Martial Arts

[rm-rf]

A. Stop hits & stop kicks

This means intercepting an opponent's attack with an attack of your own instead of a simple block. JKD practitioners believe that this is the most difficult defensive skill to develop. This strategy can be a feature of some traditional Chinese martial arts.

Ah, sounds like the system im learning. Every attack is also a block, and vice versa.

and ninja i guess i was considering receiving instruction on how to use technique also as training. i guess i should reword that as "time spent focusing"

 

[That-Strange-Guy]

Ah, sounds like the system im learning. Every attack is also a block, and vice versa.

and ninja i guess i was considering receiving instruction on how to use technique also as training. i guess i should reword that as "time spent focusing"

Simply because that system was most effective when used properly so he included it into his own form of martial arts.

 

[nickels]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL8KPu7wncU

 

[CoffeeDrinker]

^ummm...what?

 

[doesntmatter]

he punched him....in his face : ( although i think that was the idea behind the whole situation : )

 

[CoffeeDrinker]

I was just wondering what his point was in posting that link.
I actually saw that video before a while ago, but I didn't feel as though it deserved a place in this thread.

 

[rm-rf]

a month ago i was told that "i had enough piss and vinegar" in me to be the first white belt in our school to participate in a black belt test ceremony. i have been filled with anxiety since.

today was the day.

our black belt won his belt, fair and square, after being required to fight all participants (1vs1) for an hour and a half with no stops between fights. he lost maybe 6 fights out of 40, and the only fights he lost were to two other black belts participating.

i am now picking the crusted blood out of my beard, eyelids, mustache, and nose. my face feels sideways, i am missing chunks of my lip, i have footprints embedded into my ribs and my (favorite blocking) arm is swollen to 2x its normal width. i also did not suffer the most wounds of all participants.

we invited a 6th degree black belt, mantis master, to fight in our test as well. after the fight he told me that he couldnt wait to return for my black belt test...

his 5 or 6 words were quite inspiring, considering what took place today.

 

[That-Strange-Guy]

I wish we had more advanced martial arts here... It's hard to even find cheap knock offs of traditional styles. That is why I attended a few years of different arts and now just research styles and train by myself. Sure there is no one to correct me on my form, and there is no sparring partners but it gives me more of a motive to work out between weight lifting

 

[masterSHREDDER]

i want to be a ninja

 

[TakeItAll]

na man, punch the shit out of hard surfaces, provided someone has shown you how to condition your hands against hard surfaces. cinder blocks, thick wood, things like that are ok. metal is not - it absorbs none of the shock and can damage your nerves. again, anyone else reading this - do not condition your hands by punching stuff unless someone has formally instructed you how to do so.
then make sure you get an excess of calcium and related minerals in your diet.

I think you would be far better off taking part in a structured Iron Palm or similar training course than following the course of action outlined above. That way you have the herbs to reduce the swelling and inflammation that comes from hitting sand bags or whatever surface you've chosen several thousand times a session. This is not for the faint hearted though. I did a 20 week program years ago and took up a hell of a lot of my time.

 

[TakeItAll]

So I am torn between two Kung Fu schools. Both are in my neighborhood.

One trains way more weapons, has meditation classes, flexible schedule, and teaches Shaolin style.

The other only teaches two weapons (dual wield swords or spears), has a rigid schedule, is easier to access (I live in a big city), and teaches Ving Tsun style.

Anyone with experience in Kung Fu have any advice for a newbie? I am learning to train in a lot of weapons, it will be many years before I get to weapons training, but I want to learn a style that mandates extreme discipline.

Firstly I wouldn't stress too much about what weapons each style offers almost every style I've ever encounter (quite a lot) concentrate on empty hand techniques for quite some time.

Secondly my advice as other people have also said is to go to the school that offers the best teaching. A good instructor will make far more difference to you than a 'good' style.

PS. I am somewhat biased in that I have trained Wing Chun a branch from the same tree as the Ving Tsun you mentioned for a long time now.

 

[TakeItAll]

My first question is what sort of body type/level of bulk should I strive for to maximally improve my martial arts skill? And how should I achieve it as a person who is 190 lbs and 5'10" who only just recently started hitting the gym again?

Another question I have is which weight training exercises are the best for a martial artist? I am not very confident going into the gym just because I don't have a set plan. I just sort of go around the weight machines working out every muscle group and do some dumb bell bicep/tricep exercises.

In terms of your question about body type and level of bulk I would answer that bulk itself is really only useful in preventing damage to yourself. Personally I think training not to get hit is more useful but that's another story. What I personally strive for is strength in my resistance training. Right now I am training with kettlebells and wish I had discovered them years earlier. I do also train with dumb bells but I try and simulate martial arts techniques to create strength that is relevent. For instance when benching I do it on a fit ball with one dumbbell only. This makes me hold my whole body stable as a drive my punching arm upward as I would in a punch. This way you have a whole body exercise.

I think weight training and cardio work also has a great psychological advantage for martial artists. People that a confident in their own strength are very confident. I have felt this myself and seen it many time with my students prior to competitions. Keeping your cardiovascular system in good working order is primarily of greatest benefit in helping you make good decisions. The higher your heart rate the more difficult it is for you to make rational decisions. Which can mean the difference between jumping into a fight with a guy with a knife or looking around for an equaliser weapon before you engage for instance.

 

[belarki]

...What I personally strive for is strength in my resistance training. Right now I am training with kettlebells and wish I had discovered them years earlier. ....

Hey there, would you mind elaborating on kettle bells, their pro's and con's etc? I'm thinking about doing a beginner course and getting some but am hesitant due to the cost. A gym membership would be a much cheaper option for me it seems. Are they as good as the advertising lets on or a gimmick to part you with a lot of cash for a lump of iron?

 

[TakeItAll]

Well they are pretty much just a lump of iron but in terms of selecting a course try and steer clear of anything that seems to gimmicky or hollywood-like. You can probably download a heap of stuff to learn a bit about them which will probably help sort our the clueless people from the one's who know their stuff. The main guy who made them mainstread is Pavel Tsatouline. So most of the stuff associated with him is good.

I live in Australia but the cost of a 16kg and a 24kg were around AUD$300 or so which over here is cheaper than a year of a gym membership. Plus I have never stayed at a gym consistently for 12 months so it seemed worth it to me.

Pros: Built up a lot of extra leg power due to swings and snatches, I have friends that also have them to train with, portable and they seem to build a type of strength that has practical use. For instance I am no heavier but substantially stronger now. Also my grip strength has improved dramatically and it was already pretty good from hauling people around in martial arts training.

Cons: Sounds like you might not have anyone else to train with which is a disadvantage with any training, they don't seem to work the chest as much as I'd like and I think you'd still want to train 8 weeks a year or so doing really heavy deadlifts, squats, benches and rows to improve you maximal strength since kettlebells has a lot of low weight volume training to it. But there are quite heavy kettlebells too. The other drawback I just thought of is it can sometimes be a bit demoralising when you go from being about to smash out heaps of reps of a particular exercise with a 16kg kettlebell but when you try with the 24kg you can get hardly anywhere. I've been trying not to let it bug me and gradually the number of reps I can achieve in a set period of time is increasing.

 

[belarki]

^ Cool thank you for the in-dpeth reply I'll do a bit of research. Being able to work out at home in my back yard rather than in a gym would probably be a plus for me actually.

(I'm an aussie too b.t.w., Brisbane)