Anyone have any memories of Mills Lane?

[billeau2]

Do you feel you could you break any man's grip on your throat?

When training in older forms of Ju Jutsu, even newer Gendai arts like Diato Ryu (what people call AkiJutsu), as opposed to modern sport and brazilian influenced Judo/Ju Jitsu, you actually spend a few years at least on breaking various holds. You do this until it becomes second nature. Then you start to apply these things, usually going hard on the mats in one form or another... eventually you start to see balance, timing, instead of force... and it dawns on you that for one to secure a hold, you have to be caught lacking enough, so you are held lol. If that makes any sense? So you work on a different timing where you escape before their grip is tightened...

With that being said. I would never say any grip could always be broken. I would say I have never experienced a grip on throat, wrists, or garment that I could not find an escape... I did once have a time when I was trying to show an escape from a full nelson and wanted to do it slowly so people could see it... I had this one student lol, he was a very big, strong, biker from Berkely. He loved the art... He had one one of our punches on his fridge and pis sed his wife off royaly when to his surprise it drove the fridge back and over with next to no effort lol. Since that time he had been devoted! So it was probably good it happened with him lol. I asked him to secure a nelson, the one where you secure from the back of the head... it can be a neck breaker... He was so fckin strong and was only doing what he was supposed to but I had to ask him to back it up lol. I was going too slow and he had gripped me before I could show that I was arching my back (not pulling my neck back!). We all had a good laugh, he was a great sport about it.

I learned just how dangerous it can be if one screws up on their timing!

[billeau2]

Do you feel you could you break any man's grip on your throat?

Also here is a hint: When someone grabs the throat, try moving the throat properly instead of breaking a death grip... Believe it, or not, if you turn your body in a circle (yes you can do this against a wall, in a phone booth, just a semicircle) raise your arm and shoulder, it becomes almost impossible for the gripper to keep his hold. You can even crush his hand between your shoulder and chin as you turn. Imagine grabbing a turnstile and trying to keep a throat type grip upon it...

[Kid Cauliflower]

When training in older forms of Ju Jutsu, even newer Gendai arts like Diato Ryu (what people call AkiJutsu), as opposed to modern sport and brazilian influenced Judo/Ju Jitsu, you actually spend a few years at least on breaking various holds. You do this until it becomes second nature. Then you start to apply these things, usually going hard on the mats in one form or another... eventually you start to see balance, timing, instead of force... and it dawns on you that for one to secure a hold, you have to be caught lacking enough, so you are held lol. If that makes any sense? So you work on a different timing where you escape before their grip is tightened...

With that being said. I would never say any grip could always be broken. I would say I have never experienced a grip on throat, wrists, or garment that I could not find an escape... I did once have a time when I was trying to show an escape from a full nelson and wanted to do it slowly so people could see it... I had this one student lol, he was a very big, strong, biker from Berkely. He loved the art... He had one one of our punches on his fridge and pis sed his wife off royaly when to his surprise it drove the fridge back and over with next to no effort lol. Since that time he had been devoted! So it was probably good it happened with him lol. I asked him to secure a nelson, the one where you secure from the back of the head... it can be a neck breaker... He was so fckin strong and was only doing what he was supposed to but I had to ask him to back it up lol. I was going too slow and he had gripped me before I could show that I was arching my back (not pulling my neck back!). We all had a good laugh, he was a great sport about it.

I learned just how dangerous it can be if one screws up on their timing!

Makes perfect sense in bold. Let's say this strong boy is going for your throat but rather slow about it. His arm is extended. No problem for the well trained with reasonable strength, right, even if it's Eddie "the beast" Hall?

[billeau2]

Makes perfect sense in bold. Let's say this strong boy is going for your throat but rather slow about it. His arm is extended. No problem for the well trained with reasonable strength, right, even if it's Eddie "the beast" Hall?

