What could you do better?

[Dinkydoo]

In light of recent threads where we've been debating the effectiveness of techniques and approaches in systems that other people train in, I thought it might be interesting to have a thread for once that focusses on things that we appreciate OUR clubs/styles could do better at and what, if anything, we do to make-up for this weakness or inefficiency.

I'll start:

7 Star Praying Mantis

I can't comment on other clubs but I think we look to commit both hands far too often in class. Take Ou Lou Choi - one of the basic deflect, grab, strike sequences in 7 Star Mantis: partner video for reference

Ou Lou Choi "Patty Cake" Warm-Up - YouTube

Try to apply this against a basic jab, hook and you're going to eat the second punch every time. Because there are literally hundreds of these two hand committing sequences in the Mantis we do spend a lot of time focussing on becoming proficient in thier application, but we spend little time on working on finding the rare openings where you'd deflect and control the arm with one hand and strike with the other. To work on rectifying this I do a lot of sparring with friends using basic combinations as openers and keeping the arm control for big punches that tend to come once you end up on the inside of the opponent. I still need to be very quick, but I'm taking much less shots to the face than I would be by going for arm control straight away. Two person drills where your partner changes up the strikes in number and variety really help to keep your mind open to whatever could be thrown in, and not look for a particular technique to fit as soon as the first strike comes in.

Kickboxing

We fight within a strict set of rules. Kicks must be parried instead of grabbed, no sweeps or ground techniques...etc

To make up for this I spar with friends once a week where we allow a more MMA based rule set where most techniques are permitted. One of the guys who trains with us has done a bit of BJJ so we get regular experience of being on the ground. This rule set also lets me utilize many of the sweeps we have in 7 Star Mantis. Being a smaller fighter I need to use whatever skills I have to makeup for the obvious reach disadvantage and being able to catch a poorly executed roundhouse, skip step and sweep the back leg is a great technique to take your opponent down.

There are others but I'm on my lunch break at work and I'm out of time. I look forward to learning a bit about other systems and what everyone does to overcome some of the shortcomings they or the training methods have.

 

[Transk53]

Good post. With my JKD/Kali, it way to early for me to note any shortcomings. The instructor though gave good vibes at my first lesson. At some point in the future, the Panantukan will come into play. Will be interesting to see how that fits in, and if with any shortcomings.

 

[Buka]

What a terrific question. But for me to answer it.....how much time you got? I'm serious when I say that, because hindsight is always 20/20, and I'm older now, got a bootload of hindsight. I'm going to make a list and get back to this thread. In the meantime - I do American Karate, which probably should be called American Martial Arts because we don't train and move the way we did decades ago. One of the problems (as well as one of it's strengths) is American Karate has no organization and no syllabus. Some places may have a syllabus, and some of my students who have gone on to teaching have been making one (course, they've been working on one for over twenty years now, so I don't know) but I never had one.

When you're in the arts for a long while you usually meet, befriend, train with, train under, and compete against a whole lot of people from different styles. When that happens, you know damn well who's got what that's better than what you're doing. (Oh, yes you do!) It may be an individual technique, a training regimen, a particular program, an attitude toward self defense, hell, it may be anything.

Most on this forum train in a more complete style/system/dojo than I do. (I hope you guys know how lucky you are in where you ended up.) I never had that luxury.....but it sure does give hindsight.

I'm going to make that list. Betcha' it's fun, too.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I'll answer specifically regarding my gym rather than speaking for entire arts. We're primarily a BJJ/MMA/Boxing/Muay Thai gym although sometimes we get classes going in additional arts.

1) Many people fail to cross-train between the different programs. (Not really an issue for those who are only training for sport, but those who are training for self-defense would be well served to take advantage of the different classes.)
2) Not much emphasis on the street self-defense aspects of the arts. I'm one of the few instructors there who has this as a priority.
3) Practically no weapons work. (One of our instructors does teach a FCS Kali class on the side, but it costs extra and only one or two students cross train between that and the other programs.)
4) Not nearly enough time spent on throws and takedowns in BJJ class. (The MMA guys are better about working this.)
5) Disorganized curriculum. We have an unusually high number of classes per week and a lot of instructors with different backgrounds and specialties. As a result, the learning process can be kind of chaotic with each instructor working on whatever they feel like in each class. There is some real growth potential in this kind of chaos, but I'm not convinced it's ideal for the average untalented beginner.

