Any Martial Artists here

[Ruostunut kokis]

Why do they talk shit about you, would not be an age thing since you are still 17? My experience of martial arts clubs and gyms has mostly been pretty cool so far apart from one.

As I said before: I've had absolutely no prior experience in the past, and can't participate in martial arts without money.

 

And why people talk shit about me? Well... I better not rant about this again, but let's just say young people in this area has ruined my credibility and my self-esteem just for their own fun since preschool, and from that point forward it has made a lot more difficult for me to get a job for trust related reasons... It started as their own joke, now it's just public humiliating.

[Rising]

I'm a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do with minor training in Ninjitsu.

[Hidden Orange]

BJJ master race

 

Just been training for a year now at the Uni and one of the Gracie Barra gyms, awesome and very addictive. Got into a little bit of kickboxing but just with the uni, planning to take a bit more seriously next year and train more.  

 

From the people I have spoken in the mini martial arts culture of my uni it really varies gym to gym what quality of training you will receive. Some "Senseis" are complete arses and place more emphasis on meditating and respect than useful learning. Went to a Japanese ju-jitsu taster session, spent most of the time chanting and bowing, not sure how effective that would be.

Respect is still a good thing. People do things for different reasons. People write to vent, create fantastic stores, argue over topics, etc. In say, a class about literature and analysis, the emphasis is that, but some teachers take it to a personal level. One of my English teacher is proud and expressive of his political views, but he never lets it interfere or change his views on a what a student should receive if say during an essay, a student wants to compare a novel to political issues. He knew a teacher who would fail students regardless of their effort, ability, or whatever if they don't follow her views which is ridiculous since she's teaching in a supposedly open environment. Students would have to lie to themselves just to get a passing grade. That's horrible.

 

In martial arts, people learn for various reasons. A person could take martial arts as a way to stay fit or because the alternative wasn't for them. People young and old take boxing, Tai chi, and Capoeira. Some else would take martial arts a way to relieve stress or learn to calm themselves. Muay Thai, Iaido, and Northern Shaolin can all be forms of relaxation for a person. I'm taking Tai chi as a way to learn to relax again and control my anxiety which suddenly popped up in my life. Another person is taking martial arts to rehabilitate after damaging their limbs. They could be taking Greco-Roman wrestling, Escrima, and/or Taekwondo to relearn their coordination. Others might be taking a martial art out of passion or historical interest. Self-defense is a driving motivation why people take martial arts. And someone might be taking martial arts as a way to vent their violent nature - what else are they going to do and the alternatives could land them in jail or leave them dead. Some might use martial arts to cope.

 

This is a dick bag being a dick bag. Respect means something and without it, well... Yeah.

 

Honor, memories, historical interest, peace of mind, family tradition, and more are reasons why people learn arts like Iaido, Kendo, fencing, Hung Gar, Tai chi, and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byAgl-b2xFs

 

Favorite movies lead to a rise in Karate, Taekwondo, Wing Chun, MMA, and JKD practitioners. 

 

People all have their reasons. That being said, there's a difference between fake, arrogant cash grabbers and proud, humble instructors. An instructor who teaches because that's how he was taught is neither wrong nor right and can't really be blamed. If he knows it might not be the best, that there can be change, and how he learned might not be good overall as a self-defense and/or competitive art then he's still better than an instructor who believes he is right no matter how wrong he's been proven or too stubborn to change. Many martial arts today have been changed to fit competitions and some of the "top" ones or ones who make the most money are kind of arrogant and stubborn. I'd like to see old-school Taekwondo over cash grab TKD or more Kyokushin karate. Still, competition for the fun of it isn't that bad, but the business practices are bad.

[PhilBoisvert]

12 years in ITF taekwon-do, second degree black belt. Not that WTF olympic non-sense...

[Sammael]

Tae Kwon Do

 

It's been forever since i've done it, but I made it to the third to last belt before I had to move.

 

I've read somewhere that if 50 black belts in tae kwon do faced down a single bjj master, they would all die.   Is this true?   Cuz I heard TKD was the single weakest martial art of all, the kind of fighting technique that is less effective than twirling your hands in the air trying to swat flies.

