All Questions

Judo contains a number of rituals inherited from Japanese culture, one example being the codification of bowing to your opponent before and after competing.1 However bowing doesn't carry the same ...

The Kodokan goshin-jutsu kata as well as several contemporary judo texts1 demonstrate various wristlocks as a self defence technique, similar to how atemi were also taught. However since at least 1908,...

I was diagnosed with this 15 years ago. I have been to countless orthopedic doctors throughout my life and they all said the same: quit cycling, martial arts and running. But I neither want nor can ...

Since 1925, judo competitions have nominally banned all joint-locks applied anywhere other than the elbow. This has been explicit in every version of the IJF's regulations from 1955 to present.1 In ...

Recently I've had a number of homeless people threaten me in my area and it's made me wary for my personal safety. I'd like to learn a martial art to feel more secure in my ability to defend myself ...

The IJF in 2013 (and the Kodokan in 2017) recognised two new pins as valid osaekomi-waza in competition: uki-gatame, and ura-gatame. I have seen the term ura-gatame refer to at least 2 distinct ...

I'm learning boxing combos. I want to copy his combo in this video , but my brain is too slow to see it. Can you tell me the complete sequence in that video?

I am 6”3 and 256 pounds, I played sports my whole life so I’m not fat but I do have a few extra pounds on right now that I just started working on losing again. After I get down to 230-240 I wanted to ...

Ok I tried to find the 'chess boxing' subforum here and one doesn't exist, but I'm not surprised it's not by any means mainstream. Hopefully there's someone here that is knowledgeable and I'd ...

When holding an opponent in kata-gatame: by applying pressure to one side of their neck with their trapped shoulder, and the other side with your enclosed arms, you can apply an arm triangle choke, ...

Master Gu Ru Zhang was also known as the “King of Iron Palm”. What is the name of this martial art style? Where do I get information about this man and his style? How do I achieve the goal of having ...

How to have hand like this? How to achieve this goal? Which exercises do I need to do for making our hand like this? Thank in advance.

Is a high level black belt MORALLY OBLIGATED to accept an attacker's surrender (aka tap out) in a real world street fight? Let me clarify with a senario. Imagine this condition: I attack you with a ...

Question In an interview with Torahei Ochiai in the 1920's, Jigoro Kano states that he adopted kata-guruma from wrestling's fireman's carry.1 However, the Kodokan Judo Throwing Techniques book posits ...

In our class we get long combos thrown at us, something like e.g. jab cross jab switch kick then body hook head hook right. I can never remember when they're said in class. I can do OK when it's my ...

As of 20101 the IJF made it illegal to grab the legs or trousers during direct attacks in tachi-waza, and as of 2013 it is illegal to touch the legs whatsoever during tachi-waza. I have heard multiple ...

The "Laats' Dive-in" (named after its use by Johan Laats) is often described as a variant of kata-guruma avoiding grabbing the leg. However, I have seen some debate as to how the throw should actually ...

I'm in my 29s now. In a few months, I am going to marry. I have recently joined a martial arts course (Kalari) in my village. Actually, I am a bit lazy to exercise and now I am in under the weight. ...

My hands have been sore after dozens of punches with MMA-style light gloves on a heavy-bag. I'm wondering if many strikes to a heavy-bag (many of which likely land on the proximal (third from end of ...

I recently started training BJJ and after certain classes I've felt light-headed, mentally slow and will sometimes even have a headache. These symptoms can sometimes span a couple of days. This led me ...

My children are learning Karate right now and they are much smaller than other children their age. I was thinking maybe they can do some kind of exercise that would help them grow taller. However we ...

Some eastern martial arts (such as karate, taekwondo) prohibit straight boxing-style strikes/punches to the head in their sports rules: A punch that makes strong contact with the opponent's hogu ...

This Youtube shows this strike at the 1:28 mark, and the striked man just topples. Obviously I don't want to toppple or cause any pain to myself. I just want to feel the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Early judo contained (in addition to strangles and arm-locks) various types of leg-lock. At some point in the early 20th century all leg-locks were banned in both randori and competition, and removed ...

