Student striking with far too much power

[Steve]

Alex, I thought I had seen a lot of strange things in the MAs but I have never seen anyone block their own kick. Perhaps you could tell me how it is done. Personally, if I launch a kick with intent, there is no way I have time to think about consequences and stop it. The best I could do is possibly pull the power but, even then, the weight of the leg alone is going to cause damage. :asian:

I knee barred myself once. Getting the appropriate angle on the joint was difficult. I had to dislocate my hip and both shoulders. It was interesting, because in the end, I tapped out to the pain in my shoulders and not the pain from the knee bar. Huh... But, I still tapped myself out.

 

[Cyriacus]

Alex, I thought I had seen a lot of strange things in the MAs but I have never seen anyone block their own kick. Perhaps you could tell me how it is done. Personally, if I launch a kick with intent, there is no way I have time to think about consequences and stop it. The best I could do is possibly pull the power but, even then, the weight of the leg alone is going to cause damage. :asian:

One time i struck myself in the nose with my bicep. It was the crappiest right hook i ever swung.

 

[K-man]

One time i struck myself in the nose with my bicep. It was the crappiest right hook i ever swung.

Unless you have a hooter bigger than John Elliott I'll call you on that one too! On the other hand, if your bicep is that big, maybe I won't.

 

[Dirty Dog]

This one time, at band camp...

 

[Cyriacus]

Unless you have a hooter bigger than John Elliott I'll call you on that one too! On the other hand, if your bicep is that big, maybe I won't.

Dont make me take a picture of me emulating it, buddy.

For science, hunch your shoulder up a bit then just swing a bit high. Either i have a really flexible joint somewhere, or... Yeah, i dont know. But i can replicate the effect at will

 

[Zero]

Let's just say the stark terror of killing or really badly hurting a friend, and going to jail made me act fast enough to basically kick myself. I remember the block well. Basically a downward angled block with a fist, which I used to effectively slam the hell out of the instep. But I am honest, I basically launched the kick and by the time my knee was past my waist and foot being extended I had realized he wasn't going to move. At that point it was either my arm (honestly thought I'd break the arm *shrug*) foot, or his head and neck. Shouldn't have been reckless, but I had been led to believe by him that he had far more experience than even I did, and was too trusting.

And when push comes to shove I'm grateful for the reflexes and speed life gifted me.
Not my proudest moment, I assure you.

And yeah, I know, I'm a bit out there in terms of strangeness.

3 months of limping like a gimp. Was not fun.

Just hit him up on facebook. Going to quote his description lol.

'this is what it looked like if i remember rightyou grab your left ankle, then you grab the back of your head with your right arm, and you bash your head with your knee.
thats what it looked like you were trying to do'

I'm guessing to reach my foot since it was extended I palmed the instep with the bottom left corner of my hand as hard as I could. To put it lightly, it looked funny, but worked. Also sucked.

This seems like a lot of nonsense. If you were able to effect such a "block" or negation of your own kick in this manner then there is no way in hell you were executing this kick with anything like full power or speed or in a manner that would otherwise have taken your partner's head off. Therefore there was no need to carry out such a clumsy block of your own kick. If you suffered such damage as a result in self-blocking such a weak and slow kick then you must be seriously prone to injury.

Are you saying you threw a full speed, full power kick that you would not have been able to "pull" or redirect but in the split second you realised it would connect and after your knee was chambered you were able to block this and arrest its motion with your own hand? And that the damage done was to your foot? Unless you are of super-ability (and your youtube link (while showing some ok tech in itself purely from some kicking aspects (sorry, some of the ok tech comment should be re your training partner)) makes it hard to believe this) you are out of touch with reality, even your own reality, if that is possible.

As for that youtube link, not really wanting to go there or critique but just for some constructive advice, outside of just having fun (I am sure you will say that is all that was) don't leave yourself so open to sweeps and have yourself on one leg for such long periods of time. Even in fun sparring my mates or trusted fellow karateka would sweep the leg if I was leaving it exposed for so long. You do it far too long and far too often. You also often do quite a wide stance in close to your partner, this leaves you far too open to leg attacks, luckily for you your partner knows nothing about these.

 

[Mauthos]

One time i struck myself in the nose with my bicep. It was the crappiest right hook i ever swung.

In a fit of maybe stupidity or curiousity, I am not too sure which, I tried this at training last night. Didn't hit my nose with my bicep, but almost dislocated my jaw! Won't be doing that again :uhyeah:

 

[Cyriacus]

In a fit of maybe stupidity or curiousity, I am not too sure which, I tried this at training last night. Didn't hit my nose with my bicep, but almost dislocated my jaw! Won't be doing that again :uhyeah:

Maybe the WWE has been on to something all along...

 

[Zero]

Maybe the WWE has been on to something all along...

Ahh, the homo-erotic but ever deadly bicep strike coupled with the g-string wedgie, not something to take lightly.

 

[Zenjael]

This seems like a lot of nonsense.

Much in life, and in the mistakes we make are nonsense.

If you were able to effect such a "block" or negation of your own kick in this manner then there is no way in hell you were executing this kick with anything like full power or speed

You are correct, I was throwing it about half speed, but with enough power behind the technique that he and I both concur had I even knicked him, his jaw would have shattered.

The real aim of my kick was to startle him to kick it up a notch and give a lesson what we were doing is actually serious, not to actually make direct contact. However, I was willing to allow that kind of contact to him, because based upon his own proclaimed reputation and claim of speed, I was fairly certain he could have dodged such a telegraphed kick.

Therefore there was no need to carry out such a clumsy block of your own kick. If you suffered such damage as a result in self-blocking such a weak and slow kick then you must be seriously prone to injury.

I would lot say the block was clumsy, just reliant on brute force, and less on technique. It was also less of a block, and more of a strike to my own limb. And ah, at one of the dojos I was fortunate to be allowed to train in, it was expected to break a one inch thick cinderblock be you adult or child. By the time of 3rd dan, 3 concrete slabs stacked on top of each other without spacing was required by both a side kick and a palm strike or elbow. 3 years ago I was able to break 3 cinderblocks, and even to this day am comfortable blocking a roundhouse kick with a heavy palm from even WTF practitioners. Though ah, I tend to still have to brace for any Muai Thai kicks.

That being said, means I was more than comfortable that I could outpunch my kick, given that the kick wasn't going full speed or power.

