melfi28

Bruce Lee Chuck Norris Jackie Chan Miyamoto Musashi Tony Jaa Wally Jay - creator of Small Circle Jujitsu

MMA_jim, my sensei is a 7th dan black belt in small circle JJJ and I have seen him destroy Judo black belts. No martial art is necessarily better than another it all depends on the focus. Small Circle is based around functional joint locks, and from my experience, once your in one put on by someone who knows what they're doing, you're not getting out.

I understand what you're saying and you're right, but I was using the quote just to be clever. My focus is on the "competition" between "practical" and traditional martial arts, saying that though practicing the traditional martial art may be harder, (i.e. practicing the 10,000 kicks each 10,000 times) it will ultimately make you better than settling with the "practical."

I agree with you completely. All white belts are not the same. If you have simply not tested yet, and therefore do know a good amount more than a brand new student, or a student coming from another style of martial arts. I have studied many martial arts and when I go to a school to start something new and the sensei knows what I have done, he does normally treat me differently because I know all the basics and alot of the advanced stuff to. I just don't know his specific style, which is why in his style I'm still a white belt.

Many say that learning all the numerous and intricate moves that come with many traditional martial arts is unnecessary, somewhat "Hollywood," and would not be of that much use in an actual fight. They say that if you want to train to not be killed in a fight you should train like the Marine Core, drilling three of four moves over and over until they are so ingrained they are second nature. Most would agree that this method is quick, efficient, and practical. In somewhat of this spirit, Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” My question is why can't the great martial artist be the man who practices each of those 10,000 kicks 10,000 times? The systems of the traditional martial arts, though they may seem sometimes over the top and counterintuitive, did evolve from practical techniques and because they worked. Yes, at face value and on the surface the practicality of practicing a couple efficient moves may seem better, but if you train hard and spend time in the traditional and understand and make everything in that system muscle memory and second nature, would you not be the better fighter, prepared for anything and everything. Bruce Lee's own systems, though practical, resemble a traditional martial art.