Style Bashing

[geezer]

The problem with that is that the system may have been developed for a specific situation. Example. Sword fighting systems lack a good set of punching and kicking techniques. Is it incomplete?

Is a car incomplete because it cannot drive on water? Is boxing incomplete because it has no kicking? There won't be a one size fits all for martial arts.

The Chinese have a solution to that, The Boat-Car-Plane, an amphibious flying car:

Looks cool, but it cannot function as well on land as a good car, on water as well as a good boat, or in the air as well as a good plane. You can't do everything and do it all really well. The same applies to MA.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

There is no right or wrong but trade off. The following is the general "style bashing" between northern CMA and southern CMA.

Northern CMA: When I punch, my back shoulder, chest, front shoulder, punching arm make a perfect straight line. This way, I can have the maximum reach - 1 long arm, 1 short arm with more powerful compress-release punch.

Southern CMA: When I punch, my chest and my punching arm make a 90-degree angle. This way, my other punch can hit my opponent much faster - both arms have the same reach with faster double punches.

Nothing about that is style-bashing, though. I mean, to bash a style, you need to at least refer to it in some way.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

The Chinese have a solution to that, The Boat-Car-Plane, an amphibious flying car:

Looks cool, but it cannot function as well on land as a good car, on water as well as a good boat, or in the air as well as a good plane. You can't do everything and do it all really well. The same applies to MA.

And yet, I want one.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Nothing about that is style-bashing, though. I mean, to bash a style, you need to at least refer to it in some way.

So if A says what his style has that B's style doesn't have, is that not style bashing?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

So if A says what his style has that B's style doesn't have, is that not style bashing?

Not really. If @Steve says BJJ has a better ground game than NGA, that’s just facts. Nothing in that statement is bashing NGA, just pointing out something NGA isn’t generally good at.

But more to the point, your example would be more like @Steve saying BJJ has a strong ground game. The people in your example didn’t mention other styles at all.

 

[JowGaWolf]

And yet, I want one.

I'm thinking you will change your mind once you actually got it. A lot of times people think they want something and then when they get it, they realize that they only thought they wanted it. Sort of like MA. Lots of people like the idea of Fighting Using Martial Arts, but when they finally take the class they realize that they don't want it, nor the work that comes with it.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I'm thinking you will change your mind once you actually got it. A lot of times people think they want something and then when they get it, they realize that they only thought they wanted it. Sort of like MA. Lots of people like the idea of Fighting Using Martial Arts, but when they finally take the class they realize that they don't want it, nor the work that comes with it.

I get the analogy, and you’re right, there.

But this, I want. It’s not a practical thing, but it’d be kinda cool to get a lake house and be able to take this to the marina, then drive to a little air strip, and hop over to Asheville for dinner without having to get in the construction traffic.

Which I’d do twice a year. When someone was visiting.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I get the analogy, and you’re right, there.

But this, I want. It’s not a practical thing, but it’d be kinda cool to get a lake house and be able to take this to the marina, then drive to a little air strip, and hop over to Asheville for dinner without having to get in the construction traffic.

Which I’d do twice a year. When someone was visiting.

Besides floating on water, that was exactly the Ford Pinto was created for.

The Tragic Story of the Flying Ford Pinto Ended Exactly How You'd Expect

Taking one of history's most infamously unsafe compact cars and putting wings on it was never the best plan.

www.thedrive.com

 

[Dirty Dog]

Besides floating on water, that was exactly the Ford Pinto was created for.

No it wasn't. It was created to be a 4th of July firework display on wheels.

 

[Steve]

Not really. If @Steve says BJJ has a better ground game than NGA, that’s just facts. Nothing in that statement is bashing NGA, just pointing out something NGA isn’t generally good at.

But more to the point, your example would be more like @Steve saying BJJ has a strong ground game. The people in your example didn’t mention other styles at all.

I don't think I'd say either of those things, whether they're true or not. I've never been interested in any style vs style stuff, and if you think I do, I have done a very poor job of explaining my opinions. And besides, what you're talking about is just common sense.

For me, there are really two categories of martial arts styles. Those that don't do and those that do do (haha). Application is more common in some styles than others. Some styles bake application into the style. Some styles specifically exclude it. Some are hit and miss depending on the individual's professional needs and/or the school/instructor.

But it's always an if/then thing. If you are applying your skills, then you are building reliable expertise beyond basic comprehension or application. If you are not, then you are stalling at best at the level of functional beginner. Doesn't matter what you're talking about... cooking, golf, martial arts, art, music, writing, your job. There is no secret formula to developing expertise. It's extremely predictable and reliable in every human activity, including martial arts.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I don't think I'd say either of those things, whether they're true or not. I've never been interested in any style vs style stuff, and if you think I do, I have done a very poor job of explaining my opinions. And besides, what you're talking about is just common sense.

Nothing about that was what you would say - I just used you because BJJ is something most folks are familiar with. I don't think any of those statements are inherently style-vs-style, either. There's a comparison, but it's not a claim that one style is inherently better. If I say boxing has better strikes than BJJ, that's not really making any claims about which is the better art - it's just an observation (and a glaringly obvious one).

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Not really. If @Steve says BJJ has a better ground game than NGA, that’s just facts. Nothing in that statement is bashing NGA, just pointing out something NGA isn’t generally good at.

But more to the point, your example would be more like @Steve saying BJJ has a strong ground game. The people in your example didn’t mention other styles at all.

I don't think I'd say either of those things, whether they're true or not. I've never been interested in any style vs style stuff, and if you think I do, I have done a very poor job of explaining my opinions. And besides, what you're talking about is just common sense.

For me, there are really two categories of martial arts styles. Those that don't do and those that do do (haha). Application is more common in some styles than others. Some styles bake application into the style. Some styles specifically exclude it. Some are hit and miss depending on the individual's professional needs and/or the school/instructor.

But it's always an if/then thing. If you are applying your skills, then you are building reliable expertise beyond basic comprehension or application. If you are not, then you are stalling at best at the level of functional beginner. Doesn't matter what you're talking about... cooking, golf, martial arts, art, music, writing, your job. There is no secret formula to developing expertise. It's extremely predictable and reliable in every human activity, including martial arts.

Nothing about that was what you would say - I just used you because BJJ is something most folks are familiar with. I don't think any of those statements are inherently style-vs-style, either. There's a comparison, but it's not a claim that one style is inherently better. If I say boxing has better strikes than BJJ, that's not really making any claims about which is the better art - it's just an observation (and a glaringly obvious one).

There's no real contradiction in the points here. BJJ has a strong ground game and is better in that area than NGA, because BJJ practitioners spend lots of time actually "doing" - applying the ground game, more so than most other systems. Boxing has better punches than BJJ because boxers spend more time "doing" (applying punches) than BJJ students do.

I mean, I do teach my BJJ students some rudimentary punching and give them some opportunities to spar with punches, but they generally get less practice punching in a month of my BJJ classes than they would in one of my boxing classes.