As far as compensating for these weaknesses ... for myself I spend extracurricular time working on street applications. I'm still behind where I should be on my throws, but I'm trying to put some work into catching up. When I was teaching the BJJ fundamentals class I had a somewhat organized curriculum centered on self-defense applications. Now that I'm teaching the advanced class it's harder because I never know who's showing up. It can be any mixture of students from white to brown belts. I'm still figuring out this best way to organize those classes.

 

[Dinkydoo]

Sorry, that was a crappy example of what I meant regarding committing both hands - told you I was on my lunch and strapped for time This better illustrates what I meant
http://youtu.be/62fRBJHeScg

Its just a freestyle 2 person drill that we do a lot of where you attack/counter back and forth in turns.

I'll be back to add more stuff and respond to others when I can.

 

[Mephisto]

Sorry, that was a crappy example of what I meant regarding committing both hands - told you I was on my lunch and strapped for time This better illustrates what I meant
7 Star Mantis Hand Drills Austin Fitness Martial Arts - YouTube

Its just a freestyle 2 person drill that we do a lot of where you attack/counter back and forth in turns.

I'll be back to add more stuff and respond to others when I can.

good topic! Is that you in the video? If so, thanks for posting. Many people hesitate to put video up for fear of criticism. I can see your point, the demo above shows a need for more realism and commitment to strikes. Any technique practiced while the opponent keeps his arm extended should be examined closely and trained separately with the opponent striking and pulling back in a more realistic manner. I like to wear head gear with a face cage to spar with these kinds of techniques. I train FMA which has some fairly similar tactics. The face cage allows elbows to enter the equation relatively safely. The problem of trainibg without head gear is that the strikes often lack commitment and realistic targeting. It's trying to hit while also trying to avoid hitting your opponent at the same time which is contradictory. When pulling attacks it might become more of a game of speed like we see here, where the body spares the structure required to generate ko power in favor of speed.

As for short comings of the arts you train? It depends on why you train. I don't get in fights and I'm not big on rbsd, but I see the value in being well rounded. I compare the arts I train FMA and boxing currently to other arts in the same vein. As for boxing I think it's one of the best striking systems out there, the punches are only half the equation for me, the timing, distancing, and head and body movement are the greatest benefit of the system. It's short comings are obvious, no kicks, no grappling, that fine with me. I think when it comes to punching boxing is the best. I'm realistic about the shortcomings of the art and don't really care to seek out what it lacks.

i also feel the same way about the FMA I train. Balintawak players are the single stick specialists and I think the training it offers is very good and better than a lot of what's out there. It can easily be modified to use a blade, but is not a blade centric art. That's fine with me, IMO anyone with a blade is deadly and most who fancy themselves blade specialists haven't used what they know in reality, but I've heard stories here and there of guys whove pulled some moves off.

Balintawak any boxing gave some marked similarities, the training is some of the best and most applicapable to reality IMO, but they are also highly specialized which can be limiting.

 

[Mighty.Panda]

My biggest complaint with the two styles I recently started practicing (Aikido & Jiu Jitsu) is that both sensei's seem to teach far too many techniques each lesson and it just becomes a blurr and nothing is really retained. Instead of learning 6 standing locks, 3 throws and a multitude of other stuff on the ground I wish we could just cover 3 techniques a lesson, learn them, practice them, so we can actually do them at a semi-reasonable pace against resistant limbs rather than tortoise speed step by step because you're wracking your brain over what it is you're doing because you're confused by the blurr of 10+ techniques you've been shown over the last hour.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Does there exist a simple strategy that will work on all situations?

In CMA, there is a punch that's called "哈拳 (Ha Quan) - spiral punch". When your opponent punches at you, you use it to block/deflect your opponent's punch and punch him back at the same time. This idea originally came from the CMA spear technique. When your opponent uses spear to stab at you, you use your spear to move a small spiral circle to deflect his spear attack. You then continue your spear spiral and stab your spear head into your opponent's chest.

