Martial arts discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

In my personal experience, I've found Muay Thai to be more of a competition fighting style rather than a more traditionally "combative" one. One thing which impresses me about MT fighters that I've sparred with has been the incredible power of their kicks, however my criticisms would be:
+ Groin defence is practically non-existent. A lot of their postures and moves actually open the groin up. They might as well have worn shorts/pants with a target painted on their crotch.
+ While their kicks are very strong as because they start from the ground, they lack the control offered from kicks that start from the knee; a lot of other MAs such as Karate, Kung Fu, Tai Chi etc. lift the knee first. While this sacrifices power, I find that it offers greater manoeuvrability and control.
+ Some MT fighters adopt modern boxing style ducking and weaving, which potentially leaves the neck and upper spine vulnerable -- i.e. it makes it easier to trap a forward leaning head and attack, break or snap the neck or upper vertebrae. This is why all traditional martial arts, including Victorian Era Queensberry (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/11/apr/boxme.jpg) Rules (http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/images/CharlieMitchell2.JPG) Boxing (http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/000/395/509/John_L._Sullivan_1898_crop_exact.jpg?w=340&h=224&q=85), Bar (http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID8685/images/BW20.jpg)titsu (http://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2009/01/2009-01-04_2343.png) etc., always have fighters holding their spine in an erect posture, and rarely (if ever) leaning their head and/or neck towards an opponent.

This is only from my own personal experience with Muay Thai fighters. Hopefully you guys have found better schools. :)


I miss it sooo much, esp my years over in Thailand.. I can't wait!
Did you ever come across Muay Boran when you were in Thailand? I've only seen very little of it, but apparently it's the more traditional martial art of Thailand, whereas Muay Thai feels to me to be more of a competitive sport variation. :confused: From what I've seen and heard, it's more similar to other traditional martial arts in that they have more solid upright stances, lower attacks, tighter defences etc. It lacks the more flashy looking (and IMO less effectual) moves, jumps etc. of Muay Thai, but would basically be what Thai warriors would have actually used in combat where personal survival was the key, and not scoring points, impressing judges or winning competitions. When I look at Muay Boran, it looks a lot more similar to other traditional martial arts, and it's something I'd like to have a better look at if I ever get the chance. :)
http://www.guidetothailand.com/travel-thailand-files/muay-thai.jpg
http://www.krumark.com/wp-content/gallery/photos/muay-boran-009.jpg
http://www.muaythaifactory.com/muay-thai/images/muay-boran-ancient-competition.jpg
http://www.krumark.com/wp-content/gallery/muay_boran/muay-boran-032_1.jpg
http://www.best-muaythai-equipment.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/nakmuayboran5.jpg

[Bartrim]

I don't know who you've talked about/practiced Muay Thai with Gok but we actually have very good groin defence. We use our lead leg to check across our body. I've found it to be better then in karate with some of the very wide traditional stances. I'll agree about the kicking, one of my instructors hates how I kick from the knee. But to compensate we do a lot of shin conditioning to make sure our shins are stronger in case you are off target.

Tfiguy, I live in Ulladulla, which is a small town 3 hours south of Sydney. I am fortunate however that we have a great school for the size if our town. My main coach Nick is the WKA full Muay Thai rules Australian champion for his weight division.

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't know who you've talked about/practiced Muay Thai with Gok but we actually have very good groin defence. We use our lead leg to check across our body. I've found it to be better then in karate with some of the very wide traditional stances.
Cool. :D Unfortunately none of the MT guys I've ever trained with had good groin defence. But as we know, individual results can vary greatly between different schools, even if they teach the same martial art. :o I've been to Karate Dojos that practice excellent groin defence, while others are just really bad.

And I see what you mean about the wideness of stances as practised in some schools (the Yang Tai Chi school that I used to go to also taught their Bow Stance as being too impractically wide for my liking). I've also found that some of them leave the groin open. One example is the way that some people teach the Forward Stance in a wider position. IMO the forward stance should be aligned from the Riding Horse Stance (Kibadachi), which is meant to be the 'core fundamental' stance in a lot of East Asian martial arts; one ought to be able to "turn" into a Forward Stance from a Horse Stance.
e.g.
Forward Stance A (http://www.skkifwatford.co.uk/Techniques%20(500)/Zenkutsu-dachi.JPG)
Forward Stance B (http://www.training-notebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/zenkutsudachi.jpg)
IMO Forward Stance B is better than A. A is too wide and appears to leave the groin open, whereas B is narrower and tighter. I've had people criticise this narrower gait for being "unstable" if someone pushes you from the side... but as if you would remain in this stance allowing someone to face you from your flank! :rolleyes: The opponent is supposed to be in front of you, and quite frankly, if they manouevre themselves to your inside, then you should have already changed your stance so that your vulnerable side isn't facing them! It's almost as if they're expecting you to fight like a statue rather than these stances merely being momentary. So I wouldn't say that the traditional stances are inherently flawed, per se, but often just not taught or applied correctly, IMHO. And most likely, the Muay Thai guys that I trained with were probably taught incorrectly too. :o

[5FDP]

IMO Forward Stance B is better than A. A is too wide and appears to leave the groin open, whereas B is narrower and tighter.

My favourite martial arts move would have to be Hold Block, press Up, Up, Up, and then press A + B.

Sorry, couldn't help myself :p

[GoktimusPrime]

Sorry, couldn't help myself :p
Real life application (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGr3Aeytf3I) ;)

[5FDP]

Real life application (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGr3Aeytf3I) ;)

That was actually very well done. I LOL'd hard at the car bonus stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CGr3Aeytf3I#t=303) :D

[Tfiguy]

Yeah Gok, mate we really do have great groin defense. Depending which attack is being used, there are different ways to defend. You're right it is designed as a competitive martial art based on muay boran but modified. Muay thai isn't really regarded as flashy as most thai trainers always teach you just rely on the basics and concentrate on precision and timing and power. If you watch some youtube clips of Thai fighters, you will notice that they usually rely on the basics as they see pulling off big flashy moves all the time will get uncoordinated, and wear you out too fast, that's why it's sometimes nick named a lazy martial art, and you're always taught to relax and not go crazy. There are many borkes you can do that may help in giving you an opening. Imo I would call muay boran more flashy.

[GoktimusPrime]

If you watch some youtube clips of Thai fighters, you will notice that they usually rely on the basics as they see pulling off big flashy moves all the time will get uncoordinated, and wear you out too fast, that's why it's sometimes nick named a lazy martial art, and you're always taught to relax and not go crazy.
Well, traditional martial arts do look "dull" and "boring" compared to the non-traditional styles as they were never designed to compete or entertain an audience -- purely for combat effectiveness. It's not flashy, and quite frankly, the dirtier and cheaper the move, the better. ;) IMHO one of the best film quotes that adequately describes good martial arts combat is from Toy Story, "This isn't flying, this is falling with style!" :D Fancy and flashy moves are just massively impractical and, IMO, are more likely to get you hurt or killed in a fight. I totally agree with what you said about becoming uncoordinated and exhausted too. I've seen a lot of competition fighters do those "bouncing" steps and of course, leaping moves, whereas all the traditional stuff I've seen never bounce and rarely leap (what an ineffectual waste of energy!).

As someone who comes from a predominantly Tai Chi (which is a type of Kung Fu) training background, there's a public perception that Kung Fu looks like this (http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20111215/001372acd5e91053a6ef59.jpg), whereas in reality it looks more like this (http://espytv.com/image/cache/data/hung%20gar-500x500.jpg) -- "Give me your face!" style of just ugly brutality.

[GoktimusPrime]

100 Ways to Attack the Groin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyXhysmMNhE) (it's like Benny Hill in angry pyjamas ;))

[Bartrim]

http://broscience.co/crossfit-worst-self-defence-program/

Warning! Do not use these techniques in a real life situation.

[Bartrim]

First lesson back after a 6 week hiatus due to a bulged disc. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow.

[KalEl]

I intend on getting back to training myself in the next few weeks.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've pretty much given up finding a martial arts school in my local area. There just aren't any schools in my area that teach authentic/traditional martial arts. :( I'm just sticking to self training/practice.

...................................

The news have been covering two stories that have some relevance to martial arts in Australia.

1) Man accused of 'one-punch' death of Daniel Christie to stand trial for murder (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-accused-of-onepunch-death-of-daniel-christie-to-stand-trial-for-murder-20141104-11gsot.html). The accused is a self-proclaimed mixed martial arts fighter. If it's true that he's actually received martial arts training before (and unfortunately it wouldn't surprise me if he has), then that's really upsetting. I really cannot abide how so many martial arts schools aren't more selective with their students. What kind of instructor/school teaches a combat art to a person with a violent/thug-like disposition and history of drug use? :confused: Unfortunately I have come across people with violent/thuggish tendencies being trained in martial arts. :( It just reeks of massive irresponsibility on the part of the instructor/school. I've also come across some instructors who will either modify their teaching programme towards such people (i.e. deliberately watering down that student's curriculum so that they're not actually acquiring new skills that they can use to hurt people with), or just outright expelling that student from the school. IMHO there are not enough instructors out there who are doing this. Christie's father has said, "We as mature adults need to do something to contain it (the violence)." -- and IMO, something that the martial arts community can do to help contain it is to NOT teach unfettered martial arts to people with dubious personality traits. It does depend on the style as well... Aikido instructors probably don't have to modify much if anything, since their art is entirely defensive and lacking any offensive capability in the first place. :p

2) Teenage Chinese lion dancer critical after stunt goes wrong in rehearsal (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/teenage-chinese-lion-dancer-critical-after-stunt-goes-wrong-in-rehearsal/story-fni0cx12-1227112982111) -- TV news reports that the teenager is now in a stable condition
A timely reminder that all martial arts schools and instructors do have a legal duty of care over their students. Now I'm by NO means making any allegations in this particular case; the story doesn't give us nearly enough details to make any kind of judgment like that. We do know that other members of the school rushed to perform CPR and called emergency services, and the police have commended their immediate use of first aid which has probably saved this kid's life. So it does sound like the school has exercised reasonable care in responding to the accident, but it will be ultimately up to the school's insurer to determine of reasonable care was taken or not. I really hope that they do find in favour of the school, because, as we all know, if the insurer determines that the school was negligent, then this in turn contributes to the rising cost of martial arts insurance (which all MA students pay for in annual fees). Again, I'm not making any suggestions or allegations about this particular school or case, but these cases ought to make us all reflect on how we are making our training as reasonably safe as possible. And I'm sure we all are, but sadly, there are a lot of schools out there that don't. I've seen schools where students are allowed to free spar... without wearing any protective equipment... without supervision from the master (only from senior students; the master is nowhere to be seen). :eek:

[Sinnertwin]

i suppose the instructor may have been aware of the individuals' thuggish disposition after watching his behaviour during lessons & proceeded accordingly. But if i was Billy Badass & wanted to learn how to inflict maximum damage on an individual through martial arts, i'd keep my mouth shut, eyes & ears open & stay in line.
My question is, do classes these days do a background check to determine if somebody has any sort of criminal behaviour? Do they do any sort of a check?

[GoktimusPrime]

That's a great question. My old Chen Tai Chi school conducted background checks -- we had one student who had a thuggish disposition and a background check revealed that he had a history of violence. That student's curriculum was modified. I've never seen any other school do it, but I've come across several students with questionable thuglike tendencies. So in my personal experience, I've only come across one school that conducted background checks and would appropriately modify teaching content for questionable students. IMHO it's something that should happen in every MA school, but I've seen a lot of schools that don't, and continue to teach students who are unable to keep their aggression in check.

[Bartrim]

That's a great question. My old Chen Tai Chi school conducted background checks -- we had one student who had a thuggish disposition and a background check revealed that he had a history of violence. That student's curriculum was modified. I've never seen any other school do it, but I've come across several students with questionable thuglike tendencies. So in my personal experience, I've only come across one school that conducted background checks and would appropriately modify teaching content for questionable students. IMHO it's something that should happen in every MA school, but I've seen a lot of schools that don't, and continue to teach students who are unable to keep their aggression in check.

I love mixed martial arts but I hate mixed martial artists. In my opinion a mixed martial artist should be someone who has trained in multiple martial arts not studied some hybrid because they want to let everyone know they "train UFC bro". This thug who was a "MMA fighter" is a coward who would probably freak out if he had to take part in any real competition. I can't describe in words how ashamed I am to be a part of community that people like that want to associate with.

My school doesn't do background checks but my instructor has booted people for thuggish behaviour. Overall I am really enjoying my school. We have great teachers and a great core group in my class of 8-10 that show up regularly and we've developed a close bond.

I've never modified a class I've taught due to aggressive behaviour but I have modified individual student curriculum twice. One was an autistic teenager who was quite talented once I broke the moves down for him and the other was (working with a health retreat) for a man going from 330kg to 110kg. There is a documentary being made on his journey. I don't know if I have a cameo in it but I am proud to have been part of it:)

[GoktimusPrime]

My school doesn't do background checks but my instructor has booted people for thuggish behaviour.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/th_like_metro_zps42fb33eb.jpg Most excellent. :)
Whether a school chooses to modify curriculum or outright expel the student, the important thing is that the school is doing something to address the issue of having a thug in the class. It really bugs me that there are so many schools out there that do nothing about it. Or even worse, when the master himself is a bully/thug (yes... I have seen this too at two different schools :().


I've never modified a class I've taught due to aggressive behaviour but I have modified individual student curriculum twice. One was an autistic teenager who was quite talented once I broke the moves down for him and the other was (working with a health retreat) for a man going from 330kg to 110kg. There is a documentary being made on his journey. I don't know if I have a cameo in it but I am proud to have been part of it:)
That is freaking fantastic. :) This shows that you are treating your students as individuals and are willing to customise your teaching to cater for your students' individual needs, as a teacher should! :D One of my pet peeves about a lot of martial arts "teachers" is how they simply treat all students the same, which is not what a proper teacher does. Good teaching should be more student-centred (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student-centred_learning), but I find a lot of MA schools are too teacher-centred. :rolleyes:

[5FDP]

Thinking of enrolling my daughter into a class sometime in the new year. She's done all the dancing stuff, gymnastics stuff, ballet stuff already. I want her to learn something practical / useful. I've never heard of anyone using ballet to get themselves out of trouble. I would also sleep a lot easier knowing that she can look after herself (when she's 10 years older and a third degree blackbelt ;) :D). Anyone here have kids under the age of 10 attending a school and what feedback / advice can you give me?

[GoktimusPrime]

Just my personal thoughts...

IMHO if you're looking for something practical/useful in terms of self defence, then the more traditional/authentic, the better. You want a school that predominantly or solely focuses on teaching martial arts as a survival skill rather than a hobby-sport. The atmosphere of the class would be somewhat similar to what you might expect in say an advanced First Aid course, where the teaching/learning is just about honing skills to optimise survival. There's nothing about glory or impressing a judge or audience or winning points or trophies etc. It's just about keeping yourself safe from harm.

But all the authenticity in the world is no good if the teaching is bad. Last year I trained in a traditional Okinawan style of Karate, but after about a year I quit because the teaching was just awful. So teaching methodology/quality is also key Student-centred learning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student-centred_learning) is far more effective than teacher-centric classes. Think of the dull teacher who stands at the front of the classroom telling students what to do, and the students blindly copy without question. It's passively mind-numbing rote learning, which tonnes of research has demonstrated as a POOR method of teaching and learning. School teachers try to avoid teacher-centred passive learning as much as possible, and shift more towards student-centred active learning where students are given ample opportunities of problem-solve, formulate/answer questions, discuss, explain, debate, brainstorm, as well as engaging in learning via cooperation, inquiry, discovery etc. Teacher-centred learning is like the Michael Bay of teaching/learning... it's a popular method, but ultimately shallow. Student-centred learning is more like say IDW G1... not as widespread, but far more in-depth and richer in quality. ;) Student-focused schools are more likely to cater for individual differences in learners rather than blindly treating them all as clones.

I would strongly suggest shopping around. Check out as many schools as you can. Give them a visit and try to observe at least one lesson. Even better if the school offers trial lessons (though I find these days many don't :().

Good luck :cool:

[5FDP]

Thanks for the tips Goki. I'm surprised that many don't offer trial lessons these days. Back when I was training, my instructor wasn't even fussed if we paid him 6 months late.

I know of a parent from her school that teaches a class at his home. I think I might take her to give that a try. She's a fairly shy little girl and going to a class with 10 or more students might scare her off. From what I have heard, he keeps his classes fairly small as he doesn't advertise.

[GoktimusPrime]

I know of a parent from her school that teaches a class at his home. I think I might take her to give that a try. She's a fairly shy little girl and going to a class with 10 or more students might scare her off. From what I have heard, he keeps his classes fairly small as he doesn't advertise.
^This sounds excellent. My best martial arts training have been in "no frills" classes like that. :)

[Bartrim]

Went to see the UFC in Sydney on Saturday. 11 fights with 11 finishes. An awesome day.

[5FDP]

Went to see the UFC in Sydney on Saturday. 11 fights with 11 finishes. An awesome day.

Please explain. I'm picturing spine / heart / head rips :p

[Bartrim]

Please explain. I'm picturing spine / heart / head rips :p

Well fights go for 3 x 5 minute rounds if there are no KOs/TKO/submission. No fights went the distance. All the fights ended with either KO, TKO or submission. No organs being ripped off but a couple of guys were knocked out cold and one guy didn't tap in a submission so he drifted off into unconsciousness.

[5FDP]

Well fights go for 3 x 5 minute rounds if there are no KOs/TKO/submission. No fights went the distance. All the fights ended with either KO, TKO or submission. No organs being ripped off but a couple of guys were knocked out cold and one guy didn't tap in a submission so he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Awww... that's so not as exciting as what I had in mind. I reckon an underground UFC MK match would be awesome. Of course, if there was one, the first rule of UFC MK is we don't talk about UFC MK ;) :cool:

[GoktimusPrime]

I just had the mental image of a real life Babality. Weird. :p

[Bartrim]

Awww... that's so not as exciting as what I had in mind. I reckon an underground UFC MK match would be awesome. Of course, if there was one, the first rule of UFC MK is we don't talk about UFC MK ;) :cool:

About as close you'll get to an MK style finish to a UFC fight. Leslie Smith's cauliflower ear exploded after being hit repeatedly by Jessica Eye.

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm218/Bartrim/leslie_zps969c6d0a.png (http://s297.photobucket.com/user/Bartrim/media/leslie_zps969c6d0a.png.html)

[Sinnertwin]

ha! look at that spray! i thought that only happened in Rocky movies

[GoktimusPrime]

This article (http://www.tofugu.com/2014/12/08/bushido-way-total-bullshit/) discusses fact vs fiction in Bushido, including how it was exploited by the Japanese government for propaganda purposes.

----------------------

I found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWh-uhw4C9s) which shows the evolution from Kung Fu to Karate. There are four martial artists; the first two are demonstrating Fujian Kung Fu forms (?White Crane & Five Ancestors? :confused:), and the other two are demonstrating Okinawan Karate. The last person's kata is the same as a the Sanchin katas that I've seen IRL, but the third person is the one that I find interesting, as I've personally never seen that before. It appears to be the "missing link" between Fujian Kung Fu and modern day Karate -- possibly pre-20th century Karate! Because the closest thing I've been able to find to traditional Karate has been Gojuryu, as it is a style that originated from Okinawa. But even then, Gojuryu was developed around the time of the First World War.

I've also stumbled across this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00BbDeeasCY) of Gang Rou Quan Kung Fu, an incredibly obscure style of Fujian Kung Fu which may very well be a more direct ancestor of Karate (I believe that Gang Rou Quan is written as 剛柔拳 in Kanji, which is pronounced as Goujuuken in Japanese; the name of the Miyagi's Okinawan Karate system; and we know that Miyagi himself trained in Fuzhou and Fujian in Southern China (where he visited the grave of his Chinese grandmaster, Ryuryuko) before returning to Okinawa and founding his Karate Dojo).

[KalEl]

Personal training update. My karate training will recommence in January :) just waiting on my membership card to arrive.

[5FDP]

My daughter officially had her first Karate class last night. She loved it! It helped that it was a small class of girls only between the ages of 7 and 10.

[GoktimusPrime]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/21/manchesters-original-gangsters
^An interesting article about the high level of urban violence in 19th Century Britain, which gave rise to British martial arts like Bartitsu. The martial art of "Baritsu" in Sherlock Holmes is based on the real-life Victorian martial art of Bartitsu.

[GoktimusPrime]

Mental Floss: misconceptions about exercise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEniG2uf35U); the ones that I find most relevant for martial arts (or at least, some martial arts schools/practitioners that I've dealt with) are:

#3: Stretching prevents injury
As the video says, warm-ups are still important for injury prevention, just not static-stretching, which may have adverse effects. IMO stretching is better suited for cooling down at the end of a training session.

#8: Cardio burns more kilojoules than weight training
...and yet half the Karate instructors that I've had wouldn't allow me to use strap-on (http://www.alilon.com/sitemedia/products/2007/11/02/Strap_Weights.jpg) wrist (http://www.normansauctions.com/wp-content/gallery/home-gym-equipment/strap-on-weights-in-pairs_new.jpg) and ankle weights (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzE5WDMwMA==/z/XKwAAOxyAc1SQCAE/$T2eC16VHJFwFFZ7!U,cdBSQC!Dm9c!~~60_35.JPG) during training. Both my Chen and Yang Tai Chi teachers were fine with it (in fact, it was standard practice where I learnt Chen Tai Chi), and some of my Karate teachers were cool with; but others were dead-set against the idea, including the head/Shihan of the Gojuryu Karate Dojo that I went to... despite the fact that traditional Karate incorporated weight training (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hojo_und%C5%8D). :eek: Tai Chi forms are practised very slowly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLN0wMtG5c0), and practising them with weights strapped to your wrists and ankles can give you a pretty good burn. But you don't have to be a Tai Chi practitioner to try this; anyone who practises a martial art that has forms (kata, poomsae etc.) can try this; just be sure to move slowly; especially when throwing punches and kicks. Slowly extend and retract your arms and legs each time, rather than "snapping" them out, because in doing that you're letting momentum do half the work for you instead of your muscles. Even practising forms slowly without weights will still have a similar effect (because your limbs have mass and are thus naturally weighted), but obviously adding weights to them will increase the benefit. :)

#10: No pain, no gain
Yup. Massive myth. We might say no strain no gain, but actual pain is not a good thing. In Tai Chi I was always taught to push until it strains -- it should be uncomfortable and nearly hurts, but not to the point where it actually hurts. The same holds true even for endurance conditioning exercises (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OGUbTVD5Ow). I've met guys who just brutally bash at each other right from the outset, regardless of what your level is, justifying that it's "no pain, no gain." In legal reality, it's dereliction of duty of care. :rolleyes: Just as the video link correctly shows, it should begin fairly gently as a series of 'bumps.' Then as your endurance improves, you increase speed and strength. It's the same as any other kind of conditioning -- you don't start at the top! The idea of getting novices to smash into each other is akin to getting a person who's new at weights to lift 100kg. :rolleyes: And if those people think that smashing each other is a great way to toughen up, then why not just hammer each other with cricket bats? :p </cheek>

[Hot Rodimus]

Think you missed the point with no#8. Doing forms or kata with ankle and wrists weights may make it challenging but it really isn't what they are referring to and in this case you would be better of going for a run.

I can only surmise they are referring to a well programed workout routine with weights and a proper set and rep scheme for strength or mass or the other side of the scale which is a high intensity interval circuit with weights (or even body weight resistance).

The above methods combined with proper nutrition will burn more kilojoules and make you look good, instead of the skinny/skinny fat look that someone who only does cardio may have.

