Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Reading Genius Is a Joke...

The subject says it all - I borrowed the course from a friend and am amazed that Ed Strachar charges $297 for the course. What amazes me even more is people buy it.

My friend Sam was like "Dude this stuff sucks...I got scammed...Strachar is your quintessential used car salesman". After having gone through I couple of tapes I am in agreement.

Anyone have similar thoughts?

Flutie

I actually was able to get it to "work" but all he does is anchor certain "states" TO the music so when you read (speedread) you're in a receptive state. It's plain old ordinary NLP used with reading.

I used it until the music no longer "worked" for me. Also it wasn't really practical at the office. I think there was allot of info on the tapes related to learning that was cool. If it was $100 I would have kept it.

I'll tell you what though. His format for reading:

State
Imagination
Curiosity
Photocopy
Read
Dream

Is really good when you have the time to do it right. The tapes are a long process of anchoring. I think a quicker way is to watch the movie "A beautiful Mind" and then read with the "Beautiful Mind" soundtrack. Anchors don't last long though, I don't care what bandler says. The mechanics of anchors is always there but the emotion will wear off. RG depends on emotion.

Pff! $100?? Yeah right. Try like...$6 for that trash. Look up the topic:

Can Jedi PhotoRead? - Part 2

It explains everything about my opinions of Crazy Eddy.

Mark,

Well my friend would be more than happy to sell you his course for $100 - he says he does not want to use eBay because he does not want people who don't know what they are getting into, buy this course and think he scammed them. Since you know what this course is all about send me an email and I will pass on his email address to you.

Thanks Much

Flutie

I'd love to but I already read faster than Iron Maiden Eddy. That's one of the reasons I returned it.

RG routinely goes for over $150 on ebay and all he has to do is say that he doesn't think it works and it will still sell.

I sold some Kenpo Karate tapes a couple years ago that I almost got full price out of and I even said I flat out don't believe in Kenpo Karate as a self defense method but that's just my opinion and people wanted them anyway.

I also sold a Pandora Box Guitar Processor and I said I think the sound sucks and it's too digital and I still had 6 bids.

MegaSpeedreading is on there for $10, now that is a scam.

hehe... kenpo karate? try some Small Circle Jujitsu!!! THE BEST!
Its funny how people can know so little and yet make so much money, if what you all say is true, i can see why paul and the others say "go ahead, try it, see what happens" thats like saying "go ahead, touch the stove and see what happens" your money just gets burned.

anyways... seriously, try jujitsu. right now 2 top guys in my class are training(or are going to train): maryland state police & troopers, Orlando police department, orange county police department(in orlando area), and have connections with the some airlines and cruise ship security. they are actually going up to maryland to give the first seminar to their police a couple weeks from now. small circle jujitsu is the best self-defense system out there, no lie. http://www.jujitsuamerica.org/ (they probably have a dojo near you)

"i can see why paul and the others say "go ahead, try it, see what happens" thats like saying "go ahead, touch the stove and see what happens" your money just gets burned."

You're starting to sound like me!

I don't do MA anymore. I know enough to beat 90% of everyone else and the other 10% will take all of my time to train for and I think there are other things in life to worry.

I fought this guy once that completely destroyed me and he never took a MA class or threw a punch in his life. He was a gymnist- rings and horse and bars and stuff like that. His strength was amazing and nothing I had did anything. I thought it was funny that when he did what he liked to do he accomplished 2 things at once but what I did didn't even fully accomplish what I wanted to do. It changes your thinking.

I also know a guy that got in a fight and killed a guy and spent 7 years in prison. He told me he wished he would have just taken the punch or 2 and ran away.

i understand what you're saying, but this has nothing to do with jujitsu. Jujitsu relies on little strength. im weak, but using the technique i learn, i can beat a 200 lb (IN MUSCLE) guy, if he uses strength and not technique. hes in my class but i can easily do the judo throws and pressure points needed for the self defense techniques. also, you can completely control how much you want to hurt the person, and the sensei doesnt teach any killing moves at all. he teaches how to control the person using pressure points and joint manipulation, you can control a huge guy, and choose wether to let them up completely unhurt, or break an arm(if they present a danger to you). if someone attacks with a club or knife or gun, he teaches to slice an area that will not lead to a lethal blood loss, or to hit them with the club or gun. 3 reasons to take jujitsu:
1. Control the person no matter how big and strong they are.
2. Choose to hurt them or not to hurt them, we don't use punches or kicks.
3. The 10% minority might attack you someday, do you want to risk it?