Since your opponent has 2 hands, you have to deal with 2 punches at the same time. You can have 2 options here.

1. use one arm to deal with one of your opponent's arms, and use the other arm to deal with your opponent's other arm. By using this method, the "double spear" strategy is developed.
2. combine both of your arms into one arm and deal with your opponent's both arms from different directions at the same time. By using this method, the "rhino" strategy is developed.

You don't even need to use both strategies. If you just stay with either "double spears" strategy, or "rhino" strategy, you should be able to simplify the combat situation to the minimum.

When you apply "strategy", the word "style" will have little meaning to you.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Does there exist a simple strategy that will work on all situations?

In CMA, there is a punch that's called "哈拳 (Ha Quan) - spiral punch". When your opponent punches at you, you use it to block/deflect your opponent's punch and punch him back at the same time. This idea originally came from the CMA spear technique. When your opponent uses spear to stab at you, you use your spear to move a small spiral circle to deflect his spear attack. You then continue your spear spiral and stab your spear head into your opponent's chest.

Since your opponent has 2 hands, you have to deal with 2 punches at the same time. You can have 2 options here.

1. use one arm to deal with one of your opponent's arms, and use the other arm to deal with your opponent's other arm. By using this method, the "double spear" strategy is developed.
2. combine both of your arms into one arm and deal with your opponent's both arms from different directions at the same time. By using this method, the "rhino" strategy is developed.

You don't even need to use both strategies. If you just stay with either "double spears" strategy, or "rhino" strategy, you should be able to simplify the combat situation to the minimum.

When you apply "strategy", the word "style" will have little meaning to you.

Umm ... did you read the original question? This post was about offering us a chance to critique ourselves and our own approaches to training rather than criticize other arts/schools/instructors/practitioners. Did you have any insights to offer into what you think you could be doing better?

 

[tshadowchaser]

For the school/group I teach these things could be done:

1. I could charge $100 a month or more and then maybe the parents would make the kids go home and practice once in a while.
2. I could have more physical exercises in class ( the students are mostly out of shape) but then I would lose out on the actual practice time
3. I could take the kids to another school about 20 miles from us to show them what a well disciplined class looks like but I doubt they would care or take the hint.
4. I could lessen my requirements for ranking students but I did that a little and the results where sloppy techniques and students that I decided should never wear my patch until they did things correctly and remembered the material

I could just kick out the ones who do not want to train but then I'd be done to about 2 students

 

[MJS]

In light of recent threads where we've been debating the effectiveness of techniques and approaches in systems that other people train in, I thought it might be interesting to have a thread for once that focusses on things that we appreciate OUR clubs/styles could do better at and what, if anything, we do to make-up for this weakness or inefficiency.

I'll start:

7 Star Praying Mantis

I can't comment on other clubs but I think we look to commit both hands far too often in class. Take Ou Lou Choi - one of the basic deflect, grab, strike sequences in 7 Star Mantis: partner video for reference

Ou Lou Choi "Patty Cake" Warm-Up - YouTube

Try to apply this against a basic jab, hook and you're going to eat the second punch every time. Because there are literally hundreds of these two hand committing sequences in the Mantis we do spend a lot of time focussing on becoming proficient in thier application, but we spend little time on working on finding the rare openings where you'd deflect and control the arm with one hand and strike with the other. To work on rectifying this I do a lot of sparring with friends using basic combinations as openers and keeping the arm control for big punches that tend to come once you end up on the inside of the opponent. I still need to be very quick, but I'm taking much less shots to the face than I would be by going for arm control straight away. Two person drills where your partner changes up the strikes in number and variety really help to keep your mind open to whatever could be thrown in, and not look for a particular technique to fit as soon as the first strike comes in.

Kickboxing

We fight within a strict set of rules. Kicks must be parried instead of grabbed, no sweeps or ground techniques...etc

To make up for this I spar with friends once a week where we allow a more MMA based rule set where most techniques are permitted. One of the guys who trains with us has done a bit of BJJ so we get regular experience of being on the ground. This rule set also lets me utilize many of the sweeps we have in 7 Star Mantis. Being a smaller fighter I need to use whatever skills I have to makeup for the obvious reach disadvantage and being able to catch a poorly executed roundhouse, skip step and sweep the back leg is a great technique to take your opponent down.

