first thing you learned

Touch Of Death

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The first thing I learned was how to fail; how to take a beating and how to fall down. I didn't learn that in class though; to be honest, I have hardly any "formal" martial arts training at all, but I'd like to acquire some more.

When I was a little boy, I attended approximately five weeks of Taekwondo. I was possibly around eight years old or so...I'm somewhat of an amnesiac though, so I can't remember exactly; just little fragments that I've been gaining more access to through meditation and self-hypnosis.

When I was approximately twelve years old, my father had hired one of his employees to teach my sister and I the art of Hapkido. That went on for quite a while, possibly a year or so; maybe less.

...I disappeared when I was twelve, and I found myself in a desert thousands of miles away from home. I don't really want to talk about all that happened, but that was the period that I feel my real Martial Training began, and the first thing I learned was how to fail/fall, then get back up, and endure; how to survive mentally when you are truly helpless. I didn't start learning how to start fighting back until I was around fifteen years old...I was still in the desert, and unbeknownst to me my parents had a rescue plan in the works, but as far as I was concerned, "home" was just a fairy tale place that I had to let go of; I'd accepted that chances are I was just going to die and nobody would ever know what happened. I met a Marine one day though, and he took pity on me and began taking me aside in the night to teach me how to defend myself. Going for the groin and eyes and throat; grabbing hunks of clothing and throwing people or bull-charging them straight through a wall...there wasn't really anything "artistic" about what he taught me to do, and he didn't really teach me all that much; just enough to get by...enough to give myself the confidence to start teaching myself new things. My parents rescued me when I was seventeen.

Later on in my seventeenth year I began learning Krav Maga from DVDs and Books and I attended a small local sect of Shaolin Kempo Karate for a few weeks or so before I decided to stick with Krav Maga. Now I'm trying to pursue Shinobi-no-Jutsu, and I'd like to relocate to Japan to learn at the Katori Shinto Ryu school. I've pretty much mastered Krav Maga; just a few more advanced moves that I haven't had a chance to train in yet because I don't have a crush mat and chances are the move would probably kill the sparring partner without a big soft crush mat under him haha. XD
Falling is not failing. Failing to fall without hurting yourself, is failing.
 

Buka

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...I disappeared when I was twelve, and I found myself in a desert thousands of miles away from home. I don't really want to talk about all that happened, but that was the period that I feel my real Martial Training began, and the first thing I learned was how to fail/fall, then get back up, and endure; how to survive mentally when you are truly helpless. I didn't start learning how to start fighting back until I was around fifteen years old...I was still in the desert, and unbeknownst to me my parents had a rescue plan in the works, but as far as I was concerned, "home" was just a fairy tale place that I had to let go of; I'd accepted that chances are I was just going to die and nobody would ever know what happened. I met a Marine one day though, and he took pity on me and began taking me aside in the night to teach me how to defend myself. Going for the groin and eyes and throat; grabbing hunks of clothing and throwing people or bull-charging them straight through a wall...there wasn't really anything "artistic" about what he taught me to do, and he didn't really teach me all that much; just enough to get by...enough to give myself the confidence to start teaching myself new things. My parents rescued me when I was seventeen.

That was you? Holy cow, talk about a small world. I was the guy on the horse, we passed briefly. (I was wearing red, my horse didn't really have a name, I just called him horse.)

Glad to see you made it.
 

Paul_D

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Forty five years later - jobs spanning from bouncer, security, case worker at arrest units, fighter, to a career as a full time police officer, I have never used a horse stance
You're not suppsoed to "use" horse stance. Horse stance is just there to teach you to drop your weight (for a number of different reasons). Once you learn how to drop your weight (and why) how you are stood when you do it is almost irrelevant.
 

Kung Fu Wang

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I have never used a horse stance ...
The

- horse stance (any throw that require body forward/backward bending such as hip throw, shoulder throw, embracing throw, ...),
- bow-arrow stance (any throw that require body spinning), and
- golden rooster stance (any throw that require one leg standing).

are the most important 3 stances used in wrestling.
 
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Zumorito

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That was you? Holy cow, talk about a small world. I was the guy on the horse, we passed briefly. (I was wearing red, my horse didn't really have a name, I just called him horse.)

Glad to see you made it.


