Post 185348 - (martial arts)

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martial arts

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PlatypusMan
Snowy Owl

Joined: Jan 17, 2006
Posts: 167

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:07 am Post subject:

I've been doing some martial arts self-teaching; mainly just bits and pieces of various styles (the style I wound up with is kind of a mix between Judo, Olympic Style Wrestling, and Sumo), and I've been doing it for quite a while. It has helped me with mental discipline quite a bit, and I've also learned how to work with my mind and my body as one (such as quickly blocking out pain, which works great for Mc.Donald's). Martial Arts is a perfect thing for aspies to take. It'll help develop mental focus, relaxation techniques, and (if in a class) they may actaully make some friends out of it as well. _________________ "...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."~Declaration of Indepencence

autisticon
Sea Gull

Joined: Jan 18, 2006
Posts: 212

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

Sanityisoverrated wrote:

I've tried martial arts before, but I can't stand the discipline and I hate being told what to do.
And whats with all this honour BS anyway? Do you think a thug is gonna be honourable when you get mugged?
IMO I'd rather fight dirty and live than fight honourably and end up in a shallow grave.

EDIT: Of course I'm not advocating fighting at all- the best thing to do is avoid conflict if at all possible. And if you are mugged it is usually best to just hand over what you've got and avoid any sort of physical confrontation.

Discipline is imperative in martial arts. Without them, accidents will be common place. I have seen what happens when people goof around. An accident can very quickly, and easily, put your training partner out of commision for some time. If they cant train, then that will hinder their progress.

As far as honour goes, its a good thing to have in the dojo. You must always respect your partner (for reasons I stated above). Plus you must always respect your instructor, for they have dedicated themselves to that art. Sure, when you get mugged it will be different. You will not bow before and after kicking their @$$. However you must realize that martial arts are bound to tradition and have deep roots in zen bhuddist or budo philosophies (usually).

Personally, I have trained in Shotokan for several years. I currently hold a brown belt. Karate has helped me shed so many of my aspie-ish ways, before Karate I could not hold eye contact. After many years of sparring training it has become second nature to stare people down. I have gained so much confidence in myself, where once there was none. I often teach classes, something at one time I could never have imagined myself doing.

The thing with martial arts, is there very personal. You must pick the style that suits you, and even still you have to struggle to find a place to learn it, and a good instructor to teach it. I am very lucky to study under one of the top shotokan masters in the world. Some dojo's revolve around competition, others (like mine) have no part in competition at all. Some dojos are full of BS, have self proclaimed Senseis and made up styles... Its hard to sort out the BS from the true arts. So always make sure you try out several dojos (of varying styles) before you decide which you are going to dedicate so much time to.

AceOfSpades
Deeds not words
Phoenix

Joined: Feb 12, 2006
Posts: 3647
Location: Sean Penn, Cambodia

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject:

I am currently practicing TKD, but TKD doesn't suit me because the blocks are slow and directly confront the force of the attack, which would hurt your forearm like hell if the block was actually successful. I also don't like the snappy kicks and the low emphasis on punches, elbows, knees, and grappling. Patterns are boring to do and are useless. I've been told that patterns have practical applicationsand make your muscles stronger, but there are better ways to strengthen your muscles (exercises) and why not isolate practical techniques in the patterns instead of making the students find out for themselves? My instructors also told me that patterns are supposed to mentally strengthen me as well, but there are better ways to do that directly. I also don't like how most martial arts tend to be "pure" and not take techniques which work better from other martial arts. Once my 1 year contract for TKD is done, I will be looking for a style and a school which emphasizes all ranges of combat, no patterns, eclectic, has full-contact sparring, teaches mental aspects of fighting, has weapon defenses, encourages dirty ruthless fightingas a last resort, doesn't have a bunch of fancy and useless techniques, etc.

Astreja
Snowy Owl

Joined: Mar 06, 2006
Posts: 133

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:18 am Post subject:

I was really active in the martial arts for about six years (Northern style kung fu), then dropped out for a while, then came back to do some jiujutsu. In the end I dropped it because the environment was doing me more harm than good... Bad fit of learning styles between me and the teacher, and I was going home with a lot of sore joints. For the amount of time and effort I put in (10 years at 3+ times a week), the experience should've been a lot better than it was. If you do go into the martial arts, don't sign up at the first school you visit. Take at least one sample class and pay close attention to how people in the school deal with one another. Ask about things like fees for belt tests. And, if you have knee problems, approach high-kicking styles and wrestling styles with caution.

Mithrandir
Phoenix
Phoenix

Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Age: 26
Posts: 608
Location: Victoria, BC Canada

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:45 am Post subject:

I would love to learn Wing Chun, block and attack at the same time looks very efficient. _________________ Music is the language of the world. Math is the language of the universe.

Serendipity
Butterfly

Joined: Nov 03, 2005
Posts: 13

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject:

I like watching Mixed Martial Arts. Are there any fans here?

eamonn
not viable

Joined: Jul 09, 2005
Posts: 2301
Location: Scotland

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 5:55 am Post subject:

I also watch mixed martial arts. While i appreciate the art involved in the grappling i much prefer to watch the striking side of it than the fights in which they spend all their time rolling around the floor.