Guys like Hall and the guy he was rivals with... they look at gripes, combat, etc as a contest of strength. A strong grip upon the throat... what it implies one is to do, actually makes it a very weak grip. chokes are a whole different animal, when done properly. So if I want to strangle someone? If they have a garment on? I want to sneak a hand as close to their throat, thumbside, hand up, as I can. I mean I want to rub hard, have no space between my thumb knuckle and their windpipe side... Then grab as much of their shirt as you can, from the back, to the top of their shoulder, with that same hand. Now, using no strength at all, pull the other side of their shirt, about five inches down from the collar with a downward twist... Watch what happens, and you do not need any strength to speak of.

Same principle with no garments... You can literally put your forearm into their throat area and grab around, with little leverage and choke them out... When a strong boy reaches to frankenstein grip someone, if you just grab their fingers and bend down and towards them in a small circle? Watch what happens. Another trick... if they secure your neck somehow and start to pull in (otherwise how will they get any leverage?), go with them turn, either direction, and kneel.. Go straight down towards their feet. If you are feeling particularly sadistic, grab one of their hands on your neck as you do so... The shoulder should break in at least one place, and they will generally be pitched on their head. Oh, and if you want to make sure to break their arm? Instead of throwing, when they start to pitch, grab hand at thumb, secure his hand on your shoulder and pop up, from that same position at his feet.

[max baer]

Makes perfect sense in bold. Let's say this strong boy is going for your throat but rather slow about it. His arm is extended. No problem for the well trained with reasonable strength, right, even if it's Eddie "the beast" Hall?

talking about self defence i love this video of julius francis dealing with mouthy idiot. just for a laugh is all!!

[max baer]

Guys like Hall and the guy he was rivals with... they look at gripes, combat, etc as a contest of strength. A strong grip upon the throat... what it implies one is to do, actually makes it a very weak grip. chokes are a whole different animal, when done properly. So if I want to strangle someone? If they have a garment on? I want to sneak a hand as close to their throat, thumbside, hand up, as I can. I mean I want to rub hard, have no space between my thumb knuckle and their windpipe side... Then grab as much of their shirt as you can, from the back, to the top of their shoulder, with that same hand. Now, using no strength at all, pull the other side of their shirt, about five inches down from the collar with a downward twist... Watch what happens, and you do not need any strength to speak of.

Same principle with no garments... You can literally put your forearm into their throat area and grab around, with little leverage and choke them out... When a strong boy reaches to frankenstein grip someone, if you just grab their fingers and bend down and towards them in a small circle? Watch what happens. Another trick... if they secure your neck somehow and start to pull in (otherwise how will they get any leverage?), go with them turn, either direction, and kneel.. Go straight down towards their feet. If you are feeling particularly sadistic, grab one of their hands on your neck as you do so... The shoulder should break in at least one place, and they will generally be pitched on their head. Oh, and if you want to make sure to break their arm? Instead of throwing, when they start to pitch, grab hand at thumb, secure his hand on your shoulder and pop up, from that same position at his feet.

Bill I noticed throughout my life that guys that have much martial arts experience are fantastic problem solvers. In every aspect of life they look for the best in people and have a great ability to improvise and solve any problem that outfoxes the average man.
I also noticed that men with great physical skills such as martial arts are usually the last person to brag about themselves yet are the individuals that come along and solve problems. You on here talk to people of all attitudes and you treat them with dignity and never brag and I always seem to see this is martial artists who teach. I wonder what that thing is in the mind that 99 percent of men don't have. That sort of calm sure path you seem to tread.
You see I tried martial arts as a kid and again as a teen and again as a 30 year old bu I found it frustratingly slow the process of learning. It isn't for me. I like to venture into something I know nothing about and after
I have explored it to my satisfaction I want to go off and try something different that has caught my attention.
In my life I have been a trainee accountant, a unit trust editor, a personal trainer and actor and a theatre stage and set builder where I would go and find things the theatre set needed which I enjoyed more than acting.
Acting isn't fun to me or satisfying as you have to sort of beg for parts and you play roles that mean nothing to you because you need experience. I was a decent actor but nothing special but I loved being behind the scenes in the theatre with the others all putting the show together but having to temp in the city to pay bills too it is all too much and I drank far too much back then as I had bi polar but hadn't been diagnosed r treated and I was self medicating like many bi polar people do.
But what I was saying is that martial artists have this incredible patience and persistence and I wish I had just a
tiny bit of that myself. When I went for karate lessons I was going each week for months and we just kept doing the same stuff over and over and I got so frustrated at the slow progress and after sticking with it for some months I just got too bored with it and something else come up and I was away with my new hobby all guns blaising till that got tedious etc etc.
Funny that the only thing where that isn't true is with my women in my life I love them for years and years and always will I never ever get bored of them. But everything else to me seems to lose it's appeal after I have done it for a while and satisfied my curiosity about it.
The point I was making was that martial artists seem to be the type that can slowly and methodically grow and learn and overcome and evolve at a pace that is steady and sure footed and have this inner steal and they never seem to be the types that mouth off or cause aggro but they have great skills at mediating problems or disputes.
What Bill, do you think it takes for a man to be an expert at martial arts? What is it that you have to the mind that works that way? It also reminds of something I saw about the SAS in Iraq where they would slowly and methodically follow a lead and do it so well and have this great reserve of inner "something" that other men just don't have. Do you get what I am saying? Or am I just off the mark?

