The Lord of Lawsuits:
- Seagal-san and A&E take one step back after the court frowns.
A&E Networks and Steven Seagal have suffered a setback in the multi-million dollar idea-theft lawsuit over Seagal’s hit reality show “Steven Seagal: Lawman.”
Prime Chuck:
- Mr. Norris receives a different kind of star.
The News:
- Seagal and Norris are wanted for an Expendables sequel.
I’m not privy to who didn’t sign for the first one and for what reason and all of that because Stallone was the one who hired people…
- Yahoo! Sports has 11 things MMA fans want to see in 2011.
Losing his title to Cain Velasquez exposed Lesnar’s distaste for getting punched in the face, a liability for someone whose job involves getting punched in the face.
- Good news or bad?
Though it seemed Randy Couture had announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 140 characters or less, the 47-year-old former UFC champion clarified to ESPN.com that he has no intention at this time of hanging up his gloves.
- Capoeira and BJJ? Who’d have thunk it!
A purple belt in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, which he has practised since 1991, and a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu…
- Given the pattern of news I’m seeing on this, I do think that Krav Maga is the current “big thing.”
“The crime rates are increasing. You cannot rely on the police or the public or your family for help; you have to rely on yourself. Sometimes, you have to use your bare hands.
- Another martial arts instructor who is giving back.
But giving free classes to residents aged over 50 at Blacktown Leisure Centre, is one of the more rewarding experiences.
- Here’s one for the Shotokan crowd.
The event was also attended by Shihan K. Funakoshi, who is the great grandnephew of Gichin Funakoshi.
- This one is for those who contemplate MMA’s use on the street.
While the UFC bans “small joint manipulation” such as breaking fingers and toes, it encourages the snapping of wrists and ankles. However, many equally brutal, yet fundamentally non-lethal boxing moves, remain fouls under the UFC’s system. Head butting is the very first foul banned under UFC rules, while certain elbow strikes used in muay thai boxing — easy strikes for western boxers to employ as well — are also banned.
- Hapkido comes to India.
Self Defence Simplified! World over Hapkido is considered the most modern form of Self Defence and of course the most practical one to execute in testing times by average individuals.
- Aikido is mentioned in Slate!
Aikido. This concept is borrowed from Japanese martial arts. “Masters of aikido do not resist the physical force of their opponents,” Barlow and Moller explain. “[R]ather, they turn with it and let it pass them.” Anger, they explain, is “like a volcanic eruption.” Don’t interrupt the volcano while it’s spewing lava!
- Not a bad idea if you can afford it. One of my friends had her sons in a program like this. The downside is that they are often quite expensive because of the overhead. (Instructors have to pay for the van they use to pick the kids up with, etc.)
“This after school program has a broad impact,” Rackenbrandt said. “We provide an environment where students can fight and excel, with self-defense leading to more confidence in themselves.”
The Blogs:
- Bunkai has a great video up about how linear styles can put the whip into their punching. In my TKD days I only saw a few of higher dans ever do this. It was not formally taught so I’m not sure if it’s something they developed or what. In Mantis the whole “whippy” thing was unavoidable. In fact, sigung used it at a seminar to demonstrate a board break. (BTW the only time I’ve seen a kung fu person do the board break routine)
The Karate masters of old often taught that we should use our body like a “whip”, but this is not always easy to do, especially if you practice a predominantly linear style.
- Safety Enforcement is running some great specials on self-defense items.
The kubotan is a very effective self defense weapon and makes an ideal “key ring” for easy carrying.
- Formosa asks “Where’s the beef?”
Some folks might argue that 1 gram per pound of body weight a day is excessive. Smart folks might have picked up on the fact that some experts call for 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, not per pound.
- Matthew has a nice video up that can help Karate and Tae Kwon Do folks make their joint locking more dynamic.
In order to make joint locking a valid part of your self defense skills, you can’t rely purely on base-level technique walk-throughs. You need to improve your ability to apply locks on the fly and in harmony with striking using “touch reflex”.
- Another thing I’d love to try but don’t have time to take on!
I found a splendid series about Chinese martial archery.
- Sue discusses the black belt paradox.
The advantage of the belt ranking system was that all students now had the opportunity to learn an entire fighting method in a logical and systematised way.
- Steven Smith changed his theme. FYI he also offers something I’d love to try, but don’t have the time to take on!
Online Taiji Courses
They’re going now. Yep…right now.
- Danny shows us the side projection throw and yes, I tried it and it does work! I always appreciate simple and effective — for sure this is both.
This newest lesson – Side Projection Throw – is a throw that can be used in a variety of situations and would be especially useful on the street.
