sounds like you need to find a real instructor. there are alot of posers out there. katas are for kids. i never did one in ten years of instruction. i learned in the military in the seventies and eighties. i think that perhaps it has probably gotten p.c. like the rest of the world.
I took Judo in a Navy club for several years. My instructor did indeed start out by stressing the need to defuse a situation, and said that any fight you don't have to fight is a win. Throughout my time there, during which I learned practical self defense and hand-to-hand, fighting outside of competition was strictly frowned upon, and if we had gotten into a fight that we could have somehow gotten out of, we would have been kicked out of the club.
Also, our starting "stance" consisted of slightly bending our knees... pretty much the position you go to when you feel threatened anyway.
The only black belt I have is on my jeans, with that being said, I believe Bruce Lee had the first form of offenceive Karate The Technique of the intersepting fist or foot. Growing up in Chicago Heights, Illinois in the mid to late 60s, I became self taught, using the best moves from all forms, and styles, plus Chicago style street fighting and it has served me well during the years
this reminds me of a story my (cop)neighbor told me about responding to a fight in a local bar. As they enterd the establishment every one was acting 'normal' except for the guy on the floor(out cold). As one officer kneeled to check for vitals, a quiet voice with heavy southern drawl said "sir, you had better watch out, that boy said he knows kay-rah-tay."
I had the good luck to study Krav Maga with an instructor who believed as the author of this article. He would have us practice in the parking lot between cars, on the edge of sidewalks, or do 'balance drills' while we were blindfolded, to teach people to react. He always stressed that no fight will ever go well, so we needed to win quick and get out.
I have three black belts (Aikido, Hapkido, and Taekwondo) that I achieved over many years of hard practice. I have seen schools that focus on competition, which is fine if that is what you want to do, but generally avoided them. I have worked in law enforcement and private security, finding myself in multiple confrontations. The one's you (or your client) walk away from is always a win. If you research the instructor first, you will eventually find one that does focus on realistic training. Most fights go to the ground very quickly. Learn to use your surroundings to your advantage. Situational awareness is critical. Anything can be used as a weapon (dirt, pen, car door, etc.). There is no such thing as a fair fight, so you must fight to win. Always. There is no "best system' out there. It depends on how the person trains. How you train is how you perform (fight), in all things. If you apply this to life you will succeed. Train hard and live well!
I would have to "almost" agree with you. I have had several friends who have taken martial arts classes and what they were taught was the traditional system. While the traditional system has alot to be said for it. It still needs to be adapted to todays way of life. I have been an active and practicing martial artist since 1972. I started in the arts at the age of 6 and continue to learn, train, and teach to this day. While early on I was only taught the traditional ways. Over the last 10 to 15 years I have noticed more training in how to avoid a fight or to be most effective in a given situation. The main part of training, traditional or otherwise, should be how to avoid one all together. Is a wallet with money and credit cards truly worth your, a friends, or a family members life? NO! Drop it and go. Did what someone say really worth you to wanting to puch him or was it your masculinity that suffered? There is more to defending your "Man Card" than fighting. In the book "The Art of War" it is said that the best way to win a battle is to not fight it. If a studio does not teach you to adapt to or to avoid fights all to gether. It is not a school and I would avoid attending. Don't just sighn up at the first school you visit. Check out several and avoid those who refuse to allow you to observe a few classes before attending one or sighning up. There is no perfect way of fighting. Some styles are better in a given situation than others. Then there are those styles which started off as a very effective combat style for that era and now today, have been *******ized and used mainly for sports competitions. Useless on the streets unless your attacker is intoxicated or just damn slow. In retrospect, everyone can gain a great deal of knowledge from attending a martialarts school. Dicipline is at the top of the list. I love the arts and always will. I hope and pray that they continue, through adaptive trainig, to be effective for self defense. Let me know what you think of my opinion and I am very open to further discussions.
As one gets older, the hand to hand gets harder because of ailments from ones youth.I am 57 years old and I stay out of places where trouble is most likely to start but IMHO the best hand to hand is a 22LR pistol or a small K-bar, I let the enemy come to me. Life is hard and I didn't get old by being foolish. Tanks
quote:
Originally posted by 40yrE9: this reminds me of a story my (cop)neighbor told me about responding to a fight in a local bar. As they enterd the establishment every one was acting 'normal' except for the guy on the floor(out cold). As one officer kneeled to check for vitals, a quiet voice with heavy southern drawl said "sir, you had better watch out, that boy said he knows kay-rah-tay."
I have been in martial arts for 30 years. I have blackbelts in hapkido tae kwon do haidong gumdo and Japan ju jitsu. I remember that training was harder and more strict. The things that changed is that people can't take some of the discipline and hard training do to people sueing schools and masters take away or wash down martial arts for easy money and black belts that realy are not ready mentaily for high presure stress in combat or hand to hand yes martial arts has fallen into a modern failer for sports not for real life. mma and kickboxing, krav maga and some styles are trying to bring the arts back to life. yes old stances and some things has to change,but the old stances make good balance and work outs but it's not for the modern combat fighter or for the modern streets. I'm not saying that the training is backwards it just needs to be up dated for today.