[billeau2]

Bill I noticed throughout my life that guys that have much martial arts experience are fantastic problem solvers. In every aspect of life they look for the best in people and have a great ability to improvise and solve any problem that outfoxes the average man.
I also noticed that men with great physical skills such as martial arts are usually the last person to brag about themselves yet are the individuals that come along and solve problems. You on here talk to people of all attitudes and you treat them with dignity and never brag and I always seem to see this is martial artists who teach. I wonder what that thing is in the mind that 99 percent of men don't have. That sort of calm sure path you seem to tread.
You see I tried martial arts as a kid and again as a teen and again as a 30 year old bu I found it frustratingly slow the process of learning. It isn't for me. I like to venture into something I know nothing about and after
I have explored it to my satisfaction I want to go off and try something different that has caught my attention.
In my life I have been a trainee accountant, a unit trust editor, a personal trainer and actor and a theatre stage and set builder where I would go and find things the theatre set needed which I enjoyed more than acting.
Acting isn't fun to me or satisfying as you have to sort of beg for parts and you play roles that mean nothing to you because you need experience. I was a decent actor but nothing special but I loved being behind the scenes in the theatre with the others all putting the show together but having to temp in the city to pay bills too it is all too much and I drank far too much back then as I had bi polar but hadn't been diagnosed r treated and I was self medicating like many bi polar people do.
But what I was saying is that martial artists have this incredible patience and persistence and I wish I had just a
tiny bit of that myself. When I went for karate lessons I was going each week for months and we just kept doing the same stuff over and over and I got so frustrated at the slow progress and after sticking with it for some months I just got too bored with it and something else come up and I was away with my new hobby all guns blaising till that got tedious etc etc.
Funny that the only thing where that isn't true is with my women in my life I love them for years and years and always will I never ever get bored of them. But everything else to me seems to lose it's appeal after I have done it for a while and satisfied my curiosity about it.
The point I was making was that martial artists seem to be the type that can slowly and methodically grow and learn and overcome and evolve at a pace that is steady and sure footed and have this inner steal and they never seem to be the types that mouth off or cause aggro but they have great skills at mediating problems or disputes.
What Bill, do you think it takes for a man to be an expert at martial arts? What is it that you have to the mind that works that way? It also reminds of something I saw about the SAS in Iraq where they would slowly and methodically follow a lead and do it so well and have this great reserve of inner "something" that other men just don't have. Do you get what I am saying? Or am I just off the mark?

Martial Arts training varies considerably. It is one of those things, like philosophy, where a good teacher means a lot. The actual style is not even as important as having a good teacher. I used philosophy as an example because I taught it at community college and when you engage the students it is actually fun for them, and it inspires them to think.

