Opinions please

[Fenris-wolf]

Well, I don't have anything really original to contribute, other people have pretty much made all the points I would have made... But that is a beautifully written post. While it's not "me" I really got drawn into it, very damn good, whoever you are!

[shotochem]

KI never blocked a kick........

 

Until I find proof of its existence I will train with my heart, body, and mind.

 

I'll leave the mystisism to the mystics. I am not a warrior monk nor do I strive to be. I do not use the force(though I really would like a lite saber).

 

MA were originally designed for combat and self preservation. I would rather my opponent become one with my fist than become harmonious with the world around me. Spirituality is best found in a church, temple, mosque or other place of worship. In a dojo......not me.

 

Sometimes we make thing out to be more than what they really are.

[White Warlock]

I use my KI to unlock doors and startup engines.

 

Oh, did i mispell that?

[markusan]

Don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but I've been doing ma for a while now and a lot of old friends of mine who went the full contact road aren't in such good shape these days. One in particular is in a wheelchair, another is 55 and can't stand without a walking stick. Another, a boxer, who copped one too many shots in the head doesn't make much sense anymore. A good friend who started in the early days of kick boxing has no feeling in his legs, and he no longer sees that as an advantage. He walks into stuff and gets bruises and cuts and infections and doesn't realise it. He's had to get lots of skin grafts. I'm happy I went the non-contact way, though I felt like a cop out when I was younger. I don't street fight and I'm still fit enough to teach my kids(and beat them over 100 metres). remember you can't fight when your knees are mashed or when you keep forgetting what your name is.

[White Warlock]

Agreed Markusan. I got out of competitions in the 80's and have worked hard to avoid getting into full-on confrontations since. I collected enough injuries in my early years... to last me the rest of my life.

[Fat Donkey]

KI is an abbreviation for Muyt Thai freaks Killer instinct, not Ki as in spiritual power. I was asking him what he meant by Killer instinct.

[mya]

I think the "KI" he is refering is the ability keep standing after taking 5 rounds on the chest just so you can protect your daughter ( do not take literaly). Or in other words is having a will of iron, who can remenber the marathon guy (a soldier) that died in greece after running the 40 Km just so he could bring the news that the war had ended.

 

Or the ability that WW1 soldiers had to stand up from the trenchs and run against machine gun fire to take enemy positions.

 

Or the the mother that lifted the car to take his child out.

 

Or the one who fought 2 wolfs so his 2 kids could escape, and lasted alive just until she had word that them where ok.

 

You can practice all you want, but if you do not have the Will to win you will never see the end of it.

 

PS: On the main text thing, i can tell you that you may train all the fighting arts/systems you want everyway you want but you will get hurt badly if you do not have a sense of awareness/ambush. There is no way a MA will ever prepare you to deflect a knife in the back at a dark aley.

 

I will tell you why i do MA's, it for lasting the 1-3 seconds i need to evaluate and escape when my awareness fails me and i get jumped, cause i can tell you there is nothing more scaring that being jumped (ambushed).

 

As for fighting using hand to hand, it has been oudated since the invention of the club during the cave times.

[Ripper]

It's allways the same with people that do full contact. Many of them think they are better fighters because they do full contact instead of semicontact. Total *.

 

All the sparring in martial arts, boxing and so on are just games in which you allways have a lot of rules. In that way it doesn't matter what game you are playing, it's the person that makes the difference.

 

Talking about the better fighter in a streetfight is something totally different. In a streetfight there are no rules. At that point it makes no difference what kind of game you play. For example, if someone unexpectedly grabs both of your wrists and you are a boxer you will have a problem. If you are doing aikido probably less. Streetfight are just very unpredictable.

[Mart]

Ok first off there are very few thai boxers who have problems in old and. Indeed many in thailand are teaching into their old age and they fought every 3 weeks when they were younger.

 

So the street has no rules, full contact has some rules, semi contact has nore rules, no contact has even more. So full contact is closer. It always makes me laugh when i spar guys full contact under any rules they like and they realise that the techniques they want to use dont work when theyve just been hit. And boy does there first punch have an effect on them. Suddenly they cant deal with it. its a new world and they are out of their depth. I have seen this many times.

[Drunken Monkey]

but then one possible argument is that when the semi-contact guys, who are used to doing their techniques in 'perfect' forms stylee, get used to getting hit, they will then have the upper hand in terms of techniques and execution.

 

what i mean is, it's kinda like the semi-contact guys have to learn a new game plan, so to speak.

 

but

 

once this game plan had been absorbed, they still have their old catalogue to play with.

 

i mean i remember my first kick-boxing class.

 

i had no idea what i was doing and was so not used to losing a lot of the use of my hands.

 

i was pounded into the ground.

 

a bit further on i got used to taking hits and eventually i can actually get 'stealing hands' and 'slap hands' and cover hits using the basic blocks (tan, gan, biu).

 

admittedly my actual kick-boxing leaves a lot to be desired but my wing chun still works in the environment, albeit in a limited (in terms of it's original intended) use.

 

yes?

 

no?

 

maybe?

 

i don't know, i was just thinking and that reasoning came to me.

 

i can see a flaw with my hypothesis but i'll let you guys tear it apart first.