Treebranch

Nice. Have you noticed that it's getting rougher now? I'm getting beat up every class.

Mr Pockets it's O.K. to admit you don't know everything, I admit I don't. You are only going to judge things based on your limited knowledge of them, and so does everyone else. You are not right and neither am I. You can only do what feels right for you. If you are going to compete than you are on the right track. I'm not going to compete and have no desire to, but I would love to sparr with someone like you. I've had plenty of streetfights and I've sparred in a ring in Lima Lama, it would be fun. I'm about learning and improving my own skills. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone but myself. I only lost one streetfight and that's because they broke it up right when I was gettting the mount. So TMAers have streetfights too you know, we are not all wimps.

Str33tGuy, to my understanding MMA's are mainly people who mix Sport MA's, they rarely mixed TMA's with SMA's. I think that's the common consensus since the term MMA came from UFC. Look at my MA experience, I've studied various MA's but I don't study them to mix them, each has it's good and bad. I take what's good about them and put the Taijutsu into them to make them more effective.

Not totally true JusticZero. Alot of this Chi and Ki stuff is based on Buddhist meditational states. Meditation and prayer are very much the same thing in many ways, only the reason for doing each are different. If you hit someone with fear in your heart as opposed to courage and verocity the effect will by different. Your intent or energy is just as important as the technique itself.

Amazing art we are in my friend.

This is an interesting topic. Should Christians fight? If yes, then Ki or Chi is fine. It's not a form of worship. It's using your own bodies energy and focus, you actually use it all the time but don't realize it.

Teaching people that strength comes from not resisting is a concept most people can't wrap their minds around.

Why does who street fight?

People who can't make JJ techniques work with a resisting opponent don't understand what JJ is about. Just cause it takes a high level of skill and understanding to use JJ doesn't mean it's not practical. Yeah, there are easier ways of doing things, but you are also more vulnerable to other things. The only way to truly understand JJ is to emerse yourself in it, otherwise opinions are just that.

I disagree with Zero on a few points when concerning Street Fighting. Street Fighting is a term I think there needs to be a clear definition before discussing the types of skills needed to survive an attack. Are you being attacked with a knive, a bat, club, etc.. MMA for UFC don't train you in weapons, why would they? So I would say the hand to hand skills for a one one match are pretty good, but the street and the ring are very different. I wouldn't want to get into a grappling match with no shirt and shorts on the street if I could help it. I see the same patterns BJJers want to go to the ground and Strikers want to finish it standing. These training habits can be used against you on the street, especially if someone wants to kill you. In the street the attackers intent maybe to kill you, not just to win by submission or knockout. The person on the street may have a weapon hidden or a buddy waiting to stomp your head into the ground. So basically the way you fight would be very different and the level of alertness and observation of the environment are some of many factors not taken into concideration by Sport MA's. So let's not be close minded about what other MA's have to offer. Remember your best chance for surviving an attack on the street is to see it before it happens. It is my opinion that the only real factor that MMA has over TMA's is it's training methods, not it's techniques.

It's a great and brutal sport, very entertaining. The fact is that training for UFC is just that, training for UFC. It is not training for real life, it is training for a competition, to win. These are tough guys with a great desire to fight and prove themselves. Are they to most skilled? Probably not. Are they tough as nails? Yes. Most of the time being really tough and having some good training goes along way. Mastering of MA's is altogether a different story. I wouldn't fight a MMA fighter if I didn't have to. They are pretty tough and if I have to fight one of these guys on the street I'd have to resort to level of brutality rarely seen in competition. I think people should realize that Combat and Competition are two different things altogether and to thank competitive fighters for waking up alot of TMAers to stop dancing and learn to fight.

Personally taken 2 MA's is great because of all the training you get. You really get in shape when you are that active. I'm curious why you choose to study another striking art as opposed to a grappling art? Just curious.

SevenStar said: I don't think that that is the goal of ALL martial arts, actually. I think that is the goal of the MA that were heavily influenced by some sort of religion - like shaolin. I don't think the pre-shaolin styles had that goal. There is no spiritual aspect to shuai chiao, for example. what about savate? pankration? Your right that all MA's differ with respect to religion or spirituality. Pankration was acient Greek NHB fights, correct? Weren't the Greeks pretty religious? I guarantee Pankratic events had some sort of ceremony that involved the gods. So it is very likely they believed the Gods would somehow make them victorious just as in combat. Don't you think? I would say very few MA's started off with no religious aspects to it. If you are training warriors you have to give them a reason to die.

Just wear slightly baggy pants and shirts that allow you to move. I dress pretty loose as it is, so it's really not a problem. I'm not doing any aerial kicks since not many horseman to kick off thier horse.

CrippledFingers you say BB don't mean anything? I guess that would depend on the school and the MA? All MA's have great value if taught realistically and correctly. Usually when MA's are taught correctly you will see that the students are tough bastards. The reason you get so many MA's out there that can't hold thier own in a real fight is because certain schools want to have lots of students so they make money. So basically they will train anyone. In the old days they only trained people with some talent for fighting. Just like someone with drawing talent, studies art on a level only few can do. Sure someone who dedicates themselves to an art can eventually be good at it, but that raw talent will always have an upper hand. BB's who are fighters before they studied MA's are few and far between, but they do exist and they are dangerous. So your blanket statement has holes in it.

We have lots of ways of moving that came from fight in armor so we can fight in just about any kind of clothes with backpack. You can even use the backpack to defend yourself.

That's a great article and it sounds like an honest view of MA's.

The BB is the start of real learning.

Very true.

You did better than I would in that situation. I would have been waiting for him as soon he came out of jail beat the holy you know what out of him. No one messes with my family, that where I draw the line.

I don't know that seems about right.

The use of the gun in close quarters is a modern practice, I'll agree there. Disarming someone with a gun is only a variation of old techniques if not the exact technique for disarming someone with a knife, etc. What I was referring to is that now we have extremely rapid ways of obtaining information that is unique to our time. So we are able to learn about many things and therefore see the similarities in MA's and the differences as well. With this observation we see that most MA's are variations of other MA's and or mixtures of MA's labeled differently to set them apart from the others. I'm not making a judgement here, just an observation.

I think most people would be very surprised to see that what we think is new is actually really old and simply not taught outside the country of the MA's origin. Man has been fighting for thousands of years and the human body has not changed. It would be silly for us to think that there is anything new under the sun when it comes to fighting, especially in a modern civilized society.

If you want to learn a rounded art JJJ is definitely really good depending on the school and the training methods. The thing is that it will take you alot more time to actually be proficient in. Judo is more straight forward and coupled with striking can be very effective. If you are not in a hurry to use this stuff and simply enjoy learning I would say JJJ is great and is very effective.

Judo is good if you're already a striker. When you get pretty good at Judo start to look for ways to fit your strikes in. For example, look at the way someone reacts to your hits and see what happens to the body and creates space for you to move into a throw or lock. Just something to keep in mind.