Let's all be honest...

[SavvySavage]

Is our martial art really preparing us for that emotional fantastical violent street confrontation? Or are most of us(including the ones who think they don't belong to this group) doing it as a hobby?

The martial arts(negating labels such as kung fu, mma, etc. to keep from warring) develops certain tributes that COULD be helpful in the often imagined street battle. These attributes are:

1. Mind/body connection: This is the connection that many feel when they are walking over ice. You'll notice your steps getting smaller, the weight being taken off the foot and carried in the hips, and that you're consciously thinking about each step. Seconds before that you were listening to your I-Pod or staring at that hottie in Manhattan(they are hot!). This is good for helping to develop and maintain concentration in the moment, terrain awareness, mental awareness of positive/negative feelings toward an individual in close proximity. It is also good for sending qi and blood to the limbs when needed which could be the key to so called internal power. I'm sure many subcategories of this could added.

2. You develop whole body power: This means applying your whole body into a strike, grapple, throw, whatever at a weak angle of another person. Whole body does not mean you run straight into a person who is at a strong position. This could be the premise of martial arts to begin with; Little dude defeating the big dude. This could also be helpful when you need to push that old piece of sh!t, the one you haven't taken to the mechanic in years, off the road when it finally breaks down in next snow storm.

3. Speed: I'm sure you were all at ludicris speed before you started studying(atleast I thought I was) but then realized you were only at light speed and needed more work. Speed in movement could(notice how I always say could) be helpful especially if you apply it when the other person isn't mentally/physically ready. Striking continuously at the same spot is devastating to the person being devastated. Then you could use your speed and run the heck out of there if your intention is not to beat him/her to a pulp. Yes, I said her as well because sometimes women can and should be beaten especially if they put their hands on your first. Speed in sight can help you see what's coming at you whether it be a strike, takedown, moving vehicle. Eventually all this comes down to semantics because some of the things I was going to list here can be listed under timing.

4. Timing: Intercepting a strike, moving with or out of the way of an opponent in a grappling or striking situation, kicking a kick, applying a breakfall after you're salad's been tossed(did I say that right?), moving out of the way of a falling tree when your partner yells "timber", avoiding the deadly knife thrust of a villain and screaming long enough for someone else to call the cops or intervene physically, and on and on.

5. Rooted limberness: Grass is the weakest thing ever. It blows with the wind sorta, it collapses under your step...but it hardly ever dies when these things happen. You could run over grass every day and it is resilient. Grass could survive a snow storm. The martial arts teaches people to have this kind of physical and mental resilience. Yielding with the opponent, being soft, persevere until you can act, don't fight power with power. We've all heard these and strive to achieve them eventually. I don't think anyone ever does 100% which is why we keep training.

I wanted to list more but I have to go to my job which brings me money, which keeps me locked in this capitalistic cycle of making and then spending on the newest shaolin shoes(cause they make me more powerful than the last pair).

The above list is probably only a few of the things that martial arts helps to develop which all COULD be helpful in a fight but not necessarily. You could freeze up, or not freeze up and get your a$$ kicked or killed, or something inbetween. Martial arts is a healthy way to get out your aggressions so that you don't feel the need to start fights and remain mentally and physically happy and fit.

Can we all agree that training a specific way only helps us to develop these attributes specifically and will not prepare us for that battle with Vader?

What other attributes can you guys think of and discuss? Would love to hear your thoughts.

The above awesomeness has been copyrighted so don't steal it and put it in your future books

[BoulderDawg]

I do it for fitness and fellowship. Whatever fighting skills I garner along the way then that's great. However I'm under no illusion that I'm going to be some sort of great fighting master or even a very good one.....I'm okay with that.

[sanjuro_ronin]

The vast majority do it as a hobby.
A small percentage do it as sport ie: compete.
An even smaller compete at the elite level.
AN even smaller are competitive at the elite level.
An even smaller use it for "self protection" because their career/job demands it.
An even smaller do it at the elite level in terms of self protection.
An even smaller do it as teachers at the various elite levels.
And an even smaller percentage do it as MA warriors, people that fight to improve/develop/test/innovate their MA skills and systems.

In regards to violent confrontations, those are far and few between.
I am not talking about getting into fights, I am talking about our life on the line.
For those people that are exposed to that on a regular basis, MA training, to an extent, is irrelevant ( you will find people in this area of all systems of combat), what is crucial is experience and mindset.

