@magamike
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Re: Bullied children
Here’s what I think about that:
Every human being should know how to fight for the purpose of self-defense. So they might as well start with children. It would be a great idea to teach all children some type of self-defense (including combatives, not just avoidance) system. I think it would be great if something like KM for kids was mandatory, like gym class.
Re: Krav Maga/ Heavy Bag
I try to practice outside of class solo as well, but it’s obviously difficult without a partner. Usually what I do is stand in front of the bag (I have a Century Bob punching dummy) and then imagine the attack I’m defending against and make the defensive movements, but when it’s time to strike, I hit the bag. Obviously, you can practice any striking and kicking movement great with a bag. But ground fighting and all that is a bit of a stretch. They do make ground fighting dummies you can order on-line, but I just really can’t see those being very useful.
Bag work is very effective at training strength, stamina, and technique though. I remember that the first time I tried hitting the focus mitts I really struggled with my coordination and targeting. But after a few months of Bas Rutten workouts on my punching dummy I find I’m good at combos on the focus mitts whenever we use them now.
Good luck – at least you’ll stay fit!
Re: This article is not at all biased (rolling my eyes)
There are political/historical/tradition squbbles like this associated with every martial art (less with KM as far as I can see compared to some TMAs). But, these squabbles are present in every single discipline you can imagine.
They all stem from the purist mindset. Purists are people who have done something for so long and are so accomplished at it that they become bored with it. Instead of moving on and challenging themselves in new ways, they try to strip back their discipline to its purest form.
Purists are like giant black holes that suck all the enthusiasm and fun out of every discipline by making others question themselves and the legitimacy of their success.
Purists are to be avoided at all costs in life if you wish to be happy and feel good about yourself.
Re: Test duration
quote Kirsten:But it should be tough and make you dig deeper than you ever thought, it’s one of the ways a fighting spirit is instilled in you. No matter how tough it gets, how tired you are, you need to find a way to do it.There is definitely truth to this. I think a lot of people think that in a real fight for their lives that they’d never give up because it would mean their deaths if they did, duh.
But, it’s not so simple. I am a climber/mountaineer and I can tell you from personal experience that sometimes you can become so bitterly exhausted, cold, and miserable that the idea of just laying down and resting or sleeping, even though it would mean certain death from hypothermia, is unbelievably alluring. In fact, people do die on mountains every year simply because they give in to that siren song.
Re: Disrespect of TM dojo Sensei’s/Master
Well, they sort of do it to themselves. When I was researching what “martial art” I wanted to study, I took some Kung Fu introductory private instruction. In those three sessions, I learned some pretty interesting and realistic fighting and self-defense sequences. I was particularly impressed with one sequence I learned. It involved defending against a front choke with a circle block (sort of similar to a KM choke from front with push defense), the followed immediately with knife hand to the throat (would have been an elbow to the face in KM given the body position after the defense), then another knife hand to the neck with the other hand while turning the body back around to the other side. I was able to perform this technique nicely, and was quite excited that I would be learning moves like that. THEN, the instructor said, “Good work, but of course you won’t see moves like that again for about a year.”
I thought WTF???? Why not??? That was the end of Kung Fu for me.
Then I learned about KM and took an intro class and was doing moves similar to the “advanced” Kung Fu introductory things day one and said “this is for me” and signed up.
I do think that I may study another TMA at some point after I get a solid foundation in KM, though.
Re: Tips for increasing flexibility?
Well, I’m not a flexibility expert, so I’ll just give you some encouragement. It’s not an age thing (certainly not in your mid 30s). I am 47 and can do a decent round kick to the head of my 6’2″ Century Bob punching dummy and I’m only 5’9″, yet I can still barely touch my toes without pain. It’s not so much about functional flexibility (all that static stretching we do after warm ups – that helps reduce injury and soreness). It has more to do with dynamic flexibility and correct technique (foot/hip positions).
Do a Google search for “dynamic flexibility martial arts” or something like and you’ll get a lot of links to useful information. Also Google some tutorials and images for specific kicks you want to improve and mimic the technique. Better yet, ask your KM instructors to give you some advice on the spot if you are having trouble.
Once you are using proper technique, then it’s mostly about practice. If you want to kick well, then practice kicking a lot.
Re: What we learned today…
I learned that sucking down a Power Gel with caffeine before a class a useful performance enhancing drug.
Re: Finding Balance
You should also ask the instructors to coach you on how to hold the pad and the best stance for certain drills. When I first started, I sometimes got knocked off balance on certain drills and oftentimes the instructors gave me advice on my stance that really helped my stability. One thing that I’ve noticed is that you have to avoid the natural tendency to shift your weight back and away from the kick or the strike. With a big hitter/kicker, it’s sort of a natural flinch mechanism, but when you do that it makes you off-balance at impact and you will get knocked back more and often times knocked down. If you are in a strong, weight-foward stance, and push the pad foward as the kick lands it seems to help. But your instructor is the best source of advice on this.