Are you saying you threw a full speed, full power kick that you would not have been able to "pull" or redirect but in the split second you realised it would connect and after your knee was chambered you were able to block this and arrest its motion with your own hand? And that the damage done was to your foot?

No, I threw between 40-50% of what my actual speed is capable of, and my hands are much faster than my legs. For example in the 1 second where I can on average throw 5-6 solid punches, I can only do 2-3 solid kicks. The kick I threw was a Silat roundhouse, initiated with a swing, but with the leg bent so that upon maximum extent I would make contact between the instep and lower shin.

I demonstrate this occasionally, but it is a difficult for many to actually perfect. Too many are afraid to test this against the wall lol. There is an ability to make contact with a strike in such a way that the kinetic energy of the strike transfers, and if one is fast enough, the kinetic energy will not have a chance to return, either because it disperses, or you moved faster than the initial acceleration of the kinetic force, which while interacting with a different material will either slow down, or less likely speed up.

If you punch say, a wall, physics mandates that energy be returned in equal force, the difference for us is that because we channel and focus our striking power this automatically causes our strikes to penetrate the surface. However, in martial arts we are sometimes taught how to strike and cause the kinetic energy in our strikes to internally enter the persons body through this principle. This is how some practitioners can strike you in the stomach, and you can feel it in the shoulder. Or in my case, with a heavybag they will feel it in their spine. If you strike and make the barest contact possible, say at 5 miles per hour, and can cause the internal energy of your external strike to extend say 1-2 inches, then pull the hand which made contact back at a speed greater than contact made, if done correctly the kinetic energy stays in the limb or structure that was made contact with. In Hapkido and live hands, this type of strike usually takes the path of least resistance and travels through your nerves, and hence why hapkido strikes can numb where they hit, or worse.

When I struck my foot, I did a sloppy version of that. Additionally, I've spent... years conditioning my knuckles against wood, concrete and nowadays cement and trees. My poor instep hasn't quite caught up to that conditioning.

Other examples of this can be seen when people do a successful side fall, dispersing the weight and spreading the contact. Another would be when thrown from a vehicle and shoulder roll. All it is manipulating the flow of kinetic energy either by directing it with penetration, or by transference. That last type of mechanic for striking is what I've found to be the general safest.

Unless you are of super-ability (and your youtube link (while showing some ok tech in itself purely from some kicking aspects (sorry, some of the ok tech comment should be re your training partner)) makes it hard to believe this) you are out of touch with reality, even your own reality, if that is possible.

Super ability. I get a lot of people saying things along those lines. I doubt I am any different than any other martial art on this board, outside of our unique experiences. I think a lot of martial artists on this board forget that in many ways they are also superhuman, given that you consider what we do to be beyond normal human limits, and some people do take their arts to that degree.

Anyone who can successfully do a snapping punch and break the sound barrier, I would say is superhuman. The giftedman who because of incredible spatial awareness can tell where anything aimed at him will be, and can thus cut even pellets midair, is superhuman. The man who through meditation was able to hike everest in shorts was superhuman. Ip man, jumping from roof to roof in pursuit of a man ended up having the door slammed on him to a top level staircase by the robber, and instead of falling down, he controlled his balance, leaning almost backward, righted himself, and then continued the chase. That was superhuman. When my master broke 6 cinderblocks without any spacing between, demonstrating live hands application of hapkido, that was superhuman.

The arts truly are about a path in life that gifts us insight into true balance of life. Sure we learn through this kata, forms, and sparring, but each of us lives our lives uniquely, and as such this affects our abilities.

The youtube link had several points, almost all of which were ignored. And I did make the video partially for this forum as much for my friends.

1- The video was to demonstrate control, that he and I can go at that degree of speed, while retaining techniques without injuring each other.
2- The video was of 'promise' sparring, not actual sparring. What we did was closer to shadow boxing, since contact was made.
3- The video was to demonstrate mainly kicks.
4- The video was constrained mainly to karate. We loosely implemented moves form our others styles but mainly stuck to only using the Chung Do Kwan where we trained together. He and I both are move than comfortable to throw knees, elbows, shoulders, but that wasn't the point of the video.
5- The setting was not in a dojo, but in the common area of our community campus. Consider how much that impeded what we were trying to do.

Additionally, if you'll note the styles listed, we forbade throws, sweeps, grabs, holds, pressure point strikes and spiking blocks. That being said, even though we forbade jiujitsu or muai thai strikes, we still did use elements such as stances, etc.

That is why I am oft in a longer stance- there was little risk of sweeping.

As for that youtube link, not really wanting to go there or critique but just for some constructive advice, outside of just having fun (I am sure you will say that is all that was) don't leave yourself so open to sweeps and have yourself on one leg for such long periods of time. Even in fun sparring my mates or trusted fellow karateka would sweep the leg if I was leaving it exposed for so long. You do it far too long and far too often. You also often do quite a wide stance in close to your partner, this leaves you far too open to leg attacks, luckily for you your partner knows nothing about these.

I really enjoyed your response, so I'm willing to go beyond the surface. The video was made for a lot of reasons, but the main reason it was edited in that fashion was just to make it more enjoyable. Frankly had I just left the footage as it was and taken out that terribad music, it would have come off better. But I digress. And criticism, constructive, is welcome.

But I must say this, watch the video closely, there is a point where I initiate a half snake through the grass, with my leg extended, and he could have stomped on it many times. I assure you when I say the individual I was sparring with has more than ample ability that if even an arm were extended, he could throw me across the room or into the ground. Likewise, he could easily go for a sweep. Everytime he's done that, he's ended up with one hell of a dead leg. I have rolled a rattan escrima over my shin long enough now that while I can't kick a tree, I did unfortunately have someone's toe break on my shin when they kicked it. Freak injury, their tendon ripped a piece of bone off from their toe curling so far back. So that being said, when it comes to sweeping, you can try it, but you never know if they not only know how to counter it, but might be willing to take it for that reason. I do. I see a sweep coming I just let them ram their shin against mine.

Given that you have never met me, nor knew the parameters of the rules governing our conduct in the video, I think your suggestions are valid. But, this was a video just of striking, and one meant for control.

And unfortunately when I posted this video for the board, rather than look for what the video was trying to demonstrate, they opted instead to attack what they thought was inadequate. Not enough power, contact, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed by the amount of control Alec and I had. At the :53 mark is a clear ridgehand that made contact with his neck, yet he is fine. And literally a half second before that, you can see his leading left hand with a backfist get pulled from making contact with my face close enough to it that it looks like contact was made.

