Do you study martial arts?

[barsoomcore]

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

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. Unless your image didn't involve Jenifer Lopez' butt?

 

[ranix65]

I feel your pain man, it's hard to hold back that instinct to just lay waste sometimes, but trust everybody who says something along these lines: It's just not worth it to destroy somebody when your life's not in danger and you know you can.

 

[Dr Midnight]

I'm a just simple Hippy pacifist, & I hope I never need what I know, ever.

There's of course nothing funny or interesting about crushing someone's larynx or shattering a patella or two, but c'mon, tell me you don't at least think it'd be great to use this in a world without human consequence. A bunch of mooks jump out at you, and you're the star of your own action movie. No one's hurt in any appreciable way... and you'll finally know just how you stack up when called upon to use these things.

I don't think there's any shame in wanting to see how well you'd do, if you could keep from truly injuring people.

 

[takyris]

Close. I was thinking of the swordfight in the most recent Zorro between Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, where the clothing just keeps getting snipped off as the fight goes on. I'm not a huge fan of CZJ, but the combination of swordplay and partial nudity... oh yeah.

-Tacky, now somewhat troubled by discovering this about himself...

Edit: Wow, thanks for the support. In retrospect, I'm very happy with what I did back then. I won't lie and say that I haven't done stupid stuff because my ego was feeling bruised, but at least that night, I did the right thing.

On the other hand, do other martial artists start running scenarios like I do? My buddy the other 5th degree calls them "Airport Scenes", because he used to sit in the airport, waiting for his flight, and look at people and think, "Okay, now what if that guy attacked me? He's tall, good reach, but not a huge build. I bet body shots would fold him up pretty well. Now that fat guy over there, I'd have to go for the jaw on him, maybe lock the arm, and keep moving -- couldn't let him get ahold of me..." Just as a running commentary on their lives? I'll be in line at the post office and get bored and start thinking about how I could use the little line-rope to catch a punch and tie somebody up, or I'll be sitting in a restaurant and think, "Okay, if gunmen came in right now, what have I got? I can throw my plate like a frisbee for a distraction while I take the fork and knife, dive out behind that half-wall, and then hope he gets angry and charges around toward me."

Situational scenario deals... just me?

-Tacky

 

[Marius Delphus]

I found a course on historical fencing in the parks catalog where I previously lived. Spent way too short a time at it, loving every minute. Still have my saber-handle-with-musketeer-blade practice sword zipped up in my bag.

The Italian style we learned is the most aerobic activity I've ever been involved in. Some of my fellow students, who had a history of sport fencing, had a definite advantage in that they already knew the basics how to wield a blade... I sure wish I hadn't had to move!

 

[Dr Midnight]

Strip Fencing... didn't we see this in Mask of Zorro?

 

[ranix65]

I don't think there's any shame in wanting to see how well you'd do, if you could keep from truly injuring people.

Sadly Doc, that's almost impossible to do sometimes, my reflexes cause me a lot of problems when people start with me(my first reflex when a punch is thrown is to catch their wrist between my elbow and knee and put much pressure onto the aforementioned wrist); I think it applies to just about anybody who's done a martial art for a long time, your reflexes just get too fast for your own good. So I prefer to not fight at all; when it's necessary, I end it ASAP(elbow strikes to the face and solar plexus work well for this purpose).

 

[cardinal sinister]

13 years studying Kyokushinkai, 7 learning Zanji Shinjinken Ryu, 3 years learning self-defense from my uncle (a 26 year vet of the US Marine Corps), and 5 years as a pit fighter.

I will say that it is the fighter, not the style that matters most. Most of the pit fighters I've seen would destroy anything coming out of the UFC.

 

[Magic Rub]

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.

Well put.




(...and also, I like the ready position comment, nice indeed )

 

[barsoomcore]

I don't think there's any shame in wanting to see how well you'd do, if you could keep from truly injuring people.

Ay, there's the rub. Not the Magic Rub, of course.

Because the truth is that no sparring, no tournament, no competition other than the actual field (or alley) of battle will test your skills. Which is why so many martial arts turn into sports -- so that succeeding in the competition becomes the focus of the training, and there's no longer a disconnect between the goal and the practice. People develop techniques that take advantage of that disconnect and do better in the sparring, tournaments and competition. Over time these changes turn the art into a sport.

To take an extreme example, football is a model for infantry warfare. A lot of the things that a football team tries to do are the same sorts of things that an infantry squad might attempt (the resemblance to Greek hoplite warfare is striking). Now obviously the difference is massive, and learning football is not actually going to prepare you very well for an infantry battle. But because football players are focused on succeeding in the competion they're training for, we all agree that a football game is a true test of a football player's ability.

Just like a WTF tournament is a true test of a WTF student's ability.

But neither actually test one's ability to perform on a field of battle. The only way to test THAT is in battle itself. Which for most of us is contra-indicated. So those people who want to "test themselves" to see how they'd "really do" are either going to be disappointed, or convince themselves that sparring tests combat ability or go out and try to beat people up. None of which are very positive outcomes -- the lesson being know what you're actually studying and understand how to tell if you're doing right.

For KSR, if Sensei says, "Good," you're doing it right.