I think that it's the height of hubris to believe that in more than 5,000+ years of documented grappling that anyone has "improved" on anything. Anything we do now has been done in the past 5,000 years. The only things that change are the rules. When the French "invented" Greco-Roman wrestling by rebranding local French wrestling styles, it was not the same as actual Grecian or Roman wrestling which, from the images and accounts, had many techniques and strategies which are not present in frenchie wrestling specifically because of the rule sets. Then someone comes along and throws out the Greco-Roman rule set, applies one more similar to the ancient rules, adapts the techniques and strategies they know to fit the new rule set, then pats themselves on the back for being "innovative" by re-learning how to do things that the Greeks were documented doing 3,000 years ago. Good job.
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
Why on earth would anybody learn to fight with, or against, some outdated, antique, inferior weapon? I mean, it's not like anybody actually uses, for instance, a quarterstaff or <cough> "bo staff" any more.
Sorry, we've already established that you're not qualified to talk about this.
The ones being built now, using the "antique" designs, are just as accurate as any.
Buy any Ruger, Smith, or Uberti SAA and they are every bit as reliable as anything else you can buy, more so than some.
That's not what you claimed. You wrote "easier to handle" and that is wrong. An SAA is exceptionally easy to "handle" (use).
Straw man and mark of either sloppy thinking or desperation. No one but you has made that claim.
I think that it's the height of hubris to believe that in more than 5,000+ years of documented grappling that anyone has "improved" on anything. Anything we do now has been done in the past 5,000 years. The only things that change are the rules. When the French "invented" Greco-Roman wrestling by rebranding local French wrestling styles, it was not the same as actual Grecian or Roman wrestling which, from the images and accounts, had many techniques and strategies which are not present in frenchie wrestling specifically because of the rule sets. Then someone comes along and throws out the Greco-Roman rule set, applies one more similar to the ancient rules, adapts the techniques and strategies they know to fit the new rule set, then pats themselves on the back for being "innovative" by re-learning how to do things that the Greeks were documented doing 3,000 years ago. Good job.
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
New to people currently alive.
Only if the environment and the technology changes. Human joints haven't changed in at least 200,000 years. I guarantee with 100% certainty that humans have been grappling for the entire time. And the body hasn't changed in the intervening milenia. Anything we know now about bending or breaking the body (as opposed to putting it back together again), was recognized a LOOOONG time back. If we don't currently know something about how to bend and break the human body using bare hands in a wrestling event, then it's because we've forgotten it, probably because of social norms and rules associated with sportive events.
I don't know about this. Maybe the only advantage modern athletes have is better nutrition and fitness training.
Good points, and an argument for diversity in rulesets and application, not the absence of it. A grappler who only competes in IBJJF competitions will have a less complete skill set than someone who competes in IBJJF, judo, submission only, gi, and no-gi. And if, on top of all of that, the person uses grappling skills in a more expansive context where striking can be involved, (e.g., MMA, a copper, bouncer, hitman, gang member, or anarchist) he/she'll have an even broader skill set.
Depends on the sport. Sometimes, and maybe this is what Hanzou is getting at, it's just a function of better technology. Look at the swimsuit in competitive swimming. At one point, the suits were made of wool. In the 1920s, a person started using the modern "racerback" suit and immediately set new world records. Then someone wore a suit made of silk and set more world records. Then nylon came into play in the 1950s... and more world records. Then lycra, and then in the 1990s (I think), they started wearing the full body suits... all of these made them faster.
I do agree with much of what you have written here especially the part on how human anatomy hasn't changed much in 200,000 years however, on the average, people are larger and live longer than they did in the last 100 years. Technology and the flow of information is also much more disseminated now as compared to the past so it is conceivable that more breakthroughs in strategies and tactics to apply techniques are evolving quicker today than they would in the past when this information was held by very few.
No. I'm saying that you are unqualified to comment due to ignorance and lack of understanding.
Which is irrelevant to my point so stop trying to divert.
Ummm, not quite. You can watch the video and try it but it MAY improve your previous technique but WATCHING and trying it out in your local club will more than likely NOT result in the leaps you talking about because the other side of the equation is TESTING out what you have seen against opponents that are BETTER than you. This is a key ingredient to improving and one that is often overlooked. Better competition forces you to come up with solutions that will work for you in that situation. Simply having access to information is not enough. Being challenged to learn it and understand it under a multitude of high pressure situations will give you a better opportunity to grow your performance. This is true of not only BJJ but any MA system worth it's salt. Without testing there is no truth (Mas Oyama).
