Friday, August 30, 2013

Ude Garami (Key Lock) Submission At 2013 World Judo Championships

Here's a cool clip of the key lock submission applied at the 2013 World Judo Championships in Brazil. Look at the angle that the arm is place for irresistable torque and pain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugEt5i_XURc

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Do Fighters Fight For For Money?

I was talking to some guys after a workout last night and I heard the good old saying, "I fight for money". As I think back over the my years as a fighter (kickboxing, boxing, muay thai, Shidokan, etc.), I can say that I never fought for money. I enjoyed fighting. The competition, the thrill, the adrenaline, and the challenge is what motivated me. If you fight for money, you will never be a champion. Champions will do their sport no matter what. They love to fight and train for the sake of training.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

2013 Shidokan Atlanta Judo and Karate Championships

Hey Guys. Made a quick highlight clip from our 2nd Annual Shidokan Atlanta tournament. The action came from my phone and I only got a little of the action of the day. This years event had more kids than last year which was great as the youth is the future. Next year I hope for more in the adult bare knuckle division as this time, I only had semi-knockdown with pads. My goal is to get some Shidokan bare knuckle rules, but it is difficult as there aren't any experienced fighters in this style. I will probably have to recruit from kickboxing and MMA gyms as it is difficult to get karate fighters to fight. No matter what, I will continue the quest of developing it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m03XDw6IAVc

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Win Lose Or Draw, It's How You Play The Game

I always tell students that the only time you lose is when you don't give 100% effort. In competition, only one can win. You go to a tournament and hope that you will win. No matter what you have to think like a winner and do all that you can to do so. If you've trained hard and put your heart and soul into it, then you can keep your head up in defeat. I don't see that sometimes. If you get upset and make excuses then you are a loser.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Instructors With No Fighting Experience

Can you learn how to fight from an instructor who's never fought? Yes and no. Yes, you can learn techniques and skills. No, you can't learn the mindset and the emotional side of combat from someone who has no fighting experience. Now when I say fighting experience, I am talking about someone who has fought in a full contact type of combat sport. Now I didn't say a person who has a lot of street fighting experience. Why? Because the real violent street fighters aren't the guys who open up martial arts schools. Secondly, they may lack in technique, but definitely have the mentality for violence. Back to my scenario. Combat sports teach you to control emotions and act under presure. These things are what you need to help you defend yourself.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Shidokan Lightweight Championship Bout 1993

Here's a classic Shidokan Karate fight from 1993 with Ralph Linares and Paul Rouseau. Both guys are great fighters and put on an awesome fight. I'm just spreading this all over because it is an exciting fight. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB0xl4zsIO4

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Street Fights Video Highlight

Came across this Youtube clip of fist fights in the street. Now, the reality of street fights is that in most cases things are unpredictable. In most of these clips, you see to guys who apparently agreed to got at it with each other and their buddies are kind of there to keep things from getting too out of hand for the loser. We do see the techniques (wild swings, a little ground and pound, etc.) that one would encounter in such situations. The thing that a martial artist might now be used to is the wildness and the emotions of the situation. So, looking back at some of my previous posts, outside of real fights, combat sports teaches you to deal this type of stress. And looking at what goes down in most videos like these, you will see that boxing and a little judo would be the arts of chose in these type of confrontations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LP0h69UkJc

Monday, August 19, 2013

Full Contact Karate Clip

Here's a cool Knockdown Karate video of Kyokushin offshoots. This is practical karate and this is the method of karate we teach at my gym. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QOAnm6gvmM

Friday, August 16, 2013

Competition For Self Defense Training?

Will competition help you for self defense? The self defense experts say no. I beg to differ. Now, in real fights things are unpredictable (terrain, number of attackers, night or day, etc.). But, a conditioned and experienced combat athlete still has the advantage over the student who works the self protection, reality defense, etc. I would put my money on an amateur boxer with 6 months of training over the self defense expert. Reason being, is that most of the ones you see making money talking about their philosphies most likely don't have any combat sports experience. They don't have the experience of knocking out or getting knocked out. Combat athletes are in shape, they have lots of fights against resisting opponents who train at stopping athletes from doing what they do while imposing their wills on others. The knife defense experts won't tell you the truth about knife fighting and sticks being swung at you. How else can one learn who to deal with pain and fight past it without fighting. Competiton is the only avenue you have (outside of real fights).