Regarding your own experience: People are different kinds of learners. There are differences but not absolutes about whom is better, or worse... For example, My very first student whom I gave a Black Belt was a well conditioned gay man in Baltimore. Keith had many problems remembering specific forms, or doing a sequence of techniques back... that was a weakness of his. Keith also would get the feel of a technique quickly! A sense of how to apply it, the right intensity, he was, in a word... A terror as a fighter. This made him quite special. I would not wish my worse enemy to get Keith stirred lol! Since that time I have had, still have, students that can mimic a technique perfectly, but it takes them a while to grasp the real use and the feel of using the technique, versus students like Keith, who get the "Kill" aspect (Saki) right away but take a while to follow through with proper form.

martial arts does take repitition but it does not have to be boring... Until you get at a very high level. Let me explain: Whe learning a martial art you need to be motivated, you cannot just do things, because you will develop bad habits training this way. A good teacher will have you practice in a way that allows one to keep an interest. this includes drills, scenario training, and mixing up training in the basics (I do not believe in forms). However when you get to a certain point, after fighting a lot, or rolling as the kids do ow a days, you develop a lot of really bad habits lol. It is at that point, one has to decide if they really want to "get better" or not lol. I did this with a teacher in Toronto. It was a tough 2 year stretch... It was tedious, no fun, I had to be taken apart, put back together again lol... But I emerged really improved! I only tell you this so if one day you find yourself at a cross roads, you can kow where you are.

If you have a program you are interested in, PM me the details and I can take a look for you. As far as my own abilities, I was fortunate. Things were tough and I had tough, loving and uncompromising teachers. I will brag about my biggest ability to you right now. It is my toes... They were strong enough to stand on their tippy, when on the shoulders of giants (my teachers).

Hang in there and just do not give up... My first club, over 15 years, a second degree Black belt, I was the runt. A white guy in East Baltimore, my fellow students were often heads of criminal enterprises, street fighters, etc. They not only looked after me, they made sure I showed up... They made it their business to make sure I was as able as they were. These same violent individuals? would have done anything for me, and likewise, me for them. My sensei used to take me to his cousin, a radical anti white leader in the preceding gang to the biggest prison gang in baltimore (The Guerilla family, something like that lol). He adored me and again, nothing mattered but me being part of the family... I hope this helps!

[max baer]

Martial Arts training varies considerably. It is one of those things, like philosophy, where a good teacher means a lot. The actual style is not even as important as having a good teacher. I used philosophy as an example because I taught it at community college and when you engage the students it is actually fun for them, and it inspires them to think.

Regarding your own experience: People are different kinds of learners. There are differences but not absolutes about whom is better, or worse... For example, My very first student whom I gave a Black Belt was a well conditioned gay man in Baltimore. Keith had many problems remembering specific forms, or doing a sequence of techniques back... that was a weakness of his. Keith also would get the feel of a technique quickly! A sense of how to apply it, the right intensity, he was, in a word... A terror as a fighter. This made him quite special. I would not wish my worse enemy to get Keith stirred lol! Since that time I have had, still have, students that can mimic a technique perfectly, but it takes them a while to grasp the real use and the feel of using the technique, versus students like Keith, who get the "Kill" aspect (Saki) right away but take a while to follow through with proper form.

martial arts does take repitition but it does not have to be boring... Until you get at a very high level. Let me explain: Whe learning a martial art you need to be motivated, you cannot just do things, because you will develop bad habits training this way. A good teacher will have you practice in a way that allows one to keep an interest. this includes drills, scenario training, and mixing up training in the basics (I do not believe in forms). However when you get to a certain point, after fighting a lot, or rolling as the kids do ow a days, you develop a lot of really bad habits lol. It is at that point, one has to decide if they really want to "get better" or not lol. I did this with a teacher in Toronto. It was a tough 2 year stretch... It was tedious, no fun, I had to be taken apart, put back together again lol... But I emerged really improved! I only tell you this so if one day you find yourself at a cross roads, you can kow where you are.

If you have a program you are interested in, PM me the details and I can take a look for you. As far as my own abilities, I was fortunate. Things were tough and I had tough, loving and uncompromising teachers. I will brag about my biggest ability to you right now. It is my toes... They were strong enough to stand on their tippy, when on the shoulders of giants (my teachers).

