StephenRay

I'm an old man now, 56. I have never taken a Martial Arts Class. (I just worked out in the gym). But I have enrolled my 8 year old son in a Bushidokan class because he is getting bullied at school. Bushidokan emphasizes Karate but also uses Judo and Jiu-Jitsu.

I remember getting beat up regularly when I was in gradeschool and Jr. High and High school. Jr High school was a rougher place than when I was in the Army!
I don't want my son to have to go through that humiliation. He is tall and thin but I am starting to exercise him so he will gain some muscle.

So I have recently started looking on the 'net for some instructional DVDs because I downloaded and watched the documentary "Choke" with Rickson Gracie. I am very impressed with Gracie because he is so skilled. And how about that little Japanese guy? He came in second but he really lost because his face was pounded and he lost sight in one eye!

When I watched "Choke" The light bulb came on for me when I realized that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling skills seem essential to a fighter; and that these skills can be learned.

And how about Matt Furey and his Farmer Burns DVDs? And how about Captain Chris and his Close Combat DVDs?

Can you recommend these? Anybody got a copy for downloading?

Thanks, - Steve from Kansas

SimplyNate

Here is a thread with tonnes of them if you dont mind downloading them.
http://www.mmaforum.com/mma-multimed...re-videos.html

StephenRay

Simply Nate, thank you very much! I will check these out.

plazzman

Welcome aboard Stephen, glad to have you here! If you have any questions or concern, don't be affraid to hit up a mod.

As for your case, I suggest you get your hands on "Bas Rutten's Big Book (or DVD) of Self Defense" and "Bas Rutten's Big Book (or DVD) of Combat"

UFCFAN33

Great to have you here Stephen! Enjoy yourself and feel free to ask questions!!

StephenRay

Thanks very much plazzman and UFCFAN33

And I appreciate the recommendation. I will be sure to check out "Bas Rutten's Big Book (or DVD) of Self Defense" and "Bas Rutten's Big Book (or DVD) of Combat"

I take my son three times each week for Bushidokan classes. He is learning how to block a strike, how to kick and how to strike. I bought him a Wave stand up bag to practice with. I have been trying to teach him the 1, 2-3 punch on the bag.

But the Black Belt says not to hit your opponents face with a fist because it is too easy to hurt your hand. He says to use the heel of your hand with an uppercut to his nose.

And I think I'm going to get him a 4 pound medicine ball that we can throw and play catch with. This will strengthen him!

And I talked with my neighbor about his two sons learning to wrestle together with my son.

After I get some Jui-Jitsu instructional DVDs collected I will start teaching him some of these.

Maybe my son will make the high school wrestling team. If he can learn the science of Jiu-Jitsu, why not? But I must learn what moves and holds are legal in high school wrestling.

I look forward to learning from you guys..

Combat_HapKiDo

Hey Steve. So what's stopping you from starting now???? And how come you think you are an old man? I think that you are only as old as you act/feel. It's never too late to start training and it'll take ten years off of your age just to get back in good shape.

I am 51 and I train martial arts 3 times a week for a total of approx 7.5 hours (2 classes of 3 hours each in Combat Hapkido and 1 class for 1.5 hours of Karate) plus I work out in my home Gym as well. I also snowboard every weekend in the winter as well. Both of my kids (15 and 12) take Chito-Ryu Karate with me and will be grading for their green belts this summer. I am grading for my brown belt in Karate and my blue belt in Combat Hapkido in July. I'm also planning on getting my black belt in both.

Sure most of guys I train with in Hapkido are 20 - 35 years old and the Karate class is even youger but it's great exercise and I am very competitive with them. It's just a matter of setting priorities and realizing that the most important part of your life is your health and family. Keeping physically active will enable you to enjoy both a lot longer. You should go for it and do something that you sound like you always wanted to try. Get involved in the program with your son.

