the reason why i asked for a 3rd degree is because i know you all have been in practice for several years, N E WAYS back on the subject. ++im not cocky and cool, patient person.++
alright i started training hard in grappling and stand up (NOT A CAGE FIGHTER) and my style is Moo Duk Kwan and its not watered down. But i have training my butt off and i know every fighter has their SPECIALTY but im well rounded but i get my butt kicked by our top fighters( im one of them) but each time its different like grappling, crescent kicks, side kicks, spinning back kicks. im feeling down now cuz i was the number ';2'; fighter but i dont know why im getting my butt kicked. and im not SLEEPING or taking advantage of others but i train harder now but it seems im getting worse and nothing seems to work. %26gt;%26gt;%26gt;please some philosophy?%26lt;%26lt;%26lt; thanks to everyone who sends a answer.Martial Artist i need advice? people who are at least a 3rd degree black belt?
Though you feel down Its good that you try every other method to improve your skills including posting a question in Yahoo Answers. So you have that fire in you to excel which is very very important.
To give really good advice that work, I should see your sparring and assess.
Some general advice that I can give you are...
Watch others sparring especially those who are overpowering you.
Visualize the whole sparring afterwards with very clear mind. Understand your weaknesses and strengths and in the sameway understand your opponents strengths and weakness. Train hard in the weak areas.
Before you get a chance to spar with the same person again try to visualize as many times as possible the various techniques you can use against his best techniques. Practice those techniques as many times as possible.
Dont keep anything as your favorite technique. Try to understand others favorite and formulate techniques against it.
Teach sparring to your juniors. You really learn more when you teach.
Always think away from the usual way of thinking. This is a very very important point. Try to apply it everywhere possible. You will really do miracles.
To build up some self confidence you may read the articles about the great sparrers like Bill superfoot Wallace and others.
Actually I always longed to have a spirited student like you. I strongly believe that I can shape you into a good sparrer.
If you want to discuss anything further your may email me to mkannan2005@gmail.com
All the best.Martial Artist i need advice? people who are at least a 3rd degree black belt?
i do agree with studying your opponents weaknesses. for example i sparred with this guy that was completely side-kick-happy and one thing that i noticed was that at first he tried to chamber the kick when he had an opportunity but i quickly closed the distance to nullify it. after that he just started throwing side kicks and just started to dodge them. his technique and timing was poor so that was his weakness. for crescent kicks i might use for example a rear-leg roundhouse whilst keeping my hands ready. for spinning back kick your gonna have to be light on your feet and have quick reflexes. but i thought i saw a video the other day about defenses against spinning back kicks on youtube.com
but dont stress out about the losses. ya win some ya lose some and whatever doesnt kill ya makes ya stronger and wiser. remember what sun tzu says:
';the good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. the opportunity is provided by the enemy himself. thus a good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.';
so analyze your fights and fighters and where theres a will theres a way so you can and will be a number one fighter if you have the mindset for it
Many good answers here,My gut feeling when I read your question is,';you have become predictable';.
This happens when you fight the same people over
and over.
I suggest mixing things up bit.
Examples:
Keep switching back and forth from right hand
to left hand stance and attacks.
Train with some Japanese or Thai guys and
pick up a few ';unfamiliar moves and fakes';
Knowing what they expect,go into that,then
pull an un expected change in your ';routine';,if you do this well,and for a long enough time you will actually be able to
';return'; to your old ways and still win.Then change up again.Your opponent will be ';thinking'; and ';figuring';,
There is no time for this,while they think,you strike.
Keep this advise to yourself or else the
plan unravels.
I think that I have a lot of knowledge and skill. Over 28 years in martial arts. State and National Karate Point championships along with a Middle weight MMA Championship title. Dedicated to Aikido, Bjj, MMA and Kali/Escrmia along with what ever I can find that has truth in combat. All this and I can still not win in a match, a controled fight or even a real street fight. their is always some one that is more skilled or even less skilled in their art that can still win against me (or you in this case). Don't let it get to you. It isn't always about winning a sparring match. I have found that you tend to learn more from a lose that you do from a win. Take what you learn from these matches and make yourself better. One quick note. I wouldn't automaticly assume that some one with a ';black belt'; could help you any better than someone without one. If I helped in any way was it because what I said helped your or because I said I was a black belt. Which ? Looking for experience dosen't denote a high rank in an art. My view only.
Some of the other posts are good, I might add that you should relax more (mentally). One thing about the strikes that you have taken is that they seem to be upper and mid level kicks, I would suggest more practice with your lower level kicks and SWEEPS. Practice your feints and baits. A good ';sweeper'; will put the fear of God into a kicker and SHUT many of them down as they may not have much left in the way of offense. Good Luck Relax!
I know it's easier said than done but you need to relax. It sounds to me like your are too tense %26amp; that slows you down %26amp; robs your power. Do deep breathing %26amp; other ki excercises %26amp; meditation. Discuss specifics with your instructor. Remember there is a lot more to being a Martial Artist than fighting.
Sorry, I'm not a black belt, but I did study martial arts for six years.
What you describe is common to martial artists, musicians, and many others. You've hit a plateau.
For example, I'm a guitarist, and have studied for over ten years. I remember one six month period when I made no progress at all. Practiced my butt off, but no progress. In fact, I got worse. Then one day, for no reason at all, I was better.
So what happens? Well, it takes the mind and body time to absorb new techniques. During the months when (it seems) that you are making no progress at all, that's when the mind and body are putting everything together, integrating everything.
