Treebranch

Study Ninjutsu, it covers every possible scenario you'll ever come across. *Taiji isn't a fighting art- one of my favorites. Let's just say that ignorance isn't bliss, it's fatal. Did you mean Tai Chi, because there is a fighting style of you know. *You can't fight if you're______(sitting down, in water, 'handicaped', wearing restrictive clothing or equipment, small, large, female, ...)- if you think you may have to fight like any of these, train wearing/doing/being any of them. You might surprise yourself, gain new skills, and maybe even learn more about your art. I think you have an understanding of Martial Arts that many people don't have. I think with your understanding you can look at other MA's and figure out how to make them work better, correct me if I'm wrong DELTA 1.

Yeah, I think Shaolin Kung Fu was #1.

Here it is. I'm not claiming anything, but just wanted to know if anyone knows anything about this school of Jujitsu, Thanks. personales.com/costarica/santacruz/sotoryupub/theart.htm

Well as we have seen Boxers peek out, and the same with a lot of sport arts, they age out. They simply don't have the athleticism to continue being proficient fighters. In other words it's a young mans sport, there are exceptions of course. There are MA's that the practitioner gets better as you get older and can continue doing them when your older, these are limitless, you be the judge of which these are.

All styles of fighting are effective, but some are more effective than others. Some are easier to learn, but limited, and some are limitless.

physcospaz said "Hmm, I would advise the practitioner to train in something practical and easy to learn/use first, so that while learning Aikido, they can defend themselves. Of course, if they're not worried about getting into fights for the time being, they need not waste precious training time on something they are't going to be using." My point exactly.

Who's being Negative? Just voicing my opinion, hope I didn't hit a nerve.

Well goes to show you, you never who you might encounter on the street. No comment on the Atemi Ryu Jujitsu guy?

I wouldn't advise a 60 year old woman to learn Muy Thai, or any of the full contact sports would you? Aikido is not an easy art to learn, and I have a friend who is 4th Dan and he is a very effective fighter.

It's cool I didn't take it that way, your right these fighters are all top notch now.

There's this 7 time Kumate Champ from the 70's that is Atemi Ryu Jujitsu, I don't have a link right now, it's easy to find. BJJ is great for competition where grappling is allowed, not so good standing. Muay Thai is brutle standing, but in a street fight, who knows, it comes down to the fighter, no matter what style. Tank Abbott has no style and he kicks ass.

Best Martial Art, Bekindjutsu.

I don't know, but I think BJJ would be more practical.

Yeah, you have a point about forcing the fighter to obtain a higher skill level. I do like when the ref picks them up and restarts, it is more exciting in that respect.

I never said that, but it was more interesting to me when it had less rules, I still think it's great.

There was some program, I think it was on THE HISTORY CHANNEL that was called Top 10 Martial Arts or something like that. I caught a part of it. I think it was judged on notariety and popularity, not on effectiveness. I think Martial Arts is kind of like religion, it's what fits you best, what makes sense to you, or what you've been taught.

What are talking about Ghost, Boxing is the most popular Martial Art out there. I never heard any MA making the kind of money a boxer can make. I've seen boxers in street fights and they rule. I'd like to point something out, the Pugilist in the old days fought bare knuckle fights for 100 rounds until one of them fell over and couldn't get back up, pretty tough dudes. Boxing came from this, the only difference was the addition of the gloves and the guard was brought closer to the face, to make it more exciting. If you know Boxing and employ the guard of a pugilist in a street fight you will destroy most people. Also since kicking and grappling is not allowed in Boxing it does limit what you can do in a real fight, but someone with real boxing experience can easily adapt to almost any MA. I got your back Bro.

Well I think it's really cool if a Legitimate European Arts Schools start popping up all over the world, and that european martial arts is rediscovered. I myself would be interested in it, I did some searches on the net and found some books I want to check out. There were old illustrations of 2 guys fighting with Claymores and I have to say their stances, the way they hold the weapon, and where they were striking looks very logical and very similar to what I am studying. Thanks, for the debate.

Thanks JerryLove I'll do some research on those Arts you suggested. I'd like to thank everyone for responding so well to this post, keep them coming.

I think it's pretty safe to say that most Martial Arts if taught and learned properly, the practitioner would find, after careful observation, that there are huge similarities in the stances and movements from Art to Art. The human structure is virtually identical from person to person, therefore the way we walk, run, jump, strike all derive from the human structure. If you move with the whole body and strike with the body, you no doubt will be more effective and efficient. Look your a right about one thing, I didn't take into consideration GRAPPLING when making my argument. I was referring Martial Arts from a standing position, so if we exclude grappling from our discussion, you will find huge similarities and be able to adapt to any weapon. I study Budo Taijutsu and we are taught weapons and hand to hand simultaneously. It is the first Art I have studied that made this point very clear. The hand strikes and the weapon is one in the same. Also who is teaching you how to use these European Weapons? Do you have any reference for this stuff, and where can I get some tapes. I am very interested to see how effective these practioner use these weapons. A lot of the European Martial Arts fell out use with the invention of the gun, and a True European Martial Artist is a very rare thing. Sorry to everyone on this thread if it sounds like we are bickering, I am just a little passionate about MA and so is my e-friend JerryLove. I have no hard feeling toward anyone's opinion, but I can be a smartaleck once in a while.

I personally don't think it's scripted, but it does have a lot more rules than it used to. I have tapes of the early ones those were awesome.

Hee Hee, Chop sticks for soup...I like soup.

Semantics aside, you'd have nothing to build upon if it wasn't for tradition, nothing to compare and contrast. Traditional or Purist Martial Arts that don't leave room for growth are unrealist, just like most religions. None the less very well said AGGK_Karateka.

I would think that any style of Martial Arts that take the least amount of physical strength to do, is using body mechanics that are very natural and practical. I study Budo Taijutsu which have movements very similar to Tai Chi, it's roots probably lay there. The strikes are devistating, but not many people know of this, because you don't see people doing Tai Chi in movies or in tournaments.

Moves not movies right? I like making people miss.