StephenRay

Combat_HapKiDo
Congratulations for keeping up the good fight to stay in shape. I'm afraid of you! Ha!
Thank you for your encouragement. You are exactly right. 13 years ago, I was in in such great shape! But I go married and we had two little ones. So I gave up spending two hours in the gym every day to be a family man.
I'm pretty stiff now, but yes, I should try to get back in shape. And especially as my 8 year old boy starts to get bigger, I want to be able to sparr with him and roll around on the ground with him so he can practice the jiu-jitsu instructionals I want to collect.
Yes, there are Orange Belt men, our age, at the Bushidokan Dojo whose legs are amazingly flexible. These guys can very slowly extend their foot up chest high and slowly kick the bag 2 or 3 times moving their knee joint only. I suppose this is to develop accuracy for a real fast strike.
I can start practicing these moves too.

JIKI

honestly man ... i was raised in easter europe... i have been in moscow .. in looooooot of street fights , trust me karate will not save u from anything ...
i recommend u to take for ur son for a muay thai classes and also eskrima if u can effort that , if u find a good instructor in eskrima trust me u will be amazed , it is a Philippine martial art that utilaiz stick fighting also fist fighting and lots of arm locks and other interesting staff ... karate is bullshit , not striking with ur fist is bulshit to , u know i agree u might brake ur hand but if u know how to properly punch than nothing will happen. i recommend u to download bass rutten videos
ps there is nothing better than good old kitchen knife...

Combat_HapKiDo

If you examine Bas Ruttens videos (of which I have a few) they are all combat style defences and attacks. My style uses almost all of the techniques that he shows on his Lethal Street Fighting video. In our style, we don't fight fair, we fight to win ... so anything goes --- but you can also control the degree to which you react (i.e. if it is just a drunk fight with a friend you can control him and make him give up by causing him intense pain from a joint lock but if it is some guy attacking you on the street intent on injuring you, then you break his arm, wrist, and knee - also use groin strikes, nerve strikes, etc. - totally incapacitate him so he can never get up to attack you again). Combat techniques's are the as same stuff the Marines, British SIS, Israeli Mossad, and the Russian FSB use -- you can't use this stuff in a ring to fight anyone.

We also use a lot of pressure points related to Dim-Mak (also known as death point striking which is an ancient form of t'ai chi ch'uan). Again this stuff is not to be used in sanctioned fights. But even if you don't train pressure points (which take a long time to learn), a combat style is best for self-defense. So if you want the best self-defense techiques for protecting yourself, you want to train a combat style, specifically of a jiu-jitsu derivative style.

Actually, almost all styles come from jiu-jitsu but I mean ones that still utilize joint locks and controls as well as finishing techniques and also include striking techniques.

I know this is bound to stir some controversy here because most guys on this forum will swear that BJJ is the only way to go but really you need striking as well and for self-defense you don't want to screw around - why take a guy down? - collapse his knee and drop him while you stay up to deal with any other problems - ideally, you want to incapacitate your opponent so a combat style will excel at this area.

Again, there is a place for everything - for MMA, a mixture of BJJ, Muay Thai, wrestling and boxing (striking) works best and these styles are most popular on this forum because most people are interested in sport fighting. True self defense is different. I realize these points have been argued ad nauseum on this forum and I don't really want to argue with anyone and spend the next two days arguing what I am saying but its true.

The guy that I quoted has a point Karate is not the most effective in a fight but it is still useful. Escrima is good as well - all martial arts will help you, everyone has its place. Some are more for show and aesthetical purposes but they provide some benefits.

There is a place for Karate, which as the person I quoted said is not ideal for fighting.... but it teaches you technique and form and then these can be used in other styles that you learn to compliment Karate. True it is a hard style and it is usually better and easier to use a soft style to fight but I would argue it is still worthwhile to learn. Contrary to a lot of what you hear on this forum, there is a place for traditional styles as well as the most popular ones right now.

Combat styles won't usually accept someone as young as your son because kids under the age of 15 generally have very soft bones and can be injured with joint locks, etc. So I would say to yo that Karate is a good place for your son to start and then if he is still interested when he is older he can graduate to combat techniques. My son is dying to join our school but he has to wait until he develops more and that's one reason I have him in Karate. There are a lot of other benefits - discipline, self-confidence, the ability to focus. All of these will benefit your son and as I said Karate will still teach him the basics and with his improved confidence, it's doubtful that he will be picked on. Karate skills still work in a fight especially if the other person is not trained.