Alright I dont want to turn this into a jujitsu promotion thread, lol. but its worth trying out, you will be impressed if you try it. the class fee where i go is $40/month, and the yearly fee for the national organization is only $20. much cheaper than other arts, even though it works much better.

I'm 260 lbs and the guy I fought was 178 and he won. I could bench 3 of him and he's never touched a weight in his life. He had real strength and I hade laboratory strength (weightroom strength).

You know those arm bars and leg bars and chokes and stuff like that? They only work on fellow "FIGHTERS." They don't work on sheets of steel like gymnists. Trust me. Humble yourself and start taking adult gymnastics classes.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkP4:
I'm 260 lbs and the guy I fought was 178 and he won. I could bench 3 of him and he's never touched a weight in his life. He had real strength and I hade laboratory strength (weightroom strength).

You know those arm bars and leg bars and chokes and stuff like that? They only work on fellow "FIGHTERS." They don't work on sheets of steel like gymnists. Trust me. Humble yourself and start taking adult gymnastics classes.

---

MarkP4--
This story could relate to all of life--not just a particular field or aspect of it.
Seems like the bigger of the two always make
the most common mistakes. By bigger, I mean those who overestamate themselves:

Schooling does not equal education.

I have seen many a university graduate think they are superior to others because of their schooling just to be brought down by the wisdom of the "uneducated".

Bulk and mass does not equal strenth.
Your experience you told about in the story above tells that.

If a person would just slow down and listen, instead of reacting with over confidance(sp?)
and taking down your gaurd, would'nt a person accomplish more?

My thoughts on fighting:

Out of coincidence, I did spar with a gymnast (who was in far superior conditiong than I was) and I got him in both locks you mentioned (arm bar and choke) as well as an ankle lock.

I don't believe in just grappling, however. There are three divisions of fighting:

Grappling or ground fighting
Takedowns or "shootfighting"
Striking

In order to beat someone in a fight, you need to be better at two of those divisions than your opponent is. For example, if you fight someone who is INSANELY good at grappling, but you're far superior to him at takedowns and striking, you WILL win, because your experience with takedowns and shootfighting leaves him unable to get you to the ground. Ever try to takedown an experienced greco-roman style wrestler? It's friggen' impossible.

Let's say you're better at striking and grappling, but the wrestler is better at takedowns. Well, once you get to the ground he's yours, plus if you strike while on the ground, he'll be even more powerless.

Being better at takedowns and grappling while the other is good at only striking has an outcome easily noticed in the early UFC fights.

That said, I firmly, firmly believe that size DOES matter. If you have infinitely better skill than the opponent, then yes, you'll beat him, but compare the struggle if your opponent is either a 90 pound weakling and a 200 pound body builder. There's a big difference.

Also, if you get in a real fight, you're going to get hit, unless you're a character out of a Steven Seagal movie. Taking a punch from a 190 pound guy (even if he throws some garbagey "haymaker" at you) with a bareknuckle between your nose and your upper lip would floor Hercules on every possible steroid imaginable. Punches hurt, and punches from bigger people hurt even more.

I've done it all fighting wise, and lemme say that if an intermediate grappler goes up against Mike Tyson, my money's on Iron Mike.

Mark, strength matters, I agree strongly. I also firmly believe in stabalizing muscle strength against what you called lab strength. Check out www.mattfurey.com for some great ways to build this kind of strength.

But I will easily say that locks work. If you "lock" an armbar, the arm is as good as broken. I will concede however, that contrary to what many people think, people can still fight with a broken arm, ESPECIALLY in a real fight, where adrenaline flows through your body like a firehose. Consider that in medieval times, there are countless stories of soldiers continuing to fight and kill people despite having a leg chopped off. Locks work, but getting a lock doesn't mean you definately won. It means you "won" the lock.

I agree with your MA philosophy, which is being able to beat 90 percent of all living people is probably enough. It's a reason why I'm not as into MA as I used to be. I teach "streetfighting" which involves the application and defense of groin strikes, biting, headbutts, and a heavy regimen of learning to spot and use nearby weapons. There's such a thing as a fair "match", but there's NO such thing as a fair "fight".

I say this to point out that while I can safely say my fighting ability is above par, I go absolutely NOWHERE without pepper spray on my belt. All that martial arts stuff is like a back up of a backup; I am religious about pepper spray, however.

Pepper spray is better than a stun gun because you can use it from farther away. Contrary to popular believe, pepper spray works on the mentally deranged as well as people on pain killers. Pepper spray is non-lethal, and pepper spray leaves a nice UV dye so cops can spot the guy if they catch him.

