You ever just get fed up with MA arguments?

[cfr]

I don't know. Seems that the only threads getting killed around here are those where people are throwing deceased equines at each other and/or acting like Equus asinus.

Could you please elaborate for those of us not so far advanced?

 

[Xue Sheng]

I don't know. Seems that the only threads getting killed around here are those where people are throwing deceased equines at each other and/or acting like Equus asinus.

Which of course you must realize is just going to start another argument even though it is likely not your intension.

But I must say, I have to agree with you.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Recently I attended a seminar given by an Okinawan 10th dan and he was asked about this kind of thing happening in Okinawa. He became very confused and saddened to hear it happens in the states. He said in Okinawa it is all the same. The schools get along with each other much better apperently. I would like to see that in the USA.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Could you please elaborate for those of us not so far advanced?

Well, the Latin isn't exactly history-book correct, but in Pure English, it would be "I don't know. Seems that the only threads getting killed around here are those where people are throwing dead horses at each other and/or acting like a horse's ***."

Speaking of (and in) Latin, I suppose that the closest thing we're gonna get to progress on that score is to go with Exile's suggestion and just proactively use the ignore feature thereby failing to feed this particular Ignis Fatuus, so that the necessary work can begin to get done.

 

[Elayna]

Andy...


ROFL. HAHAHAHAHA

 

[Andy Moynihan]

SO.

For those still with me.


Going with Elayna's post about how to steer this topic into something that will benefit everyone:

I personally think that the coolest thing about the martial art world is that it has something to offer *everyone*.

Little kids can have their sport karate, young bucks with steam to blow off, and a combative instinct with no place in modern society to put it can have their boxing/muay Thai/MMA gyms which are perfect for that, those inclined towards philosophy and artistry can have their TMA's, elderly folks or folks with declining physical attributes can have their Tai Chi, History/arms and armor buffs can have their sword/weapon arts, those who want self defense can find elements of that from an MMA gym, or a good TMA school, or an RBSD school if their mind is right and the training too. Or if you're someone like me who wants to "have their cake and eat it too", who LIKES a little artsy fartsy in arts that have combat effective reps as well, I find that Southeast Asian arts( Kali/Arnis/Escrima, Pentjak-Silat) Have served that purpose very well in my particular case, and i'm sure there must be others who have found this in THEIR chosen art(s) as well.


Who's got stuff to add?


Or is this just too little too late and have we gottaen as close as we're gonna?

 

[Elayna]

WHoohoooo.
Now were talkin. You go Andy.

Ok, 1st think I love about MA.....You get to wrastle...hehehehe...if you know what I mean..*wink*.

It also builds and inner strength for people to draw on that are going through hard times.
You build a family within the MA community. Not only in your dojo, but on forums like these.
You can feel apart of something and that you belong. That is priceless.
It is a place for troubled teens to go. It also allows them to be able to stand up and not be afraid.
It brings families, communities and nations together under one common roof.
I LOVE MA....WHOOHOOOO
I dont care what type, how you do it, you trained under or where your from...we can all agree that MA rules!!!!!!

Anyways...thats my 2 cents...

 

[zDom]

I personally think that the coolest thing about the martial art world is that it has something to offer *everyone*.

Well said.

One thing I've been wanting to add, in regards to self defense, is: the study of ANY martial art, even one with truly ineffective techniques, is going to improve their chances beyond what they were before studying martial arts as long as they try hard and are mindful of what they are doing

because

physical condition is bound to improve and just the idea of studying a martial art should put them in the mindset of being more aware of their surroundings.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Well said.

One thing I've been wanting to add, in regards to self defense, is: the study of ANY martial art, even one with truly ineffective techniques, is going to improve their chances beyond what they were before studying martial arts as long as they try hard and are mindful of what they are doing

because

physical condition is bound to improve and just the idea of studying a martial art should put them in the mindset of being more aware of their surroundings.

Right, plus the fact that this way even someone who has neither the competitive , type-A personality mindset nor perhaps the physical ability or inclination to do a great deal of MMA/otherwise full contact training all the time can still have something upon which to draw, *everyone* has the right to defend themselves best they can after all.

 

[exile]

Well said.

One thing I've been wanting to add, in regards to self defense, is: the study of ANY martial art, even one with truly ineffective techniques, is going to improve their chances beyond what they were before studying martial arts as long as they try hard and are mindful of what they are doing

because

physical condition is bound to improve and just the idea of studying a martial art should put them in the mindset of being more aware of their surroundings.

