Art for the Person or Person for the Art?

[Mistassailant5]

Hi. i was just wondering on all the members of KF on whether they believe that a person should be adapted for the martial art of their choice or should the martial art adapt to the person taking it? Thank you.

[Lupin1]

Well, in some ways the person has to adapt to the art-- you can't just show up at a Judo class and insist that Judo needs to adapt to you wanting to throw kicks and punches. But I chose that the art needs to adapt to the person because on the little things it does. If someone wanted to take karate but only had one arm, the instructor would have to adapt things for them. If someone was 80 years old, the moves would have to be adaptd for them into something that would be effective for their physial state. If someone had a bad knee, forms and kicks and things would need to be adapted for them. So I think there needs to be flexibility on both sides, but in the end, the art can't force a person to do what they're incapable of.

[Toptomcat]

You're offering a false dichotomy, in my opinion. Adaptation has to take place on both sides.

[Mistassailant5]

Sorry for being a little vague. I more meant which would be more effective.

[algernon]

I agree with the previous posters; there needs to be some give on both ends. You can't expect to exactly tailor a martial art to your preferences and expect it to be just as effective. If it is a sound system, you need to conform to the structure that makes it so. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with adjusting your style to better suit your needs and capabilities. In fact, it is just that sort of tweaking that will make it work for you at all.

In short, I think that most of the bending should be on the artist's end, but not all of it.

[Jeffrey]

You're offering a false dichotomy, in my opinion. Adaptation has to take place on both sides.

I would agree with this. Martial Arts can be a relationship between you an the art itself. Both sides must have a balance.

[Soheir]

I chosed, that the Martial Art should adjust for the person. For me that means, you should chose the art on how the style fits you. Everyone has their own weakness and strengthness on their style, which makes the style peculiar for you.

[ninjanurse]

One studies an art and makes it his own by learning to apply it based on personal physical and mental characteristics.... therefore, techniques are adapted accordingly. However, through the process, students should learn to maintain the integrity of the techniques yet understand how to explain and teach adaptations through personal experience-thus maintaining the system.

[tallgeese]

There's not really a beter or worse. It's a matter of what your goals are. Once you do an honest assessment of that, you can find which way is the best FOR YOU.

For me, I've always been about the self defense application. So, for me, that's the crucible.

Nor do these have to be mutally exclusive. My base arts, all on sd. However, I've found the BJJ not only lends itself well to sd, but there's a beauty of the art in there that attracts me as much, if not more than the practical side of it.

You can only get comfortable with this if each person really evaluates what they want out of the arts.