I am not an "expert", with all due humility and respect. The more I learn about martial arts, fight training, medicine, human physiology, and life, the more I realize I am one of the most ignorant individuals on this earth. Thank you for your replies and the opportunity to reflect. Are you involved in MMA?
I have competed in Tae Kwon Do and Judo. Right now, I study and have studied Tae Kwon Do with a lot of Hapkido, Judo and BJJ(which is really Judo), and Sambo. I enjoy Hapkido the most. When I competed in Judo, my judo was more a Russian Sambo/Olympic Wrestling style, which caused me constant injuries. Competing in Tae Kwon Do gave me balance and graceful movement. Masatsu Oyama was a great Japanese martial artist of Korean origin. Kyokushikin Karate is brutal and very demanding on the body. I would think ten times, before I would confront an experienced Kyokushikin practitoner. Have seen the movie "FIGHTER IN THE WIND"? I really enjoy the spiritual and mental side of Aikido. Morihei Ueshiba was a phenomenal human being and martial artist. One of the reasons I ceased becoming involved in mixed martial arts is because of Morihei Ueshiba. "There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contest with nothing. Defeat means defeat to the mind of contention that we habor within." Morihei Ueshiba "Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also, learn from Holy Books and wise people. Everything-even mountainS, rivers, plants, and trees-should be your teacher" Morihei Ueshiba
I have a yellow belt in Judo, I took it for a semester in undergrad. To me its the most physically taxing art since you use you're entire body ALL the time. In a practical fight I appreciate the combination of karate of and aikido since you rarely leave your feet and end up on the ground. It's actually much like much like Hapkido if I'm not mistaken, the combination of tae kwon do and aikido right? I have thought about adding krav maga to my routine again but that shit is expensive. How do you manage paying for all those systems that you are involved in?
Because I have been doing Tae Kwon Do and Judo for over 20 years, I do not have to pay. Also, I trade my strength and condition knowledge, with their martial arts instruction. Yes, hapkido is like Tae Kwon Do and akido. Krav Maga was created for Isreali soldiers, who have no background in hand to hand combat/combatives, and to be learned in a short amount of time. Because I study real Tae Kwon Do (not for sport), hapkido, and Judo/BJJ, and Sambo (Russian military martial art), what can Krav Maga teach me or anyone with long history of good martial arts instruction? In Israel, soldiers and Krav Maga instructors will tell you, if you have time to study traditional martial arts, do so instead of taking Krav Maga. The problem is most dojos, dojangs, and training halls teach a mild form of traditional martial arts. For example, in Korea, Russia, and Japan, you will practice one to two techniques, until you can perform the technique flawlessly. In addition, you are practicing basic/fundamental kicks, punches, throws, takedowns, pins, chokes, etcetera, until you can no longer participate in martial arts. In America and europe, martial arts schools cannot use this type of training method, because schools would not make a profit. Poor technique is the reason why Americans get their butts kicked in olympic wrestling and olympic judo. Americans have horrible technique! Krav Maga fits the American psyche.
You make a very good point although I will say I have gotten so much out of my Oyama training. Its two hours of hard training no breaks on hardwood gym floors and we do knuckle push ups none of that open palm nonsense. The only thing I appreciate about krav maga is it teaches practical self defense. Most traditional martial arts only teach hand to hand until you become far more advanced and I think practical defense against weapons should be taught much earlier on.
Traditional martial arts, if taught properly, does teach you self-defense in the early stages of training. If you are taught meditation; basic calisthenics and conditioning, and being aware of your surroundings, A PERSON CAN AVOID DANGER BY RUNNING!!!! A great martial artist has nothing to prove, thereby he or she avoids trouble at all cost, even to the point personal humiliation. Ego has no part in good martial arts training. The great swordsman Musashi gave up dueling, because he had nothing to prove and he regretted his dueling.
Training with consistency; proper intensity; proper planning, and proper recovery, in addition to great nutrition and making daily healthy lifesyle choices will, ensure success in martial arts and life, because the body, mind, and spirit are prepared for the challenges of life. Does the martial artist practice meditation and proper breathing exercise? Does the martial artist maintain a training, nutrition, and recovery journal? Does the martial artist study technique film and film her or his training sessions? Does the martial artist believe in and demonstrate the principles of zanshin, shibumi, and bushido, in all areas of her or his life? Masatsu Oyama, Bruce Lee, Frank Gotch, The Great Gama, Rocky Marciano, Masahiko Kimura stressed proper conditioning of the spirit, mind, and body, over techniques or style. In the past, the first two years of martial arts were solely devoted to strength training, conditioning, and flexibility.