The key is that you don't stop and don't get discouraged. Then one day, there will be this guy who always kicks your butt. But something strange will happen. You will kick his butt. Been there, done that, seen it many times with others.
As long as you press on, you're doing exactly the right thing. Of course, eventually all of us reach our limits, and accepting ones limits is part of being a martial artist, musician, or anything else. My guess is that you haven't yet reached your limits.
The comments by Obviousity above are also quite valuable. In a fight, focus on the high-percentage techniques, and leave the flashy stuff to the guys who want to be movie stars.
In reaching earnestly for our goals we sometimes tend to act like it is necessary to get there before we arrive. Then having arrived we find ourself ahead of the result and behind in the game.
Slowing down or speeding up are the same aspects.
Take a little time for yourself man... You've earned it at the least. Get out of the gym - get out of the dojo - and get your your mind free of the doubt and free of the fear, that success for you becomes possible the moment you let it. And yes and no, it changes everything!
I'm a little confused. Moo Duk Kwan is one of the five kwan, or schools, of Tae Kwon Do, which doesn't have anything to do with grappling. Are you cross training in a different art and then mixing them when in the ring? Just a little concerned because I am a USAT ref and grappling is not allowed in the ring -- it'll get you a Kyong Go (warning) for the first time, and if repeated a Gamjeon (penalty).
If you are getting your ';butt kicked'; whenever you spar, I recommend going back to basics. Ask your instructor if you can help the lower ranks -- the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Gups and the 1st Dans -- train, either as an assistant or as their sparring partner. Watch how he/she tells them to watch for openings, how to do combinations, how to work on the line and off the line, how to fight defensively and offensively. Sometimes, when you reach the early mid Black belt ranks, a fighter has been away from that kind of instructional training... and it's that kind of training that gets you back in focus.
Steve Lopez won his Olympic gold with only round kicks. No sides, no crescents, no spins. Just plain old round kicks.
The Lopez brothers' new DVD on sparring advocates going back to simple sparring -- keep two or three kicks in your repertoire and instead of varying which kick you use when in an attempt to keep your opponent guessing, train yourself (or retrain yourself) to watch for openings and mistakes, and then apply the kicks.
Sounds like you are also trying really, really hard to the point that it may not be fun for you any more. If you're stressing out about how you are not as highly ranked as you were before and worrying about how you can regain your ranking, you're worrying WAY too much. Step back, help others train, and in watching them learn you'll find yourself going back to the basics and looking at things with fresh eyes.
Personally, I think you should also be happy you have someone to spar! By the time I got to 3rd Dan, I had maybe one or two people left in my division and weight class, which was and still is disappointing.
Maybe it has to do because the other fighters know your style of fighting and know what you do know and how you do it. Either that or you don't know if you train harder than them, maybe they get home and start training again.
Thing is you should be patient concentrate a lot more, either that or they have faster reflexes than you, and you probably have them slower,
Find out their weakness, and reveal it, maybe you have one but just don't notice it yet.
that's you problem your taking the sparing a little to serious go back to the days when you wanted to get to the top. don't take loses as loses but as eperience and if it helps fight dirty that's always throws a curb ball cause no one ever fights fair all the time.
diet maybe or sleep apart from that id say the other guy is just better sometimes that happens
During my years of training, I came to realize a couple of things....
First, many of the kicks and so forth were kind of ';dream kicks.'; Not very useful in a real-life situation. Yes, I can IMAGINE some times that a half-moon kick would be good, but most of the time something else--something easier--might suffice just as well.
You may be trying to ';do'; all your stuff.
Don't.
A guy who now runs his own martial arts school in Tampa, Florida, was in his very first tournament (he was a TKD greenbelt then). He was fighting a well-trained Korean who had a superfast and powerful roundhouse kick.
But that's all he had.
I told our guy ';Jump inside of his kicking range and get your points with punches to the chest.'; THAT IS ALL HE DID--and he won.
On punches alone. At a TKD tournament.
My point is that you may be trying to do fight the other person using the same kinds of techniques. But it might be that if you just use one or two bombproof techniques, and do something to throw them off their ryhthm and range, you can land point after point.
Lastly, the point of martial arts training is not so much to know how to handle everything.... Rather, it is to have the CONFIDENCE that you will be ABLE to handle whatever comes your way. You don't know what you'd do right off the top of your head, but your training makes you confident that when the time comes, your body will do what it knows how to do.
Lastly, you are trying too hard. You are likely ';THINKING'; about what you're going to do. No. Don't think. Do.
If you're like I was, I'm thinking, ';If he does that again, I'm going to...'; and about that time an axe kick gets me.
Most important advice!!!! READY?
If you go in thinking you are going to BLOCK this and that, you will have a hard time.
You have to have an OFFENSIVE mindset. Not a defensive one. That stuff with Bruce Lee blocking a hundred punches--bull! He was great, but that was just choreography.
Quit thinking of how to avoid, of how to block. Think only of attacking.
It changes everything.
OK every answer was good
i can't say mine will be better
but this worked for me
if you go in to a fite thinking that you can beat every one except, the one that beat you last time, your going to lose.
insted start to think, that ';i can do it';..
now i don't know, if that will help, but i tryd
there will always be somebody better than you...there is no ';no.1';....if you are training hard,and have a good routine and possibly trainer you can,but not always will,win...sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders...you'll do fine...
I have a coach that is really good at that. He even set up an academy. His name is bonner cunnings. I could give you his email but i dont have it yet. Just be patient and he will improve your skills and technique. give me your email and i will message you. Here is mying btw,
phillydragon_blue@yahoo.com