 

Is that trash talking I read accurate ?!?!????

[Hidden Orange]

I've read somewhere that if 50 black belts in tae kwon do faced down a single bjj master, they would all die.   Is this true?   Cuz I heard TKD was the single weakest martial art of all, the kind of fighting technique that is less effective than twirling your hands in the air trying to swat flies.

 

Is that trash talking I read accurate ?!?!????

Different rules, different approaches to fights, etc. Taekwondo is a stand-up martial art while BJJ leans more towards groundwork and grappling. In a no holds barred fight, if the TKDer can land all his hits and never gets caught, then he'd win. If the BJJer can get close and drop the TKDer, then he'd win. On either rules, the one it's "biased" to will win. There's a reason why recent martial arts like Combat Sambo, Sanshou, and Krav Maga teach stand-up, groundwork, and grappling so that fighters are never overspecialized. Being well-rounded means a fighter can fight in all sorts of situations. Older martial arts tend to be geared towards one thing since that was the only thing to fight or because the region had no other martial arts to counter it.

 

Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, Akido, and Jiu-jitsu were focused on fighting against soldiers like the samurai or regular foot soldiers of that era. Look at the blocks and approaches in those arts and look at the way Kendo strikes. Head blocks from TKD and Karate goes as close as possible to stop overhead slashes from katana. Chambered punches "worked" with the blocks and situations. Gauntlets are probably heavier than boxing gloves and hitting fast and strong with those would be a bit difficult and dangerous to the user. Chambering is like drawing an arrow to aim.

 

Greco-Roman wrestling works with the nature of heavily armored foes and the fact that fights were really close combat since gladii are short swords unlike the katana. Savate makes use of boots that were commonly worn in that age which is why savateurs and savateuses are rarely taught to kick with the instep or shin. Capeoira really used dancing as a mask, but the movements are ways to confuse opponents. Also, being chained most of the time as slaves would make kicking and elbowing more viable attacks than punching. 

 

Boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Savate, and Dutch Kickboxing would all be considered different despite being somewhat similar. On their own terms, they'd likely win. All out, well it's going to be who can take the hits, who can dish them out, or who's the better fighter. Savate has fast and fluid footwork, but if they can't land hits or take them, then they'll lose. Boxing is all hands, but that doesn't mean they can't step on your feet or get in real close and pound the shit out of you. All of them are incredibly dangerous up close, but if they can't get close enough, can't take hits, or can't deal them, they'll lose.

 

What's even worse is the direction each martial arts' tournament or competition goes for. Boxing goes for knock outs and up close and personal beatdowns. TKD and Karate tends to go for points. Akido usually counters rather than taking the initiative. Muay Thai apparently is slowly going for two people beating the hell out of each other and dodging is frown upon. Wushu competitions are all about flashy moves over refined and powerful techniques. This, inevitably, devolves them. There's a reason why people bash Wushu, TKD, Akido, and Karate. The original intentions of the arts were self-defense or outright killing to survive. Now it's washed down into point-winning.

 

TKD and Karate do have hand techniques, but kicks have longer reach so getting points is easier. Ever see those guys who just hop on their feet kicking at you. Pains in the ass, but that's their game and punching sometimes rewards less points. Kyokushin karate is impressive, but it's overshadowed by whatever washed out form of Karate and TKD is plaguing the world.

 

Wushu is also the old man of the group along with boxing. That means they're kind of hard to change. Boxing never accepted kicks since it was ungentlemanly. Cue Savate and kickboxing adding kicks since survival means more than keeping your clothes dapper. Dutch Kickboxing is Kyokushin karate and other arts combined. No compromises when it's life or death; victory or defeat. Bruce Lee's fighting style was formed from Wing Chun, other Wushu styles, and research on boxing, fencing, and more.

 

Hell, Savate's bashed for wearing boots and well, the French being French - it's common to call them cheese-eating, surrendering monkeys. Despite a lack of elbows and knees and that anyone could just learn to kick without boots through shin or instep kicks, imagine a fighter with Savate footwork and hand/leg work, grappling work, clinch work, and elbows and knees from Muay Thai. That fighter would be untouchable.

