Mid Martial Arts crisis

[SevenStar]

I noticed you didn't list any time with your teacher. How often do you get to work with him? all of your stuff sounds like you're doing it solo. I do 3 - 5 hours a day also, but at least 2-3 is with an instructor 4 days a week.

[MA fanatic]

General:
First, you should address your concerns to your teacher. A good teacher will understand and adjust. But, most internal teachers will tell you tales of great internal master legends and tell you that you are merely training to obtain some untangeable skill level most have never seen. I suggest, try that gyn which teaches bjj, mauy Thai and Kali. You'll get an eye opener. I garauntee that you'll leave your first class with functional fighting techniques, and one hell of a workout. Kali, however, may feel awkward at first, but very applicable for the street. As for Muay Thai and bjj, assuming you have some coordination, at 29, you should be a good fighter (no top athlete, but you'll know enough for the street...take downs, kicks, punches, chokes, ground attacks, elbows, knees, working the combinations, etc. etc.). It's your right to learn to defend yourself. When you pay for a martial arts class, if you feel that you're not learning to fight, you should drop out. I even knew some Tai Chi instructors who focused on sparring, push hands, and pressure point training. That's martial arts, don't bother with other bs.
I would also suggest exploring some supplemental martial arts video material. There are some great videos on combat by JKD
instructor Paul Vunak, full contact fighter and grappler Marco Lala
(www.fightingsecrets.com), Pankration champion and NHB
champion Erik Paulson (www.Erikpaulson.com) and Russian
special forces trainer Vlad Vasiliev (www.russianmartialart.com ...the style he teaches is both external and internal fighting). There are more, just look into what you want to learn most. We're living in the Golden Age of
Martial Arts where instruction is available to everyone from all
over the world. But, most important, just get to
a fighting school! It's really not too late for you to start another
art. (Even if it was, it doesn't mean you should continue wasting
your time on something you don't have your heart set on...or
not train at all.)
MA fanatic

[MA fanatic]

Oh, and don't worry about your teacher. He teaches for money.
That makes you a consumer. And, you're not happy with the product. We can debate this issue of, trusting your master and his knowledge, on another thread. But, at this point you're responsible to yourself and your family. If you go to a Mua Thai gym, they will not throw you into a sparring ring. Usually there are instructos and senior students who work with pairs of students after a class warmup. You'll learn stances, movement, punches, kicks, combinations, perries, defenses against attacks, sweeps, etc. etc. before you're told to spar. But, you'll be getting plenty of heavy bag and focus mit workout, as well as partner drills. As for bjj, you'll be grappling your first week. You'll also be leaving the class with solid knowledge you could apply right away.
A good teacher will work-in approaches and tactics to match your body type. I have trained with some great bjj fighters who can show you the same technique but applied differently and set up differently so it fits into my body type. No offense to internal styles (I have seen some good internal stylists, and some guys who trained for 10 years and still couldn't hurt a fly), but I'd leave.
MA fanatic

[General Kwei]

sorry guys, I forgot to mention class 2-3 times a week, 2-3 hours each. It just depends on how many people show up and how much energy is in the class that day.
As for two person drills, including class time I work with two guys once a week for 2 hours at a time, BUT, we still dont do any sparring, its all drilling for sensitivity and such.

MA Fanatic, thanks for the links I will check them out!

[SevenStar]

Are you the only one in the class that wants to spar? If not, get a group of students together, and you all can spar on your own time. After you've had a few sessions, talk to your sifu and tell him that you all have been sparring and would like his help and knowledge to further your sparring. If that doesn't work, you may want to crosstrain in a style that does spar.

[Xebsball]

Originally posted by General Kwei

Xebsball- Alot of people believe the same thing you do about the internal arts. The only thing I can say, and not in the form of an argument because these arguments lead usually to a lot of nonsense on everybodies parts, is that all of the really good practitioners of internal arts I know, are guys who do 4-6 and sometimes 8 hours a day in training and have been doing it for a minimum of 10 years.

The more years you do it, the better you get. But it doesnt take 10 years to be able to fight.

[TkdWarrior]

i always thougth MA is for fighting be it internal or external if u r not getting it then it's possible that there's something wrong...
yup u r rite that it takes to get quite good in internal but it doesn't take time to learn to fight...
i do Taiji(4 months) n my teacher showed me how to fight with taiji even tho i wasn't concerned with my fighting skills cuz i hav spend time in other arts(external)
-TkdWarrior-

[MA fanatic]

There is nothing wrong with just getting some friends to practice sparring, but one does have to initiallly get some sparring instruction. Reason being, you don't want to reinforce bad habbits. At least get a good sparring tape covering sparring techniques from Muay Thai, Shooto, Pancration, etc. etc. I was recently invited to teach a grappling class at a local hapkido school. The master instructor told me that his students have been grappling on their own, but his style does not cover ground work, so most have been just grappling by themselves after Hapkido class. I must admit that I admired the Korean master to admit a lack of skill in a certain area. We agreed that I would teach some of his students in exchange for some Kumdo lessons.
Anyway, when I saw his students grapple, it was a mess. No position work. Just guys pushing one another attempting standing wrist locks while on the ground. I think at least initially it may be a good idea to seek instruction in proper sparring techniques. This would save you some time, bruises, and a whole lot of bad habbits to unlearn.
MA fanatic