Everything you need to know about martial arts part 2

Sorry for the delay (over a year I believe ) but I just thought I'd go ahead and post this because a few more questions have arisin about this topic.

The first part went into a style overview, now I'm gonna go over the rest of what you need to know

:NOTE: Don't reply to this thread until you see the message "END OF THREAD":

Part 1

This is the part where you select your styles. Yes, I said styles, not style, you can't just train in one style and be a truly great martial artist. Anyway, the key here is to find the martial arts which cross train with the most compatibility. Cross training is the key to martial success and when you cross train the arts you must do so effeciently and make sure that you are filling all of the holes with one style that another leaves in your game

First, there are 3 fundamental styles that you have to know to be great

Boxing: Obvious, I won't even bother explaining this one.

Muay Thai: There's no argueing that Muay Thai is one of the most powerful and one of the most street practical martial arts out there, and when it goes to the ground Muay Thai adds a lot more to your ground n pound than any other style of striking.

Wrestling: Also should be obvious but many don't understand this. Look, fights go to the ground, period, and the better you are at wrestling, the better you can A) prevent it from going to the ground if you want to, B) take it to the ground if you want to, and C) Control the fight on the ground when it goes there.

By simply training hard in these 3 styles alone, you can become a very tough fighter and hold your own in a street fight, but many people have certain talents that they could use for additional cross training styles. For example, if you're tall and lean (not skinny), then you have the potential to throw out devastating strikes and you want to take advantage of it. If you're stout and husky then you have a lot of potential for overwhelming opponents with raw stregnth and knockout power. Etc.

Here, we'll go into the base styles that you might want to get into, to revolve the 3 basic styles around. NOTE: Any of the 3 basic styles can be very powerful base styles as well.

Fighting on your feet

All standup, punches, kicks, knees, bows, etc. K-1 is the ultimate competition for all stand up fighting, the best strikers in the world compete there. In K-1, currently, the most dominant styles are Kyokushin Karate and Muay Thai. (of course, the rules of K-1 somewhat favor the kyokushin fighter and impede the muay thai fighter, but any style that can hold it's own in competition as intense as K-1 is worthy in my book).

Western kickboxing has also seen a lot of success in K-1 and Seidokan Karate started K-1 and is still pretty successful today. San Shou is a style that you won't see much of in K-1, but if you train hard enough with it you can definitely be a match for K-1 calibur competition, as Cung Le was (check out his training videos if you're into chinese martial arts).

Chinese or Japanese Kenpo is another possible style to look into. Most of those type of schools here in america are a joke but a genuine kenpo school will teach you a lot about realistic fighting. Saviano's White Tiger Kenpo is an example, see if you can't find any instructionals from them.

Basically, any style of stand-up is compatible with the 3 basic styles and has the potential to transform you into a powerful fighter, as the more you train in the big 3, the more you will understand realistic fighting and be able to work your favorite martial art into your training. That is why I chose them as the big 3.

Grappling and Fighting on the Ground

Like I said before, fights go to the ground. If you think that with even 30 years or more of dedicated trainign you can stop any takedown with a pressure point strike or with a kick to the face, you need a serious wake up call. A takedown can, in theory, be stopped by such a move, but more often than not, if you're being taken down by a solid grappler, then grappling will have been initiated in some form or another be it going into a clinch or whatever. But it is an absolute necessity to know how to fight on the ground (I've already covered that in my first post)

Anyway, on the ground we already have wrestling taken care of, greco-roman wrestling is one of the best, if not the best style of wrestling, but what else is there?

Well, if you want to know the strongest styles of grappling, look for the competition where the world's best grapplers compete, ADCC. It's all submission fighting and it determines the best all around grapplers. In ADCC, the best grapplers historically have been Brazilian Jujitsu stylists, Japanese Submission fighters, and Greco-roman wrestlers. And if you look at MMA today, which is almost like a cross between K-1 and ADCC, 90% of the top name fighters are either bjjists or Wrestlers.

Bjj is a highly reccomended style to learn because it teaches great defense for when you're on your back and pretty good defense from getting there in the first place. Also, in a good bjj class, you'll learn a lot about defending yourself in street-wise situations. This is one thing that the general public does not know about brazilian jujitsu, that a lot of what you learn is devoted to actual street situations, not just competition. If you're going to choose a grappling style as your base, then Bjj is a damn good one.

Japanese submission fighting and Sambo are also pretty damn good. You can read up on both in Part 1 of this post that I made last year. They'll add entirely new elements to your training. Other styles you may look into are Judo, Japanese Jujitsu (be extremely cautious about Japanese Jujitsu and which style you choose), and Vale Tudo (which also teaches a LOT of striking).

