bushidomartialarts
Senior Master
Here's a new take on this tired, tedious argument.
Self-defense is staying alive and able despite...challenges. TMA and MMA each have their own pros and cons on the physical side. Mostly it boils down to how you train, not what you train in.
But let's look at real self-defense. If you really want to focus on things that might kill or disable you, a violent confrontation is statistically a bad bet. Look at the CDC statistics on death and injury. Assault and murder don't make the top ten.
What's gonna get you are diet, exercise, stress and lifestyle. In these departments, TMA (taught traditionally, not mcdojo style) wins hands down in my experience. MMA doesn't often teach meditation, lifestyle hacks or anger management techniques. True, MMA has more rigorous workouts, but they're really not sustainable into our later years. I will give a point to MMA for nutrition and diet..although weight cutting still happens and isn't good long term.
That 80 year old martial artist who can still do the splits and is still on the seminar circuit (Phil Porter and Cacoy Canete leap to mind)? That's gonna be a TMA guy.
Self-defense is staying alive and able despite...challenges. TMA and MMA each have their own pros and cons on the physical side. Mostly it boils down to how you train, not what you train in.
But let's look at real self-defense. If you really want to focus on things that might kill or disable you, a violent confrontation is statistically a bad bet. Look at the CDC statistics on death and injury. Assault and murder don't make the top ten.
What's gonna get you are diet, exercise, stress and lifestyle. In these departments, TMA (taught traditionally, not mcdojo style) wins hands down in my experience. MMA doesn't often teach meditation, lifestyle hacks or anger management techniques. True, MMA has more rigorous workouts, but they're really not sustainable into our later years. I will give a point to MMA for nutrition and diet..although weight cutting still happens and isn't good long term.
That 80 year old martial artist who can still do the splits and is still on the seminar circuit (Phil Porter and Cacoy Canete leap to mind)? That's gonna be a TMA guy.