When you have that degree of control, yet can break 3 cinderblocks as I've seen him do, give him some credit lol.

You'll also note that I quite often am dropping my hands while kicking. That type of critique from that video was what I was hoping for. Instead it was made so personal in the disparagement that there's a whole thread I believe now just for bashing the video lol.

Also, concerning sweeping. Everyone is sweepable, but sweeping itself as a technique is quite easy to block or dodge, given it isn't the kick where its a flick low round house kick. You can brace with the leg being targeted for sweeping, you can angle the edge of your shin toward theirs while dipping your knee. You can do what I prefer, which is just to pick the leg up to kick them at the extended leg. You could step back.

The problem with keeping a closed stance as you suggest, at least from what I've found in Hapkido, is this actually concentrates your center of gravity, making it much easier for another Hapkido practitioner to literally grab you by the wrist and hip throw you to the ground. Spreading your legs out, especially in tae kwon do can oft negate that if you're braced in a stance. Granted, there was no throwing, but it wouldn't have been the first time Alec and I practiced together and randomly threw one in. Additionally, while we have near equal speed with hands, he is not quite as equal with his kicks because of injury. considering his reach on me, it was the wide stance allowing me to extend axe kick which kept him at bay. His only option was to rush in for a flurry.

You see, I've been doing kendo for nearly a decade, and we're constantly on the balls of our feet, charging at each other, oft larger massed people, and the only thing that keeps you from being bounced way the hell off once contact is made, is by developing root. You would find it much easier to throw me, than sweep me.

Sorry this was long- but all for you Zero.

 

[Chris Parker]

This is not a personal attack, it's an observation.

Alex, you're a lunatic. You are completely delusional. You need to seek professional help.

Or you're a deeply committed troll.

 

[Zenjael]

No, no, that was a personal attack friend. I am just used to them on this board now, so no worry.

I am not sorry my philosophy in martial arts comes off to you as lunacy, but those whos thinking we do not get can come off that way.

I am deeply committed, to my view of the martial arts. I'm willing to let that opine be changed if the reason is sufficient,
but sorry mate, not a troll.

If you constrain your training in the arts by what you think 'possible' and the limitations of that, you will never find your true peak. A great story about Bruce Lee can be found online, told by a workout partner. Everyday they would run 2 miles, until one day Bruce decided they'd run 5. The was already worn out by their two miles, and stopped, gasping he could not do that, it would kill him.

'So then die' Bruce Lee replied. It made the man so angry, and hurt to hear that from his friend and mentor that he ran the 5 miles out of anger. Afterward he asked Lee why he had said that, and Bruce answered,
'Because when something is alive it grows. When you reach a plateau and are too afraid to move and grow, you may as well already be dead.'

Chances are Chris that you find the people who condition their throats to get kicked in it, or those who condition their gnards to pick up bricks just as lunatic as I am to you in MA. The difference is, the martial arts are in the eye of the beholder, and spirit of the practitioner. And we all train differently.

I did not think it was possible to be able to kick 50 times with one leg, without a kick repeating. While I can only do 30 without setting my legs down, I would have never gone past 3, or 5, had I never dreamed or imagined what I thought impossible, and worked toward it.

And to be frank Chris- I don't know your history as a martial artist. Your experience. Ability, even your name. But I do know that if I've been a head instructor at 4 schools, instructor at well over that number, than maybe you are missing something that every other martial artist who actually meets does not-

That I am sincere, that I find joy in the arts. And if that's crazy, so be it. I'm not hurting anyone, and just teaching my students this past year how to fall correctly saved two lives in two separate accidents. One from falling headfirst from a 40 foot scaffold, another thrown from his moped.

So sorry mate, I'm here to stay. I have a club I run that's free and open to all martial artists of all styles, with space larger than most dojos I've seen. I care too much to see them grow, and I do become a better martial artist through this board.

We've had 34 styles out of 300 people in our club at NVCC. So, even if I am a nut, I seem to be a productive one actually bringing martial artists together.

 

[K-man]

I am interested in setting up a special award for supercilious nonsense. I feel that we need some special emoticon to recognise excellence in writing garbage. Initially it might be this one ... :bs1: or :s444: or even :moon:

Regardless of what is chosen I have selected Alex to be the the first recipient of this award for this amazing piece of imaginative writing ...

Much in life, and in the mistakes we make are nonsense.


You are correct, I was throwing it about half speed, but with enough power behind the technique that he and I both concur had I even knicked him, his jaw would have shattered.


The real aim of my kick was to startle him to kick it up a notch and give a lesson what we were doing is actually serious, not to actually make direct contact. However, I was willing to allow that kind of contact to him, because based upon his own proclaimed reputation and claim of speed, I was fairly certain he could have dodged such a telegraphed kick.






I would lot say the block was clumsy, just reliant on brute force, and less on technique. It was also less of a block, and more of a strike to my own limb. And ah, at one of the dojos I was fortunate to be allowed to train in, it was expected to break a one inch thick cinderblock be you adult or child. By the time of 3rd dan, 3 concrete slabs stacked on top of each other without spacing was required by both a side kick and a palm strike or elbow. 3 years ago I was able to break 3 cinderblocks, and even to this day am comfortable blocking a roundhouse kick with a heavy palm from even WTF practitioners. Though ah, I tend to still have to brace for any Muai Thai kicks.


That being said, means I was more than comfortable that I could outpunch my kick, given that the kick wasn't going full speed or power.


No, I threw between 40-50% of what my actual speed is capable of, and my hands are much faster than my legs. For example in the 1 second where I can on average throw 5-6 solid punches, I can only do 2-3 solid kicks. The kick I threw was a Silat roundhouse, initiated with a swing, but with the leg bent so that upon maximum extent I would make contact between the instep and lower shin.


I demonstrate this occasionally, but it is a difficult for many to actually perfect. Too many are afraid to test this against the wall lol. There is an ability to make contact with a strike in such a way that the kinetic energy of the strike transfers, and if one is fast enough, the kinetic energy will not have a chance to return, either because it disperses, or you moved faster than the initial acceleration of the kinetic force, which while interacting with a different material will either slow down, or less likely speed up.


