No because it doesn't make zero sense. There are different things that can be done for mental and physical health. Alot of the TMA systems have things about health and mental well being that you aren't going to find in a MMA gym. As a matter of fact when MMA fighters want that aspect of it, they go outside of MMA and do things like Yoga. Conor McGregor does Yoga. Yoga is not MMA
You can't get what you get out of Yoga by doing MMA.
As you say, there are different things that can be done for mental and physical health. So, it seems really odd that you don't recognize the obvious physical, mental, and spiritual benefits that MMA (and other competitive arts) provide.
That's true.
Most TMA schools that I know of that focus (with exceptions) are more likely to work on deescalation method than punching someone in the face. One of the things we hear in TMA schools is "we only teach for defense." One of the drills that's common is that that one student punches me and I must react. I cannot do anything until the student punches. The martial arts is almost taught from the perspective some "Someone must attack me first before I can fight back."
What a sentence. Most... that you know of... are more likely? Well, it's settled then.
But, for the sake of discussion, let's take this at face value. I would say that martial arts schools are one of many places where folks can learn effective deescalation techniques and skills. In fact, if deescalation techniques are the goal, I'd take quality call center training and experience all day long over TMA instruction. People who work in government, in 800 number call centers, in food service, as flight attendants... now THOSE people are learning real world deescalation skills, and I would bet that many have excellent training on the topic.
I'd say the same thing for MMA training, too. I wouldn't count on a martial arts instructor to teach me anything but martial arts. That's were folks get into trouble.
But, as I've said many times before, if I'm looking for someone who is well prepared for self defense, I'll take the MMA trained guy who doesn't engage in high risk behaviors (e.g., drinking to excess in public, drug use, moonlighting as a prostitute, running with a gang) who is inherently just a nice person, and who worked for several years as a call center agent, or something similar. That person will be fit, happy, have some fighting skills, and also have at least some rudimentary deescalation skills and instincts.
We can pull up tons of TMA videos that start off with "When A does this, then I react and do that." I understand why they say this to children but I think they take it too far sometimes and as a result it makes it difficult to fight offensively with Martial Arts. Some even make kids take pledges that they will only use martial arts to defend themselves..
Kids are whole different topic. Suffice to say, the kids on the D&D club are learning about as much self defense skill as the kids in most tiny tigers classes. The difference is that the D&D club kids are likely to be more self aware about their fighting prowess, and won't suffer the same crisis of confidence that a tiny tiger who has delusions of grandeur will.
As with adults, if you want a kid to learn to fight, they need to fight. Judo, BJJ, wrestling, TKD, boxing. We can argue about which is best, but as much grief as TKD gets... kids in TKD who compete are learning real skills.
If people are being programmed to only used Martial Arts for self-defense, then they are less likely to get into fights. The are also more likely to use other methods to deal with violent conflict. That whole concept of winning a fight without fighting, runs deep in some schools.
If you only learn self defense from a martial arts school, you are being programmed in the manner you suggest. Of the two of us, one is programmed as you describe... and it's not me. What I would suggest is that if you stop thinking of martial arts schools as "self defense" schools, and instead think of them as what they are (a place to learn to fight), then you start to think of self defense in a much more constructive manner.
For the rest, you are making really clear the fundamental issues with the TMA mindset toward self defense. People can get a lot of physical and mental health benefits from working out at the gym. They can get it from surfing, or hiking. This idea that TMA has a monopoly on it is silly. Literally any physically challenging activity has the potential for physical, mental, and emotional benefit. In fact, I would say, the more prominent these things are in the sales pitch for a martial arts school, the less likely it will deliver.
Yep. spiritual health, chi, (qui), weapons, lion dance, forms (kata), forms competition, point sparring, weapons sparring, lessons on internal vs external, soft vs hard. Traditional training methods.. For the physical part you can't beat age or the problems that come with it. As much as we like to bang things out we can't always do that. There will come a time when our training will change, unless you talking about the non-fighting parts of MMA. I just don't see 80 large group of 80 year old dudes in the MMA ring. But I can find a large number of 80 year old people practicing there TMA system staying active and being healthy. I don't see the TMA people getting in to the ring either. At some point of the time, it becomes necessary to stop banging the body out like young people do.
So, the metric you're using now is longevity? That seems arbitrary. I know a lot of old folks do tai chi. My mom is one, and I am all for the health benefits to her. But she also swims, which is as good for her as tai chi. And she does not delude herself into thinking she is learning martial skill. She uses her brains and her experience, as she always has.
I know old dudes do BJJ and Judo, as well. We have some old guys on this forum.
But all of this is a red herring. If we're talking about physical, mental, and emotional health benefits for a person in a moment, longevity is only one of many factors. Shoot, if longevity is the single determiner of efficacy here, I would say video games are more effective than anything else, because you literally just need to have functioning hands to do it.
If I want to be as fit as possible then I have to do it in a way that my body isn't sustaining unhealthy damage. Randy Couture talks about the similar things @9:27 He mentions about how his body holding up allowed him to stay as active as he has been able to do. I think a few months after this, interview he had a heart attack..
Elite level athletes in any sport put their bodies through a tremendous amount of physical stress.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and a slew of professional golfers who suffer from chronic back issues, elbow problems, and injuries related to engaging in a sport as an elite level professional.
If you go to Sun City West, AZ and walk around the golf courses practically any morning of the week, you will see hundreds of geezers out there playing golf. Thousands of geriatric golfers are on the links every week across the world.
But, like you, I can easily find
an article or
even a couple of articles on Google that would make support a specious argument to the contrary.