Hang in there and just do not give up... My first club, over 15 years, a second degree Black belt, I was the runt. A white guy in East Baltimore, my fellow students were often heads of criminal enterprises, street fighters, etc. They not only looked after me, they made sure I showed up... They made it their business to make sure I was as able as they were. These same violent individuals? would have done anything for me, and likewise, me for them. My sensei used to take me to his cousin, a radical anti white leader in the preceding gang to the biggest prison gang in baltimore (The Guerilla family, something like that lol). He adored me and again, nothing mattered but me being part of the family... I hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply Bill and PM. Some life you have led for sure! I am very impressed about your son as a special operator that must have you bristling with pride!
You describe your martial arts groups like a family of men who looked out for each other and were a motley crue of hardened gangsters and artists and philosophers. That is exactly how I always imagined New York and thereabouts during the 1980's. That makes sense as you train together so much. My classes were nothing like that they were just at a health club and very sterile and dull. I admire your determination to overcome serious injury and health issues. Thanks for your kind advice. I have already taken on board your good instruction. Cheers Bill.

[JAB5239]

Martial Arts training varies considerably. It is one of those things, like philosophy, where a good teacher means a lot. The actual style is not even as important as having a good teacher. I used philosophy as an example because I taught it at community college and when you engage the students it is actually fun for them, and it inspires them to think.

Regarding your own experience: People are different kinds of learners. There are differences but not absolutes about whom is better, or worse... For example, My very first student whom I gave a Black Belt was a well conditioned gay man in Baltimore. Keith had many problems remembering specific forms, or doing a sequence of techniques back... that was a weakness of his. Keith also would get the feel of a technique quickly! A sense of how to apply it, the right intensity, he was, in a word... A terror as a fighter. This made him quite special. I would not wish my worse enemy to get Keith stirred lol! Since that time I have had, still have, students that can mimic a technique perfectly, but it takes them a while to grasp the real use and the feel of using the technique, versus students like Keith, who get the "Kill" aspect (Saki) right away but take a while to follow through with proper form.

martial arts does take repitition but it does not have to be boring... Until you get at a very high level. Let me explain: Whe learning a martial art you need to be motivated, you cannot just do things, because you will develop bad habits training this way. A good teacher will have you practice in a way that allows one to keep an interest. this includes drills, scenario training, and mixing up training in the basics (I do not believe in forms). However when you get to a certain point, after fighting a lot, or rolling as the kids do ow a days, you develop a lot of really bad habits lol. It is at that point, one has to decide if they really want to "get better" or not lol. I did this with a teacher in Toronto. It was a tough 2 year stretch... It was tedious, no fun, I had to be taken apart, put back together again lol... But I emerged really improved! I only tell you this so if one day you find yourself at a cross roads, you can kow where you are.

If you have a program you are interested in, PM me the details and I can take a look for you. As far as my own abilities, I was fortunate. Things were tough and I had tough, loving and uncompromising teachers. I will brag about my biggest ability to you right now. It is my toes... They were strong enough to stand on their tippy, when on the shoulders of giants (my teachers).

Hang in there and just do not give up... My first club, over 15 years, a second degree Black belt, I was the runt. A white guy in East Baltimore, my fellow students were often heads of criminal enterprises, street fighters, etc. They not only looked after me, they made sure I showed up... They made it their business to make sure I was as able as they were. These same violent individuals? would have done anything for me, and likewise, me for them. My sensei used to take me to his cousin, a radical anti white leader in the preceding gang to the biggest prison gang in baltimore (The Guerilla family, something like that lol). He adored me and again, nothing mattered but me being part of the family... I hope this helps!

I vet you're a fantastic instructor bot only because of your background and experience, but because you have a gift of explaining things and making them relatable. Now that I've called it a day on fighting I've been asked to start coaching where I train. I've always helped others, but this will be in a more official capacity. I can only hope to have the kids I my school relate to me the way I imagine your students relate to you. I absolutely admire your posts and knowledge.

[billeau2]

I vet you're a fantastic instructor bot only because of your background and experience, but because you have a gift of explaining things and making them relatable. Now that I've called it a day on fighting I've been asked to start coaching where I train. I've always helped others, but this will be in a more official capacity. I can only hope to have the kids I my school relate to me the way I imagine your students relate to you. I absolutely admire your posts and knowledge.

It helps if you love what you are doing... With that one can find a way, like parenting... The most complicated job right? But simply loving your kid(s) and you will do alright as a parent.

That's great you are teaching! Good for you Jab!