[GoktimusPrime]

There is a traditional Okinawan Karate seminar happening in mid February in a North-Western suburb of Sydney. Registration for attendance/participation is already closed, but they are looking for interpreters because they've got several Karate masters flying in directly from Okinawa, Japan for this seminar. I offered to interpret on the Sunday as I'm busy on the Saturday, but they've insisted on having the same interpreters for both days -- so I'm out. :o But if anyone else is able and willing to lend a hand, please drop me a PM and I'll forward the Kanchou's contact details to you. It sounds like a good opportunity to experience some authentic Okinawan Karate. :)

[Bartrim]

last night I had my first BJJ lesson in about 2 years...

I am sore today:o

[GoktimusPrime]

<sympathetic.nod> I know that feeling. :)

[Sinnertwin]

last night I had my first BJJ lesson in about 2 years...

I am sore today:o

i had to read that twice :o

[Bartrim]

The UFC is planning an event in Adelaide so Tom Wright who is the director of operations for the UFC in Australia went on an Adelaide radio show to promote the event. He received a very ignorant attack from radio host David Penberthy. I was very impressed by how calm Tom remained during the "interview". What really grinds my gears is how ignorant this radio personality was and how was unwilling to change his view when facts were presented to him.

http://mmakanvas.ninemsn.com.au/articles/news/2813/on-air-battle-ufcs-tom-wight-goes-head-to-head-with-fired-up-radio-host.html

[GoktimusPrime]

I've started a blog about martial arts here (http://taikyokuken.thoughts.com/posts/separating-some-basic-facts-from-fiction-in-martial-arts-karate). The first article is just a basic history of Karate (as well as Taekwondo and Hapkido). Bear in mind that this is only meant to be a basic history of Karate (and even more basic history of TKD and HKD), but the aim is just to separate fact from fiction in regard to some misconceptions that a lot of people have about these martial arts (re: historical accuracy).

I intend to be writing similar articles about other martial arts styles in the near future. :)

[Bartrim]

Annoyed at myself tonight. Hit a real mental wall and couldn't "pull the trigger" in sparring. I was hoping to enter a semi contact event in 2 months... But my instructor won't let me with crummy efforts like tonight's :mad:

[GoktimusPrime]

:confused: Seems a tad unfair to disallow you just because you had one bad session. :confused: Everyone has their off days. If anything, there's a lot of benefits in continuing to train when you're feeling off, because it helps prepare you to defend yourself if someone does jump you when you're already feeling pretty crummy. It's not as if you can tell a real life attacker to come back another day when you're feeling better. :p

[Bartrim]

In hindsight I think he was trying to motivate me. I was just annoyed last night, more so at myself then anyone else.

[Bartrim]

Here is a man who has never listened to Gok :D

http://www.mmamania.com/2015/5/31/8693417/ufc-fight-night-67-video-watch-ryan-jimmo-have-his-nuts-kicked-into-oblivion-brazil

What the video doesn't show is Ryan Jimmo vomiting into a bucket for the next 3 minutes. They had to actually check if his cup broke too. Tough SOB got up and finished the fight. Lost by decision but still got through it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Heh, awesome video. :)
So let's have an analysis into what went so horribly wrong.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/groin_ufc_zpstun5tm7f.jpg
It all boils down to one thing: poor stance work. He's turned into what has got to be one of the worst attempts at a forward/front stance I've ever seen. Critical errors include:
* Leaving his body square onto his opponent, thus fully exposing himself.
* Not keeping his back straight, thus having a forward lean. This could get bad if he were fighting against a competent grappler, especially putting himself at increased risk of having his neck or upper spinal cord broken.
* Rear foot's heel is peeled up. Most likely to give his punch driving force in compensation for his poor stance (a proper forward stance doesn't need the heel peeled up, as force is generated from hip, waist and shoulder rotation (re: torsion)). This makes him poorly balanced forward, which again makes him more vulnerable to being grappled, thrown, or in this case, lunging his groin forward into a kick.

Unfortunately, poor stance training is all too common in a lot of schools. Here are some examples of the forward stance. The first two (Fig.A & B) are what I consider to be incorrect, and the third one (Fig.C) is what I would consider to be correct.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_frontstance_zpsb4cmon6f.jpg
Bear in mind that I'm only using crude 2-dimensional MS Paint lines to try and represent a 3 dimensional model, so anything on the z axes are moving towards or away from the perpendicular (x axis).
Fig.A
Much like the person who got kicked in the video, this person has turned himself to be facing his opponent square on. This leaves his body more exposed. He is attempting to cover his groin by leaning his knee inwards, but it's still leaving a discernible gap.
Fig.B
Even worse than Fig.A, this person is also turned facing his opponent square on, but is also leaning forwards (whereas the person in Fig.A is at least keeping an erect posture).
Fig.C
The person on the left has rotated his waist so that his shoulders are side on. This significantly narrows the gaps in his defences, and also means that his body is no longer facing square onto his opponent. His angles of exposure are not aligned with his opponent's incoming attack angle. And note that it's angles -- plural. His groin, stomach and chest are all pointing and different directions, as his body is twisted like a corkscrew. This also gives him the added advantage of using torsion to drive more power behind his punch, thus he doesn't need to peel his heel off the ground nor lean forward into his punch. Okay, there is a slight lean, but this photo appears to be taken at actual speed whereas the first two appear to be static poses; despite this, I find the person who's executed the stance at full speed to be relatively better than the others who are doing it as poses (it should be the other way around). This person also doesn't need to buckle his front knee in to cover his groin.

Moral of the story: Ensure that your angles of exposure are not aligned with your opponent's angle of attack. Keep your shoulders aligned with your opponent's angle of attack. Lead with your shoulder forward, not your chest. This is still practised in modern warfare, as can be seen here:
http://static3.therichestimages.com/cdn/1728/905/100/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/russian-special-forces.jpg
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/us-special-forces-soldier-armed-tom-weber.jpg
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2014/04/25/1226896/075563-e7c909cc-cc0d-11e3-b520-1a79dc9db4b9.jpg
Pretty much the only time a soldier stands front on is when they're showing respect (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/04/24/21/27F5020500000578-3054224-image-a-17_1429905902400.jpg), but certainly not in combat. They expose themselves as a sign of trust. Yes, this is a super basic concept that is taught to beginners in any good martial arts school. A person that has not grasped this concept shouldn't even be doing full contact sparring, let alone competing in a martial arts tournament. :rolleyes:

[Zechariah]

Thank you TIGER Kim Myung Man for being so hard on me, you would be proud.

[Bartrim]

Had one of my pet hates happen last night. Had a spare a monster of a kid (23years old, 200cm tall, 120kg) Bouncing around the ring. Normal sparring back and forth. He has a lot of range on me so I have to change up my tactics. As he comes in I throw a pecking kick and hit him right on the thigh. My instructor compliments me on changing my tactics and timing. This Monster all of the sudden on the next exchange throws an overhand right and it connects WHAM!!!!!... I stagger back. What the hell dude? I try to reset and he bullies me into a corner BAM!!! left hook to the body CRACK!!!! Right cross to my face. I can take a punch but this dude is 40kgs heavier then me. Thankfully our instructor then jumped in the ring and told him to dial back the power. I was so annoyed. I hate when people spar and as soon as they get hit with a good technique they get cranky and attack all out. If you can't control yourself you shouldn't spar.:mad:

[GoktimusPrime]

IMO a person with violent, angry or thuglike tendencies/dispositions, should either have their training modified (e.g. not allowed to spar, only taught passive/defensive techniques etc.), or denied training. It really, really, really bugs me when I come across people like that who are giving martial arts training. The whole point of teaching martial arts should be to help people to protect themselves from thugs, and not to breed more of them.

In terms of tactically dealing with these kinds of opponents, you need to try to neutralise their advantage over you; e.g. additional reach, powerful hits etc.; this is where directly attacking the core comes into play. So long as you remain outside of his core, then he can still hit you. Close the gap. Use your BJJ training and grapple/wrestle the sucker down to the ground, heck, tackle him if you need to.

Let us consider range in 3 "zones":

Long range = punching/kicking distance
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_range_circle1_zpsepsqsyg8.jpg

Mid range = elbowing/kneeing distance
Fig.A: Elbowing striker's zones, Fig.B Punching striker's zones, Fig.C Kneeing striker's zones
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_range_circle2_zps50u5cvva.jpg

Close range = the body; including shoulders, waist and hips (opponents' zones highlighted)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_range_circle3_zpsgp63b8ha.jpg

Close range is what I would recommend that you aim for. In doing so, you are rendering your opponent's long and mid ranges irrelevant. As you can see in these examples, the defenders have either moved beyond the attacker's outer ranges, or they have immobilised them. They are all aiming to directly attack their opponent's core, swiftly delivering them to the ground. Little fuss, just nice and quick, finishing the fight in as few moves as possible; shouldn't take more than a few seconds from the moment of contact. I imagine that your Juujutsu training should prove useful for this. Perhaps you could practice with a more friendly sparring partner first before trying to spar with this person again.

You might also want to consider having words with your instructor about this person's attitude, as I'm sure the last thing anyone wants is for him to go out and use the skills that he's learnt at your school to hurt someone. Good luck. :)

[Bartrim]

The thing is this guy is generally a placid, nice guy. We get along well. We get along well and are friendly outside of training. We have sparred before and had no problems. For some reason the other night after I hit one good technique on him, he just decided to go nuts. I had a word with my instructor (as I am good friends with him outside of training) and he said he'd mention something to him. I'll see what happens next time. Maybe he just had a rush of blood. At the time it did frustrate me though.

[GoktimusPrime]

The thing is this guy is generally a placid, nice guy. We get along well. We get along well and are friendly outside of training. We have sparred before and had no problems. For some reason the other night after I hit one good technique on him, he just decided to go nuts. I had a word with my instructor (as I am good friends with him outside of training) and he said he'd mention something to him. I'll see what happens next time. Maybe he just had a rush of blood. At the time it did frustrate me though.
He may need more exercise in learning how to remain calm in a fight. Getting flustered isn't going to do him any favours, as he's more likely to either get hit by a superior attacker, or he might use excessive force in self defence and end up in legal strife. :( Does your school do any meditative exercises?

A colleague of mine has a son who joined the Australian Army this year. As part of his basic training, his unit was made to go through an obstacle course with a dummy rifle equipped with a bayonet. They had targets which would suddenly jump in front of them at random locations, and they had to immediately stick them with their bayonet. At first he kept on losing his cool and stuffing up, which meant that the entire unit was made to restart the obstacle course from the beginning. At any time, if so much as one person stuffed up, they had to restart. It quickly made everyone realise that they had to remain cool, calm and collected while defending themselves from frightening surprise attacks.

It reminded me of the 'sensory deprivation' activity that we used to do in Tai Chi. It involves 2-3 people. The defender closes his/her eyes standing in a natural and relaxed posture. S/he then closes his/her eyes and continues to relax; breathing slowly, thinking calm thoughts. The attacker(s) then positions a focus pad (or pads) at a random location near the body; only a few cm away from direct contact. The attacker(s) then look at the defender's eyes. After the defender has adequately calmed him/herself, s/he then must SNAP his/her eyes wide open and immediately react to wherever the focus pad(s) may be. The attacker(s), upon seeing the defender's eyes open, them immediately proceed to attack (i.e. make physical contact with the defender's body). This gives the defender only a fraction of a second to react to the threat, as well as simulating the element of awful surprise. The defender should get that sick feeling in his/her stomach when this happens to, because you've been caught off guard. We were told that if we didn't get this sick "OMFG!" feeling, then we weren't doing it right. :o
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_sensorydeprivation_zpsvxuv7h1i.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/omg_zps183477eb.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

Found a video that demonstrates a proper traditional/historically authentic martial art. Cannon Fist form (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9P60vuB86o) from Islamic Long Fist Kung Fu. This style dates back to the 10th Century and was actually used by Muslim warriors during the Crusades (1095-1291C.E.). The style travelled along the Silk Road from China to the Middle East, where its moves were honed on bloody battlefields against Crusaders before returning to China.

A lot of demonstrations of Long Fist these days, including the photo and general description on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changquan) :rolleyes:, aren't authentic Long Fist, but rather the Modern Wushu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wushu_(sport)) version, which is effectively created as a form of martial arts based acrobatics (Wushu Long Fist video (https://youtu.be/koFuJOgh6do?t=24)).

[GoktimusPrime]

A lot of martial arts that people have learnt or are learning (or their children are learning) may not be nearly as authentic or traditional as one may think. I've made this basic/simple timeline.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/martialartstimelinehistory_zpseefu0sad.jpg

Thus...
* Shaolin Kung Fu circa 1368, depending on style - may be as old as the Great Wall of China
* Tai Chi (1750); may be as old as Westminster Bridge
* Wing Chun Kung Fu (1700s); may be as old as the United States. Although if it's the Hong Kong variant, then it may be as ancient as the Volkswagen Kombivan (1950).
* Judo, gi & coloured belts (1882); this art, uniform and belts are as ancient as the electric fan
* Boxing (1908); as old as the Model T Ford
* Brazilian Jujutsu (1909); as ancient as instant coffee
* Kendo (1920); as traditionally Japanese as the Band Aid
* Muay Thai/kickboxing (1920s); as ancient as bubble gum
* Japanese Karate (1935); as traditional as radar
* Aikido (1942); as old as the world's first electronic digital computer
* Hapkido (1945); as ancient as the atomic bomb
* Original Taekwondo (1957); as old as the Fortran computer programming language
* Competitive Karate (1964); as ancient as the world's first action figure, Hasbro's G.I. Joe
* Competitive Taekwondo (1973); as traditional as gene splicing
* GoKanRyu Karate (1984); as old as the Transformers franchise
* Shooto/MMA (1985); as ancient as Super Mario Bros. (on Famicom and NES; the arcade game came out in 1983, so technically Super Mario is older than Mixed Martial Arts ;))

[GoktimusPrime]

Check out this video of a 90 year old practising Hung Ga Kung Fu's Tiger Crane form! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e60JHBAKGVw) :eek: Historically speaking, this art is believed to have emerged around the 17th Century (late Renaissance/early Modern)

Note: Feudalism in Asia
The historical periods that I've been mentioning are based on Western/European standards. Remember that feudalism ended much later in Asia. Japan, Korea and China began modernising in 1868, 1910 & 1911 respectively.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S.: Shaolin Temple controversy (http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/29/china/china-shaolin-monk-corruption-jiang/index.html)
Amidst the long-running decline of Shaolin becoming an ever increasingly commercialised venture, the abbot appears to have been a vewwy naughty boy. :eek:

[GoktimusPrime]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/th_martialartstimelinehistory_zpseefu0sad.jpg

^Amendment/correction: It wasn't necessarily Taekkyon that developed in 50BCE Korea, but rather 'Subak,' which isn't a unified martial arts system per se, but the generic term for ancient Korean martial arts in general. Subak went into significant decline during the Joseon period (1392-1897), Korea's period of self-isolationism, becoming known as the "hermit kingdom." It was during this period that Subak is believed to have evolved or given rise to Taekkyon. Taekkyon in turn gave rise to Kwonbop*, as well as forms of wrestling/grappling such as Ssireum and and Japgi.

The problem with trying to trace the history of ancient Korean martial arts is a lack of dependable existing records. In 1126, a coup against King Injong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injong_of_Goryeo) saw most of the palace being burnt, including the libraries and National Academy. Thousands of books were lost. Further records were lost during the Mongol Invasions of Korea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Korea). So while it's most likely that Taekkyon's origins pre-date the Joseon period, the earliest existing sources that explicitly mention Taekkyon only date back to 1776-1800. And if you think looking at the history of Korean martial arts is bad, it's even worse when you look at Chinese martial arts, as there was widespread destruction of books, temples etc. across China during the Cultural Revolution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution). :( Hence why I've placed the origins of Tai Chi at 1750; Tai Chi may be much older than this, but the earliest surviving records only place it at 1750.

This is why the deliberate destruction of culture (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/isis-fighters-destroy-ancient-artefacts-mosul-museum-iraq) is such a terrible thing, because once it's lost, it's lost forever and we can never get it back. :(

--------------------------------------------------
*Which is just the Korean word for 'boxing' (拳法), and is known as "Chuanfa" in Chinese (another term for Kung Fu) or Kempo in Japanese. These aren't necessarily names of specific styles, but just umbrella terms for boxing (remember that the traditional definition of boxing is just any form of unarmed combat, unlike the more restrictive modern definition).

[GoktimusPrime]

Ver 2.0 of my Martial Arts Timeline. I've corrected the Subak/Taekkyon thing as mentioned in my last post, and also added Medieval Swordsmanship. I've placed it at 1300 C.E., as that's when the oldest extant fechtbuch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Armouries_Ms._I.33) was printed. Also added a smaller/simpler visual timeline on the right hand margin. :)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/martialartstimelinehistory2_zpsa3gj0yie.jpg

[Bartrim]

Had a little personal breakthrough last night. As much as I enjoy throwing roundhouse kicks I have always struggled with technique. Watching me practice on the heavy bags last night my instructor noticed I was having difficulties. He made one little suggestion, "You are only turning your front foot 90 degrees, try turning it 180". Boom! didn't that make a difference. Doing that made my body angle back more and open my hips more, I managed hit head height for the first time and most importantly working heavy bags had been hurting my shins, that was gone. Very happy with last nights effort.

[GoktimusPrime]

Awesome! :D It's amazing how slight turns in the ankles, hips, waist etc. all help to contribute to one's power output. :) One common mistake I see with novices is that they focus on the part of the body that's doing the striking; in the case of punching, focusing on the fist/hand, and in the case of kicking, focusing on the foot. The actual strike is nothing more than the by-product of what the body is doing via one's stance (and how one moves through one's stance). That's something that Tai Chi really taught me, because when you're made to do your forms as super-slow speed, you're made to analyse every single little twist and turn in all of your joints and appreciate how each of them contributes to the accumulative result of the technique's end result.

Chinese martial arts literature refers to this as the connection between "Heaven and Earth." "Earth" representing your feet/legs, and "Heaven" representing the end result of your technique, so in this case, where your kicking foot makes contact with its target. Ensuring that your "Earth" technique is correct in turn has an effect which 'ripples' all the way up to "Heaven." Or in plain language, proper footwork helps you hit harder. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_kdGe8Ljc
This video shows a young man (boy?) using Tai Chi to defend himself on a train from another young man. Initially he is hesitant to get in a fight, but being caught in a confined space with an unrelenting aggressor, he exercises his right to self defence and uses just one move to bring the attacker down and finish the fight. This is what traditional martial arts looks like. As Bushido says, "One hit one kill" -- not literally, but it just means that you end the violence with as few moves as possible. Ideally with just one move if you can, and this defender had the 'ideal fight' in that he was able to diffuse a violent situation with a single move.

IMO this is what every martial artist should strive to achieve; to be able to defeat your opponent as quickly as possible. The fight should only last a few seconds. None of this back-and-forth tit-for-tat point scoring stuff, but rather with the simple idea of, "This ends now."

For the first 17 seconds of the video, the attacker taunts the defender with words and shoving, but it's not until the 18th second where the attacker grabs the defender by the collar, which is where the defender then chooses to defend himself. Pay attention to the video times...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_trainfight_zpswvfi4q6u.jpg
0:18 = the attacker grabs the defender
0:19 = the defender traps the attacker's grabbing arm
0:20 = the defender executes a take-down manouevre
The fight itself is finished in 3 seconds. This is how traditional martial arts work. This is nothing that's unique to Tai Chi/Kung Fu... every martial art in the world started off like this, however, not every martial arts school today teaches this. This is why I strongly prefer and recommend traditional martial arts i.e. one with a pre-WWII lineage; especially one that pre-dates modern commercialisation. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

It always amuses me when people go on about martial arts uniforms like the Gi, considering that it's not even a historically traditional piece of martial arts attire. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the Gi was first used by Judoka in the late 19th Century, and later adopted by Karate and other martial arts in the early 20th Century (c. 1930s).

Here (http://www.spokanekendo.com/images/oldkendo2_large.jpg) is a colourised photo of Kendo practitioners taken during or around the Meiji Period (1868-1912). As you can see, they're pretty much just wearing a regular clothes, including short sleeve tops! And their Hakamas appear to be far less pleated and more simplistic than ones worn by modern Kendoka today (https://www.juka.com/uniform/images/kendo2.jpg).

And here are some photos demonstrating some more traditional aspects of martial arts that I've never seen in modern Kendo.

* "Crouching Tiger (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/90/21/9a/90219a658ccf7a19560abbdc65d6ed52.jpg)" <---check out that deep and sunken stance of the defender! A lot of Kendoka that I've seen seem to just forgo the use of proper stances (http://udel.edu/~phend/DreamweaverLab5/images/kendo01.jpg). :o

* "Brawling" 1 (http://www.spokanekendo.com/images/oldkendo6_large.jpg), 2 (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tYXEDzdaAt4/VN1m6djED1I/AAAAAAAAApM/e_NAZZ2mCD0/s1600/1925-7.jpg)
These photos are just brilliant, as it not only demonstrates the more traditional aspect of martial arts fighting that isn't bound by the more restrictive rules found in modern sports/competition fighting, but also demonstrates what has been discussed before on this thread; that close-range fighting is more advanced. Here are images of Kendo fights that have broken down to close-range grappling/wrestling, thus neutralising any effectiveness of using a sword. This was when martial arts like Kendo were being taught by actual former Samurai, such as Saitō Hajime (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sait%C5%8D_Hajime), who was a veteran of several wars during the Late Bakumatsu Shogunate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakumatsu). :) This is more similar to the spirit in which I was taught, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find any schools around my area that still retains this traditional mindset.

[Bartrim]

Wearing a Jiu Jitsu gi is great for weight loss:p

[GoktimusPrime]

Wearing a Jiu Jitsu gi is great for weight loss:p
<sympathetic nod> ;)

For anyone reading this who may not know, the Judogi is quite different from the Karategi in that it's a lot thicker. This is because the Judogi is designed to be more resilient so that it doesn't tear so easily from practitioners being constantly thrown and grappled etc. The downside is that it is a substantially heavier gi that gets even heavier as it accumulates all your lovely sweat! :D

[Bartrim]

My old gi weighed 18 pounds.

I can't remember what my karate gi weighed but it was a lot lighter.

[GoktimusPrime]

Just came back from a family road trip where we stayed at an estate with about 9 other families (friends of a friend; made the whole thing cheaper blah blah blah). Last night I saw one of the other dads there practising what looked like Tai Chi. I asked him, and he confirmed that it was and that he practises Yang Style Tai Chi. I asked him if he wouldn't mind doing some Push Hands (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8961jln5M2Y) with me.

I got my butt handed back to me! :eek:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/th_nigahiga_pwned.jpg
I was really excited to finally be able to spar with a superior opponent. Someone who didn't rely on brute force, but purely on technique and strategy. The way that he described his technique was a really good one, "Strike hard by being soft." I offered the analogy of being a flicked wet towel, it's soft and supple but really hurts on impact. When I did Karate, one of the black belts also offered a good analogy of being like a whip.

This is one thing that I miss about my Tai Chi training and that I felt was lacking when I've done other martial arts like Aikido, Karate etc.; allowing people to train with significantly superior partners. As someone who's never passed beyond white belt, I can count the number of times that I've trained with black belts on one hand. :( And when I have, I've found it to be a real mixed bag -- some black belts were absolute push overs to beat while others were more formidable. Whereas when I did Tai Chi, every senior student that I trained with completely outclassed me.

But IMO this highlights the importance of allowing students of different ability levels to train with each other. Because when you only ever train with people of the same or similar level as yourself, it's really hard to get any better. Imagine two people trying to learn a language, neither of which are fluent speakers, trying to practice conversation with each other. It's just not going to be as good as practising against say a native speaker. Yes, the native speaker will outclass you in every way, but once you learn how to be conversant with native speakers, your fluency in the target language improves exponentially. There's a reason why P Platers cannot instruct/supervise Learner drivers.