I've seen people, men and women take a tazer full blast and keep advancing to the victim. I've never seen someone withstand a GOOD pepper spray.

Great pepper spray site: http://www.selfdefenseproducts.com

Plus pepper spray is small, fits in a pocket. It's a "win a fight for free" card.

And THAT said, fleeing is always the best response. That and giving in. If a guy pulls out a knife and asks for my wallet, there's a good chance I could kill him. But I wouldn't. I'd give him my wallet. In one class, a student asked me what to in a situation like "this" and he pulled one of our sparring knives and said, "Gimme the keys to your car."

I said, "You aim your arm down towards yor pocket and give him the keys." The car isn't worth losing a life, whether it's yours OR someone else's, even if that person is a scumbag.

Sorry for the rant, but I just felt like ranting. I also apologize for digressing.

We now return to how stupid "Reading Genius" is.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

[This message has been edited by razordu30 (edited September 09, 2002).]

Ramon, luved your rant and the way you think.

Ramon

What you discribed seems alot like the style of Jui-Jitsu that I study, "Can-Ryu". We are taught that this is not a sport... but a self defense MA. Groin strikes, biting, using car keys or anything else we can find is perfectly ok. The name of the game is to live, unharmed while at the same time causing only enough (damage, or pain) on our attacker as necessary.

Where I disagree with you is on size.I am 6' about 210 lbs, my daughter is about 5'6 and half my size, but she can throw me, use a lock on me and when I get on top of her, she can can very effectively remove me

Technique is the key.

PS. We are taught to never hit someone with a fist, the human head is 40 times stronger than a brick and all you will do is hurt your hand or get your attacker angrier. Open open strikes...rattle his head like jello in a bucket, palm strike him in is nose, finger strikes to his eyes,slap his ears causing the ear drum to rupture, jugular notch take down, or other pressure points.

But you are right...this has nothing to do with the topic

Thank you Ramon, for your thoughts and the links.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkP4:
I'd love to but I already read faster than Iron Maiden Eddy. That's one of the reasons I returned it.

RG routinely goes for over $150 on ebay and all he has to do is say that he doesn't think it works and it will still sell.

I sold some Kenpo Karate tapes a couple years ago that I almost got full price out of and I even said I flat out don't believe in Kenpo Karate as a self defense method but that's just my opinion and people wanted them anyway.

I also sold a Pandora Box Guitar Processor and I said I think the sound sucks and it's too digital and I still had 6 bids.

MegaSpeedreading is on there for $10, now that is a scam.

---

I don't think Howard's program is a scam even though it promises a whole lot more than it actually delivers. I have actually attended Howard Berg's seminar at the Learning Annex in New York. Needless to say it was a "live" infomercial to sell his program. He got ****ed off when someone questioned his claims and I was taken aback by this because the guy claims to be a teacher. Nevertheless I find Howard's speed reading techniques recycled from Evelyn Wood and nicely packaged up and claimed as his own. I did like Howard's Mega-Math program though - it is full of calculation techniques that you can wow your friends with and facilitate calculations in your head

All in all It was amusing to hear him say Photoreading was a scam because all the claims he said photoreading made are infact claims made by him.

Thanks

Flutie

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkP4:
I'd love to but I already read faster than Iron Maiden Eddy. That's one of the reasons I returned it.

RG routinely goes for over $150 on ebay and all he has to do is say that he doesn't think it works and it will still sell.

I sold some Kenpo Karate tapes a couple years ago that I almost got full price out of and I even said I flat out don't believe in Kenpo Karate as a self defense method but that's just my opinion and people wanted them anyway.

I also sold a Pandora Box Guitar Processor and I said I think the sound sucks and it's too digital and I still had 6 bids.

MegaSpeedreading is on there for $10, now that is a scam.

---

Is there anything from Reading Genius that can be incorporated for PR? There must be something useful? Something that might help....

About self-defence...My goal in self-defence situations is survival, ideally by escape. Real fights are ugly, brutal and short.

There's so many variables in real fights, ie armed plural assailants, hard surfaces etc.

I have to go to court again next week to find out my punishment for 4 offences. I pleaded guilty almost two weeks ago and the court is seriously considering a prison sentence for me. I dunno for how long. Maximum I've been told would be 1 whole year. It really sucks. Just when I'm due to start first year at university this monday coming. Man, I've been feeling really stressed out for the last few months. My family doesn't even know about this. I don't even know if I'll get through this. Right now I'm living with fear and hope. I just want to get the court hearing over with. I'm hoping they'll give me a lenient punishment, like community servise instead.

