SevenStar

actually yes. If for nothing else than intent. I know all of the guys in my class. Even with hard full contact, they don't want to knock my head off. I spar them all the time - no adranaline factor or various other issues. In competition, these are present, and your opponent is someone who is not your friend and who does want to knock your head off. where would the world be if everyone thought that? we would have no singers, no comedians, no sport fighters, no sports in general - no entertainment at all. Do ALL of these people lack humility?

losing weight is dependent on diet and cardio - you have to lose the fat to see the muscle. Naturally, you can't do this unless you are burning more calories than you consume - and that it ultimately what you are shooting for.

they share various principles - for example, in grappling, they seek to take your balance in order to throw you. however, they differ in the means of doing so. A judoka will do this by kazushi - "gentle" off balancing - using your own energy to keep you going in a certain direction, then throw you in that same direction. Sumo is more like chinese shuai chiao in this respect - they will off balance you forcefully, usually by setting up with some type of hand or shoulder strike. principles of maintaining balance will likely be the same. As for training methods, they are likely specific to the art, and wouldn't be the most efficient thing for another style. For example, practicing my kazushi may not help me much if I'm training sumo.

I know what he means - taiji, bagua, xingyi, piqua, etc. I'm curious as to his reasoning, which is why I provided some counter agruments to his points for him.

most of the techniques that are illegal now were allowed in the early UFCs... I don't think the allowance of such techniques would change the game that much, actually. Eye gouges? I should be protecting my head anyway. groin shots? I should be protecting low anyway. joint locking/breaking? we already do that. pressure points? they are so precise that you have to beVERY accurate to get them to work - and even then, there's no cuarantee that they will. I can take my chances there without much worry. kicking a downed opponent? Pride already allows that.

you don't believe that...

now apply that to a traditional guy... strikes, forms, kicks, chin na, qi gong, nei gong, iron palm, iron body, numerous weapons... who's really the jack of all trades here? And of the things listed above, how many can a person TRULY master? The "jack of all trades, master of none" definitely applies to traditional guys as well, but many of them don't realize that. doesn't matter = the training methods are far less than realistic. As for ego - MMA guys generally have their ego in check. If you talk to them in person, they are different. cockiness makes money. They fight professionally, and need to drum up an audience. To be honest, I've seen bigger egos out of traditional guys than any sport guys I've ever seen - getting your butt kicked keeps the ego in check. I know that i can go in class tomorrow and maul most of the guys in class. However, I also know that there are several who will do the same thing to me, and they do so on a regular basis. getting beaten is a very humbling thing. However, I lose count of the number of times a traditional guy says "in a real fight, just kick em in the nuts" or something similar, as if it's that easy. I had one guy tell me that boxers - pro boxers - have no skill - "they just stand there and slug eachother". There is a pizza parlor near our school. We went in one day to get lunch (it was when the school was opening, and we were doing some work on the interior) the casheir said "hey, are you the guys from the MMA school?" to which we replied yes, and invited him to stop by sometime. He then told us that he didn't need to, because he would never get taken down, and that his time is better spent doing striking. looking back, it was angrymat, not you - my bad. they are what you make them. What I am saying is that more than half of the people that train will never use what they learn.... traditional guys train for a possibility; sport guys train for an inevitability. traditional guys train for the assailant that they MIGHT run into - but likely won't - someday. sport guys train for the next opponent, as they will definitely have one.

that's funny - john wang is one of the most proficient shuai chiao teachers alive today...I dunno how his baji is, but from what I hear, his shuai chiao is phenomenal

traditional arts are a game, if that's the case. drilling with a cooperative partner, light contact sparring - even full contact - none of it is real, and is thus a game, correct? If you disagree, then explain what is more real about them. it holds meaning in reference to your comment - you stated that masters don't compete against eachother. His disproved what you said. there's a difference between cockiness and disrespect. I disagree. especially in this day and age. actual physical MA training has little if anything to do with survival. We dont live in times where we are getting attacked daily. And even when we do, weapons are usually involved. We live in the time of the gun, and MA training doesn't help much against that. Not to mention that the majority of people out there will NEVER even get into an altercation after they reach adulthood. perhaps his point is that their training methods are inferior. That does not imply any disrespect for the style at all.