I've found a similar thing in my martial arts experience. When I was able to train with fighters who were much more competent than myself, they pushed me to fight harder and learn faster and better. When I've trained at schools where I was relegated to training with fellow novices, my skill set just stagnated/plateaued. IMO students (of anything, not just martial arts) benefit more when they're able to practise with others who are better than themselves, and this is one advantage of training in a traditional school that doesn't bother with ranks or belts etc.; because there is no definite rank, everyone just mixes up with each other throughout the course of training. You are bound to eventually train with someone who could kick your butt with their eyes closed (which this person practically did do to me last night, because he predicted my moves and sent me flying backwards before I could even lay a hand on him). And the way that he fought me was exceptional -- he would have me beaten in just 1 or 2 moves. It was like being a prey animal and watching a tiger pounce on me. Whenever he made a strike, I didn't stand a chance. That is how martial arts is meant to be!

And this guy isn't any kind of hardcore martial arts fanatic. He's a family man w/ two kids who just learns Tai Chi on the side as a casual hobby, but this is simply the quality of teaching/learning that I've typically experienced at a traditional school. The way he described his school sounds similar to the one I used to train at. No nonsense training. No uniform, no belts, no gradings, no competitions... just training for the sake of learning and improving one's techniques. We also discussed how these sort of traditional schools are often a lot cheaper than non-traditional schools, and I lamented about how much money I've wasted on subsequent schools which didn't really teach me anything useful. (-_-)

It's funny... I feel so glad to have been beaten. :D And he was really gracious about it too. Each time he'd beat me, we'd review the technique and he'd critique me on what I was doing wrong. Unfortunately we just didn't have the time to go much further than that, and his school is too far away from where I live (but he's invited me to pop over if I'm ever in his neck of the woods :o).

[GoktimusPrime]

Japanese Karate parody video (https://www.facebook.com/xiaoMY/videos/10152416958167569/?pnref=story).
Alternative link (low res) (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjE4MTY4.html?f=800)

I like how they've named their Karate style 仁義無流 (jingumuryuu), which roughly translates as "Inhumanity Style." ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

I found this video which simply and clearly demonstrates how "McDojos" work, and it's precisely how all the non-traditional martial arts schools that I have ever been to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvAiSaBGaj8
As I have long espoused, none of the things that many of these schools present (e.g. certifications, uniforms, belts/ranks, titles etc.) are remotely traditional (i.e. historically authentic). They are all modern inventions primarily created or popularised when/as martial arts became increasingly commercialised during the 20th Century. I have found such schools to ultimately be a waste of time and money that often hardly teach anything that's intuitive to self defence, and in many cases, teach techniques which are counter intuitive to self defence and are more likely to put you in greater danger in a real fight. Have a look at this video, it's only about 10 min long, and consider the school that you are training at or have trained at or are thinking about training at. Look out for the signs that it may be a "McDojo" rather than an authentic martial arts school.

There's also this wiki page about McDojos (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/McDojo) and you can scroll down to "Warning Signs." People who train in martial arts are investing a LOT of time and money. You'd like to think that you're investing in something that's legitimate. IMO, comparing non-traditional schools w/ traditional schools is like comparing Movieverse toys with Masterpiece Transformers, but only with the prices reversed! (so imagine paying MP Bumblebee's price for an AoE Deluxe Class Bumblebee and vice versa!) When I trained at a traditional school, everything I learnt was of superior quality at a much cheaper price. No uniform, no belts, no grading fees -- just annual membership fee to cover insurance and lesson fees. That was it. When I've tried non-traditional stuff, I've paid loads more for something that I ultimately found wasn't all that great.

[Bartrim]

Maybe I'm tired and not reading it right but your post comes across quite arrogant Gok. I get the impression you see any school that doesn't teach traditional martial arts is a McDojo.

I train at a school that is primarily teaching a sports based martial arts. They have belt grading systems, uniforms etc but I don't consider it a McDojo. They have produced many champions. Just because they are not a traditional based martial art it does not make them a McDojo.

[GoktimusPrime]

Allow me to clarify...
* Are all schools that have non-traditional elements in it "McDojos"? No.
* Do all McDojos have non-traditional elements? Yes.

These superficial elements really have no bearing whatsoever on the quality of a school, but a lot of people still believe that they do, and thus use it to quickly judge that school. But more importantly, and this is the point made in the video and text links, there are dangers in training in commercialised franchise schools, as it arms students with a sense of false confidence that they can defend themselves.

Check out this article (http://www.byov.com/Aaron/ronin/factory.html) written by a man who reached 3rd Dan black belt in a martial arts school which he now calls a "McDojo." A friend of his who trained at the same school and a fellow black belt, was brutally bashed a result of his poor training that was more concerned with making lots of money rather than actually teaching students how to defend themselves.

One of the things that he says towards the end strikes me as being quite poignant:

You know, that first black belt just isn't as attractive anymore. I just want to be able to defend myself.
There's nothing wrong with having belts or uniforms per se, but they are just superficial elements of a martial art. They're like covers on a book -- nothing wrong with having a nice, beautiful cover, but ultimately it's the content that matters. :)

P.S.: As a counterpoint, just because a school doesn't present itself with non-traditional elements and just because it isn't a McDojo doesn't necessarily mean that it's good either. I've trained at a school that didn't enforce a uniform, had no belts and didn't enter competitions and was teaching a completely legitimate and historically authentic martial art... but it was still terrible because the teacher just sucked. :( He knew his stuff, but was just hopeless at teaching it. Just because someone's good at something doesn't mean they can teach it (if this were true, then every native English speaker would be a qualified English teacher :p). Teaching competence is another super important factor, but that's beyond the realms of what the video and text link were talking about. :o

[GoktimusPrime]

In martial arts, the simple techniques are often the best. Here's a pretty easy technique that anyone can learn and practise and, if successfully performed, has a high probability of ending the attack straight away. ;)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_selfdeffordummies_zpscecqrlil.jpg

[Megatran]

In NRL circles, is that the squirrel grip?

[BruiseLee]

In NRL circles, is that the squirrel grip?

Think it's the setup move for the Hopoate.

[Bartrim]

A friend of mine who used to train at a MMA gym said his instructor would have old lawn mowers that wouldn't start and part of the training was to stand there and try and start the mowers by pulling the cord repeatedly. It took him a while to realise it was actually improving his hip twisting.

[GoktimusPrime]

Making a student do your chores as part of training? That's some Mr. Miyagi stuff right there! :D ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

A black belt instructor (let's call him "Ted"*) from a GKR Dojo that I used to train at recently shared a photo of a finger that he broke last year after attempting to block a kick with an open hand. :eek: I say again, this person is a black belt and an instructor. Not a noob. And I reckon the injury would've been far worse if he were sparring against a more powerful kicker, like say a Muay Thai fighter. :rolleyes:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/Hotrod-facepalm-uk187.gif
In Tai Chi we're always taught to block kicks with our legs, not with our arms or hands. And I have sparred with MT fighters before without injury. Bloody sore legs from absorbing those powerful kicks, but no bruises or lasting injuries. I can go to work the next day (Ted had to take time off work and hasn't trained in over half a year). Ted was admitted to hospital and is still waiting for the doctor to say that he's allowed to resume his karate training after sustaining a similar injury to his foot. It just baffles me that there are people in dubious schools who are sustaining injuries which would be preventable through the use of better techniques and training.

And as I've often said, this sort of stuff affects all martial artists, as it will continue to drive up the cost of insurance premiums for all schools/instructors, which in turn are passed onto students. :rolleyes:

------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: The experiences of this individual person and school may not reflect that of other schools.
*Not actual name

[GoktimusPrime]

Found this interesting video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXg_zR8KeME) which deals with the question of whether or not traditional moves (Kung Fu in this case) can still work in a street fight or MMA match. This video specifically looks at the idea of the rolling fist, which is a technique that I quite like using too. The video talks about the advantage of this technique being that it's one that a lot of people aren't familiar with, and while I agree with this, there's another key advantage to this technique that he hasn't explicitly mentioned, and that is that the rolling fist travels on the same linear angle as the first punch. If you watch the part of the video where he demonstrates the rolling punch at the camera, and later when he explains about how you leave the elbow out, you can see the inherent strength of this technique. Most other punches, like jabbing, rely on the puncher having to "rechamber" the shot. i.e. needing to pull the arm back in order to throw a successive punch. This rechambering gives an immediate visual cue to the opponent that you are about to throw another punch, thus allowing him the opportunity to counter you. The beauty of the rolling over punch is that there is no rechambering of your shoulder/arm to follow up with the successive strike. The shoulder and upper arm remain in position, and the rolling strike travels on the same line.

Here are a few screen grabs to help illustrate my points...

First is the demonstration of a typical series of punches. Here you can see the 'rechambering' between each shot. His head and shoulders move as he throws each successive punch. A keen opponent would naturally keep his eyes trained on the 'triangle' between the attacker's forehead and shoulders to track his movements.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_rollingstrike1_zpsbotfi1lf.jpg

Now here is the rolling strike. The idea here is that the head and shoulders don't move and pre-emptively give away the incoming successive strike.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_rollingstrike2_zpswjw18751.jpg
Actually, he's not really doing it properly at this point in the video. The downward rolling strike should should be coming down at a 90 degree angle, not 45 degrees. The 90 degree angle makes it much more difficult to predict. Also, he shouldn't be dropping the elbow. Leaving the elbow out is vital as a defensive guard in case you stuff up and the opponent advances in on you (thus your elbow is already positioned to collide with his teeth).

He does execute the technique a lot better when he demonstrates it side on, as seen here...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_rollingstrike3_zps3k2lputr.jpg
You can see here that the head, shoulders and upper arms remain stationary, it is the forearm rolling downward from a 90 degree angle to strike the opponent.

However there is one change that he's made to this technique which he doesn't correct (he may not know that he's doing it incorrectly), and that is the point of impact. He describes the downward strike as a hammer strike, but it should be a back (http://visihow.com/images/8/8c/Back_fist.JPG) fist (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uf8w6T7-8es/S_aMpBiCiPI/AAAAAAAACAM/Oie98_AOWmU/s1600/003.JPG) (i.e. striking with the knuckles; known as the Uraken-uchi (http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/user_upload/ckeditor/uraken-uchi-gif(1).gif) in Karate), ideally on the ridge of the nose. This is a common technique used in many martial arts, but the advantage of delivering it via a rolling strike is that it adds the element of surprise or unpredictability. It's a nose ridge strike that they won't see coming. Also, this can work better if the initial punch is a low one (e.g. stomach strike), as it acts as a diversion (eliciting the opponent to think that your intended target is the stomach, but in actuality you're aiming to hit his face). You can throw one or two successive strikes at the stomach, followed immediately by a rolling strike to the face.

[GoktimusPrime]

Found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zJTmLb9eTI) demonstrating Muay Chaiya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Chaiya), a traditional form of Thai boxing. I confess that I don't really know much about this martial art, but looking at the video it's evident that this is a more traditional form, and very different from the modern sport of Muay Thai/kickboxing.

Just as with any other traditional style, you can see that the Muay Chaiya fighter always aims to end the fight as quickly as possible. The fights are never protracted. And with many more advanced traditional techniques, the defender moves towards the attacker so that he can incapacitate or immobilise him. There is no tit-for-tat point sparring here, only the immediate termination of the assault. There are also no high kicks - clearly Muay Chaiya fighters, like all other traditional fighters, must value not being attacked in the groin! ;) Speaking of which, watch the video closely at 04'55" when the teacher defends himself from two armed attackers. Yep, he strikes both attackers in the groin in a single double-strike! :D :cool: You'll also notice that the way that he stands and moves is much more traditional. Comparatively lower and deeper stances, none of the higher bouncing or leaping stances/techniques that they use in Muay Thai. I watched another video a few days ago where a Muay Boran (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_boran) instructor from Phuket said that in Thailand, Muay Thai is regarded as a sport, while other forms of Thai boxing such as Muay Boran, Muay Chaiya etc. are regarded as combat.

[GoktimusPrime]

No Touch Chi Master challenges Mixed Martial Artist (http://www.mma.tv/tma/exotics/no-touch-master-challenges-martial-artist/) with hilariously predictable results. :rolleyes:

[GoktimusPrime]

How to beat a flashy swordsman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTWjJDh87SE) <---this very short video pretty much demonstrates why fancy looking moves in real life just don't work, and the best moves are really quite dull and uninteresting to watch. But effective. :) Martial arts are designed to work, not to entertain. :rolleyes: You can apply this to almost every fancy/flashy looking move out there. Yeah.

[GoktimusPrime]

Got back into formal training this morning for the first time in aaaaages. Feeling buggered! :eek: I joined a Tai Chi group that practices early on Saturday mornings. On the plus side, the sessions are free (:D), however on the down side:
* It's far -- a good 35km drive from my home :eek:
* They start early at 08:30.
* They only do forms practice, no applications or anything else.
Like many Tai Chi classes, it's run as a form of holistic exercise (akin to Yoga or Pilates classes) rather than a combat art. Although after the session was finished I saw one guy explaining to someone else about generating power from the core, as well as the importance of keeping a tight guard. I don't think they even understand why these things are important, as far as fight applications are concerned, they just consider it right because that's just how the movements are supposed to be done. He also corrected another person on his a strike moving from too far out to the side, whereas it should be moving more vertically down like an overarm bowl in cricket. The application for this would be similar to that of the rolling fist strike (http://otca.com.au/boards/showpost.php?p=500689&postcount=824); i.e. allowing the delivery of a strike without "rechambering" the shot, thus making it harder for the opponent to see the hit coming. There was also another guy who briefly spoke to me about reducing the size of my movements to make them more effective in a fight; the idea of "movement economy." :) So there do seem to be a few people who at least understand the fight concepts of Tai Chi (even if they aren't necessarily practising it themselves).

I'm also dragging my mother-in-law along in order to improve her fitness. And this sort of class is ideal for her. I did work up a massive sweat at the end of the session, so as far as fitness is concerned, it's good for me too. :)

[Bartrim]

On the last day before our gym closes for Xmas holidays we are having a competition. The Muay Thai/MMA classes vs Fitness Kickboxing Class vs Crossfit in a series of events.

Should be fun :D

[GoktimusPrime]

I recently watched a video posted by a GKR Karate instructor showing how they'd taught a 7 year old girl self defence, with the caption, "best self defence ever."

Scenario: a man has grabbed the girl by her wrist.
Defence: girl smashes the man's grabbing hand to make him let go. She then sweeps his leg.

Are you kidding me?!? :eek: The odds of a 7 year old girl being able to overpower a full grown man who has already grabbed her is highly bloody unlikely! :eek: And of course, the attacker was over compliant. He made no attempt to move or fight back as the girl executed her defensive techniques, which would never happen in a real life situation. An adult who wants to kidnap a child won't stop struggling until he's achieved his evil task. There's honestly not all that much that small children can do against a full grown adult other than just screaming at the top of their lungs. Even biting, clawing, scratching, spitting at the eyes etc. might work better, and yes, hitting the groin if the child can get in range (which is much harder since they're so much smaller). But honestly, the best form of self defence for young children is vigilant adult supervision! :rolleyes: It's concerning that these martial arts schools are taking parents' money and their kids are spending hours learning techniques that they are told will protect them in a fight, when it's more likely to have the opposite effect. :(

Even if these techniques did work, it's highly unlikely that a small child would be able to maintain the presence of mind to successfully execute them. "Panic techniques" work much better (such as screaming, biting, clawing etc.). If s/he's going to kick, kick at the shins (teach the child to kick at the shins as if s/he were kicking a football).

[Sinnertwin]

Did anyone point out that the odds of a 7 year old overcoming an adult male are slim to none?

[GoktimusPrime]

Did anyone point out that the odds of a 7 year old overcoming an adult male are slim to none?
This!

And what does this say about the schools/instructors who are teaching this rubbish to kids? As Megatron would say...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/meme_megatronlyingstupid_zpsl2ggx1yg.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

It's abundantly clear that a lot of the people in my current Tai Chi group only learn Tai Chi as a form of meditative exercise rather than a martial art. And that's fine. However I find that a weakness with this mindset is that it can lead to people doing the forms incorrectly as they don't know what the moves are for. Kinda like learning a language without ever learning to have a conversation with someone else in it; much like how we teach dead languages like Latin, or the way that English is typically taught in Japan :p

So on Saturday I was talking to a guy about Tai Chi applications, and we're specifically talking about a part of the Yang Tai Chi technique known as Part the Wild Horse's Mane. And I was talking about how some people in the group leave their thumb poking out during this technique, and as I'm sure that any martial artist reading this post will immediately know that you never leave your thumb protruded as it risks all manner of injuries to yourself (e.g. opponent's incoming punch can break your thumb, opponent may be able to even grab your thumb and bend it backwards etc.). It's just such an unnecessary risk. But this guy keeps insisting to me that by keeping my thumb tucked in, I've been doing it wrong, and that the correct method is to do it with the thumb sticking out. :eek: *sigh*

Just to clarify, this is how I do it (http://img.39yst.com/uploads/allimg/140115/129-140115131003R6.jpg), and this is how some other people do it (http://p0.qhimg.com/t0196ca357166703743.jpg), and according to this guy I spoke to, is the right way and mine is wrong. :rolleyes: This guy originally hails from South America, and I asked him to imagine fighting against a Brazilian Juujutsu fighter and reaching out like that with the thumb exposed. Or even against a decent boxer. Good luck with that. But nothing I said or showed him could convince him of the potential dangers of exposing your thumb like that. So I then asked him what the advantage/benefit was for leaving the thumb sticking out like that. His answer: grappling/grabbing. i.e. you need your thumb out when you grab onto your opponent's arm (re: opposable thumb), which is true, but of course, you only grab the arm after you've made contact with the arm (and thus the arm is no longer in a position to damage your thumb), not before! One of the key purposes of Tai Chi's push hands (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XALpOmuQR88) is to teach you how to stick to your opponent in order potentially lead onto things like grappling.

But one problem with the way that Push Hands is often practised is that both parties begin in contact. If you look at that video link, you can see that both guys offer up their arms to each other to begin the exercise. It's not as if they're intercepting a punch etc. (having said that, they both do keep their thumbs tucked in!). Even this Push Hands "Real" Fighting Moves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_zvHp22VuY) video only shows you how to apply the techniques after your arms have made contact with each other. But how do you get into that position in the first place? It's not as if you're going to ask an attacker in real life, "Would you mind pressing both of your forearms against mine?" Riiight. :rolleyes:

But even putting aside the entire fight application aspect, all of these people are trying to learn the forms and do them correctly. But a lot of them are really quite sloppy in their forms and are learning very slowly, and I suspect that it's due to a lack of any mention of applications. Last week I saw one of the instructors correcting a student on a basic technique. Afterwards I asked that student how long he'd been training, and he told me that he'd been training for two years! :eek: Wow. And a lot of these guys are training 2-3 times a week too. You could complete a part-time TAFE course in that time. :rolleyes: Many of the people in this group are Form Collectors. But I find that without learning the apps, they aren't collecting them all that well, becoming jack of all trades, master of none. When I did Chen Tai Chi, we learnt very few forms, but we learnt them well. We had to, because if you're attacked IRL you need to be able to recall and execute your techniques immediately and effectively under high stress/pressure and fear. I've told these guys that I would rather learn one form, but learn it so well that I can do it backwards in my sleep, than learn a dozen forms at a superficial level. Quality over quantity for me.

[GoktimusPrime]

Last Saturday I watched someone teaching someone else a Wu Style Tai Chi Form. I'd never seen Wu Style before, so it was pretty interesting. :)

.................................................. ......

Video: Chinese Police Self Defence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLkqwQrCS8)
Most* of the moves in this video are pretty good. He's incapacitating/immobilising the aggressor in no more than 2-3 moves. This is how every martial art should operate. :) Your training must be teaching you to terminate a fight immediately.

Here's one that might interest Bartrim: Arrest and control techniques demonstrated by ret. Australian police officer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jA5GUumPE)
Nice, simple and effective grappling techniques. This one's in the context of arresting or escorting an inebriated suspect though, so the opponent isn't attempting to resist or counterattack, but the techniques are all sound. They all terminate the fight in no more than 3 moves max.

This is similar to how a lot of Tai Chi Push Hands training is done; just like in this video, both parties agree to begin in contact with each other and then execute the techniques. My criticism of how this is done in a lot of Tai Chi classes is that nobody ever teaches you how to "bridge the gap" or make that initial contact. If the opponent is not attacking or resisting you (as in this video), then sure, making contact is as easy as just walking up behind them. But if the person is actively fighting you, then you can't really do that. Now I'm sure that police are trained to bridge the gap, and I'm lucky that I've also been taught this in my old Tai Chi training. But the last Tai Chi school that I went to and the one that I'm attending now never teach this. It just starts with both people pressing their forearms against each other and then begin pushing. Here's an example (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XALpOmuQR88) of what I mean. There is no gap bridging in this, an this is how a lot of people practice Tai Chi Push Hands. That's one thing that bugs me with my current training. :rolleyes: But that first video definitely shows lots of examples of "bridging." :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*There are a few moves in the video where he's taking more than 2-3 moves, and some of the techniques are quite complex against an overly compliant partner. So I'm not sure how effective some of those techniques would be. But the vast majority of this guy's techniques looks really good. :D

[GoktimusPrime]

Continued from here (http://otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=4568&page=402)...


A little sore in the teeth, nose and sinus region today after me and my mate both got punched during a walk between pubs night. It was unprevoked and luckily witnesses came quickly plus the cops drove around the corner 15 seconds later and nabbed the guy.

The rage he had and the way he leapt towards us was just ballistic.
This is something that has been discussed a few times on this thread, and IMO is one common flaw in many martial arts schools because they fail to adequately address it. As you and your friend experienced, real fights don't begin like in sparring matches where you square off and bow, show respect etc. It's more like being attacked by a predatory animal; you literally just get jumped* on and you have only a fraction of a second to respond at best. One of my pet peeves is how many martial arts schools fail to factor this element of fight reality into their training, meaning that often a student's training can become useless because they're more likely to just be pounced on before they even have time to recall and use their training. There's actually been heaps of research done about this from the military. Much of it dating back millennia, but a lot of recorded and methodical research was conducted by Air Forces throughout the 20th Century. See this post (http://otca.com.au/boards/showpost.php?p=195937&postcount=204) for more detail.

=======================================
*In fact, the word "assault" is French for "jump" (hence a turning jump is called a somersault). It originally comes from the Latin word "salit" which has mutated into different versions across Romance languages. e.g. in Spanish it's "salt," hence why the South American G1 & G2 Jumpstarters are called "Salt Man" (literally meaning "Jump Man").

[GoktimusPrime]

A brief look at Maori martial arts based on the Haka

Disclaimer: This is mostly based on my personal guesses based on the movements I can see in the Haka compared with movements in other martial arts, with one exception noted below (※).

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_maori_zpslsrmy5qv.jpg

Top left: Appears to be the Maori equivalent of a Riding Horse Stance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_stance).
Top right: Possibly a form of physical conditioning; some martial arts employ slapping or hitting one's own body to strengthen it and make it more resilient or tolerant to being hit. Comparative picture is from Pigua Kung Fu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_ad1ez-5ug). Many grappling/wrestling arts build resistance by sheer virtue of being continuously thrown on the mat (e.g. Juujutsu vs Aikido (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfb4osYVeA)). Footy players would naturally be resilient due to being proficient in a high contact tackle sport.
Bottom left: ※Attacking the core, often known as the Tanden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_(tanden)#Hara_in_the_martial_arts) in East Asian medicine and martial arts. Wing Chun Kung Fu's idea of attacking the centreline theory (http://wciworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/centre-line.jpg) is an extension of this concept. I have actually seen this technique from the Maori Haka demonstrated; in practice the hands are closer together and the thumbs protrude forward at the point of impact, driving into the Tanden and sending the opponent flying backwards! (as you are breaking through their centre of mass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_mass))
Bottom right: Groin attack. In Aussie terms, startin' the old Victa lawnmower. ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

This video's (https://www.facebook.com/FightTimes/videos/464583657073212/) been doing the rounds on FB lately. Give yourself a good minute or so to have a good LOL at it before coming back to this thread. ;)

Done? Cool. Let's have a proper discussion about the technique (or lack thereof) displayed here. This video pretty much demonstrates my long standing criticism against what I call "off the ground" kicks, which I've commonly seen in styles like Muay Thai. The advantage of this method is that it does generate more power, no doubt's there. But one of the main disadvantages that this video highlights is its lack of versatility. It is extremely difficult (nigh impossible?) for the practitioner to abort the kick after launching it. That kicker would have seen his foot approaching the woman's head -- it may have even played in slow motion in his mind but there was nothing he could have done to stop it (much like when you're falling off a bicycle; everything slows down but there's nothing you can do ;)).

