What does your style say about you?

[Ghost]

I have started to form an opinion based on the kind of people that do various martial arts.

It seems the more fluffy minded and gullable go for Karate ,TKD sorts of systems and the more scientific and sensible minded people choose the MT, BJJ styles.

Also at some point many of the TKD, Karate people grow up and stop believing in Chi as they stop believing in Father Christmas.

They then go on to do BJJ or MT.

This almost seems to be a rule. I am one of them myself.

Started with Karate, believed all the nonsence, found out it didnt work. stopped believing the nonsence and started MT.

Your thoughts please.

[RabidMAT12]

I do freestyle kung-fu, shows i have no goals or direction in life.

[Toudiyama[NL]]

Started out in judo, switched to Karate, found it lacking on some points( lack of contact to name one) did other trad arts like jodo and iaido on the side, then enroled in a teachers course of Savate boxe francaise during that time I also trained MT/kickboxing
sidetrained JJ too, but no-one can convince me that MT is better for selfdefence than anything I learned before

Doing any MA purely for selfdefence is waste of your time, get pepperspray or something like that, get a gun but do not go for MA, because to be able to defend yourself with it takes hard training and determination

Also I have noticed that most people who Do start a MA like Karate for selfdefence, do not like to spar, these are the people who do not like to fight but at least want to be prepared somehow, they wouldn't last in a MT gym would they

Different styles do attract different people though, generally Kyokushin Karateka have a big build whereas Wado people tend to have a smaller build ( exceptions like me not counted)

Heavier people also tend to lean more towards the grappling styles

Ofcoarse there are gullable Shotokan Karateka, heck if they lost from other styles it was only because of the rules , yeah right, others were faster, more flexible and knew a one punch kill doesn't excist but still they considdered themselfs to be doing the best karate, most true to what it should be ( it is just the opposite)


Of course Kendo will atract other people then MT

[BrownBear]

Sparring is essential!

Originally posted by Toudiyama[NL]
Doing any MA purely for selfdefence is waste of your time...Also I have noticed that most people who Do start a MA like Karate for selfdefence, do not like to spar

Interesting comments. I've noticed the same thing. Many of the women (not all) that take classes at the school I attend do not ever intend to spar. My only problem with that is they don't understand what a fight looks and feels like. My first time sparring, I didn't even see the punches coming. Didn' t know where/what to focus on...and got hit alot. It was TOTALLY different than I thought it would be. If any of these folks get attacked....they are in big trouble. They have a false confidence and that is scary.

[Lizard]

Self defense training without sparing is like trying to cure aracnophobia without ever showing someone a spider.

It's like weight training where you don't actualy lift weights (I have seen women do this)

It's like trying to learn to run faster while sitting down.

[Thai Bri]

Thats not true at all.

Self defence WITH sparring is like learning how to survive in a stormy sea by paddling about in the bath.

Although hard Thai style sparring, and hard grappling, does produce good attributes for self defence, they also produce bad ones. Do it, but be wary of the bad habits you can form. And semi contact sparring is positively harmful to self defence development.

[Lizard]

Originally posted by Thai Bri
Thats not true at all.

Self defence WITH sparring is like learning how to survive in a stormy sea by paddling about in the bath.

Although hard Thai style sparring, and hard grappling, does produce good attributes for self defence, they also produce bad ones. Do it, but be wary of the bad habits you can form. And semi contact sparring is positively harmful to self defence development.

I'm saying that it's bad to not spar at all.

You are saying that sparing is not all that good.

Both of us could be right.

[Ripley]

If by 'semi contact' sparring, you mean sparring that is discountinuous and momentarily stopped when a point is scored? If so, I agree it forms bad habits. I used to spar 'semi contact' alot and recently switched to 'light continuous' - which continues with controlled force for a set period of time. I noticed two things - fitness suddenly becomes an issue and, when you've been hit sufficient to stop and make you think, you'd better learn how to cover up and roll with the punches.
I remember a few times when I stopped (probably to say 'good point' or something equally lame) and got flattened by my partner unloading on me when my guard went down.
Still, I'm getting the hang of it now...

[mr. bond]

Re: What does your style say about you?

Originally posted by Ghost
I have started to form an opinion based on the kind of people that do various martial arts.

It seems the more fluffy minded and gullable go for Karate ,TKD sorts of systems and the more scientific and sensible minded people choose the MT, BJJ styles.

Also at some point many of the TKD, Karate people grow up and stop believing in Chi as they stop believing in Father Christmas.

They then go on to do BJJ or MT.

This almost seems to be a rule. I am one of them myself.