Fighting really sucks.....I'll rather spar full-contact during training or compete for MMA.

For self-defence, do only enough so that I'll get any good oppurtinity for a likely escape..

The most practical martial art IMO would be a martial art which will enable one to improvise and innovate during conflicts (create techniques when you need them). No 'if opponent(s) attacks with X, you must use technique Y)' kinda methodology. Use principles and concepts instead to create techniques. This will take a lot of exploration and training, but it'll be worth it in the long run. You'll be more adaptable.

Currently I'm only teaching myself from videos. I've found that from www.rmax.tv , they've got good videos. Currently I have FLOW-FIGHTING, FLOW STATE PERFORMANCE SPIRAL, SHOCK-ABILITY, FISTICUFFS, LEG FENCING, IOUF, ARTHROKINETICS, GROUND SURIVAL and GRAPPLERS' TOOLBOX, when combined all good for self-defence, that's if you're willing to explore the material and use a lot of thought work as well as consistent traing.

I used to do a bit of Boxing and BJJ in the past and I rate these highly as well.

I don't know anything about Reading Genius.

As far as fighting goes, I also recommend watching the Hostile Control Systems tapes found at www.scars.com. Jerry Peterson is a bit of a psycho and the stuff he shows is just plain grisly (and I mean GRISLY as in watching someone's head get run over by a car), it's all hardcore and you'd probably go straight to jail for even trying anything he says to do but if you want to know how to fight you can do a lot worse than HCS.

Crazy Eddy never had anything with RG. Sorry, but PR just doesn't need anything from RG. Anything added MAY make it better in some cases, but still - the system the way it is now is the most practical way it could be presented I've seen.

And Mtt - I would tell your friends and family. It ought to be worse should they find out when it happens. Perhaps they could even help you.

-youngprer

Ramon,

I'm very familiar with Matt Furey as well as a bunch of other non-mainstream stuff. I feel the same way about pepperspray. I saw someone hold off a room full of people with it once.

I'm not into MA that much anymore either. It's an ungodly huge business and everyone fights about who's the best and even if you win the UFC, you gotta fight again and again and again. There are still people challenging Helio Gracie, I mean when is enough enough? What is the point where you've proved you're good/better/best? There is no point. Wait a minute, there is but they keep moving it out of your reach so you constantly have to fight or train or buy tapes.

Even those that sell good tapes milk you to death and only give you a little bit in exchange for $70 or more and then they come out with more and more and more and more. It's endless, it's stupid and it's almost more cost effective to just hand over your wallet and car everytime the muggers want it because it will either (in the end) cost the same or less money than what you'll pay in terms of time and money doing MA.

Here's where people jump in with, "What about defending your family?" Here's where the rule of 90% comes in. If an ex navy seal with a black belt in BJJ wants to kill me and everyone I know, what am I going to do? I'll use the Blanka shock attack or throw a "Aboomsh*t" fireball at him?

Of course, my un-PC feeling on that scenario is:

If an ex-navy black belt in BJJ comes in to my house for the sole purpose of killing my family and me, he better be able to dodge shotgun pellets.

I mean, I teach martial arts, and even I still think once you reach a certain level, you're doing it for the martial arts aspect and less for self defense reasons.

There's just too many factors. Let's say you're better than 99.9% of the entire population of the Earth in martial arts. That means that you can basically beat anyone on Earth. What happens when three guys attack you with clubs? What do you do, train harder?

I'm not saying that more training is a bad idea or that it doesn't increase your odds of being able to fend off a guy; but you have to respect the rationale of someone saying, "You know what, I'm going to NOT train hard again for the rest of my life, taking the chance that IF someone attacks me WITHOUT a gun, that he will not be part of that elite 10% that surpassed me in skill." I mean, yes, there's a chance, but there's always a chance, and spending your time on other things rather than MA seems perfectly fine to me, considering the risk is admittedly small.

Couple more things:
1) About punching the face or head: I agree that it's better to go open hand. I've been working a lot on my boxing skills recently, so closed fist punching has kinda been dominating my mind recently, hence the reference to a closed fist punch in the earlier rant. But I will definately agree that without gloves, open hand shots to the head are far superior than closed. Thanks for pointing that out, Dan.
2) I still defend that strength definately matters. I mean, look at Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie (heck, look at all the Gracies), or any UFC guy. Sure, they have insane skills, but all of them do strength training (the Gracies even have special workouts). Consider that in the time they could have taken to perfect their skill, they chose instead to do strength training. A 120 lb Ken Shamrock versus a 220 lb Ken Shamrock will heavily go in favor towards Ken Shamrock plus 100 lbs.