All these latest posts have got the exact right ideas about the MAs. I think one thing that would help take a lot of the potential heat from negative exchanges of the kind we've been seeing would be for people to really look both widely and deeply into the history and fighting potential of their own art---if they can get their hands on the right material, they'll be very gratified to see just how is waiting to be discovered in any of these MA---a single lifetime is too short to explore TKD, or Hapkido, or any of the Karate styles, or any one of the Chinese MAs. I mean, if Funakoshi could nine years studying and deciphering the applications hidden in the Naihanchi kata, what does that say about the size of the whole treasure-house hidden within any of these great arts? One people realized how much is really there in their own art, I kind of think they would feel no need whatever to get into the sterile, and usually hostile arguments that comparisons of different MAs usually slide into.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I've noticed the exact same thing since I began studying Silat--it's the first time someone has shown me drills or forms and *also* been able to show me the applicatiuons of each segment, how the drills unlock the muscle memory to do the applications and then you're shown how to do them.

It's like "Unlocking" the movement and its one of the coolest MA experiences I've ever had. Like Kung Fu Theater meets Indiana Jones

 

[Elayna]

Umm...I need to metion again the...wrastiling...Heheheh

I mean MA is great for that..rolling on the floor with people...and stuff...Hehehe.
So yea....thats really cool too. Hehehehe


But on a side note I do agree that some of the greatest fun of MA is really looking into the history of your art and trying to discover its secrets, and not only that, but discovering what people were thinking when certain moves were put into practice.
Its like finding the geneology in your family...but on a much bigger scale you know.
Not only does MA, no matter the style, teach you how to work with your body, but also your mind, heart and soul.
Its a wonderful thing for sure.


Love the topic all...
New thread anyone???

 

[exile]

I've noticed the exact same thing since I began studying Silat--it's the first time someone has shown me drills or forms and *also* been able to show me the applicatiuons of each segment, how the drills unlock the muscle memory to do the applications and then you're shown how to do them.

It's like "Unlocking" the movement and its one of the coolest MA experiences I've ever had. Like Kung Fu Theater meets Indiana Jones

It's great that you have access to someone who actually can help you with that kind of analysis. There's nothing quite like it---that unlocking, as you call it, and that's really what it feels like---for an `aha!' experience in the MAs. It changes the whole nature of your practice. There's a TKD hyung, one of the older Palgwe forms, which begins with what looks like a double block---an middle outward block with the left hand and a simultaneous rising block with the right. I could never imagine a single attacker doing anything remotely plausible that a double block like that would counter, but the way the rest of the form proceeds, the defender acts as though there were only one attacker, so the double block can't be a response to multiple attackers either. But after I thought about it for a while in connection with some of the combat-oriented bunkai I've seen for karate, I had this sudden conviction---you know how that sometimes just happens?---that that first move wasn't a block at all. It's really an entrapment of a grab from the attacker, or of a roundhouse punch, where you've moved to the outside, the righthand `upper block' forces the attacker's trapped wrist upward and the `middle outward block' is a matching movement of the defender's left hand which grips the assailant's elbow and becomes a fulcrum for the armlock that the defender's right hand is imposing on the assailant's attacking arm. You raise the attacker's locked arm high, and the pressure on his shoulder forces him down, while your grip on the locked elbow keeps him in close. And now you can deliver a righthand uppercut followed by a lefthand knife edge throat strike to the attacker's nicely accessible head, which is what the next two moves of the hyung in effect tell you to do. I felt such joy when I realized how that sequence worked (which is an odd thing to be feeling, considering how nasty the effect of it is going to be on the attacker... but after all, he started it, no?) The great thing about that kind of thing---you've probably experienced to in your silat training---is that, once you see how the form works as a really powerful attacking sequence, you start practicing the form differently---a lot more conviction, a lot more power in the moves and sense of purpose in the steps.

That's the thing that needs to be communicated to practitioners of these beautiful systems---how much power is available to them to use in their own defense if they can get below the simple (or sometimes confusing -looking) surface level of the forms in their art. But I suspect that most MAi students aren't shown this sort of thing, even when they get reasonably advanced.

 

[exile]

But on a side note I do agree that some of the greatest fun of MA is really looking into the history of your art and trying to discover its secrets, and not only that, but discovering what people were thinking when certain moves were put into practice.
Its like finding the geneology in your family...but on a much bigger scale you know.

Elayna---great analogy! Except that when you finally figure out what's going on with something in MA, it usually makes a lot more sense than anything that goes on in your family (or at least, in my family