Re: Was -> Book me dudes! Now -> Martial Arts Discussion
I don t think that there is no difference between other sports and martial arts in a way they are only good for exercise. There is a huge difference between martial arts and other sports from physical to psychological factors. It is ignorant to say such a thing and by person s talk about that topic you can see level of person s experience in that area. Physical conditioning is much more complex and mixed like strength, condition, coordination and speed in relation to other sports like distance running(where you need only condition - stamina), body-building where you need strength, American football where you need primary strength and condition, football where you need primary condition and coordination, gymnastics where you need primary strength and balance, etc... ). All that mentioned above is relative because it depends on the level of effort you put in.
Then psychological factor is one major difference because one thing people fear most are other beings and martial arts deals with fighting against other beings on this level. No mentioning that level of adrenalin and stress is much higher in that kind of situations and that is even more so when punches are taken into consideration. One major advantage is self-defense or a possibility to resist. Today it is not so much important and it does not depend so much upon you when it comes to technological development, that is modern weapons and normally person who has a gun and knows to keep distance is in advantage. But it is better to be ready in every way you can then be sorry. People tend to think because they are peaceful they will avoid that kind of situations or what are the chances that something like that happens until they are raped or stabbed, stomped, etc... In that way person will always be a victim and most good people are because of their lack of will and thinking. That is a hard lesson for a person but it does change person s world view for a better.
And I would like to say that most of traditional martial arts are not useful any more with all due respect for them because all have something good in it but are not really applicable in real situations. those martial arts that have no contact or small contact, or are contact sports but the contact is very rarely used is laughable. Some sports like Japanese traditional arts like ninjitsu, akido are obsolete in some areas because of their tradition. Like someone is going to attack you with the sword and you are going to carry sword with you and ninja stars. Half or that things are only for a public eyes and demonstration. It is only deluding yourself and is result of probably watching to many movies. Wing chun, kung-fu, karate shoto-kan are not far from that. They are good for some areas like speed and movement and some were probably good in the old days when their were used in hard regime, but then martial arts were not for everyone because of that. Today they lost their essence and all is about profit and in that way attracting more people of all kinds. I think it is better to go train box, kick box, muay-thai, kyokushin karate, mma because it is for real. Yes that they are today very pathological today but it all comes down to realism vs. wishful thinking. Krav maga is also good but they lack technique and sparring, but they because of that hit sensitive areas so they level it in a way. Systema is also good in m opinion because it would not be used by spetsnaz forces, I like their psychological training which is the most important and people tend to miss that very often. What they do is all scientifically investigated by russian army like that that during the real situation people tend to do in efficiency 20-30 % less then during the training because of fear and stress.
And I have seen some comments saying that it is most important to hurt as much less as you can your attacker which is by itself laughable. You would get yourself killed before that because you would need whole lifetime or more to learn that, if it is even teachable. One is a theory and another is practice in real life. One example is that Japanese teacher of ninjitsu, he is a head or something like that of ninjitsu alliance. He was attacked by two big guys and he went for their groins. Real situation is different then training and theory.
Martial arts are good because they develop willpower and help you confront your fears and through hard training make you grounded in reality and that nothing is easy going. I did spend enough time in martial arts and they became part of me and was not the same after quoting it for some time, and I need them because of my job.