Many other styles teach you to lift your knee first and then convert that into the desired kick, as can be seen in this step by step photo sequence (http://taekwonwoo.net/images/kick/round%20house%20kick.jpg).* The disadvantage of this method is that it is not as powerful as an off-the-ground kick, but it is still really bloody strong! :eek:

This video also shows the other criticism that I have about these sort of kicks. Yep, you guessed it...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_badkick_zps6egopw1u.jpg
And to be fair, it's not a flaw that's restricted to off-the-ground kickers. I've seen knee-first kickers expose their groins too when moving into a kick, like this guy here (http://kenzenichii.org/i/roundhouse_kick.jpg).* You can see how completely exposed his groin is in the far left photo. :eek:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
*Both people demonstrating those knee-first kicks are both coincidentally also committing a common technical mistake that I see a lot of people do, and that is rocking the head backwards while delivering the kick. I've never seen any pre-WWII literature that cites the rocking back of the head like that while delivering the kick. Evidence suggests that this habit was born during the 20th Century as this is how modern soldiers kick (http://img13.deviantart.net/fb48/i/2007/280/9/5/soldier_side_kick_by_moonlight_song_stock.jpg) because it helps them to counter-balance the weight of their boots (http://www.unfinishedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/us-marines-kicking-down-door.jpg) (it's common knowledge that army boots are substantially heavier than average civilian shoes (let alone barefoot)).

Here are some old photos of martial artists performing kicks. You will notice that they maintain a completely upright posture - no leaning - as is still taught in traditional martial arts schools.
Miyagi Chojun (http://www.historyoffighting.com/resources/Chojun%20Miyagi.jpg); founder of Okinawan Gojuryu Karate.
Miyagi teaching (http://www.okinawakarateuk.com/images/Miyagi-Chojun-with-Students.gif); you can see that the two students who are kicking both have upright postures
Miyagi watching more students training; (http://www.martialartstoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/postpic2.jpg) this photo must have been taken no later than in the 1930s, as it is credited to Higaonna Morio, who passed away in 1938. You can also see that most of these students aren't even wearing Gis or belts; they are just training topless or in their underwear (which is exactly how the Okinawans traditionally trained!). We know that Gis and coloured belts was only adopted by Karate in the 1930s, so I reckon that this photo must've been taken in or close to that decade.
Another photo of Miyagi teaching (http://www.robitaillesacademyofmartialarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Miyagi-Yagi-and-Miyazato-left.gif); everyone's wearing Gi pants and belts, and Miyagi himself is now wearing a Gi, so this must've been 1930s or 40s.
Funakoshi Gen (http://www.historyoffighting.com/resources/Tekki%20Shodan%20Gichin%20Funakoshi.jpg) (founder of Japanese Karate (Shotokan)) performing stamping kicks in the Naihanchi kata (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKAZ3WxX78).
Hanashiro Chomo (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rTLJ-aD20W8/UckXSeiu80I/AAAAAAAAe2A/Dmc1EPOtkzQ/s1600/original+karate+master+Japan.JPG) (founder of Shorinryu Karate) performing a forward kick (Maegeri). He was killed during the US bombing of Japan during WWII, so this photo would've been taken no later than 1945.
Choi Hong Hi (http://www.itfelite.moonfruit.com/communities/1/004/008/192/011/images/4536775230.swf) (founder of Taekwondo) performing a kick with a relatively upright posture.
And as we all know, Karate is ultimately descendant from Chinese Kung Fu, so here are some photos of traditional Kung Fu kicks.
Northern Kung Fu kicks
Tai Chi (http://taichi4modesto.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/master-tung-separation-kick.jpg)
Long Fist (http://www.adamhsu.com/articles/lfmental1.jpg)
Northern Praying Mantis (http://shaolin.org/video-clips-6/praying-mantis/praying-mantis-02/pm062.jpg)
Southern Kung Fu kicks
Wing Chun (http://www.twc-kungfu.com/photos/bilsao-kick.jpg); and here's a photo of Ip Man (http://www.kwokwingchun.com/img/assets/yip-man-dummy-kick.jpg) kicking.
Hung Gar (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bgLh7VpVBZc/S1iYFDoVqRI/AAAAAAAAAUI/SypZE9jr8v8/s200/bmhg1.jpg); and if anyone is wondering about the authenticity of this practitioner's technique, she was the third wife of Wong Fei Hong! :eek:
As you can see, all are performed upright.


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/meme_understoodthatreference_zpsaidnrapn.gif
At least one person appreciates the pre-war citations :p

[GoktimusPrime]

5 Myths of Martial Arts Debunked (http://www.survivopedia.com/martial-arts-myths-debunked/) <---pretty much agree with everything on this list. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

The Ninja - Real Accurate Historical Representation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-UePD6Wp5A); this is a pretty well researched video that delves into the historically accurate representation of what ninjas probably were like, debunking many of the myths that have come to form the common perception of ninjas. He even cites Dr. Stephen Turnbull's research, whose research on Japanese Samurai history is impeccable (Turnbull lived in Japan for many years when conducting his research).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We all know the dangers of martial arts schools that claim to teach self defence but actually don't. Last week I saw this video of a so-called martial arts demonstration (at the beginning of the video the audio explicitly stated that it was a demonstration of martial arts). When I criticised this video, someone replied stating that she had practised martial arts for over 20 years and, for no other reason, insisted that these techniques would work in a real street fight. She then demanded to know my credentials blah blah blah. I wasn't in the mood to compare the size of our... credentials... so I just started posting screen caps of the video illustrating the many basic flaws that I could see. And as you can see, these are very basic, basic flaws. I'm not sure how anyone who's trained in a martial art for over 20 hours (let alone years) could not pick up on these flaws. :eek:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma01_zpsdiyaq8fn.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma02_zpsrwjyfgql.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma03_zpsjypm0vkv.jpg

It was at this stage that someone representing this group posted and said that I was correct; that this was not martial arts, but rather an exercise programme inspired by martial arts, and that all people who attend their gym are made aware of this. The person who'd initially argued with me never posted a reply. :p The disclaimer wasn't made on the video, hence I didn't know. But I have no problem with non-combative martial arts classes, so long as the school is upfront and honest about the fact that they are not teaching self defence. As a Tai Chi practitioner myself, I frequently come across Tai Chi classes that only teach it as a form of holistic exercise, and not as a combative form of self defence.

[GoktimusPrime]

"Kendo - The Problems I Have With It After 3 Years of Practice" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHUf4ZkHW-g)
^An excellent and detailed video which highlights something that I've often discussed on this thread, and that is the crucial difference between traditional (i.e. historically authentic) and modern martial arts, especially those which are geared more towards being a competitive sport. He illustrates well how Kendo has been greatly simplified and watered down during the 20th Century. He also applies his historical expertise to explain why and how this happened, which I found quite insightful.

And this is the same observation that I have made with the way that many other East Asian martial arts are taught today (as detailed in my comments relating to my short-lived experience in Karate etc.) - many of these arts have been significantly watered down and are merely shadows of what they once were. Much like this author, I also began my martial arts training in the traditional arts, and I also find it incredibly frustrating when training in a more modern style for the very reasons that he's cited in his video; because from a technical POV, they lose their combat effectiveness. Anyway, I think the video is definitely worth watching.

Another one of his videos which I've recently watched is Women in Armour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et7l3Fjsjao), debunking the myths about what kind of armour women wore; myths perpetuated by games and movies. But as many of us know, basically women wore the same armour as men, and the same still happens with modern soldiers today (http://s3.scoopwhoop.com/anj/womenincombat_6/983301346.jpg). He makes the very valid point that armour isn't intended to look good, it's intended to be functional. And this is another issue that I have with some modern martial arts vs traditional arts -- some modern martial arts like to include various fancy looking moves (e.g. high kicks (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6a/00/cc/6a00cce0984966d67104feaf6f368ddb.jpg), spinning strikes (http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2015-06-12T134745Z_77118465_MT1ACI13805135_RTRMADP_3_TAEKW ONDO.JPG), leaps (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WPVuC6ugmAw/hqdefault.jpg)/flips (http://assets3.tribesports.com/system/challenges/images/000/008/642/original/20120105163931-learn-to-kip-up.jpg) etc.), which look great, but are impractical in a real fight. As the author points out in the Kendo video, many of these modern moves may work better in a competition fight because of the rules of the sport. However, in a real fight where there are a far greater number of variables and no rules to govern the fight, this may not be the case. So there are often times where we can see that what may work in a competition fight may not necessarily work in a real fight. I knew someone who happily trains in both competition and combative martial arts, but he says that he never mixes the two together and described them as "oil and water."

The Kendo video makes an excellent point in pointing out that striking the traps of your opponent scores no points as it's not a valid target, so many Kendo practitioners never learn to strike there, but rather thrust to the chest. He points out that the advent of breast armour makes chest thrusts practically useless, and it also leaves you dangerously exposed since your blade is lowered. The most that a chest thrust would do would be the simply push the opponent back, but he would be relatively unharmed. Striking down at the traps would cut through your opponent's lung and heart, killing them; and he points out that this is what Kenjutsu teaches. Relating it back to my own interest in hand-to-hand self defence, I see that it's similar to how many people that I come across who train for competition fights simply don't attack the groin or even fail to adequately defend their own groin. Because this is an invalid and often illegal target in competitions, modern fighters are simply not trained to target this area, and worse still, not defend their own. I can understand people not wanting to use such devastating techniques - fine. But I think that it's also important to understand how these techniques work in order to defend yourself from them. It's difficult to defend yourself from an attack if you've never tried using it. As Sun Tzu said in 'The Art of War,' "Know your enemy as you know yourself and you shall not fear the outcome of a hundred battles."

Learning about striking the traps or groin etc. isn't necessarily about advocating the use of these attacks, but rather how to protect yourself from it. I think it's theoretically similar to the idea behind say a defensive driving course where the instructor will make you deliberately lose control of the vehicle. They're not teaching you this to say that you should lose control of your vehicle, but so that they can teach you how to regain control of the vehicle should you lose control of it. And similarly in self defence, I think that it's worth looking at some really brutal and even lethal techniques, so that we may gain a better understanding of how they work and how we may better defend ourselves from them. e.g. people who duck and weave to evade punches don't seem to have an adequate appreciation of how badly this exposes their necks and upper spines (since breaking the neck or spine are illegal in boxing and other competitive fighting sports). The Kendo video also makes a similar point about how Kendo practitioners peel their back heels up, which of course compromises their balance.

I've been enjoying this guy's videos. Here's a person who understands the crucial differences between functional traditional martial arts (and has both the technical and historical knowledge (far beyond my amateur level) to back it up). :)

-----------------------------------------------------

P.S.: On a completely different note, today I'd loaded all my training gear including boxing bag into the boot of my wife's hatchback to bring to my storage unit after work. I underestimated how back heavy the car had become and when going over a speed hump at about 30km/h, when my back wheels came off the speed hump the entire rear section dropped so low that the back of the car bounced off the road! :eek: Oops. :p

[GoktimusPrime]

I completed a First Aid course today and some aspects of it made me think about some martial arts stuff.

Our First Aid instructor told us that in 2015, the #1 most dislocated body part was the fingers. This made me mindful of why good MA instructors teach students to keep their fingers and thumbs not protruding, either in a tight fist or relatively close together (http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/039ed7df3809109fb9d17042313cd88287eb54e3.jpg) -- certainly not splayed out. Even when you grab or grapple an opponent, you should be sticking to the part of the body that you're grabbing with the outside of the arm facing the opponent, and them turning your wrist to initiate the grab with the pinky leading first and eventually to the index finger and thumb pincing (similar to the way your fingers move when playing piano keys from pinky to thumb). But I've seen my fair share of students who simply reach their hands out to grab. :eek:
Anyone who's ever done CPR training will know that you compress the chest using the heel of your palm and not the palm "ridge" (directly beneath your fingers) or your fingertips (unless it's a baby). This made me think about styles that deliver the forward kick impacting with the heel of the foot vs those who impact with the ball of the foot. The heel of the foot absolutely issues more power, just as compressing with the heel of your palm does. Kicking with the ball of the foot may offer a few extra cm in distance, but it's fairly negligible. I prefer to impact with the heel of my foot. Especially bearing in mind that in self defence, the primary purpose of the front kick is to push or repel an oncoming attacker; it's the "bugger off!" kick. Also, this is Spartaaa!
When we talked about bleeds, cuts, protrusions etc. it made me think about why you should never face your wrists towards your opponent (http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/kickboxer-guard-stance-male-muay-thai-kickbox-fighter-isolated-white-57918890.jpg). This is why you should always keep your wrists facing either towards (http://urban-echo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/image-7-for-editorial-pics-16-jan-2012-gallery-618169503.jpg) each (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb29ikxSS51r5w2lto1_400.jpg) other (http://www.wingchunconcepts.com/perch/resources/hero/aboutwingchun.jpg) or facing (https://tkdfighter.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/karate-guard-2.jpg?w=213&h=300) yourself (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4w18ZWaPas/TKS7DMF-YPI/AAAAAAAAGvQ/MvoXQYL61i8/s1600/Boxing-Fisticuffs-Kensington-Park-Toronto-01.jpg)

There was even an element of self defence embedded in this First Aid course. Our instructor is also an ambulance paramedic, and he often mentioned how to treat a patient without leaving ourselves vulnerable to attack. We've all heard stories about how ambos are increasingly being assaulted by patients, so apparently they factor this into their basic training now. It's sad that our society has come to this. :(

[GoktimusPrime]

Chivalric Code vs Bushido (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYuBxVmQLg#t=917.66519); at least, how it should be in theory. In reality many knights and samurai either followed a very loose interpretation of their respective codes of conduct, or just completely ignored it. :p But it is interesting to see how two very similar codes evolved on opposite sides of the world. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

Anyone manage to make it out to the Medieval Fayre in Blacktown this weekend? I'm stuck at home writing reports, but it would've been a really neat opportunity to see some European martial arts demonstrations. And most likely far more authentic than the majority of Asian martial arts taught/demonstrated today, because I know that medieval/Renaissance recreationalists usually have exemplary high standards when it comes to accurate authenticity. I wish more practitioners of non-European martial arts had such exacting standards.

[5FDP]

Anyone manage to make it out to the Medieval Fayre in Blacktown this weekend?

I know of several people who were planning on going however the air quality* these last few days have kept people inside.






*For those that don't know, there's been a lot of hazard reduction burning around the Hawkesbury / Blue Mountain area over the last couple of weeks resulting in a thick haze over Northwest Sydney. I haven't used Ventolin since my late teens :mad:

[GoktimusPrime]

Last night was still pretty smokey around my neighbourhood. :( And yeah, also asthmatic here. :(

[Bartrim]

A few people here at the academy have martial arts experience. Some have limited training but there is one girl who has an extensive background in Hapkido. So here and I got together and decided to take anyone interested to the PCYC once a week for training. Mel (the girl) and I had a bit of a discussion about what we would be practicing and came to a general agreement on techniques. As far as I'm concerned with martial arts, I'll learn what I can from whoever I can and use whatever I think works for me. Mel showed me a couple of things and I thought they were cool and I could use them. I told her that in our Muay Thai class we also use Japanese Jiu Jitsu techniques and showed her a few things. Her response was "That's all wrong."

I seriously hate people who think their martial art is superior to everyone elses and anything anyone else teaches or studys is wrong. :mad:

[GoktimusPrime]

Perhaps offer to have a friendly spar with her and let her put her money where her mouth is.

Also, Hapkido is descendant from Juujutsu. Hapkido is the Korean variant of Aikido. In fact, Hapkido and Aikido are even written in the same Chinese characters (合気道; "Way of the unifying spirit"); 'Hapkido' is literally the Korean reading of 'Aikido'. And Aikido came from Juujutsu. In fact, Hapkido's founder Choi Yong-Sool (or Takeda Soukaku as he's known in Japanese) was trained in Daito-ryuu Aiki-Juujutsu; he later developed Hapkido from this style). So, if Juujutsu is "wrong," then what does that say about Hapkido, considering that the core foundation of Hapkido comes from Juujutsu? :confused:

And Hapkido wasn't developed as an improvement over Juujutsu in combat. While Juujutsu's history can be traced back to the 15th Century, Hapkido is very much a modern martial art, founded after WWII (1948). It was developed because post-War Korea experienced a massive backlash against Japanese culture. In order for Koreans who practised and taught Japanese martial arts to remain commercially viable, they needed to rebrand their arts. Aikido practitioners like Choi Yong-Sool rebranded his art as Hapkido (but didn't even bother changing the name), and Karate practitioners like Choi Hong-Hi rebranded his art as Taekwondo. Neither Hapkido nor Taekwondo are remotely traditional Korean martial arts, they are Koreanised Japanese martial arts. Anyone interested in a more traditional Korean martial art might like to consider looking into Taekkyeon or Kwonbop etc.

At the end of the day, the best martial art is the art that works for you. And at least as far as pre 20th Century styles are concerned, I don't think there's anyone one style that is superior to any others, because martial arts usage in the pre-modern age was like natural selection -- it was survival of the fittest. There would've been some martial arts that didn't work, and the people who practised those arts were most likely slaughtered and didn't survive to teach their art onto the next generation.

[GoktimusPrime]

My small visual tribute to one of the greatest fighters of our age. A man who demonstrated a superior understanding of the fighting principles of Yin and Yang (i.e. how to be hard and soft at the same time) better than a lot of martial art practitioners that I've encountered. RIP.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_ali_zpsjbexh5eb.jpg (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776)

[GoktimusPrime]

As most of you know, a couple of years ago I attempted to learn Karate, initially at a school that is reputed for being a "McDojo," and in my personal experience with the school (or at least the branches that I trained at) - they were absolutely McDojos. (-_-) Anyway, I've remained friends with one of the more senior students that I trained with because we have common interests outside of martial arts -- and he recently got his black belt, Shodan. This surprised me because I thought that he was already a black belt, but he explained that the previous black belt that he got 2 years ago was a "Shodanho" or "provisional" black belt. :eek: So since then, he's fought through injuries, sweat, tears etc. and has won tournaments and graded to Shodan.

...so he's now a Beginner :eek: 2 years plus however number of years spent before the pre-black belt black belt before achieving black belt?! :confused: I'd never even heard of a Shodanho (初段補) before. The word literally means "provisional beginner's level." So... it's not bad enough that they make you spend years (and thus thousands of dollars in lessons, gradings etc.) to achieve black belt level, but you have to go through a not-quite black belt black belt level?!? :confused:

I cannot see a sliver of merit or logic in doing this other than to milk more money out of students. :rolleyes: The entire pre-black belt content was developed in Japan in the early 20th Century as a means of simplifying (i.e. watering down) Karate to make it easier to teach to school children, because the Japanese Ministry of Education wanted to introduce Karate as part of their school physical education/sports curriculum. And this is commonly done in children's PE, sports and other games where rules are simplified to make it easier for kids -- that's fine. But I've never understood why people continue to teach the pre-black belt levels to adolescents and adults, for which the curriculum was never initially intended for. Imagine teaching teens or adults a simplified form of cricket or AFL etc. So this person has spent years -- likely tens of thousands of dollars (because he also goes interstate and overseas to compete and train) on his Karate training, only to now finally achieve Beginner's Level -- a level which, traditionally, is when a Karateka would begin his Karate training (hence the name!). He's spent years and loads of money to reach the level where I was when I first started my martial arts training from zero. This is why I prefer training in traditional schools. :o

Imagine if a school teacher taught like this... nobody would stand for it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Thoughts on the "no touch" martial scam artist George Dillman by TheMartialSkeptic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCotGerO0rA)
I love this guy's concluding statement:
"...if you require your attacker believes in you in order to fight effectively, perhaps you're doing it wrong. I've seen my fair share of real world street related violence and I can assure you that not one of the many people that I've kicked the sh** out of had to believe in my punches in order to be hurt by them."

And the same principle can really apply to any martial arts or self defence technique that relies on a certain level of compliance from your attacker. Dillman's is an extreme example, but I see other kinds of unrealistic assumptions of compliance in most martial arts schools that I've witnessed, such as...
The attacker can't be better (stronger, faster, better trained) than you. This is perpetuated in schools where students can only train with people of the same or similar proficiency level as themselves. So for junior students it's like seeing the blind leading the blind.
The attacker won't use any unfair, unsporting or unlawful techniques. I find that this mindset is especially prevalent among people who train for competitive fighting (where rules that ensure a clean and fair fight exist). As a result many of these fighters are utterly ill prepared for real fights where none of these rules exist.
The fight will never happen in unfavourable conditions.

What upsets me is seeing some of my own friends (such as the Karate black belt mentioned in my previous post) training in these worthless methodologies that are likely to place them in greater danger if they are ever attacked. :( And no amount of reasoning that I try to do with them seems to work because they're just so blinded by their own training which they see as being utterly flawless (much like Dillman's students, even when they are exposed by skeptics (https://youtu.be/_Z0_n7tGnK0?t=240)). But it's disturbing to think that the majority of martial arts schools out there are just so bad... they're irresponsibly taking people's money and giving them false hope that they're learning techniques that can defend themselves, when in reality they are doing the opposite. Which leads me to...

A Super Simple Way To Teach Self Defence To Your Children

This technique works for both children who have martial arts experience or those who have none. And it requires zero martial arts experience from the parent or anyone else in the family. This technique will probably work better in teaching your child(ren) more effective self defence rather than wasting thousands of dollars sending them to an ineffectual martial arts school. Here's how it works...

Equipment
* A chair
* A pair of long & soft objects (e.g. feather dusters, foam swords etc.)

How it works
Sit on the chair with the child standing in front of you. Use the long soft objects to tap them. These simulate incoming attacks. The child is to avoid being tapped; s/he can do this by any means necessary such as dodging, parrying, block etc. Don't tell the child how to avoid the "attacks," just let them figure it out themselves - this should be done as a fun game. Tell the child that the aim of the game is to avoid being tapped. If you have more than one child, then have the siblings stand in front of each other and take turns being attacker and defender.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_kidsselfdef_zpseowfvk8i.jpg

Adjusting difficulty level
This exercise can be made easier or harder by adjusting things like:
* The range of attack angles. As the attacker imagine that your objects are swords. Think of all the different ways that a swashbuckling swordsman like Robin Hood would swing his blade and go wild with your imagination.
* The speed and tempo of the attacks. Speed up, slow down and everything in between.
* For more advanced learners you may consider applying forms of initial sensory deprivation, such as telling the child to shut his/her eyes tight and then snap them open. While their eyes are closed, place one or both objects only a few centimetres away from different parts of their body. As soon as you see their eyes snap open, tap the child with the object(s). This will help build your child's skills in reflexively reacting to an attack, especially a surprise attack.

And this technique should work for adults too! :)

My wife was recently talking to me about having our daughter learn a martial art, but the problem is that:
1/ I have yet to find a good martial arts school in my area (may not exist :()
2/ Our daughter has zero interest in learning a martial art, and forcing her to learn it isn't going to be effective.
I've had a few test runs with this technique where I've just tried to "tip" her with my hands. But hands are relatively easier to see coming, and also there's greater risk of injury (to either her or myself! :p) whenever there's direct interpersonal contact. I'm seriously thinking about buying a pair of foam swords for this activity. From my daughter's POV it's just a fun game -- she doesn't even realise or see that she's learning self defence. And studies show that students learn best when they're doing something that they find fun and that they don't realise is actually teaching them something! In education we call it the Zone of Proximal Development where student engagement is maximised. The vast majority of martial arts schools that I've seen utterly suck at tapping students' ZPD. Save your money and try this at home. And if you believe that your child is one of the lucky few to be training at a good martial arts school, then you can still use this technique to help refine or hone your child's existing training. :) Because this game is not at all style-specific... the objects only provide stimulus for the child by representing random attacks; the child will either figure our ways to counter these attacks (much like playing a video game) and/or figure out how to apply the knowledge that they've learnt from the expensive lessons that you've been paying. ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

Having recently moved to a new address I'm gonna be checking out a nearby "Practical (Self Defence)" Tai Chi class. Here's hoping they're half decent...