There are others but I'm on my lunch break at work and I'm out of time. I look forward to learning a bit about other systems and what everyone does to overcome some of the shortcomings they or the training methods have.

Nice topic! Well, this is something I've talked about on Kenpo threads/forums. Of course, rare was it that I actually got someone to agree and say, "You're right...we are lacking in this area." Instead, I was told that everything is already in there, I was just missing it, I didn't have a good teacher, blah, blah, blah. Is any of that possible? Sure. My teachers weren't GM Ed Parker, it's possible I was missing stuff, and it's possible the teachers I had were missing things. But, it is what it is. That's why, whether it was in there and I wasn't seeing it, or I really sucked, as they claimed, I took it upon myself to seek things out on my own.

So, all that said, I am thankful for a select few Kenpo guys that I've worked with, who've helped me understand things better and make things actually work. I have a nice group of people that I work out with, outside of a dojo. IMO, the garage/backyard workouts are the best!

Currently, I train Kyokushin. I'm still too new to really comment on that much..lol...but I enjoy what I've seen to this point. I say new, but it's been 4yrs, but compared to some of the others at the dojo, yeah, I consider myself new. LOL. For me, I'm not ashamed, as I said, to look outside the box. Any cross training that I do, I keep to myself. I don't add things in, or do anything in class, that's different from the way it's taught. When I'm working things on my own...sure, I'll play. I'll grapple with some guys that have BJJ/Judo experience, and I'm a BB in Arnis, so that addresses quite a bit, as far as weapon defense/use goes, as well as empty hand stuff.

 

[Transk53]

Nice topic! Well, this is something I've talked about on Kenpo threads/forums. Of course, rare was it that I actually got someone to agree and say, "You're right...we are lacking in this area." Instead, I was told that everything is already in there, I was just missing it, I didn't have a good teacher, blah, blah, blah. Is any of that possible? Sure. My teachers weren't GM Ed Parker, it's possible I was missing stuff, and it's possible the teachers I had were missing things. But, it is what it is. That's why, whether it was in there and I wasn't seeing it, or I really sucked, as they claimed, I took it upon myself to seek things out on my own.

So, all that said, I am thankful for a select few Kenpo guys that I've worked with, who've helped me understand things better and make things actually work. I have a nice group of people that I work out with, outside of a dojo. IMO, the garage/backyard workouts are the best!

Currently, I train Kyokushin. I'm still too new to really comment on that much..lol...but I enjoy what I've seen to this point. I say new, but it's been 4yrs, but compared to some of the others at the dojo, yeah, I consider myself new. LOL. For me, I'm not ashamed, as I said, to look outside the box. Any cross training that I do, I keep to myself. I don't add things in, or do anything in class, that's different from the way it's taught. When I'm working things on my own...sure, I'll play. I'll grapple with some guys that have BJJ/Judo experience, and I'm a BB in Arnis, so that addresses quite a bit, as far as weapon defense/use goes, as well as empty hand stuff.

Very good post too

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Umm ... did you read the original question? This post was about offering us a chance to critique ourselves and our own approaches to training rather than criticize other arts/schools/instructors/practitioners. Did you have any insights to offer into what you think you could be doing better?

In all my posts, I like to use "you (general YOU)" instead of "I". Instead of saying, "If I want to do ...", I prefer to say, "If you want to do ...". May be that's the confusion.

I was addressing Mighty.Panda's concern - too many techniques.

both sensei's seem to teach far too many techniques ...

When I

- was young, I tried to cross trained many CMA styles, and tried to learn as many technique as I could. I believed more is better.
- get older, I try to create "general strategies" that can fit in my personal training and make combat simple. I believe less is better. I also believe there exist a simple strategy that will work on all situations.

Why did I want to train the "MT flying knee" or "TKD jump spinning kick" if my main "entering strategy" is not through the air, and I never had the intention to use it? I could use that training time to make something that I use more often to work better.

I "could be doing better" if I could understand that earlier. That's my own criticism.