If you punch say, a wall, physics mandates that energy be returned in equal force, the difference for us is that because we channel and focus our striking power this automatically causes our strikes to penetrate the surface. However, in martial arts we are sometimes taught how to strike and cause the kinetic energy in our strikes to internally enter the persons body through this principle. This is how some practitioners can strike you in the stomach, and you can feel it in the shoulder. Or in my case, with a heavybag they will feel it in their spine. If you strike and make the barest contact possible, say at 5 miles per hour, and can cause the internal energy of your external strike to extend say 1-2 inches, then pull the hand which made contact back at a speed greater than contact made, if done correctly the kinetic energy stays in the limb or structure that was made contact with. In Hapkido and live hands, this type of strike usually takes the path of least resistance and travels through your nerves, and hence why hapkido strikes can numb where they hit, or worse.


When I struck my foot, I did a sloppy version of that. Additionally, I've spent... years conditioning my knuckles against wood, concrete and nowadays cement and trees. My poor instep hasn't quite caught up to that conditioning.


Other examples of this can be seen when people do a successful side fall, dispersing the weight and spreading the contact. Another would be when thrown from a vehicle and shoulder roll. All it is manipulating the flow of kinetic energy either by directing it with penetration, or by transference. That last type of mechanic for striking is what I've found to be the general safest.


Super ability. I get a lot of people saying things along those lines. I doubt I am any different than any other martial art on this board, outside of our unique experiences. I think a lot of martial artists on this board forget that in many ways they are also superhuman, given that you consider what we do to be beyond normal human limits, and some people do take their arts to that degree.


Anyone who can successfully do a snapping punch and break the sound barrier, I would say is superhuman. The giftedman who because of incredible spatial awareness can tell where anything aimed at him will be, and can thus cut even pellets midair, is superhuman. The man who through meditation was able to hike everest in shorts was superhuman. Ip man, jumping from roof to roof in pursuit of a man ended up having the door slammed on him to a top level staircase by the robber, and instead of falling down, he controlled his balance, leaning almost backward, righted himself, and then continued the chase. That was superhuman. When my master broke 6 cinderblocks without any spacing between, demonstrating live hands application of hapkido, that was superhuman.


The arts truly are about a path in life that gifts us insight into true balance of life. Sure we learn through this kata, forms, and sparring, but each of us lives our lives uniquely, and as such this affects our abilities.


The youtube link had several points, almost all of which were ignored. And I did make the video partially for this forum as much for my friends.


1- The video was to demonstrate control, that he and I can go at that degree of speed, while retaining techniques without injuring each other.
2- The video was of 'promise' sparring, not actual sparring. What we did was closer to shadow boxing, since contact was made.
3- The video was to demonstrate mainly kicks.
4- The video was constrained mainly to karate. We loosely implemented moves form our others styles but mainly stuck to only using the Chung Do Kwan where we trained together. He and I both are move than comfortable to throw knees, elbows, shoulders, but that wasn't the point of the video.
5- The setting was not in a dojo, but in the common area of our community campus. Consider how much that impeded what we were trying to do.


Additionally, if you'll note the styles listed, we forbade throws, sweeps, grabs, holds, pressure point strikes and spiking blocks. That being said, even though we forbade jiujitsu or muai thai strikes, we still did use elements such as stances, etc.


That is why I am oft in a longer stance- there was little risk of sweeping.


I really enjoyed your response, so I'm willing to go beyond the surface. The video was made for a lot of reasons, but the main reason it was edited in that fashion was just to make it more enjoyable. Frankly had I just left the footage as it was and taken out that terribad music, it would have come off better. But I digress. And criticism, constructive, is welcome.


But I must say this, watch the video closely, there is a point where I initiate a half snake through the grass, with my leg extended, and he could have stomped on it many times. I assure you when I say the individual I was sparring with has more than ample ability that if even an arm were extended, he could throw me across the room or into the ground. Likewise, he could easily go for a sweep. Everytime he's done that, he's ended up with one hell of a dead leg. I have rolled a rattan escrima over my shin long enough now that while I can't kick a tree, I did unfortunately have someone's toe break on my shin when they kicked it. Freak injury, their tendon ripped a piece of bone off from their toe curling so far back. So that being said, when it comes to sweeping, you can try it, but you never know if they not only know how to counter it, but might be willing to take it for that reason. I do. I see a sweep coming I just let them ram their shin against mine.


Given that you have never met me, nor knew the parameters of the rules governing our conduct in the video, I think your suggestions are valid. But, this was a video just of striking, and one meant for control.


And unfortunately when I posted this video for the board, rather than look for what the video was trying to demonstrate, they opted instead to attack what they thought was inadequate. Not enough power, contact, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed by the amount of control Alec and I had. At the :53 mark is a clear ridgehand that made contact with his neck, yet he is fine. And literally a half second before that, you can see his leading left hand with a backfist get pulled from making contact with my face close enough to it that it looks like contact was made.


When you have that degree of control, yet can break 3 cinderblocks as I've seen him do, give him some credit lol.


You'll also note that I quite often am dropping my hands while kicking. That type of critique from that video was what I was hoping for. Instead it was made so personal in the disparagement that there's a whole thread I believe now just for bashing the video lol.


Also, concerning sweeping. Everyone is sweepable, but sweeping itself as a technique is quite easy to block or dodge, given it isn't the kick where its a flick low round house kick. You can brace with the leg being targeted for sweeping, you can angle the edge of your shin toward theirs while dipping your knee. You can do what I prefer, which is just to pick the leg up to kick them at the extended leg. You could step back.


The problem with keeping a closed stance as you suggest, at least from what I've found in Hapkido, is this actually concentrates your center of gravity, making it much easier for another Hapkido practitioner to literally grab you by the wrist and hip throw you to the ground. Spreading your legs out, especially in tae kwon do can oft negate that if you're braced in a stance. Granted, there was no throwing, but it wouldn't have been the first time Alec and I practiced together and randomly threw one in. Additionally, while we have near equal speed with hands, he is not quite as equal with his kicks because of injury. considering his reach on me, it was the wide stance allowing me to extend axe kick which kept him at bay. His only option was to rush in for a flurry.


You see, I've been doing kendo for nearly a decade, and we're constantly on the balls of our feet, charging at each other, oft larger massed people, and the only thing that keeps you from being bounced way the hell off once contact is made, is by developing root. You would find it much easier to throw me, than sweep me.


Sorry this was long- but all for you Zero.

