Are you a Fighter?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Since it gets asked a lot and gets thrown around a lot:

Are you a fighter?
If yes, why and what kind.
If No, why not?


I will start:
I am NOT a fighter anymore, I used to be when I was younger and competed regularly ie: fought regularly, but I retired in 2000 when I got Married ( though I did do my last Vale Tudo about a year after that without my wife knowing).
I do NOT fight on a regular basis anymore and though I train anywhere from 3 to 5 times a week, I do NOT spar on a regular basis either so I do NOT feel that I am a "trained fighter" anymore.
Do I still know how to fight? Yes, 100%.
Can I still fight? Yes, 100%
In my opinion however, knowing and being able to fight does not make one a fighter in the truest MA sense of the word, one most FIGHT on a regular basis to be called a fighter.

[hskwarrior]

I will start:
I am NOT a fighter anymore, I used to be when I was younger and competed regularly ie: fought regularly, but I retired in 2000 when I got Married ( though I did do my last Vale Tudo about a year after that without my wife knowing).
I do NOT fight on a regular basis anymore and though I train anywhere from 3 to 5 times a week, I do NOT spar on a regular basis either so I do NOT feel that I am a "trained fighter" anymore.
Do I still know how to fight? Yes, 100%.
Can I still fight? Yes, 100%
In my opinion however, knowing and being able to fight does not make one a fighter in the truest MA sense of the word, one most FIGHT on a regular basis to be called a fighter.

Put that way...then this is true. I can say that I no longer fight, but back in the day we fought in the streets all the time. Have i used my gung fu effectively in the streets, YES. Have i ever fought in the ring like MMA or San Shou? No...my Spinal Injury stopped that from happening. Can I handle myself in the streets. YES 100%. So, in light of what you posted, I will stay true to myself and say "No, I'm not an ACTIVE fighter and have no plans personally to enter the ring, my time is done for that. Like you said, I know how to fight. And i can pass down the knowledge to my students and steer them away from the OTHER NONSENSE the martial arts world brings.

[David Jamieson]

Who cares? lol (hear me out here though)

People who are top ranked fighters in the world will not be that forever.

Not to mention, sport fighting is a narrow definition of what a fighter is.

I guess for some people, it's there only definition and when you point out other ways, they will put their fingers in their ears, sing lalalalalalala and maintain their ignorance for as long as they need to.

I could personally give a rats ass about anyone who bases their identity around fighter. Not that it's bad, it's just no different than putting your identity around being a musician or a chef.

It's something to do while you travel around the sun with the rest of us, but is it key to existence and better living? No. Nothing is except what's in your heart and mind.

What you bring to others to help them in their lives is far more important than anything else you could do in your life.

Priorities become clear when the door is opened to greater responsibility.

But you already know that and I'm sure you love your life even more now that it is filled with family. Enjoy that! It's completely relevant to the meaning of life itself and your identity.

Other than all that opinionated stuff, my back story is fairly similar to your own except for military service which I have not given beyond a cadet level.

[bawang]

being a muscisian takes work. being a chef takes work. being a fighter takes work. being a form instructor doesnt take work.

[David Jamieson]

being a muscisian takes work. being a chef takes work. being a fighter takes work. being a form instructor doesnt take work.

really? lol. Go take it up with the Ballet if you think physical work in patterned choreography isn't work.

[bawang]

kung fu forms is nowhere at the complexity or tough training of ballet.
my east coast tai chi friend basically stands and looks smug for 2 hours and he gets paid. thats not hard. pretend adjusting the wrist here and there, telling some guy his stance is wrong even though its right once in a while, etc etc

[David Jamieson]

kung fu forms is nowhere at the complexity or tough training of ballet.
my east coast tai chi friend basically stands and looks smug for 2 hours and he gets paid. thats not hard. pretend adjusting the wrist here and there, telling some guy his stance is wrong even though its right once in a while, etc etc

bawang, if you have not seen how competitive wu shu is trained, then I understand where you are coming from.

If you have ever tried your hand at all with North Shaolin, you would understand that what you are saying is wrong wrong wrong on a billion levels.

What I am saying is that if you are only exposed to low level stuff that doesn't require work, then you haven't been exposed to much kungfu.

there is a lot of form work that is extremely difficult, takes a lot of practice just to get the shape and even more work to find a way to make some of it work.