 

[Mephisto]

In all my posts, I like to use "you (general YOU)" instead of "I". Instead of saying, "If I want to do ...", I prefer to say, "If you want to do ...". May be that's the confusion.

I was addressing Mighty.Panda's concern - too many techniques.



When I

- was young, I tried to cross trained many CMA styles, and tried to learn as many technique as I could. I believed more is better.
- get older, I try to create "general strategies" that can fit in my personal training and make combat simple. I believe less is better. I also believe there exist a simple strategy that will work on all situations.

Why did I want to train the "MT flying knee" or "TKD jump spinning kick" if my main "entering strategy" is not through the air, and I never had the intention to use it? I could use that training time to make something that I use more often to work better.

I "could be doing better" if I could understand that earlier. That's my own criticism.

Good points! I follow a similar approach. The less options you have the better, sometimes. I'll use the example of boxing, anyone can learn the few punches it uses in an afternoon but the timing, distancing, and body movement are what make the art. I once had an BJJ instructor explain that BJJ has only three techniques: choke, shoulder lock, elbow lock, and everything else is a variation. Skill comes from escaping and applying these three techniques to any possible situation. I asked about leg locks and the instructor considered the mechanics of leg/hip locks the same as arm locks applied to the lower body. It might have been an over simplification but I think it makes sense.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

leg/hip locks the same as arm locks applied to the lower body.

Somebody also said that a

- "front kick" is just a "jab" or "cross",
- "roundhouse kick" is just a "hook punch",

by using the leg.

I like to make fight simple. One "defensive strategy" that I like to use is the following:

If you can move your arms in 2 circles, you should be able to cover your body very well against striking from all directions. Any striking arm that come toward you should give you a chance to wrap it with either "over hook" or "under hook". You don't even have to do any attack. You just wait for your opponent's punches. This is one simple way to obtain a quick "clinch".

If you are a grappler, and if you can interrupt your opponent's 1st punch, or 2nd punch into a "clinch", and turn a striking game into a grappling game, you just can't make any fight simpler than that.

 

[Dinkydoo]

good topic! Is that you in the video? If so, thanks for posting. Many people hesitate to put video up for fear of criticism.

No, that isn't me in the demo but the drills and the way in which we train them look very similar

I can see your point, the demo above shows a need for more realism and commitment to strikes. Any technique practiced while the opponent keeps his arm extended should be examined closely and trained separately with the opponent striking and pulling back in a more realistic manner.

I agree and this is exactly what we dont do enough of in class and we rarely train with head gear on - however, outside of class I spend quite a lot of time sparring and working on drills with fingerless gloves and head gear to try to address some of the areas that i dont feel we emphasise enough on. Its not until you really try to put these techniques into practice at full force and speed that you realise that you havent been practicing with enough realism and that your looking to committ both hands far too often. My trapping skills are quite good but I need to learn to 'curb my enthusiasm' with them a bit, stick to basics and try to work something in at a later stage in an opponents combo - because almost always when I try to trap the first strike that comes in I'm eating the second one straight away.

I like to wear head gear with a face cage to spar with these kinds of techniques. I train FMA which has some fairly similar tactics. The face cage allows elbows to enter the equation relatively safely. The problem of trainibg without head gear is that the strikes often lack commitment and realistic targeting. It's trying to hit while also trying to avoid hitting your opponent at the same time which is contradictory. When pulling attacks it might become more of a game of speed like we see here, where the body spares the structure required to generate ko power in favor of speed.

As for short comings of the arts you train? It depends on why you train. I don't get in fights and I'm not big on rbsd, but I see the value in being well rounded. I compare the arts I train FMA and boxing currently to other arts in the same vein. As for boxing I think it's one of the best striking systems out there, the punches are only half the equation for me, the timing, distancing, and head and body movement are the greatest benefit of the system. It's short comings are obvious, no kicks, no grappling, that fine with me. I think when it comes to punching boxing is the best. I'm realistic about the shortcomings of the art and don't really care to seek out what it lacks.

i also feel the same way about the FMA I train. Balintawak players are the single stick specialists and I think the training it offers is very good and better than a lot of what's out there. It can easily be modified to use a blade, but is not a blade centric art. That's fine with me, IMO anyone with a blade is deadly and most who fancy themselves blade specialists haven't used what they know in reality, but I've heard stories here and there of guys whove pulled some moves off.