Brilliant work Alex, keep going like this and you're in line for another.
:asian:

 

[Aiki Lee]

The real aim of my kick was tostartle him to kick it up a notch and give a lesson what we were doing isactually serious, not to actually make direct contact. However, I was willing to allow that kind of contact to him, because based upon his own proclaimedreputation and claim of speed, I was fairly certain he could have dodged such atelegraphed kick.

You kicked him without having any intention to actually hit him believing he would dodge it? Unless you were using it as a feint for something else that would be meaningless. What benefit is there to throwing useless attacks you never intend to hit anyone with?

That being said, means I was more than comfortable that I could outpunch mykick, given that the kick wasn't going full speed or power.

I still don’t see why you couldn’t just stop if you wereonly going half speed.

Super ability. I get a lot of people saying things along those lines. I doubt Iam any different than any other martial art on this board, outside of ourunique experiences. I think a lot of martial artists on this board forget thatin many ways they are also superhuman, given that you consider what we do to bebeyond normal human limits, and some people do take their arts to that degree.

Trust me. You’re different than most of us.
And there is nothing superhuman about anything authentic in martial arts. If anything in martial arts were superhuman, then humans shouldn’t be able to do them.

Thearts truly are about a path inlife that gifts us insight into true balance of life.

No they are not. Personally I think it is idiocy to treatmartial arts like some kind of religion. Do I think there is a spiritual component to living the martial way? Yes, for me there is. But this is a personal thing and not one inherent in martial arts themselves.

The youtube link had severalpoints, almost all of which were ignored. And I did make the video partiallyfor this forum as much for my friends.

1- The video was to demonstrate control, that he and I can go at that degree ofspeed, while retaining techniques without injuring each other.
2- The video was of 'promise' sparring, not actual sparring. What we did wascloser to shadow boxing, since contact was made.
3- The video was to demonstrate mainly kicks.
4- The video was constrained mainly to karate. We loosely implemented movesform our others styles but mainly stuck to only using the Chung Do Kwan wherewe trained together. He and I both are move than comfortable to throw knees,elbows, shoulders, but that wasn't the point of the video.
5- The setting was not in a dojo, but in the common area of our communitycampus. Consider how much that impeded what we were trying to do.

1. You retained no techniques. There was verylittle skill evident in anything except that you know how to stand on 1 footfor a while. To me it looked like you had no strategy, not tactics, and nogoal. It was mindless flailing from my perspective. If you feel I am missingsomething crucial please tell me what you think that is.

2. What is “promise sparring”?


3. You showed your leg flapping about, withsome degree of control, but there was no display of proper application of those kicks.

4. I studied karate. People here study karate.You weren’t doing karate.

5. So were there people around? If there were and you couldn’t really train, why practice there at all? If no one was around,who gives a fig?

Additionally, if you'll note the styles listed, we forbade throws, sweeps, grabs, holds, pressure point strikes and spikingblocks.

There’s nothing wrong with working specifically on one thing like punching or kicking for drilling purposes.

That being said, even though we forbade jiujitsu or muaithai strikes, we still did use elements such as stances, etc.

I’m interested to know what “elements” youthink you used.

That is why I am oft in a longer stance- there waslittle risk of sweeping.

There were a lot of times you were open for sweeps, in the times you weren’t you were open for a lot of other things.

But I must say this, watch the video closely, there is apoint where I initiate a half snake through the grass, with my leg extended,and he could have stomped on it many times.

I don’t know what “snake in the grass” is except as a euphemism. If your partner could have “stomped on it many times”, why didn’t you stop presenting it to him?

Likewise, he couldeasily go for a sweep. Everytime he's done that, he's ended up with one hell ofa dead leg.

Then he is doing it wrong.

I have rolled a rattan escrima over my shinlong enough now that while I can't kick a tree, I did unfortunately havesomeone's toe break on my shin when they kicked it. Freak injury, their tendonripped a piece of bone off from their toe curling so far back. So that beingsaid, when it comes to sweeping, you can try it, but you never know if they notonly know how to counter it, but might be willing to take it for that reason. Ido. I see a sweep coming I just let them ram their shin against mine.

It seems no one has ever done a proper sweep on you then, but cause if done properly there is no way you can just take the hit and not have your legs taken out from under you. They must not be kicking hard enough or in the right target.

Given that you have never met me, nor knew theparameters of the rules governing our conduct in the video, I think yoursuggestions are valid. But, this was a video just of striking, and one meantfor control.

And it was still a bad example.

And unfortunately when I posted this video for theboard, rather than look for what the video was trying to demonstrate, theyopted instead to attack what they thought was inadequate. Not enough power,contact, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed by the amount of control Alec and I had.At the :53 mark is a clear ridgehand that made contact with his neck, yet he isfine. And literally a half second before that, you can see his leading lefthand with a backfist get pulled from making contact with my face close enoughto it that it looks like contact was made.

We get that you avoided clobbering eachother, the big reason I think it is a bad video is because there is no strategic thought to what either of you are doing. No one is attempting to take control, it’s not even like you could say you were practicing a drill because there is no discernible purpose to what you’re doing other than “have control”which you could demonstrate by just standing completely motionless!

Also, concerning sweeping. Everyone is sweepable, butsweeping itself as a technique is quite easy to block or dodge, given it isn'tthe kick where its a flick low round house kick. You can brace with the legbeing targeted for sweeping, you can angle the edge of your shin toward theirswhile dipping your knee. You can do what I prefer, which is just to pick theleg up to kick them at the extended leg. You could step back.

No one should execute a sweeping maneuver without first taking the opponent’s balance. Done of the defenses you have mentioned are applicable to the way I sweep out someone’s leg. This again shows me no one has demonstrated a proper sweep to you.

The problem with keeping a closed stance as you suggest,at least from what I've found in Hapkido, is this actually concentrates yourcenter of gravity, making it much easier for another Hapkido practitioner toliterally grab you by the wrist and hip throw you to the ground. Spreading yourlegs out, especially in tae kwon do can oft negate that if you're braced in astance. Granted, there was no throwing, but it wouldn't have been the firsttime Alec and I practiced together and randomly threw one in. Additionally,while we have near equal speed with hands, he is not quite as equal with hiskicks because of injury. considering his reach on me, it was the wide stanceallowing me to extend axe kick which kept him at bay. His only option was torush in for a flurry.

You see, I've been doing kendo for nearly a decade, and we're constantly on theballs of our feet, charging at each other, oft larger massed people, and theonly thing that keeps you from being bounced way the hell off once contact ismade, is by developing root. You would find it much easier to throw me, thansweep me.

