Martial Arts Magazines

[Montana]

I used to subscribe to BB mag for many years, but it became such a joke during the "Ninja craze" in the '80's with various "masters" doing stupid, rediculous things and claims that I got fed up with it and cancelled the subscription.

I came to realize that I really didn't care much about what other people were doing and concentrated on my own studies for the most part. If I was curious about what other systems were doing I would seek out information and instructors that were teaching it and talk to them an/or watch their classes.

[Titanium]

I used to subscribe to BB mag for many years, but it became such a joke during the "Ninja craze" in the '80's with various "masters" doing stupid, rediculous things and claims that I got fed up with it and cancelled the subscription.

I came to realize that I really didn't care much about what other people were doing and concentrated on my own studies for the most part. If I was curious about what other systems were doing I would seek out information and instructors that were teaching it and talk to them an/or watch their classes.

I know what you are saying, I think in line of the what I am going to describe of 'showy' arts, the fancy tricks that wouldn't work in real fights dominate the mags.

Serious content rarely exists in such.

[DWx]

The two I used to read (semi-)regularly were Martial Arts Illustrated and a UK magazine called Taekwondo and Korean Martial Arts Magazine but I think that ended up becoming part of Combat Magazine. Also for a short while I was regularly reading an online one Totally TKD however it switched to paid subscription and I didn't find the articles worth paying that much for when there is plenty of high quality content available free.

Problem I see with most of these magazines nowadays is that the content can be a bit hit amd miss. You get the occasional thought provoking article but most of it is just fluff sent in by some random Joe.

[sensei8]

Articles can fall short in many MA magazines, which happens even here at KF whereas articles or topics aren't read much, if at all for various reasons. Topic will sound great to the writer, but will pale to earn any interest from the readers; then the topic/article die before any life was even given to it, and of course, I speak about myself. I know I've written topics/articles that sounded great to me but that's where the piece went south fast!

It happens!!

[Titanium]

Articles can fall short in many MA magazines, which happens even here at KF whereas articles or topics aren't read much, if at all for various reasons. Topic will sound great to the writer, but will pale to earn any interest from the readers; then the topic/article die before any life was even given to it, and of course, I speak about myself. I know I've written topics/articles that sounded great to me but that's where the piece went south fast!

It happens!!

I know what you mean - I think it is what people find interesting in their own mind and personal development.

[DWx]

Articles can fall short in many MA magazines, which happens even here at KF whereas articles or topics aren't read much, if at all for various reasons. Topic will sound great to the writer, but will pale to earn any interest from the readers; then the topic/article die before any life was even given to it, and of course, I speak about myself. I know I've written topics/articles that sounded great to me but that's where the piece went south fast!

It happens!!

I know what you mean - I think it is what people find interesting in their own mind and personal development.

I realize it happens and what's interesting for me might not be interesting for others and vice versa but good editing should still filter out well written from poorly written articles.

[sensei8]

Articles can fall short in many MA magazines, which happens even here at KF whereas articles or topics aren't read much, if at all for various reasons. Topic will sound great to the writer, but will pale to earn any interest from the readers; then the topic/article die before any life was even given to it, and of course, I speak about myself. I know I've written topics/articles that sounded great to me but that's where the piece went south fast!

It happens!!

I know what you mean - I think it is what people find interesting in their own mind and personal development.

I realize it happens and what's interesting for me might not be interesting for others and vice versa but good editing should still filter out well written from poorly written articles.

I wholeheartedly agree!! That's why one might see "edit(s)" at times whenever I post; grammar and spelling can be a tad off. PROOFREAD, but even that can be botched.

I'll even catch errors in even the best of magazines from time to time; it happens. "Spellcheck", if one can believe it, misses spelling errors occasionally, it's rare, but not impossible.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Martial arts magazines can be an unexpectedly valuable resource for instructors. Even if there may not be anything useful or truthful in them they can give a great insight on what kind of expectations potential students might have. It can help an instructor challenge the popular conceptions and understand their origin and why they persist.

[sensei8]

Martial arts magazines can be an unexpectedly valuable resource for instructors. Even if there may not be anything useful or truthful in them they can give a great insight on what kind of expectations potential students might have. It can help an instructor challenge the popular conceptions and understand their origin and why they persist.

I agree!! For the longest time, I kept them available to students because this too is a valuable resource for the students as well. Can generate a lot of interesting questions from students; which I highly encourage!