[SavvySavage]

Almost ready for work..:had I check one more time.

I am pretty sure that everyone who likes what they're doing think they're trainng with the elite. Remember that clip put up awhile ago by ikmdc showing the tai ji dude manipulating the guy frm afar....and he said Chan TaiBsan walked out? I am friends with a guy that trains with that group. He swears it's true and swears it's the hottest piece of a$$ around. I think Hiedi Klum is hotter than those tai ji people

[TenTigers]

I believe, "Getting your salad tossed" is a term used in jail for forcible analingus.

I don't think that's going in my new book. Not even the video.
It's all yours, pal.


:p

[GreenCloudCLF]

There is a salad bar in Queens who's name is "Toss your Salad". My brother has a pic of their sign on his cell phone, its freaking hilarious.

Do you prefer jelly or syrup?

[TenTigers]

oops, my mistake-"getting your salad tossed" means having YOUR butt licked.
"Tossing someone's salad" means doing it to another.
Savvy-feel free, it's still all yours. :p

[Northwind]

This type of trolling nonsense has been beat to death a gazillion times before and will just never die...

[David Jamieson]

a salad tossing USED to be one guy up front, one in teh back with a girl in between and it was her getting her salad tossed.

I don't know anymore though, up here in canada we have smarties that americans would call more like m&M's even though we got those too and we got rockets, which is what americans call what we call smarties. but really they are more like mini sweet tarts.

still, nothing wrong with a salad tossing. :)

now, let's talk about other semi-deviant sexual behaviours and turn this thread around!

no felching and no gerbiling though. agreed?

[unyma]

Okay, here's me. I don't compete, haven't been in a fight since about 5th grade (roughly 35 years ago) and don't envision all of the sudden finding myself in situations that fighting is required.

I'm slightly conflicted about all of that because I do believe that fighting is at the core of what martial arts are about. So if I don't fight how can I be a good martial artist? Feel free to comment on that.

What do I get out of what I do and why do I do it? Well I agree with all of the things you listed and those things might help me if I ever needed to use my skills. I suppose even more importantly for me I do it because it's a physical and mental challenge. I'll never be great at it but I can always try to be better. I enjoy the learning. I enjoy the occasional moment of clarity when something changes and a technique feels right. At some visceral level I just like to do it even though it has very little practical use in my life.

I do have one other thought, if at some point in the future my sifu feels I'm at a level that I can teach others how do I reconcile my lack of fight experience when teaching what I believe is a fight oriented art? I may know and understand technique but that's not a substitute for getting hit.

[David Jamieson]

Okay, here's me. I don't compete, haven't been in a fight since about 5th grade (roughly 35 years ago) and don't envision all of the sudden finding myself in situations that fighting is required.

I'm slightly conflicted about all of that because I do believe that fighting is at the core of what martial arts are about. So if I don't fight how can I be a good martial artist? Feel free to comment on that.

What do I get out of what I do and why do I do it? Well I agree with all of the things you listed and those things might help me if I ever needed to use my skills. I suppose even more importantly for me I do it because it's a physical and mental challenge. I'll never be great at it but I can always try to be better. I enjoy the learning. I enjoy the occasional moment of clarity when something changes and a technique feels right. At some visceral level I just like to do it even though it has very little practical use in my life.

I do have one other thought, if at some point in the future my sifu feels I'm at a level that I can teach others how do I reconcile my lack of fight experience when teaching what I believe is a fight oriented art? I may know and understand technique but that's not a substitute for getting hit.

this post has nothing to do with semi-deviant sexual practices at all.

just wanted to point that out.

:p

[YouKnowWho]

Is our martial art really preparing us for that emotional fantastical violent street confrontation?
If you have a good kick then anybody who tries to knock your head off will run into your kick and drop under your feet with broken ribs then what else do you need? I believe such kick do exist in every CMA styles.

Old Chinese saying said, "His CMA skill is so great that 5 or 6 guys cannot even get near him." That's the kind of CMA ability that we all want to develop.

[IronWeasel]

Is our martial art really preparing us for that emotional fantastical violent street confrontation? Or are most of us(including the ones who think they don't belong to this group) doing it as a hobby?





Am I a great fighter? ...No.

Am I a better fighter than before? ...Yes.




