Dog Brothers Public Forum

there are some campsites along PCH next to the beach, if fighting on the sand is an option.

alternatively, there's a large park in Long Beach, close to where Bellflower Rd. ends (iirc)...

or maybe up in the Topanga Canyon area...? but i don't know about campsites up that way...

I finally caught the clip. I'm really looking forward to it. Gints is right on about the tension.

i like that article

of course Rollins is leftwing, if punk was conservative, what good would it be?
'Iron" is good too.

cool. here's something that's been on my mind. it always seems that there is a bunch of contraversy regarding decisions in MMA. partly because people are fans, but also because sometimes the judging criteria seems vague. it's great that martial artists like surf dog are judges (cecil peoples makes me shudder), and I remember that Guro Crafty was a UFC judge a few years back. Although it might not be appropriate for Surf Dog to post his judging criteria, I was wondering how you or how you think judges should score fights. Should they weigh striking and grappling equally? How do you you consider grappling defense and escapes? Are counter fighters damned due to a lack of "octagon control"?
anyone?

any predictions for the pac-morales fight?

ok. having slept on it, i thought of a few techniques, i may be a bit vague because i feel that this may border on what would be members only forum material (mods feel free to delete if so!).

1) i think guro crafty uses this technique in some of the staff fighting clips, but it can be adapted to fighting a left handed fighter (if you're fighting as a righty). i remember seeing something similar way back at the dog brothers camp during the Kaboroan escrima section using the single stick. anyways, it involves merging with the oncoming strike to deflect it, and then quickly striking with a slash.

2) a krabi strike, the chamber can block downward strikes, then strike on your follow through

3) bolo strike

on one of the video clips on the main page there is a five second bit or so of a lefty fighting a righty. i think it's the los triques clip. worth watching.

tell your student to fight left handed also 

although some people advocate training one strong side, there is a lot to be gained from training both sides equally. although i don't fight lefty, i put enough time training lefty that i don't feel uncomfortable should i have to fight as a lefty. i think there is a thread somewhere here about bilateralism, and it's an attribute that is well worth putting the time into. as far as other skills, train footwork.

of course, although a person may have one stick, they also have their off hand which may be hitting and grabbing. sometimes it's useful to view all opponents as having two weapons and not just one; all fights are double stick fights (maybe?) OR becoming a double stick fighter when you fight one stick will give you an advantage. i'm not sure, i'm tired.

but back to the original point, fight left handed. get the experience of fighting left against right, and that may inform your thinking also. or if not, if you start to get beat, you can always utter, the immortal words "i am not left handed" before switching hands and drubbing your opponent.

Tony Jaa definately has the charisma to go along with his talent. I can't wait to see his next movie. On a side note, the concept of six degrees of seperation always tickles me.  My aunt is close friends with a popular dance performer here in Thailand who is in turn good friends with tony. i'm not sure if tony has ever studied dance though...
tony vs. capoeria in tom young goong is probably my fave one on one fight scene right now, though his battle up the flights of stairs pretty much dropped my jaw too...

swords! guns! war elephants!!

i caught a preview for yet another thailand vs. burma war epic...the trailer isn't on the website yet, but the trailer i saw looked promising...

http://kingnaresuanmovie.com/

I think there is a clip of Top Dog and Salty Dog fighting WEKAF style on the first Grandfathers video.

I tried WEKAF once. It's fun. I feel there is a slightly different skill set involved. Most players seem to try to hit a patterned flow. It's useful for developing the ability to hit rapidly with a light stick. Depending how you play, you might also develop good use of your off hand too. Any type of situation that is going to bring you into the adrenal state is good. Since the scope of a WEKAF fight is limited just be aware that you should also develop your footwork, power, grappling, etc. Train hard, have fun.

yo. you got mail. everything here is pretty much fine.  i went to bed tuesday night and woke up to find that the coup occured. but all in all it feels much less like a coup and happy rainbow marshmallow new government day. people are out giving flowers to the soldiers and geting their pictures taken with the tanks.
seriously though the past couple months something was in the air, and it's disappointing that elections arent going ahead in oct/nov.  as scheduled. it's pretty much wait and see, but the coup has lots of popular support, and since the king has given a nod of approval hopefully it wont be that bad.
obla dee obla daa...

i was actually here for the last coup back in 92. that was definately not good times. this one is a bit different.

sorry for the delay...
yes, i'm sort of local, i spent time growing up here and have been back now for a few months. the locals have a great attitude towards foreigners. i can't think of anything specifically to look out for.  as for immunizations, i really can't remember, i think i had one for encephalitus when i first moved here. TB is widespread, but things like malaria and dengue are pretty rare.
I'm not sure why KK is by invitation only. I haven't been to his school, I've only had a brief email correspondence with him. I'm hoping to get up to Ayutthaya soon to visit the Buddhaisawan school to get the low down on what's going on, but i'm not currently practicing KK. i have no disappointments about living here or any of the training i've had here.

