Taking it back

[Roger Tyson]

Hi everyone. I have I situation that is not easy to understand or take seriously, but I want this to work more than anything. I started training ma about 15 years ago and have been a national judge in Sanshou, I have trained kung fu toa, been trying a little Kali, boxing, muay thai and mma. But I never did it for real. I never became serious enough to make anything of it. Because of one single reason. Drugs. It took everything from me. Now I am in a place in my life when I have a shot at getting completely sober. And I want to let the fighter in me help me stay strong enough to fall back, but I also want to take back some of the self respect the drugs took by give everything to see how far I can go and reach for the dream I had, but by giving it EVERYTHING I got, I will become a fighter that overcame drug addiction and had some success after the age of 34. I know I have it in me. But I wont commit to one style as I believe that my greatest strength is my uniqness and I want to learn from every style possible and become an individual on a warriors path and see qhere it takes me. I am training more and harder now than ever before. But I beg for you my fellow fighters to take me serious and tell me about your style, your ways of training, the techniques and philosophy so I can embrace the arts. I will turn into the fighter inside myself, beat the weakness inside and become. So lets be friends and inspire and teach each other..

 

[Mark Lynn]

Roger

Welcome to MT

I commend you for wanting to kick the drug habit and make something of your life. However it is my belief that the hardest fight is going to be staying sober and clean when your body is pounded, your mood is down, you've had a tough day, a fight with the wife or kids, you lost a match or took a beating in the ring. It is then that you will see if you have taken back a part of your life that was given away to drugs. I believe you need something more to hold onto then just your fighting ability or your chance to become a fighter and win some self respect. Get back your self respect outside of the ring by controlling your life, or your life style, train hard and no matter what; win, lose, or draw you have become a better person not just a good fighter.

Look your in your early 30's as a competitive fighter you might not really have a lot of time, even if you do and succeed beyond your wildest wishes if you can't handle the fame, the pressure, the life style outside of the ring, you will crash and burn in both places. Master your life outside of the ring, outside of the martial arts, and you can win in both places; but even if you fail in the ring you can still win in life. Any sport takes a toll on your body or your soul, check out "The Armstrong Lie" to see a person who lost his soul in a sense to the sport. Lance was on top of the world physically in bike racing, a cancer survivor, a hero to caner patients. Still he had to cheat, lie, and discredit anyone in his way and ultimately his pride took him down. Check out "The Smashing Machine" (a documentary) to see a wrestler turned MMA star go down the dark side of drugs and pain killers. Both great athletes in top form but couldn't or I should say had a hard time managing life outside of the sport.

Sometimes I think we as martial artists (myself included) tend to believe if only I achieved this or that, earned this rank, fought this fight, etc. etc. than I would feel better about myself. When we need to accept where we are and do the best we can as we move forward in life, not try and live in the glory days of old. I had a friend who wanted to do something special for his 6th or 7th dan test; he tells me that he wanted to do a flying side kick board break. Problem was he had a bad back, he was a caner survivor, bad knees, and had other health issues as well. I mean he was in no shape to do some flying board break and for what? It wasn't required, no one told him he needed to etc. etc. he wanted to do some break to prove to others and himself that he still was/is a good martial artist. However what really proved he was a good martial artist or a good teacher was the quality of his students and his life not a broken board.

I commend you for wanting to take back your life and for taking the steps to do just that, and I apologize if I seem harsh, I don't mean to be. MT is a great place to meet other martial artists and to talk about things MA related. I believe what I said here is like practicing basics in a martial arts. If you have a weak foundation than the rest of the art will be weak no matter how good your skill level. If you can't master your life outside of the ring then inside of the ring will be weak as well.

 

[drop bear]

How many fights have you had?

Muay Thai sanshu or mma?

I know guys who started fighting at 30 to 40 they get a lot out of it.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Roger asked what our different styles are and how we practice the martial arts, so Rodger in the spirit of the good things here on MT here's my background and training ideas.

First off I'm in my early 50's and been training for 30+ years in a variety of different arts with my emphasis being on more of the self defensive application of the arts more so than the competitive. Back in the 80's I got involved (just in seminars) with JKD, Thai Boxing, Kali etc. etc. and took those things into my parent art which was a TKD based art. I still teach many of the techniques and defenses I learned in the Thai boxing to my TKD and Arnis students today. We still do many of the pad drills, leg kicks etc. etc. with the emphasis on doing it more so against an attack rather than in sparring. In the 90's I started studying JKD Kali and then moved onto Modern Arnis and Kombatan Arnis and dabbled with other FMAs in camps and seminars and such but I teach Modern Arnis and a Kombaton blend.