Aikido and Shuai Chiao are both viable, but I wouldn't reccomend making them a base style.

Nothing can take the place of having a live instructor to train with, but unless you're being trained straight from a member of the chute boxe or brazilian top team, then videos will also be very beneficial. Here are the best videos based on my personal experience and reviews from heavy practicioners of the arts that I've heard.

Muay Thai: Duke Roufus is Numero Uno here as Far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen those of Vut Kamnark, but I've heard nothing but praise about his series. Rob Kaman is a former multiple time world muay thai champion and has a pretty hardcore video series as well. I haven't seen those from Jerome Lebanner, but he's a top level K-1 fighter and I've heard some good things about his series too.

Submissions and BJJ: Mario Sperry has a series for BJJ which is commonly acknowledged as the best BJJ series in the world. Frank Shamrock has a highly praised series of Submission fighting videos you may look into. There are some other good ones but those are the 2 best.

Wrestling: Randy Couture, that's all I have to say

Other: Bas Rutten has a video called "Bas Rutten's MMA Workout" that has gotten all kinds of praise. You might also check out Rutten's Big Books of Combat and his new set "Bas Rutten's lethal street fighting techniques." Peter Aerts is a 3 time champion of K-1 and has a video series on kickboxing, but it's quality is questionable. Andy Hug is a former K-1 Champion and Kyokushin Karate legend, he has a couple of videos, but they are also somewhat questionable and it was before Hug was in his prime. Vitor Belfort has some great videos and one of them has his legendary "Vitor Blitz" and how to perform it properly.

Those are all of the worthwhile training videos that I know of, good luck!

Okay, here's part 2 which will be on strength and conditioning.

First of all, you will need to spend a minimum of 15 minutes warming up, tha'ts stretching, loosening the joints, and maybe some light jogging and calisthenics.

For the upper body, fundamental exercises will build stregnth very effectively. Pushups are great and so are chinups. Do as many reps and as many sets of them as it takes to really get you worn down. You can work in some variations of them as well. You can do concentrated pushups and chinups where you tense your muscles as hard as you can and go down to a slow 3 count and then up to a slow 3 count. When you can do 50 pushups and 20 chinups, you're getting on your way to fighting condition.

Dips are also great, but you may not have anything to do them on. No problem, 2 strong chairs will do the job. Place your hands on them and place your legs straight out with your heels on the floor. Tense your muscles tightly as you can and follow the same principle as a concentrated pushup. Down slowly till your butt barely grazes the floor then up slowly. If done right, it will not take very many reps and sets before you've had enough.

Now for the lower body. Squats are the fundamental exercise for lower body stregnth and endurance. Do as many reps and as many sets as you can do. Variations include the single leg squat and the concentrated squat, following the same principle as concentrated pushups. You should spend a great deal of your workout on squats, I do them for about half an hour. Running will also build lower body stregnth and endurance. No fighter will ever argue that running is essential to a trainee's program. Start with half a mile 3 times a week, if you can do more then great, do more. Move up to a mile then 2 then 3 miles 3 times a week. That'll get your cardio up to the point where you'll be ready for a gruelling throwdown. Jump roping is also great for cardio and balance, you'll be surprised at how fast this'll wear you down.

Abs have to be strong in order to recieve body blows. Your gut is a very sensitive target, so protect it with a wall of muscle. Fukk those fancy contraptions that people are trying to use for getting a pack nowadays, we're gonna get the job done the old fashioned way, the best way, the way that will protect your belly most securely. Crunches are the best way to do this, I do 200 a day. Do tons of crunches, that'll get your gut into fighting shape. Variations include the weighted crunch or situp, like a normal one but simply hold 2 dumbells and cross them over your chest. You can also do concentrated crunches. Do a regular crunch, but at the point where your gut is most tense hold that position for 5 slow counts then slowly sink back down. There is also the reverse crunch, lie flat on your back with your arms stretched out behind you and bring your knees up to your chest, these are far more demanding than it sounds. They are good for building your lower abs.

These exercises will serve you well in a fight, but if you really want to achieve a warrior's stregnth, then you probably want to get into weight trainign. I lift weights 3 times a week, full body. There's information on this all over the damn place on this, so I'm not gonna get into it.

Good luck!

END OF THREAD

Vitor Belfort has some great videos and one of them has his legendary "Vitor Blitz" and how to perform it properly.

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It called the Belfort Blitz.

Have you ever fought competitively? You need so much more than what you have described for conditioning. Those alone will not get you into fighting shape. Olympic weightlifting and plyometrics are extremely necessary. Sprinting intervals are better than jogging or running at a consistent pace.