Again, pepper spray. If I pepper sprayed Ken Shamrock in the face, he would fall to the floor, assume the fetal position, and apologize to me in habanero-soaked tears for ever attempting to try to take my wallet.

If I peppersprayed the entire Gracie family, they too, would drop to the floor and kowtow before me.

Same goes for the example of the ex-navy seal with a super duper uber black belt in BJJ, only with Jedi Mind Powers and a lightsaber, and I'll even let him get behind a Ford 350 pickup truck (sans windshield...you know, for the pepper spray) running at me at high speed, playing "Enter Sandman" at 170 decibels, just for the dramatic effect and scare factor, throwing in the entire UFC lineup in the bed of the pickup, all of them also with lightsabers and Force lightning, and Master Yoda can be the hood ornament. Behind them can be John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Mel Gibson (with Braveheart makeup), Hugo Weaver (the bad guy from the Matrix, plus he can have his Matrix bullet time ability), and I'll even let them have Demi Moore in her GI Jane movie. Even with this pickup truck filled to the brim with Jedi-powered, adrenaline pumped, psycho Metallica blasting-death gods, driving at me at 120...no, 190 miles per hour...

Well, no, then peppers spray would fail...but without the pickup truck, they would SO be mine (if I had pepper spray).

Ta ta.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

there is a 200 lb guy in my jujitsu class(NOT JIU-JITSU, that is brazilian, go to jujitsu http://www.jujitsuamerica.org/ )
anyways, he used to try to overpower people while grappling, but none of this worked, when you use strength you only have a 2 minute window of grappling before the person is too tired to continue normally. once he saw the light, and stopped using his 200lb, i mean 199lbs of muscle, he started winning because he used technique correctly. although, strength is useful for maintaining balance and anything besides grappling, though technique still applies.
pepper spray.... what if they blink?
the money issue is another reason i choose jujitsu. it is VERY cheap compared to other arts, and more effective than most, if not all(opinion). my sensei uses the physics of jujitsu and judo to move around his 600+lbs patient in physical therapy where he works. he moves this patient alone, every day multiple times. he does not use his strength in the least.
MTT, you just described small circle jujitsu. im not joking, small circle jujitsu is completely adaptable depending on the opponent and situation, once you learn the system, you can adapt your own techniques when a situation arises. as opposed to video tapes, in class we are shown the techniques, and then we pair up and perform the techniques on the other person, left side and right side, since not every attacker is right handed. we practice throws, take downs, show pressure points, submissions, and practice grappling quite a bit. jujitsu is renowned for its skill in grappling. every few days of class, we have rondori. this is when everyone lines up by rank, and the highest ranking person goes first, everyone attacks with the attacks which were shown that night, and then the sensei attacks and goes passive-agressive, they go 1:30 to 2 minutes, or until the sensei taps(not often). everyone trains this way for real-life scenarios. you need to try small circle jujitsu, it is worth 10 times the money we charge. make sure the place is jujitsu america certified, the immitators are pathetic.

I have no doubt that a 200 lb newbie against a 130 lb well trained Martial Artist will probably lose; my point is that a 200 lb well trained martial artist against a 130 lb well trained Martial Artist has an undeniable edge, which is what I tried to get at with the Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie example, or any UFC or vale tudo fighter out there - technique comes first, but to say strength is ignored or irrelevant seems to me a mistake.

On pepper spray - blinking doesn't matter at all. Pepper spray is greatly misunderstood because people get the impression that all it does it hit the guy in the eyes, and the guy can't see well or at all. It does much more than that.

Pepper spray (a good one anyway) fogs around the person's entire head, and while the eyes do the main thing, pepper spray burns the skin, burns the nasal pasages, and will even burn inside the ear drums. The burning is so intense that even if the person is biologically programmed to not feel pain, the body itself will go into protection mode, and your brain will think your lungs are suffocating (the spray also gets in the lungs, too). It's like drowning without the water. Pepper spray not only hurts, it shuts the guy down. Plus it's basically 100% effective, and can work against animal attacks (including friggen' Grizzly bears. I may be good at triangle chokes, but when Smokey the Bear starts chasing me, no wristlock in the world is gonna save me).

The best part is that as soon as the eyes burn, 99% of people will instinctively try to rub it out of their eyes, which just rubs it in more. And possibly even better than that is the person WILL recuperate without any permanent damage. It's legal in states where stun guns are not, and hundreds of times more effective.