[GoktimusPrime]

The Practical Tai Chi group breaks off towards the end to practise sword forms, which I have no interest in. With all due respect to those of you who practise weapon arts, it's just highly unlikely that I'd ever be able to use a Chinese sword in a self defence scenario. Even if I did, they use those flimsy and super light weight Wushu swords. I tried using one tonight and with each powered thrust I had the blade wobbling all over the place like a bowl full of jelly. The idea of using this kind of sword in actual combat is just laughable. I didn't learn any sword forms in my old Tai Chi school, but I know that some of the more senior students who did used fully weighted metal swords, or similarly weighted solid oak swords... not these flimsy aluminium blades. :rolleyes:

So tonight I asked the head instructor (who teaches Yang Tai Chi to a separate group, whereas the Practical Tai Chi I do is Chen Style) if she wouldn't mind if I came and joined her group from next week when the Practical Group goes off and does their sword work. Thankfully she agreed. :) She did warn me that they do a different style of Tai Chi, but I said that I'd rather do a different variant of bare handed combat forms over a sword form. It'd probably be more practical for me. :o

[GoktimusPrime]

Olympic Judo Medalist Beaten Up (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/judo-medalist-beat-up-while-celebrating-on-copacabana-beach-234727753.html) in Brazil. Some of my friends who aren't martial artists are surprised by this, but for those of us who know better, this should come as no surprise at all.

This is precisely what happens when you take a martial art and modify it as a competitive sport. You take away some 90% of the art's most effective techniques, so it's little wonder that even an elite level professional competitive martial artist would get bashed in a real fight, because only about 10% of his actual repertoire is probably remotely useful in an actual fight. And in Judo's defence, they don't claim to be anything else - Judo schools don't claim to teach self defence. They are very upfront and honest about the fact that they are just a sport. I've seen Judo teachers say to prospective students looking to learn self defence to go find something else.

But of course, there are a LOT of other martial arts schools out there which similarly teach martial arts for purposes other than self defence (e.g. competitive sport fighting, demonstrations, holistic meditation etc.). Some of these schools are honest about not teaching self defence (such as the Yang Tai Chi school I trained at), but many - a lot of them - don't make this disclaimer. And as such they are potentially giving their students dangerous false confidence. Taekwondo is an Olympic Sport. I've done some training at a sport Taekwondo school... it was complete rubbish. I've also sparred with a person who was an international champion black belt in Taekwondo. He had just returned from an overseas comp where he spent an entire lunch time constantly boasting about his achievements and all the trophies and medals that he'd won. He agreed to a friendly spar with me and I was able to beat him in just a few seconds (grabbed his throat then pushed him onto the ground while he was choking). I am not a good fighter (I'm not even physically fit)... if a short fat nerd like me can beat you in a fight, then you really can't be that great. :rolleyes: Karate has been approved to become an Olympic Sport to debut in the 2020 Tokyo games. You all know that I tried Karate (2 different styles) a few years ago, and I left it feeling bitterly disappointed. :( Many Karate schools now are already teaching a more competitive sport-oriented form of Karate which is massively watered down from what Karate should look like, and I fear that once Karate becomes an Olympic Sport that it will get worse. The number of sport schools will outnumber the schools that can actually teach proper self defence even more than they already do now. :( Right now it's already really bloody hard to find a good martial art school for proper self defence and as we see martial arts becoming more and more commercialised the rarer it is to find schools that don't compete or indulge in any of the modern commercialised stuff and focus purely on traditional techniques for self defence.

But many schools will keep the words "self defence" in their advertising material to attract students who are looking at learning skills to protect themselves, only to be taught movements that possibly put them in greater danger than if they didn't do any martial arts training at all. :( It's practically a form of false advertising.

[GoktimusPrime]

Just read an online comment from an Aikido practitioner saying that Tai Chi is like a 'Chinese (version of) Aikido.' Ya know, despite the fact that Tai Chi pre-dates Aikido by 260 years. :rolleyes: This would be like saying that Baramada is the Aboriginal version of Parramatta. :o

Coming up next: how Diaclone Battle Convoy is a Japanese version of Bayformers Optimus Prime! :p

[GoktimusPrime]

Egyptian Judo fighter refuses to shake hands with or bow after losing to an Israeli. (http://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/not-what-the-olympics-are-about/news-story/1b230f24fe64b5ca638ef037a53e7a43) I can understand his political reasons, but if it meant that much to him then he should've withdrawn from the match entirely. If you agree to compete then you agree to follow rules and protocols including either shaking hands with or bowing to your opponent. Refusing to do so is just being a bad sport and little wonder that he was booed by spectators.

[GoktimusPrime]

I used to use rubber knives (http://www.dhmartialartssupply.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=20) but I find that they really break too easily during rigorous practice - they always break where the blade meets the handle - and each knife can cost anywhere between $10-15. :(

So today I popped into Kmart and bought a $2 foam pirate sword (http://www.kmart.com.au/product/foam-pirate-sword---assorted/835877). As it's scaled for infants it ends up being roughly the size of an actual knife. Okay, it looks silly but it functions the same as the rubber knife; i.e. giving you a physical knife-like object to react against and simulate being cut or stabbed with. Being far softer I think that the foam may actually be more resistant to snapping off than rubber, and even if it does break, I only paid $2 for it instead of say $12. :o

Anyway, for anyone else who may have experienced a similar dilemma or if you'd like to practice knife defence but you don't want to waste your money on an expensive rubber prop, then perhaps this can be a cheap yet equally effective alternative. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

In recent weeks I've been informally training with another dad at my daughter's Saturday school - he has a background in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Today another dad joined us who has zero experience in any martial art, but he was able to pick stuff up super quickly and said that everything we were doing was very naturally intuitive and instinctive.

Here's how our training works. We don't actually explicitly teach any techniques, but rather we use exercises/activities which promote or trigger defensive techniques. These activities work for anyone regardless of their previous experience - i.e. regardless of style or even for someone who's completely untrained. The activities focus on presenting each other with stimuli for which we need to react to. Here's what we did today:
* Reflex drills. The defender stands in a neutral and relaxed position; similar to how you would stand at a bus stop or train station or standing in a queue. i.e. not a fighting stance. Defender takes three slow, calm breaths with eyes shut. During this time the attacker(s) place the focus pad(s) in random positions close to the defender's body (e.g. few cm away from face, head, shoulders, chest, stomach, groin etc.). When the defender opens his eyes, the attacker(s) 'press the attack' by tapping the defender's body with the pad(s). This gives the defender only a second to react to the randomly presented threats. Difficulty can be adjusted by placing the pad(s) closer or farther away from the defender's body (thus adjusting allocated reaction time). Occasionally the attacker(s) will do nothing at all. So there's no guarantee that there will always be a threat when he opens his eyes - it's random. We don't prescribe any defensive techniques; if the pads are not hitting you then you're doing it right. :)
* Knife defence drill. I brought along the aforementioned $2 foam pirate sword to use as a knife prop. Similar to the previous activity we didn't prescribe any techniques unless we wanted to explicitly 'troubleshoot' stuff, but otherwise the main goal was to not get "killed". Getting 'cut' proved unavoidable, so the goal became to avoid getting critically cut (e.g. being cut or stabbed in vital areas); trying to disable the attacker with a minimal number of cuts to non-vital areas. In a real scenario we would most likely need stitches for superficial cuts and possible lacerations, but we focused on trying to avoid more serious puncture wounds and stabs.
* "Tip sparring." Pretty much free sparring only that we're hitting each other with the same amount of force that kids do when playing tips in the playground. e.g. if I can tip my opponent on the face then it counts as a 'punch' to the face. Only the other experienced guy and I did this, we didn't include the untrained guy. Although he did reasonably well in the knife exercise so I might try to think of a way to safely include him. Maybe "attack" him with focus pads so that he has softer things to react against, although he seemed keen to pick up some of my Tai Chi techniques before.

As far as the more experienced guy and I are concerned, we're not interested in teaching our techniques to each other, but rather training together to practice our respective techniques. i.e. I'm not teaching him Tai Chi and he's not teaching me Wing Chun, but we use our respective techniques against each other. The other benefit of cross-style training is that it takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to use your existing techniques against a different fighting style.

So yeah, our sessions aren't aimed at trying to teach each other any explicit techniques but rather to hone and refine what we already know. I think this kind of informal training is very useful for maintaining what you may have already formally learnt, and for untrained people to perhaps pick up a few things. :)

[Bartrim]

Finally back to training. Been twice this week... Now very sore lol.

[GoktimusPrime]

Same place?

---------------------------------------

Interesting 16 min video:
Why Wing Chun Cannot Handle Boxers or Wrestlers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWfyBDgnHfk) (warning: contains some coarse language)
While this person is from a Wrestling/Wing Chun background, I find that what he says is pretty much applicable across all martial arts, so I do recommend watching this when you have a spare 16 min. :) The crux of what he's saying is that an endemic problem with martial arts teachers today is that they teach form over function. :( He makes an interesting analogy with driving and defensive driving. I often use the language analogy; the idea of teaching students the words and grammar of a language and ultimately how to get excellent results in language tests, but not how to actually be competent in using it. This is commonly seen in countries like Japan where their education system churns out thousands of students learning English every year who can even beat native speakers in an English exam... but cannot hold a sustained conversation in English. Likewise I come across many (many) martial arts practitioners who become incredibly good at performing forms and techniques and can pass grading tests with flying colours and attain a whole rainbow's worth of coloured belts... but cannot fight. :(

[Bartrim]

Yep same place. Even though I'm in Sydney for work. It's a 4 day on, 4 day off roster so I come back to Ulladulla on my days off. So I figure I might as well keep training at the same place.

[GoktimusPrime]

Interesting 16 min video:
Why Wing Chun Cannot Handle Boxers or Wrestlers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWfyBDgnHfk) (warning: contains some coarse language)
*sigh* reading a lot of the comments on that video reminds me why I never frequent martial arts boards -- because they're full of idiots. But different from most other online communities, they're testosterone pumped aggressive idiots. :(

To make a long story short, it went something like this...
Person A> "Didn't Yip Man defeat a boxer?"
Me> "Nope."
Person B> "Yes he did."
Me> "Show me your evidence."
Person B> "I like trees."
Me> "Good for you. Evidence?"
Person B> "That was a joke, duh."
Me> "Okay. Here are 5 independent sources, none of which state that Yip Man ever fought a Western boxer. Evidence?"
Person B> "I know, damn it. That's why I didn't give any evidence."

I'm tempted to reply with, "So you knowingly lied?" :confused: ... but I've had enough of engaging with this dimwit. This is like saying, "The Earth is flat," and when someone else says, "prove it," I just say, "I know it's round, that's why I never gave any evidence, duh!" :rolleyes: And martial arts forums are often full of people like this or worse (much worse). I don't know which one I find more frightening, the fact that stupid people like this exist, or the fact that stupid like this exist and are being trained in martial arts. :eek: One of my bug bear with many martial arts schools is how they don't seem to care about screening their students and either rejecting or modifying the teaching of students who demonstrate an aggressive or even violent aptitude. When you teach someone a martial art you're effectively weaponising their body. You better be damn sure that you're not weaponising the wrong kind of person. #moralresponsibility

Megatron: "You're either lying or you're stupid!"
Starscream: "I'm stupid, I'm stupid!"
(Triple Takeover)

[GoktimusPrime]

Warning: rant ahead. :p
------------------------------

practical
/ˈpraktɪk(ə)l/
adjective
1. of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas.
2. (of an idea, plan, or method) likely to succeed or be effective in real circumstances; feasible.

This is how some people view and practise Tai Chi...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_taichitaichi_zps422isoq8.jpg

This is how I view and (try to) practise Tai Chi...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_taichitaikyokuken_zpsuz8k68ti.jpg

And this is how Tai Chi was created...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_taichiorigins_zpsohdysd2p.jpg
No, not the dude on the left. He's a soldier. The guy in the middle is an Imperial Palace Guard. The techniques practised by these guards, combined with influences from Taoist and Buddhist warrior monks, evolved into what we know as Tai Chi.

I have a colleague who also practises Tai Chi and now we are practising in the same school, but in separate parallel classes. Her class only practises forms whereas the class that I attend is called "Practical" Tai Chi and is explicitly meant for teaching Tai Chi as a martial art. I understand that different people practise Tai Chi (and martial arts in general) for different reasons, and not everyone learns it as a practical fighting form. That's fine. However, to put things in context, this colleague (let's call him "Bill" which is not his actual name) has always told me that he believes that Tai Chi is a martial art. As recently as just last week he was basically telling me that he thinks it's a mistake to divorce the martial art aspect of Tai Chi. Bill and I train in separate groups on opposite ends of the hall. We also do different styles of Tai Chi/internal Kung Fu.

In this week's class I was training with a partner and we were basically mucking around with some techniques. During this time I performed a simple take down and my partner ended up on the floor, similar to this technique (https://staticassetsjs-css-6pt2ple0ha5k4gsbf1.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-17-at-6.21.57-PM.png). To be clear, I was very careful with the take down because this school has no mats and I didn't want to hurt my partner by throwing him onto the ground. I can't be bothered typing an entire essay describing how someone can safely execute a take down during practise (which I'm sure nobody would be bothered to read), but I'm also sure that anyone else here who's ever done any kind of grappling or wrestling will know what I'm talking about.

Bill had never seen someone taken down to the ground before. Ever. He thought it was the most brutal thing he had ever seen. He told me that he was shocked and appalled by the level of violence that I had inflicted on my 'poor' partner and could not believe that I was throwing a person onto the ground. One massive argument later, I was finally able to explain to Bill that I had not thrown Bill to the ground, I took him to the ground... there's a difference. I reassured Bill that I am well aware that our school has no mats and that I have no interest in injuring anyone at the school. I know how to take someone down safely! :rolleyes:

Bill then started a new argument, insisting that take downs are not part of Tai Chi. His evidence: because he's never seen it. A lot of people have never seen grappling take downs in Karate either, but they do exist! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBCY1BH3lU) I wouldn't mind if Bill had just said, "Well I've never seen it," but he kept on insisting that it doesn't exist in Tai Chi, just because he hasn't seen it! :eek: It never occurred to him that maaaybe there are things in Tai Chi, particularly other styles/schools of Tai Chi, which he may not have come across yet. It was so insular. The argument was going nowhere, so I told Bill that even if he believed that Tai Chi fighters should never use take downs, the fact is that other people do, and that we need to learn how to defend against take downs!

It's similar to learning self defence against weapons like knives. It doesn't mean that we want to go around carrying knives, but if someone were to attack us with a knife then we need to consider how to defend ourselves against such a vicious attack. Bill then went on to argue about how Tai Chi is not a martial art. I asked him to explain, and he said that our school isn't a martial arts school, it's a Wushu Association. Even with my limited Chinese, I explained to him that Wushu (武術; "Bujutsu" in Japanese) means "Martial Art." :rolleyes:

At this stage another colleague, let's call her Daisy which is not her actual name and knows nothing about martial arts, jumps on Bill's bandwagon and insists that Tai Chi is not a martial art because I'm the only person in the world who sees it that way. Bill then says, "Actually he's right, it is a martial art," but then explains that it's a martial art that's designed to defend you against push hands (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XALpOmuQR88) attacks and nothing like boxing or karate etc. :eek: I begged to differ but in all honesty, the discussion was going nowhere. In the end I just reassured Bill that my partner was never in any actual danger and I would never recklessly endanger anyone at the school during training.

As much as I really love Tai Chi, I get frustrated by some of the people who practise it. In short, these are martial arts "hippies" who want to learn a martial art and believe that they can defend themselves, but they don't want to get their hands 'dirty.' They might break a fingernail. They love learning the theory of the art but have no real desire to learn the practise. And this is probably why the school that I'm currently training at divides its classes into different groups, and the group that I train with is explicitly called the "Practical" class, while the other groups (including Bill's) can play around with theoretical forms and never make physical contact with other person.

[GoktimusPrime]

:D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_tkd_zpstwjrnpic.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

What do you guys think are the most common types of attacks found in realistic street fights? Here's a quick list I've compiled, but please feel free to add your own suggestions! :)

* Shoving the chest
* Swinging punch to the head (roundhouse punch, "wild haymaker" punch)
* Single handed front grab or choke
* Double handed front grab or choke
* Reverse choke hold
* Lashing kick below the belt (e.g. to the groin, lower legs etc.)
* Wrist/arm grab
* Hair pull
* Charge and tackle
* Direct/straight knife thrust
* Overhead knife slash
* Swinging knife slash

[Bartrim]

:D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Martial%20arts/ma_tkd_zpstwjrnpic.jpg

I love that their initials are WTF

[GoktimusPrime]

I love that their initials are WTF
:D And it's real too! :D
http://www.worldtaekwondofederation.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Taekwondo_Federation

Although in all fairness, the World Taekwondo Federation was established in 1973 and the first use of "WTF" as "What the Fornication" was in 1985 (Usenet). Still funny but. ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

As many of you know, I'm fairly critical when it comes to Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do which I've already explained in detail in previous posts so not worth repeating. But tonight at training I heard someone present me with what I've found to be an interesting argument in favour of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do. So it goes like this...

Jeet Kune Do isn't a martial art style, it's a philosophy. So what this means that it isn't a pre-defined fighting system. What Bruce Lee taught was Kung Fu under his philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. JKD that's taught today comes from Lee's student, Dan Inosanto, who has blended elements of Kung Fu and various Filipino martial arts under the philosophy of JKD. So the idea is that JKD is more of a descriptive rather than prescriptive form of fighting. Rather than telling you what to do, it asks you questions such as:
* What do you already know?
* What can you do?
* What works for you?
...etc.
And thus one's training is adjusted according to the student's individual needs, which is completely different from the "one size fits all" prescriptivism that most martial arts schools blindly follow. The idea is that it customises teaching and learning to individual student needs.

I must say that it is, in theory at least, an interesting concept. I don't know if I'm fully convinced, but it's at least made me reconsider my stance on JKD at least in terms of what it actually means. Are there people here who've trained in JKD? If so, what do you think about this idea?

[GoktimusPrime]

How to use Juujutsu against a Donald Trump handshake (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-to-defeat-the-trump-handshake-vgtrn?utm_source=vicefbus) ;)

Jokes aside, it is a good wrist lock. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

This morning someone finally showed me the true power of Wing Chun Kung Fu's chain punching. Every other Wing Chun fighter I've sparred with and every video that I've seen shows them simply "shuffle-stepping" forward as they do their chain punches. Fairly easy to counter with sticking/grappling techniques. But the bloke that I sparred with this morning actually pounced forward as he initiated his chain punches! :eek: The sheer ferocity made it impossible for me to do my usual sticking or grappling... even if I managed to get a grip it would only last for a fraction of a second as he would quickly break out of it due to the sheer speed and power of the chain punches. The pouncing is of course what sport science refers to as plyometrics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics), so I tried to use my own plyometric movement in trying to hop out of his centre line and get around him, but it was too easy for him to simply change angle and realign his centre line towards me. I could advance in on him, I couldn't outflank him, and I couldn't draw him in. All I could do was remain on the defensive and keep my distance from him, blocking his shots and ensuring that he didn't get too close to me.

Admittedly this did work and my partner did admit that the downside to the chain punching is that it is physically exhaustive. By maintaining my distance I allowed him to simply wear himself down through over exertion of throwing hundreds of punches, none of which actually landed. So ultimately it was a stalemate, but a very interesting one from my POV as I'd never seen Wing Chun used like that before! The sheer fluidity and power of his attacks were impressive. When I told him that it was unlike any other Wing Chun attack that I'd encountered, he told me that a lot of other schools don't do Wing Chun properly. We often see the stiff and rigid forms and practices, but Wing Chun should be smooth and subtle, much like a whip.

This reminded me of my experience with Gojuryu Karate, where most people were also really stiff and rigid, but one black belt told me that Karate should be smooth and subtle. And both that black belt and my Wing Chun sparring partner used the "whip" analogy: i.e. that your body in a fight should be like a whip. Subtle but with vicious force on the moment of impact, only to immediately soften up again. It's harder to see in Karate because of the baggy long sleeves of the Gi, but the black belt who explained this to me rolled his sleeves up and allowed me to see how his arms moved upon punching. It was a lot more like how traditional Kung Fu operates (not surprisingly since Okinawan Karate is descendant from Fujian Kung Fu).

But this is really how every fighting form should work. The Yin (hard) and the Yang (soft) working together, or as Muhammed Ali said, "float like a butterfly sting like a bee." ;) So many martial artists fall into the trap of doing one or the other, or switching between one or the other (like a light switch), whereas the reality is that you are both hard and soft at the same time - like a whip cracking. Bruce Lee used the analogy of water, which is a good one too as anyone who's ever belly-flopped into a pool will know how freakin' hard water can be. Another analogy is to imagine being flicked really hard by a wet towel. The towel is soft and subtle but boy does it hurt like buggery! It's just such a shame that so few people who practise martial arts actually understand this concept properly. I can't even find videos online of people doing proper Karate or Wing Chun in this way - they all look like the stereotypical way of being far too rigid and using "shuffle stepping" instead of plyometric pouncing. Imagine if a predatory animal shuffle stepped towards their prey... they'd starve!

[GoktimusPrime]

What a difference a change in teacher makes. About 2 weeks ago I missed my Tai Chi training because of work and family commitments. But I was feeling frustrated with my training as I felt that I just wasn't learning anything. Each Saturday when I sparred with my Wing Chun fighting partner, I found that I wasn't getting any better. And if I tried to use the new Tai Chi techniques that I'd learnt I was actually fighting worse. A lot worse. Meaning that the only way I could hold my ground was to revert back to my old Tai Chi training... in which case why was I bother to spend $20 a lesson when, in a fight scenario, I can't use any of the new techniques? But I was subconsciously making excuses. I had only been training for 7 months and it really takes about 1.5~2 years of training before you can become competent in fighting in a particular art. But still, even prior to that surely I should've felt some sense of progress. Like say if you were to start learning a language for 1.5~2 years, okay, you may not be totally fluent but you should be able to see some progress (e.g. able to engage in basic conversations etc.).

So because I'd skipped training on that evening, I decided to catch up by going to a Bagua class on another day. Huuuge difference. This Bagua teacher is willing to give up his knowledge freely whereas I often feel like I have to beat knowledge out of my Tai Chi teacher and even then he only gives out snippets. The Tai Chi teacher has also told me on a few occasions that it takes 10 years to become combat proficient. WHAT?!? :eek: That's longer than it takes to become a freakin' engineer or doctor! :eek: Heck, that's a year longer than it took NASA to put freakin' men on the Moon! (1960~1969 = 9 years) It was becoming increasingly apparent to me that I was wasting my time and money with this so-called "Practical" Chen Tai Chi class.

