Which martial art do you practice?

[maldorf]

Just a teaser . . .

Trained hands. I had them. Rare.

My Sensei's, upper right.

Mas Oyama, upper left.

Does anybody have them now?

More on this later.

How long does it take for that conditioning to return back to normal when you stop the activity that caused it?

 

[twinkletoes]

Studied kung fu sansoo for 8yrs. Very deadly art loved it. Not a competing art

 

[toniportray]

My friend competes internationally in Muay Thai. It's brutal and hardcore. I don't think I have what it takes to do that, bruising my shins until all the nerves are destroyed (not literally but that's what he says). But he's deadly and I often wish I had his skills and mastery. Seeing his opponents drop to the floor unconscious after a high kick reminds me not to ever upset him. I dabbled for a few years in Taekwondo but it wasn't anything as intense as Muay Thai. It was fun but not sure how useful my skills would be for self defense. Muai Thai and Jiu Jitsu seem like the ultimate self-defense arts.

 

[alfresco]

Just a teaser . . .

Trained hands. I had them. Rare.

My Sensei's, upper right.

Mas Oyama, upper left.

Does anybody have them now?

More on this later.

I noticed Oyama's callused knuckles in the book Advanced Karate, was not aware of hands

When I first met my Sensei Don Buck the first think I noticed after his huge physique and
giant arms (news to me) were his callused knuckles. Now I thought I know somebody that
can show me how yo get them. After I had trained with him for a while I brought up the
subject to him hoping he would show me but when asked him he said I was not good
enough / advanced enough. When the time comes, if you are still here, I will show you he said.
And that day could not come soon enough.

Some time later (a brown belt I think) that day did come. He sat me down on Sunday afternoon
fter class and outlined the process. I was ecstatic.

1. Do a minimum of pushups of one hundred pushups every day on your knuckles on red building
bricks. I would do them in sets of 20 - 50, easily 200 pushups per day (more is better, right?).
Hell . . . I even took them on vacation with me and it was not unusual for me to drop down,
at a moments notice, and knock out 50 pushups on a public sidewalk. Yes, I was one weird,
obsessed dude.

2. Build a Tameshiwari board (I will post fotos when I get home to my hard drive) and but a piece
of straw floor matting on it for padding. Kick and hit this for thirty minutes each day with
impeccable form. (It did not move, only absorb force.)

3. Get a rectangular cement building black and an empty, shallow wooded produce box. But the
rectangular building block on end on top of the veggie crate that is placed on the ground in front
of you, bottom, slat side up. Sit down on a chair in front of the smooth side and just hit your two
striking knuckles against it, not very hard, just let it rock back and forth with your strikes. Do this
every day. I don't remember for how long.

4. Buy a heavy duty, full length punching back (I think mine was a Wilson.) and use it every day
for as long as you can and do not wear gloves.

This is all I remember doing for my hands. While they never achieved the 'status' as Don's they
were clearly impressive enough for him to show off my hands at every occasion. I remember him
showing them to Ed Parker (this really ages me) at the National's the Cow Place in San Francisco
(I competed and did not do very well, semi-finals), and he just shook his head in disbelief and walk
away after the intro. Because of competing styles in Karate or my hands, I know.


I was once in NYC in the early mid 70's, near it's peak in crime, drugs and prostitution and just
plain sleeze (I loved the rawness of it all). I wanted to visit the famous bodybuilding gym Mid
City Health Club in downtown Manhattan (which I did; in a dirty and dark, walk down basement
at the time) but on my way there I passed a Karate Dojo. So I walked in as asked about sparing
with some of the students. They would have nothing to do with me. Was it my hands (which I
made a point of having on 'display') or the clubs policy I will never know.

Once when I was in a store buying something, somebody, upon seeing my hands asked me if I
thought they would ever heal to which I replied "I hope not".

Tameshiwari, i.e., breaking stuff; glass bottles, bricks, wood, rood tiles or ice (tricks to all!)
was not my motivation for developing my hands, I think, in retrospect, I was driven by pure vanity.
Tameshiwari was cool but is for the most part fake and does not require callused knuckles but may
result from frequent tameshiwari. I was good at breaking bricks (one at a time) but where I think
I really excelled, in and was reasonable good at was breaking bottles. I had an almost unlimited
supply them when I was doing dump runs for a resort I was working at around that time.
I would did through the trash and line them on a concrete wall and attempt to break them all.
It was great practice and I never got cut, not even once. Just lucky I guess.

These are just a few things that come to mind.

Have any of you martial are practitioners seen a person with trained hands. Me thinks they are rare now.

Tell me your stories please.

 

[johnjuanb1]

Cat Fu

 

[Dog-Slime]

Boxing, muay thai, bjj, kickboxing, catch wrestling, kickboxing. Don't do any of it too seriously anymore. Local pro lets me come workout with him and help him coach his team. Have REALLY accurate heavy hands and could/probably should of gone pro boxing. Was pretty good at MMA but everyfighter was hugging and dragging for takedowns after I landed even 1 jab. Had a trainer offer to take me to CALI and put me in the boxing mix, was positive I would make it on the pro circuit.... One of those things I get to replay the woulda, coulda, shoulda(?) game over and over in my head with...