From the Muay Thai I use some different elbow drills with focus mitts (FM), knee drills with the forearm pads, etc. etc. all to augment my parent arts such as the TKD and the Arnis. In both arts we have supported elbow strikes found within the kata/forms/anyos so the FM drills help give the student not only high reps but also feed back as to the power of the strikes. Likewise both arts have knee strikes so we do drills from MT there as well as the low line leg kicks which again I stress for SD instead of the competitive aspect.

I don't do or teach much grappling because I want my students to get away and not commit and go to the ground. I also don't teach them to much in the way of submission type fighting. I do teach them take downs and off balancing techniques as well as fighting from the ground; kicking and punching with the intent of giving them a few basic tools to hit with and hopefully get up and get away.

In my TKD program I have a heavy emphasis in the advanced ranks (under black) on weapons defense that I take from the FMAs and this is where I also throw in the more MT type of techniques and drills as well.

 

[Tames D]

Hi everyone. I have I situation that is not easy to understand or take seriously, but I want this to work more than anything. I started training ma about 15 years ago and have been a national judge in Sanshou, I have trained kung fu toa, been trying a little Kali, boxing, muay thai and mma. But I never did it for real. I never became serious enough to make anything of it. Because of one single reason. Drugs. It took everything from me. Now I am in a place in my life when I have a shot at getting completely sober. And I want to let the fighter in me help me stay strong enough to fall back, but I also want to take back some of the self respect the drugs took by give everything to see how far I can go and reach for the dream I had, but by giving it EVERYTHING I got, I will become a fighter that overcame drug addiction and had some success after the age of 34. I know I have it in me. But I wont commit to one style as I believe that my greatest strength is my uniqness and I want to learn from every style possible and become an individual on a warriors path and see qhere it takes me. I am training more and harder now than ever before. But I beg for you my fellow fighters to take me serious and tell me about your style, your ways of training, the techniques and philosophy so I can embrace the arts. I will turn into the fighter inside myself, beat the weakness inside and become. So lets be friends and inspire and teach each other..

I highlighted a sentence above that I think is very important. Sounds to me like you are not at this time clean and sober. You have a shot at getting sober? I don't understand. What is your plan? Gettng clean and sober has got to be your priority. All the other stuff dosen't make a difference until you take care of that. I speak from experience. I'm in your corner. PM me if you want to talk. I hope you don't take this the wrong way.

 

[drop bear]

I highlighted a sentence above that I think is very important. Sounds to me like you are not at this time clean and sober. You have a shot at getting sober? I don't understand. What is your plan? Gettng clean and sober has got to be your priority. All the other stuff dosen't make a difference until you take care of that. I speak from experience. I'm in your corner. PM me if you want to talk. I hope you don't take this the wrong way.

Sometimes you need a reason. A ring fight is a good motivator for that. It tends to be a good detox regardless.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Hi everyone. I have I situation that is not easy to understand or take seriously, but I want this to work more than anything. I started training ma about 15 years ago and have been a national judge in Sanshou, I have trained kung fu toa, been trying a little Kali, boxing, muay thai and mma. But I never did it for real. I never became serious enough to make anything of it. Because of one single reason. Drugs. It took everything from me. Now I am in a place in my life when I have a shot at getting completely sober. And I want to let the fighter in me help me stay strong enough to fall back, but I also want to take back some of the self respect the drugs took by give everything to see how far I can go and reach for the dream I had, but by giving it EVERYTHING I got, I will become a fighter that overcame drug addiction and had some success after the age of 34. I know I have it in me. But I wont commit to one style as I believe that my greatest strength is my uniqness and I want to learn from every style possible and become an individual on a warriors path and see qhere it takes me. I am training more and harder now than ever before. But I beg for you my fellow fighters to take me serious and tell me about your style, your ways of training, the techniques and philosophy so I can embrace the arts. I will turn into the fighter inside myself, beat the weakness inside and become. So lets be friends and inspire and teach each other..

I would suggest you pick a style, master it, and then play with the other styles later.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I don't do or teach much grappling because I want my students to get away and not commit and go to the ground. I also don't teach them to much in the way of submission type fighting. I do teach them take downs and off balancing techniques as well as fighting from the ground; kicking and punching with the intent of giving them a few basic tools to hit with and hopefully get up and get away.

Grappling is not the same thing as ground fighting. I grapple all the time in the ER. I rarely go to the ground.

As far as my training goes, it's primarily TKD, including ITF, KKW and MDK, with some exposure to Akido, Akijujutsu, Kenjutsu and western sword combat. We teach Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan with the emphasis being on personal development and self defense, not tournament sparring.

I will echo Tames D here. Step ONE is get clean and sober. Everything else takes a back seat to this.