 

Styles are restricted to whatever was taught and whatever worked at the time or the environment. In their rules, they'll likely win. Jeet Kune Do's philosophy is whatever works. No styles; all styles. Fluid and flexible like water. MMA, Sanshou, Combat Sambo, Krav Maga, and Bruce Lee's JKD are all forms of this, but under the creator's style, comforts, and experiences. They're still limited, but not as limited as old and unchanging styles like Wing Chun, Hung Gar, Muay Thai, Jiu-jitsu, Shotokan Karate, and more. "Only as strong as their weakest joint". From Naruto of all things, but it's true. Focused on one situation, they'll break when faced against situations they're not prepared against. Having strong overall joints means there's little weakness to exploit. 

 

The greatest martial art is the one the user creates; the greatest is the one that can fight in all situations.

 

Edit: TL;DR? The trash talking is accurate and applies to all martial arts. They all have their weakness for various reasons. Also, fighting one on one is different than few versus many; it's easier to fight one on one.

[lachyman]

I do Taekwondo for the 4th year now.

Though it's not a pure TKD, our trainer is a 2 times world champion and master in a ton of diffirent martial arts, so we mainly do TKD-competitive and technique + some techniques from other, mostly defensive martial arts.

Taekwondo on it's own can be VERY viable in a serious fight, the misinterpretation comes from competitive Taekwondo, where you don't have to drop your oponent to win, but score as much points as you can. Points aren't judged by referees anymore, but electronics and you get points even for a very light hit.

That's why you here all the time that a master in TKD got beaten up in a back alley and can be happy he's alive, serious TKD has the most powerful kicks of all MA's and can easily break your arms if you try to defend yourself.

[Nathanv31]

I've done taekwondo for eight years now. don't do many tournaments though, more for fitness than anything.

[ConfusedDolphin]

Respect is still a good thing. People do things for different reasons. People write to vent, create fantastic stores, argue over topics, etc. In say, a class about literature and analysis, the emphasis is that, but some teachers take it to a personal level. One of my English teacher is proud and expressive of his political views, but he never lets it interfere or change his views on a what a student should receive if say during an essay, a student wants to compare a novel to political issues. He knew a teacher who would fail students regardless of their effort, ability, or whatever if they don't follow her views which is ridiculous since she's teaching in a supposedly open environment. Students would have to lie to themselves just to get a passing grade. That's horrible.

 

In martial arts, people learn for various reasons. A person could take martial arts as a way to stay fit or because the alternative wasn't for them. People young and old take boxing, Tai chi, and Capoeira. Some else would take martial arts a way to relieve stress or learn to calm themselves. Muay Thai, Iaido, and Northern Shaolin can all be forms of relaxation for a person. I'm taking Tai chi as a way to learn to relax again and control my anxiety which suddenly popped up in my life. Another person is taking martial arts to rehabilitate after damaging their limbs. They could be taking Greco-Roman wrestling, Escrima, and/or Taekwondo to relearn their coordination. Others might be taking a martial art out of passion or historical interest. Self-defense is a driving motivation why people take martial arts. And someone might be taking martial arts as a way to vent their violent nature - what else are they going to do and the alternatives could land them in jail or leave them dead. Some might use martial arts to cope.

 

This is a dick bag being a dick bag. Respect means something and without it, well... Yeah.

 

Honor, memories, historical interest, peace of mind, family tradition, and more are reasons why people learn arts like Iaido, Kendo, fencing, Hung Gar, Tai chi, and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byAgl-b2xFs

 

Favorite movies lead to a rise in Karate, Taekwondo, Wing Chun, MMA, and JKD practitioners. 

