what is it that doesn't matter? what is it that does?

[David Jamieson]

well?

What doesn't matter in regards to fighting?

The amount of time you've spent doing it.

Many people will often say, "I've been doing this for x" and it is said with the connotation that this is of greater value than the actual material.

Why doesn't this matter? Well for any number of reasons, number one being "what have you been doing". I myself have been training in one martial art or another for more than 30 years now. But can I get in a competition fight tomorrow? Nope. I need that 6 month window to train for it. Still. While I'm ready for "the street" I am admittedly not ready for high level competition of martial art. That requires focused training on that venue and a considerable uptake in training time, diet and conditioning exercises that are not part and parcel of routine maintenance training which is what the majority of my training is.

i'm confident in my ability, but I'm not stupid about it. :)

The Style

No style is better than another style, no style is anything at all without people who practice it. Nuff said.

Your Teacher

Your teacher isn't fighting for you, you are. Who teaches you is irrelevant to the actual bottom line of applied tactics in a physical conflict. This is foundational to the great lineage debate. Ultimately every great teacher has more crappy students than good ones. That is the nature o teaching martial arts. For every one person who sticks with it for 5 years or more there will actually be 1000 people who come and go.


What does matter?



Your will

If you have the ability to get into that training modality even on the days when you would rather smoke a doobie, chill and quaff some ales, then you have got it man! That is fundamental to all good training. the will to put up with the created hardship that we make for ourselves.

Your condition

How's your heart? Your lungs? Your recovery time after being rocked solid straight on to the face? How many times did you get kicked in the thigh and stay standing and stay mobile? How many knees went into your liver before you whinced the first time? You have to work at being toughened up both mentally and physically.
Your mind has to be free from that fear of pain, but not so free as to lead you into error in position.

Your knowledge and ability to apply it

Solid structure, good footwork and experience with the play you are in will go far and will in turn define you. If you are a quick boxer or a formidable kicker, that is where you work and stay on top. Keep the rest of your game in good shape as well and know what you throw. If you get a lock and don't know what to do next, you have failed. If you are in range and don't launch, you've failed. Know this stuff that is what you call your art. It is important.


Any counterpoints? Stuff to add? :)
Come on, I know you got it.

[SoCo KungFu]

well?

What doesn't matter in regards to fighting?

The amount of time you've spent doing it.

Many people will often say, "I've been doing this for x" and it is said with the connotation that this is of greater value than the actual material.

Why doesn't this matter? Well for any number of reasons, number one being "what have you been doing". I myself have been training in one martial art or another for more than 30 years now. But can I get in a competition fight tomorrow? Nope. I need that 6 month window to train for it. Still. While I'm ready for "the street" I am admittedly not ready for high level competition of martial art. That requires focused training on that venue and a considerable uptake in training time, diet and conditioning exercises that are not part and parcel of routine maintenance training which is what the majority of my training is.

i'm confident in my ability, but I'm not stupid about it. :)

The Style

No style is better than another style, no style is anything at all without people who practice it. Nuff said.

Your Teacher

Your teacher isn't fighting for you, you are. Who teaches you is irrelevant to the actual bottom line of applied tactics in a physical conflict. This is foundational to the great lineage debate. Ultimately every great teacher has more crappy students than good ones. That is the nature o teaching martial arts. For every one person who sticks with it for 5 years or more there will actually be 1000 people who come and go.


What does matter?



Your will

If you have the ability to get into that training modality even on the days when you would rather smoke a doobie, chill and quaff some ales, then you have got it man! That is fundamental to all good training. the will to put up with the created hardship that we make for ourselves.

Your condition

How's your heart? Your lungs? Your recovery time after being rocked solid straight on to the face? How many times did you get kicked in the thigh and stay standing and stay mobile? How many knees went into your liver before you whinced the first time? You have to work at being toughened up both mentally and physically.
Your mind has to be free from that fear of pain, but not so free as to lead you into error in position.

Your knowledge and ability to apply it

Solid structure, good footwork and experience with the play you are in will go far and will in turn define you. If you are a quick boxer or a formidable kicker, that is where you work and stay on top. Keep the rest of your game in good shape as well and know what you throw. If you get a lock and don't know what to do next, you have failed. If you are in range and don't launch, you've failed. Know this stuff that is what you call your art. It is important.


Any counterpoints? Stuff to add? :)
Come on, I know you got it.

Style does matter. Especially if that style has stagnated for a few generations or more. That goes with everything. You wouldn't approach riot control or criminal apprehension today the same way you would 50 years ago. There are new threats today that weren't present then. And for that matter, why do all these systems seem to like talking about, "Master XXX went and lived in some cave in YYY and came up with some technique meditating?" It would seem to me that that would be flawed from the onset. I mean, where was the testing? Anyways, just like weapons and tactics become obsolete, so to do the styles that use them. That can include hands and feet.

Teachers matter too. I mean really ask yourself are you going to learn your self defense from Joe McFlab@$$ living in his mom's basement? Or the guy that as a documented gym with a proven record of success either in teaching fighters, law enforcement, etc.? If teachers didn't matter then I could teach you to be a trauma specialist. Or a fighter pilot. A teacher without experience in whatever field he/she may choose to teach has no basis from which to instruct from. Like baguahatboy. He claims experience and to be able to teach MMA. Yet where is his experience? Would you personally go to him to learn MMA? Or even bagua for that matter? Do you think he could teach a student as effective Hung boxing as you could?

[sanjuro_ronin]

I would change conditioning to physical ability, conditioning matters, so does speed, and strength and, well, you get the point.