Balintawak any boxing gave some marked similarities, the training is some of the best and most applicapable to reality IMO, but they are also highly specialized which can be limiting.

Thanks, that was interesting. I dont disgaree with any of the points you make about boxing as it is imo, one of the best striking martial arts there is - and the striking encompasses much more than than simply having a good punch.

 

[Dinkydoo]

Nice topic! Well, this is something I've talked about on Kenpo threads/forums. Of course, rare was it that I actually got someone to agree and say, "You're right...we are lacking in this area." Instead, I was told that everything is already in there, I was just missing it, I didn't have a good teacher, blah, blah, blah. Is any of that possible? Sure. My teachers weren't GM Ed Parker, it's possible I was missing stuff, and it's possible the teachers I had were missing things. But, it is what it is. That's why, whether it was in there and I wasn't seeing it, or I really sucked, as they claimed, I took it upon myself to seek things out on my own.

I have had similar experiences of being given pretty crap excuses for why we do things a certain way or more importantly, why we don't do some things. I don't think it will serve any good to go over the specifics here (for me anyway) - but I can totally relate to what you're saying. I think being critical of yourself keeps you grounded in the reality of what you're doing and whilst questioning your teacher in class constantly might not be appropriate, questioning yourself and seeking to do something about the things you're not happy with is part of taking what you do seriously.

So, all that said, I am thankful for a select few Kenpo guys that I've worked with, who've helped me understand things better and make things actually work. I have a nice group of people that I work out with, outside of a dojo. IMO, the garage/backyard workouts are the best!

I agree. I love the training days (weather permitting!) where I'll grab a few friends, go for a run and then get my free standing bag out in the back garden and we'll work on whatever we feel like at the time.

Currently, I train Kyokushin. I'm still too new to really comment on that much..lol...but I enjoy what I've seen to this point. I say new, but it's been 4yrs, but compared to some of the others at the dojo, yeah, I consider myself new. LOL. For me, I'm not ashamed, as I said, to look outside the box. Any cross training that I do, I keep to myself. I don't add things in, or do anything in class, that's different from the way it's taught. When I'm working things on my own...sure, I'll play. I'll grapple with some guys that have BJJ/Judo experience, and I'm a BB in Arnis, so that addresses quite a bit, as far as weapon defense/use goes, as well as empty hand stuff.

I have only had around 3.5 years MA experience in total and I still consider myself a beginner too (more so in some of the styles I've played around with but also in general). This means that some of the possible shortcomings I'm seeing in Mantis may well be as a result of me simply not being good enough or experienced enough with it however, I believe that cross training really helps to open your eyes and see things that other practitioners who have a less diverse training experience may miss. For instance, I've done a little Wing Chun and although I'm not really qualified to point out 'issues' with a system I'm not great at, I can see that a hooked punch may be quite difficult to deal with whilst maintaining the WC structure and not leaving yourself open down one side. I asked one of my friends who has a bit of WC exp. and he said that they don't really think about those kind of attacks in class because hooking isnt really something that a WC guy would do. Whether this is correct or not, I dont have enough exp with the style to comment but certainly within the styles I've trained a bit in, all except from Taiji and WC used hooks frequently in sparring. That to me indicates that not being able to deal with hook punches without exposing yourself down that side is a bit of an issue - something that my friend will realise if he came and sparred with us more often outside of class.

Not looking to derail the thread here.

 

[Buka]

When I started thinking about what I could do better and started making some notes....pages filled up fast. When I read them over I thought, "what a bunch of ********." We can all do things better, and that's why we train. Putting it down on paper might be good.....but you gotta have a lot of paper!

I'm happy with my game (other than getting out of side control.) the most important thing for me to do better is to keep my aging body in the shape necessary for training and the prevention of injury. I think we tend to forget that as we age, especially if we do a lot of teaching. While teaching can be a workout, it isn't as much of a workout as taking class. (and spare me the "I work out while teaching", yeah, yeah)
And I believe anyone taking classes should supplement their fitness with things outside of class.