I only fought once but I have been sparring regularly on a weekly basis. Yesterday our coach made one of us stay in the ring and the rest would take turns fighting with them for 1 round, then when the ...

while for others it looks so awkward. I understand basic footwork like the step shuffle and have heard of some 'advanced' techniques like the blitz step that somehow involve shifting your weight ...

And if so how far into human anatomy should you go? I know obviously aim for the jaw or back of the ear, and know certain spots on the body like the liver and solar plexus for winding the person. Does ...

Based on my extensive experience watching some UFC fights on YouTube, this hand movement seems very common. All I can think of is it at least partially to keep the limbs moving and making it easier to ...

Basically, the counter involves the target of the spear thrust to stomp onto of the spear with their foot as can be shown in this video clip from an old movie. This is described as the "mikiri counter"...

I know BJJ is complicated, ground fighting in general has pins, reversals, a multitude of positions and movements / transitions between these positions, etc. Striking to a layman like myself seems to ...

Intuitively I know faster punches = more speed is better. But also mass is important for generating force as well as energy. In high school physics we learn E = 1/2 mv^2 so energy is proportional to ...

I met a young girl (19 years old at the time of writing) the other day who told me she had been sexually assaulted in the past. This made me very angry because she's a wonderful girl; for that to ...

I was recently inspired by this question Do pins in judo have to be standard pins? The answers given below are obviously correct as the Judo definition of a pin is a lot more loose that what the ...

Wikipedia mentions the name as Yang Kuk Jin. I assume that this is some member of the Yang-style taichi. The best family tree I've been able to find for that is here: But I don't see any cognates of ...

What is the best fighting stance for kickboxing Dutch style? I'm new to kickboxing K-1, and I'm wondering if keeping your back straight with the core tensed and raising your shoulders to protect your ...

There have been multiple proposed etymologies for the judo throw kawazu-gake (河津掛): Named after a famed sumo wrestler, Kawazu Saburo Sukeyasu Named after "frog" (蛙 old japanese kawazu, modern ...

I have never done martial arts. I have never done self defence. But I have a long list of things that I WISH you would teach. This is one: Suppose that you are attacked in the street and you run away....

I'm a beginner and have a question that may be basic. I figured out when you hit left I can feel my body loading up on the right side so my combos tend to be left right left right left right so they '...

Subsequent dan grades in judo are named numerically nidan (二段), sandan (三段) etc, but the first grade is called shodan (初段) "beginning grade". Is there a particular reason for this as opposed to the ...

I'm a 17 year old male, reasonably fit, recently got into weight training. Last year I had this knee issue called Osgood Schlatter disease. I don't have any cracks or tears, but my knee isn't quite ...

It's standard in most arts that access to rank/belt exams is restricted in some way. In many cases, there are minimum waiting periods between exams, and in some dojos, an exam can only be attempted ...

I got a soft tissue injury in my left ribs at a fight two months ago, I gave it some time to heal and I did sparring again when I stopped feeling pain but a few days ago I was clinching without any ...

In addition to sparring with practitioners of my own school/style, I’d like to spar with practitioners of different styles, as I feel this would benefit my fighting ability in the long run. How ...

The screenshot beneath hails from a brief fight from the 2007 film Shake Hands with the Devil. As you can see, Maj Brent Beardsley (portrayed by James Gallanders who uploaded this video) is about to ...

I understand how conditioning our fists and shins against wood, concrete, and wood harden our martial art training for higher impact and force in our punches and kicks, but how will water, especially ...

In Master Cheng's New Method of Taichi Ch'uan Self-Cultivation Master Cheng states: "The four secret words for proper breathing are: fine, long, calm, and slow." Please help to correct my ...

Judo has a standardised syllabus of techniques maintained and occasionally revised by the Kodokan, divided into throwing and grappling (pins, joint-locks, strangles) techniques. Most national ...

In the 90's the IJF introduced a requirement for one competitor to wear a blue gi, and the other a traditional white gi, in order to better distinguish them during high level competitions.1 Was there ...

Kosoto-gari and kosoto-gake are superficially similar techniques. I have seen many high level judoka call what I would have called -gari -gake and vice versa - what distinguishes these techniques?

Tomoe-nage is often translated as "stomach throw" or "circle throw", but these are not direct translations. What does tomoe mean, and why is the throw called this?