The funny thing is that the Bagua class doesn't even advertise itself as being for self-defence/combat, but it just so happens to be better at teaching practical techniques for fighting simply because it has a competent teacher. This morning I was sparring with my Wing Chun fighting partner - so with just 2 weeks' worth of Bagua training in a class where fighting isn't even the focus, and there was noticeable improvement in my fighting form. Even my partner remarked that my technique had improved and he was finding it more difficult to attack me. So I had learnt more in just two weeks of Bagua under a competent teacher than I had after 7 months' of Tai Chi with an incompetent teacher. :rolleyes:

My Bagua teacher also knows the Tai Chi teacher - he also started learning the same form of Chen Style Tai Chi and we were actually in the same class together. Last week he asked me why I'd stopped going to the Tai Chi classes and I told him why. He tried to defend the Tai Chi teacher say that his knowledge of Tai Chi and its applications is amazing. His knowledge of Tai Chi is phenomenal. And I said that while this may be true, that teacher is also hopeless at passing on his phenomenal knowledge, which is what teaching is supposed to be. A person can have exceptional knowledge in a given field, but that doesn't automatically mean that they are capable of passing that knowledge onto others. My Bagua teacher then agreed with me. :o

This is why I refuse to address martial arts teachers by titles like "Sensei" or "Shifu" etc. These words mean "teacher," and as a teacher myself I feel that it is insulting to refer to someone as "teacher" when they cannot teach. Ironically I find that good martial arts teachers don't care about fancy titles anyway.

P.S.: A minute after posting this a fly flew past my monitor and I just casually caught it with my fingers! #karatekidmoment :p

[GoktimusPrime]

Female runner successfully defends herself from attempted rapist after only 3 weeks of self defence training (http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/seattle-runner-attacked-midrun-fought-like-hell-to-defeat-her-offender?utm_content=2017-03-15&utm_campaign=Rundown&utm_source=runnersworld.com&utm_medium=newsletter&smartcode=YN_0024217180_0001603396&sha1hashlower=6d4b3ad4dddf87ed1638603c91471a7379aa 02b3&md5hash=7e3cf739220ef94072a653b89293db94) :)

This is what proper martial arts training should look like. Each class should teach you something new and you should feel that you are making progress, if not then you're just wasting your time and money (which is what was happening at my previous Tai Chi class). Your training should be preparing you to defend yourself today, not tomorrow.

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, I'm definitely glad that I switched style/classes as this morning my Bagua teacher told me that from next week he wants to start running a "Push Hands club" for Tai Chi & Bagua students, which he describes as being more "rough and tumble" than our standard training. :D We also did pairwork today, something that never happened in the Tai Chi class, no matter how many times I asked/suggested it.

And the funny thing is that the Tai Chi class is explicitly marketed as teaching self defence whereas the Bagua class isn't, but the Bagua teacher understands that by learning how to use Bagua in real life it just helps the students to understand the movements a whole lot better. Because a lot of other martial arts classes that don't adequately teach apps are more prone to producing students who just don't understand the art properly. At most they can perform it at demonstrations (like memorising moves to a dance) or perhaps use it in restrictive competition fights, but not at the level where they can use it in real life.

Last week I caught up with a friend who I haven't seen in years. He's been doing MMA and he told me that his school solely focus on techniques for real life applications, nothing else, not even competitions. It's the first time that I've heard to an MMA school with such a primary focus on being so practical! :) This has made me further appreciate that it's the method of teaching that matters so much more than what style you do. I think that if you can find a good teacher of a style that works for you, then stick with that teacher.

The question that we really should be focusing on isn't so much what style we do, but whether or not we can fight (i.e. defend ourselves) with it. I'd rather have function over form than form over function. Not saying that form isn't important, but the form should be supporting the function of the fight, not vice versa.

[GoktimusPrime]

Smart alec bodybuilder gets pwned by female Juujutsu fighter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzXQGMqY8_E

[GoktimusPrime]

Navy SEAL on real martial arts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGpDVCkhtD4)

A really interesting video where a Navy SEAL offers his opinion on self defence and martial arts, and I find myself generally agreeing with the core of what he's saying. But just to expand on this...
He's absolutely right in saying that owning and carrying a gun is more likely to be a better form of self defence than wasting your time and money in martial arts - this was the conclusion reached by Penn & Teller's BS episode debunking martial arts. Having said that, this advice is obviously not applicable in Australia since we (thankfully) don't have a highly armed civilian population and also it is ILLEGAL for us to do so. But I take his point, no amount of martial art skill can ever defeat a gun, it's a machine weapon.
Yep, totally agree with him about the principal (and principle!) importance of learning about grappling. And I totally agree with his initial preference for an internal martial art (his preferences are Juujutsu and Wrestling), but also augmented with an external martial art (his preferences are Boxing and Muay Thai). Or ideally, finding a martial arts school that teaches BOTH internal and external elements, because that is what traditional martial arts is supposed to be about (the problem is that a lot of schools don't teach it, they tend to go with one or the other). The whole philosophy of Yin and Yang is based on the blending of two opposing concepts - hard and soft, striking and grappling - not one at the exclusion of the other. But if you can't find a school that teaches both, then his advice on learning an internal art first and then later augmenting it with external training is a good one.

[Sinnertwin]

Smart alec bodybuilder gets pwned by female Juujutsu fighter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzXQGMqY8_E

As one person commented, he isn't even trying against the girl. :rolleyes:
Just let her climb all over you, roll on the floor and pretend go to sleep. But be gentle :p

[GoktimusPrime]

During this morning's Tai Chi Push Hands session I was up against one of the more hardcore instructors and a couple of times we ended up ground fighting. :D Others said that our Tai Chi looked more like BJJ. :p In actuality it was Tai Chi ground fighting - we were still trying to displace each other's cores rather than going for holds or locks as BJJ might prefer, but from an outsider's POV, yeah, it probably did look more like BJJ than Tai Chi. :o Oh... and no mats. ;) My opponent was definitely better than me and I had to tap out. :p

Aaah... my whole body is so sore now. But definitely one of the best training sessions I've had in a long time. :)

[Bartrim]

We've recently brought in a boxing coach to our gym. I now do boxing from 6-7 and Muay Thai from 7-8:15. In the 6 weeks I've boxing I have noticed a massive change. My reach is a lot better and the past week the coach has been working on my movement and relaxing in the ring. I used to panic and move, almost run a lot in the ring and be exhausted after 4-5 minutes. Last night I did 10 minutes of movement and pad work in the ring, took a minute break and did another 5 minutes and although I was tired I wasn't exhausted like I have been in the past. Very happy with my progress.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've been hearing about this video for some time but only recently decided to look it up.
Tai Chi vs MMA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUOXGQ0MqP0)
This video shows a so-called Tai Chi "master" being really easily beaten by an MMA fighter using fairly basic straight-up boxing techniques. The MMA fighter doesn't need to use any more sophisticated techniques because his opponent just falls so easily.

sigh

So naturally the internet's been flooding with people further criticising Tai Chi as a useless martial art on one side, and people on the other side pointing out that this so-called Tai Chi master is just crap - it's not Tai Chi that's flawed, but this individual practitioner. Naturally as a Tai Chi practitioner myself, I'm with the latter crowd.

But having said that, I can totally understand where those who side with the former are coming from. Tai Chi has long had a reputation of being a useless McDojo hipster martial art, and this criticism is not without basis. There are a lot of Tai Chi supporters getting angry and upset towards critics and even abusive... but honestly, the problem comes from within. There are a LOT of people who practise Tai Chi incorrectly and are thus giving our art a bad reputation. So looking from an outsider's POV, I can completely understand their criticisms. A friend of mine first told me about this video - and he's a non-Tai Chi guy (he's a Wing Chun fighter), and yeah, he too was laughing at this video. He asked me if this made me mad, but honestly... it doesn't. It makes me feel disappointed, but not angry, because I totally understand where non-Tai Chi people are coming from.

And some might say - and this includes people that I've spoken to from within the Tai Chi community - that a lot of people don't practise Tai Chi as a fighting style and don't want to. Many people enjoy practising it as a form of holistic exercise for the mind and body, similar to yoga or pilates. And yeah, I get that too, and that's fine. But I think the difference lies where people who are practising "holistic" Tai Chi lay claim that they can fight, when clearly they cannot. This is what is dragging Tai Chi's reputation through the mud. I get that some people practise martial arts for reasons other than self defence/combat. Fine. But just don't claim that it's for fighting when it's not.

But I think that the Tai Chi fighter honestly did not know that his Tai Chi was useless until he fought the MMA fighter. The poor guy's probably spent over a decade training in an art that he honestly thought was teaching him how to fight. And herein lies the danger in LYING to students by teaching them a non-combative form of a martial art but claiming that it's still combative. Because all you're doing is giving your students dangerous false confidence. It would be better for students to just know that their martial art is a non-combative form and thus never try to stand and fight against an attacker.

[GoktimusPrime]

The World Taekwondo Federation is now dropping the word "Federation" from their title. It seems that they finally realised that everyone's been laughing at their acronym for decades. ;)
http://www.bbc.com/sport/taekwondo/40391326

[GoktimusPrime]

My long standing criticism of rules/competition fighting rang true for me this morning. The current Tai Chi Push Hands group that I train with always do so according to sets of rules, especially the idea of fixed step. But even with moving step there are still rules. Among the rules there is no touching of the head. Total no-go zone.

And as I've long theorised, when you start training with rules your fighting form eventually starts cracking and showing weaknesses as you soon forget (or never develop) specific skill sets as certain things are off limit. So today I copped a really basic hit to the side of my head. The lens popped off my glasses and one of the instructors went and got a miniature screwdriver set to help me fix it, so it was cool. And I wasn't hurt or anything. But it just demonstrated how, after months of training with the "no head strikes" rule that my own head defence has weakened. :( Because if I never need fear someone hitting my head then there's no impetus for me to defend it. And it would've been really simple to defend too.

Anyway, next term our group is changing venue. We're currently using a dance studio but the new place will be a proper dojo in a gym, with jigsaw mats already laid out. So hopefully this will mean that we can open ourselves up more to doing a wider range of techniques rather than holding ourselves back. I also suggested today that once we change locations that we all bring our own protective gear. Because if a person's wearing headgear then you're going to be more confident in taking a shot to the head, which is what you want in order to maintain the ability to defend your head!

When they first told me about the venue change the first thing I recommended was that we practise breakfalls as even some of the instructors has never done breakfalls! :eek: But they totally agreed and today suggested that we include breakfall practice as part of our warm up routine at the new place.

[GoktimusPrime]

Recently caught the repeat of Todd Samson's Body Hack episode that looks at the science of fear in a fight. As many of us know, the majority of a fight happens before the first hit is ever thrown - it's psychological. This is something that traditional martial arts have understood for centuries and that the modern military has invested a lot of time and money into researching. In this episode Todd Samson visits an MMA gym with some interesting results. :)
https://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/todd-sampsons-body-hack/season-1/episode-1

And this is a common criticism that I have of a lot of martial arts schools -- traditional or modern, across all styles... a really common thing I see, or more accurately, that I don't see, is teaching students about the science of fear. It's such a critically important element of any fight and yet so many schools today just don't look at it. Not all of course, but you'd be surprised at how many schools just don't.

[GoktimusPrime]

A really intelligent and interesting video: Top 5 Mistakes Aikido Experts Always Make (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxm972tfVZQ)
The person in this video is an Aikido practitioner who loves Aikido himself, but he's also critically analysed his own art and devised ways to improve it. He's also worked as a bouncer for 17 years. While the video focuses on Aikido I think that the message of his video is applicable to all martial arts.

[GoktimusPrime]

Funniest fight commentary evah! :D It's as if it were scripted by Bill Birmingham. #wiredworldofsports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAF0ZeCpPqE

[GoktimusPrime]

This year I've switched to another class in the same Tai Chi school. This is a Baji class. I've only been to two lessons so far, but unlike other classes they do teach:
* practical applications
* exercises to promote fitness and endurance (gaaaah)
* sparring! - students are required to provide their own protective gear

One of the other guys that I was training in Tai Chi Push Hands with comes from an Okinawan Karate background, and he's joined this Baji class too. We're both quite nitpicky smart alecs (:p) and try as we might, we have yet to find any real faults in this Baji system! :eek:

The main criticism that we both agreed on is that it's probably too advanced a fighting form for people with little to no prior martial arts experience. This is because Baji is very close-quarter combat.

In any case, at the end of each lesson I'm drowning in my own sweat and am absolutely knackered! :o

This (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_yDOS8iWZc) is the form that I'm currently learning. So far I'm only up to about the 15 second mark on this video. :p But it feels so good to be learning a form where I'm also being taught the practical applications for each move and it doesn't feel like I'm learning some meaningless dance routine! :D

A Japanese Karate master experiences Baji (as well as an Okinawan Karateka) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdM_b18AlGk) :)

P.S.: In this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N5L7b000BQ) the director and film crew admit to the same Baji instructor of being skeptical of the Baji that they've been seeing. And so they ask for a private demonstration. ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

Question for discussion: What would be the one martial art outside of what you're training in or have trained in that you admire the most?

As a Tai-Chi/Kung Fu practitioner, I would say that the one non Kung-Fu art would have to be Brazilian Juujutsu. Things that I admire about BJJ include:
It's a relatively simple yet incredibly effective fighting form
It's a passive martial art, meaning that it only has defences, no attacks. "But that's ripping off Aikido!" Uh, no. Aikido came from Juujutsu (originally called Aiki-Juujutsu), so take that. But whereas many Aikido schools just don't teach effective self-defence,
most BJJ schools do. Check out this video: Why Aikido is absolutely useless (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPGNyN4iFco) -- and the person who made this video loves
Aikido. The name of his channel is AikidoFlow, he's an Aikido black belt and is also a bouncer by trade, but he's also a big critic of his own art.
The passive nature of the art also makes it ideal for self defence from a legal POV because you don't strike the opponent. The main objective is to simply immobilise the attacker so that he cannot attack you. Once the opponent is immobilised then you are in a position to negotiate (e.g. order him to stop resisting/fighting etc.). As long as he continues to struggle, you can maintain or tighten your grip. He's not going anywhere until you have compliance. And you keep him pinned in a vise-like grip until authorities arrive.
It is a fairly non-presumptuous martial art. Aikido tends to suffer from something that many other martial arts schools suffer from too -- too many assumptions, especially the assumption that your opponent isn't bigger, stronger, better skilled and just a mean son of a glitch. They assume that the opponent is evenly matched, honourable and will fight fair. Good martial arts schools don't make these dangerous assumptions, and I find that BJJ tends to be pretty good in this regard. Their training philosophy still retains the traditional mindset of assuming Murphy's Law, with the sole exception that they do assume that you won't be outnumbered. But in terms of 1 on 1 combat BJJ is bloody impressive. Historic Japanese Juujutsu does actually have techniques for combating multiple opponents, but with BJJ's preference for ground fighting I don't know how much of that remains.
BJJ teaches you how to fight immediately. None of these rubbish excuses that I hear so often from other schools where being combat-ready taking years or decades to achieve. Okay, extended years or decades of training will make you more masterful as a fighter, but basic proficiency in fighting should not take that long. BJJ allows you to be able to defend yourself today, not tomorrow. And again, this isn't anything that's unique to BJJ but for whatever reason it's a principle that many other schools have lost but BJJ has kept.

Check out this video of a BJJ White Belt vs a Kung Fu fighter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_UOFL07I9w). This white belt totally owns the Kung Fu fighter! :eek: A novice! See... this is how every martial art should be taught. Your beginners should be able to fight! Okay, he's not a masterful or even expert fighter, but remember, he is just a beginner. But he's not incompetent either! This White Belt would actually stand a fair chance of survival if he were attacked on the street by some random thug. I'd say better odds than the Kung Fu fighter that he beat. And this is what the core purpose of our training is -- to increase our odds of survival in the event of an attack.

Yes, I know that BJJ is not unique in this regard. There are other martial arts schools out there that do similarly equip their students with decent fight competency in a relatively short period of time. But they can be a pain in the butt to find! I've spent years switching schools and classes trying to find the right instructor, and this year is the first time in many years that I've found an instructor that I'm satisfied with!

But if you can't be bothered spending all that time and energy trying to find a new teacher, then I'd say consider BJJ. The main reason why I haven't jumped into BJJ is because the nearest BJJ Dojo to me is really, really expensive. It is certainly not a cheap art to study. But it is, IMO, definitely an impressively effective fighting form that I have full respect for. :)

[GoktimusPrime]

Something that I've said before is that I'm personally not a big fan of martial arts uniforms, and I'm really not a fan of wearing them outside in public. One of the main reasons being that it can potentially attract unwanted attention and possibly provoke violence in people who are just looking for a fight (and see a martial arts uniform as a challenge).

Tonight after training I decided to grab something from the shops on the way home. Before exiting my car I flipped my shirt and wore it inside out in order to hide the name/logo of my art. Not that I think many people know what Baji even is, but just didn't want to run the risk of someone even thinking that it's a generic looking Kung Fu shirt and then wanting to challenge me. And I'm so glad that I did this, because after taking only a few steps I was confronted by a bunch of really loud and rowdy tradies who'd just finished work and were making a late night kebab run. I didn't want to confront them so I tried to walk around them, giving them a wide berth. But they were walking three abreast and it was hard to get around, and one of them gave me a very intimidating glare and got in my face making a rapid foot-stomp at me - obviously trying to scare me. I maintained eye contact but otherwise didn't react. Just kept my calm and kept on walking. He and his friends sneered at me and, thankfully, also kept on walking.

It was a tense situation, but I'm glad that I wasn't showing any logos that might have potentially added fuel to the fire. It's no guarantee that it would've happened - maybe nothing would have been different. But why take the risk? The best form of self defence is avoidance, and if not walking around advertising that I train in a martial art can help me avoid a fight, then why not take that extra precaution?

The only time that I can imagine that wearing a martial arts uniform would be meaningful would be during a public demonstration, performance, exhibition etc. But even then, I'd change in and out of my uniform for such events. That and I really don't like wearing blasphemous non-Transformers apparel. :p One thing that concerns me is seeing kids walking around in public places with martial arts uniforms on. It's not a terribly safe habit and I think that kids should be encouraged to either only travel straight from home to training and back, or they should change in and out of their uniforms. Or just train without a uniform -- have a sensible dress code instead! (e.g. loose fitting comfortable sports clothes - similar to what you might wear at the gym)

And don't even try to tell me that martial arts uniform are upholding a tradition, cos I'll be telling you five ways from Sunday how that's just historically incorrect! :D

[GoktimusPrime]

After learning Baji for about a month I did some sparring with a friend who's a Wing Chun fighter this morning -- I've been sparring with him on and off for a while now, so he's familiar with my fighting style and he's seen me transition from:
* my old Tai Chi (my default fighting style)
* "Practical Method Chen Style" Tai Chi (which got my butt kicked by him every time - I call it the most impractical practical method :p)
* Bagua x Tai Chi Push Hands -- the Bagua didn't add much to my repertoire because the training was so much more focused on form over function (sigh), but the Push Hands classes had more of a greater influence.
But in all, my opponent would eventually acclimatise to my evolving fighting method and we would end up being evenly matched.

So after a month's worth of Baji lessons I resumed sparring with today, and I was honestly expecting not much change. It's only been a month. I thought most likely I might try to do some Baji but with so little training I'd just go back to my old default fighting method. What happened next surprised both me and my opponent.

The Baji training kicked in almost immediately. My previous fighting method was now replaced (or perhaps augmented) by this new fighting method that I've been learning for the past month. No more Push Hands. No more arm spiralling. No more attempts at outmanoeuvring. No retreat. No surrender. Only this relentless drive forward to utterly annihilate my opponent. And the weird thing was, whenever my opponent scored a hit in - 2 in total (one hit to my rib, one to my face) - the fear and anxiety of being hit only drove me to charge in even more! :eek:

The basic principle of Baji reminds me of what Pippin said to Treebeard in LOTR - "The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm." At first this seems like it makes no sense and it's so counter-intuitive to what I've learnt from other martial arts. Why would you move towards the threat? That's stupid! But damn it, it freaking WORKS! :eek: It works because by getting in close, you are basically starving your opponent of options. When a fighter is right up in your face there are fewer things that you can do, and even as you try to do stuff, the attacker just gets even closer, further limiting your options -- literally starving you of choice.

And this is only after one month of training! :eek: Not years -- a month! I felt that $20 a lesson was expensive, but in all honesty, I'm definitely getting my money's worth! Cos at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what style you do or prefer. It doesn't matter what belt or rank you are. All that matters is how you answer the question, "Can you fight?"

[GoktimusPrime]

Well, got my butt massively kicked during tonight's sparring. :p Although I was put up against the top student in the class, whereas I'm a raw beginner along with one other guy. :p Not complaining per se, just saying. ;)

Excuse me while I sit my sore butt down... aaah... XO

[GoktimusPrime]

I found out tonight that the one guy in my Baji class who always refuses to spar does so because he "values his brain too much." i.e. he's afraid of brain injury.

And while this is not a totally unfounded fear, the risk of concussion in our sparring is remote since we do wear as much protection as possible, including martial arts head guards and MMA-style gloves that pad the knuckles, plus none of us are hitting with full powered hits (that's what focus pads are for). I'm not sure how he intends to become even remotely competent if he never actually ... ya know... practises beyond just doing forms. He previously learnt Yang Style Tai Chi and admits that he has zero clue as to how to use it, because again, he exclusively learnt the forms and never practised the applications. *sigh*

Okay, the risk of brain injury in sparring is not 0 -- there is a chance even if it's minimal. But if you don't learn to apply your techniques and in the odds that you are attacked IRL, then the odds of sustaining serious injuries including head trauma (e.g. king hits/coward punches etc.) is much higher! :eek: You can practise all the best techniques you like in your forms, but unless you also practise the more practical application of these techniques then your wonderful techniques become about as effective as a fart against a cyclone.

[GoktimusPrime]

UFC fighters vs Marine Corps fighters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyllQuQuHZE)

Predictable results. This is why I'm generally not a fan of competitive martial arts. As I've often said, whenever you modify any fighting style for competition you invariably compromise it. Despite the fact that these are highly skilled UFC fighters, you can see them making various cringeworthy errors that wouldn't fly in most traditional martial arts, and which these Marines are adept at exploiting.

The Marines' fighting principle is more like what we do in traditional martial arts. Terminate a fight as quickly as possible using a few moves as possible. It's all about effectiveness rather than prolonging a fight, and they make no assumptions about the enemy. I do say principle as the execution is different, and the Marine Corps trainer does admit this in the video. Obviously modern soldiers carry a personal arsenal of weapons which is why they will assume that the Marine is armed. Interesting to see the Marines using the Japanese 銃剣 (Juuken; gun sword) in their combat training. In Japan there is an uncommon martial art called Juukenjutsu (銃剣術) which is where this training weapon comes from. It does focus on using the rifle as your primary melee weapon, bayonet fighting etc.

But yeah, the spirit of the Marine Corps training is pretty much the same as what we see in traditional martial arts and what I find to be typically lacking in competition martial arts.

[GoktimusPrime]

"Karate" vs "Ninjutsu" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtNZWJ5jjWM)
I honestly can't tell which is the more incompetent fighter. <facepalm>

[GoktimusPrime]

Saw some guys promoting a notorious McDojo at a shopping centre today. This is the same McDojo that I trained at a few years ago desperately looking for something positive to say about it but after months of training I found nothing. :( Interestingly enough I noticed that none of their advertising material featured the words "Self Defence." Although their website still does. :rolleyes:

My advice to anyone looking to do a martial art is to honestly be skeptical and assume that every school you're looking at is a rubbish school. In other words, apply onus probandi (Burden of Proof) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy)). If someone claims that their martial actually works as a fighting form do not believe them unless they can prove it. I know that this sounds incredibly pessimistic, but the problem is that there are so many rubbish schools out there, and I myself am sick and tired of giving schools the benefit of the doubt only to be disappointed over and over again, that it's actually safer to assume that a system doesn't work unless they can prove to you that it does.

And even after you begin training, continue to be curious, inquisitive and ask loads of questions. Be nitpicky! If you see a technique being shown or demonstrated to you, question it! Only continue to train at the school so long as they can continue convincing you that their techniques actually work. That's what I've been doing, and while I'm quite happy training at my current school it is because the instructor continues to satisfy my skeptical curiosity.

