Which Is More Important?

[sperki]

I think Benoitt makes a great point about the marriage of experience and technique; if you don't know any techniques you're probably in trouble, even if you get mugged regularly. Although I would think that even in that case you would gain some technique for dealing the the situation through experience.

[bushido_man96]

It seems that I'm looking at:

- The experiences one attains while on their MA journey?

in a personal way, especially since I see the word "journey" in the question. When we say "experiences," are we speaking of what one encounters as one's life's experiences, particularly in the MA world, or honing martial arts skills?

The two can have a bit of a crossover, I think. Not all experiences will have anything to do with our Martial Arts, but some will, and that experience benefits our Martial Arts training.

[JiuJitsuNation]

I have one word for both choices. Quality? lol

Not all are created equal. As in how have the techniques or experiences benefited or bettered you in life. Because if they do neither they are both worthless.

[ramymensa]

Experience for me. I don't train in a hard style (shotokan is anything but "hard core") and after 5 years of not being able to train, all that's left is the experiences. The wonderful people I trained with, the sense of accomplishment I had when being able to land a technique I'd never believe I can etc. Of course the techniques are very important, but most of the time we're left with more than just a good spinning kick