enough you won't have to worry about confusing what your doing at either school. It covers a hole in what you know, one of the greatest weaknesses that your stand up has. And lastly, but certainly not least, it's great fun! Go for it if you have the chance.

Great to see you getting to branch out in your training. I saw on your blog where your fight was confirmed by the promoter. How did you feel the day went from a technical stand point? Outside of endurance, how did what you've been doing stack up? Not asking for you to critique what they are training, but how well what you were doing was holding up to something with an MT influence. Just an idea, and I take it you don't have a dedicated strength and conditioning coach, to keep the endurance element trained. I've been working on tabata style rounds with kettle bells or lower weight doing swings, round the world, pulls etc. Or a variant of a "Fight Gone Bad" work out. 1 minute rounds, no rest just 5/6 seconds to get to the next exercise. I'll hit more detail later if you'd like. We make good use of them in our dojo.

Maybe Ohio's crime rate isn't as high as it is in NY; that's if crime stats are a considering factor in their decision(s). Given NYS rep on taxing things to death I'm surprised that the revenue side hasn't caused it.to pass any way.

Boxing, around the turn of the last century, wasn't legal either. Bare knuckle was on the way out and gloves and safety rules, with the buy in of upper class backing gyms and fighters brought it into the spot light. Legality only came when there was a way for people to see a clear way to make money and the ends of the Victorian era helped it along the way. MMA suffers from a thug aura perpetuated by those who don't like it for one reason or another. And, there are plenty of old heads in the boxing community have a hate on for MMA and see it as a threat. Thus, they do everything they can to keep it out of the state right now.

I've been banging around in the same Century belt my instructor presented me with more than 15 years back. It's holding up great. It isn't fancy, but it's sold, still looks good and most of the thread/stitching is still with it. I did look at the KI International belts, they do in house custom embroidery and aren't a fortune.

Par for the course with the NY legislature it seems.

Empi, of the handful I know. Closest to Shotokan orthodoxy as well. My Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai or in line for the Shotokan group I've trained with, but not JKA acceptable by any means. My Naihanchi is Shorinryu based, so can't claim that and won't.

They don't control what gets shown at all. The Olympic Broadcasting Service films it all and it's up to the networks to pick what they want to broadcast and then to put their commentary and graphics on top. During London the BBC were pretty amazing and we had access to every single sport... could watch whatever you wanted. I suppose this might be a bit controversial on here... but why is wrestling being in the olympics such a big deal? I know that it was part of the Ancient Greek Olympics but so was chariot racing and running in full or partial armour (the hoplitodromos). It's one of the most "democratic" in that it doesn't require a lot of money to participate and almost all cultures have a traditional form of wrestling. Combine that with the number of countries have strong wrestling traditions and a long history of competition and you have a strong Olympic tradition. There is part of me that wonders why so many things are included in the Olympic games that have never been true competitive sports. Synch. swimming, diving, table tennis etc. My question, why not? And I'm all for bringing back Hoplitrodromos. Either in classical divisions with greaves, breast plate and helmet, or modern with full level III military grade vest, helmet and combat boots. But, I'm weird like that. Do we still get the triatholon? Ride, shoot, fight?

PittbullJudoka will have to give the armbar variant that I like. Straight bar with the forearm pinned over the shoulder. As a second one, wrist compression like the goose neck hold we use as our escort walk. I am terrible with Japanese terminology for locks and throws most of the time. Can't you tell?

David Grossman's "On Combat" advises a simple use of tactical breathing to keep the heart rate down. 3 count inhale, 3 count hold, 3 count exhale for a few breaths to help regulate the heart rate and breathing. Once you hit about about 140bpm, your ability to apply physical skills degrades significantly. I've caught myself letting my breathing get away from me before and had to force those same slow breaths. Have to remind some of the students too. Breathing, without it you're going to die.

