Martial arts not the self defence ?

[Chinwoo-er]

How many heard of things like this
" is style X good for self defence " ?

Lets face it, when we ask a master of their style whether or not it is good for "self-defence" I find it unlikely that they will say it is completely useless as far as combat goes.
Anyway, is this a western trend that this question needs to be asked ? "martial arts" by its definition is an approach to combat. Philosophy and intentions aside, that is what it is. How can something that is intrinsically geared towards combat not have some (if not complete) self defensive capabilities ? Look at Tai Chi, slow, useless movements ? Of course not ! In its original form, it was designed to fight. It is only because it gets watered down by the marketing that people recieve an umpractical aspect of it. TKD is another example. Hell, even wushu has some (if somewhat limited) self-defensive moves.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is defence and combat should be an intrinsic part of martial arts training. In any style. The " is style X good for self defence " question should not be asked in the first place. So why is it that such a question keeps poping up ?

[Former castleva]

Probably because people are intelligent enough to practice critical thinking?

You just said it yourself,watered down or not,it may not always appear that effective.
Whether tai chi is/was effective or not,is hardly of person´s particular interest,it needs to work here and now.

And of course the instructor X won´t discard his own art.

[Chinwoo-er]

the problem is we never ask "if training under master X an effective means of self defence." People only ask "is style X good for self defence"

there is a huge difference there

[chen zhen]

I ask that.

[chen zhen]

I mean, it's the instructor first, then the style. Or else it's the opposite..
i can't remember anymore..:rolleyes:

[chen zhen]

I wonder why you mention TKD before Wushu when you talk about combat-efficiency, and then says "even wushu had.."

[rogue]

The " is style X good for self defence " question should not be asked in the first place. So why is it that such a question keeps poping up ? Because things like Judo, TKD, BJJ, various wrestling, boxing and Muay Thai are all sports and being such are optimized to work well within their rule sets which do not cover combatives or self defense. Then you have things like many kung fu and karate styles that are done mainly for the sake of doing them well. All ring sports and classical arts can contribute techniques to self defense(awareness, avoidance, defense, escape techniqes) and combatives (awareness, attacking/assaulting, finishing techniqes) but that's not their real goal.

If you're taking combatives you better have a good lawyer on retainer because you'll need it if you use it. If you practice any type of real world self defense (not real world fighting) then you better be familiar with the law to know how far you can go defending yourself before you turn into the aggressor.

[Chinwoo-er]

But even if it is not the "goal" of training, it does serve self defensive purposes. So if we were to ask those "sport" martial arts if they have self defensive capabilities, the answer is still yes.
So no matter what way you ask the question, the answer will always be yes.

Lets leave the law out of this. Because that is a different discussion altogether

[Shaolin-Do]

"is style X good for self defence"

Style "X" is undefeatable.

[SevenStar]

style xxx can defeat it.

[Liokault]

I think your missing the point about self defense.

fighting/combat is not self defense.....its just a small aspect of a much bigger picture.