Complementary Skills or Hobbies

[Bill Mattocks]

What skills or hobbies do you use to augment your martial arts?

Gardening.

 

[EvolveMartialArts]

Gardening.

Interesting answer, could you explain how gardening helps with your martial art?

 

[EvolveMartialArts]

Maybe not, but you'd eat it just the same.

cant say I would unless I know what it is

 

[Unkogami]

I bet its quite easy to throw people with all that strength training

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[Rich Parsons]

fair point, but I was more thinking along the lines of something to help train your body or skills without actually practicing martial arts. example: like playing ping pong to help train your eyes.

Shooting is repetitive skill
It trains one to deploy weapons which also work for no firearms
Having a methodology of approaching expertise in one can and does help in training other items/ hobbies / et al.

 

[Oily Dragon]

cant say I would unless I know what it is

Thats ok, I'll say it for you. Yes you would.

Those were clickable links. I made it so easy.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

cant say I would unless I know what it is

If I understood it correctly, he was calling himself a chef as his complimentary skill.

 

[Oily Dragon]

If I understood it correctly, he was calling himself a chef as his complimentary skill.

Thank you.

The western term is "Kitchen God".

Kitchen God - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Interesting answer, could you explain how gardening helps with your martial art?

Gardening teaches patience. Outcomes are dependent on many things, some of which you can control and which you cannot. Fruits, vegetables, and flowers arrive on their schedule, not yours, but they are always on time.

Kneeling or sitting or squatting in the dirt all day, one learns humility. And the dignity of simple menial tasks.

Technique is required to use your tools effectively and avoid injury due to improper body mechanics.

Gardening is a solitary path, as is martial arts training in the way of self-discipline.

Gardening teaches the importance of good tools, as well as the value of maintaining them properly.

Anyone can garden. Anyone.

Gardening is taught from skilled teacher to eager beginner. A dirt-poor teacher can be a master, a wealthy banker can be a student. Everyone is equal, only skill matters, and everyone can be a gardener. Most will not be.

It teaches that skills learned stay with you; you add to your abilities rather than starting from scratch every year. It opens your eyes to your natural allies as well as enemies.

Gardening gives you the understanding to keep what works, discard what does not, and to modify techniques until they work for you, but always within the context of what exists. One does not grow imaginary plants.

Gardening teaches you to use what you have, and to tend what grows where you are, not what you wish would grow.

Gardening shows you that you can start over if you do not like what you have made.

Gardening does not require talking. Indeed, the more your mouth is closed, the less dirt gets in it.

Money buys nice tools. It doesn't make food from the garden taste better, or flowers more beautiful. It doesn't impart skill.

When, after many years, others see your garden and marvel at it, they only see the flowers. They do not see the effort it took, the dedication, or the patience.

In these ways, my gardening informs my martial arts training.

 

[EvolveMartialArts]

Gardening teaches patience. Outcomes are dependent on many things, some of which you can control and which you cannot. Fruits, vegetables, and flowers arrive on their schedule, not yours, but they are always on time.

Kneeling or sitting or squatting in the dirt all day, one learns humility. And the dignity of simple menial tasks.

Technique is required to use your tools effectively and avoid injury due to improper body mechanics.

Gardening is a solitary path, as is martial arts training in the way of self-discipline.

Gardening teaches the importance of good tools, as well as the value of maintaining them properly.

Anyone can garden. Anyone.

Gardening is taught from skilled teacher to eager beginner. A dirt-poor teacher can be a master, a wealthy banker can be a student. Everyone is equal, only skill matters, and everyone can be a gardener. Most will not be.

It teaches that skills learned stay with you; you add to your abilities rather than starting from scratch every year. It opens your eyes to your natural allies as well as enemies.

Gardening gives you the understanding to keep what works, discard what does not, and to modify techniques until they work for you, but always within the context of what exists. One does not grow imaginary plants.

Gardening teaches you to use what you have, and to tend what grows where you are, not what you wish would grow.

Gardening shows you that you can start over if you do not like what you have made.

Gardening does not require talking. Indeed, the more your mouth is closed, the less dirt gets in it.

Money buys nice tools. It doesn't make food from the garden taste better, or flowers more beautiful. It doesn't impart skill.

When, after many years, others see your garden and marvel at it, they only see the flowers. They do not see the effort it took, the dedication, or the patience.