I know I've been pushing pepper spray a lot, but I've met two people who are alive today because of it, one of which was using a brand that wasn't even that great.

Not to say that it's infallible; in a closed room you stand a good chance of getting yourself and innocent bystanders sprayed. But then again, if you didn't have it in such a situation, a couple of you could probably end up dead.

If you want a good idea of how strong pepperspray is, there's a show on MTV called, "Jack*ss" (you can figure out what the asterisk is) and you can probably find the episode online. In it, a young rogue named Johnny Knoxville does a skit called "Self Defense", where he tests pepper spray, a stun gun, and a tazer on himself. He laughs at the stun gun (he goes down, but he found the whole thing hilarious), he laughed a little at the tazer (until his friend kept shocking him while he tried to remove it), but when he got hit with the pepper spray, he went straight down, without a smile, and just kept cursing. The show shows clips of him almost recovering then falling down again.

Johnny: "It's like my eyes have diarrhea."

The show concluded with Knoxville saying: "The pepper spray was the worst by far."

As far as my thoughts on grappling, check out my grappling, takedown, striking rant up above. The jujitsu you describe sounds pretty good; but like I said, if a striker and a grappler face off, it's going to come down to who's better at takedowns. Most grappling arts focus on grappling and takedowns, but if the boxer knows takedowns just as well, the match is far more evenly matched than people think it is. For a good example of this, check out what I think was a Pride fight or something between Royce Gracie and a Japanese professional wrestler (not a grappler, though). Because the Japanese guy was trained really well at takedowns, he defended Royce's takedowns perfectly, and the fight lasted I believe over an hour (and the Japanese guy won!).

One image I will never get out of my head is a match between Dan Severn and this incredible kickboxer (who, unfortunately, knew absolute squate about takedowns). The guy gives Severn a kick, but the Severn is so tough he shrugs it off, grabs the guy, and just body slammed him head first three times into the matt. It was at this point I realized, yes, strength can actually matter.

So let me redo my fight theory a bit:

Skill + Real Strength = Fight Variable

It would work like this: Bill doesn't do the wristlock quite right, but he's so strong that he can power it to the point that it's just as good as someone weaker who has the technique better. Their fight variable for that section would be the same.

The three categories are:
Takedowns
Grappling
Striking

Each category gets filled in with the fighter's fight variable. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give myself the following:

Takedowns = 2
Grappling = 8
Striking = 7

Let's give Royce Gracie the following:

Takedowns = 9
Grappling = 10
Striking = 3 (he has that little kicky thing)

Since Royce is better than me in 2 categories, he wins. Let's analyze my little brother.

Takedowns = 5
Grappling = 6
Striking = 5

Since I have two categories better than him, I get the remote control and the big couch, while he tends to his bruises and tattles to my mom. My mom's variables goes as follows:

Takedowns = ?
Grappling = ?
Striking = ?
Authority = 10

Since the authority value trumps all other values, I get grounded.

Cops have an authority of about 9, also trumping all other variables.

And so goes my finalized fight theory. Though I should add my final variable:

Pepper spray = yes

trumps everything. Except mom's authority, which extends to the "possibility of telling dad" ratio.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

[This message has been edited by razordu30 (edited September 12, 2002).]

Strength is important. Even Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, was physically strong in his younger days.

One can have functional strength, without having a body-builder's built. I'm not a fan of weight machines myself. I prefer free weights (barbells, dumbells, kettlebells and possibly clubbells. I find that Kettlebell is good for functional strength. But's it's not for wimps http://www.dragondoor.com/b15.html

I haven't tried Clubbells yet, but there's good testimonials, including from Kettlebell enthusiasts. I've been pleased with Coach Sonnon's material so far. I don't think it's available for people outside US. So I'll have to wait.

http://www.clubbell.tv/clubbell.html

Any of you familiar with both legendary abs and combat abs programs? How do they compare?

I have no clue about reading genius and can't say whether it's a joke or not. But so far, this thread has been very interesting, though not that funny.

"But so far, this thread has been very interesting, though not that funny."

I guess you mean in that Reading Genius is supposed to be a joke, and that joke hasn't been that funny. In this case, let me say some Reading Genius jokes:

"Reading Genius walks into a bar. Ouch."

Okay, here's a better one:

"Reading Genius the Pirate walks into a bar, wearing a pegleg, a hook, and an eye patch. Reading Genius orders a drink, and the bartender goes, "So, Reading Genius the pirate, how did you get the pegleg?"

