Almost right except for the gunpowder.
If I were to compete using strength, I would fail. Aikido and some other MAs teach you to be soft. You don't need strength then. As you get older certainly you can stay as healthy and fit as you can but you will never compete using strength alone. 
If any instructor of the martial arts said that you don't have to be in good shape to be effective in the martial arts, that technique alone would do it, I would not train under such an instructor. It can be a misconception among non martial artists that all you need is technique and you don't have to be in good shape, but anybody who has decent experience in the martial arts, certainly somebody who is experienced enough to teach should know that you have to be in good shape too. Thats why martial arts classes usually involve calisthenics. An instructor who says otherwise I would not trust.
If being in good shape wasn't necessary for being effective in the martial arts than why was Royce Gracie doing all these weightlifting exercises when he was preparing for a fight? Years back Royce wrote a magazine article talking about all the exercises he would do at the gym with weights in preparation for a fight.
Well obviously you do need more than strength. You also need skill and technique. The very idea behind some martial arts is to be able to defeat a larger, stronger opponent. But even arts such as Aikido require you to do techniques over and over again in training which does require endurance. And while not all martial arts might require much brute strength, the kind of strength for lifting lots of weight or for outstrengthening somebody, they do require the kind of strength that somebody in ballet or gymnastics needs to be able to move their body the way they do.Almost right except for the gunpowder.
Because he was preparing for a fight! He was preparing to take on another world class athlete. That is totally different to the average person who is learning a martial art. If you are training MMA and wanting to compete in the ring your training will be totally different to mine. I am not anticipating a fight anytime soon so I don't require the same level of peak fitness.
Again there is different types of training. In Aikido there is absolutely no way I could do the rolls and falls that the younger guys do. And in Aikido I don't require any strength at all to perform the techniques. That's right .... zero strength. I used to be a gymnast and I can assure you I have about 30% of the strength and 20% of the fitness I had 50 years ago.
Because he was preparing for a competitive sparring match against a world class athlete.
A street confrontation or self defense situation can happen at any time. Its not like sport fighting where the events are planned out in advance and you know when you will go in to compete. When a real fight happens and you have to defend yourself usually there is no planning and there is no notice beforehand so to be prepared I would say its best to anticipate the possibility of a fight at any time. If you know about the Cooper Color Codes stay in the yellow. And that includes keeping yourself in decent enough shape in case you do have a confrontation. Be prepared, that's the scout motto.
Zero strength? If you used absolutely zero strength you wouldn't even be moving. To move at least requires some strength. Maybe not as much as a seasoned gymnast but it does require some strength.
A street confrontation or self defense situation can happen at any time. Its not like sport fighting where the events are planned out in advance and you know when you will go in to compete. When a real fight happens and you have to defend yourself usually there is no planning and there is no notice beforehand so to be prepared I would say its best to anticipate the possibility of a fight at any time. If you know about the Cooper Color Codes stay in the yellow. And that includes keeping yourself in decent enough shape in case you do have a confrontation. Be prepared, that's the scout motto.[/QUOTEI do know the colour codes. If you stick to yellow you will hardly even leave your house! Always prepared though.
Umm! You didn't read what I wrote. I said 'zero strength', not 'zero effort'. Subtle difference.
I'd love to see you in one of our classes. You might just get a rude shock.
You are talking about sport and in that situation, I agree. I know a number of 60+ people you wouldn't want to tangle with.You can't tell the quality of a martial artist by his fitness. That is plain ridiculous. How about a world class gymnast who has been training a martial art for three months? He's very fit but he barely knows the basics of the art.
I think we might all be in the penalty loop!
