[QUOTE=RenDaHai;1197114]The school playground fights are awesome. The kids really go at it and it does go full on movie style. But its not quite the same, its missing the violence. Great fun to watch them though. Happened every day at Tagou. YOu get to see some crazy moves actually connect. Seriously they pull out Xuanzi and stuff. Awesome.[/QUOTE] Good to know some things haven’t changed in Dengfeng.
[QUOTE=Lucas;1197066]the last fight i got into i used my skateboard.[/QUOTE] You know, I have a Shaolin Skateboard deck. It was a gift from my Shaolin shidi. I don’t ride. Besides, it’s just the deck, no trucks. Ironically, I keep it in my weapons rack.
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1197112]
He was talking about his generation in China. I’m not sure it applies in our generation outside China. What’s your thought?[/QUOTE]
Thats a really interesting question. Back in the 50’s and 60’s is when some of my teachers trained and that was a really tough time in China. Then you would really have to have this attitude. But in the west, today, I don’t think its a good idea. Society is more compassionate, at least on the surface and I think its necessary to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But in a way that is the harder path to walk, because if you do it, you will always have the odds against you.
My oldest master was trained in the 30’s and 40’s and his attitude is different from the younger ones. He is very strict on WuDe.
The meanest was actually my Zen master… He told me ’ Your fist is like a gun, but your intent is the bullet, without the bullet a gun is little more than a club’. He explained a lot about ‘ShaXin’ Murderous intent and other things during combat but he said it was for the Soldier styles, not for me. He came up in the 50’s.
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1197112]Oneday I asked my teacher, “What’s the best way to prevent people from challenge you day by day?” He said, “If you can build up bad reputation that whoever challenges you would get serious injury, nobody would want to take chance to challenge you after that.” He also said, “The day that you stepped on the path of TCMA, you truly didn’t have much choice.”
He was talking about his generation in China. I’m not sure it applies in our generation outside China. What’s your thought?[/QUOTE]
It most definitely applies. Today the neighboring restaurant’s chef, and one of my employees almost got into a fight due to a parking dispute. The chef happens to also be a wrestling coach, and was a former wrestler himself. He’s big, muscular, agile and all of 25. I’m 38, 165 lbs soaking wet - but I’m friends with the local MMA school owner, who happens to be the local BJJ coach and who’s a mutual friend of the chef’s. The chef knows that I’m a Judo guy who is also known to go to the local MMA gym and give good fights with the guys.
I walked into the middle of the dispute, told my employee to go back to work, and told the angry chef who was about to throw down that he should just go back inside. He went back inside.
Yes it is a judgment call and quite often it is specific to the local atmosphere. What is good here, may be a bad idea there. GI Joe had this one locked. Knowing is half the battle.
If you don’t know or understand your opponent, avoidance is most likely your best bet. But then it really depends on the what wheres and whys.
[QUOTE=Syn7;1197126]Knowing is half the battle..[/QUOTE]
I think this is right. YOu have to know your environment. If you are in the wrong part of town you can’t act the same as you do in the nice part of town. Even body language can get you in a lot of trouble. But we can’t always know the place.
I think if you carry yourself tough, trouble will find you.
EarthDragon posted a vid of himself piercing a watermelon with his fingers. To me he has the right idea and this has nothing to do with competition. Why? Because a lot of TCMA styles have eye pokes - which in theory work great. Unfortunately we live in the real world. And in the real world, actions have consequences. Now I know that most people who gravitate to something like TCMA aren’t exactly athletic, so they might not understand this… but, have you ever had someone throw you a basketball and you jam your fingers on it with the catch? Your fingers swell and hurt and you’ll have a hard time making a fist. Well, let’s go back to the eye poke and ED’s video. See, people’s heads do an amazing thing - they move. So what if you were in a life and death situation and you go to do an eye strike and your aim is off and you bounce your finger tips off of the guy’s forehead? OUCH - major jamming if you’re not conditioned like ED. Your hand swells and you can’t make a fist or grasp. In other words, you’re f**ked.
[QUOTE=MightyB;1197134]EarthDragon posted a vid of himself piercing a watermelon with his fingers. To me he has the right idea and this has nothing to do with competition. [/QUOTE]
To develop some useful skills in your life time has nothing to do with competation.
I have always suggested my guys to spend more time to develop their “foot sweep”. You will have more chance to use your “foot sweep” than to use your hip throw. As long as your opponent stands with one leg forward and one leg backward, you will have 180 degree to work with. Since timing is important for foot sweep, it’s much harder to develop it than to develop hip throw.
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1197137]To develop some useful skills in your life time has nothing to do with competation.
I have always suggested my guys to spend more time to develop their “foot sweep”. You will have more chance to use your “foot sweep” than to use your hip throw. As long as your opponent stands with one leg forward and one leg backward, you will have 180 degree to work with. Since timing is important for foot sweep, it’s much harder to develop it than to develop hip throw.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, and with the foot sweep you don’t have to commit the way you do for a hip toss. You are more mobile and still relatively upright. This gives you more options in the real world where you can’t drop into an arm bar without getting stabbed or swarmed… or worse.
[QUOTE=MightyB;1197134]It most definitely applies. Today the neighboring restaurant’s chef, and one of my employees almost got into a fight due to a parking dispute. The chef happens to also be a wrestling coach, and was a former wrestler himself. He’s big, muscular, agile and all of 25. I’m 38, 165 lbs soaking wet - but I’m friends with the local MMA school owner, who happens to be the local BJJ coach and who’s a mutual friend of the chef’s. The chef knows that I’m a Judo guy who is also known to go to the local MMA gym and give good fights with the guys.
I walked into the middle of the dispute, told my employee to go back to work, and told the angry chef who was about to throw down that he should just go back inside. He went back inside.
Reputation carries weight.
[/quote]
More likely he decided to be an adult and not go to jail over a parking spot.
Or he didn’t squish you out of respect for you BJJ coach.
Nevertheless, I think you need some therapy to deal with your obviously low self esteem. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=MightyB;1197117]No, it’s about knowing and using, and being able to use the techniques from your system. That should be the goal. [/quote]
That’s a whole different beast from
[QUOTE=MightyB;1197117]you have to know, understand, and breathe this thought if you want to truly understand your art. Fighting is hard, fighting is difficult, mastery of fighting is nearly impossible, but it’s what you should be striving for if you want to be a master. [/quote]
Competency and mastery are two different paths. Your argument is all over the place.
Nevertheless, I think you need some therapy to deal with your obviously low self esteem. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
I didn’t want to get in the middle of it, but I also can’t have people fighting in my parking lot - so I had to step in to diffuse the situation. It was very out of character for that chef to be acting that way, so I plan on talking to him next time I see him when he has a cooler head to find out what was really going on that day. I told my employee the same thing because I don’t want him to have hard feelings out of what probably is a minor misunderstanding.
[QUOTE=MasterKiller;1197173]That’s a whole different beast from
Competency and mastery are two different paths. Your argument is all over the place.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes I think you’re on crack - competency and mastery are one in the same. And you will never get competency if you think fighting is easy and can be discounted as such. I thought you wrestled or did MMA or some sh*t with your long fist so you should have some familiarity with a simple move such as a Kimura. Simple on paper, simple in theory, now try to apply it on someone who’s fighting back even in friendly but competitive sparring. “It’s a whole different beast”, but that’s how you get competency. And you never lose that competency even in old age because you’ll just learn ways to be more efficient over time.
I’m probably not expressing myself correctly so I’ll leave it at this:
Don’t say fighting is easy because it’s not. There wouldn’t be a need for any martial arts if it was easy.
This thread is all over the place, but often have I have also said fighting is easy, only in my way of saying ego over confidence ****ness and any jerk with too many a beer and 2 fists can fight this is animal instinct and natural to defend oneself, “hence fighting is easy”
The ability to fight well, controlled, smooth, effortless without panic and efficient… that is our goal, to end a life threatening circumstance quickly and get out. otherwise fighting is easy. skill in fighting is a life long training lesson.
[QUOTE=MightyB;1197177]Sometimes I think you’re on crack - competency and mastery are one in the same. And you will never get competency if you think fighting is easy and can be discounted as such.[/QUOTE]
So which are you…a master, or incompetent?
[QUOTE=MasterKiller;1197188]So which are you…a master, or incompetent?[/QUOTE]
A little of both leaning more to the incompetent side but working on it. Unlike you, you’re just a douche :rolleyes:
Earth Dragon expressed what I’ve been trying to say very well:
The ability to fight well, controlled, smooth, effortless without panic and efficient… that is our goal, to end a life threatening circumstance quickly and get out. otherwise fighting is easy. skill in fighting is a life long training lesson.
[QUOTE=EarthDragon;1197183]
The ability to fight well, controlled, smooth, effortless without panic and efficient… that is our goal, to end a life threatening circumstance quickly and get out. otherwise fighting is easy. skill in fighting is a life long training lesson.[/QUOTE]
i do that easily against white men. i feel no remorse, no emotion.
however when i fight chocolate people i feel pain and sorrow. we are brother against brother.
[QUOTE=MightyB;1196999]In another thread people kept saying “fighting is easy” and then went on to justify TCMA practice as different and somehow better. This bothers me.
If fighting were easy, and TCMA practitioners can discount it as such, then you’d expect to see amazing TCMA fighters. But you don’t. They’re alluded to in mysterious ways, but you never see them. You could say that the masters feel no reason to boast, so you won’t see them, but if it were easy like they say, then you’d at least see some brash todai out there kicking arse and taking names… but you don’t.
Fighting isn’t easy - if it was, then you wouldn’t have TCMA or MA. Fighting’s not easy and you have to know, understand, and breathe this thought if you want to truly understand your art. Fighting is hard, fighting is difficult, mastery of fighting is nearly impossible, but it’s what you should be striving for if you want to be a master.[/QUOTE]
This is the exact thing I have been preacging for a while now. Anyone can brawl or street fight:
These primal / instinctive / natural moves are in our genetic make up. Learning a stylized system is hard.
MY OPINION is that modern mma is more primal or instinctive and less of a stylized system. Not that either are more or less effective in sport combat, but that a system is harder to learn and apply in combat, but better overall for street wise self defense.
[QUOTE=sanjuro_ronin;1197036]It seems people are confusing brawling with fighting, which is understandable.[/QUOTE]
I have been trying to get this point across to everyone to no avail. Arrrghh