Reading Genius the Pirate replies, "We were caught in a stormy sea, and I fell overboard, as my crew tried to pull me out, a shark bit of me leg. Arr..."

"Incredible!" says the bartender. "How did you get the hook?"

"Ar," exclaims Reading Genius the Pirate, "an enemy vessel boarded our ship, and in the middle of all the fighting, one of them cut of me hand...double Arr."

"Wow!" says the bartender. "How did you get the eye-patch?"

"Oh. A Seagull dropping."

"That's it? A seagull pooped in your eye?"

"Ar, but it was my first day with the hook..."

Anybody else know any good reading genius jokes?

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

Pepper spray should be handed out to all MA practitioners the same way Bibles are handed out to prisoners.

Mark P4 is right. It's a waste to spend all your money on tapes and courses trying to be the 'best' fighter. Many MA teachers seem out to prove their style is the best yet they fail to mention that the invention of handguns rendered many of their fighting systems obsolete. Put any fighter you care to mention against a 16 year old hoodlum with an Uzi and good aim, and quite frankly your Gracies, Shamrocks, etc. would be on their way to the nearest morgue.

PS. I still don't know diddley squat about Reading Genius. I also have the impression that it's not worth knowing about.

Carry on

"If mayhem is the sadistic desire of anyone who takes up the fighting arts of the Orient, I really think it it much easier to get an axe, hammer or pistol. Why spend weeks, months, and even years to develope the skill and power to hurt someone? Don't be overconfident, thinking that no one but you has this knowledge. What one man has achieved, another can certainly exceed, whether it is in wisdom, wealth, or strength. Every man we meet is superior to us in some way." James Lee

Thank you for the jokes, Ramon. Finally something in the thread matches the topic.

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents about the "martial arts vs handguns" thing.

First off, I wouldn't say spending money on MA is a waste, just because it's like any other hobby, and people simply find MA fun.

About the handgun thing: we all associate "defending ourselves" as a mugger for some reason. In these instances, yes, almost for sure the mugger will pull a gun on you, and yes, I personally believe that in the vast majority of instances, this would render MA relatively useless. Yes, there are "defend against gun" techniques, but being an enthusiast in firearms as well as MA, I can say with at least some confidence that the guy with the MAC-10 will win over a really good chokehold. That said, if I guy pull a gun on you, give him the keys to the damn Volvo.

But contrary to that instance, most confrontational instances aren't muggings. They're situations of conflict that just get out of hand. The jerk at the bar, the fight over a parking space, I almost got in a fight (chose to walk away instead) with a guy who was upset because he ran through a busy intersection and I almost hit him. Oddly enough, the stats on confrontations that end in fights are greatly increasing among roadside incidents, products of road rage, really.

If you watch just a couple episodes of COPS, you'll notice that there's relatively few muggings in comparison to things like domestic disputes between neighbors or things of that nature.

It just turns out that scuffles aren't planned like muggings; they just happen because people get really mad at each other.

In these instances, no one brings a weapon with them, they just start slugging it out; which is why I clip pepper spray to my belt at all times. I'd like to say it's for muggers, but in plain truth, it's so when some jerk gets upset over God knows what, I can shut him up, and, because I have no morals, probably kick him in the stomach while he's down and spit on his face.

I use pepper spray like I do Cliff's Notes; I read the book and train in MA, but when it gets down to it, I'd rather finish the stupid struggle with as little trouble as possible.

Getting back to the other point - I guess the reason we use the mugger scenario to encapsulate the "self defense" idea for MA is because it's seems more noble. It's some innocent guy pitted against a thief, where it's a matter of bad guy versus good guy, and we'd hope that in this case the good guy knows something the bad guy doesn't, and gets the best of him.

In reality, things are more muddled, and the two guys duking it out fisticuffs are the owners of a Honda Civic and a Ford Explorer, both running late for work, getting upset, almost cutting each other off, who then pull over to the side of the road to argue, get more upset, then beat the living daylights out of each other.

The VAST majority, however, is that people who take MA do so because they simply like it, and because sparring and competing is like any other sport.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

PS - Reading Genius is a joke. Hooray for me for being on-topic again!

Hey, someone who has free time should go out and drag the RG folks over to this website, and show them this topic and the ones from the past. That'd be great!!

BTW Ramon, when I get 500 posts, ya gonna throw a party for me too? lol

Why not?

Tell you what - my friend and I are going to the bar on Sunday to celebrate his 21st B-day. If you hit 500 by then (I'm guessing you will), I'll have a toast for you.

=)

Take care.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

quote:

---

Originally posted by razordu30:
Why not?

