Quote Originally Posted by dirtyrat View Post
Fighting skills (skills in general) doesn't always come from fighting alone.
Really? Then how else can you develop them? Do you think also that you can develop surfing skills without surfing?

Learning is a matter of opening your mind to possibilites.
Learning is more than opening your mind to possibilities. But, I'm also not talking about learning some skill, I'm talking about developing it. You can learn a fighting skill, for example, by watching someone. To develop that skill is a horse of a different color.

The problem with learning, is that most people try to take the subject matter and try to make it fit with what they already know in order to "make it work". In this way, most people learning ability is severely hampered.

Take children. Before the age of say7, their learning curve is high. They are "the empty cup". Then of course they reach an age where they think they know everything and becomes brats .
Learning and developing skills are not the same thing.

But I do agree that children learn and develop skills usually much more quickly. That has nothing to do with having an "empty cup" (another silly chinese metaphor, btw). It is that they are using their natural,in-born way of learning and developing.

Many are attracted to Asian MA because we all heard stories of masters who defeat bigger and stronger opponents and do so effortlessly.

Of course, these are largely stories. But I have met at least two CMA teachers who skills fit the stories. They were smaller but I saw them handle larger guys effortlessly. I met at least one aikido guy who could apply his stuff against an unwillingly opponent. I of course thought it was a trick and call me disrepectful but I just had to test them myself and well....
Royce Gracie at 180 lbs. beat Akebono at 400 lbs, the champion sumo wrestler. You can find many examples of skilled fighters beating bigger, stronger people.

Of course these guys were very secretive about their stuff. But I did observe that they had one thing in common. They thought outside the box. They carried themselves differently from most people. Despite their secretive ways, I felt fortunate to have met them. For they showed a whole new world of possibilites is waiting to be explored.

If someone was interested in a different way, I'll say this much. You start by taking a good long look at the mirror. Learn to be honest with yourself no matter how much it hurts. This is something very difficult for a lot of people, because they are always lying to themselves in one way or another. And that always narrow your field of view.
If someone wants to develop in any athletic activity, the way to go about it is do what other good athletes do.

Fighting skills is more than learning to refine the physical skills. Step back and ask yourself why you're getting whooped and wondered if there's a different way. Open & expand your mind. Having a narrow point of view will only lead to superficial skills. Figure out the rest for yourself. Saying anything more will just lead to more useless bickering.
Good advice.l