 

[lookslikesausage]

Boxing, muay thai, bjj, kickboxing, catch wrestling, kickboxing. Don't do any of it too seriously anymore. Local pro lets me come workout with him and help him coach his team. Have REALLY accurate heavy hands and could/probably should of gone pro boxing. Was pretty good at MMA but everyfighter was hugging and dragging for takedowns after I landed even 1 jab. Had a trainer offer to take me to CALI and put me in the boxing mix, was positive I would make it on the pro circuit.... One of those things I get to replay the woulda, coulda, shoulda(?) game over and over in my head with...

what do you like better, rolling in bjj or rolling in catch? Catch has some absolutely brutal submissions. Some are just mean, nasty, and ugly. I'm a big fan of Neil Melanson.

 

[K1]

I boxed and then kickboxing for a total of 5 years up north, did about 8 months of take down/ground defense when I first lived down south...Many years back.

Wish I would have stuck with the kickboxing or at least the stretching aspect because would have definitely helped with mobility now that I'm broken...Can't even scratch my back anymore lol.

 

[pheenix]

I love all martial arts, but real world and the cage / ring. diff animals. I trained philipino silat, whole bunch of things. BJJ back ground great, i got 20 years but real world, you better have hands, SA, and if its legal a side arm. 12 years plus Tier 1 and the baddest guys could move, shoot, comms, and wreck you in a sec.

 

[NEMSZ]

I love all martial arts, but real world and the cage / ring. diff animals. I trained philipino silat, whole bunch of things. BJJ back ground great, i got 20 years but real world, you better have hands, SA, and if its legal a side arm. 12 years plus Tier 1 and the baddest guys could move, shoot, comms, and wreck you in a sec.

Off topic (sorta) from the thread buuuuuuuuut, story time?! Lmao.. By Tier 1 I’m going to assume you mean like Devgru or Delta type of Tier 1??

On a real note though, I think it would be a cool thread for you and guys like you to post your experiences and answer “glorified fantasy” questions lol... With reality of course... I find all that stuff fascinating and I can read and listen to that stuff for hours... Huge fan of Tim Kennedy, Andy Stumpf, Jocko Willink, David Goggins, Mike Glover and others.. Love listening to their experiences and some people get surprised by the reality of it and how glorified TV makes things.. Andy, who I’m sure you know was in Devgru has said multiple times it’s not at all like the movies and TV shows where they get called on secret missions on a weekly basis and they’re always getting into gun fights etc. Jocko I believe said he was a SEAL for 13 years before he ever fired his weapon at an enemy.. Completely different than what we’re made to believe...

Anyway sorry for nerding out there lol but I love all that stuff.. I believe GunSmith on here was also part of Special Operations and I believe he did a lot of contract work as well...

 

[Dog-Slime]

what do you like better, rolling in bjj or rolling in catch? Catch has some absolutely brutal submissions. Some are just mean, nasty, and ugly. I'm a big fan of Neil Melanson.

Catch is preferred by myself. Never was good at much other than defense in BJJ but the catch subs seemed to be a little more muscle based than skill (vs BJJ) and that made it easier for myself as most men in my weight class are a decent amount weaker...

 

[alfresco]

Off topic (sorta) from the thread buuuuuuuuut, story time?! Lmao.. By Tier 1 I’m going to assume you mean like Devgru or Delta type of Tier 1??

On a real note though, I think it would be a cool thread for you and guys like you to post your experiences and answer “glorified fantasy” questions lol... With reality of course... I find all that stuff fascinating and I can read and listen to that stuff for hours... Huge fan of Tim Kennedy, Andy Stumpf, Jocko Willink, David Goggins, Mike Glover and others.. Love listening to their experiences and some people get surprised by the reality of it and how glorified TV makes things.. Andy, who I’m sure you know was in Devgru has said multiple times it’s not at all like the movies and TV shows where they get called on secret missions on a weekly basis and they’re always getting into gun fights etc. Jocko I believe said he was a SEAL for 13 years before he ever fired his weapon at an enemy.. Completely different than what we’re made to believe...

Anyway sorry for nerding out there lol but I love all that stuff.. I believe GunSmith on here was also part of Special Operations and I believe he did a lot of contract work as well...

Toughness is fake.

If you have been there, talking about it is useless because they have been there. Conversely if you have not been there, there is no way to communicate the horrors of it all. It's like trying to discuss the color of the sunset with a man born blind.

The toughest, 'baddest' man I ever knew was a man named John Peters. (Look him up.)
But you would never know it if you met him. And he never talked about his experiences
because you could not possibly understand. Same with looking at him. Always dressed
in a business suit. Very unassuming. Nicest, sweetest man you could ever meet.

 

[N.L....M.....]