Everything about this is so wrong to me I don’t even know where to start with it, but I’ll try anyway.

Hip throws are performed because you make your center of gravity lower than your opponent’s. I don’t know what you mean by “concentrates your center of gravity” but when you get someone on their toes in order to throw them their center of gravity goes higher thus making themmore unstable and because you are lower and act as a fulcrum they go over. Ifyou do it right of course.

Wide postures do make throwing a bit more difficult, but it reduces your movement a lot and is in my opinion a terrible position to try and protect yourself in. It’s to easy to get overwhelmed when in a low, deep posture.

And axe kicks are just about completely useless, especially for what you were trying to do.

In order to throw or sweep someone, you must affect balance mentally and physically. If you can be thrown, you can be swept.

This is not apersonal attack, it's an observation.

Alex, you're a lunatic. You are completely delusional. You need to seek professional help.

Or you're a deeply committed troll.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone irritate you this much. Including Ras and Kumori Ryu ninja even.

 

[Chris Parker]

No, no, that was a personal attack friend. I am just used to them on this board now, so no worry.

I am not sorry my philosophy in martial arts comes off to you as lunacy, but those whos thinking we do not get can come off that way.

I am deeply committed, to my view of the martial arts. I'm willing to let that opine be changed if the reason is sufficient,
but sorry mate, not a troll.

If you constrain your training in the arts by what you think 'possible' and the limitations of that, you will never find your true peak. A great story about Bruce Lee can be found online, told by a workout partner. Everyday they would run 2 miles, until one day Bruce decided they'd run 5. The was already worn out by their two miles, and stopped, gasping he could not do that, it would kill him.

'So then die' Bruce Lee replied. It made the man so angry, and hurt to hear that from his friend and mentor that he ran the 5 miles out of anger. Afterward he asked Lee why he had said that, and Bruce answered,
'Because when something is alive it grows. When you reach a plateau and are too afraid to move and grow, you may as well already be dead.'

Chances are Chris that you find the people who condition their throats to get kicked in it, or those who condition their gnards to pick up bricks just as lunatic as I am to you in MA. The difference is, the martial arts are in the eye of the beholder, and spirit of the practitioner. And we all train differently.

I did not think it was possible to be able to kick 50 times with one leg, without a kick repeating. While I can only do 30 without setting my legs down, I would have never gone past 3, or 5, had I never dreamed or imagined what I thought impossible, and worked toward it.

And to be frank Chris- I don't know your history as a martial artist. Your experience. Ability, even your name. But I do know that if I've been a head instructor at 4 schools, instructor at well over that number, than maybe you are missing something that every other martial artist who actually meets does not-

That I am sincere, that I find joy in the arts. And if that's crazy, so be it. I'm not hurting anyone, and just teaching my students this past year how to fall correctly saved two lives in two separate accidents. One from falling headfirst from a 40 foot scaffold, another thrown from his moped.

So sorry mate, I'm here to stay. I have a club I run that's free and open to all martial artists of all styles, with space larger than most dojos I've seen. I care too much to see them grow, and I do become a better martial artist through this board.

We've had 34 styles out of 300 people in our club at NVCC. So, even if I am a nut, I seem to be a productive one actually bringing martial artists together.

Alex, I'll clarify.

I'm not saying you're a lunatic for your passion, desire, interest, or anything of the kind. I'm saying you're delusional, and a lunatic, due to the absolute bizarre garbage you keep spouting. I'm saying you're delusional due to the flatly beyond unrealistic comments (mainly about your own perceived abilities and strength/power) which simply go against all reality, whether in understanding of psychology, martial arts, bio-mechanics, or simply biology. I'm saying you're a delusional lunatic for comments such as (in this thread alone) the idea that you would kill your partner if your kick connected... or that even if you just clipped him, you'd "shatter his jaw"... Your perception of the physical realities is so out of whack with actual reality that there are only two possibilities: Either you are a troll, and are saying these things for fun, in order to aggravate members here, or you genuinely believe what you're saying, which would place you so far down the scale of delusional mental illness that you are truly a lunatic. Clinically speaking, of course.

So, which is it?

Oh, and if you're genuinely a teacher of anyone beyond little kids, I feel truly sorry for the students.

 

[Zenjael]

Lot of replies and I have a short amount of time to answer them, I'll try to be as succinct as possible.

You kicked him without having any intention to actuallyhit him believing he would dodge it? Unless you were using it as a feint forsomething else that would be meaningless. What benefit is there to throwinguseless attacks you never intend to hit anyone with?

Bad habit of looking where hes aiming, chain punching to that same spot, and leaning too far forward. It was to ward. When I practice with people, say 5 on 5s, promise sparring, or light sparring, I throw a lot of superfluous techniques which outside of a instructing context would be useless. I threw the kick aiming to miss, but he unfortunately charged in.

You've never thrown a technique at a student to demonstrate how you could have gotten them from whatever habit is making them vulnerable?

I still don’t see why you couldn’t just stop if you wereonly going half speed.

I was uncertain just how close he would get. The point is simple- I shouldn't have thrown it.

Trust me. You’re different than most of us.
And there is nothing superhuman about anything authenticin martial arts. If anything in martial arts were superhuman, then humansshouldn’t be able to do them.

My apology for the misnomer. People generally have an expectation of what's considered normal. I have seen many times through martial arts people do things others would consider superhuman. Doesn't mean super powered, it just means that their definition of human limitations is less than what we can actually do.

1. You retained no techniques. There was verylittle skill evident in anything except that you know how to stand on 1 footfor a while. To me it looked like you had no strategy, not tactics, and nogoal. It was mindless flailing from my perspective. If you feel I am missingsomething crucial please tell me what you think that is.

Nope you got that pretty pat. Since there was no set identifier to win, score points, etc, we basically just threw techniques willy nilly and reacted to them. This was about just having a good time, and showing a video to this forum that I am in fact not hitting people too hard. He and I used to do this all the time, and it had been several years since our teacher retired so it's been awhile since we stuck to a format which you could really say had a definitive training point.

2. What is “promise sparring”?

In some forms of TKD this is where one person attacks 3 times, the other backs up, then the defender attacks 3 times, repeat. Sometimes shadow boxing is referred to as promise sparring.

3. You showed your leg flapping about, withsome degree of control, but there was no display of proper application of thosekicks.