Tell you what - my friend and I are going to the bar on Sunday to celebrate his 21st B-day. If you hit 500 by then (I'm guessing you will), I'll have a toast for you.

=)

Take care.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

---

Alright. Deal.

SOmeone asked about Legendary Abs and COmbat abs- I think they both suck. Bullet Proof Abs from Pavel / dragondoor.com is extremely good. The best part of his book is the Janda situp and he explained that in a Muscle Media mag so ask someone on their site to give you a link to a description of that and you won't have to buy the book. All you'll miss is some science and he talks about using the ab wheel and bruce lee's "DragonFlag" and other things that Ramon probably knows. Besides, everybody loves Ramon!

most times you get in a fight, people will not want to kill you, they would just go to jail. some people try to mug you and take your money with an empty gun. most people who you fight with wont want to kill you with a gun. if you get caught in a drive-by shooting, Matrix Style your way out of it. otherwise, jujitsu works. the point of small circle jujitsu is to take the guy down as quickly and effectively as possible. there are so many variables that we teach, you cant possibly be mugged. in a fight, we also have defense. yea people would just slug it out, but if its some big guy versus someone who knows jujitsu, the first punch comes in and .001 seconds later, the big guy is on the ground. ok, maybe 1 second to be fair. we teach real life situations and develop speed also. i know what you're saying about pepper spray... why not pepper spray him and then take him down with jujitsu! act like it was all skill and not just chemical warfare. yes, MA is for fun, and for tournaments, but it can help in real life.
my sensei was black belt in small circle jujitsu in college. some guy tried to steal his 5 inch thick book by putting a knife to the side of his neck and demanding it from him. the sensei quickly trapped the wrist in a wrist lock, hit him in the side of the head with his book as hard as he could, and took him down with the wrist lock, then walked away with the knife in hand. i beleive this is the purpose of jujitsu. also, a brown belt in my class, along with the sensei, are training the maryland state police, orlando police department(as soon as they get the $$), and are making a deal with apopka police(orlando metropolitan area). this is an enormous source of income for the two guys. these police will have zero police brutality, because jujitsu is so controlled, they will be able to easily cuff someone without resistance, and who knows how else they will use it fighting crime. this is about 3 months into their companies start, and they have plans for maybe 10 more places they will train. including airport staff, cruise boat staff, other police departments, and they will continue the dojo that i attend. jujitsu is the best...

[This message has been edited by Neo-Matrix (edited September 14, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by Neo-Matrix (edited September 15, 2002).]

Neo, ever thought of becomng a preacher?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hel:
Neo, ever thought of becomng a preacher?

---

Please...don't.

actually my dad is a preacher, but i think ill just make a website where everyone can try to defeat my beliefs of adventism. i plan to never lose, but who knows what will happen.

Everyone loves Ramon...until they meet me...

Then they love me EVEN MORE! To the point where I have to ask them to stop...but they can't, and they start singing that "I Can't Stop Loving You" song. Then I cave in. But by that point, they're so tired of having tried to convince me to let them love me, that they don't want anything to do with me.

Then I get needy, because, to be frank, having their love kept me at a complacency level, and without that love, I go below complacent, and thus, sad. Chocolates and dozens of roses read down my credit card summary as long as the Mahabarata, but to no avail. Then I weep, and leave it at that. But then they find my attempt to spark a new companionship quirky, and love me anew.

But as they realize this, I am boarding a plane to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Via a montage of intercut "racing to the airport" scenes, parking their car in a no parking zone (to the chagrin of a befuddled and frustrated parking attendant), they catch me as I'm about to board my plane, throw their arms around the back of my neck, and we smooch as has never smooched before. The scene closes with a catchy one-liner, bearing a likeness to, "You...complete...me..." Cue the Frank Sinatra music and start the credits.

All this, all the jazz, all that and a bag of chips, I owe to my rock hard abs; abs I have sculpted with my zero-resistance/zero-assitance old school ab wheel.

To thwart evil doers, however, I hide my abs behind a cushioned layer of flab, which are purposefully so dense that not even Superman (nor Bizarro Superman) can see my gentle innards.

And even if they could, they would be unable to harm me, for I, Ramon, am loved by ALL!

That is, all but Reading Genius the Pirate, ar...(had to keep this on topic somehow).

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

LOL.
Thank you, Ramon. Now we love you even more.

Reading Genius can't be all that bad. It's brought everyone in this thread agreeing with each other *for once*

Of course, nobody is mentioning anything about RG. But that's beside the point.

Mark,
Thank you for the info on the abs programs.