The Shrine

to distract from the awful tension in the other thread, i propose something much more incredibly positive.

we have a lot of practicing fighters on here. seek practices, so does kup, both actively (right?), and there are some others too, right?

for some reasons that should be fairly obvious to people i practice combat about an hour or two a day these days...looking for a dojo around here but there isn't one i respect. i just basically mix techniques from the karate, capoiera, and streetfighting fighters i've taken lessons from - streetfighting techniques do work, i used to laugh when i saw it as a "style" in video game manuals, now i don't.

i was in a scuffle with three police officers earlier this year over some family drama (don't ask) and three of them, two men and a women all bigger than me (so >185 lbs each and probably all were over 200lbs), were not able to successfully tackle me to the ground. i'm not particularly proud of the incident, especially with police officers, but it did say to me that i might have something to offer in the "fighting" department...

i really ought to get to aikido so i can learn how to incapacitate without harming...but anyway...can we try to have a conversation about something non-mocking? i was thinking maybe we could each post a fighting "demo" video on youtube or something and do a constructive criticism session. if nothing else i'd love to see what you all do with your fighting skills.

just to provide some kindling for this thread, here's something i'm digging in the combat dept. these days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seishin_Teki_Kyoko

In my opinion, training alone won't improve your ability to fight much. It can improve your strength, conditioning, and in the case of hitting a bag, your technique.

But no matter how crisp your punches and kicks look when hitting a bag, that's no substitute for having a sparring partner. Everything changes when what you're hitting can hit back. Throwing a combination that's trivial against the bag all of a sudden becomes hard when, if your timing is off, you eat a jab.

Improving your grappling while alone is almost impossible.

The biggest advantage people who train have over people who don't train is they don't panic. Not panicking comes from having been in similar situations before in training. My striking is terrible because I rarely work it - I do much, much more grappling. But in a bad situation where someone is trying to hit me, I'm still less likely to panic than someone else. (And then I would probably take it to the ground where I'm more comfortable.)

So if you want to improve, find a place and train. I run into guys around town that I used to train with, and I always encourage them to come back, and the response is always "Yeah, I'll get back soon, I'm just not in good shape now" or something like that. Don't say you're going to do it, just do it.

I think the standard disciplines used in MMA are good for self-defense: BJJ, wrestling, boxing, Muay-Thai. I am, of course, biased in this regard. I would look for places that offer those.

As for your encounter with the police, don't let it go to your head. When new people come in and roll, they often give me more trouble their first day than their tenth. To borrow from a training partner of mine, this is because on that first day they're "fighting for their life." On the tenth day, they're actually rolling to get better.

"Giving me more trouble" does not equate to doing better. It means on that first day, they were in survival-mode. If we were on the street, that's all they could give me. Meanwhile, I'm going about 10%. And some of that 10% is spent towards protecting them because they don't know enough to protect themselves.

Your encounter with the cops was an unusual event for you. For the cops, it was a day at work. You were giving it your all, while they were trying to control the situation.

People who don't train think they're tough. People who do train know how tough they're not.

Anyway, I was in a submission-only BJJ tournament last year. I don't think you were around for that: viewtopic.php?t=12740&highlight=bjj+tournament

I might compete at the end of February, but I have a lot of work related stuff then.

I will read through all of that in a second, but the first thought I had is that Bruce Lee disagrees with you - he considered something like 90% of fighting prowess to be strength and conditioning.

Reading and will digest the rest and come back at you. I do agree that sparring partners are crucial however.

Those cops were terrible fighters...trust me on that. It wasn't just the adrenaline that allowed me to "win" that fight, so to speak; it was the fact that they kept doing the same thing over and over.

That shit was like a chessboard or something, three positions repeated over and over until they started huffing and puffing (one other reason I agree with Bruce on the conditioning issue) and threatened me with the taser instead, at which point I went with them.

By the way, thanks for the post. I won't fill up this thread any more until I go watch you in action.

Strength and conditioning is important assuming skill. The hardest I have ever personally witnessed someone train is my instructor for a professional MMA match.

But I've rolled with Tech wrestlers - Division I athletes soon after their season was over. There's no question they were stronger and better conditioned than I was, but BJJ is not wrestling, and we reached a stalemate. (That was two years ago. Now, I'd probably tap them.)

Yeah, I do agree that strength is FAR from everything. It is nice to get the feeling that people might hurt their hands on me these days, though, if they get overconfident in their attacks.

Here's a question for you all: how strong are elbows? I'm considering trying to practice actively being able to take a punch on an elbow - mine are like little billy clubs. But exposing joints to injury deliberately can be problematic, and I know knees at least heal badly if at all.

By the way, nice job on your own training. That sixpack is enviable. Mine is almost peeking out again...I haven't seen it since I was literally six.

Kupek wrote:I'd probably tap them.

Is that a technical term?

bovine wrote:

Kupek wrote:I'd probably tap them.

Is that a technical term?

It never occurred to me that could sound sexual, but, yup, it does.

When rolling, people tap with their hands (or by saying "tap") to indicate submission. So, "tapping someone" means you made them submit - you beat them.

bovine wrote:

Kupek wrote:I'd probably tap them.

Is that a technical term?

*snicker*

Kupek wrote:

bovine wrote:

Kupek wrote:I'd probably tap them.

Is that a technical term?

It never occurred to me that could sound sexual, but, yup, it does.

When rolling, people tap with their hands (or by saying "tap") to indicate submission. So, "tapping someone" means you made them submit - you beat them.

This all still sounds very sexual. ;P

no, you're just being a doofus.

i personally think "magic cards" when i hear the word "tap", myself! and we all know that's FAR worse. i think i'm going to go smoke away the shame for a bit!

Shit Kup, all that talk makes me wanna become a fighter. I think it's just cause I grew up watching Dragonball Z, so everytime I hear "training" and "getting to the next level" I think "super saiyan".

very few people know that these days my power level is OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!! OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!! yaaaaaaaaaaa

that shit still makes me crack up.

It's so absurd it's funny. It's one of those things that you either find really funny or not funny at all. Sort of like Upright Citizens Brigade.

DBZ is awesome except just a TITCH heavy on the "suspenseful buildups".

If somebody condensed all twelve billion episodes of DBZ to just a single season, that would be the greatest season of animated television ever produced.