meatloaf231 post=18.69524.663135 said:
Ares Tyr post=18.69524.662674 said:
I haven't been in a fight that's finished ever, and I haven't been in a fight since I was in the seventh grade (unless you count all my sparring sessions, many of which include body shots free for alls, which would then number in the hundreds). Usually the fact that I'm a martial artist, and a decent one, is deterrent enough, but reall, people just don't mess with me because they like me. I'm usually a popular guy and most have a generaly positive attitude of me. And those who don't I guess just stay away from me. I'm not saying they fear me, but I've managed to avoid outside conflict for a while.
And it sucks because I love fighting, haha.
I was told by my fencing coach (who does everything from wrestling to tae-kwon-do) that an average boxer could beat anything but a super-well trainer martial artist, mainly because they don't teach second intention to martial artists until very late in the training. Is that true?
Short answer: Yes and no, it depends on the place and teacher.
Long, more interesting answer:
It's true in a lot of dojos, yes. When I first started I was in one said Dojo, and I moved on to a more serious dojang (korean term). My master was ran a self defense program along with Tae Kwon Do and also studied several other arts to ensure his own real world fighting proffeciency. He always harped on "all this flying around stuff is great, but you want to also ensure that in a street fight, you can take them out" and so he'd teach us alot of Hap Ki Do, Jujitsu, etc. Checking kicks, elbow strikes, and basic grappling. He also had us spar alot, and often.
The occurence of "McDojos" where harmful intent is not addressed, and the art is softened for commercial use never came to me until I competed in my only tournament(and won). The school that brought the most students (and where also hosting the tournament) had several student and black belts whom I was more skilled at (atleast in fighting, speed, and power terms) at a red belt level. I even asked to compete in the black belt division but was not allowed to. So I beat two older guys than me, and won still.
Also, I was lucky enough to find out about Mixed Martial Arts early in my career, and watch it often. And even luckier, two of my guest instructors (past students of my masters, who've gone off, done their things, and returned momentarily) taught me ALOT about real fighting. The first one that returned was a man of small stature, but of AMAZING fighting ability. I.E. he once dropped a heel on my chest, made me bleed on numerous occasions, and also took me under his wing as a personal project for sometime. He made me into a much better striker within my style.
Shortly after him, another man like him returned. He'd left the dojang around 15 to move, having just finished his black belt. He then picked up one of the rougher, harder styles of Karate, attained a black belt in this as well, and then picked up boxing, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Me and my friends (fellow students) had been fooling around with a little stuff we'd seen on TV. Then he got there and dropped knowledge on us. He made me a better all around striker, taught me to kick with the shins, use my knees and elbows, how to box instead of doing "basic straight punches" and also taught me about everything I know about grappling (which I picked up very quickly). After that, me and the other guys (friends, fellow students) started having body-shot fights and grappling matches to improve our skills. This carried on until I moved myself, then started again with a member of my school's wrestling team, which later led me to learning wrestling during my own one year stint on the team (then I graduated).
So I have a rather well rounded martial arts background. However, I started soft (with the intent to fight, not be soft), and then I moved around green belt and started learning hard style, how to fight. And then after that it all got harder, more real, and now I'm uninterested in doing anything other than "the best way to fuck someone up". Though I'm also interested in tricking, and capoeira, I'm fully aware that its mostly for show. So yeah... I do martial arts fully aware that its meant for fighting and protecting ones self life or death. Not to look nice and pervay a nice message. It can be a form of meditation, but it started as a way for meditating monks to protect themselves from people trying to kill them. Samurai, who needed to kill, practiced and meditated during practice, fully aware that these skills would allow them to kill their opponents. Martial arts is meant to harm, maim, protect, and kill.
The sooner others figure this out, the sooner we'll stop having the "McDojos".
unch him in the eye.with both fists.he won't even see it coming.
