Martial arts?

[Pekka]

Yaeh, wrestlers are tough guys. Tough and strong. We have many good examples of them doing great in the rings, and the ones that pick up striking good, well they are tough to beat for sure!
Just get me a guy who wrestles like Dan Severn in earlier days and who can box like Vitor Belfort (old days), now that's a deadly combination.

[Curiosity]

Originally posted by David Floyd


Um, that's the problem with kicking that isn't related to Muay Thai - shin kicks are by far the most powerful and effective kicks out there. Little slap kicks, TKD style, aren't very effective. Furthermore, kicks should virtually never be used above the ribs - and the majority of kicks should be aimed at the other person's thighs (can't remember what the nerve is called, cyatic or something like that).

Shin kicks are excellent, but (with shoes on) my award for 'most effective kick' goes to the relatively unknown Savate blow, the coup de pied bas. (More prosaically, the kick to the lower leg.)

It's thrown with the sharp inside edge of the sole of the shoe, and it's target is the shin anywhere from the ankle to the knee. To use it from the rear leg, start from your usual Muay Thai stance. Step forward with the front foot at an angle (similar to beginning a rear MT roundhouse but keep your body upright), bring the rear foot foot across the front of the body (as if passing a football in soccer), with the foot bent so as to present the cutting edge of the sole and with the leg straight, then rotate the hips into the motion and throw the upper body back as the foot approaches the target.
As you strike, the motion of the foot should be perpedicular to the sole of the shoe, at about a 45 degree angle to the target, so that it hits slightly to either the inside or outside of the shin.

The shin is quite a delicate area when struck with a hard, sharp object and lots of force. Try walking into a coffee table and you'll begin to see a fraction of what I mean. This kick will certainly draw blood, and when it's delivered to the inside of the shin (i.e. you and your opponent started in opposite leads) it's notorious for breaking the leg.

It feels very, very odd the frist time you practise but it's easily learned, requires almost no flexibility and little strength. Plus you don't end up with bumps on your shin after a training session.

As a side note, there are a number of gashes in my doorframe from experimenting with this kick. One is a full centimetre deep...

Jakko,

Definitely check out Savate. You may get almost anything, possibly they're totally sports oriented but some places still teach all of the old street techniques of knees, elbows and headbutts (and sometimes mugging someone from behind )and even combine in wrestling.

Other than that, look for Muay Thai, Boxing, San Shou, or Kickboxing with BJJ, Judo, Sambo or wrestling.

Stay away from the soft arts unless you are incredibly physically weak or inclined towards them philosophically.

[Bosh]

Shin kicks are excellent, but (with shoes on) my award for 'most effective kick' goes to the relatively unknown Savate blow, the coup de pied bas. (More prosaically, the kick to the lower leg.)

Hmmm, was always a big fan of good old, kick 'em in the balls myself

All I really know is a little ju jitsu (where I think I set records getting caught in the most elbow-hurting submission holds and my only effective technique was lunging right at the beginning and hoping to knock the other person off-balance )

[raghar]

This is summary of Usenet discussion.

>>Could someone tell me what they think the best martial art is, and why?
> Judo.

Is NOT!

> You get to bow a lot, wear funny clothes, and fall down as much
>as you want to.

In Aikido you get to wear MUCH funnier clothes!
You fall down *just* as much as any of those judo guys and probably
bow even more.

So there.


Oh, horse****.

Judo guys only fall down when someone *makes* 'em - a lot of aikido
people fall down for no discernable reason whatsoever. Moreover,
in Aikido you get to whomp one another with sticks

In kyudo they wear all those funny clothes, plus funny hats too! I think

But they never fall down, so it can't be a very good art.

They do get to bow :-) a whole lot, though.

goes
I took TKD for 2 years and enjoyed the time I spent in this style.
HOWEVER, in all the fights I have ever been in not one bit of that info
or style paid off, EVER. I started in Judo, then Jujitsu both excellent
styles. I know study Kajukenbo, a totally awesome style. It blends
almost everything I learned with other styles. It is very effective in
streetfighting because that was where it was tested, in the Polormos
settlement slum, in Hawaii. This art is street combat. It stresses doing
maximun damage to the opponent and getting away. Check it out, you have
nothing to lose. Unless of course you like not hurting anyone, then by
all means continue in TKD (Sarcastic tone)
Stuart
>
Alright, this is getting ridiculous. I have several good friends who
practice TKD, though I myself do not. I am not a stranger to the martial
arts, however. I have trained in Aikido for six years, and also in Five
Animal Kung Fu, Jodo, and Iaido. I have also been exposed to various
forms of Japanese Budo. I have sparred/played with my friends, I have
seen them train, and I have seen no "comercialized junk". They spar at
full contact, they train hard, and are dedicated. One of them is not a
stranger to streetfighting, and his TKD served him well. These are my
views on the subject, as an outsider to TKD who is not unimpressed with
what he has seen. Perhaps you have never been to the right dojang.

The color of the belt that holds up the pajamas is less important than
the knowledge you have gained. Let's face it. Belts are just a way to
keep impatient students from wandering off. If someone is asking you for
$200.00 to take a belt test they're just trying to bleed you dry. Tell
them to piss off. I don't think Jigoro Kano intended this to happen when
he invented the concept. I could talk about the whole idea of praticing
in pajamas, but I've already opened up a can of worms as it is.

It would be unfair for me to post
that Muy Tai Kickboxing sucks because I beat a student of the art in a
street fight. The only thing I proved then was that I was a better
fighter than he was. Not that TKD is better or that MT is worse.

I have *never* seen a modern TKD school that approaches training
the way my instructor did back in the middle 70's. We worked out hard as
hell, in an un-airconditioned dojo, at least three times a week, and it
took at *least* six months to get your first belt. And the instructor didn't
give little quickie do-it-yourself belt tests; we went to Dallas, 200 miles
away, and tested and sparred in front of a panel of six instructors from
all over the state.

My advice...wait until you have reached at least black belt level in one
art. Then start in with another that works on your weak points.

If you start with another too early then you'll just get confused.
Nothing wrong with studying different styles. Just do them in the right
order.


Your Right.... Mixing arts is a complete waste of time, I mean just look
at how inefective KAJUKENBO is. You can only wipe out 6 or 7 people at
a time with this style, total waste of time.

[David Floyd]

Yeah. But a good wrestler can pick up judo pretty quick.

Honestly, judo isn't that great in terms of submissions. Wrestlers have better takedowns, and against a Brazilian Jiujitsu person, Judo groundwork/submissions are not gonna be enough (I rolled with a Judo club last semester and beat everyone in there except for their highest ranking black belt)...

Curiosity,

I've actually heard of that kicked, trained a little bit with it in Valetudo. It seems somewhat effective, but a little unnatural and difficult to pull off against a moving opponent. Maybe I'm wrong though - don't have much experience with it or Savate in general.