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[noload]

Thornton addressing a class at Portland U. Y? I don't know.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4TwtoDs50

[Adventure]

He looks like carp.

[Keith Miller]

Thornton addressing a class at Portland U. Y? I don't know.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4TwtoDs50

I didn't watch the Q & A, but I'm down with the first 8 minutes or so. I think that there has to be a healthy medium of both "choreographed" and "Aliveness" as he put it.

You can do all of the punching work you want with a partner that is not resisting, and you will develop good technique...but that about all. Until you try to punch someone that doesn't want to be punched, and is also trying to punch you back...you won't have the right tools to get the job done.

You need both. And I think Thornton said that in the first 8 minutes or so.

[noload]

To me it was a mixed bag, as at times I felt he was spot on but he would then leave a big myopic gap in his ideas.
For example if you Are attacked by someone bigger you can run, hit them hard enough to cause trauma or choke them out. What about picking up something hard to hit them with, or sharp or something that goes bang?

If you train for a year you can beat someone if they don't have a ground game (condition 1) and discounting that they could have a very good striking game.

So while I tend to agree with him in general I find that he's also setting up a different fantasy for the potential student.

[Benjamin Liu]

From what I've seen the whole "aliveness" meme is an ideology redefining terms using poor English to turn an element of training common to most schools into a supposed exclusive training methodology.

Apparently it is an effective marketing campaign since so many people on forums repeat the sales pitch as if it were reality.

[noload]

Thornton's favorite phrase seems to be, "don't pretend to know things you don't know", which I do agree with. It's just so hard to mistake knowing, with not knowing.

Back in the single digit UFC fights it was "common knowledge" that traditional kicks were useless. We all "knew" that. But now traditional techniques like spinning back fists, side kicks and spinning back kicks are being used to sometimes win by those willing to learn them.

http://www.fighters.com/08/20/unorthodox-kicks-work-in-the-cage-see-cung-le-jon-jones-dennis-siver-and-anthony-pettis-for-proof

I do find it somewhat amusing that he thinks religion is bad but LSD is good.

[Benjamin Liu]

I never heard of him until I read the stupid article he wrote which was discussed on this thread:

http://hockscombatforum.com/index.php/topic,1420.0.html

I can't really take him seriously after that.  He might be skilled, and he might be a skilled instructor, but his ideas are stupid if this article is any representation of his ideas.

I also find the whole "aliveness" thing to be pretty stupid.  Lots of people train that way but just don't mis-use the word "alive" to do it.

[noload]

It's all about marketing, and "aliveness" is catchy.

I've noticed that many of the guys who go out of their way to mention their disdain for traditional martial arts because of it's goofy baggage usually bring their own goofy baggage in their new modern methodologies.

[F. Fuller]

Matt is a polarizing guy and a friend of mine. I disagree with him on some training ideas and absolutely won't discuss politics with him , but he is a good guy and a very good instructor and coach for what he does. That being said:

"Aliveness" is "catchy" and gets Matt's message across. It provokes and fires people up and gets them talking about what is and isn't effective in their own training. Matt and SBGi don't have a monopoly on anything and their message and/ or delivery tends to irritate quite a few.