In Praying Mantis a natural result of the Mantis Hook is to unbalance your opponent — especially if you pull his/her arm down and slightly across their body. When we practiced this the “unbalance” was always followed up with a long fist-style hammer fist to the back of the neck. So learning this was a natural extension of that for me.
Anyhow, this past week I had a few adult beverages with my old TKD pal Tornado. During our reunion I told him about this throw and we started to experiment. It seems to work quite well starting from a TKD walking stance, and to get the gravity going just drop into a TKD front stance. You can also pull it off while retreating but do take care to spin in a tight circle. (both of us almost fell over a few times trying this in a retreat — not sure if it was the beer, our inexperience, or the fact that it may not be best-suited for a retreat)
In Danny’s photo series you see that the attacker breaks off in a nice front roll. We did not! Part because we were in Tornado’s small living room and part because we were trying to make this work.
I’m not sure about getting the attacker to sail over 3 meters. For that I’d have to practice this a while. I do know that in under 30 minutes you can figure out how to easily make someone fall. We successfully did this both from a cross hand grab and also from someone advancing.
Cool stuff and I’d make it my video of the week were it a video!
The Videos:
- The video comes from a solider stationed in Korea. Yes, I know that this is encroaching on Dojo Rat’s and Rincewind’s (NSFW) specialty. Still, I do think it may help some of you to forgive me after my annual war on Christmas post.
-BCP
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Hi Bob
Thanks for featuring my video on how to put a “whip”into a linear punch. I think that as people learn to relax more and more, they start to do this naturally without realising it. As it is quite a subtle movement (which I over emphasis a bit in the video to make it clearer) I don’t think that even many of those who can do are able to break the mechanics of it to explain it to others.
Hopefully this video will help. I’m not introducing anything new, I’m just breaking down the concept that’s always been there, but is not always understood.
Many thanks and I wish you all a very happy Christmas.
Charlie
Hi Charile,
Merry Christmas to you, too!
-B
Here’s a story about applying MMA outside of the ring:
http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/12/optimization-and-martial-arts.html
Side projection throw: Hm.
Seems a little awkward to enact: all uke has to do to counter is to step to the side (in the photo, left foot), and shoulder-lean back into you (if he/she has any sort of wrestling or judo background).
If you **do** manage to pull it off: unless your opponent is a trained jujitsu/judo/aikidoist — who reflexively go into rolls — all you’ll end up with is your opponent stumbling sideways a few feet. May as well just give him (her?) a big ole shove.
Seems like a wishy-washy technique (for SD purposes). Once you’ve grabbed that arm, do a hip throw — which would result in a hard landing. Or clock ‘em in the face (from the first photo, using your R arm). Or (as Striking Thoughts often advocates), Kick ‘im In the Jimmy.
However: I haven’t tried that throw. Maybe it’s brilliant.
–GG
Gye -
The key is part surprise and also paying attention where the attacker’s feet are. It’s comparable to attacking a Karate front stance. If you come at it from the side the person is easily tipped.
I guess my bigger question was: does this have advantages over either just giving the dude a big shove — or executing (for example) a hip throw?
Also: forgot to mention that “sending the person three metres” (or whatever the cited distance) would only be because of the elegant roll: **any** throw against an Aikidoka (that didn’t result in a hard fall) would send the person that distance.
–GG
I can only speak to what we played around with. I see it as an option for gently dumping someone which certainly has it’s place. Blasting someone is great but could lead to lawsuits (though you could use this to blast, too). For me this just expands on the tripping/unbalancing I was taught in Mantis. Though I can see where it might not be other people’s cup of tea.
I have read Gye Green’s comments on the side projection throw. Thanks for taking the trouble. This move requires dropping weight on your training partner which I refer to as GAP (gravity assisted power) Done correctly this anchors them down making it dificult to move away. The other important point is that from the side control position, they are unable to use their hands to counter attack. Where they land to a degree is decided by the thrower. This can be a projection to toss them away and/or allow an easy breakfall or more directly down. To conclude the action with further attacks, the latter is a better option.
The throw reminds me of sokumen irimi nage from Yoshinkan Aikido. As Mr. Da Costa said, the throw is DOWN. To any extent there is sideways motion, it’s to take it easy on the uke.
Rick,
Down exactly. It’s comparable to a version of the Praying Mantis Hook. Sifu taught the grab as a way to trap the attacking hand while you drop a long fist strike on their head. However, he told us that half the time your attacker would fall over — esp if you pulled down and across their body.
Sure it may not work all the time but it’s just like anything else.