Martial Art

[Jin]

i did not say they are totaly useless..

I said they are not effective martial arts anymore....

I agree with you on that Bruce Lee and Jet Li are master at what they do... but that does not translate into combat effectivness

you are actually misunderstanding me when i refer to UFC and full-contact events....

events, like UFC and full-contact events, are the proving ground (as well as the street) for martial arts.... why do you think BJJ is so popular right now... Helio Gracie took on many opponents of many styles and wiped the floor with them, in full-contact events... and now ANY person with a small, clear understanding of self-defense needs to learn ground-fighting as part of his/her study...

You are thinking backwards.... I'm not saying people should train for UFC, I'm saying, if a guy who studies Kung Fu can't come out of a full-contact event with rules and a time limit... how is he supposed to survive on the street with NO RULES and NO time limit

and martial arts are not useless, but I want people to realize the reality of martial arts... I want people to go in to a place with full-knowledge of what to gain by going to a particular school....

no one walks into a TKD dojo and expects to learn realistic self-defense anymore.... its main focus is point tournaments and Olympic comps as well as a tool for staying active and fit....

in closing, I would like to say its still totaly dependent on how you train, wether its TKD, Muay Thai or BJJ, if you train realisticly or just for fun...

just know the difference and don't kid yourself...

Best,

Jin

Hanashi Ryu Aiki-kenjutsu
Golden Glove Boxer
Chin Na
Wah Lum Northern Praying Mantis Kung FU

 

[ultrashogun]

I was just reading this thread and noticed that there are some huge misunderstandings about martial arts on this page.

1) Martial Arts are usually not fun to practise)

Training in a martial art is hard work. I do karate and judo and the way we train is through constant, excrutiating repitition of boring movements. What motivates most people to keep practising is the feeling of improvment, not having fun.

2) Martial Arts are not cool)

Itll take lots of patience and practise before your gonna be any good at fighting, if at all youll ever be. Noone will give a **** that you practise a martial art and if you show off and act all cool people will either beat your ass to test you or think your a freak.

3) The UFC is an authority to determine the effectivness of a style)

This is bull****. In the UFC your fighting in a ring, there is no **** lying around, no weapons, two fighters. These conditions will never happen on the street. Real self defense is more of a psychological than a physical thing because your attackers will be prepared and your gonna be surprised, scared, tired or whatever. A streetfight is dirty, someone may pull a knife, call friends, attack from behind.

4) This style is better than that)

No style is better than any other style. A style is nothing other than a mixture of technics, karate consists of only about 16 basic moves. these moves are same as in kickboxing, TKD or most other comparable styles. Martial arts are platform dependant so each style is only as good as the practitioner. Important factors are stength, flexibility, speed, reaction time and consistancy.

 

[Jin]

hmmm.... I dunno about you but martial arts are fun... sure its hard a$$ work and you get beat up alot, but I like it... and so do alot of people... no one would do it if they didn't like it or have fun doing it.

and I think martial arts are very cool because I enjoy doing them and training... of course no one cares if you do MA or not.... I don't train for them, I train for me and to improve my abilities and character....

and you have a point about the pschycological aspect..... thats why you have to train for those scenerios(sp?)

and very true about style... I have seen very dangerous TKD and Karate people and I have seen weak, Joe-schmoe kickboxers who would break their hand punching paper....

but style does play some small part.... if you had a son, and you wanted him to be able to defend himself.....would you pick some McDojo that teaches nothing but forms and has no sparring...?

or a regular boxing gym that sparrs, teaches how to hit correctly, how to move, and keeps him in shape....?

reputations are there for a reason..... so I feel perfectly justified in saying boxing will prepare you better and teach you better skills for self-defense than TKD will....

but these are mostly extreme ends of the spectrum, only used for making points.... there are many good TKD practitioners out there and many bad boxers and fighters.....

the bottom line is, find out what you want to get out of martial arts and what you want to achieve.... research and look for styles or schools that fit your tastes and what you like and how they can help you reach your goals.

and finaly... dedicate yourself to it.... its better to not start at all then to go half-way and quit.... The martial arts journey is very long and often a solo one, but the rewards will last you the rest of your life.

Best,

Jin

 

[DX_Flyer]

Jin, gonna have to disagree with you once again.

Mostly all martial art classes have sparring included in the program. I dont just plan to take TKD all the way through, Im gonna set it as a base so I can learn. Then I plan to try kickboxing or just boxing to strenghten my fighting abilities. Combination is the key to everything!