What Makes a Martial Artist Good

[cymry]

This is a rather ponderous thread for a question that is so simple to answer.

Want to know if you have fighting ability? If you can consistently train full-contact with a skilled, aggressive and pain-tolerant athlete in a particular range, then you have ability in that range.

If you can't glove up and survive in sparring against a good amateur boxer, kyokushinka or nak muay, then you can't strike.

If you can't hold your own against a good amateur wrestler, judoka, even a good hockey or rugby player trying to clinch you and take you down, you can't fight in the clinch.

If you roll with a good amateur wrestler or Brazilian jujitsu blue belt and you're the one who's always getting submitted or choked out, you can't fight on the ground.

Now there are always martial artists to be found in other systems that would be a good test of skill, but never in the numbers or consistency of going up against the above-named athletes. I would exhort anyone to try the above with an honest mind and use it to evaluate your training, and it can only be a very positive experience of growth and understanding about one's own abilities.

[WuChildNZ]

I think what makes a great Martial Artist was said my jet Li himself in the movie Fearless. I am paraphrasing here, but he said that "Every martial artist needs to analyze while he/she fights and also adapt to your opponents fighting stance while only using the style you have learnt"

[SportyGuy]

I agree with the poster regarding fighting qualities. But I generally feel everything skill we gain is a mix of physical and mental factors. So martial art should consider mental factor than any other sport.

Specially a martial artist should know how to control breath to control body and mind. He should have a trained mind to study the enemy and understnad the best method to win him.

[KarateGeorge]

I agree with the poster regarding fighting qualities. But I generally feel everything skill we gain is a mix of physical and mental factors. So martial art should consider mental factor than any other sport.

Specially a martial artist should know how to control breath to control body and mind. He should have a trained mind to study the enemy and understnad the best method to win him.

Yeah, being a good martial artist does involve physical capability, but to me that's only one piece of the puzzle. The mental is equally important. A good martial artist is one with a strong spirit. Someone who keeps going, no matter how hard it may get, no matter how tired you are, and no matter how tough the opponent is. Whether its a sparring match or a real life self-defense situation, no matter the odds, even if the odds are against you, you give it your all.

[wildman1717]

I think that you've got a nice list to start with. But some things people have, some people can get, and others are tough to train.

The gift of speed is something that can be a boon to a fighter. Bruce Lee is a prime example. But, something that Bruce also had, that more people can have, is his hard work ethic. That guy was a genetically gifted human being, but he complemented it with a fierce drive (or obsession, maybe?) to be better the next day than he was the day before.

So, I would have to put the desire to work hard close to the top of the list.

I agree, I've seen some gifted people take their skills for granted and get lazy. I've also seen people not as gifted and with hard work come back to be just as good as the gifted. Its not always how you start out but how you finish.