The best way to condition the body to fight is to SPAR and SPAR OFTEN.

Thanks a lot man. That's what I needed. I think your conditioning suits me very well. I'm a noob and can onlny do like 25 pushups . But yea, Imma follow ur guidelines.

Well done I liked eveything you said.I am a big fan of military combat arts.I guess what better way to learn then from a guy who has to defend his country when the time comes.

The best way to condition the body to fight is to SPAR and SPAR OFTEN.

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I agree. You can have the most conditioned body in the world, but if the instinct isn't there, you're dead in the water. Martial Arts is about instinct....perceiving and instantaneously reacting to the situation, by the time you've thought about what to do, you're on your ass.

At my dojo we do drills for fighting multiple oponents (one guy is surrounded by five people, and he has to defend from attacks originating for all angles at random times) very useful drill.

I also think, full contact sparing is important. Yes you will get banged up a bit, but you need to know how to be able to take a hit and keep rolling with it.

Originally posted by Triangle Choke
Have you ever fought competitively? You need so much more than what you have described for conditioning. Those alone will not get you into fighting shape. Olympic weightlifting and plyometrics are extremely necessary. Sprinting intervals are better than jogging or running at a consistent pace.

The best way to condition the body to fight is to SPAR and SPAR OFTEN.

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Sparring is a given, I figured it goes without saying, if you take up any of the styles that I mentioned sparring will be heavily emphasized and even more so if you get into the videos. And I haven't fought competitively in any big name events, just an amateur kickboxer.

Didn't you hear me mention weight lifting at the end of my post? And plyometrics are not extremely necessary, they're helpful, but there are plenty of successful fighters who don't use them.

Of course sprinting is good. Sprinting, jogging, jumping rope, whatever you can do to get those lungs huffing, it's all good. If I omitted something it's not because I'm ignorant toward them or how helpful they can be, I'm just providing an example of a martial arts workout that'll suit everyone well, you can work in your variations, but just because I didn't mention them it doesn't mean that my advice is wrong.

Originally posted by thechineseGQ
full contact sparring is definitely a good way to train your reactions.

I'm impressed Knockout King. You know of Shuai Chao. Not many people know of it. I think highly of Shuai Chao. Did you guys know that Shuai Chao is also used in the chinese military and special forces.

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My understanding is that the chinese military uses San Da which incorporates techniques from shuai chiao and some other styles of grappling. It's supposed to be very effective on the street, I would have liked to find a training source on it to refer to in my post but I don't know where to find one.

Originally posted by Komodo
Well done I liked eveything you said.I am a big fan of military combat arts.I guess what better way to learn then from a guy who has to defend his country when the time comes.

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Military arts are fine, just remember, cross training is the key

KK - show me a top fighter that doesn't do plyometrics. About sprinting, there's a reason why I separated sprinting intervals from jogging or running. Because sprinting is anaerobic and running/jogging is aerobic. Fighting is anaerobic in nature. It's not just "whatever you can do to get the lungs huffing". Understand? But kudos to you for knowing a hell of a lot more than the average joe. By the way, American kickboxing or Thai?

Originally posted by Triangle Choke
KK - show me a top fighter that doesn't do plyometrics. About sprinting, there's a reason why I separated sprinting intervals from jogging or running. Because sprinting is anaerobic and running/jogging is aerobic. Fighting is anaerobic in nature. It's not just "whatever you can do to get the lungs huffing". Understand? But kudos to you for knowing a hell of a lot more than the average joe. By the way, American kickboxing or Thai?

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I don't know a fighter's trainign regimen inside and out. I can tell you that the Lion's Den's training sources said nothing about doing plyometrics and while there has been some criticism on their legitimacy Guy Mezger is an undeniably formidable fighter and Ken Shamrock, I feel, will prove himself for real against Kimo at UFC 48. I know that a great deal of top fighters emphasize plyometrics, but I don't think it's extremely necessary as you say.

I know how important anaerobics are, that's why I brought up heavy weight training and jump roping. Sprinting would have been a good thing to have in that post too, of course, as a great number of other things would have been. Like I said, I'm just giving an example.

I'm just an american kickboxer, I'd like to fight Thai Style after I get more training.

I don't know a fighter's trainign regimen inside and out. I can tell you that the Lion's Den's training sources said nothing about doing plyometrics and while there has been some criticism on their legitimacy Guy Mezger is an undeniably formidable fighter and Ken Shamrock, I feel, will prove himself for real against Kimo at UFC 48. I know that a great deal of top fighters emphasize plyometrics, but I don't think it's extremely necessary as you say.

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Lions Den specializes mainly on grappling, plyometrics are more important for strikers.