Studied kung fu sansoo for 8yrs. Very deadly art loved it. Not a competing art

How so? Also if it’s deadly how do you know and how do you even practice it hard or effectively? Most of these “too deadly MA” were debunked long ago. There’s a reason very few MA were taken seriously after the old Vale Tudo days.

 

[NEMSZ]

Toughness is fake.

If you have been there, talking about it is useless because they have been there. Conversely if you have not been there, there is no way to communicate the horrors of it all. It's like trying to discuss the color of the sunset with a man born blind.

The toughest, 'baddest' man I ever knew was a man named John Peters. (Look him up.)
But you would never know it if you met him. And he never talked about his experiences
because you could not possibly understand. Same with looking at him. Always dressed
in a business suit. Very unassuming. Nicest, sweetest man you could ever meet.

Tried looking him up but that’s apparently a very common name, any way to narrow it down? Lol

And I get what you’re saying and I don’t mean it as a “make a thread bragging” type of thing but I feel people in those positions have A LOT of interesting life experiences, not necessarily getting into a Rambo gun fight.. Doesn’t have to do with that at all even.. If you watch some of Mike Glover’s podcasts and Andy Stumpf or Jocko they rarely talk about anything like that and when they do it’s with reality, not glorifying it, but the knowledge they have is gold (at least in my opinion)...

 

[J.Jameson]

I love all martial arts, but real world and the cage / ring. diff animals. I trained philipino silat, whole bunch of things. BJJ back ground great, i got 20 years but real world, you better have hands, SA, and if its legal a side arm. 12 years plus Tier 1 and the baddest guys could move, shoot, comms, and wreck you in a sec.

i guess we can all be black belts now. hahahaha

 

[NEMSZ]

i guess we can all be black belts now. hahahaha

That has to be some kind of trolling lmao

 

[pheenix]

IDK but in my time, BJJ black belt took years from a legit source. BTW, NEMSZ. Some things are not spoken of especially on open comms brother. God bless

 

[dragonfire101]

wrestling 8 years high level
kenpo 3 years
krav maga 1 year
kuntao 1 year
jeet kun do 1 year
bjj/kobukai jj kobukai is self defense Japanese jj off and on for 5 years to hard to do if weight training and work will get injuries trying do both, Plus too may back and neck issues surgery and knee and elbow.

My wrestling is my best asset can take most anyone down. I might not submit them or knocked them out but neutralize them and tire them out so they cant do anything to me

 

[J.Jameson]

That has to be some kind of trolling lmao

i really dont think its a troll cuz there are lots of videos on youtube where fake bjj black belts actually teach at their own 'academy' just do a quick youtube search for 'fake bjj black belt' and it will make you laugh and cry and then laugh again.

 

[alfresco]

Thanks for that. I still don't recognize the name. He was certainly within my 'time frame',
a different organization, sensei.Perhaps because he was taught by Sigeru Oyama
(no relation to Mas Oyama but trained by him) who's name I do not recognize as well.
It was a small world and a huge universe at the same time with bunch of infighting and spraying (pissiing) to establih terratory.

Info on Donald I. Buck . . .

http://akko.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2013/12/Donald-Irving-Buck-Founder-of-AKKO.pdf

Don Buck: Kyokushinkai | USAdojo.com

Don Buck met Mas Oyama in the mid 1950's and was one of the first non-orientals to instruct Kyokushinkai Karate and received his 4th Dan in September 1960.

www.usadojo.com

American Kyokushin Karate Organization

Teaching Oyama's Karate in the United States and Internationally

akko.us

His son Fred, who I never met, did not know he existed as they were estranged when I was
around and who eventually took over his School of the Tiger (which his Dad founded) upon
Don's Death. That is my understanding how it went down.

He had another son who I trained with. His name was Donny. They eventually became estranged
(see a pattern?) as Don would not give him a black belt, kept him a brown belt which resulted a
bit of 'sandbagging' which Donny did not appreciate so we went over to Goju Kai in San Francisco
and became a black belt there as well as their lead instructor.

I did kumite with Donny once. Unreal. He was always several moves ahead of you. You felt totally
helpless like when I 'kumited' with my sensei Don. I remember once when, on the wooden deck
where we trained, I saw Donny kumite blindfolded and kick some serious butt. Once he found you
he owned you. Game over. He said he could tell where you were by the movement of the wooden
planks under his feet. He was also trained to retract his testicles so he could withstand a kick to
the goin. I did see him get kicked in the goin several time to prove this. Unfortunately I did not
actually see the retracted his testicles

Bernie Jarvis, founding member of the Hells Angles and a newspaper reporter in San Francisco
and who the TV series Then Came Bronson was modeled after, was a member of the School of
the Tiger. He would show up now and again, it was always an 'event' Real nice man.

I am in the mood for scanning so I dug up the old Black Belt Magazine that did a story on my
Sensei Don Buck. I am in a few of the fotos . . . most recognizable standing behind Don as
he strikes the makiwara board on page 2. Really good times.