I'm a bit confused by this. The application for kicks is either to damage, jam, intercept, or block.

4. I studied karate. People here study karate.You weren’t doing karate.

I suppose if you REALLY want me to be specific, Alec and I mainly used Chung Do Kwan, some Okinawa-Te. But ah sorry mate, every single time I folded my knee after kicking, say from a front kick to a round-kick, that was utilizing the Shotokan methodology of kicking.

5. So were there people around? If there wereand you couldn’t really train, why practice there at all? If no one was around,who gives a fig?

Actually, we used that spot because there were few people. Less risk of interference.

I don’t know what “snake in the grass” isexcept as a euphemism. If your partner could have “stomped on it many times”,why didn’t you stop presenting it to him?

I baited him to stomp the leg, because he is taller than me, and as a joke to poke fun at me, he lowered himself to my height. The only only way for me to do that without getting whomped would have been to pull a move he either didn't expect or was familiar with. And once he went for the bait you can see I use it to attack him. In a real setting, I'd never do that, and if this was real, Alec would have snapped my leg.

It seems no one has ever done a propersweep on you then, but cause if done properly there is no way you can just takethe hit and not have your legs taken out from under you. They must not bekicking hard enough or in the right target.

I hope by the 10th time we've been swept, we all learn to keep an eye out for it. Most of the time the sweeps fail for the exact reason you cited. But then again, I've also had a number fail for the reasons I gave above.

We get that you avoided clobbering eachother, the big reason I think it is a bad video is because there is nostrategic thought to what either of you are doing. No one is attempting to takecontrol, it’s not even like you could say you were practicing a drill becausethere is no discernible purpose to what you’re doing other than “have control”which you could demonstrate by just standing completely motionless!

thank you for these words specifically. You are right. The only real point of this idea apart from fooling around was to demonstrate control in a chaotic setting. I would say, at best, our fighting strategy there was either nonexistant, or just chaos itself lol.

If I post a video again, is that what you would be looking for?

Hip throws are performed because you makeyour center of gravity lower than your opponent’s. I don’t know what you meanby “concentrates your center of gravity” but when you get someone on their toesin order to throw them their center of gravity goes higher thus making themmore unstable and because you are lower and act as a fulcrum they go over. Ifyou do it right of course.

Concentrating your center of gravity is where mentally you are adjusting your feel of it. You aren't actually moving it. It'd be like if you lost your balance, but without moving your body regain that balance.

Wide postures do make throwing a bit moredifficult, but it reduces your movement a lot and is in my opinion a terribleposition to try and protect yourself in. It’s to easy to get overwhelmed whenin a low, deep posture.

Agreed, but it depends on the situation. Some people are heavy treaders even while being light on their feet. The problem with deep stances is that a lot of people place their whole foot on the ground. Im usually on one half of the ball of each foot. Then again, if I'm circle walking, I am not doing that fighting stance at all anymore.

And axe kicks are just about completelyuseless, especially for what you were trying to do.

I disagree, you can use the axe kicks for many things. I primarily use it to knock hands away. Occasionally I'll use it to make face contact, but it really is a great kick for the collar bone, and if you target the heel at a limb it can deaden it.

In order to throw or sweep someone, youmust affect balance mentally and physically. If you can be thrown, you can be swept.

Yep, this is definately the truth.

 

[Zenjael]

So, which is it?

Oh, and if you're genuinely a teacher of anyone beyond little kids, I feel truly sorry for the students.

Chris, I answered you before. It is so I can be corrected, when the information is constructive. I am glad for you explaining your sentiment though.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Super ability. I get a lot of people saying things along those lines. I doubt I am any different than any other martial art on this board, outside of our unique experiences. I think a lot of martial artists on this board forget that in many ways they are also superhuman, given that you consider what we do to be beyond normal human limits, and some people do take their arts to that degree.

Anyone who can successfully do a snapping punch and break the sound barrier, I would say is superhuman.

In Alex's defense, this is true. Anyone who can punch faster than the speed of sound is superhuman. Just like those guys who can catch bullets and leap over tall buildings in a single bound. I'm sure we aren't so cynical as to believe these people don't exist.

 

[Chris Parker]

Chris, I answered you before. It is so I can be corrected, when the information is constructive. I am glad for you explaining your sentiment though.

You have been corrected since you arrived. You continue with the same delusional garbage. Why should we keep correcting you?

You might have noticed I've given up going through the abysmal mess of each of your posts... it's just not worth the effort.

 

[Dirty Dog]

:bs:
:BS:

We need a larger BS flag....

Much in life, and in the mistakes we make are nonsense.



You are correct, I was throwing it about half speed, but with enough power behind the technique that he and I both concur had I even knicked him, his jaw would have shattered.

The real aim of my kick was to startle him to kick it up a notch and give a lesson what we were doing is actually serious, not to actually make direct contact. However, I was willing to allow that kind of contact to him, because based upon his own proclaimed reputation and claim of speed, I was fairly certain he could have dodged such a telegraphed kick.



I would lot say the block was clumsy, just reliant on brute force, and less on technique. It was also less of a block, and more of a strike to my own limb. And ah, at one of the dojos I was fortunate to be allowed to train in, it was expected to break a one inch thick cinderblock be you adult or child. By the time of 3rd dan, 3 concrete slabs stacked on top of each other without spacing was required by both a side kick and a palm strike or elbow. 3 years ago I was able to break 3 cinderblocks, and even to this day am comfortable blocking a roundhouse kick with a heavy palm from even WTF practitioners. Though ah, I tend to still have to brace for any Muai Thai kicks.

That being said, means I was more than comfortable that I could outpunch my kick, given that the kick wasn't going full speed or power.



No, I threw between 40-50% of what my actual speed is capable of, and my hands are much faster than my legs. For example in the 1 second where I can on average throw 5-6 solid punches, I can only do 2-3 solid kicks. The kick I threw was a Silat roundhouse, initiated with a swing, but with the leg bent so that upon maximum extent I would make contact between the instep and lower shin.

I demonstrate this occasionally, but it is a difficult for many to actually perfect. Too many are afraid to test this against the wall lol. There is an ability to make contact with a strike in such a way that the kinetic energy of the strike transfers, and if one is fast enough, the kinetic energy will not have a chance to return, either because it disperses, or you moved faster than the initial acceleration of the kinetic force, which while interacting with a different material will either slow down, or less likely speed up.