A point at a time I suppose. Marc MacYoung is a man that operates on the high end of practicality, application and violence. He isn't a karate guy, or a bjj guy or any other style. He has plenty of problems with almost all of them. His signature or his chop/mark? If it's his stamp, that is the home dojo carrying the originator's name forward as a sign they are the "real" Matsubayashi Ryu. You are bothered by a school of martial arts talking about the originator and how much work they did to form and make a fighting style from a small island a world wide art? Look, find an organization who doesn't talk about who started them and how great they are and their accomplishments and I'll find you a sad group. The Girls Scouts come to mind right off (since my wife is a troop leader) or a group that talks about everything the person starting them did great things. Are you talking about the picture of Nagamine Shoshin in formal dress and seated formally, for a formal picture, that will hang in a lot of Matsubayashi Ryu dojos? Or something else? Because, honestly I'm missing the point of this...point. There are more wild stories about ancient martial artists floating around than you can shake a stick at. They run rapidly into tall tale territory too. A lot of people like to tell those stories. Unless you are being told they could fly, and that you will learn to do so too if you only stick with your training long enough I wouldn't be too concerned. Compound this with a time period of little record keeping and major destruction during WW II, along with cultural repression by the Japanese, you won't find a lot of records. Spiritual growth, the Do side of Matsubayashi Ryu Karate Do comes from hard work and sweat. Have you looked in the back of Nagamine Sensei's book? Are those guys lifting weights doing so to get spiritually buff? I've only gotten to be in a handful of Matsubayashi schools, and haven't trained actively in on in about ten years(My instructor retired due to injury). However, none of them were afraid to punch you in the face, kick you in the body and throw you on the floor. You were worried about lack of take downs in Matsubayashi Ryu. I would point you to Mr. Frank Grant's Matsubayashi group. I know with his age he isn't likely to be teaching hands on quite as much any more, but I can tell you from personal experience he uses grappling, locking and take down work with Matsubayashi Ryu. If not, I still want to know how I ended up being choked while he stood on my calf after I tried to punch him in the nose. And you can find the same thing in Shotokan, Wado, Goju etc., etc. The level of "tradition" will depend on the dojo you are in and the instructor you have. This can very much be a matter of skill, experience and rank. I have application for the Naihanchi kata (from Matsubayashi Ryu) that I don't teach to lower belts. Partly because of the level of complication, the control needed to practice it safely and practically, and partly because of the time. When I get to know you and your personality, I will know if this is something I trust you not to abuse. And, I'm not teaching something that can cause serious harm in the dojo, let alone at speed, to a 15 year old who I've known for a couple of months. I'm not trying to attack you here, just going into each point. A lot of what you are worried about is the difference between a well established, formal dojo with a strong link back to it's lineage, and a smaller, very likely a much younger, less established dojo/group. Some of it is also down to personal teaching style and working within a small group. Matsubayashi Ryu, as I was trained, involved working your way through a very well laid out progression in training. You learn 1,2,3 and a,b,c before you get to 4,5,6 and d,e,f. You don't just jump to 23 and z4. Nagamine Shoshin was very well respected in our dojo, you learned about his biography and had to know some of those details if asked. You would be punched in the face, learned basic, karate style take downs from kata and you would leave sweat prints on the floor when you hit the deck and got up. I would be more worried about intrusions into my personal life. Iron clad contracts that are multiple years long. Guaranteed promotions on a schedule, requiring that you attend outside of dojo events that do not relate to karate as part of your promotions. Absolute subservience demanded in the dojo, being shouted down or ridiculed for asking any sort of question. Those are the things that I would look out for. But, in the end only you have control over your martial journey. If you want a less formal setting, a loser connection to an organization and a more open teaching format and program, Matsubayashi Ryu may not be for you. At least not in this dojo and if you are going to continue training you will have to be happy with what you do. If not, you won't last long.

When it's not almost midnight local and I can pull together two brain cells at a time I have a long response for this question. However, I'll start with something brief(ha!) To address infinitehand's trouble that someone who used a rising block wasn't doing things right if they didn't drop into a deep front stance and pull the free hand to their hip. That's call the "No true Scotsman" argument. I can point to the fact that kata and actual conflict are not the same. One is in a sterile environment, the other happens in the wild. Funakoshi said something like kata is one thing, combat is another. He wasn't saying they aren't related, just to under stand one is perfect, the other is a mess. Secondly, "blocks", "uke" however you want to term them are multifunctional once you understand the mechanics. Why would you block, moving forward, three times in a row? Is the attacker so persistent that they fail to hit three times and retreat at the same time? Hands are doing something coming and going. The angles are a lot softer and more subtle than people think about in most cases. And, a ton of instructors are teaching blue belt karate over and over and over for students well past their black belt. They don't want to open up the movements for the students to look at what they can do because that takes time and effort and is tougher to teach. When you teach movement and let students look at them the take away is more. When we taught head lock/hip toss today (I'm sure there is proper Judo terminology for this, but I'm no Judoka so...) to the kid's class. My two advanced students, both 10/11 years old recognized the full throw from Heian Sandan's ending. Sharp kids, looking at movement and not yet old enough to be stuck in the mindset that a movement must only be it's name sake. Like I said...brief.