The style debate I won't get into, I have seen good fighters from almost every system and bad fighters from almost every system.
Some systems produce better fighters because that is what the system is about and as such, the average practitioner fights better, but this has to do with training not "style".

Teachers matter to a limited degree, you have to learn and you have to fix mistakes and, especially in the beginning, you NEED a teacher / coach for that.



As for fighting, well, it matters far more in the beginning than it does after, unless one is delusional of their skill.

[David Jamieson]

Thanks.

anymore?

In regards to fighting, what matters and what doesn't.
Once you're in the soup what counts, what doesn't?

[Lee Chiang Po]

I think you have pretty much covered everything that matters and what doesn't matter. However, taken a bit further with things that do matter, one should consider his ability to fight and defend himself to be of second nature, and only of use when you might have to leave your blade at the door or your gun jams. We live in dangerous times.

[Yum Cha]

The amount of time thing is what got me thinking.

It a lot like owning a Ferrari, by the time you have the money to buy one, and the skill to drive it properly, you're too old to bend down and get into the thing...

..so you ram it with your Mercedies....

[Yum Cha]

What matters: Happiness, family, friendship, health, safety, prosperity, good sex.

What doesn't matter: Ego, insecurity, pride.

Jest keeping it real.... :D

[Scott R. Brown]

What matters most is your accuracy.......

with your handgun!

One properly place bullet, from a little old lady, erases 30 years of serious MA training in a millisecond!

[David Jamieson]

Thanks.

:)

[Yum Cha]

What matters most is your accuracy.......



Well, I get that from my wife and daughters a bit, **** prostate...

[SPJ]

A. lineage aspects

1. lineage holder, it used to be the best student, or the best fighter

however, nowadays, who ever is popular by voting among peers.

pro: you carry on the whole system and the name

con: you have to practice and pass on, whether you like it or not

2. non holders, you may do whatever you want, you have more rooms to venture into whatever you want

3. lineage is actually a convenient way to categorize schools and practitioners

you may call men pai or liu pai. what matters start and stop there

e.g. I practice Chen Tai Ji, Cheng Ba Gua---

Chen yan xi -> du yu zhe

I may be good at something, but I also suck at other thing

people knows where my stuff came from, that is it.

B. teachers are teachers and respected as such.

teachers only guide us thru the door, whether we practice and are good at what ever we practice is dependent entirely on us.

good teachers would help us a lot.

not so good teachers, then our learning curve is steeper--

some teachers are very good at what they do, but not so good at explaining or showing us how to learn--

take it or leave it---

so the motivation to learn is really upto us

c. time aspect

if dedicate enough to time to practice and analyze our daily practice. take notes, improve, refine our skills and the thenical aspects--

then, the time is well spent

In short, what matters is us. motivation to learn more, to improve, to strive to be better at what we do---

etc etc

:)

[YouKnowWho]

A. lineage aspects ...
If your teacher's name make you to be afraid of losing in tournaments, you may never have chance to test your skill when you are still young which is a big CON.

[RenDaHai]

You asked the question what's important for 'fighting'. Lots of people think about sport fighting. In the sports arena the psychological differences huge, no matter what rules or lack thereof are applied. So perhaps the importance is stacked differently between sports combat and actual combat.

In terms of the moment, the fight, my opinion is;

1. Yi, aspect of the mind (mind, will, intent, cunning and previous experience), THis is far more important than all the other aspects put together. This also covers the ability to make decisions, to know what to do, to want to do it, to let yourself fight, not to be afraid, to keep calm and relaxed, to improvise, to be unpredictable, to know you can hit your target. etc.

2. Agility. Nothing comes close to a well developed mind, but the next on the list is an agile body. By agile i mean that speed, power, balance all come together. You haven't overdeveloped parts and undermined others. the body is in harmony, like a gymnast.

3. and far behind the previous 2 is style, technique, teacher, etc.

[uki]

Come on, I know you got it.me too. :D

[David Jamieson]

Thanks people.

[sanjuro_ronin]

If there is ONE thing that matters, it is Power.
And by that I mean impact force.
Hitting with enough force to compromise they other persons structure ( either by KO'ing them or hurting them enough that they go on the "defensive").
See, grappling does that, it cause the opponent to STOP what he is trying to do/doing ( which is beat your ass) and forces him to deal with protecting himself or being submitted.
Striking must do that to, and the only way is to be "powerful" enough to STOP the opponent.

[SPJ]

If your teacher's name make you to be afraid of losing in tournaments, you may never have chance to test your skill when you are still young which is a big CON.

yes, it is a heavy burden/pressure to live up to your teacher's name always.

however, we have to try and live

in the end, so that we may say we did it "our" way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-XjoLN12bI

:)

[kfson]

Style does matter.

Teachers matter too.

In agreement, here.

[MightyB]

Tough question.
----

Something that works, and a commitment to practice. Also, you have to know the end to understand the means. Figure out what it is that you want to be able to do, and then putting the practices in place to be able to do it.

[taai gihk yahn]

What doesn’t matter is other peoples opinion about your training.
What matters is you believe whole heartily in what your doing and it feels good.
if u r training alone in a basement, sure; if u r seeking to actively test yourself against other skilled individuals who don't give a cr@p about u, then that mindset will get u killed

[Scott R. Brown]

What doesn’t matter is other peoples opinion about your training.

What matters is you believe whole heartily in what your doing and it feels good.

What if your training includes that rare chi building technique, "having sex with donkey-fu"?