Xtreme Martial Arts

[unknownwarrior]

I'm just starting out in TKD and will be getting my yellow belt in feb, but i'm trying to figure out if i should engage in xma because it makes martial arts more interesting , even though it aint really a fighting style, does anyone know of XMA in north carolina region? I'm in greensboro, nc. Any help would be much appreciated

thanks
chris

 

[Laurentkd]

If you only want gymnastics and screaming, go for xma. If instead you want well-balanced martial arts training, stick with just TKD (assuming you are at a good school). Your training will be interesting enough and a lot of those flashy kicks (however impressive though worthless) you will be able to pick up fairly easily after a few solid years of good TKD practice anyway. Just my opinion.

 

[exile]

If you only want gymnastics and screaming, go for xma. If instead you want well-balanced martial arts training, stick with just TKD (assuming you are at a good school). Your training will be interesting enough and a lot of those flashy kicks (however impressive though worthless) you will be able to pick up fairly easily after a few solid years of good TKD practice anyway. Just my opinion.

I have to second, third and fourth what LaurenTKD is saying here, UnKW. There is nothing more interesting than traditional MAs, when studied the right way. As a yellow belt, you're just at the very doorway of TKD. That down block that you've been learning... do you know what all the parts of it are for? What if you discovered that it's not really a `block' at all, in most applications, but a two-part counterattack, with the chambering phase actually part of an arm lock applied to an attacker who's grabbed you, and the `blocking' phase an armbar across the throat, or a strike to a weak point on the assailant's upper arm, or...? And this is just one example out of hundreds. XMA won't make you a better fighter, or even a good fighter (i.e., someone capable of defending himself in the face of a violent assault by a noncompliant attacker). Learn the basics of your art and you will wind up, after a number of years, with formidable self-defense skills at close quarters. Don't throw away the steak just because you think you want the sizzle! :wink1:

 

[evenflow1121]

Please dont take this the wrong way, but stick with TKD a little while longer before you decide to go the XMA route, you may just realize how much more TKD has to offer as a true martial art in terms of growth and self defense. XMA is not a martial art.

 

[Monadnock]

Anything with "Xtreme" added to the front of it is just a marketing ploy. Don't fall for it.

 

[Andrew Green]

Do what you enjoy, if the acrobatics are it, go with that. There is nothing wrong with Xtreme Martial arts, but a lot of people don't like it because its not really a combat art, or not traditional, or they think it looks goofy, or they are jealous cause they can't do a back flip (I can't )

It will get you in great shape, will probably be a lot of fun, and if you take it for what it is it is a great way to get in really good shape. Just don't go into the constant screaming bit, that's just annoying

 

[exile]

Do what you enjoy, if the acrobatics are it, go with that. There is nothing wrong with Xtreme Martial arts, but a lot of people don't like it because its not really a combat art, or not traditional, or they think it looks goofy, or they are jealous cause they can't do a back flip (I can't )

It will get you in great shape, will probably be a lot of fun, and if you take it for what it is it is a great way to get in really good shape. Just don't go into the constant screaming bit, that's just annoying

I don't know that it's so much a matter of people actively disliking XMAs (though yeah, the screaming part and the distorto faces people make do get old really quickly!). I think the problem is that, as in so many other things in the media's treatment of MAs, hype gets in the way of substance (as an analogy, I can imagine how tired real archaeologists got back in the seventies when every TV program about Mayan ruins or whatever just had to have a segment or two devoted to Erik Van Daniken's nutter ideas about the pyramids/ziggurats/temples etc having been built by visiting aliens who wanted to kill an afternoon or two playing with big rocks....).

Take that Discovery Channel horror a year or two ago about XMA, the one featuring Mike Chat and Matthew Mullins. What was annoying was the way in which the DC presented this stuff as the future of the martial arts. Not by implication, but explicitly. It's just another addition to the huge pile of ... uh, misinformation that the entertainment media have built up around MAs. NB: It doesn't make me angry—there are too many real things to get angry about, right? But the problem is that it means that people who don't already have a well-informed take on the MA are likely to make decisions based on a really unrealistic idea about XMA, under the impression that it's like TMA but even `better'.