Can I destroy most people in this forum? ...Yep!:D

[Kansuke]

If you have a good kick then anybody who tries to knock your head off will run into your kick and drop under your feet with broken ribs then what else do you need? I believe such kick do exist in every CMA styles.

????????????????????????

[David Jamieson]

Am I a great fighter? ...No.

Am I a better fighter than before? ...Yes.




Can I destroy most people in this forum? ...Yep!:D

why you got a level 70 warlock in wow or something? :p

[Hardwork108]

Am I a great fighter? ...No.
Welcome to the forum.:D


Am I a better fighter than before? ...Yes.

And that is what it is all about meaning individual improvement, that is, we strive to be better than we were!



Can I destroy most people in this forum? ...Yep!:D
Well that ain´t saying much is it?:D

[YouKnowWho]

What kind of preparation do we need depends on what kind of threaten that we are facing today. Today we are facing the following problems:

- Punch to the head.
- Front or side kick.
- low or high round house kick.
- Leg shooting.

If we can concentrate our training on solving those problems daily, then we should have no problem to face any street violation.

[stonewarrior67]

Am I a great fighter? ...No.

Am I a better fighter than before? ...Yes.




Can I destroy most people in this forum? ...Yep!:D

thanks for the inaugaration text...people at work thought it was funny!

[Kansuke]

What kind of preparation do we need depends on what kind of threaten that we are facing today. Today we are facing the following problems:

- Punch to the head.
- Front or side kick.
- low or high round house kick.
- Leg shooting.

If we can concentrate our training on solving those problems daily, then we should have no problem to face any street violation.


.................................................. ................................

[eomonroe00]

I think that our hard work in training can develop us as better humans, stronger humans. The hard work we do in one area of our life ripples into other areas, as does laziness. Our training builds our spirit, our will, our mind, our overall strength. I am not the same person I was before I found kung fu. I have done things I never thought I would do. (In a good way)

I think fighting is necessary, in my opinion, why else have we been sharpening our tools through practice, aren’t we all curious if any of the stuff we practice works? If not than tiger shullmans would be packed with students, oh wait.

Boulderdawg said
However I'm under no illusion that I'm going to be some sort of great fighting master or even a very good one.....I'm okay with that

If that is what you want fine, but I think there is a difference between being under an illusion, and being confident about what you want. If someone wants to be a great master, go for it, you can do it, but you must believe you can first, we are much more powerfull than we believe, in my opinion

Unyama, said
I'll never be great at it
Really? Why not? Do you not want to be great at it? I do, and I will. You wont as long as you keep thinking you won’t

On a side note, ten tigers I never knew how well versed you were in the lineage of analingus. Ha

[TenTigers]

wiki, son. wiki.:cool:

[xcakid]

Is our martial art really preparing us for that emotional fantastical violent street confrontation? Or are most of us(including the ones who think they don't belong to this group) doing it as a hobby?



Hobby for me.

More for the physical fitness aspect and having a byproduct of being able to defend myself.

But really for self defense, its all about having a firearm. I have a Concealed Carry license and carry everywhere it is legal.

So best time to get me hand to hand is at schools zones, federal building, churches and INSIDE a bar. :cool:

[SavvySavage]

I leave for ten seconds and all the stupid jokes start coming. Since mine are equally dumb I guess I can't complain.


Where do I start?

Attributes:

1. Keeping cool under pressure: Anyone who has ever gotten hit knows how this feels. It sucks. I like to think I'm a fukin rock star in the martial arts...until that day comes when a newb hits me or if it's that really bad day everyone be hitting me. As soon as it starts happening I notice my breath get all funky. So I have to concentrate and bring it back down to the kidneys and not tense up. Keeping this patient mindset I tend to make my partner tired and frustrated cause he is tensing up. It's too bad there isn't a grand ultimate state of enlightenment that we can live in 24/7 cause then I could just mind over matter my opponents like Darth Vader and feel great. Getting hit makes us give up the luxury of superiority, having complacency in our acquired awesome skill levels, and makes us want to move forward. I think this could be definitely transferred to the workplace, maybe not all the time, but hopefully some of the time. They say the best thing to do is walk away safely from a fight with the least amount of damage. I've taken that and applied it to my relationship. My girl gets biatchy and moody...I walk away to safety and out the door(not always but sometimes she is just so darn irrational).