And I don't mean being skeptical or questioning in a nasty, aggressive or disrespectful way -- you should be able to question what's being taught. And if the instructor doesn't foster a class environment where you feel comfortable asking questions then that's a warning sign. Either what their teaching isn't very good (hence they don't want to allow anyone to question them), or they're just not good teachers! Because every teacher knows that fostering curiosity and inquisitiveness is crucial to good teaching practice. Avoid those "shut up and just do as your told and copy me" style 'teachers.' It astounds me how incompetent so many martial arts instructors are. Imagine if any other sports coach or classroom teacher taught with such reckless abandon for basic learning.

[GoktimusPrime]

No rules BJJ vs Karate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYiWbKdJeHA) - predictably the black belt Karateka gets easily beaten by the Juujutsuka.

The way that the Karateka lost is all too indicative of how too many martial artists are training these days -- too many restrictions which dilutes the art. Whereas BJJ has actually worked well to maintain much of its tenacity even with competition training. I think the key essence is that BJJ isn't into the whole 'point sparring' thing. They aim to terminate the fight as quickly and with as few moves as possible, which is really the spirit of traditional martial arts anyway. So perhaps this is why, unlike many other martial arts, BJJ has managed to survive relatively in tact even when modified for competition fighting, because they still maintain the core spirit of what martial arts is meant to be about -- ending a fight, not continuing it.

If I may use a Chess analogy, competition martial arts tends to promote the idea of playing the game where you take pieces and aim to put the opponent in Check, and let's say that for each Check you win a point. So you're encouraged to continually Check your opponent to win a maximum number of points, but in doing so you are prolonging the game and also giving your opponent opportunities to Check you back. This is at complete odds with the traditional martial arts mindset, which is more geared towards enforcing an immediate Checkmate. The objective is to become like a Chess master where you can Checkmate your opponent with as few moves as possible, like say a 3-move Checkmate. And we see this in BJJ -- they execute only a small number of moves before the opponent is locked on the ground. Checkmate.

This is how Karate is supposed to work. This is how every martial art is supposed to work. The problem is that in the modern age, as competition martial arts have become popular, many schools have simply lost this edge as their training methodology has shifted from "enforce immediate Checkmate" to "get as many Checks as possible and stack those points!" And I almost feel sorry for the Karateka at the end of the fight. Look at his face. The tempered rage and also disappointment... he might be wondering why the hell his black belt Karate training has failed him so miserably. All the years and thousands of dollars that he's spent on this training, only to lose so easily to a random BJJ fighter. He looks to be in a combined state of shock and emotional denial.

This is why I was floating between schools for so long before I settled on my current one. There's no point in sticking with a martial arts school if their training is bad. Aside from wasting your time and money, it can also be dangerous as they teach you bad habits! I know that I've picked up some bad habits from some of the schools that I've been floating around in recent years. My Karate training made me stop guarding my head. My previous Tai Chi and Bagua training made my 'bridging attack' skills worsen. Any skills that you're not practising or that you're practising incorrectly will make your fighting form worse. It's only been in this year with my Baji training that I've started to re-learn things and correct some of the bad habits I've picked up along the way.

[GoktimusPrime]

MMA vs Wing Chun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnQ4kyGSRI)
This is the same MMA fighter who beat the tar out of the Tai Chi "master" a while back. Watch him again easily trounce a Wing Chun fighter. There is no contest here.

Even as a pro-traditionalist myself you just have to give credit where credit's due. This MMA guy, who I think is an absolute thug, is the superior fighter. And he's putting here his money where his mouth is. He is also doing the traditional martial arts world a favour by exposing one our most critical flaws -- a lot of people aren't practising the traditional arts properly anymore! And quite frankly if you're not training properly in any style then you pretty much deserve to have your butt handed back to you in a fight like this. And if this MMA guy can discredit as many rubbish martial arts "masters" as possible and drive them out of business then GOOD.

This MMA fighter is like a predator who's going around challenging all of these traditional Kung Fu masters and taking them down. The only ones who'll survive are the ones who are fit to continue teaching their art. Survival of the fittest.

One reason why many martial arts (traditional and non-traditional) have gotten so weak is because there is no impetus to keep our skills sharp. We don't use martial arts in modern combat because it cannot compare to modern weapons technology (e.g. assault rifles etc.). People can prove their martial arts in fixed and controlled settings like tournaments and competitions because it's not a realistic fighting environment. And MMA isn't a completely realistic fighting environment either, and this MMA guy isn't even an exceptional MMA fighter. Which is all the more damning for these Kung Fu masters who are losing to him!

I haven't bothered reading the comments for this video, but I remember when the MMA v Tai Chi video came up, a lot of butt hurt Tai Chi fighters made excuses like criticising the MMA fighter's technique and attitude. Yes, the guy seems like a meathead. Yes, his technique isn't the greatest. But he's still kicking everyone's butts! Quite frankly the traditional martial arts community - my martial arts community - needs to put up or shut up.

At the end of the day the better fighter is the one who can beat you. The question of "which style is better" is utterly irrelevant next to the question of "Can you fight?" That is the only question that we should preoccupy ourselves with. Traditional, non-traditional, competition, non-competition, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Karate, Juujutsu, boxing, Krav Maga, wrestling, Taekwondo, Hapkido, Aikido etc. - it doesn't matter what you do. All that matters is whether or not you can stand your ground against an opponent, especially an opponent who doesn't give a flying hoot about your fighting style and rules and will do whatever it takes to floor you. Can you defend yourself against a superior opponent? If your answer isn't yes then you need to rethink your training.

[GoktimusPrime]

MMA Fighters Try Women's Self Defence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G10uv57Romo) -- a humorous but clever way of road-testing some really bulldust self-defence techniques. This highlights what I find is wrong with 99% of martial arts demonstrations that I see, not only those for women's defence.

[GoktimusPrime]

Saw some guys promoting a notorious McDojo at a shopping centre today. This is the same McDojo that I trained at a few years ago desperately looking for something positive to say about it but after months of training I found nothing. :( Interestingly enough I noticed that none of their advertising material featured the words "Self Defence." Although their website still does. :rolleyes:
I take this back. I saw the same McDojo guy at another nearby shopping centre today and I got a direct look at their signage which absolutely does claim to teach "self defence." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRywQgmAvhI) :rolleyes: Incredibly dangerous false advertising. :mad:
https://image.ibb.co/h4BnZH/facepalm_megatron.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

An excellent video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tR2-VztjcQ) explaining the value and application of practising forms, as well as why so many people who do forms practice can't fight. Essentially it's about function over form, not form over function.

[GoktimusPrime]

I tried Krav Maga today for the first time ever. It was... interesting.

One the plus side, it's a very no-nonsense approach. No forms, no competition training - pure focus on self defence. There are informal forms, kinda like shadow-boxing, but not in the formal sense where it would foster people to become form collectors.

The drawback that I encountered was that the art assumes that your opponent isn't superior to you. The techniques I did tonight might work quite well on Joe Average who has little to no martial arts or combat training/skill... but against a competent fighter? Yeah, I'm not so sure.

For example, they taught us how to get out of a headlock, but this technique makes what I consider to be 2 critical flaws:
1/ It relies on the attacker NOT completing the headlock. i.e. you have to move and get out of it in time. The technique would probably be useless if the attacker were a skilled grappler and quickly completed the lock.
2/ It assumes that the attacker won't pursue you! We were told that once the defender gets out of the headlock, in the role of the attacker we were just meant to stand there and let them escape rather than chasing them.

The funny thing is that they told me this after we did a bit of a free spar session for escaping headlocks. I got one guy in a headlock and he tried the Krav Maga counter, but I stuck with him so that he couldn't escape and dragged him down to the mat where I pinned him.

On the whole I do like the no-nonsense attitude and I reckon an average person who does say 1 year of Krav Maga would probably beat a person who does 1 year of Karate or Tai Chi at your typical/average school. But your typical Brazilian Jujutsu fighter would most likely smash a Krav Maga fighter.

P.S. What The Simpsons said about Krav Maga is very true - "No groin no Krav Maga!"

[GoktimusPrime]

How to NOT defend yourself against a knife attack...
https://image.ibb.co/hMi3mU/ma_knifeknife.jpg
Note: the top left image shows the trajectory of a typical "rake" attack commonly seen in crazy frenzied attacks (and the kind that is typically found in cases causing multiple stab wounds)

How I would defend against a downward straight incoming knife attack
https://image.ibb.co/bQ0SD9/ma_knife.jpg
Note: images on the right show how the technique would still keep you relatively safe* even if you are unable to execute the rest of the technique (e.g. opponent is too fast, you're too slow etc.). The knife slips past your outside rather than leaving your arm and your body directly in harm's way.

----------------------------------------------
*Well... as safe as one might be in a knife attack which is always super-bloody dangerous. If a person attacks you with a knife then expect to be cut. But at least with the method I'm suggesting you would get nicked on the outside of your arm. Still sucks and you're gonna need stitches but it's not as devastating or deadly as the alternative scenarios seen in the first set of images

[GoktimusPrime]

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlGJVW-ZBwI) shows a Taekwondo fighter trying to show how TKD is effective in a street fight. The intention of the video is to prove this, but it actually ends up disproving it when you look properly. The TKD guy repeatedly admits that...
* his kicks only work if they are executed flawlessly -- critical mistakes in his techniques will make his entire fighting form useless.
* his opponent isn't expecting his moves; that he's unfamiliar and won't know how to counter them properly

(sigh)

He's assuming that he's fighting an inferior opponent, which is a dangerously stupid assumption to make in a fight. It's always safer to assume that your opponent is superior to you - stronger, faster, better trained. If they turn out to be inferior then that's okay, you'll cope. But if you assume that your opponent isn't better than you and they are, then you're screwed.

Telling people that these kinds of techniques work, teaching them and taking people's money for it is reckless and dangerous. It's giving people dangerous false confidence. Now interestingly enough, this guy is closing down his Aikido Dojo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAdrHRkqgsU) because he's come to the realisation that he's been cheating his students. He's a black belt in Aikido and he's been taking people's money to teach them Aikido, but he's come to realise that he cannot fight. How can a person who cannot fight teach a martial art? That's like having a maths teacher who lacks numeracy skills, or a language teacher who cannot speak the target language etc.

Now to this Aikido instructor's credit, I do admire his honesty and decision to do the right thing by closing his school down to take a sabbatical. The reason why he's done this is because just over a year ago he got into the ring with an MMA fighter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUXTC8g_pk) and lost really, really badly. It's embarrassing to watch and bear in mind that this guy gets paid to teach martial arts. To his further credit, this guy spent the next year trying to refine his Aikido in preparation for a rematch. He was determined to prove that Aikido can work in a real fight. So a few months ago he had a rematch with the MMA fighter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3IwxR2Ar-I), and again, he lost really badly. Not quite as badly as a year ago, but still pretty damn bad. Even I can fight better than this Aikido guy, and quite frankly, if a fat and unfit bugger like me can beat you then you're doing something seriously wrong! :p

So yeah, I can respect the fact that he's self-reflected and decided to, at least for now, close his Dojo to re-evaluate himself and think about whether or not he can return to teaching Aikido or if he needs to do something different. So many other martial arts teachers don't do this. They will continue ripping off their students. And I do feel bad for this Aikido guy. He's just come to the realisation that the martial art that he's dedicated years and years of training to, goodness knows how much money he's invested into... is BS. He's come to realise that he has been living a lie, and I'd say that he first came to that realisation back in May 2017 but he's been in slow denial since then. But the second defeat a year later has opened his eyes.

And another problem is that even if he does come back a year later after having reformed his Aikido and re-opens his school, you're going to have all of these Aikido purists hate on him. Because the Aikido community's attitude is that if you change Aikido then it's not Aikido anymore. Which is ironic because Aikido evolved from a sub-branch of Jujutsu. :p Aikido's founder (Ueshiba Morihei) developed Aikido by modifying Jujutsu (and possibly mixing in other styles like Bagua Kung Fu).

But yeah, if the Aikido community is going to "disown" him for trying to improve his Aikido then he's better off just renaming his martial art and pretend that it's a whole new thing. That's what Hapkido did. :) And quite frankly, it's not as if "Aikido" is a trademarked term anyway. :p

[GoktimusPrime]

Some cute Bobble Head images of different martial arts. Original image by Leif Prime. I've modified his template to create different martial artists. The Japanese Karate one is the least modified. :)

AIKIDO
https://image.ibb.co/kEtntK/aikido.jpg

BOXING
https://image.ibb.co/bTQ0DK/boxing.jpg

JUJUTSU
https://image.ibb.co/h9Ty0z/jujutsu.jpg

JAPANESE KARATE
https://image.ibb.co/jUCDYK/karate.jpg

OKINAWAN KARATE
https://image.ibb.co/gdVd0z/karatedo.jpg

KENJUTSU
https://image.ibb.co/cChDYK/kenjutsu.jpg

KUNG FU
https://image.ibb.co/etn2Se/kungfu.jpg

MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE COMBAT
https://image.ibb.co/cE17tK/medievalrenaissance.jpg

MUAY BORAN
https://image.ibb.co/mFvp7e/muay.jpg

PANKRATION
https://image.ibb.co/kNfNSe/pankration.jpg

TAEKWONDO
https://image.ibb.co/fiwJ0z/taekwondo.jpg

TAI CHI
https://image.ibb.co/fjnDYK/taichi.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

I know that this is super late notice - and it's because someone's dropped out. But I'm meeting up with some Karateka from Japan tomorrow evening in Western Sydney and I should be able to bring one other person with me. PM me ASAP if you are interested in tagging along.

[Galvatran]

Sorry to hear that person stood you up on late notice Gok. Double dating isn't my thing. Have you tried those modelling agencies?

[GoktimusPrime]

Yesterday was the 82nd anniversary of Japanese Karate.
https://ryuhoryu.blogspot.com/2018/10/karate-day.html?fbclid=IwAR1-8ex6DI5vQcArsfAirOwtAvKiPd0bwOLFS_ucYYCABUoT1-k8PFwuMV8

[GoktimusPrime]

Yesterday a man in the US tried to kidnap a woman who ran into a Karate Dojo. ;) (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/us/woman-kidnap-karate-studio-charlotte-trnd/index.html)

[Ralph Wiggum]

http://m.fightland.vice.com/blog/bruce-lee-vs-wong-jack-man-fact-fiction-and-the-birth-of-the-dragon

It’s an article from 2016, and my apologies if its been posted before, but I thought this was a great read on the almost-mythical fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man back in the 60’s.

Many would have learned about the fight between the two from the Hollywood movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story starring Jason Scott Lee (no relation). One thing that always made me laugh about the movie’s depiction of this fight was that it occurred in some bleak Mortal Kombat like arena...because of course thats how Asian people resolve their differences! But thats Hollywood for you.

The few witnesses, and typically subjective views on how and why this fight occurred make it difficult to discern fact from fiction, but this article does its best to rule out the speculation and rely on evidence, and I’m inclined to think this is the closest to the truth we’ll ever get.

[GoktimusPrime]

The few witnesses, and typically subjective views on how and why this fight occurred make it difficult to discern fact from fiction,
^This. :)

Unpopular Opinion: Bruce Lee is an overrated fighter. That's not to say that he was bad, he was good. But he wasn't exceptional.

So why do so many people overrate him? Two reasons. The most obvious one for the layman are his movies. People see him kick butt on film and assume that he must be able to do so IRL, forgetting that movies are make believe. The second and possibly bigger reason is ignorance from Westerners -- i.e. because most Westerners had never seen Chinese martial arts before. It's easy for Bruce Lee to be the best Chinese boxer that people have ever seen when he was the only Chinese fighter that people had ever seen.

When I ask people who claim that Bruce Lee was the best fighter ever why they believe this, their answer is almost always along the lines of because they've never seen anyone better. Well... uh... you kinda need to get out more and observe more experts in Chinese martial arts then. I guess it might be like someone who's never seen a Bumblebee toy since 1985 seeing say Titans Return Bumblebee and declaring it to be the best Bumblebee toy ever. I mean, TR Bumblebee is a very, very nice toy. But it's not the greatest. Similarly Bruce Lee was absolutely a good fighter. But not the greatest. If we examine Bruce Lee's technique, it was essentially based on Equivalent Retaliation strategy, or in simple terms, tit-for-tat fighting. Or as Cliffjumper would say, "Strike first, strike fast, strike hard." And there's nothing wrong with this technique, as I said, Lee was a good fighter. But it's not the most advanced concept either. If we look at the evolution of fighting arts today in things like MMA/UFC and what's becoming increasingly favoured in street fights, we're seeing a shift towards grappling/submission and ground fighting techniques. And it's pretty obvious why.

It kinda reminds me of the story of Thomas Molineaux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Molineaux). By the early 19th century boxing happened by two people just standing in a ring taking turns punching each other until someone was knocked out. It was that simple. Like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. But Molineaux revolutionised boxing. A former American slave, he travelled to Britain and Ireland where he competed against boxers there, but he did something that was unheard of at the time. He got out of the way of his opponents' punches! :eek: Yeah! He refused to just stand there and take punches. He moved out of the way and punched back. Molineaux introduced a bold new technique that revolutionised boxing -- he introduced ducking and weaving! A ridiculously basic technique that every boxer knows how to do today was something that astounded Georgian fighters and audiences, and made Molineaux appear to be some kind of super-fighter.

So it's all a matter of perspective. When Westerners had never seen Asian martial arts before, they would soon consider the first time that they saw it to be the best. Heck, just last week I was watching some Karateka sparring and noticed one guy being taken out a few times by his opponent's spin kick. Afterwards I asked him how he thought he should counter a spinning back kick and he didn't really have an answer other than "get out of the way" (well duh, that's how you can counter anything :p). I showed him a super-basic counter and it blew the minds of both Karateka! :eek: They thought that the spinning back kick was some super unstoppable move until I showed them a hilariously simple way to thwart it.

Spinning Back Kick and How to Counter it
A = attacker
D = defender
https://i.ibb.co/MBSG3VD/ma-reversespinningkick-counter.jpg
TOP: The spinning back kick works in 2 main phases. Phase 1 is the turn or initial spin which generates momentum, and the phase 2 is the kick.
BOTTOM: The counter basically involves arresting the attack during Phase 1 before the attacker can execute phase 2. Basically the moment he turns his back on you is when you pounce on him; close the gap (and if you like you can put him in some kind of hold). But simply closing the gap will neutralise the attacker's ability to progress onto phase 2.

P.S.: Just watched a few videos on how to counter a spinning back kick, and the more effective ones work on the same core principle - close the gap. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU5J9Hj_O5I
This video shows one less effective and one more effective counter...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOgP_Ayyd6I
Skip to 1:25 of the video for the first counter which is less effective. Okay, this counter does work in avoiding the kick, which is great, but it's less effective as a counter-attack because you're not closing the gap and quite frankly not doing anything to the attacker. You're both at a stalemate position. The guy explains that the defender can do all sorts of things to the attacker, yeah, but the attacker isn't immobilised either so he can also defend himself or counterattack (e.g. sidekick etc.). It's a stalemate.
Skip to 2:30 for their second counter which is impressively simple but highly effective. You basically throw a front kick into the attacker's hip! It works! :) There is no stalemate here, if we were to compare this with Chess strategy then you've effectively enforced a Check.
The technique that I prefer and explained above is, IMO, a precursor for enforcing a Checkmate (e.g. choke hold).

[GoktimusPrime]

I figured that since I'm taking my daughter to Karate lessons twice a week I might as well join her Karate club. The thing is that her Dojo has 2 different lesson types per week - one for sparring and the other for forms; I have no interest in learning Karate forms but I basically would love to have more opportunities for sparring as it's an uncommon thing in my Baji/Tai Chi classes which focus more on forms and applications, but we don't often spar.

So in terms of my core technique I'm going to continue focussing on Baji, but I'll be using the Karate club as a means for regular sparring. The main downside is cost as I'll only be paying the single casual lesson fees for Karate which works out to be nearly twice the cost of paying monthly; but there's no point in me paying monthly as I won't be attending their lessons more than once a week. I pay monthly for my daughter as she attends twice a week, but yeah, as I said I have zero interest in learning Karate forms.

Nothing against learning Karate forms, it's just that I don't want to be a Jack of All Master of None. I do think that it is incredibly useful to train and spar against people of different styles, mostly to see what my own techniques can do against people with different skill sets. I encourage all martial arts practitioners to consider cross-training with people of different styles, because the problem with only training with people in your own style is that you become used to fighting against... well... people with the same skill set as yourself. :) And IRL it's highly unlikely that an attacker will fight using the same style as you!

[GoktimusPrime]

Had my first Karate sparring session last night. It was waaaaay too freaking easy. I literally beat all of my opponents with minimal effort using just one hand. Granted I didn't spar against anyone above a purple belt.

I brought the same protective gear that I use in Tai Chi and my leg protectors aren't compatible with this Karate club because they don't cover the feet (since, ya know, we wear shoes in Tai Chi :rolleyes: :p). And in this club people without full equipment only get to spar every second round, so we had to sit out the other ones. I want to buy a new pair of leg protectors that satisfies their criteria so that I can work my way through these lower belts and get to the black belts! They're the ones I wanna fight! But I'm glad that I did it because we really don't do enough sparring in Tai Chi/Baji.

Tonight's Baji class was still really good; focused a lot on techniques and did application drills (padwork), but no sparring. I volunteered to partner up with the less competent students because I think that they need to have harder partners to get them to move correctly (otherwise it's a case of the blind leading the blind). But damn it, as I'm sure you've all guessed, training with freakin' newbs is often more dangerous than training with experienced fighters cos they can't control themselves properly and don't know what they're doing! :rolleyes:

[GoktimusPrime]

Bought a new pair of leg guards today... and I'm $112 poorer :/

[Autocon]

But 100% leg protected!

[GoktimusPrime]

It was actually $119 (oops). I found another pair at a different shop for $20 so I bought that and returned the first pair, but that shop doesn't do refunds so they've given me store credit.

Uh... does anyone in Sydney need sporting supplies? :o

P.S.: I bought the cheapest possible pair of leg guards because in all honesty, Tai Chi fighting is so close quarter than kicks are practically useless. When I sparred with Karate guys on Monday and again practised in another Karate Dojo on Friday I always came up so close to my opponents that they were rarely able to throw a kick. And if they did it was all too easy for me to just catch the kicking leg, in which case I'd give the leg enough of a yank to teeter them nearly off balance, but actually off balance so that they'd fall over (since there were no mats). And seriously, it only happened twice... most of the time the fighting was too close up for kicks.

[GoktimusPrime]

Last night's Karate sparring:

Was sparring with a white belt - same size and age as me. He initially freaked out and got really angry when I made contact with him; i.e. tapping his body and head gear, grabbing his kicking leg, shoving him out of the way - but in no way actually harming him. Anyway, I could see he wasn't happy so I dialled myself down and put one hand behind my back and started fighting him with just one hand to make it easier for him. He exploited this and delivered a hard kick to my jaw on my exposed side. Wow. :rolleyes:

I spoke with him later and he told me that he wasn't comfortable with my aggression and was afraid that I was going to hurt him. I pointed out to him that, yes, I was being aggressive because this is sparring in a martial art and you need an aggressive partner in order to train yourself for effectual self defence. I assured him that while I do fight aggressively I would never hurt him, because then nobody would ever want to train with me in the future (which would obviously suck for me). I also pointed out that while the most "damage" I did to him was just tapping him, his kick actually drew blood -- my mouth was bleeding on the inside and after my round with him I went and rinsed my mouth with water and spat blood out outside the Dojo. My jaw is still sore now, so yeah... I have more to fear from him than he has from me!

And I did finally get to spar with the black belts which was waaay better. They fought much more aggressively but never hurt me. But as we all know, novices are more dangerous than experienced fighters because they just don't know how to control themselves. Serves me right for having my guard down. I wanted to be kind to the newbies but if it's going to end up getting me hurt then why bother? I guess they can just learn to cope with an overwhelming opponent (which is more like a real fight - if anything a real fight would be much worse).

[GoktimusPrime]

More martial arts related entertainment than any to do with actual martial arts, but I guess this thread might be the nearest fit...