 

People all have their reasons. That being said, there's a difference between fake, arrogant cash grabbers and proud, humble instructors. An instructor who teaches because that's how he was taught is neither wrong nor right and can't really be blamed. If he knows it might not be the best, that there can be change, and how he learned might not be good overall as a self-defense and/or competitive art then he's still better than an instructor who believes he is right no matter how wrong he's been proven or too stubborn to change. Many martial arts today have been changed to fit competitions and some of the "top" ones or ones who make the most money are kind of arrogant and stubborn. I'd like to see old-school Taekwondo over cash grab TKD or more Kyokushin karate. Still, competition for the fun of it isn't that bad, but the business practices are bad.

 

I am probably biased due to the people I have met in the clubs and gyms I have attended where the majority of people want something enjoyable and affective. Generally the more traditional a martial art is (the older it is) the more diluted or polluted it has become imo. Also from the point of view of effectiveness I (and others) believe that a martial art needs "hard" sparring in order to be effective.

 

I don’t have anything against people who practice martial arts purely for the culture and don’t really care how effective the moves they train are, it’s just not for me. I started because I wanted to be semi competent in a fighting scenario  but also for the social aspect, character development and fun.

 

Regarding respect, I think that the development of respect for other people is an important trait which you develop through martial arts but I am not a fan of the student / sensei relationship in allot of clubs/gyms.  (P.s. I can’t see the videos, youtube blocked for me atm)

[techswede]

[Jack.EXE]

I've read somewhere that if 50 black belts in tae kwon do faced down a single bjj master, they would all die.   Is this true?   Cuz I heard TKD was the single weakest martial art of all, the kind of fighting technique that is less effective than twirling your hands in the air trying to swat flies.

 

Is that trash talking I read accurate ?!?!????

no, Tae kwon do originated as a way to extremely quickly train small armies in effective hand to hand combat.

 

It allowed the south koreans to hold off a force 10 times larger.

[Hidden Orange]

I am probably biased due to the people I have met in the clubs and gyms I have attended where the majority of people want something enjoyable and affective. Generally the more traditional a martial art is (the older it is) the more diluted or polluted it has become imo. Also from the point of view of effectiveness I (and others) believe that a martial art needs "hard" sparring in order to be effective.

 

I don’t have anything against people who practice martial arts purely for the culture and don’t really care how effective the moves they train are, it’s just not for me. I started because I wanted to be semi competent in a fighting scenario  but also for the social aspect, character development and fun.

 

Regarding respect, I think that the development of respect for other people is an important trait which you develop through martial arts but I am not a fan of the student / sensei relationship in allot of clubs/gyms.  (P.s. I can’t see the videos, youtube blocked for me atm)

Like I said, people do different things for different reasons.

 

Kyokushin karate still does full contact sparring, but it's not that old since it started in 1964. One of my instructors learned the old school way where training involved having others wail on you while you stood and took the hits. Boxing, Pankration, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai, and Judo are one of the few martial arts that retain full contact sparring. Pankration is one of the oldest martial arts out there, but it's a bit "forgotten" and relatively unknown despite being what would seem to be the origin of boxing and wrestling.

 

Other martial arts have gone the way of cash grabbing and I bet the original instructors, students, practitioners, and other people who learned earlier than the current generation are rolling their eyes or rolling in their graves. Imagine the people who created Taekwondo and seeing it becoming a washed up shell of its former self and the greedy business it's a part of. Almost every martial art is created with the intention of self-defense or pure combat. Now, Wushu's more about showing off than being fluid, graceful, and powerful martial arts. Savate was a street-fighting survival system and while it's full contact, it's kind of gone the way of TKD tournaments of point-sparring. It's probably a way to work with the fact that boots and some of the kicks can severely injure others no matter how protected they are. Some savateurs and savateuses end up moving to boxing, MMA, kickboxing, and other competitions if they want to go away from point-sparring. Greed is good; greed leads to more money. Greed is bad; greed destroys.

 

For the videos. The first one was from Warrior where one of the main characters, Tommy, sees a guy named Mad Dog basically beat down and insult his sparring partner - looks more like a living punching bag to him. Tommy, as former marine and growing up with an abusive father, really didn't like what he was seeing. Tommy's just there to vent by working on the bags, but seeing the guy get beat up like that made him want to teach Mad Dog a lesson. He goes in and beats the living hell out of Mad Dog. It didn't help that Mad Dog insulted him for no real reason. Just because you're good or that you win a lot doesn't mean you can treat others like dirt.