Also, be sure the kicker isn’t just pushing with their foot. That’s generally not correct kicking technique. A kick should be explosive and concussive so it will deliver a powerful impact force. I think some people look around the room and see bit kickers and hitter knocking people back then sometimes try to do that themselves by pushing through instead of actually delivering a kick with proper impact and recoil. Our instructors often correct that when they see it.
Re: bruised knuckles
quote Liquid Rockface:I’ll add my question in this post, since it’s on a similar topic to mine:I had my first KM class on Thursday, and while working the tombstone pads (punch shield) I grazed the skin on my middle knuckle on both hands. Now it doesn’t hurt too much or anything, but being a musician I don’t want to hurt my hands.
My question is, how can I get it to heal as fast as possible (I’ve been putting on some healing cream from Vaseline company, as well as some petroleum jelly) and how can I prevent it happening in the future. We hit the pads without gloves or wraps or anything.
So will my skin there toughen and it won’t happen again, or what? I have another class on Monday (in two days) and I don’t want to open it up again (it wasn’t bleeding) and am considering either reducing the power I put in my punches (my punches felt pretty weak anyway, I was so tired) or using palm strikes (but I am afraid of maybe hurting my wrists).
At the moment (two days after the class) I basically have two bright red spots on my knuckles, and it stings a little to touch them.
Unless there is some formal rule that doesn’t allow you to use gloves or wraps, then use them. What good is it to damage the skin on your hands? If your hands hurt you can’t train effectively. Just a thin pair of fingerless cycling or weightlifting gloves is enough to protect your skin.
Re: Krav Test Saturday
quote neema51:I was wondering what the cardio is, I dont know about other tests, but I was told this one would have around 3 hours of cardio.Three HOURS of cardio???? Man, I am glad I didn’t take Krav where you take it. bow1
Re: name for a KM drill?
I actually kind of like that drill, BUT…some people don’t know how to do the tether correctly. I learned the hard way that if someone is intent on holding you off the pad relentlessly, then stop swinging and lunge forward until you get back to the pad. I injured myself by hyper extending my arms trying to hit the pad when the guy holding the tether was putting too much tension on me all the time.
I like it when the pad is thrown down and you jump on it and control it while doing a ground-and-pound thing while the person with the tether pulls you all over the floor. That’s a hoot. Exhausting, but fun.
Re: Krav Maga and Sex
Kicks to the groin, shins to the face…can’t we just all get along?
:beer::banghead:
:dunno:
Re: Students hitting too hard to often?
What do people think about repeated shots to the head, even at 40% or less power? (40% is huge to the head if you ask me). I heard something on NPR the other day about boxers and long term brain injury. As I understood it, this researcher was saying that you don’t have to be knocked out or have concussions to have long term brain impairment from getting your cranium rattled. It’s a cumulative effect of smaller injuries. Even if you can take hard shots to the head – should you?
Re: increasing cardio
quote Night Robin:What exactly does a Bas Rutten workout consist of? I’m one of those guys that would be able to get the equipment(do to the generosity of my parents;):), but I have nowhere to put it. So I’m limited in what equipment I can acquire.Try searching for “Bas Rutten” on the forum, or take a look at that fairly recent thread about “my first experience with the Bas CDs” for more info about this.
Everybody has a different approach depending on their fitness level and interests.
He’s coming out with a new set of CDs I hear, but the one I have consists of four CDs and an instructional DVD. There is a Boxing CD, Thai-Boxing CD, an All-around fighting CD, and an all-around-workout CD. The fighting CDs contain either two or three minute rounds (your choice). When a round begins, Bas will call off various striking combinations for your to throw (you kick on the Thai CD too, and sprawl and defend on the all-around-fighting in addition to the striking). If you have a heavy bag or a Century Bob you can hit that when you do the combos. If you don’t you just shadow box at full power. You just keep going round after round as long as you want. The combos are described on the DVD.
The all-around workout CD contains two 29 minute workout routines. The first has shadow boxing combined with unrelenting calesthenics (jumping squats, push-ups, etc.). The second one has you kicking full out for one minute rounds, then dropping down an grappling if you have a partner, or if not, you do calesthenics.
I usually do one of the 29 minute workouts as a “warm up” (much more than a warm-up, of course), then I do some kind of fighting rounds. I mix up boxing, and thai, and all-around, 2 and 3 minute rounds. Just depends on what I feel like doing, but I always try to make it at least a full hour (workout + fighting).
But if you get the CDs, you’ll make up your own routines.
Equipment is minimal – if you just shadow box, nothing. If you want to strike something, then get some kind of heavy bag and some bag gloves or just use your 16oz boxing gloves.
Re: increasing cardio
Long distance trail running (1 to 1.5 hours), mountain biking, and Bas Rutten workouts for me. Agree totally on incorporating some intensity intervals into anything you do. On trails, I always charge the hilly parts, then recover on the downhill or flats. Whenever I do a short loop on the road or a park trail (45 minute type stuff), I always incorporate interval training. One of my favorites is to stop, turn and sprint back 50 yards or so, then resume running at a normal pace to recover. I’ll also do parts of the run with high plyometric type bounds, stop and do jumping squats, you name it. I just do whatever I feel like it to keep it fresh.