 

[Roger Tyson]

Thanks for all the great reaponds. I got a lot of great imput from you all. Now I cant say that I dont agree, but I need to correct some things. Like getting control over life outside the ring and the punishement you take both mentaly and physicly. First thing is that I dont have that much pf a life when I am not training. I have a life, but there is so many ways for it to turn bad. And Iremember the pain and frustration from the time when I was at the most active. One example is when instructurs from Beijing sports university came to train us for a while and we had to reåeat and continue forever. The chinese believe in repeating until it hurts and then you puah yourself some more. But I take that pain over the misery of abuse any day. And I never said that I expect lots of success and fame. To me ma is a way to fight yourself and walk the path to becoming better. My goal is to not stop give it all I have and see how far I can go. And by doing drugs I would fail myself. I have had 3 sanshou fights but I was too busy beeing a judge to compete. I only had one muay thai fight and 2 mma fights, but I never lost. And right now I am sober, but I have had some setbacks. by "now I finally have a chanse" I mean I have the time, the girl and the drive to make it. And I have been through rehab recently. I think I have the basics of Sanahou and a comfortable enough base that I can free myself a bit from the correct and ålay a bit wit ar different atyles and let myself be individual. I want to learn as much as I can from the gatt

 

[Roger Tyson]

sorry for all the typos. my phone sucks.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Grappling is not the same thing as ground fighting. I grapple all the time in the ER. I rarely go to the ground.

As far as my training goes, it's primarily TKD, including ITF, KKW and MDK, with some exposure to Akido, Akijujutsu, Kenjutsu and western sword combat. We teach Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan with the emphasis being on personal development and self defense, not tournament sparring.

I will echo Tames D here. Step ONE is get clean and sober. Everything else takes a back seat to this.

Dirty Dog

My mistake I meant I don't teach much ground grappling for submissions. We are on the same page as to the meaning of grappling, in that respect I do teach a lot more "grappling" in both my Modern Arnis program and the American Karate/TKD program.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Rodger

Thanks for the clarification on your situation. Once again I commend you for your fight on staying clean and sober.

 

[drop bear]

All right what is your wrestling like?

 

[Roger Tyson]

Honestly, my wrestling is not good. It is ok until my knees gets tired. This is because I have injuries in both knees and have operated both. But it is actually much better in mma where I can sprawl more effectly than in Sanshou where you lose points once your down. So my takedown defence is better as long as I can hold on to my opponent.

 

[Roger Tyson]

Guess what I am saying is that Ill do better against takedowns than throws...

 

[drop bear]

Guess what I am saying is that Ill do better against takedowns than throws...

You will want to make it good.

 

[Roger Tyson]

Thanks a lot! But why do you think so?
Just saw a highlight video of Cung Le, former Sanshou champion that went over to mma and noticed how effective he used the takedowns/throws that are typical for Sanshou in mma. (Just noticed since we were on the topic) But he dont let go. Instead he lands in side controle or mount and positions himself for ground and pound. Made me think that it must be possible to position yourself in better position for submissions too..

 

[drop bear]

Thanks a lot! But why do you think so?
Just saw a highlight video of Cung Le, former Sanshou champion that went over to mma and noticed how effective he used the takedowns/throws that are typical for Sanshou in mma. (Just noticed since we were on the topic) But he dont let go. Instead he lands in side controle or mount and positions himself for ground and pound. Made me think that it must be possible to position yourself in better position for submissions too..

Yeah you mostly have to go to ground like that. Otherwise someone with a good scramble will just pop back up. And your takedown will be a wasted effort.

 

[Roger Tyson]

You mean holding on and try possitioning myself in the fall? Yeah I think so too. but then I muat have an impact on the fall. Tried it in different positions training not long ago, and it is my best shot. But I need to work on my ground game because I can land in a dominant position is not that hard, but the get the submission is harder.

 

[wingchun100]

Hi everyone. I have I situation that is not easy to understand or take seriously, but I want this to work more than anything. I started training ma about 15 years ago and have been a national judge in Sanshou, I have trained kung fu toa, been trying a little Kali, boxing, muay thai and mma. But I never did it for real. I never became serious enough to make anything of it. Because of one single reason. Drugs. It took everything from me. Now I am in a place in my life when I have a shot at getting completely sober. And I want to let the fighter in me help me stay strong enough to fall back, but I also want to take back some of the self respect the drugs took by give everything to see how far I can go and reach for the dream I had, but by giving it EVERYTHING I got, I will become a fighter that overcame drug addiction and had some success after the age of 34. I know I have it in me. But I wont commit to one style as I believe that my greatest strength is my uniqness and I want to learn from every style possible and become an individual on a warriors path and see qhere it takes me. I am training more and harder now than ever before. But I beg for you my fellow fighters to take me serious and tell me about your style, your ways of training, the techniques and philosophy so I can embrace the arts. I will turn into the fighter inside myself, beat the weakness inside and become. So lets be friends and inspire and teach each other..

This is inspiring. I hope you post on a regular basis so we can see how you are doing.