In these ways, my gardening informs my martial arts training.

I definitely never thought about gardening deeply like that, I can see the connections your making and in that respect you can link a lot of our daily life activity as something to better our ability as martial artists, thank you for the explanation.

 

[Anarax]

What skills or hobbies do you use to augment your martial arts?

I use my sport fencing experience for range awareness and proper distancing

 

[Steve]

Well, @Bill Mattocks stole my answer. I was totally going to say gardening

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

fair point, but I was more thinking along the lines of something to help train your body or skills without actually practicing martial arts. example: like playing ping pong to help train your eyes.

I shoot also, hand eye coordination and breath control are at the top of the list for shooting. I shoot 1000 yds rifle as well and I can tell you it’s everything to do that, posture, balance, coordination, fine motor skills, timing all contribute to putting that tiny object into a tiny spot through several different directions and speeds of wind. Total focus, just like a fight.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

knife throwing seems like a fun hobby to pick up, I would definitely try it but I would need to get the knives and a place for a target.

They are cheap, and a round of wood works great.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I start lines on drug addicts, centenarians, and neonates. How about intubating someone in a helicopter or ambulance?

If you're relying on strength for the throw to work, you're doing it wrong. Strength helps, but technique is more important in most cases.

A very wise man once said:
If you throw your knife in an fight...
You lose your knife.
Knife throwing against a static target is a lot of fun. If the target is moving, it's a really low percentage attack. I did some googleing and YouBoobing. And you know what? Not a single one of the "expert" and "world champion" knife throwers used a target that was moving forwards or backwards. One guy had it swinging side to side. The other had it rotating in place. In other words, a fixed distance.
If you want a distance weapon, get a gun and learn to use it properly.

All that! IV starts and intubation on certain animals, venomous snakes for instance, is a good time to check skill levels. I haven’t done it in a vehicle, I’m sure that adds a whole new element.

 

[Flying Crane]

I build my own weaponry, mostly. That gives me a chance to make something that works well for me, and is often of higher quality than what is readily available on the markets. Much of the stuff imported from China for use in Chinese martial arts, is pretty poor quality. At the least, I am able to improve upon those things by rebuilding them, provided that there is something salvageable to begin with.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Thank you.

The western term is "Kitchen God".

Kitchen God - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Lol!

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Gardening teaches patience. Outcomes are dependent on many things, some of which you can control and which you cannot. Fruits, vegetables, and flowers arrive on their schedule, not yours, but they are always on time.

Kneeling or sitting or squatting in the dirt all day, one learns humility. And the dignity of simple menial tasks.

Technique is required to use your tools effectively and avoid injury due to improper body mechanics.

Gardening is a solitary path, as is martial arts training in the way of self-discipline.

Gardening teaches the importance of good tools, as well as the value of maintaining them properly.

Anyone can garden. Anyone.

Gardening is taught from skilled teacher to eager beginner. A dirt-poor teacher can be a master, a wealthy banker can be a student. Everyone is equal, only skill matters, and everyone can be a gardener. Most will not be.

It teaches that skills learned stay with you; you add to your abilities rather than starting from scratch every year. It opens your eyes to your natural allies as well as enemies.

Gardening gives you the understanding to keep what works, discard what does not, and to modify techniques until they work for you, but always within the context of what exists. One does not grow imaginary plants.

Gardening teaches you to use what you have, and to tend what grows where you are, not what you wish would grow.

Gardening shows you that you can start over if you do not like what you have made.

Gardening does not require talking. Indeed, the more your mouth is closed, the less dirt gets in it.

Money buys nice tools. It doesn't make food from the garden taste better, or flowers more beautiful. It doesn't impart skill.

When, after many years, others see your garden and marvel at it, they only see the flowers. They do not see the effort it took, the dedication, or the patience.

In these ways, my gardening informs my martial arts training.

Wow! Beautifully articulated! I’m deeply impressed.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Oh wait I just remembered something my Sifu said. “Fighting is the second most intimate thing you can do with someone.” Yeah, so that too if I’m lucky enough…

 

[CaptLou]

What skills or hobbies do you use to augment your martial arts?

I started playing Handball...to equalize effectiveness of both Lf & Rt hands, also good for conditioning, and quick bursts of leg usage.