Awesome. I really look forward to this one. The first Grandfathers tape is one of my favorites.

If you can't get people to swing sticks at you, maybe you can get people to do blending excericses with you. you and your partner pretty much remain in your bubble but explore openings and swing hard. kind of like at the end of the los triques mood piece clip. its a good way to slowly get people used to the idea of swinging a stick at someone and being swung at.
in the total abscence of a partner, just time yourself for minute sprints of swinging your stick and working your footwork with your imaginary partner...

i also really like the solo training during rocky 4.

Good luck to everyone fighting tomorrow!

Happy Chinese New Years!

Guro,

    I'm visiting my family in Thailand right now, but I'm heading back to Bangladesh in a few days.  No new news other than I passed the foreign service oral exam so <hopefully> I'll be coming back stateside sooner than planned.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE FIGHTERS NEXT WEEK!

The sequel to ONG BAK came out a few weeks ago in Thailand apparently. It's called Tom Yung Gung...

other good mavies with Krabi:

Bangjaran- It's like a thai braveheart type story.

Sema the Ayodhya Warrior - good duel sequences

Ong Bak- the best damn muay thai movie ever.

Guro,
 Will there be a gthering report?!?!?
 Does anyone else have any Gathering stories?

Brian

I get an "invalid session" message when tring to post a reply on the other thread...

Whenever I spar, whether it be jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, or with soft sticks, I always try to have a sense of play. It allows me to be relaxed more and from there my techniques flow better. There's a book by a japanese monk titled the unfettered mind that has ideas i try to emulate while fighting. The less you focus on hurting your opponent and the more you build an understanding about how and why you are training with each other, the harder you can spar.
That being said, in the intensity of a fight a little berzerker rage can be helpful too.  


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Woof C-Porn Star!

Are you still in Thailand?

Crafty

David wrote:
 
 "If a practitioner is very good in snake range, do you find it more difficult if he is using single or double stick?"

 Hmmm...Guro Crafty has shown me things to look for when fighting double stick, and this has made it much easier for me to fight using doubles. However, I feel that when I watch Crafty move with two sticks it can be hard to discern what strikes are coming. I feel that he has an ambidexterity that i lack (but am working on..) that makes both hands equally dangerous. While watching double stick fights however, you'll notice that many people have a dominant hand and do not fully utilize their other side. In single stick people focus on their stick hand and seem to use a wider range of angles (as well as put more emotional content into their strikes) which can also make them hard to read. So I feel as if I'm rambling, so to make it short, I feel both can be equally as difficult (or easy).

David wrote:

  "For that reason, I figured double sticks would be harder than single...to read, avoid, etc. Do you find differences in that sense between empty hand and stick fighting?"

 My empty hand is not all that great (one reason I like weapons), and when you integrate more variables there is of course more to keep track of. But I feel whether it is boxing, kickboxing, grappling, stick fighting, etc., you will see certain structures. In grappling, when I'm in the guard, I go over a checklist of things I can do, reversals, submissions, etc. I also go over what my opponent is doing, passing the guard, punching, etc. Although stickfighting can move incredibly fast, I try to keep a similar mental checklist. If my opponent does this, I do this. If I can draw my opponent here, I can do this. So whether it is boxing, wrestling, stick, etc. I have a go-to checklist of things i like to do, and so therefore things are only difficult when i dont have an answer for them yet. Just boxing with jabs can be difficult if you don't know how to slip or parry, I think it's all just a matter of researching and experiencing, and even seemingly more complex things like double stick can be broken down and made easier.

Brian

I love this movie. I hope it gets distributed on the big screen here in the US.

There is a UK grappling website..www.sfuk.net
click on the club directory..
woof,
dog brian