A perfect martial art?

[pondera]

Is their one who has studdied an art which is completey 100% perfect in the martial arts sence. By that I mean puts an equal amount of importance on the internal as the external, on the soft as the hard, on the round as the strait, on grappling as standup, on individual attack as multiple attackers, on sport as survival? Complete unification of body, mind and spirit. Effective in self defence against military personell, martial arts experts, and street fighters, yet able to mold to the rules of sport, competition and safety? has religouse philosophy for the spirit and mind mingled with the physical training for power, flexibuility and speed? Is this possible with one art, or are we mandaded to crosstrain in different forms?

[ravenzoom]

No single martial art can bring all of this to an individual, you better start cross-training now and do it for a long long time if you want to become such an accomplished martial artist.

[Treebranch]

No, but what is perfect? Perfect is stagnant. Excuse the poor spelling and grammar.

[WC-Strayder]

Perfect is stagnant.

That's true. Nothing else in this world is perfect just B-coz of that. Thats is why we live, get children and die. If we had lived forever our rase would be "perfekt", right, and no progression would be made. We had still been stoneage people if we where a "perfect" rase and the wheel is something we never invented, coz we where allready perfect....

. So keep on training more my friend and stop looking for perfect styles, coz there isn't any. Thats my advice.....

(Do not mind the grammar, I'm from norway

[Mr. Mike]

for a Norwegian, your grammar is exemplary.

As for a 'perfect' art, you would do well to search for the one with the perfect teacher and student also. That is the defining factor.

[cheeks]

As for a 'perfect' art, you would do well to search for the one with the perfect teacher and student also. That is the defining factor.

good point, there is no point in trying to find the perfect art if the teacher is rubbish, and the student is lazy

and as for a perfect art, we all have different ideas of 'perfect' and of what that means to us. for example i prefer to use my hands when fighting, but others may prefer kicking or grappling. and even deeper, i hate the back kick, but love the spinning kick and everyone else will have different preferences which make us unique to each other.

[scottnshelly]

Everyone has different preferences; therefore everyone should already be studying their interpretation of a perfect art. I don’t learn things that don’t pertain to me, I sample from everything that I can benefit from and mold it into the perfect art for me. Don’t limit yourself and don’t learn things that are useless to you. Always strive for perfection. If you aren’t already studying the perfect art for you, then you should find out what’s missing; what would make it the perfect art and strive for that.

[Kajukenbopr]

well, Kajukenbo is a style which trains in karate, jujitsu, judo, kenpo, and kung fu- it was made for streetfighting and the techniques learned are made to take down any kind of attacker.Also, it can be modified for tournaments though it's not done often.

However, I wouldnt call it perfect other than in the sense that I love it for myself. Other people might think their styles are pretty perfect for them.

[Master Jules]

Very traditional Okinawan Goju Ryu contains all that you have descibed Pondera.

[CapitalKarate]

This is what I call a perfect style;

Incorporates all aspects of martial arts (hand striking with all sides and in all manners, kicking with all parts of the legs, knee strikes, elbow strikes, grappling in any position [standup, clinch, ground], throws, take downs, pressure points, joint locks [all joints], i think there's something else that I forgot)

Feels that fitness is as important as the learning the techniques. Along with conditioning to take a hit anywhere.

Performs all levels of sparring and starts with all levels once you have a good enough grasp on the basics (and there not being a set level at which you start sparring).

Has only 3 belts; white, brown, black.

Is willing to accept techniques from other arts when they prove valuable (or in other words is always changing so to keep up to date)

Is willing to give a leave of absence to people when they prove lazy so that the teacher can focus on training the ones who really want to learn.

Does a lot of heavy bag work.

Trains knowing that you could be in any kind of area during any kind of conditions including a terrain where it's raining and it's unstable ground because of it, being on a slope at any angle, being on stairs, lying in bed, squating, taking a dump (hey, it's happened!).. e.t.c.

Now, I'll use thise as an example of how there's no perfect style. Some people don't see full contact without protection on as a safe thing to do, some would say my wanting all aspects of fighting is a waste of time, some greatly enjoy a list of belts that require specific attention on to remember them all. That's how there's no perfect style.