Do you study martial arts?

[Magic Rub]

You're definitely right in that there are different styles, and I haven't seen many of them. What's also true is that TKD is hugely popular, and when you have a ton of schools for any one style, you're gonna have some bad schools. It happened with TKD, it happened with Ninjitsu -- to some extent, it's happening with my art, too.

Yes Some schools are VERY $$$$ greedy. You could suck but if you pay pay pay, then you'll be what ever belt you'd like to be.
The club I'm in is all about it's member's. If you're a good student & you can't pay all the time, or you just can't at all, but you still want to train, then that's cool. If you're not ready to test, then you DO NOT test. The way it should be.

But in terms of pragmatic versus artistic versus sport, is it true that TKD is more sport-oriented? I have seen some very good, very disciplined schools that teach people not to throw punches at the head, because that's not tournament-legal. How much time is spent in sport-oriented training compared to "kick the groin, gouge the eyes" training? Again, I mean no offense. The "history" of TKD that I had heard was that it was a sport derivation of Tang Soo Do, much like Judo is Jujitsu minus the stuff that's hard to do in tournaments. I could be completely and totally full of it on this, however.

That's WTF, it's a sport (& that's cool ).

I'm in ITF, yes we do have tournaments, but the rules are different (& so is the style), & it's not the purpose behind the style. We don't train towards the next tournament, or at least at my club we don't. Our tournaments are more for testing our skills against unfamiliar opponents. If you spar with the same people all the time you fall into a rut. We do tend to keep track of our contact at tournaments, , because no one wants to get hurt or hurt someone else (or worse). Also no grapples or trips in tournaments, we work it on a point system like boxing, grapples or trips don't lend themselves well to that system. We don't wear the big chest gear things (as WFT does), just minor, foot, hand, & head padding to take the "edge" off the blows. We kick to the head, punch to the head, jumping, spinning, you name it. The real purpose of ITF is self-defence (fitness is just a nice by-product) and as you well know when you're trying to defend yourself you don't have any rules or guidelines that stop you from punching to the head or kicking a **DING**, nose, or what have you. If you can break a persons -whatever- to get away safe or defend a friend, then cool. So ya we practice everything in class.

Now WTF might (?) be different then I've let on, it may depend on the club/school, I've only relayed what I know of the style.

 

[Darklance]

Ninjutsu.

 

[takyris]

In college one Friday night, I was in my dorm, and a bunch of us started talking about martial arts. We were goofing around -- doing touch sparring with open hands and stuff, laughing, having a good time. Then another guy from the dorm came into the room. He wanted to get into it, too. As soon as he started with me, I could see that a) He was drunk, and b) He was swinging hard, uncontrolled, trying to clobber me, and ignoring the fact that I was tapping him repeatedly on the chest, head, stomach, and ribs.

I REALLY wanted to flatten him. I had been having such a fun time playing around, and here he was, drunk and stupid and trying to take my head off, and only the fact that I was, well, good at what I was doing had kept me from getting hurt. It would have taken one punch. One Punch. Not even in an ungentlemanly area. One punch to the gut. One shot to the solar plexus.

I stepped back, dropped my hands and said, "Okay, you're drunk. This is over." He looked around with this goofy smile at everyone and then glared at me and wandered away. I felt like the world's biggest loser.

The next day, the other people who I'd been playing around with told me that they'd understood exactly what had happened, and that they respected me more for being willing to step down rather than hurt him, that in their minds, that was the moment I had been a real martial artist.

-Tacky

 

[Synicism]

Originally posted by Hand of Evil Took some fencing but thought it was lame, I am sorry, there are no rules in sword fighting, it is kill or be killed!

Strip fencing is a martial art in the same way that Olympic style tae kwon do is. It's designed to score points within a certain rules framework.

That being said, a fencing blade is still a simulation of a real weapon. Many of the techniques that people use in modern fencing have their origins in history.

And when it boils down to it, the pointy end goes in the other guy. So does it really matter *how* you do it?

I've started experimenting with european cut and thrust techniques and have been pleasantly surprised to see how *well* my strip-fencing saber background translates over.

If nothing else, strip fencing will train your reflexes and your ability to read your opponent's body language so you simply *react* to an attack instead of thinking about it and getting yourself dead.

And it is much more aerobic than classical rapier combat, too, so a fighter with a good strip fencing backgorund may simply outlast a less fit opponent.

 

[Synicism]

Black belt in shotokan from when I was a young'un and a few years in Aikido, which mentally and physically, fit me like a glove. Too bad the instructor was such an idiot he challenged the head of the International Aikido Federation to a fight to the death to prove who was tougher. Needless to say, I quit.

How do two Aikido practitioners fight to the death? Do they stand there waiting for the other guy to move until one of them passes out from exhaustion?

I thought the whole point of Aikido was that anyone stupid enough to attack you deserved everything you were about to do to him.

 

[barsoomcore]

I felt like the world's biggest loser.

It's amazing how hard it is to do the smart thing sometimes. The compassionate thing.

Because what you were REALLY doing was generously giving him the chance to feel strong without risk. And why shouldn't you? You know that you ARE strong. Let him FEEL strong. Doing so doesn't make you any less strong -- quite the opposite. You're the one in control of the situation -- you're the one giving, not the one demanding. The giver is always stronger than the taker.

Well done.

 

[Magic Rub]

For sure you did the right thing Tacky. I would have done the same thing. Fighting is pointless, I have yet to hit anyone out of anger, fear, revenge, ect ect. I'm a just simple Hippy pacifist, & I hope I never need what I know, ever.

 

[Magic Rub]

Strip fencing is a martial art in the same way that Olympic style tae kwon do is. It's designed to score points within a certain rules framework.

That being said, a fencing blade is still a simulation of a real weapon. Many of the techniques that people use in modern fencing have their origins in history.

And when it boils down to it, the pointy end goes in the other guy. So does it really matter *how* you do it?

I've started experimenting with european cut and thrust techniques and have been pleasantly surprised to see how *well* my strip-fencing saber background translates over.

If nothing else, strip fencing will train your reflexes and your ability to read your opponent's body language so you simply *react* to an attack instead of thinking about it and getting yourself dead.

And it is much more aerobic than classical rapier combat, too, so a fighter with a good strip fencing backgorund may simply outlast a less fit opponent.

Sounds cool, swords are sweet!

 

[barsoomcore]

How do two Aikido practitioners fight to the death? Do they stand there waiting for the other guy to move until one of them passes out from exhaustion?

Hee.

I thought the whole point of Aikido was that anyone stupid enough to attack you deserved everything you were about to do to him.

There's lots of "whole points" to Aikido. Like all arts it's been turned into just about anything anybody wanted it turned into.

Skoyles Sensei has refined his "ready" position brilliantly: you just stand normally, feet under your shoulders, facing front, hands down at your sides. Just normal standing, not even parade rest. I think it's brilliant because it invites nothing. It says, "I'm so not interested in fighting you. I'm not going to allow myself to be drawn into your violence." There's no threat, no invitation, no recognition of the desire to fight. You have to really WANT to hit someone who's just standing there looking at you. YOU have to provide all of the agression.

I think that the "best" martial arts (hoo boy can't believe I just said that) are those that one studies, not to learn how to fight, but to learn how to get along WITHOUT fighting. I've learned more about working with people from my study than I have about fighting people. I've learned more about myself than anything.

I didn't start out wanting to learn that, of course. It's something, though, that I think you have to come to, no matter what you study.

Not saying this very well. Forgive me.

 

[takyris]

Man, and because I don't know the jargon, I just got the coolest image ever out of the term "Strip Fencing."