 

The second video is of an old Iaido kata. It's just a way to show that people are interested in learning because of the calmness of it, historical aspect, or whatever. The third video is of Ip Chun, Ip Man's son, who continues his father's Wing Chun school and how the film based on Ip Man brought more attention to Wing Chun. Kind of like how Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon, and other martial arts films makes people want to learn for various reasons.

[techswede]

Like I said, people do different things for different reasons.

 

Kyokushin karate still does full contact sparring, but it's not that old since it started in 1964. One of my instructors learned the old school way where training involved having others wail on you while you stood and took the hits. Boxing, Pankration, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai, and Judo are one of the few martial arts that retain full contact sparring. Pankration is one of the oldest martial arts out there, but it's a bit "forgotten" and relatively unknown despite being what would seem to be the origin of boxing and wrestling.

 

Other martial arts have gone the way of cash grabbing and I bet the original instructors, students, practitioners, and other people who learned earlier than the current generation are rolling their eyes or rolling in their graves. Imagine the people who created Taekwondo and seeing it becoming a washed up shell of its former self and the greedy business it's a part of. Almost every martial art is created with the intention of self-defense or pure combat. Now, Wushu's more about showing off than being fluid, graceful, and powerful martial arts. Savate was a street-fighting survival system and while it's full contact, it's kind of gone the way of TKD tournaments of point-sparring. It's probably a way to work with the fact that boots and some of the kicks can severely injure others no matter how protected they are. Some savateurs and savateuses end up moving to boxing, MMA, kickboxing, and other competitions if they want to go away from point-sparring. Greed is good; greed leads to more money. Greed is bad; greed destroys.

 

For the videos. The first one was from Warrior where one of the main characters, Tommy, sees a guy named Mad Dog basically beat down and insult his sparring partner - looks more like a living punching bag to him. Tommy, as former marine and growing up with an abusive father, really didn't like what he was seeing. Tommy's just there to vent by working on the bags, but seeing the guy get beat up like that made him want to teach Mad Dog a lesson. He goes in and beats the living hell out of Mad Dog. It didn't help that Mad Dog insulted him for no real reason. Just because you're good or that you win a lot doesn't mean you can treat others like dirt.

 

The second video is of an old Iaido kata. It's just a way to show that people are interested in learning because of the calmness of it, historical aspect, or whatever. The third video is of Ip Chun, Ip Man's son, who continues his father's Wing Chun school and how the film based on Ip Man brought more attention to Wing Chun. Kind of like how Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon, and other martial arts films makes people want to learn for various reasons.

I'll agree with you on the wushu to a point.. The form competitions have become beauty pageants

And yes.. I have ponced around like that 

 

But at it's core it's still a usable martial art (With the southern styles since they are more planted and less acrobatic)

[Hidden Orange]

I'll agree with you on the wushu to a point.. The form competitions have become beauty pageants

snip

And yes.. I have ponced around like that 

 

But at it's core it's still a usable martial art (With the southern styles since they are more planted and less acrobatic)

There's Choy Li Fut which according to Bruce Lee fought Muay Thai and never lost compared to the other Wushu styles - take that with a grain of salt, though. Then again, from what Wikipedia said, it's a combination of Shaolin, Northern, and Southern styles.

 

Hmm, it's in Vietnamese.

 

All martial arts are usable since they offer techniques and lessons that can all be applied in some way. That's why tons of martial arts have a round house, front kick, and side kick. They just work. Boxing isn't all raw power or upper body strength. A boxer's punch is generated from his arms, hips, shoulders, and feet. Tai chi is slow at first, but when sped up, the subtle movements created from the entire body can create a ton of power. The one-inch punch is the symbol of power from the entire body. It's not about how much muscles you've put on, how big you are, how much you wind up, or how fast you are. It's all about that instant where the body creates an explosion. Tai chi teaches people that while with boxing you might not learn why, but you'll learn how.

