Martial arts discussion thread

[Bartrim]

The latest episode of TUF: Live showed one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. Urijah Faber picked one of his favourites Darren Cruikshank, a man who had grown up in a martial arts family and had trained his life to take on an outsider in James Vick who prefers boxing. Sure enough Cruikshank dominated him for the early part of the fight. Then shot for a takedown, copped a knee in the face from Vick and was KO'ed. One shot is all it takes

What was funny was in the post fight interviews Vick said he saw Cruikshank coming in for the takedown and went for a kick, it's just his knee got there first. Better lucky then good I guess

Also something I found odd is taht since Vick won, coach Cruz has the pick of the next fight. So he picked the karate kid Justin Lawrence who displayed some awesome striking against a world class BJJ fighter in Cristiano Marello. I would think Marello would be too experienced for the 21 year old Lawrence. Either way whoever wins this match it will mean two of the favourites have been eliminated in the first two fights as Cruikshank, Lawrence and Marello are considered 3 of the top 5 fighters in the house.

[GoktimusPrime]

One shot is all it takes

^Yup! As Bushido says, "One hit, one kill." Or as Dorit from The Simpsons says, "No groin, no Krav Maga!"

[GoktimusPrime]

10 fitness facts and myths according to fitness experts

I think ones the ones I find especially relevant for martial arts practitioners include:
Stretch as a cool down, not as a warm up
"No pain no gain" is a myth (I've met some martial artists who think that they haven't trained properly if they're not hurting )

There are a lot of other interesting fitness tips there, but I personally found those two to be the most poignant.

[Bartrim]

10 fitness facts and myths according to fitness experts

I think ones the ones I find especially relevant for martial arts practitioners include:
Stretch as a cool down, not as a warm up
"No pain no gain" is a myth (I've met some martial artists who think that they haven't trained properly if they're not hurting )

There are a lot of other interesting fitness tips there, but I personally found those two to be the most poignant.

What about the sports bra one?

I agree with the stretching one. We only stretch at the end of a lesson. No pain no gain... well I think that depends on what you are training for. For example former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir will often train in explosive exercises like sprinting wearing a snorkel with his nose plugged up. Forcing his body to perform at maximum capacity with limited oxygen intake as this builds up a tolerence to lactic acid. It is a very gruelly exercise that takes it toll on him. So then when it comes time to fight he is not really performing at maximum capacity for all the fight, but he has the maximum oxygen intake.

However if you just want to shed a few kilos or improve your fitness 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week should be plenty.

[GoktimusPrime]

What about the sports bra one?

The majority of people in my school are women, but I doubt (m)any of them wear sports bras. Mind you, Tai Chi is a fairly low impact martial art (although we do have some jumps).

I agree with the stretching one. We only stretch at the end of a lesson. No pain no gain... well I think that depends on what you are training for. For example former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir will often train in explosive exercises like sprinting wearing a snorkel with his nose plugged up. Forcing his body to perform at maximum capacity with limited oxygen intake as this builds up a tolerence to lactic acid. It is a very gruelly exercise that takes it toll on him. So then when it comes time to fight he is not really performing at maximum capacity for all the fight, but he has the maximum oxygen intake.

I'd say that's more of an example (a very extremem example ) of "no strain no gain," which I would agree with. Sprinting with a snorkel and nose plugs would strain/exert one's body to its limits, but if you twisted your ankle during a sprint then I don't think continuing to run (rapid limp ) on that ankle would be very beneficial. I've seen lots of cases where people train through injuries in martial arts -- I'd be here forever retelling them, but there's a book called "Angry White Pyjamas" by Robert Twigger - a Brit who lived in Tokyo for about a year and trained in Yoshinkan Aikido. The book details some of the gruelling and agonising training that they went through.

"He refers to doing kneeling techniques, or suwari-waza, until his knees bled, only to practice the next day and in so doing tear open the scabs.
Other experiences on the course include "hajime" sessions where one technique is performed repeatedly, without a break, sometimes for up to half-an-hour or more. During these sessions, trainees sometimes pass out or vomit, especially in the summer months."
^I don't see much physical benefit in making students bleed and vomit as part of training. :/

However if you just want to shed a few kilos or improve your fitness 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week should be plenty.

+1

[Bartrim]

Well even though we have been ther for about 6months, last weekend we finally held our official opening of our full time martial arts academy (instead of using the basketball stadium).

Overall the day went pretty well

First off we had all the official opening hooplah with one of our local council members. Kyoshi Blundell (the founder of Kumiai-Ryu) and I can't remember the other guys name (in the mma shorts) but he is the national Sanda coach.




Then we had some pretty neat demonstrations,





Then there was a gruelling Muay-Thai and MMA grading during which Kyoshi told a very interesting anicdote from his first MMA lesson in 1969 in Japan. He made me laugh when after telling the story of this harsh training session he said "The worst part in that story is admitting that I was studying martial arts in 1969"





When then finished off the day with a brutal karate senior grading involving self defence and sparring (which I was brave stupid enough to participate in)






By the end of the day someone was tired (leaning up against the wall)

[5FDP]

Awesome Bartrim. Looks like a fun day.

[Bartrim]

Awesome Bartrim. Looks like a fun day.

Thanks it was a fantastic day, but like the last photo shows I was pretty stuffed by the end of the day and I'm still hurting.

[GoktimusPrime]

From this thread.

Wait wait, did Samurai duel-wield?

It's quite common for sword fighters to wield a secondary shorter sword or dagger as an auxiliary weapon*, but as far as wielding two long swords as a primary weapon... quite rarely. Dual-sword fighting is VERY difficult and for most people it's often more easier and efficient to focus on using a single primary sword.

The common name for Japanese double-sword fighting is Nito-Ryu (二刀流) and not many people can do it proficiently -- and even then, it's typically with one long sword, one short sword, not two long swords.

---------------------------------------------
*Samurai carried three blades - the set was known as "daishou"; it consisted of a long sword (e.g. katana), a short sword (e.g. wakizashi) and a dagger (tantou). ROTF Bludgeon has all three.

[GoktimusPrime]

Well... I did it... I signed myself up for a 3 month trial period at a local Karate Dojo. Not going to mention the style or school name... but erm... see how we go. First lesson this Friday. <crosses.fingers>