MindOfOrderedChaos
Phoenix
Phoenix

Joined: Sep 27, 2005
Age: 26
Posts: 769
Location: New Zealand

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:47 am Post subject:

AceOfSpades wrote:

I am currently practicing TKD, but TKD doesn't suit me because the blocks are slow and directly confront the force of the attack, which would hurt your forearm like hell if the block was actually successful. I also don't like the snappy kicks and the low emphasis on punches, elbows, knees, and grappling.

Patterns are boring to do and are useless. I've been told that patterns have practical applicationsand make your muscles stronger, but there are better ways to strengthen your muscles (exercises) and why not isolate practical techniques in the patterns instead of making the students find out for themselves? My instructors also told me that patterns are supposed to mentally strengthen me as well, but there are better ways to do that directly.

I also don't like how most martial arts tend to be "pure" and not take techniques which work better from other martial arts. Once my 1 year contract for TKD is done, I will be looking for a style and a school which emphasizes all ranges of combat, no patterns, eclectic, has full-contact sparring, teaches mental aspects of fighting, has weapon defenses, encourages dirty ruthless fightingas a last resort, doesn't have a bunch of fancy and useless techniques, etc.

I do TKD havn't been doing it for very long. Akido is surposidly more on practical defence and less of a focus on fighting.

In TKD I can do a 8'1 ft jumping snap kick after only doing it a couple of weeks. I hate patterns to. And the blocks. I have no idea if I will ever be able to learn them.
_________________
Unfortunately being human is a genetic disorder, and ultimately fatal.

autisticon
Sea Gull

Joined: Jan 18, 2006
Posts: 212

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:56 am Post subject:

My favourite part of karate has always been our kata (patterns). You are wrong in saying that they are useless. Useless to you perhaps, but that doesnt make them useless altoghether. They are excellent for teaching you things that you wouldnt otherwise learn. Such as certain stepping and shifting techniques, or open hand techniques you wouldnt often use. Or they are most useful for solo training. What are you going to do when you have no punching bag or opponent to work with?

AceOfSpades
Deeds not words
Phoenix

Joined: Feb 12, 2006
Posts: 3647
Location: Sean Penn, Cambodia

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:14 pm Post subject:

autisticon wrote:

My favourite part of karate has always been our kata (patterns). You are wrong in saying that they are useless. Useless to you perhaps, but that doesnt make them useless altoghether. They are excellent for teaching you things that you wouldnt otherwise learn. Such as certain stepping and shifting techniques, or open hand techniques you wouldnt often use. Or they are most useful for solo training. What are you going to do when you have no punching bag or opponent to work with?

I didn't mean to imply that patterns are useless altogether. I was saying that IMO, isolating techniques into combinations or single attacks are more effective. Isolating techniques into combinations which set up the next technique effectively is more practical IMO. Boxing gyms seem to do fine without patterns.

How will I train w/o a sparring partner or a punching bag? shadowboxing. IMO, it's more effective than patterns because it allows you to practice combinations and improvise. Also, shadowboxing allows you to do reps on specific technqiues which you need to improve on unlike patterns which include a wide variety of techniques which may not set up another technique well.

Just my opinion. I am not denying what you said, I am just stating the reason why I think shadowboxing is a more effective method of training without a sparring partner or targets.

autisticon
Sea Gull

Joined: Jan 18, 2006
Posts: 212

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:32 pm Post subject:

Shadow boxing is much like what Kihon is in karate. Kihon means basics. At lower belts you start off by doing a single punch or kick several times across the floor, from there you build up combinations as you gain ranks. So not only are you working on your combinations, but also you footwork (shifting, stepping, etc). It all depends on your teacher really... I havent trained in TKD, or under your specific teacher, so I cant really comment much on it. What I do know is that the majority of those places dont teach properly, and never work on the application to the patterns. We often spend a whole class just breaking down 2 or 3 moves from a kata and applying them in different ways (against partners). Most places just make you do the kata as if it were some sort of dance, then they send you home. That is not the purpose of kata.

jonathan79
Phoenix
Phoenix

Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 532
Location: FoCo

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject:

Serendipity wrote:

I like watching Mixed Martial Arts. Are there any fans here? Very Happy

I love MMA!!!! I watch it whenever I can. I did some training in BJJ for about a year, but stopped when I moved away from home. It was the best workout I ever had. 1 hour of grappling and you would be totally exhausted.

eamonn
not viable

Joined: Jul 09, 2005
Posts: 2301
Location: Scotland

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:59 pm Post subject:

jonathan79 wrote:

Serendipity wrote:

I like watching Mixed Martial Arts. Are there any fans here? Very Happy

BJJ is gay. Real men hit people, they dont roll around the floor hugging each other.

AceOfSpades
Deeds not words
Phoenix

Joined: Feb 12, 2006
Posts: 3647
Location: Sean Penn, Cambodia

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject:

eamonn wrote:

jonathan79 wrote:

Serendipity wrote:

I like watching Mixed Martial Arts. Are there any fans here? Very Happy

BJJ is gay. Real men hit people, they dont roll around the floor hugging each other.

I disagree. Real men don't hit each other, they act like civilized human beings and hug each other Very Happy

.

@autisticon: Yeah, that's the way I've seen most TMA places do patterns. They make you repeat the entire pattern it a dozen times. Your place looks like it utilizes patterns practically, but I'm still confused about what their purpose is.