[techswede]

There's Choy Li Fut which according to Bruce Lee fought Muay Thai and never lost compared to the other Wushu styles - take that with a grain of salt, though. Then again, from what Wikipedia said, it's a combination of Shaolin, Northern, and Southern styles.

 

Hmm, it's in Vietnamese.

 

All martial arts are usable since they offer techniques and lessons that can all be applied in some way. That's why tons of martial arts have a round house, front kick, and side kick. They just work. Boxing isn't all raw power or upper body strength. A boxer's punch is generated from his arms, hips, shoulders, and feet. Tai chi is slow at first, but when sped up, the subtle movements created from the entire body can create a ton of power. The one-inch punch is the symbol of power from the entire body. It's not about how much muscles you've put on, how big you are, how much you wind up, or how fast you are. It's all about that instant where the body creates an explosion. Tai chi teaches people that while with boxing you might not learn why, but you'll learn how.

Never heard much about that one. (But i guess schools want to keep their style as the one style).

I messaged a friend to see if he remembered what the most practical fighting style we learned in wushu was called. And he said it was Sanda. Basically chinese kickboxing. 

 

Here is a question for the people reading this thread.

 

What was the most brutal/painfull/hardest exercise you remember.

For me it's the "horse stance"

Here's an example

We had to hold this stance for a few minutes at a time. 

I can still do it for about two minutes.. But i feel sick afterwards

 

There were others. But this one is the one that is the most torturous for me

[Hidden Orange]

Never heard much about that one. (But i guess schools want to keep their style as the one style).

I messaged a friend to see if he remembered what the most practical fighting style we learned in wushu was called. And he said it was Sanda. Basically chinese kickboxing. 

 

Here is a question for the people reading this thread.

 

What was the most brutal/painfull/hardest exercise you remember.

For me it's the "horse stance"

Here's an example

snip

We had to hold this stance for a few minutes at a time. 

I can still do it for about two minutes.. But i feel sick afterwards

 

There were others. But this one is the one that is the most torturous for me

Sanshou's the other name for Sanda and Kenpo or Kempo - I don't know which one since there's an American one and a Okinawan one - are similar except Sanshou was developed by the Chinese military. You can guess why it's so effective. 

 

Painful exercise? More like torture from what I remember. Holding the pad for my instructor to kick or him one-inch palming or dagger-knuckling between my ribs. For reference, he kicks like a horse and one-inch palms target your organs. You can't train your organs, but you can learn the pain... Sparring with a MMA expert was also painful since it felt like being a rookie fighting a trained professional. Also, holding planks or bridges while said instructor stepping on you. He's not exactly what you'd call a featherweight by the way and he wears martial arts shoes. Y'know the pointy shoes kind of like boxing boots and wrestler shoes? I also remember doing the Kyokushin karate style of training where people wail on you. I don't remember who, while they didn't wail on me, it still hurt. It's "fun" being in a school that teaches almost every art. You will never escape each martial art's "exercise". 

[techswede]

Sanshou's the other name for Sanda and Kenpo or Kempo - I don't know which one since there's an American one and a Okinawan one - are similar except Sanshou was developed by the Chinese military. You can guess why it's so effective. 

 

Painful exercise? More like torture from what I remember. Holding the pad for my instructor to kick or him one-inch palming or dagger-knuckling between my ribs. For reference, he kicks like a horse and one-inch palms target your organs. You can't train your organs, but you can learn the pain... Sparring with a MMA expert was also painful since it felt like being a rookie fighting a trained professional. Also, holding planks or bridges while said instructor stepping on you. He's not exactly what you'd call a featherweight by the way and he wears martial arts shoes. Y'know the pointy shoes kind of like boxing boots and wrestler shoes? I also remember doing the Kyokushin karate style of training where people wail on you. I don't remember who, while they didn't wail on me, it still hurt. It's "fun" being in a school that teaches almost every art. You will never escape each martial art's "exercise". 

I remember the instructor walking on us in kyokushin.. And the 20-50 man kumite. Thankfully i never had to hold the pads for an instructor. Only for a fellow student. And that was alright.

Never got the dagger knuckling. But our instructor did one thing on the first day that still haunts me... An abdominal test. We had to tense up our abs and he pushed against them with his fingertips until we couldn't flex anymore.

At that point he did not let up. So it was like getting stabbed D:  .. 

But in all those cases the pain comes from someone else doing something to you. In the horse stance the only that caused the pain was myself. 

[Hidden Orange]

I remember the instructor walking on us in kyokushin.. And the 20-50 man kumite. Thankfully i never had to hold the pads for an instructor. Only for a fellow student. And that was alright.

Never got the dagger knuckling. But our instructor did one thing on the first day that still haunts me... An abdominal test. We had to tense up our abs and he pushed against them with his fingertips until we couldn't flex anymore.

At that point he did not let up. So it was like getting stabbed D:  .. 

But in all those cases the pain comes from someone else doing something to you. In the horse stance the only that caused the pain was myself. 

My cousin-in-law and I tend to be the test dummies in class since we're pretty normal compared to others - it doesn't help that we're similar in build and height. With locks and stuff, we can't do that with some people since they're really flexible and we could accidentally pop something since they can go a bit further than us. Ever get stabbed in the armpit? Any hit there might not be enough to cause an injury, but it's always going to shock you.

 

I tore skin from doing elbows, hurt my feet and knees with landing and stomps, and I remember vomiting several times from pushing myself too far. I hit myself in the eye with nunchuku. Luckily, nothing really happened, but it could have detached my optical nerve or outright damaging my eye enough that I'd lose sight or become partially blind in that eye.

[techswede]

My cousin-in-law and I tend to be the test dummies in class since we're pretty normal compared to others - it doesn't help that we're similar in build and height. With locks and stuff, we can't do that with some people since they're really flexible and we could accidentally pop something since they can go a bit further than us. Ever get stabbed in the armpit? Any hit there might not be enough to cause an injury, but it's always going to shock you.

 

I tore skin from doing elbows, hurt my feet and knees with landing and stomps, and I remember vomiting several times from pushing myself too far. I hit myself in the eye with nunchuku. Luckily, nothing really happened, but it could have detached my optical nerve or outright damaging my eye enough that I'd lose sight or become partially blind in that eye.

Oh you mean those damn rubber people.. A friend of mine is like that.. He can bend his fingers past the point where mine'd crack the knuckles and almost fold them against his palm.. Freaks me the hell out.

Strikes to the underside of the arm and armpit hurt like hell. And in some cases it can temporarily paralyze your arms

I never tried nunchukus.. And that does sound horrible  :mellow:. But i did... nick myself in the back of the head with a spear tip.. Wasn't fun either

The rest with the torn skin,hurt feet and knees and vomiting i still remember quite well. Never eat cheetos the day before training was a lesson i learned quite quickly  :lol:

[ConfusedDolphin]

Like I said, people do different things for different reasons.

 

Kyokushin karate still does full contact sparring, but it's not that old since it started in 1964. One of my instructors learned the old school way where training involved having others wail on you while you stood and took the hits. Boxing, Pankration, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai, and Judo are one of the few martial arts that retain full contact sparring. Pankration is one of the oldest martial arts out there, but it's a bit "forgotten" and relatively unknown despite being what would seem to be the origin of boxing and wrestling.

 

Other martial arts have gone the way of cash grabbing and I bet the original instructors, students, practitioners, and other people who learned earlier than the current generation are rolling their eyes or rolling in their graves. Imagine the people who created Taekwondo and seeing it becoming a washed up shell of its former self and the greedy business it's a part of. Almost every martial art is created with the intention of self-defense or pure combat. Now, Wushu's more about showing off than being fluid, graceful, and powerful martial arts. Savate was a street-fighting survival system and while it's full contact, it's kind of gone the way of TKD tournaments of point-sparring. It's probably a way to work with the fact that boots and some of the kicks can severely injure others no matter how protected they are. Some savateurs and savateuses end up moving to boxing, MMA, kickboxing, and other competitions if they want to go away from point-sparring. Greed is good; greed leads to more money. Greed is bad; greed destroys.

 

For the videos. The first one was from Warrior where one of the main characters, Tommy, sees a guy named Mad Dog basically beat down and insult his sparring partner - looks more like a living punching bag to him. Tommy, as former marine and growing up with an abusive father, really didn't like what he was seeing. Tommy's just there to vent by working on the bags, but seeing the guy get beat up like that made him want to teach Mad Dog a lesson. He goes in and beats the living hell out of Mad Dog. It didn't help that Mad Dog insulted him for no real reason. Just because you're good or that you win a lot doesn't mean you can treat others like dirt.

 

The second video is of an old Iaido kata. It's just a way to show that people are interested in learning because of the calmness of it, historical aspect, or whatever. The third video is of Ip Chun, Ip Man's son, who continues his father's Wing Chun school and how the film based on Ip Man brought more attention to Wing Chun. Kind of like how Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon, and other martial arts films makes people want to learn for various reasons.

 

I completely agree, point sparring necessarily dilutes the effectiveness of most martial arts. Take bjj (my fav), originating from gang/street fighting culture in brazil as a method of having the toughest thugs (there are cleaner versions of bjj history but, the Gracie’s were definitely not golden boys). By combining various aspects of Judo, other forms of Brazilian grappling, applying it to a vale tudo setting and then developing those skills to employ what worked and get rid of what did not they created an effective combat system. But now only a century in and point based sparring has turned competitive bjj into a game of double guard pulling and lapel manipulation (worm guard).

 

I still believe that bjj has more effectiveness left in it than other more traditional martial arts but you definitely have to use you judgment to pick and choose from the pool of techniques if you are just going after combat effectiveness. Why I love mma so much is you can see the moves that work and the moves that do not work.

[ConfusedDolphin]

Never heard much about that one. (But i guess schools want to keep their style as the one style).

I messaged a friend to see if he remembered what the most practical fighting style we learned in wushu was called. And he said it was Sanda. Basically chinese kickboxing. 

 

Here is a question for the people reading this thread.

 

What was the most brutal/painfull/hardest exercise you remember.

For me it's the "horse stance"

Here's an example

We had to hold this stance for a few minutes at a time. 

I can still do it for about two minutes.. But i feel sick afterwards

 

There were others. But this one is the one that is the most torturous for me

Not sure if this really counts but "Knee on belly" done by someone who kows how to do it is a living death

[Sammael]

Alright kids, enough of your power rangers play fighting.  It's time you saw a real master of martial arts.  Past Time.

 

[Hidden Orange]

I completely agree, point sparring necessarily dilutes the effectiveness of most martial arts. Take bjj (my fav), originating from gang/street fighting culture in brazil as a method of having the toughest thugs (there are cleaner versions of bjj history but, the Gracie’s were definitely not golden boys). By combining various aspects of Judo, other forms of Brazilian grappling, applying it to a vale tudo setting and then developing those skills to employ what worked and get rid of what did not they created an effective combat system. But now only a century in and point based sparring has turned competitive bjj into a game of double guard pulling and lapel manipulation (worm guard).

 

 

 

I still believe that bjj has more effectiveness left in it than other more traditional martial arts but you definitely have to use you judgment to pick and choose from the pool of techniques if you are just going after combat effectiveness. Why I love mma so much is you can see the moves that work and the moves that do not work.

I thought BJJ was from the Gracie family learning under Judo or Jiu-jitsu, but instead of using more force since not all people are towering muscled supermen, the Gracie family modified it to use leverage and weak points which is much more effective that brute strength and some leverage.

[Admire]

Mixed Martial Arts combined with BJJ and Muay Thai.....Started 7 years ago, been out injured for 2 years with some serious knee shit.

 

LOVE IT!
 

[Guest]

Not exactly martial arts but I do medieval and huskarl-type fencing and exhibition fights. It's mostly during the summer for festivals though, nobody really wants to run around with that much metal on their body when it's freezing outside.