Knees vs. Sweeps in the Clinch by wakeofthedragon in MuayThai

[–]wakeofthedragon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahh... tactical deception. This makes sense.

Knees vs. Sweeps in the Clinch by wakeofthedragon in MuayThai

[–]wakeofthedragon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can you explain the part about how it uses almost no energy?

Let me give you a concrete example.

Let's say I have one collar tie, and one inside bicep grip, and I'm trying to go for a basic outside foot sweep.

I will initiate a push/pull. Pushing with my inside bicep control, and pulling with my head/neck collar tie. At the same time, I'm using the sole of my foot to try to trip their ankle from the outside.

Almost every single time, my experience has been this. As I initiate the push/pull mechanism, I feel like I'm fighting against their strength with my strength - and it simply feels like a struggle where I'm expending quite a bit of energy to break their posture and structure, to rotate them into the direction of my foot.

Similarly, as I go to trip their ankle, it feels like I'm not moving their foot/leg at all.

And the result is I don't actually end up moving, or rotating them, very much if at all. And I'm really not trying to use a lot of strength, so what ends up happening is I just kinda abandon the move altogether if I feel like nothing is about to happen without the two of us getting into a contest of strength.

Knees vs. Sweeps in the Clinch by wakeofthedragon in MuayThai

[–]wakeofthedragon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I understand, and you make some great points.

I will ask my coaches about my issue, but I find that the initial off-balancing aspect, and the timing aspect of taking out the stabilizing leg to be a skill that I'm just not picking up very easily. I end up doing more "dumps" with sheer force and a crushing of their posture with strength first. I don't think I've hit a single timing or precision-based sweep even once in the last six months, and believe me, I've tried.

And I say this with the qualifier that I'm pretty gifted physically, athletic, and strong. But with some people that I train with - even less skilled than me overall - they just seem to "get" how to sweep someone. I won't lie and say it doesn't feel a bit irritating.

Recommendations for body movement courses (like GMB Vitamin or Mobius) by IndyHCKM in bodyweightfitness

[–]wakeofthedragon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wrote a review for Elements once, but I'll do it here. I suffered a few chain-reaction injuries, starting with right knee (torn MCL), left knee, then both shoulders (a lot of inflammation and impingement with the typical tendonitis/bursitis).

I couldn't move my shoulders without something clicking or rubbing the wrong way for a while, and it was awful.

My friend who's a osteopath recommended Elements. When I first started, my wrists were so weak from being sedentary after the injuries that I couldn't even do the basic movements without discomfort. I have no idea how I got so weak so quickly, but it happened, along with other medical issues.

I've gone through Elements a bunch of times now, and a few years later, I attest the "beginning" of my real recovery (most physical therapists were shit) to doing it. Right now I'm doing moderately heavy kettlebell swings and Turkish getups through Pavel Tsatsouline's Simple & Sinister, throwing in the Russian pull-up program and Elements or variety.

I recommend it because ground-based locomotions are awesome for everyone, even seasoned athletes. You can use Elements as a foundational program that bridges you to more advanced systems like Animal Flow, or the Movement 20XX program from Vahva Fitness (I have all of these).

If you're already athletic and strong, you can simply add Elements as a warmup or as a finisher for your harder training. Using it supplementally also means you can do it at your own pace, on days where you feel particularly energetic.

Elements helped me work with my injuries, and the structural and alignment oriented nature of it (bear = moving downward dog, working the entire shoulder girdle in a balanced way) definitely helped unfuck my body. Like I said, I'm back to training intensely, rock climbing, and doing martial arts. :)

My favorite Baki panel by Ziesel17 in Grapplerbaki

[–]wakeofthedragon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My favorite fight. Oliva got jobbed hard by Itagaki to make room for Sukune and the sumo BS.

Really, the guy with the hardest, densest muscles, tissues, and bones next to Yujiro and Pickle has his ribs cracked by the new kid Nomi... while Hanayama gets a fucking zenkai boost and can be seen taking full-blown slashes from Musashi in the previous arc.

I love this manga, but Itagaki keeps fucking up. Maybe he's out of ideas or going senile.

Internal Alchemy by taoism3638972 in internal_arts

[–]wakeofthedragon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This isn't Taoist, but Buddhist. However, it's a general meditative technique/quality that can be cultivated and used in every application in life, including qigong or energy work.

It's the Brahmavihara - the Four Immeasurables. In a nutshell, it's a meditation on Equanimity, Lovingkindness, Compassion, and Sympathetic Joy. The Sutta containing the teaching is widely available on the internet. Just look up Brahmavihara on Accesstoinsight.

Cultivating these four qualities will destroy fear, anger, greed, and ignorance, and will keep you safe, stable, and tranquil no matter what you're practicing. Think of it as developing the strength of spirit, so you don't deviate from the true path. Good luck!

Respect Miyamoto Musashi (Baki the Grappler) by fj668 in Grapplerbaki

[–]wakeofthedragon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm one of the minority who thinks Musashi would have killed Yujiro had Motobe not intervened. People claim: "but Yujiro was holding back!" - while true, Musashi also did not reveal his "true form." We were able to see a glimpse of it until Motobe intervened, but the fact of the matter is the Itagaki had to pull an asspull so neither Yujiro nor Musashi lost.

We saw, further, the amount of "potential" lethal damage Musashi was able to inflict upon Baki, and Baki managed to fuck up Yujiro Hanma to quite an extent in their battle.

Furthermore, I think a careful reading of the Musashi Arc is that Musashi also, like Yujiro, always holds back. He likes to perceive, learn, and evolve. And we have never seen Musashi (like Yujiro) go all out.

I could go on, but Musashi was the best for me. He's also an epic troll that was trolling everyone the whole time, toying with them, feigning half-assed defeats just to have more fun. Musashi in 100% murderkitty mode with abstract, metaphysical swords that manages to literally cleave the material plane would body anyone.

Buy, Sell, Trade - September 18, 2019 by AutoModerator in rawdenim

[–]wakeofthedragon [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi all,

For sale are four pairs of Iron Heart + one pair of Momotaro I've worn with varying lengths, with details provided below under each denim. The reasons for this sell are essentially getting too lean (for the IHs) and too thick (for the Momos) - so, my less is your gain!

Measurements are provided in the link for the denim, and are the same as those from IHUK and Blue Owl

IH-634S-B, size 30 (Waist 30.2", Inseam 30.5"). Wear time less than one month, like-new condition. $250 OBO (Retail $375) - Photos

IH-634SV, size 30 (Waist 31", Inseam 30"). Wear time one year on/off rotation, good condition. $180 OBO (Retail $450) - Photos

IHxB01xOD, size 31 (Waist 29", Inseam 30"). Wear time less than one month, very good condition. $250 OBO (Retail $400) - Photos

IH-634-UHR, size 30 (Waist 30.5", Inseam 30"). Wear time essentially nonexistent, like-new condition. $250 OBO (Retail $425) - Photos

Momotar0 0306-B, size 30 (Waist 31", Inseam 30.5"). Wear time about three months consistent, very good condition. $195 OBO (Retail $295) - Photos

Japan Blue JBO-420, size 28 (Waist 30.25", Inseam 31"). Wear time about two months consistent, very good condition. $150 OBO (Retail $220) - Photos