I absolutely agree but there is something to be said about training in plain clothes and developing techniques against blunt and sharp weapons. Traditional martial arts doesn't seem to cover a lot of that. Do you teach?
Traditional martial arts does teach weapon instruction and defense, after many years of study, unfortunately modern teachers have neglected weapons training. Danzan Ryu jiu-jitsu was not created as an 'attack/offensive' martial art; therefore, countering offensive non-weapon and weapon attack is emphasized. American Kenpo Karate has the same foundation. I know aikido teaches weapons defense. Masatsu Oyama trained in the wilderness in only his bare feet and gi pants in the snow, sleet, and rain, which develops balance, strength, and "kokoro"(fighting spirit). If a martial artist is properly trained, clothes do not make a difference. Training should be performed indoors and outdoors. For example, which is more difficult, performing a hundred front kicks with someone sitting on your shoulders or performing a front kick in the snow? Throwing punches, kicks, and performing katas/poomse/forms with a weight vest and forearm rings/wrist weights or throwing punches and kicks in street clothes? If a martial artist properly combines modern strength and conditioning, human physiology, medicine, nutrition, mental, and recovery training protocols, with traditional strength and conditioning, medicine, nutrition, mental, spiritual, recovery, and technique protocols and training, the martial arts should be prepared for the challenges from foes and life. No, I do not teach. Most people would not like my methods of instruction, because I require humility, focus, passion/love, and complete devotion, surrender, and sacrifice to the process/journey, in order to reach his or her full potential. The Chinese having a saying called "eating bitterness". Unfortunately, Americans do not like the bitter tastes of adversity and challenge, because we complain if we do not have hot water and heating in our health clubs and gymnasiums. Take a trip to China, Mongolia, and Russia where a wrestling facility or martial art training hall has no hot water and heat, and wrestle, randori, and train with person who has been poor, hungry, cold, and wet, on a daily basis. When you notice the determination and mental toughness of a such a person, you are in for a humbling, long, and painful training experience, because to most Americans and westerners martial arts, judo, and wrestling are "sports and self-defense", rather than survival and a way of life.
A very good friend of mine trains Mr. Henderson. I do not know Mr. Henderson personally, as I attempt to distance myself from MMA. With that being stated, Mr. Henderson is a personable young man. Also, I am friends with former heavyweight kickboxing champion Rick Rofus. Most fighters are very nice people.
My nephew saw the fight last night. And from what he told me, it was a good one and it could've gone either way. Gustaffsen won new respect and fans(he was the first fighter to ever wear Jones down). But, Jones won by decision. Both men had to go to the hospital afterward. I am sure there may be a rematch sometime in the future, if Jones doesn't retire. MMA is not a sport you can stay in forever.
GSP Way Of The Warrior http://vimeo.com/21400171 Although I am not a big MMA fan, this video by Cynthia Vance is very good, especially the opening of the video.
You make a great point here. I teach from time to time a "reality-based" street self defense system although I have my roots in "traditional" martial arts. As a former bounty hunter and night club bouncer I found the traditional stuff doesn't work in real life situations 90% of the time. And unfortunately I’ve been in barroom brawls fueled by idiots and their insecure egos. Most traditional systems focus primarily on the physical, respect, mind spirit aspects but not the emotional, behavioral and psychological aspects of conflict and confrontation management. Most techniques work great in a dojo or dojang but are never truly pressure-tested and are conducted in nice, comfortable environments with nice room martial arts uniforms. For instance, any strikes such as punches and kicks require 3 elements – grounding, distance and torque. If you are a striker, this is where the ground and grappling fighters will want to institute a single or double leg take down and why initially the Gracies were sweeping the floor literally with the strikers. MMA/Jujitsu/Grappling has rules and while it can be brutal, it too really doesn’t mimic self defense although it is often portrayed as if it is. And if people understand the limitations both traditional and MMA style then that is cool but far too often they don’t and they don’t take into account that self defense is not a martial sport. There is an excellent article on the topic: http://www.wimsblog.com/2012/09/ren...-self-defense-a-case-study-of-what-not-to-do/ Additionally most women, simply based on the 2nd Law of Motion (I refuse to call it “Newtons” Law of Motion) which indicates F=ma cannot generate the same amount of force as a man can – generally speaking. But, again the physical aspect of self defense is very small compared to the emotional, behavioral and psychological aspects. If you can control yourself oft time you can control the situation and get out safely without ever having to resort to any physicality. Here is a nice example of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWfetF1jCO4 Wise men indeed.
