FunkJam said:

have u ever been involved in a real fight, not in a ring or a gymnasium.

most martial arts require you to have a lot of space, there is too much technique and form, in a real situation, that all flies out of the window. plus there is the added problem if you are fighting a bigger guy.

i am not criticising the practice and study of martial arts and agree it is very good for developing inner strength, fitness and discipline. but it also promotes a false sense of confidence and in heated situations, often fails as an effective defensive method.

kick boxing is an excellent fighting form, but lacks holds and armed combat skills, krav maga is a hybrid system, which borrows from many martial arts, the moves are simple, fast and effective, with the intention of quickly disabling your opponent and moving onto the next aggressor or running away from the situation.

it is the only fighting system that has proved successful in conflict situations and has been adopted by the CIA, the FBI and the Metropolitan police
force.

IAintTheOne said:

Yes that is an important part of many chinese martial arts, although it comes only after the physical side has been perfected. Chi can be used to do some amazing things once you learn to channel it. It's something I am very interested in studying in the future.
[Edited 5/19/07 8:02am]

now here's some cats


http://www.youtube.com/wa...IVFIeY6mIg


Alexander Fu-sheng (rip)

and David Chiang

eraclito said:

Now that is just ridiculous, sounds like you are trying to say it's the best! Sure it will have some very useful techniques but so does every system, they all have flaws too. Systems are only to be learned as a base which you can build upon, the real goal should be to create your own personalised system using what works for you. It's bad to believe that any one system is the BEST. Where I train there is no fancy crap like uniforms, we call the instructor by name and we don't practice fancy kicks or stances, it's simple and direct stuff with no messing around.

IAintTheOne said:

That movie looks cool! I might have to check it out.

Here's a really good one with the great Yuen Biao:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...DzlDeFIugc

FunkJam said:

i am saying that it is a very effective fighting system. where as traditional martial arts have many failings.

isnt that why Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do, to get away from these failings.

eraclito said:

It sure is and that is why I don't practice traditional Karate or Tae Kwon Do. The class I attend is mainly Jeet Kune Do concepts and we practice many effective fighting arts such as Muay Thai, Silat, Jun Fan Gung Fu, aswell as other things. It would be foolish to totally rule out traditional martial arts though as every art has something to be gained from, we shouldn't dismiss it just be cause it's traditional. There are many masters of ancient arts such as Okinawan karate or Wing Chun who you would not want to mess with!

FunkJam said:

listen young gun, carry on with your training, but keep things in perspective...
in a real fight situation, even the wing chun master will lose against a thug with a baseball bat or gun, anywaysssss...

eraclito said:

That's what scares me the most. Someone training their whole life to defend themself, only to be in a situation where some ass is welding a gun. It's so unfair.

Steadwood said:

I have a black belt in sudoku.

However,
it's based on the philosophy,
that I use it only as a last result.