2. Terrain sensitivity: I am a much better walker now than before. My feet feel and grip the ground better. My balance is pretty good which I give credit to stance training and just footwork in general. I still get the occasional tripping over the uprooted sidewalk accompanied by the sweating and hoping no one saw it. But I don't fall ever! Here's a funny story. I was walking around Manhattan once and was checking out this really hot chick while crossing the street. I made sure to check the traffic...but looked the wrong way since I was distracted and almost got hit. Now I know why they never used to let women be on the ship with sailors.


Keep in mind that I am not saying that people training to fight/self defense are better than martial hobbyists. Not at all. I'm saying that most of us fall into the hobbyists group and there's nothing wrong with that. Martial arts as a hobby is much more useful than...drinking or gambling for instance. The side benefit is the attributes that we've been listing which could benefit us in all aspects of our life including self defense.

[eomonroe00]

a very smart man told me the better your cardio conditioning is the better you can recover from a solid hit, or shock to the body like a car crash, your stamina could literally save your life.

[bawang]

theres something some hobby experts cant understand is i am the predator and you are the prey
some people ave a predator mentality some people have a prey mentality

[BoulderDawg]

1. Keeping cool under pressure: Anyone who has ever gotten hit knows how this feels. It sucks. I like to think I'm a fukin rock star in the martial arts...until that day comes when a newb hits me or if it's that really bad day everyone be hitting me.


I see getting hit as a learning experience. There are other things that cause me to lose my cool sparring. For example we have this one guy in our school who's not that great to begin with...In the middle of sparring this guy will step back, wave his arm in the air and start giggling like a little girl...They are guys at my school who are absolutely ready to go off on this idiot! :D

[MysteriousPower]

Eomonroe,

The amount of butt you kiss is amazing. A wiseman this, a smart man that, etc. Have some self respect man.

[SavvySavage]

Don't be a *****! Eomonroe could be talking about long dead masters. That's just paying homage to the ancestors. Now light some incense and get back to the discussion at hand.


You've been moderated

[eomonroe00]

mysterious power,
i guarantee you have no idea who's but i am kissing,
self respect being linked to referencing people who have had an impact on your life, hmmm, i dont see the link?

[golden arhat]

the martial arts that i train in prepare me for confrontation, correct.


next topic! :p

[SavvySavage]

golden arhat,

What is your martial art?

What specific training or meditation do you do that prepares you for confrontation?



Eomonroe,

I'm feeling a little bit like Fra Amici soon. Getting hungry thinking about it right now

[golden arhat]

golden arhat,

What is your martial art?

What specific training or meditation do you do that prepares you for confrontation?


i train MMA, i've been doing many different martial arts since i was about 7 (i'm 17)
and my current training is just the combination of all my experience

my current trraining recently has prepared me for combat in that we're just pressed to always keep up the attack, go hard no matter what and we're paired with people bigger and stronger than we are when possible, i just do that alot, and so far from all the fights i've been in in real life, i've prevailed.

simple really

1 + 1 = 2

training to fight = the ability to fight. :)

[SavvySavage]

I think that bravery is the greatest attribute because without the others don't exist.

[David Jamieson]

I think that bravery is the greatest attribute because without the others don't exist.

My greatest attribute is my num nums. which are huge and make all of you guys look like grade schoolers by comparison.

seriously, my chimichanga stretcher unit is HUGE!

it would frighten your moms.

:p

[SavvySavage]

If you told Chuck Norris that joke he would not laugh

[SPJ]

The vast majority do it as a hobby.
A small percentage do it as sport ie: compete.
An even smaller compete at the elite level.
AN even smaller are competitive at the elite level.
An even smaller use it for "self protection" because their career/job demands it.
An even smaller do it at the elite level in terms of self protection.
An even smaller do it as teachers at the various elite levels.
And an even smaller percentage do it as MA warriors, people that fight to improve/develop/test/innovate their MA skills and systems.

In regards to violent confrontations, those are far and few between.
I am not talking about getting into fights, I am talking about our life on the line.
For those people that are exposed to that on a regular basis, MA training, to an extent, is irrelevant ( you will find people in this area of all systems of combat), what is crucial is experience and mindset.

agreed.

:):D

[David Jamieson]

If you told Chuck Norris that joke he would not laugh

If you gave Chuck Norris laughing gas he wouldn't laugh. :p

[Lucas]

the last time Chuck Norris laughed, reality experienced what we like to call, the big bang. or was that a sneeze....