Originally posted by asoka
First of all for those who don't know what Pankration is,it's a martial arts that combines MuayThai Kickboxing and Submission Wrestling,giving the advantage over most arts because of it's ability to fight both stand up and on ground.
You have been misinformed. Traditional arts rarely do not cover both areas of combat.
Traditional arts as in the traditional asian arts like karate,tae kwon do,kung fu,and many other arts,can be said to be of no use.
Yes, it can be said....by someone who has no idea of what they are talking about.
Let me give you my reason as well as 15yrs. experience as a martial artist.
Oh boy *grabs some popcorn*
1/ Traditional arts teach katas which are pre-arranged forms,with very few effective hidden techniques.Stances in traditional arts would never work in a real situation.
No. Kata typically do one of two things. They either teach how to move your body in that perticular style, or they teach you strategy of fundamentals. Piecing those fundamentals together and give insights on how they can be broadened and worked upon.
2/ In traditional arts a student is taught to pull back on his/her punches in fear of hurting another student.Infact most students of these styles fight in point sparring instead of full contact or continuous sparring.
Not in any traditional art that I've ever studied.
3/ The forms done in Traditional Asian Arts puts limits on students,instead of them being able to put themselves in the shoes of a real fighter.The forms are no doubt great for concentration,balance,focus,and co-ordination as a true martial artist needs,however there are better ways to train in this.These forms are useless for actual self-defense.Very few techniques would work.
No, see above. It doesn't set limits on students, it expands their concepts and methods to be able to work as a whole.
Shu Ha Ri is a concept in Japanese Budo training. Perfection of the technique is learned. Then the technique is changed and opened up....the boundries are destroyed and it's changed into every circumstance imaginable. After this is achieved, the technique is thrown away. It's interesting how that doesn't sound at all like the "traditional" in which you are referring.
4/ Katas give students a false belief that ,by repetition of these forms their fighting ability will improve,giving them a better chance of being able to defend themselves,when infact it could be making things worse by doing the exact opposite.It doesn't properly prepare you for an attack since forms are usually done going across the floor ,looking through a mirror.
Not what-so-ever. It's not a false belief that it's giving some type of ability beyond what the kata/waza is explaining.
5/ Students and those who teach these asian arts don't realize to beat a fighter you have to put yourself in their shoes.In other words to be a fighter you must train like one.Do you honestly think some attacker is going to come at you in fancy stance,making it easy for you to kick his ***?Hell no.If a mugger was going to make it easy there would be no point in learning self-defense.
Where do you come up with this information? Combat doesn't occur when things are fair. I'm curious in to what "traditional" arts you are basing these ideas.
6/ Most instructors of these asian arts don't even know the bunkai to the katas they teach,they just know how to do the forms in itself.They teach it the way they were taught,and expect you to listen and learn without being questioned about it.
If you're going to pay to learn something shouldn't you have the right to question what you are learning and expect to know how to apply what you learn? Hell ya.
The only thing I've ever learned in traditional arts beyond fundamentals was bunkai.
In Pankration,an instructor expects to be questioned and is prepared to answer and knows how to apply what he/she is teaching.
Oh, you mean like in traditional martial arts?
Pankration doesn't rely on pre-arranged techniques moving across the floor.
And neither do traditional martial arts.
In Pankration we are taught moves that are both shown and applied on a partner.Every technique involves the use of another person,never done on its own.We are taught the moves in several ways but are also taught those exact techniques may be applied in many other ways,not just limited to ways taught in class.
Wow...just like traditional martial arts.
In Pankration we don't have any fancy,but useless stances like sanchin,shicko dachi etc.we only have left and right fighting stance.
If you label such things as useless, then your understanding of the purpose of those kata aren't there. I'm not a karate-ka, nor do I pretend to be. Yet seeing Sanchin done I can see the purposes behind it. It's tragic that you spent so much time studying an art and left with such little understanding of it.
In Pankration we also are not taught to pull back on punches and kicks unlike in Traditional Asian Arts.With Pankration everything is straight to the point and full contact.
And I'm sure over-commited and un-controlled as well. However, we don't pull strikes in training either.
This is the difference between Pankration and Traditional Asian Arts.
Thank you for taking the time of your post to guess and make false assumptions based on your very limited and uneducated understanding. It was a good read...and rather entertaining. How about next time you don't base such broad judgements off of three years of watered down Karate study at the Local YMCA?
You have yourself a good day...
Jay
maybe after several reincarnations 