In the end, it's not the activity itself, which looks like harmless fun (unless you land wrong on that back flip :uhohh. It's the way in which you can ride roughshod over the complex reality of things if you have enough money for big time media production...

 

[Andrew Green]

I don't think its about big money, this sort of thing, at least around here, started on a fairly small level in open tournaments. The advertising blitz and expensive merchandise came later.

It's certainly not entirely unique in its approach, sort of the BMX or skateboarding version of martial arts. And I'd be hard pressed to tell someone they shouldn't get into skateboarding because it is not practical and has been used by the media (video games and all)

 

[Laurentkd]

I totally agree Exile!
Andrew, I think what bothers me the most about XMA is not the "extreme" but the "martial arts." Of course we could get into a huge discussion of what is or is not a martial art by defnition. But I doubt anyone could make a good argument that XMA is anything besides a nice demo of gymnastics (and even a lot of dance aspects), with some non-kiai screaming. I hope I don't sound too harsh here. And I am not saying that I don't think what they do is impressive, or that it doesn't take a lot of dedication for them to be able to do it. But it is not martial arts, and no one should think they are going to get a "better" version of TMA by going with XMA. Far from it in my opinion.

 

[Infinite]

Anyone notice how the guy who started this thread had his account suspended?

hmm

--Infy

 

[Andrew Green]

f course we could get into a huge discussion of what is or is not a martial art by defnition.

Yup, we could. But for me at least it just comes down to common use, and under the common use of the term, it is martial arts.

 

[Laurentkd]

Yup, we could. But for me at least it just comes down to common use, and under the common use of the term, it is martial arts.

Well, I guess we just differ here. Besides, I don't like "common use" because so much of what our society thinks martial arts is, is really no where near reality. But to each his own. If I ever see you doing a backflip while screaming in a brightly colored, sleeveless "uniform" (again, the common use term) while holding a toothpick bo staff that will break if you squeeze it to hard I'll clap for you! Just giving you a hard time here Andrew, no love lost!

Really it just comes down to what each individual is trying to attain from their chosen study, whatever that may be. If you find a path that makes you happy and makes you grow then go for it!

 

[Laurentkd]

Anyone notice how the guy who started this thread had his account suspended?

hmm

--Infy

I noticed that too. Looks like he just joined yesterday and this is his only post. Wonder what he could have done to the MT gods to bring such doom and demise so quickly!?

 

[evenflow1121]

Anyone notice how the guy who started this thread had his account suspended?

hmm

--Infy

LOL, I didnt, come to think of it, it just occured to me after reading your post.

 

[Drac]

If you only want gymnastics and screaming, go for xma. If instead you want well-balanced martial arts training, stick with just TKD (assuming you are at a good school). Your training will be interesting enough and a lot of those flashy kicks (however impressive though worthless) you will be able to pick up fairly easily after a few solid years of good TKD practice anyway. Just my opinion.

I have to second, third and fourth what LaurenTKD is saying here :wink1:

I must agree with the other 2 also..A good solid base is a great thing to build on..

 

[matt.m]

I am with Exile and LaurenTKD. I am in it for the traditon and good training. XMA is just some flash in the pan, neat stuff to me. If it doesn't float your boat then don't do it. If it does then that is fine too.

 

[searcher]

Flash is fine and it has a place, but it is a taste that must be aquired. I still see the martial application in some more flashy styles like capoeira and wushu. I like it for the entertainment value, but not for much more.

 

[Andrew Green]

I just wish I could move like this guy:

[yt]gxL6dOAluS4[/yt]

 

[exile]

Anyone notice how the guy who started this thread had his account suspended? hmm

--InfyI noticed that too. Looks like he just joined yesterday and this is his only post. Wonder what he could have done to the MT gods to bring such doom and demise so quickly!?

Getting back to this... it had to be something that happened offline, so to speak. Maybe he was a banned user who rejoined under a different identity and was found out? It's not like that never happens... there are some persistent trolls out there, not that this post seemed particularly trollish... but you never know... I have to say, I was kind of perplexed when I saw that `Account Suspended' notification...

 

[matt.m]

I just wish I could move like this guy:

[yt]gxL6dOAluS4[/yt]

Holy smokes that is cool.