Started with Karate, believed all the nonsence, found out it didnt work. stopped believing the nonsence and started MT.

Your thoughts please.

i can tell by your post that you're absolutely convinced of this theory. i think it's nonsense.

the school i'm at is taught by a former private investigator and former bouncer. he's seen some, shall we say, s***. he teaches a mix of kyokushin karate and aiki-jujitsu. i think he takes joy in dispelling any myths that his students have about defending themselves.

you can hardly generalize the people in any art. even while i trained in TKD, there was plenty of people who are very 'scientific' as you say and knew plenty of practical techniques. neither school i've trained at had anything to do with chi/ki.

the only "fluffy-minded" people i know are the ones who think that their art will make them invincible. all arts have weak areas and weak instructors.

[Lizard]

Re: Re: What does your style say about you?

Originally posted by mr. bond

all arts have weak areas and weak instructors.

Yes, but some have more than others.

[Ghost]

Re: Re: What does your style say about you?

Originally posted by mr. bond


i can tell by your post that you're absolutely convinced of this theory. i think it's nonsense.

the school i'm at is taught by a former private investigator and former bouncer. he's seen some, shall we say, s***. he teaches a mix of kyokushin karate and aiki-jujitsu. i think he takes joy in dispelling any myths that his students have about defending themselves.

you can hardly generalize the people in any art. even while i trained in TKD, there was plenty of people who are very 'scientific' as you say and knew plenty of practical techniques. neither school i've trained at had anything to do with chi/ki.

the only "fluffy-minded" people i know are the ones who think that their art will make them invincible. all arts have weak areas and weak instructors.

I have no problem with the system you are doing and your post agrees with me, i class Kyokochinkai in the same class as MT and BJJ etc.... i use these two as an example as they are recognised stand up and ground fighting systems that illustrate my point. Jui jitsu mixed with kyokoshinkai , i can imahine, would indeed be a potent blend, especially if it is well taught as yours no dought is.

I think Mr.Bond, we agree, my fault for not elaborating previously.

[ill_proph]

I have started to form an opinion based on the kind of people that do various martial arts...

Same progression for me too. Karate never felt right to me. Jeet Kune Do was better, but still off. BJJ, yeah that's good but still lacking. Throw in freestyle wrestling and boxing/thai and I'm finally happy.

[mr_clean]

question

I keep reading posts about BJJ - What does that stand for? Sorry to be so novice but I really don't know.

How does a style like Ishinryu (the Ticky Donovan style) that is based quite heavily on Kyukoshinkai (sp?) Wado, etc. fit in with these others that you all mentioned? I also take Shorin Ryu and enjoy both but don't feel that I'd necessarily do better in a fight unless the person wasn't trained in MA and started out with a well telegraphed punch to the face.

Also, with sparring - particularly the continuous variety - how do you time your 'round' or whatever? I would like to try this approach but figure that eventually I will run out of gas. How do you work your intervals so that you stay 'fresh'?

Thanks - I look forward to your opinions.

[Tom Yum]

BJJ is Brazillian Ju Jitsu.

The style developed in the past 80 years from a Japanese immigrant (Maeda) in Brazil. Maeda was skilled in both Japanese Jiu Jitsu and Kodokan Judo. He became well known in Brazil on a political level and befriended the farming community in the late 20s early 30s and became good friends with the Gracie family. Maeda's fighting style was tested against boxers and wrestlers, which caused him to evolve the JJ that he was teaching. To avoid getting KOd by boxers and to survive on the ground with wrestlers, BJJ sought to close the gap quickly against aggressive strikers and to surivive an on top assault from heavier-stronger wrestlers.

As for round timing, its either 3 or 4 minute rounds with one minute rest in between. Either a bell announces the time or someone with a watch.

[sercuerdas]

the original post maybe a bit of a generalization but i agree it is somewhat valid. I'm 5'7" 150 ( started as a wrestler, losing all that weight kind of stunned my growth) after college i switched to bjj, but the guard game felt to passive for me( I did learn to see were a wrestler could get caught and how to wrestle in a real fight). to learn to strike a did a few years of mt, but it was a little to much straight banging for me. when i found escrima i loved and finally felt that i could live thru a life and death situaiton. I like maintaining a power lead in my transition from striking to grappling. yes sparring boxers/thai is a little difficult, but i do believe in a self defense sit. if you end up squared off with a person your playing the ego game instead of really fighting.

p.s i have seen bad ass fights from both the mma and jkd/escrima areas and believe that being able to apply your styles mind set over the other guy decides who will prevail