I'm not going to get any better in Martial Arts, I'm not going to get any better at fighting, I just need to train smart and enjoy it.

 

[MJS]

I have had similar experiences of being given pretty crap excuses for why we do things a certain way or more importantly, why we don't do some things. I don't think it will serve any good to go over the specifics here (for me anyway) - but I can totally relate to what you're saying. I think being critical of yourself keeps you grounded in the reality of what you're doing and whilst questioning your teacher in class constantly might not be appropriate, questioning yourself and seeking to do something about the things you're not happy with is part of taking what you do seriously.

Well, that's the way I look at it. I train for me, not someone else. So, as long as what I do, works for me, then I really don't care if someone thinks that I don't know this or that. On another note, feel free to PM me anytime, if you wanted to talk about training, etc, so we don't derail the thread.

I agree. I love the training days (weather permitting!) where I'll grab a few friends, go for a run and then get my free standing bag out in the back garden and we'll work on whatever we feel like at the time.

Agreed!!

I have only had around 3.5 years MA experience in total and I still consider myself a beginner too (more so in some of the styles I've played around with but also in general). This means that some of the possible shortcomings I'm seeing in Mantis may well be as a result of me simply not being good enough or experienced enough with it however, I believe that cross training really helps to open your eyes and see things that other practitioners who have a less diverse training experience may miss. For instance, I've done a little Wing Chun and although I'm not really qualified to point out 'issues' with a system I'm not great at, I can see that a hooked punch may be quite difficult to deal with whilst maintaining the WC structure and not leaving yourself open down one side. I asked one of my friends who has a bit of WC exp. and he said that they don't really think about those kind of attacks in class because hooking isnt really something that a WC guy would do. Whether this is correct or not, I dont have enough exp with the style to comment but certainly within the styles I've trained a bit in, all except from Taiji and WC used hooks frequently in sparring. That to me indicates that not being able to deal with hook punches without exposing yourself down that side is a bit of an issue - something that my friend will realise if he came and sparred with us more often outside of class.

Not looking to derail the thread here.

I think for me, no matter how many years I have in, I'll still consider myself a student. I'm not like some people that love to throw around the fancy titles. I've got 20+ in, and every time I train, I still learn new things. Of course, I think it's nice to be able to have access to a teacher that is as close to the source as possible. In other words, if you can find a teacher that was a direct student of Ed Parker, you'll probably get a more accurate feel, for lack of better words, of what the art is really like. So, while I never trained with a direct student of Parker, sure, it's possible, as time went on, that things were changed, forgotten about, etc, so by the time the art trickles down to me....well, you see where I'm going with this.

 

[Mark Lynn]

When I started thinking about what I could do better and started making some notes....pages filled up fast. When I read them over I thought, "what a bunch of ********." We can all do things better, and that's why we train. Putting it down on paper might be good.....but you gotta have a lot of paper!

I'm happy with my game (other than getting out of side control.) the most important thing for me to do better is to keep my aging body in the shape necessary for training and the prevention of injury. I think we tend to forget that as we age, especially if we do a lot of teaching. While teaching can be a workout, it isn't as much of a workout as taking class. (and spare me the "I work out while teaching", yeah, yeah)
And I believe anyone taking classes should supplement their fitness with things outside of class.

I'm not going to get any better in Martial Arts, I'm not going to get any better at fighting, I just need to train smart and enjoy it.

Buka

Great post, I'm with you on needing lots of paper for all of the things I need to improve in my MA training. I started writing a long post a few days ago on my short comings and got side tracked, saw your post and thought "damn he's right" why do I need to go on with writing it out.

I guess my biggest area that I need to do better is to get back into shape and lose weight, hands down that's it. I'm happy with where I'm at in the martial arts, I'm still learning and growing in them. I'm happy with how my classes are going, I could use more students but.... oh well.

It's kind of like last week when I was teaching a kata to a student, it had the same sequence at both ends of the I pattern, so I told them let's concentrate on these moves then you have the majority of the kata figured out. Well in the areas I want to improve on in the martial arts, if I dropped weight and was in better shape then I could work on those areas better and with a lot less pain.