If you punch say, a wall, physics mandates that energy be returned in equal force, the difference for us is that because we channel and focus our striking power this automatically causes our strikes to penetrate the surface. However, in martial arts we are sometimes taught how to strike and cause the kinetic energy in our strikes to internally enter the persons body through this principle. This is how some practitioners can strike you in the stomach, and you can feel it in the shoulder. Or in my case, with a heavybag they will feel it in their spine. If you strike and make the barest contact possible, say at 5 miles per hour, and can cause the internal energy of your external strike to extend say 1-2 inches, then pull the hand which made contact back at a speed greater than contact made, if done correctly the kinetic energy stays in the limb or structure that was made contact with. In Hapkido and live hands, this type of strike usually takes the path of least resistance and travels through your nerves, and hence why hapkido strikes can numb where they hit, or worse.

When I struck my foot, I did a sloppy version of that. Additionally, I've spent... years conditioning my knuckles against wood, concrete and nowadays cement and trees. My poor instep hasn't quite caught up to that conditioning.

Other examples of this can be seen when people do a successful side fall, dispersing the weight and spreading the contact. Another would be when thrown from a vehicle and shoulder roll. All it is manipulating the flow of kinetic energy either by directing it with penetration, or by transference. That last type of mechanic for striking is what I've found to be the general safest.



Super ability. I get a lot of people saying things along those lines. I doubt I am any different than any other martial art on this board, outside of our unique experiences. I think a lot of martial artists on this board forget that in many ways they are also superhuman, given that you consider what we do to be beyond normal human limits, and some people do take their arts to that degree.

Anyone who can successfully do a snapping punch and break the sound barrier, I would say is superhuman. The giftedman who because of incredible spatial awareness can tell where anything aimed at him will be, and can thus cut even pellets midair, is superhuman. The man who through meditation was able to hike everest in shorts was superhuman. Ip man, jumping from roof to roof in pursuit of a man ended up having the door slammed on him to a top level staircase by the robber, and instead of falling down, he controlled his balance, leaning almost backward, righted himself, and then continued the chase. That was superhuman. When my master broke 6 cinderblocks without any spacing between, demonstrating live hands application of hapkido, that was superhuman.

The arts truly are about a path in life that gifts us insight into true balance of life. Sure we learn through this kata, forms, and sparring, but each of us lives our lives uniquely, and as such this affects our abilities.

The youtube link had several points, almost all of which were ignored. And I did make the video partially for this forum as much for my friends.

1- The video was to demonstrate control, that he and I can go at that degree of speed, while retaining techniques without injuring each other.
2- The video was of 'promise' sparring, not actual sparring. What we did was closer to shadow boxing, since contact was made.
3- The video was to demonstrate mainly kicks.
4- The video was constrained mainly to karate. We loosely implemented moves form our others styles but mainly stuck to only using the Chung Do Kwan where we trained together. He and I both are move than comfortable to throw knees, elbows, shoulders, but that wasn't the point of the video.
5- The setting was not in a dojo, but in the common area of our community campus. Consider how much that impeded what we were trying to do.

Additionally, if you'll note the styles listed, we forbade throws, sweeps, grabs, holds, pressure point strikes and spiking blocks. That being said, even though we forbade jiujitsu or muai thai strikes, we still did use elements such as stances, etc.

That is why I am oft in a longer stance- there was little risk of sweeping.



I really enjoyed your response, so I'm willing to go beyond the surface. The video was made for a lot of reasons, but the main reason it was edited in that fashion was just to make it more enjoyable. Frankly had I just left the footage as it was and taken out that terribad music, it would have come off better. But I digress. And criticism, constructive, is welcome.

But I must say this, watch the video closely, there is a point where I initiate a half snake through the grass, with my leg extended, and he could have stomped on it many times. I assure you when I say the individual I was sparring with has more than ample ability that if even an arm were extended, he could throw me across the room or into the ground. Likewise, he could easily go for a sweep. Everytime he's done that, he's ended up with one hell of a dead leg. I have rolled a rattan escrima over my shin long enough now that while I can't kick a tree, I did unfortunately have someone's toe break on my shin when they kicked it. Freak injury, their tendon ripped a piece of bone off from their toe curling so far back. So that being said, when it comes to sweeping, you can try it, but you never know if they not only know how to counter it, but might be willing to take it for that reason. I do. I see a sweep coming I just let them ram their shin against mine.

Given that you have never met me, nor knew the parameters of the rules governing our conduct in the video, I think your suggestions are valid. But, this was a video just of striking, and one meant for control.

And unfortunately when I posted this video for the board, rather than look for what the video was trying to demonstrate, they opted instead to attack what they thought was inadequate. Not enough power, contact, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed by the amount of control Alec and I had. At the :53 mark is a clear ridgehand that made contact with his neck, yet he is fine. And literally a half second before that, you can see his leading left hand with a backfist get pulled from making contact with my face close enough to it that it looks like contact was made.

When you have that degree of control, yet can break 3 cinderblocks as I've seen him do, give him some credit lol.

You'll also note that I quite often am dropping my hands while kicking. That type of critique from that video was what I was hoping for. Instead it was made so personal in the disparagement that there's a whole thread I believe now just for bashing the video lol.

Also, concerning sweeping. Everyone is sweepable, but sweeping itself as a technique is quite easy to block or dodge, given it isn't the kick where its a flick low round house kick. You can brace with the leg being targeted for sweeping, you can angle the edge of your shin toward theirs while dipping your knee. You can do what I prefer, which is just to pick the leg up to kick them at the extended leg. You could step back.

The problem with keeping a closed stance as you suggest, at least from what I've found in Hapkido, is this actually concentrates your center of gravity, making it much easier for another Hapkido practitioner to literally grab you by the wrist and hip throw you to the ground. Spreading your legs out, especially in tae kwon do can oft negate that if you're braced in a stance. Granted, there was no throwing, but it wouldn't have been the first time Alec and I practiced together and randomly threw one in. Additionally, while we have near equal speed with hands, he is not quite as equal with his kicks because of injury. considering his reach on me, it was the wide stance allowing me to extend axe kick which kept him at bay. His only option was to rush in for a flurry.

You see, I've been doing kendo for nearly a decade, and we're constantly on the balls of our feet, charging at each other, oft larger massed people, and the only thing that keeps you from being bounced way the hell off once contact is made, is by developing root. You would find it much easier to throw me, than sweep me.

Sorry this was long- but all for you Zero.