Shannon Lee will be realising her father's dream of a Wild West Kung Fu epic (https://www.inkstonenews.com/arts/bruce-lees-concept-tv-show-warrior-brought-life-his-daughter-and-justin-lin/article/3001832)

Bruce Lee's family have always asserted that Warner Bros stole Bruce's idea for a Wild West Kung Fu epic and turned it into the 1972-75 Kung Fu TV series. And according to Lee's family, due to racist attitudes in the 70s they chose to recast what would've been Lee's role as the main character to a Caucasian actor, who was of course David Carradine, playing the role of a Eurasian character.

There's also the fact that David Carradine has zero interest or knowledge of martial arts, and I know this first hand because I asked Carradine this directly when I met him at Sydney SupaNova many years ago (2004?). Carradine told me that he has no interest in any of this stuff and only learnt moves taught to him by a choreographer for the purposes of the show. So you had a non-Asian non-martial artist playing the role of a half-Asian martial artist. Okay.

This time they've cast Andrew Koji as the lead character; he's Eurasian (half Japanese half British) IRL so I guess he'll either be playing a full East Asian character (as Lee had intended) or a half-Asian character (as Carradine was supposed to be but wasn't), I don't know. Although I don't have pay TV so it might be a jolly long time before I ever get around to watching this anyway. :p :p

[BigTransformerTrev]

Disappointed. Just enrolled my daughter in Ballet classes once a week, and was hoping to start my son and I in a weekly Karate class. Apparently there were about 8 in the class, a mixture of all ages and sexes.

But now I've found out they may not be running anymore. Apparently the old instructor who made the drive once a week from Mudgee finished up and two young blokes took over. Apparently they are pretty bad at running the classes and as such what people were showing up have stopped. And without the requisite numbers the classes will stop completely. :(

Hoping they are able to sort something out. Seemed like a really good activity my son and I could do together. And I haven't done martial arts since I was a teenager and did Judo for 3 years.

[GoktimusPrime]

In all honesty your boy's better off not doing a martial art at all over doing a badly taught martial art. I've seen too many bad martial arts schools teach skills that are counter intuitive to even basic natural fighting instincts, so you'd be better off being untrained and let your natural instincts kick in.

A good martial arts teacher should be supplementing learners' natural fight instincts and reactions, not opposing them. At least at the basic level -- there are more advanced techniques which can be more counter-intuitive to natural fight instincts, but that's why they're advanced. I must admit that this is something that my current Baji instructor doesn't understand well. Because in Baji we cannot retreat, we can only advance. The scarier a fight gets the closer you move in, and it does work because the closer you get the more you starve your opponent of options. But it doesn't work for inexperienced learners because your natural instincts are screaming at you to get AWAY from the scary threat! It's for this reason that I think Baji is better as a secondary martial art rather than a primary one. I feel the opposite is true for Karate.

[GoktimusPrime]

So a while ago I was doing some sword sparring at the Karate Dojo, basically using foam-covered "swords." Now I'll be the first to admit that I completely suck at weapons. My interest and focus is on hand-to-hand techniques, but hey, why not have a go at this? I was still able to smash my way through most of the coloured belts, but the higher ranking belts were better able to best me, especially the black belts. The most proficient black belt had me against the ropes so to speak. :)

But the weird thing was that another black belt managed to magnificently disarm me -- sent my sword flying behind me. Awesome. So I put my dukes up ready to continue fighting as an unarmed fighter against an armed opponent, but my partner lowered his sword and told me to go pick my sword up. I initially refused and told him to just keep attacking me, but he said, "No, that's not right. You have to get your sword."

Huh? :confused: What do you mean that's not right? Okay, it's near impossible that I'd ever get into a real fight against an armed opponent while I'm armed myself, but if I did, being as crap as I am with weapons, I would likely be disarmed and my attacker isn't going to give me the luxury of picking up my weapon. And realistically, if there is to be a weapon in a fight it will more likely be my attacker who is holding the weapon while I an unarmed. I get that weapon vs weapon arts are done for fun and recreation rather than practical self defence, but surely if a person is disarmed then the opportunity to practise self defence is there... why not take it? She stopped the fight while I had my guard up with this in mind...
https://i.ibb.co/crpVz13/temp.jpg ;)
Also, even from the recreationalist/re-enactment side, historically speaking if two swordsmen fought and one was disarmed, the armed opponent would more than likely continue attacking and attempt to quickly take out the disarmed opponent. Now you could argue that this would be against Bushido and a Samurai's honour blah blah blah, but...
a/ This is Karate which is an art not used by the Samurai. You just do what you can to survive.
b/ Bushido and a Samurai's honour was often adhered to more strictly in theory than in practice. Samurai history is littered with betrayals and back stabbings, even among family!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

RE: What is a McDojo? (Art of One Dojo) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_6IiVwvzo)
Here's the McDojo checklist according to the video, and as the video said, if your school is exhibiting one or a few of these traits then it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a McDojo, but if it's exhibiting a lot of them then you might want to consider changing schools.

I'll go through this list and see how my Tai Chi/Baji class fares...

Long term contracts / Upfront payments
We pay upfront for 20 lessons. This is because it is a very small class. There is no time limit though - we receive a punch card and we can attend as frequently or infrequently as we like and we punch off at each lesson. Then we repay when the card is used up.

Instructor lineage
My instructor himself is from Cangzhou Prefecture in Hebei Province, and Hebei is where Baji originates from. Tracing the lineage of Chinese martial arts can be often problematic because of the destruction of knowledge during China's Cultural Revolution (sigh), but there is sufficient surviving documentation that tells us that Cangzhou Hebei was a major hub for Baji (where it was sometimes known as Bazi or Pazi... potayto potahto).

Watch Classes and Observe Class Size and Structure
Yep, the classes are easily visible. Especially considering that we train in a public park! :D Anyone can come and watch. We often get footballers, joggers etc. training around us. Class size? There are currently just four students in the class. If large class sizes are a bad sign of a McDojo then we are the opposite. Of course there are lots of down sides to having tiny classes too, and the structure of the class is often related to this. Only me and one other student are serious about learning this art for self defence/fighting -- the other two are what I call "Tai Chi hippies." They learn it more as a performance art which drives me and the other more serious guy mental as they're holding us back... but they're also half the class! Also if either me or the other serious dude can't make it to class then that significantly affects the class dynamic. The other guy told me recently that if I message through saying that I can't make it to a class then he won't even bother turning up, as - in his words - "What's the f***ing point?" :o

Are Students Being Corrected and Monitored?
Yes. Definitely one of the beauties of being in a really small class - definitely more individual teacher attention.

Required Merchandise
Only sparring gear. There is a uniform but it's not enforced (I never wear it). The uniform is only required if we are publicly performing at an event... which I never do, so again, I never wear it. :p And the sparring gear is stuff I already owned from my previous Tai Chi training so it wasn't anything that I had to explicitly purchase for Baji. And protective gear isn't merchandise -- these aren't tee shirts, car stickers or badges. This is stuff that helps to prevent injuries! Oh, the only thing I've recently needed to purchase was a new mouth guard because my old one was getting festy.

Instructor Engagement
Our instructor doesn't spar with us but he does engage. We cop a few accidental hits during demonstrations. ;) In fact, the first time I met my Baji instructor I was skeptical. One thing that Baji does which looked initially bad to me was leaning forwards. My initial thought was that it makes you off centre and it would be too easy for a grappler to just rope you in. The instructor asked me to show him what I meant, so I asked him to hold out a punch in that forward leaning stance, so he obliged. I then grabbed is arm and started pulling it in, but then he lunged right into me and sent me flying backwards! :eek: He told me that there was no way that I could reel him in. I tried it again, and yep, kept on failing! Since then I've learnt that Baji works by constantly advancing into the opponent, thus starving him of options to retaliate, including grappling. You cannot grapple a person who is driving their body through your own core (effectively launching their own body at you like a missile). But yeah, my instructor's certainly not afraid to get his hands dirty. :)

No One Fails a Belt Test
We have no belts. No tests. So yeah, not even relevant. In schools with no belts or grades it's pretty simple; the person who can put you on your butt is your senior. Nobody cares how long you've been training or whatever... competence is all that matters. Want to know someone's level? Fight them.

Does the Instructor Discourage Cross Training?
Nope. He doesn't actively encourage it either, but if we ever mix in or compare techniques from other arts he's perfectly fine with it. But whatever technique you throw at him he will counter with a Baji technique. It doesn't matter what art that attack is from; Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Karate etc. - an attack is an attack. In a real fight you have no time to analyse what style your attacker is using, there is only a series of threats that you must immediately deal with. It's a quick succession of threat analyses and responses... who's got time to care about style?

Forbids Cross Training
Absolutely not.

Are Students Promoting Too Quickly?
There is no promotion system. I suppose there are students who are being taught new forms too quickly. When I was doing Chen Tai Chi students would only be taught a new form after mastering the previous one, and by mastery I mean also mastering all the applications of each movement in the form, not just memorising the form and being able to perform it. As a result we learnt forms very slowly. But as I mentioned before, half the class are learning this as a performance art -- since the other two guys don't even spar they do little else but perfect their performance of their forms, eliciting the instructor to teach them the next one. In my instructor's defence, he is trying to encourage these two to become more hands on with the practical elements. When these "hippies" started they refused to do any physical contact work. Now after lots of encouragement he's got them doing padwork... which is still freaking them out because they're still so scared of incoming hits (they frequently flinch and cower). He's working on these guys to build their confidence, but I think he has to undo a lot of the bad habits that these guys have picked up as mindless form collectors. I personally try to encourage them to try sparring, but they just laugh the idea off. They used to laugh off the idea of padwork too but the instructor has managed to get them involved now, so many one day they might be willing to spar? The other serious guy has given up on asking them to spar (and being constantly refused) which is why he won't even rock up unless I'm there now. In his eyes the "hippies" are just wasting his time. He doesn't even like doing padwork with them, but I try to encourage us to mix with them because I think that they need to feel what it's like to practise against live and more aggressive partners. Whereas then they train with each other it's all touchy feel good and gentle.

Does the School Have Child Black Belts?
We have no anything belts. :p Our instructor used to teach kids but I don't know if he does anymore (i.e. at the other classes that I don't attend). But the children's classes that I've seen before have been nothing more than mindless form teaching for performances. It's one of the reasons why I've got my daughter doing Karate instead -- Karate is simpler but also much easier for kids. Also, if I'm to be really honest, Baji isn't a good martial art if you've never done a martial art before. Because the idea of "No Retreat No Surrender," the core principle of Baji, is a pretty advanced concept. Beginners will naturally want to flinch and back away from the threat. It's your natural instinct to move away from danger. Baji requires you to move into danger where, oddly enough, it is safer for you because the attacker has far fewer options. But moving in that close isn't easy! The other serious guy and I can do it because we have prior martial arts experience, but even then it's not exactly a walk in the park (otherwise we wouldn't need to train)!

Instructor Behaviour - Do They Treat Students Appropriately
Absolutely. My Baji teacher isn't a bully like the Gojuryu Karate teacher that I briefly trained with. One thing that impresses me is that he takes criticism quite well, and he seeks out feedback. I remember after the first semester of training with him, at the end of the last lesson he approached me and asked me for my honest opinion about his teaching. I told him that I felt that we did too much form work and not enough practical applications. When the next semester started, he had invested in a set of pads and every lesson now includes a combination of form work and application work. Not always sparring though, which is why I joined my daughter's Karate Dojo and I only attend Karate lessons where there's sparring. I've told the Sensei that I'm not interested in learning Karate, I just want to spar (and he was fine with that; so long as I pay for insurance and lesson fees). :) And I have mentioned to my Baji teacher that I'm now sparring with Karateka -- so I learn the techniques with him, but practise it at Karate. And it's not entirely his fault that we don't spar often enough, as I said, half the class are sparring refusers and if either me or the other serious guy doesn't show up then sparring is impossible. I didn't train this week because I've been sick. My Baji instructor has said that it is difficult for him to plan when we can spar -- so we do try to message in as early as possible to let him know if we can't make it to a lesson. It's one of the downsides of having a small class where half the people don't want to spar.

Does the School Overbrand
I don't think it does. The closest it gets is doing public demonstrations, but certainly not door to door salespeople like GKR Karate.

Is the Martial Art Style Clear?
Absolutely. This goes back to the lineage. And as the video said, if your school is a combination of different arts that's fine, but the lineage of those different styles should be clear. And yeah, our classes are very much watchable - again, being done in a park. :)

No Touch Knockouts
I think you can all tell by the way I've made fun of these people that I would never train in a school that does no touch techniques. :) There's definitely contact in our training. I didn't just buy a new mouth guard for fun.

Does Your Instructor Answer Your Questions
Definitely. And he asks questions too - again, I like the way that he is receptive to feedback and seeks out feedback. He wants to know how he can be a better teacher.

So how does your school fare on this checklist?

[GoktimusPrime]

Often Misunderstood Concept: 間合い (Ma'ai)

https://i.ibb.co/yW3pCbG/ma-maai3.jpg
Chinese and Japanese (and I suspect other East Asian?) martial arts traditionally visualised their 間合い as "circles" (actually domes) whereas Western martial arts view them as "boxes" (actually rectangular prisms).

https://i.ibb.co/YdrgQpw/ma-maai1.jpg
The left and right fighter's territories are coloured in red and blue respectively. The yellow line represents their centre line. Here the red fighter has invaded the blue fighter's Ma'ai - he has occupied the geometric centre.

Commonly understood as merely "distance" in a fight, but that's arguably too simplistic. Ma'ai really looks at each individual's "territories" and how one moves in order to move through, capture and/or defend territory. Chapter 9 of 孫子兵法 (The Art of War) deals with the principle of Ma'ai in what it calls 「行軍篇」(the deployment and movement of troops)

https://i.ibb.co/dfHc0YB/ma-maai2.jpg
Here we see two fighters launching kicks from their respective Ma'ai. While they are both attacking each other, neither is moving in to either occupy or control the other's Ma'ai. This is a situation of relative stalemate as both parties are equally able to strike at each other; neither party is asserting tactical dominance over the other (this is more of a technical fight than a tactical one).

In my recent sparring with Karateka I've found that I'm often able to gain the upper hand against my partners by simply invading their Ma'ai. I found a lot of the Karateka specialised in ranged attacks - basically launching strikes from their Ma'ai into their enemy's but rarely ever crossing into enemy territory. But once I invaded my opponent's Ma'ai then it often became difficult if not impossible for my them to attack me.

https://i.ibb.co/qCQhSny/ma-maai4.jpg
The blue Jujutsu fighter has ducked under a punch and moved in to invade the white fighter's Ma'ai right before executing a take-down. This invasive maneouvre is what allows a Jujutsuka to get their opponent off balance. This is not a stalemate, here the Jujutsuka is forcing a Checkmate.

Ma'ai can be divided into 2 planes -- the "horizontal" boundary between two fighters and the "vertical" centre line. These two planes intersect and form four boxes and as such we see how the basic concept of boxing works.

https://i.ibb.co/NSPqCQR/ma-maai5.jpg
The Tai Chi fighter on the right has stepped into the Karate fighter's 間合い, represented by the red line that he has crossed over. He is finishing in a solid stance while driving his elbow straight into the Karate fighter's ribs, sending him backwards off balance. Again this tactic is intended to avoid a stalemate and increase the chances of forcing a Checkmate.

Now this is less of a technical thing that a tactical thing. Because by invading your opponent's Ma'ai you are literally starving them of available options that they can use against you. Punches and kicks suddenly become useless at extreme close range and, if I can get close enough, my opponent may have difficult standing upright if I am able to plow through their centre of mass and upend their balance (although I usually didn't go this far as the Karate dojos that I'm training at don't have mats for people to safely fall onto). I'm finding that many people have trained well in learning technical fighting but not so much in tactical fighting. In this sense martial arts suddenly adopts strategic elements and sort of becomes like a game of Chess.

https://i.ibb.co/89BDr5f/ma-maaichess.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

Hit a brick wall with my recent journey into Karate.

For context:
* As explained back in February, I joined this Karate club for the purposes of cross training. I made this abundantly clear to the head instructor when I asked to sign up and he was cool with it.
* During sparring the only restrictions imposed are for safety (fair enough)
* There are two dojo; one that's closer to me (Dojo A) and one that's farther away (Dojo B)

I've recently been told by black belts at Dojo A to cease and desist using any Tai Chi during sparring because it's against their "rules" (???). No pushing/shoving, no grabbing, no elbows etc. Ya know, all the good stuff. And in the black belts' defence, they told me that they've received complaints because I've been putting my opponents onto the floor. Not takedowns, but sometimes people fall over during fights (happens to me enough times). I'm not justifying this justification, but I can understand why they - upon receiving complaints - have asked me to adjust my fighting style. It's not a great reason; they could just explain to those complainers that this is a MARTIAL ART, but they're erring on the side of caution so while I don't agree with their actions I can see where they're coming from. But interestingly enough Sensei himself has never said this to me, only two of his most senior black belts at Dojo A. Although Sensei has recently introduced the rule of taking it easy on smaller opponents and giving them a chance to do stuff, which is fair enough from a teaching/learning POV (re: zone of proximal development, you don't learn anything from being constantly overwhelmed). But the black belts aren't on this same page, they don't want me stepping my game up even with them. :eek:

The way that people at this Dojo fight is like a video game. They step in and take pot shots but... that's kinda it. It's all ranged attacks and nobody really gets close (and thus they hate it when a close range fighter at me gets in past their comfort zone). Not sure why they'd expect a fight to be comfortable... in my Tai Chi training we expect it to be frightening (as in crap your pants scary; someone is trying to harm you or worse!). But at the end of the day, I'm just a newbie at their school - I'm a white belt. And even as someone who has openly confessed to coming to this dojo to cross-train, I'm basically a guest.

So what I've been doing now is just fighting purely defensively. I just sit back there and block or evade all incoming attacks and... it is boring. Too easy and unchallenging as I find many of these Karate attacks rely on the opponent to make a ranged attack. If I don't make any attacks then they can't really do anything. I actually copped more hits making close range attacks through things like personal errors or opponents outmanoeuvring me and getting a good punch or kick in before I can close that gap. That's what I enjoyed about sparring -- honing my close quarter skills against range fighters. My strategy was to get in close and the better Karate fighters would use their range skills to try and keep me from closing in. But sadly the people at Dojo A have no interest in fighting like this, so now all I do is just sit there and casually block all incoming attacks. Low risk. Low challenge. No learning.

In teaching/learning terms this is pitching far below learners' zone of proximal development and it isn't really teaching people how to apply their skills since the conditions are far too controlled and predictable. And application is only middle order thinking (low order thinking = memorisation, high order thinking = creativity). It's just really bad teaching and learning.

Dojo B is better though as the black and brown belts there actually relish the opportunity to pressure test their Karate against my Tai Chi -- to adapt their tactics. When I execute a successful technique, rather than banning me from doing it anymore, the Dojo B people actually ask me to do it again because they want to learn how to counter it! Thus it becomes far more of a scientific process. Repeat the attack (control) and attempt to modify their Karate to counter it (variable). Hypothesising and testing. And similarly I have to ensure that my Tai Chi tactics can work against their Karate attacks. This is the beauty of cross training; so that fighters of different styles can pressure test our techniques against each other and learn to become adaptable and versatile fighters. There's no judgement or any of that tribal rubbish about whose style is better than whose -- I don't tell them to use Tai Chi and they're not telling me to use Karate during sparring, we just use what works, and if it doesn't work then analyse and correct. What went wrong? How can we improve? Thus as learners we can grow. Dojo B is a far better learning environment but sadly because it's farther away from where I live I don't get to train there often. :(

The other hilarious thing is that the black belts from Dojo A told me that the "distanced pot shotting" is "pure Karate." I pointed out that traditional Karate is close range; many of their form (kata) techniques is designed for close quarter combat. And recently I asked one of the black belts - out of sheer curiosity - what the lineage of the style was. No idea. Wow, really? You've trained for decades and gotten a black belt and you insist that your form is "pure" Karate but you don't even know the lineage of your style? I asked Sensei who explained that it's a combination of Okinawan Genseiryu Karate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genseiry%C5%AB) and Taido (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taid%C5%8D). I've only been training at this Karate school for less than 5 months and I already know the lineage of the style just by quickly asking Sensei. Okay, I get that not everyone cares about the history of their style - but if you're going to prattle on about "stylistic purity," then come on! But I think in reality "pure" Karate just means "my" Karate and anything different from their own insular perspective is "impure." It's chest beating tribalism. :rolleyes:

And sadly discussions about styles easily devolve into tribalism. As my Chen Tai Chi teacher once said, the important question is not "What style/art do you do?" -- the important question is, "Can you fight?" I've come to realise that it doesn't matter if you're doing a traditional or non-traditional style... I don't care if it's short or long range... striking or grappling. If it works for you then keep doing it. And that's why I enjoy good cross training because it helps me to pressure test my Tai Chi and know if it works for me against fighters of different arts. Because in real life it's highly unlikely that I'll be attacked by someone who does the exact same art and style as me. During my Tai Chi (Baji) training last night we talked about how important the first sticking movement is, especially against boxers who are trained to throw combination punches in rapid succession. And I reckon I'd be more likely to come up against a boxer on the streets than a Tai Chi or even Karate fighter.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've made a FB group called "Functional Martial Arts (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1174936716009830/)." We don't care what style you're training in. It doesn't matter if it's traditional or not. The only thing that matters is what works.

If it works = good
If it doesn't work = not good

[GoktimusPrime]

I haven't trained in months because the class schedule didn't align with mine, but this year it does and tonight was meant to be the first lesson of the year... but it's been postponed by a fortnight because the instructor's just returned from China and he's staying home for two weeks in quarantine even though he wasn't anywhere near Wuhan. He was in Cangzhou, which is the equivalent distance of Sydney from the Sunshine Coast.

[UltraMarginal]

A reasonable precaution.
Yesterday morning defence put out a notification to all staff. If you're returning from wuhan or a surrounding province, stay home for 14 days. By mid afternoon it was revised to returning from China.
There aren't enough facts known about this yet. How easily it spreads, how severe it can be, or how quickly a carrier shows symptoms. I think your instructor is being very mature in his approach.

[Tha_Phantom]

A reasonable precaution.
Yesterday morning defence put out a notification to all staff. If you're returning from wuhan or a surrounding province, stay home for 14 days. By mid afternoon it was revised to returning from China.
There aren't enough facts known about this yet. How easily it spreads, how severe it can be, or how quickly a carrier shows symptoms. I think your instructor is being very mature in his approach.

Agreed. The disease has spread to other parts of China and just because it may not be documented specifically in Cangzhou yet doesn't mean the instructor should be careless.

[Raider]

A reasonable precaution.
Yesterday morning defence put out a notification to all staff. If you're returning from wuhan or a surrounding province, stay home for 14 days. By mid afternoon it was revised to returning from China.
There aren't enough facts known about this yet. How easily it spreads, how severe it can be, or how quickly a carrier shows symptoms. I think your instructor is being very mature in his approach.

Very sensible indeed. My father is off to Hong Kong and Thailand for business this week. Once he gets back he is going to stay away from us for 14 days just to be safe. The travel warnings are not intended to discriminate against Chinese, it is meant to apply to anyone who goes there. As UM points out, there is just not enough known so better to be safe than sorry.

[GoktimusPrime]

This is my current backyard set up for training in isolation.

https://i.ibb.co/2M6L7Js/ma-iso.jpg

The focus pads obviously represent heads, the shield and blue guard are bodies and the red guard represent legs. I've used a bungee strap to secure the shield, and a belt hangs loosely representing an arm for grappling/hooking practice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_SPtsy8LE). The white gloves represent "Enemy Scrotum" and the high vis tactile yellow tape on the ground marks the centre line. My somewhat limited lawn area beyond the porch is where I do form practice, but the porch is now where I'm practising striking techniques. There is also a shovel attached to the shield with duct tape with the spade end buried in a bucket of sand to help secure/stabilise the shield (especially when it's taking hits).