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Judo Highlight

Watching world class Judoka do their thing is sight to see. Controlling another athelte's balance and being able to throw an equally trained opponent against their will is what makes Judo unique. Here's a cool Judo Highlight video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSdXkYQEeqE

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Sparring Is Key To Development

You go to class and you learn techiques. For example, you learn a 1 arm shoulder throw from a standing position. You get a partner, the two of you get your grips, you use your 1-2-3 step and throw patern and throw him remaining in a standing position. In Karate class, your parter steps forward in a front stance and punches, you step back, do your inside block, reverse punch and round kick to the head. Now, both of the examples give are good training methods to teach a principle. But the realistic application of these techniques can only come through sparring. In every sport, athletes play that sport as the main preparation (i.e. scrimmage games). In looking at Kata (formal exercises) as a training tool, they teach a principle, but it's the sparring that teaches you application. In the throw example I gave, when you look at experiences grapplers, you will see that 90% of the time, the thrower does not finish on his feet. He has to go down to get an experience opponent down. In my Karate example, he punches fast from a fighting stance, you parry and he moves a way as you punch and then you find yourself out of range for the kick you drilled. I am not saying don't do these drills. Just make sure you get some sparring in.

Monday, August 12, 2013

2nd Annual Shidokan Atlanta Ultimate Judo and Shidokan Karate Cup

Missed Friday's blog as it was a very busy weekend. We hosted our 2nd Annual Judo and Karate Championships. This is my 15th event and 2nd tournament like this and there are still bumps in the road. The Judo tournament had more kids this time and more Masters (over 30) competitors. Our Karate tournament had more kids doing Kata than sparring, so some of the kids did not get a lot of matches. One good thing for some of my students is that they were able to compete in Judo and Karate. All of the Karate fights were Semi-knockdown (full contact Karate with pads). There were some exciting matches. Unfortunately, the were no knockdown matches (no pads) as some promises of attendence by other dojos was broken. One of our fighters had a work conflict and couldn't make it in, but some of the others (I won't call any names) either waited till the last minute to say they weren't coming or didn't show up at all. This is sad, because the sport of full contact karate in America is already small and the few organizations that compete under these rules barely support each other. Everybody kind of stays to their own. We probably had 10 plus dojos in the Judo tourament and 3 dojos for the Karate. The few that showed up made me happy and I have a couple of groups that I will support, and some I will no longer support. I had to in the past to get my students opportunity. So, now we will focus own building and growing within and joining with like-minded dojos. See you on the mats!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Keep The Basics

I was watching a guy shadow box the other day and his techniques of choice were not high percentage moves. It made think about how people want to learn all the fancy exciting techniques and skip over the basics. Sure they learn them, but they gravitate towards the novelty (fancy techniques). When I was a kid we wanted to box like Ali and Leonard. They'd use fancy footwork and drop their hands. Of course they did these things to entertain views (mind you they were Olympians and World Champions). Of course they new their basics, but we were looking at the finish products, not what they went through to be able to do what they did. So, work on you basics and know that when all is fails, the basics will save you.

Monday, August 5, 2013

What Belt Are You?

In martial arts, students get caught up in belt or rank a lot. If you are a black belt, what degree are you? Not all, but a the more stripes I see on some Shihans, Senseis, belt, the bigger their bellies get. If you notice the fighters always have less rank? So, walk the walk, don't just talk the talk. Action speaks louder than words. Don't believe the hype of rank and degrees. I've said it before, there are a lot of high school educated folks that are smarter than college educated folks.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Francis Footloose Farley

Here's a clip of ISKA Middleweight Kickboxing Champion Francis Farely. He was a balanced fighter with good hands and feet. He always looked for the KO. This is old school American Kickboxing with a lot of action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbfVeuItaFQ