One for the martial artists
Poll: One for the martial artists
Total Members Polled: 7
Discussion
In something of a quandry about gaps in my training at the moment and thought I would see what the wider situation out there is.
As an example, areas im thinking of are -
Self defense (avoiding physical conflict)
Self defense (resolving
physical conflict)
Physical fitness
Technical ability
Sparring (competitive or otherwise against a skilled opponent(s) )
Grappling
Striking
Mental conditioning (making decisions under pressure and following them to conclusion)
There could of course be many more, really, what I'm trying to identify is what sort of numbers of people out there actually balance their training!
As an example, areas im thinking of are -
Self defense (avoiding physical conflict)
Self defense (resolving
physical conflict)Physical fitness
Technical ability
Sparring (competitive or otherwise against a skilled opponent(s) )
Grappling
Striking
Mental conditioning (making decisions under pressure and following them to conclusion)
There could of course be many more, really, what I'm trying to identify is what sort of numbers of people out there actually balance their training!
RemainAllHoof said:
Need to cover weapons
Traditional and improvised.
It might be 'cause it's late but I don't really understand the question.
Random fact for those interested: we regularly get 4 times as many applicants for nunchaku courses than knife defence. 10 times more than gun defence courses also. Impressing one's mates with twirly sticks has always been of higher priority to most m/artists than actual real world weapons defence (I have never ever bothered to learn how to use nunchakies as it happens...when on earth would I use my skills?
).Kwai Chang Caine said:
(I have never ever bothered to learn how to use nunchakies as it happens...when on earth would I use my skills? ).
I think that's very short-sighted of you. You might be in a grotty 1960s pub that time has forgotten and a massive chain hasn't converted into a trendy bar. You need to relieve yourself. You wander drunkenly into a toilet. In your haze, you see someone standing at a sink, you try to focus on his face. )."Watchoo starin at,
?" he asks before shoving you back into one of the cubicles. As you fall back, you sit awkwardly on the toilet lid, just noticing something plastic tap the side of your head on your way down. You reach up to grab whatever it is, desperate to get on your feet. You hear a flushing noise as you apply your whole weight to this convenient grab-handle affair, manage to get to your feet before hearing the pinging of a metal link giving way, leaving you confused but standing and holding this previously hanging handle.Looking ahead, the guy pulls a knife and goes to stab you, but thanks to years of training in nunchaku, you dispatched the attacker with your bog chain in a flurry of swinging arcs and twirls and a howl to make Bruce Lee proud.
RemainAllHoof said:
Kwai Chang Caine said:
(I have never ever bothered to learn how to use nunchakies as it happens...when on earth would I use my skills? ).
I think that's very short-sighted of you. You might be in a grotty 1960s pub that time has forgotten and a massive chain hasn't converted into a trendy bar. You need to relieve yourself. You wander drunkenly into a toilet. In your haze, you see someone standing at a sink, you try to focus on his face. )."Watchoo starin at,
?" he asks before shoving you back into one of the cubicles. As you fall back, you sit awkwardly on the toilet lid, just noticing something plastic tap the side of your head on your way down. You reach up to grab whatever it is, desperate to get on your feet. You hear a flushing noise as you apply your whole weight to this convenient grab-handle affair, manage to get to your feet before hearing the pinging of a metal link giving way, leaving you confused but standing and holding this previously hanging handle.Looking ahead, the guy pulls a knife and goes to stab you, but thanks to years of training in nunchaku, you dispatched the attacker with your bog chain in a flurry of swinging arcs and twirls and a howl to make Bruce Lee proud.
goldblum said:
Beware the adage 'Jack of all trades....' Grasshopper.
Anyway,how many years have you got?
A mighty 2.5 so far Anyway,how many years have you got?
I guess by grappling I mean applying techniques such as joint locks etc but with the added unfamiliarity of being in an awkward situation, or escaping from being knocked to the ground so you can try to escape (granted its probably already gone south at this point but hey).
My concern is that my club is (honestly) the best in the area for my chosen art, and yet there are significant holes in some areas of the teaching and the instructors knowledge. I've tried discussing these areas with the instructor and his view is that he teaches what he knows best (fair enough), and encourages training with other instructors to get a more complete knowledge.
Trouble is, none of the clubs of the same ,or different variations of the same art in the area cover it all either! I could try clubs from a completely different art, but then would I be an 'art x' practitioner, or something entirely different? does it even matter so long as the end result is achieved?
shouldbworking said:
Trying to be non-specific about what styles I am talking about to avoid this degenerating into a 'you should try this art instead of what you are currently learning'. Suffice to say I think that correctly taught, my chosen current one covers a good range.
Ah, well, it sounds like it does cover a reasonable range but while there are only so many ways of skinning a cat, it's useful to get others' opinions, if only to confirm that your training is correct; otherwise, short of getting someone to attack you when you least expect it, Kato-like, how will you really know if your system is good or not?One skill that is not really taught is contemplation... but that's because, I expect, the teacher in many schools doesn't generally want students to question everything as they may find holes especially if it's a McDojo.
After 2.5 years, assuming you train multiple times per week, you should be pretty good at your chosen style.
What style do you practice? This is important because many styles of M/art, as taught in the West, are segments of an all round fighting experience.
Do you have any like minded souls at your club who you can meet up with outside of class and experiment with? You can learn a lot this way (as long as you have the right safety gear). Perhaps your club might hire you their facilities, if they have any, to do this.
Realistic self defence is hard to learn at the best of times, for the obvious reasons. Try and make your training outside of class as realistic as possible. Even a silly thing like wearing jeans and a t-shirt; or whatever you wear day to day will help.
Where abouts are you based?
What style do you practice? This is important because many styles of M/art, as taught in the West, are segments of an all round fighting experience.
Do you have any like minded souls at your club who you can meet up with outside of class and experiment with? You can learn a lot this way (as long as you have the right safety gear). Perhaps your club might hire you their facilities, if they have any, to do this.
Realistic self defence is hard to learn at the best of times, for the obvious reasons. Try and make your training outside of class as realistic as possible. Even a silly thing like wearing jeans and a t-shirt; or whatever you wear day to day will help.
Where abouts are you based?
RemainAllHoof said:
Kwai Chang Caine said:
experiment
Yep! Along with contemplation. Experimentation!Make sure that when you are practicing, you train with a variety of folks; different sizes, speeds etc.
I'm a big guy, 6'4" and 17 stones. I'm hugely powerful but obviously not as light on my feet as many smaller guys. I've been this height since I was 14. Back then, whilst learning, my instructors would often insist I trained with equally as large opponents. This was a classic mistake.
Fast forward a few years when I took up KM. Whilst practicing knife defences, it suddenly dawned on me that oftentimes I was simply too big to successfully execute some of the evasions when faced with smaller, much nimbler foes. Not all, just some.
Consequently, I had to develop my own answers in some instances; modifying less perfect defences into ones that worked for me.
The point is that I would've never realised this had I:
a) only trained with big lummockses like me.
b) only trained at 80% speed.
shouldbworking said:
goldblum said:
Beware the adage 'Jack of all trades....' Grasshopper.
Anyway,how many years have you got?
A mighty 2.5 so far Anyway,how many years have you got?
I guess by grappling I mean applying techniques such as joint locks etc but with the added unfamiliarity of being in an awkward situation, or escaping from being knocked to the ground so you can try to escape (granted its probably already gone south at this point but hey).
My concern is that my club is (honestly) the best in the area for my chosen art, and yet there are significant holes in some areas of the teaching and the instructors knowledge. I've tried discussing these areas with the instructor and his view is that he teaches what he knows best (fair enough), and encourages training with other instructors to get a more complete knowledge.
Trouble is, none of the clubs of the same ,or different variations of the same art in the area cover it all either! I could try clubs from a completely different art, but then would I be an 'art x' practitioner, or something entirely different? does it even matter so long as the end result is achieved?
pick a good stand up martial art that you can test yourself at easily ie Muay Thai,Kickboxing,Boxing
and pair it with something that teaches good groundwork ie Judo,Jiu Jitsu
If you want to play with weapons choose what kind ie Chinese,Philippino etc
Don't worry about the 'significant holes'..they won't look that way in five years time,as your focus will have shifted somewhat.
Train hard!
Interesting responses, thank you for them particularly KCC -
Looking back at my licence its closer to 2 years of training, at least 4 hours a week, but then as my fitness picked up (from the sobbing heap on the floor that it was) to well.. more than that now, with other supporting activity going on.
Now I'll tell you that what I currently train is Shotokan karate. The club I'm at covers a lot of things very well - power generation (bag work), conditioning, other areas less well but sufficiently - kata (not as much focus on application of it - especially at lower levels), throws, mental conditioning, and theres a decent amount of sparring in there albeit it like the kata work demonstrates the instructors previous history participating in competition karate.
Areas that are conspicuously missing or very rarely covered are realistic self-defence scenario training, dealing with multiple opponents, groundwork and weapon defenses.
I've trained with guest karateka who cover these areas well and tried to spark interest amongst my fellow students, but with the best will in the world they are interested but have to work hard to keep up with what we cover inside the club.
I agree that it's fair to say there are only so many ways the human body works and that dealing with a style that covers these other areas could work - but groundwork and self defence - the main areas needing attention, are things that dont really go together in any quantity (hard to grapple whilst their mates are getting stuck in).
I'm mid-somerset
Looking back at my licence its closer to 2 years of training, at least 4 hours a week, but then as my fitness picked up (from the sobbing heap on the floor that it was) to well.. more than that now, with other supporting activity going on.
Now I'll tell you that what I currently train is Shotokan karate. The club I'm at covers a lot of things very well - power generation (bag work), conditioning, other areas less well but sufficiently - kata (not as much focus on application of it - especially at lower levels), throws, mental conditioning, and theres a decent amount of sparring in there albeit it like the kata work demonstrates the instructors previous history participating in competition karate.
Areas that are conspicuously missing or very rarely covered are realistic self-defence scenario training, dealing with multiple opponents, groundwork and weapon defenses.
I've trained with guest karateka who cover these areas well and tried to spark interest amongst my fellow students, but with the best will in the world they are interested but have to work hard to keep up with what we cover inside the club.
I agree that it's fair to say there are only so many ways the human body works and that dealing with a style that covers these other areas could work - but groundwork and self defence - the main areas needing attention, are things that dont really go together in any quantity (hard to grapple whilst their mates are getting stuck in).
I'm mid-somerset
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