Top 6 excuses for dead patterns

The seeker!!! THANKS!!!!!!

concusion,
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
that would explain a lot

JKDFIGHTER,

Definitely not like a football helmet. Very much like the one in the pic with the bar across the middle.

Woof!

I had a Level 3 concussion in December of 98. I barely remember 1999 and the first half of 2000. It took until April of 99 to even recognize that I was injured and not going crazy.

As part of my rehab, I trained BJJ with a boxing headgear for 8 months. It sucked, but it did the trick.

Alvis

www.solismartialarts.com

Does the bar inhibit the ability to see low line attacks, I have the pro force and don't use it for that reason, I just can's make out what the lower half of the body is doing till to late half the time.

We have a pro boxer that had broken his nose and bought one of the face saver headgears with the bar across the middle. That is definitely the way to go. Almost looks like a kickers helmet. Doesn't seem to obstruct one's view at all.

ure nose WILL get broken on the last one, i seen it a few times myself. The nose bar is an excellent idea!!!

Cool, thanks a lot. I'll check it out.

Greg

I was thinking about buying one I've got one of these but hate the tunnel vision, so I've only used it a few times in the past few years.Any opinions on the face saver and tunnel vision?

TTT.

Greg

Hi Greggie,

Absolutley no Dave Matthew's references. No offense, but not my type of music really. For Aliveness referenece our website www.straightblastgym.com and then fire an e-mail to me or another SBG Coach through the 'contact us' section if you have further questions.

-Matt Thornton
www.straightblastgym.com

Well so far I would say these are the ones I have run into:

1) When the SBG first began getting some publicity the common excuse use
to downplay what we do was, "Oh that, Aliveness, ya we do that". Now
keep in mind that it would Aikido people, or Wing Chun people, or Shotokan
people. People who obviously personified what Aliveness is not. Rather then
come to terms with the arguments made they simply claim it as their own.

As far as the rest of the JKD community at large is concerned I have yet to meet an Instructor who says his training is not 'Alive'. Everyone now claims what they do is Alive, but when you watch their classes you see the same dead patterns, reference points, jurus, one and two step sparring, contrived trapping drills, and seminar 'show' moves. All done under the excuses of "self perfection", "students want them, as Alive training is to 'rough'", "street effectiveness/not sports", or my personal favorite, "building blocks to be learned and discarded later". So giving a more detailed explanation of what Aliveness is was the next step, then
. . .
2) "Oh, well these are sports guys. They do sports, it's not for self defense."
You can read Sharp's story about the DT Instructor as a classic example of
this one. Now I think we have done a pretty good job of explaining that we
DO actually train PRIMARILY for self-defense. Its just that since what we do
is Alive, it resembles how you would train for sports (go figure). Now many
LE people and Military people are beginning to use our curriculum and
methods. So then the next step was. . . .

3) "Well ya but training like that is to rough, or just for 'big' strong guys."
Again, I feel we have done a good job of putting that one to rest based on the roll call in our Gyms. You teach this to children, I teach to women, and
some of my best Instructors are actually small by any standard. The injury rate
is very low. In fact I seldom see anyone ever get injured beyond an occasional black eye, or turf toe. That 'excuse' is simply not true. So then it became. . . . .

4) "Yes, but you can't teach beginners that way. How can you teach a whole
seminar full of people that way. It would look chaotic." Again, simply not true.
I teach seminars all over the world without the aid of dead patterns. I teach stick, blade, ground, clinch, stand up, whatever, without ever busting into a pattern. All the while people learn quickly, have fun, laugh, and stay injury free. . .amazing!? So then it becomes. . . .

5) "Yes, but they have thrown all the 'self perfection' or 'spiritual side' away".
Again, I have gone to lengths to explain that I believe in reality the opposite is
true. Training athletically gets a person on a faster track of self-actualization, then all the BS dead pattern nonsense of traditional martial arts do when combined together! This is true because what we do is TRUE. It's honest, it's based on performance. Not another memorized pattern, or well defined dance step.

6) That leaves the final, last bastion of a person, Sifu, Guro, trying to defend
his position. . "Well, they are all thugs. They miss the point of MA's". Amazing that those statements are always made by people who have never visited any SBG. What a coincidence!

It is very obvious, based on the skills that are being taught, the way they are taught, and the environment they are taught in, that Aliveness is a truly rare beast in the JKD world.

With that ladies and gentlemen, I am off. . .time to travel.

-Matt Thornton
www.straightblastgym.com

One quick Q, i heard the excuse, "gotta go to work the next day!!! cant do it with a broken nose or black eye" with that much "aliveness" how do u avoid it. I been boxing for a while and never got a broken nose but I know of about 5 or 6 people that got them quickly.

Pics of this headgear anyone?

Hey- I've been on the forum a while, but haven't spent much time on this particular Q&A. I was wondering, can someone please clarify to me what is meant by 'alive' training?

Also, smartmonkey/Matt Thornton-Just out of curiosity, is your screen name a reference to the Dave Matthew's band song "Proudest Monkey"?

Thanks much,

Greg