Sensei8 and mal103 have apparently been listening in on my "when I win the lottery" discussions. No work means plenty of travel and building a top notch dojo with a traditional wooden floor, a good mat room, weight room, showers, bag room etc. There would a nice apartment attached for the guest instructors I could bring in. I'd travel, which my wife would love. If here is a seminar I want to attend out of state or over seas, I go for the week and relax and train. My simple answer is adding BJJ and visiting the Silat school south of here and trips to Atlanta for EMA training as well. Regular trips to Tulahoma to visit with shidoshi is an assumed.

Who here teaches different material to kids and adults? Not just different application, but completely different things? If you do this, what sort of troubles does it cause, what sort of troubles does it avoid? if you don't do this, what troubles does this avoid, what troubles does it cause? I've been considering a break in the kata teaching between adults and children's classes. Right now a kihon style kata and taikyoko show are part of the children's class which is not in the adults. Ground work is limited to basic positions for the upper belts and maybe three throws total. These aren't the only changes, but they are some easily spotted ones. In my head there is a complete break between children's classes and adult's training. Kata for the kid's go through the pinan/Heian series up to Naihanchi sho. Adults start with Nainhanchi sho through san and Bassai Dai. Once they reach black belt they have the option of working on an instructor's training, during part of which they learn the heian kata if they didn't come up through the kid's class. Am I crazy for thinking this way or do other folks out there work with something similar?

Sensei says is an old favorite. Simon says with karate techniques. Races, similar to Wastlander, but with a bear crawl the length of the mats, a set number/combination of techniques and bear crawl back. Change up the technique and the exercise to get down the mats. Medicine ball races, carried from corner to corner/end to end on the mats. Think of hot potato with the kid's split into two teams, whoever gets caught with the medicine ball when you call time is out. Conditioning and strengthening their bodies without even knowing it! Side shuffle. Hands in high guard, side shuffle around the mat. Instructor in the middle with a padded baton, a few whacks and jabs as they pass to keep their hands up. Call to switch directions often, add a sprawl with each direction change if you have space. Lateral movement, maintaining guard switching direction. All good things.

Scissor sweep, right now and I think that is your influence PittbullJudoka. I've caught a few spider guard sweeps lately when people were trying to back out of guard or hit a standing pass. I can't play open guard to save my life, it's just something that happens.

It's not another art though, it's all there, you just aren't getting enough time to practice that aspect of what you need to be doing. You can drill working angles and off setting without a partner. Learning to implement them takes time. Try getting together with some others wanting more time sparring and working outside of the dojo. Just keep it light and drill/goal oriented so no one gets mad and tries to turn it into a real fight.

Sensei8, if I were you, and I'm obviously not!, but you asked, I'd make it simple and clear. Tell them to amend the by-laws to fit your decision. Then, who ever takes over after you're gone (years from now hopefully) can decide to accept or deny a promotion to 9th dan when the time comes.

I think Master Ken visited Wastelander's dojo earlier this year. Or that's what his blog said. I've fallen behind on Enter the Dojo, but it's always funny stuff with just enough a truth to be funny.

Saw that IBJJF has, if I understand it, implemented a change in the belt structure. Adding colors/grades to the kids belts, putting minimum times on adult grades and adding a red & white belt near the top of the black belt level. Not knocking it, just wondering what the opinion of the BJJ practitioners here were. The Inside BJJ podcast had an interview with Fabio Santos, who basically said he was going to keep going the way he had always with belts and, if I remember correctly, compared it to belts being added to judo and karate. Also interesting was Mr. Santos' dislike for the IBJJF not having a ruling body, so much as a head man. His biggest complaint seemed to be that there was no real way for members to have input on how things were going for the organization. So, thoughts, ruminations, random words?

Substance abuse councilor. Sometimes people don't "recover" and sometimes those "friends" don't want their buddies to get clean. My very first student was jumped twice while training with me. I credit him coming home whole and healthy to his wife as much to his verbal skills and awareness as to the physical skills he had gained. Retail manager? Broke up a fight and managed space, and my anger, in a couple of bad interactions in that job.

Every time I'm with my instructors, if there is sparring, they are on the floor. With every student. In my first school it was always a treat to spar with sensei because of the way he brought out the best in you. And if he wasn't so sick he couldn't dress for class, he was on the floor pushing us all to be just a little better. Now I'm the sensei and the only time I haven't sparred with everyone one, from the newest student up, is when I'm so sick I can't really train. Last night I was a moving target to get combinations thrown thrown at openings I presented. And I was pushing my 1st kyu. Maybe a little too hard. My job is to be the target, the one who pushes and I hope the guy they want to case down, catch and pass as a martial artist.