I didn't miss that - I addressed that in my very first post. My most recent reply was not directed at you, but at people using the term "warrior" as though it is still applicable to us.

we recently had a thread about this - you can search for it. what you learn depends on who you train with and who they trained with. the original jkd guys and the jun fan guys are more classical, for example. with them, you will learn trapping, various strikes and kicks from various styles, etc. with the straight blast guys, you learn bjj and thai boxing - the thai boxing is their striking as opposed to wc, thai, savate, etc. and bjj/wrestling is their equivalent of trapping and part of the infighting. then you have the jkd concepts guys, vunak's guys, etc... next time you go to class, ask them who they trained under and what all they teach.

how far are you from asheville? there is a very good kung fu school there.

recently, there was an article about a muay thai practitioner who chased three men out of his home who were assaulting his mother. The three men had weapons. All of them left the house running, and the thai fighter had only minor injuries. I'll dig up the article. okay - do you think that your average kung fu student will become as skilled as chang tung sheng? what about wong fei hung? sun lu tang? To become extremely proficient at ANY martial art takes extreme dedication. Most people will never reach such a level. actually, yes. I know someone who fought a full contact match to celebrate his 50th birthday. the current ufc heavyweight champ is 43. One of my judo coaches is 76 and he can still beat the young guys. Not only that, but when he was 74, he chased a burglar out of his home. you can't COMPETE AT A HIGH LEVEL at an advanced age, but can you still defend oiurself? definitely. And people like randy couture are even proving you can compete at an advanced age. As I stated, he's 43. do them all at the same time. spiritually, you can go to church. philosophically, you can read. physically, train. why?

I'm not saying you won't see results - only that you will see better results with weights, and that isometrics aren't necessary for a strong punch. I like several of the exercises in that book.

perhaps the real question is why do any of you consider yourselves warriors? Most people who get into MA will never even get into a fight after they begin training - how can you be a warrior, without having been in a war? a streetfight is not a war, and many people will not even have that. The thought of a martial artist being a warrior these days is really not much more than nostalgic fantasy...

are you referring to the book "dynamic strength" by harry wong? I've got that book as well. it's got some good stuff in it, but you will get MUCH stronger on a weight training program.

iron fist/palm, etc. can be beneficial, but are not necessary. I wouldn't call them keys to a strong punch. Tyson, foreman, dempsey, etc. All these guys did was punch a heavy bag.

you looking at it WAY to broadly. yes, people still fight. bit fighting has changed. Back in the day, the chinese thought is was disgraceful to go to the ground. these days, it's a preferred tactic of many. back in the day, most schools did not spar. these days, many do. back in the day, people believed things about physical training that have been disproved by science today. the list goes on. Heck, just look at MA over the past 10-12 years - the come up of grappling, the advent of mma, etc. When you get below the generic term "fighting", you see that it has changed alot.

that's really no different from feinting. However, if you are just shooting your hand out to the side, you are also open during that time... I'd rather feint a strike, for example, fent a high attack to get their attention/guard up, then attack low.

not really. Isometrics only build strength in the position which you are holding the contraction - not the full range of a motion, as there is no motion. that's really not conducive to "functional" muscle strength...

agreed.

http://judoinfo.com/images/animations/blue/ipponseoi.htm

securing the arm is part of the throw. it works perfectly well, which is why it's so popular in judo. You don't have to LET them secure anything - it's spontaneous. They won't sit there and fight your arm - that wouldn't make sense. It's based on judo's principle of kazushi - off balancing. let's say wwe are in a clinch, for example. We are tied up, so I already have a hold of you anyway. The clinch is the most common range to enter in a fight, so you will likely end up there at some point. with a forward pull, I jerk you off balance. I fit in for the throw, and the arm is then secured in the fold of my opposite arm - I'll find a pic, since you seem not to understand how an arm would be secured. the reaping sweep is just there - because you set yourself up for it when you dropped into the horse stance. I've seen it done a thousand times - you are no different from anyone else... naturally, it's possible to step out of the reap - anything can be countered. It's a very plausible and successful technique, however. as for pain compliance, no, it's not the answer. it works differently on different people. On some it works great, on others, not at all. In addition, it can be merely an annoyance - something that will just tick people off. The proper use, IMO for a pain compliance technique would be merely to create a slight reaction that you can capitalize on. in the example you gave, I can guarantee you that grabbing my skin would not make me release the bear hug. At most, I may flinch some. HOPEFULLY, I flinch enough and in such a manner that you may capitalize on it.

some of that article is flawed. he's inaccurate in his statements about muscle. I think speed is overhyped by many people, him included, possibly. The rest of the article is good, though.