PDA

View Full Version : JKD guy Matt Thorton Q and A



rogue
12-26-2000, 07:23 AM
Found this link on e-budo. Give it a look see and tell me what you think.

<A HREF="http://www.straightblastgym.com/questions.html#questions" TARGET="_blank">http://www.straightblastgym.com/questions.html#questions</A>

shinbushi
12-26-2000, 10:39 PM
Glad you liked my topic on E-budo

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/legionxs/ninja1.gif

David Dow

Bujinkan Anko Dojo
www.taijutsu.com (http://www.taijutsu.com)


"kikeba yoi"-- Toshiro Nagato Sensei <img src=http://204.95.207.136/vbulletin/images/smilies/smileJapan.gif>

Paul DiMarino
12-26-2000, 11:48 PM
I liked this part:

How so? Be specific.
Alright..... let me think of an analogy......okay, lets say a group of guys, who have been training together in martial arts, decide they want to see what reality in fighting is really all about. They want to experience it for real... without hitting the bars.... but real.... very real.... against each other. So they come up with a brilliant idea... simple, as most brilliant ideas are, but genius none the less.... .they decide to get together.... outside the dojo, at a local park, put on as little equipment as possible, and just fight. Just fight. Just do it.... see what its like, feel what it fells like.... work on what it is, not what it should be.... brilliant idea. So they meet for many months.... fight many times... a few injuries.... but slowly, what is important, and what works in a real fight begins to reveal itself to them, and one by one they begin to increase their own performances in that arena. They learn to really fight.
Follow me so far?

Sure...
Okay.... then after a year or so... one or two of them decides they need a name for what they do... what is it we do? is it kung fu? is it karate? is it wrestling? is it boxing? what is it.... you see, they want a name. So they decide on Park Fu. We do Park Fu.... then some time passes and they decide for whatever reason that they should create some hierarchy... some pecking order... so they have park fu level one, and park fu level two, and a park fu apprentice guru, and a park fu guru....etc etc.... then they decide they need a salutation... and a park fu handshake... and pretty soon... this SIMPLE... BRILLIANT... TRUE... idea, becomes lost in a mire of ritual. New park fu initiates evaluate their standing within the park fu group by how close they are to the original park fu member... .as opposed to their own personal performance. In other words I am a first generation member because I trained directly under park fu founder "so and so"... they are measuring their worth by how close they are to the keeper of the magic book... the original park fu creator becomes a scared cow of sorts... his park fu followers sheepishly interpret all their teachers weird behavior as being consciously designed to test them, and if that fails they take refuge in what they call "loyalty"... which really amounts to a sentimental failure to face certain facts. And you know what you have after a generation or two?

Knifefighter
12-27-2000, 12:19 AM
Makes sense to me. He brings up some very important points. He is exactly right when he says that once you have trained with "aliveness", you can never be bullth!tted again.Í

Rolling Elbow
12-27-2000, 12:25 AM
The example of the fantasy MA practitioner who wants to kick the ass of 5 footbal players in front of his girlfriend was well stated..

I had that idea when i started..but lately, i have seen that techniques are there to teach principles, principles ,are therefore the hardest thing to make work when fighting for real or under pressure. Under real strain, fighting looks like crap..but if it works, that is all tha matters.

Granted, I think we train a little slower (where i train) in that we add realism, but also work on classical principles, we are headed in the same direction. It is important for all MA schools to be headed in the direction as discussed in the article. REALISM.

My brother can still kick my ass..that is REAL. But I don't doubt that I would hurt him pretty bad if we went toe to toe..that too is reality. ..Me dressing up in tabbi or looking smooth in a hakama will not mean that i can do anything in the street.

Michael Panzerotti
Taijutsu Nobody from the Great White North..

LEGEND
12-27-2000, 12:42 AM
Matt Thornton bases his philosophy on trial and error! Simple as that! He sticks to the basic...as we all know...Streetfighting...due to the emotion of the opponents can be quite messy! To hone this skill only FULL CONTACT and REALISTIC training is advocated...that is his approach...I don't believe in discarding other principals or drills like he mention but like I said his focus is on basics...

A

Jaguar Wong
12-27-2000, 02:15 AM
Hey Paul, don't you train at the Straight Blast Gym? Or was that Dan Downard? Anyways, that's some good interview right there. I love the Park Fu analogy. Unfortunately, I'm surrounded by that mindset, so it's very difficult for me to find that true aliveness. I have a few friends that want to get together to form a group so we can find that (like in the old days), and they would help me a lot, because of similar mindsets, and the fact that they're either bigger, stronger, more aggressive/experienced, or a mix of the above.

I was fortunate to start learning bjj from a friend, and just like Matt mentioned, that aliveness gave my brother and I a much more different mindset. We don't have so much faith in tales, and what others were told works. If someone says something works, I either try it out, or I have them show me. My bro even has that "show me" mindset that you have, Knifefighter :) We've tried to take that mindset into our sparring, but it's very rare when we spar now. I spend more time on the mat rolling, than I do with the stand up (which is even more sad if you knew how little time I spend on the mat).

Jaguar Wong
www.superaction.com (http://www.superaction.com)

rogue
12-27-2000, 05:13 AM
I steal all my best ideas from e-budo. :D