Wow; small world indeed. Can't say as I recall. ...What were you doing on a horse within the Wall? o_O
 

Zumorito

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Falling is not failing. Failing to fall without hurting yourself, is failing.

I was mostly just talking about being thrown to the ground and beaten to a purple and yellow pulp. I was still pretty little so I couldn't really do anything against three hundred pound Polynesians. Got pretty sick of getting my butt kicked though, which was what originally prompted me to begin learning how to fight. Not too into martial arts as a sport so much as a philosophy and way of life. But yeah; there's ways to fall without hurting yourself; I didn't learn how to do that though until much later. Would have been a good first thing to learn. Another good first thing to learn is Self-Control.
 

drop bear

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I was mostly just talking about being thrown to the ground and beaten to a purple and yellow pulp. I was still pretty little so I couldn't really do anything against three hundred pound Polynesians. Got pretty sick of getting my butt kicked though, which was what originally prompted me to begin learning how to fight. Not too into martial arts as a sport so much as a philosophy and way of life. But yeah; there's ways to fall without hurting yourself; I didn't learn how to do that though until much later. Would have been a good first thing to learn. Another good first thing to learn is Self-Control.

Polynesians are a hundred pounds at about 12. You should see them as adults.
 

Zumorito

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All the Polynesians (Samoans mostly, some Tongan) I've met were all morbidly obese.
 

Buka

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All the Polynesians (Samoans mostly, some Tongan) I've met were all morbidly obese.

They're big people, that's for sure. I'm not sure morbidly obese encapsulates it properly, while technically correct, it gives a slightly different picture, it's just that they're really big people. I bought a desk from a fella' last week, I think he had his own area code.
 

Zumorito

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I knew a good looking muscular guy once; not unlike the man in your Avatar Photo. He was once getting after a kid for calling another kid fat; did it quite interestingly as well. Apparently he was also well educated and informed us about a bunch of BMI/Body Mass Index statistics, and that he himself, though he looked like a god, was technically speaking "morbidly obese". But yeah, it did paint a different picture when I used it haha; that's because I'm probably somewhat subconsciously prejudiced against all Mormons, Samoans, and Tongans. I know, it's wrong; I just can't help but think of bad people whenever I think of those peoples....who among us, is without flaw? :(
 
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Zumorito

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Whoops. Double Post. Glitchy connection.
 
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Chris Parker

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I was mostly just talking about being thrown to the ground and beaten to a purple and yellow pulp. I was still pretty little so I couldn't really do anything against three hundred pound Polynesians. Got pretty sick of getting my butt kicked though, which was what originally prompted me to begin learning how to fight. Not too into martial arts as a sport so much as a philosophy and way of life. But yeah; there's ways to fall without hurting yourself; I didn't learn how to do that though until much later. Would have been a good first thing to learn. Another good first thing to learn is Self-Control.

Polynesians. In Alaska.

Are you even trying to keep your stories straight?

I'm not even going to start with the lunacy on the previous page… not yet, at least.
 

Zumorito

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The Polynesians were in Utah. Mostly from the BYU football team.
 

Zumorito

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...Can't you see my IP address? Last I checked, it's Alaskan. I was taken from my family and placed in a facility in Utah for years. They hired a lot of Polynesian guards. Probably because their large size made subduing adolescents a lot easier. Some of them used to be gang bangers. Some of them used to be BYU football players. None of them had a sunny disposition, and many of them were instructed to...give us a hard time. Help remind us to not get any ideas about trying to escape. They're were 150 of us boys there between the ages 12 and 18. No girls. I was the youngest and the smallest. You can say I'm making it up all you want, but I can back it up if need be; you're only making a fool of yourself.
 

Chris Parker

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Meh; doesn't really work like that where I come from. I grew up in the arctic and my father had my siblings and I working hard labor everyday; we've built everything we have ourselves and by and large live like the pioneers did. Both my parents were elderly when I was born and so everyone had to pitch in.

This is where (part) of the information comes from. So you're saying you grew up in the arctic here, and were working with your siblings everyday… then you say you were taken and placed in a facility in Utah… seemingly at the same time…
 

Zumorito

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How so seemingly at the same time? XD

I was taken when I was twelve. I returned when I was around seventeen. I grew up in Alaska and didn't leave until I was twelve. I've been back ever since I was seventeen. What part is confusing you???
 

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