Treebranch

So if someone told you it would take 20 years to get your black belt would you still train? What if they told you probably would get it in a year? Would you think that MA was any good? I'm an artist, I draw, I paint, I sculpt. I went to school and have my degree in fine art. Does that make me an expert? Should I assume I have no more to learn? Who cares about the belt. The real reason behind the belt is so your instructor know how far along you've come and you can help him instruct someone below you. Also so that your instructor doesn't teach you the same thing over and over. In drawing I saw improvement when I applied myself and my drawing got better and better. I still feel after all these years that I have a long way to go. That's how you should feel until you die. First learn your craft and then make art with your skills.

Yeah, but you are talking about boxing principles and you are thinking someone is just going to trade blows with you. In reality I can go from your jab to a clinch in that instance. Your guard is your strategy, if you only have one guard to lure with it's pretty easy to predict where your attack is coming from. If someone's guard is right around the face, you can guess they favor boxing, if the guard is slightly open, usually they are making room for the legs to come into play, if the hand are extended out more than a boxer they are more than likely grapplers. The point I am trying to make is that each way of guarding serves two purposes to depend and to lure. So If you only have one guard you've given away your strategy to a large extent. If you are sport fighting I agree with what you said, but if you are being attacked and it's a matter of survival I disagree entirely. If you are really being attacked, it is too risky to let anyone get that close to you. I know we are talking about strikes, but you should handle your movements with the assumption that the person attacking may have a weapon. Concentrate more on taking balance when striking and your strikes will mean more than just trying to knock out someone. You might not be able to knock out everyone you fight.

Well aside from anime which I am also a fan of, but mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with martial arts. Drawing the sword quickly is taught in Iaido and some other Kenjutsu teach it as well. The draw cut is difficult and you shouldn't try it if you are not training with an instructor, especially with an edged weapon. The other thing is that you have to make sure the sword isn't too long for you and the body mechanics used for a draw cut, can't be learned from videos unless you have prior training.

Everything depends on distance and timing. Blocks are handy when there isn't enough time to move out of the way. Moving out of the way to the right place is probably safest. Parrying I would say works best when you are trying to close the distance. The last thing you want is a punching and blocking match. Learn to use your guard or lack of one to draw your opponents attention to hit you in a certain area. If you have your hands to close to your face you will bring the fight to a closer range. If you keep your guard extented like that of a pugilist they will either go for the legs or they will have go around your guard. If you stand at a safe distance and wait for the attack in a standing position, most of the time they will attack your center and you won't be there for them. Don't let jabs scare you, follow the punch in and jam them up, tipping them so that their balance is off, and drop them. Learn to lure your opponent and you will learn to predict what kind of strike the opponent is most likely to use.

TKD came from Karate and is one of the most saturated MA's in the world. It's O.K. for him to be excited about his art, but to put yours down is ignorant. You seem like you have experience so don't let it bother you. See him as if he is a child, it shouldn't bother you. Just ignore him and keep training.

Well Saber fighting was done with one hand. Logically you could use the other hand to deflect and bash if necessary. If there two sword techniques out there, it's not too far fetched that the scabbard could be used as a weapon as well. There are many ways to use a weapon and anything can be a weapon. So the sheath can be a weapon in it's own right. Many Saber sheaths were made of metal for a reason.

Certain Sabers have metal sheaths that can definitely used for bashing and deflecting.

They all are Martial Artists, I guess the word "Athlete" refers to sports. I think MMA fights are great and some of the fighters really know what they are doing. I've seen lots of dvds and videos of NHB fights in which the fighters were nothing more than guys who like to fight, with very little technique involved. They are basically muscle bound thugs that just ground and pound. They know a few things, but I wouldn't call them artists. Some of the top fighters you can see know what they are doing and are not as narrow minded about MA's as the enthusiasts that watch these fights religiously. A true Martial Artist can look at any MA and see things within it that can be very effective and useful in any situation. I wish I had the time and money to train as hard as Sport Martial Artists, but I don't. I've trained hard in other areas of my life and try my best to fill the rest of the time studying MA's. I would love to study a little BJJ and little bit of Kali or even European Saber fighting. Most people have too many interests and not enough time. Anyway, I'm rambling.

Yeah but what in a clinch or when grappling? These things can get someone to leap off of you. Nobody wants to lose an eye. I agree, I wouldn't try for these targets in the moment, but if it presents itself will you know how to take advantage of it? That's all I'm really saying. There are strikes that aren't meant to knock out or destroy someone, they are strikes that open up opportunities for locks and or throws.

That's a great story and has probably happened to both TMA and SMA. The whole eye poking thing isn't really the factors that make a sport and combat MA different, it's the frame of mind. By the way poking someone's eye out or spraying someone with pepper spray is going to give you a big advantage, epecially if you are trying to get the hell out the situation. Winning a match and surviving an attack are 2 completely different dynamics. There may very well be TMA that are more sport oriented and Sport MA that are concerned with real situation as the ring. I'm just saying if you are taught to try not to fight unless you are attacked and to be aware of your surroundings you will find yourself not getting into fights. One is teaching how to compete and the other to survive. If I'm attacked I don't care who it is I will do whatever it takes to not be in that situation, even swallow my pride. Just my thoughts.

