A video full of Villari's people I used to know.

[SuperGuido]

True, f4n4n. As the video shows and as the materials I had to read for my black belt test would corroborate (which was pointless, they didn't even ask me anything about it on the test) grappling is cited as one of the "basic four ways of fighting." If the grappling is turns out to be crap, then it's potentially dangerously misleading. If you think you can handle yourself in a serious situation by grappling and you can't, you might not survive the rude awakening.

Technically, I think Villari coined the "Four Ways of Fighting" as:
-Striking
-Kicking
-Locking
-Felling

I SUPPOSE you could ass-bend "Locking" into "Grappling", if you were so inclined.

MY OPINION MATTERS BECAUSE I SPOUT INCOHERENT CRAP AND LIKE PRETENDING TO BE TEH DEEDLY

[foxguitar]

I actually think that if your gonna take shotokan (or even if you went with Kempo), taking some grappling classes at a BJJ school would help alot. Not just with the grapling but even with striking.

This is because of the aggressive nature of grappling. Lets say the shotokan place teaches you all the basic strikes and movement but you dont get much sparring in, for whatever reason. I think alot of people lack aggressiveness in a fight or defending themselves, a hard grappling sport can give you that. So good luck with all that then.

I agree 100 percent , The school I joined is geared for fighting , They do the typical Kumite ippon type and continuous fighting , Ive only been there a short time a very short time . I haven't seen any self defense type training yet.

So a grappling or Judo type thing would definitely help.:fist:

[AtxAxLoss]

Technically, I think Villari coined the "Four Ways of Fighting" as:
-Striking
-Kicking
-Locking
-Felling

Maybe, but at least on the Villari's site here http://www.villari.com/fvbio.htm they list it as grappling. It's how I remember it too, but it's been a while. I think the first time I actually heard the "four ways" was when I was studying for the black belt test. So at least in the case of my school and how it was taught, crappy grappling would be a strike against it since it's ostensibly part of the package.


I think in my school's defense, I would estimate that it's not completely useless. Apart from the physical training and conditioning, even the basic things like practicing punches and kicks and familiarizing yourself with something that vaguely resembles combat at least on a psychological level might be a deciding factor in some fights. It might be misguided confidence in some situations, but that same confidence might at least prevent panic in others. Still, hopefully if I go back into MA, I certainly plan on starting fresh elsewhere.