If all you have seen is tai chi and wing chun, then yeah, that's not so difficult. Those were designed for people without much skill to acquire enough to do something. Tai Chi these days is useful when practiced by someone with a good background in kung fu or for old people who need to recover some activity in their lives.

Go try some BSL, some Cha Chuan or even some of the more difficult stuff in Hung Kuen or CLF.

You'll be surprised at how weak ass you really are and you will discover that this argument you are putting forth is coming from your own ignorance.

[Iron_Eagle_76]

In the sense of how Ronin put it, no.

I have not fought in combat sports for about two years. I train regulary and spar sporidically when I can. There are two gyms I train at when I get the chance. One is an MMA gym where I train Muay Thai, the other is a boxing gym where I, well, box.

I am pushing 34 and do want to compete again in San Shou and kickboxing. I have no desire to fight MMA, love the sport, just don't want to compete in that venue.

My main goal right now is to open a school. I have an old garage building on the property I own that I am renovating and hope to have it done in the next few months. I plan to teach Pai Lum Kung Fu, mixed with training from my MT and boxing experience, sparring will be done San Shou format. My greatest hope is to provide a gym where people can work out, learn a good martial art, and simply get out of it what they put in.

Sorry to get off subject there, but back to the question, no, I do not consider myself a fighter anymore. I train to fight, as I believe you should always do in your training. But until I decide to undergo a competition and start fight training I do not consider myself a fighter in that sense.

[bawang]

bawang, if you have not seen how competitive wu shu is trained, then I understand where you are coming from.

If you have ever tried your hand at all with North Shaolin, you would understand that what you are saying is wrong wrong wrong on a billion levels.

you are seriously trying to say backflips is advanced kung fu?

[David Jamieson]

you are seriously trying to say backflips is advanced kung fu?

can you do a backflip?

as an aside, there are no backflips in BSL, Cha Chuan etc.

But there are difficult aerobatics that require pretty good skill that your average dude, fighter or not cannot do without working at it.

of course, if you are just trolling this stuff, then I'll stop right there because i haven't got time to do this dance really.

[bawang]

i havent seen any acrobatic stuff in traditional changquan other than the tornado kick and thats easy as hell. clf i did some also, ng lum choi, ping kuen, tai kuen da siu muifa. i dont see whats hard about it. i could do backflips as a kid my uncle made me do it it was easy what is your point?

i remember my friend showed me a long meihuatanglang form i learned it in 1 hour. whats so hard about forms for you?
i took some shotokan karate i learned naihanchi basai meikyo kankudai empi. its all pretty easy.
shaolin xiaohong dahong erluhong my uncle showed me it was pretty simple. qixingquan and xiao luohan i learned also. i dont see how theyre hard.

i find working at rays chinese takeout 10 times harder than training forms.

[David Jamieson]

i havent seen any acrobatic stuff in traditional changquan other than the tornado kick and thats easy as hell. clf i did some also, ng lum choi, ping kuen, tai kuen da siu muifa. i dont see whats hard about it. i could do backflips as a kid my uncle made me do it it was easy what is your point?

i remember my friend showed me a long meihuatanglang form i learned it in 1 hour. whats so hard about forms for you?
i took some shotokan karate i learned naihanchi basai meikyo kankudai empi. its all pretty easy.
shaolin xiaohong dahong erluhong my uncle showed me it was pretty simple. qixingquan and xiao luohan i learned also. i dont see how theyre hard.

i find working at rays chinese takeout 10 times harder than training forms.

dude, not what have you seen, what can YOU do. What do YOU work towards, how much effort have YOU put forth into your life?

[bawang]

bro, i learned all these forms. i was learning forms from family and friends since 10 year old. forms dont take hard work or dedication, mang.

all those forms i learned did nothing. it was meaningless. i forgot them all now.

[TenTigers]

I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[David Jamieson]

bro, i learned all these forms. i was learning forms from family and friends since 10 year old. forms dont take hard work or dedication, mang.

all those forms i learned did nothing. it was meaningless. i forgot them all now.

lol. yeah..ok.

funny how that works eh? nothing ventured, nothing gained.