I don't think you can say with any certainty who would win in a fight a Martial Athlete or a Martial Artist. In general if you had both equally physically fit and both had lots of fights under their belts in and out of the ring, then it would be up to the fighter at that moment. Many fighters at the higher levels can fight eachother on different occasions and the outcome is not always the same. Fights are unpredictable and there are many factors that go into winning a fight. Now in my opinion the traditional knife fighter on the street with a knife against a martial athlete will almost definitely win. The difference in philosophy is a big factor. If you train someone for many years to win fights in the ring and follow certain rules subconsciously those rules may filter into the fight as well as the habits learned in ring fighting. Now if the Martial Artists happens to be someone that is a thug and has killed people and doesn't care what happens afterward, well that's something else entirely. What I'm trying to say is winning and killing or survival are completely different motivations and the outcome of these types of situations can't be predicted. That's why the scariest people are the one's that have nothing to lose. So just be careful out there. There is no magic formula. Train the brain it will save you.

Well maybe the grappling arts are different I guess which is good.

Any sport MA that makes you spar right off the bat and doesn't teach you the basics first. The only sport MA's I've studied are Lima Lama and Taekwondo, which the above was something I directly experienced and didn't find that making sparr before I knew anything did me any good.

Good point Judoguy. This may sound cheesy but I like to compare dancing with MA's. In dance you have to learn the steps and the rythm and the flow, before you can dance adequately. Then you have dance with a partner and that partner may not know anything about dancing or very little. A good dancer will make it work. The most important part of any viable MA is to teach adaptability. If you have been taught properly you should be able to change your approach at the moment. If you have been taught to do something to same way over and over, it can became your strength and your biggest weakness. Blah, blah, blah, sorry just my opinion. By the way I am no dancer.

I do agree that full contact training is very important, but I think it should be taught after lots of drilling and technique training first. What happens alot in arts that focus too much on full contact is, that they will throw someone into a full contact sparring match usually with someone of equal skill which is little to no skill and all they do is punch and kick wildly, flinching and closing their eyes every time a punch comes at them. The flinch response can be curbed with sound basic training before going full contact. Of course this is a generalization, because there are people who can just go in and naturally aren't flinchers. The less you flinch, the more effective you will be at avoiding real hits. People rely way too much on the flinch response in sport MA's and fades and fakes are used alot in order to distract your opponent. Just my opinion and something to think about.

There are Machado schools everywhere, but are you interested in Brazilian or Japanese?

Shotokan and Kodokan karate are what I understand to be the more effective of the karates out there. TKD is a sport and an over saturated one at that. Anyone can be lethal, training or not.

Well there are styles that can strike at all ranges and grapple at all ranges, but it really depends on how much time you want to spend studying something and what fits your personality and temperment. Not that I am saying that Budo Taijutsu is the most comprehensive system out there, but it is very comprehensive. There is so much to learn you will never learn it all, but you will master the essence of it and that's what is important. You master the basics and those basics will grow with time. It's really an amazing art.

I think Ninjutsu or Budo Taijutsu would be fine for you. I don't you will get in shape doing it unless you train 5 days a week. Aikido would be good as well as they have many similarities. The only question to ask yourself is what interests you more. Usually if you make the teacher aware of your injuries they will be gentle with you until your ukemi gets good enough to take some falls. Good luck.

The problem with MA's is that they change according to the times. When they were needed for survival and the place in which they lived was extremely dangerous the skills being taught from those perspectives were real and effective. In time of peace these MA's change and became sports and have rules. So basically Boxing and Wrestling are sports and fencing is a sport. Now days even learning these sports can give you an advantage over everyday people on the street. The reason the MA's that are lethal are not common anymore is that we are not constantly fighting. Plus why would anyone study something so lethal when you live in a civilized society? I think you could find someone that teaches the real forms of the sports you mentioned I'd be very interested in taking a look at them. But I don't know of any school that has passed on those traditions consistantly throughout the ages like certain Asian cultures have.

Grappling covers alot of ground. There is stand up grappling and groundfighting and alot inbetween. You can take people down without going with them. You can also make them crash into parts of your body in grappling that will feel very much like strike. I choose grappling.

The fact is all MA's can be used for violence and self-defense, but I don't think that's the point here. In Combat the fighting methods should work with very little effort especially when you are physically exhausted. Certain fighting arts that rely on strength and stamina wouldn't be as effective in a situation in which you will be fighting for 6 hours straight having to maim and kill people. You would tire out too quickly and you will die. So learning techniques that allow the structure of your body and uses the physics of the body will be advantageous in Combat. Combat Arts should cover all areas of combat including psychological unbalancing of an attacker as well as drawing someone in to the right place in order to take him. In every situation especially in a life or death one, if you panic you are done. So mind set is probably the most important aspect of survival. There is no "winning" in real combat, just "survival". Get the idea of winning a fight out of your head and you will find yourself not getting into bad situations. Well that's my thoughts on the subject anyway.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good Kenjutsu schools in the Los Angeles area. I tried doing a search but I'm not having much luck. I really would love to have much more sword training than I am currently getting. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

It depends on whether you are studying something you enjoy doing, because you don't enjoy doing it you won't be any good at it. They are all good in different ways. The only difference is that JJ includes weapons training which is why I study it.

Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu.