Any Martial Artists Here?

[GO KRT]

I just watched some videos on the combatives tournament. Looks like wrestling/grappling/ to me. The first thing I learned in Karate was to "control distance".........which could mean RUN if it was the right alternative. All kidding aside.........on the street it's over in one movement. A fully trained tae kwon do black belt is so fast and so accurate that the opponent won't see it coming and will pick one move to disable on the first strike. If you're a 250 lb gym rat I'm going to take your knee out. There's not much fight left after that.

 

[robr]

My son took TKD for 3 years. What I learned about TKD is if you're on the ground it's useless. In the real world, especially when you are a kid, you're often on the ground before you even realize you're in a fight.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I know what you mean, here. After training for the combatives tournament in the army, bouts with even similarly trained opponents were much less "chaotic" than before (or at the beginning of training). Even if I wasn't fast enough to exploit the situation, I was able to at least maintain a neutral position. I would like to get to the level of being able to exploit my opponent's movements.



Krav Maga suits my desire to "step into" martial arts/self defense. I already have the mindset required to survive/avoid/deter a violent scenario, but I want to enhance my ability to repel a confrontation, should one ever be forced upon me. As I was saying before, Muay Thai is my favorite, and I'm curious about Kali, as well. I also like BJJ and MMA for developing a technical approach to grappling.

Well MMA is not an art. MMA grappling is almost completely Gracie Jiujitsu. Kali is stick fighting. A weapon changes everything really quickly. These days with all the guns and stuff martial arts are more useful as a form of exercise and fun save for the few time you may wind up in a one on one hand combat situation. In 15 years I have only used Jiujitsu once, and that was after a guy ran to attack me physically over a stupid basketball game. I wound up putting him to sleep without really even thinking about it. He later came to me and apologized. I had no intention to hurt him, only to protect myself. In any fight you are so close to being maimed or killed it is NEVER worth fighting unless you have zero choice. But if you are going to exercise why not learn something that may one day help you.

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My son took TKD for 3 years. What I learned about TKD is if you're on the ground it's useless. In the real world, especially when you are a kid, you're often on the ground before you even realize you're in a fight.

Yup... The most important thing you learn over years of martial arts is positioning. Not striking, not submissions, not offense or defense. Just positioning of your body relative to your opponent. If you have that down, you can almost never have learned striking or submissions and still be just fine as you have the superior position physically. Judo is extremely effective at throwing an opponent because it is based 100% on positioning. BJJ is very effective on the ground because as Helio used to always say, position before submission. If you so much as just gain a superior position your opponent will panic and not want to be there any more.

 

[naaman]

Well MMA is not an art.

Pppft! Shows what you know! "Arts" is what the "A" stands for. It says so on Wikipedia!

Just kidding! Thanks for all the input thus far, Turbo. I've really enjoyed your insight in selecting a form to pursue. My understanding with Kali is that the foundation is stick fighting, but that when training without a weapon, your limbs are treated as the weapon instead, following the same principals and movements.

Also, the training I want isn't so much in case I have to use it. I want to train for the sake of developing/maintaining a defensive/protective mindset and always be in a high state of preparedness.

 

[TURBO2GO]

If my body could still take it, I would do more mixed stuff but when you get older and don't heal so quick and are more injury prone, you want to take better care of your body. Also that "I have to be prepared for anything" sort of mentality starts to fade. It's not easy accepting all this man, but at some point past your mid 30's you just realize your body is declining... So for me, the slow, softer art of Jiujitsu just fits me better which is why I concentrate primarily on that. If I could take mo of a beating, I would be doing more Muaythai and more Judo. Judo is really an underrated art, but it covers that clinch so well when someone has grabbed you, your shirt collar, your arm, etc. a few movements of your foot and body position, and you are ready to throw a guy twice your size through the air and flat on his ass. A year of judo training will do a lot, and it covers that area which is more useful in street fighting much better than Jiujitsu does (and by Jiujitsu I am talking strictly the Brazilian/Gracie style and not the Japanese style). Judo will instantly land you in a superior body position on the ground, or give you the choice to walk away. But it is hard on your body. For striking as maligned as both TKD and Karate are, they have some great long distance threats, especially TKD as it is a lot of kicks and there are a few really great powerful kicks on Karate. Both of these are weak in the mid range game, where Muaythai is devastating with the use of knees and elbows. Any closer and you are in the clinch, which is pure Judo dominance land... Then on the ground you are in BJJ territory 100%. It is really good to train a year or two in each of these and be an expert in a style after that. You have to know what to pickup and what to discard. A lot of this is based on you and your body type. If you have long limbs, that reach can make you really good in the distance game. If not, you may want to concentrate elsewhere. Every art and every instructor will tell you their stuff is the best and that you just need to follow it. I disagree. I think you should really be a thinking man and see what serves you, listen to your instincts and also to your body and let them guide you through the maze. Keep what works for you and discard what may be someone unpractical for you.

Kali is great because it is good with disarming, fighting with knife, a bottle, a stick, etc. it is quite a lot of stuff you will never learn with any other art. It can even help you disarm a person with a gun in the absolute worst, most desperate scenario.

This is for men. For women I recommend a whole different set of rules because they are almost always fighting against someone stronger and bigger in a man. Striking for women is very secondary. No matter how good they become at striking, 7 of their blows = one hard blow from a man. They will be on the losing end quickly, striking will only help them "finish" an already injured man... but they should never duke it out with a guy IMO. Yet they are taught that all the time. Women have strong legs and are flexible and BJJ serves them well, because it is leverage based and equalizes their strength. Guard work is key, because if they may often end up on their back with a male attacker/rapist. They now have 4 limbs to use including two strong legs where the man has two arms as he is standing or kneeling on his legs.

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Oh and fitness is obviously 50% of the equation. So will leave this as a reminder.

 

[naaman]

I agree with everything you said. In particular, the part about the body getting "tired" of all the rigor.

For me, I have decent reach, but my biggest asset would have to be body mass. I like Muay Thai, because I don't have to exert myself as much to make effective use of it. TKD would probably wear me out.

BJJ I find difficult because I still have to "think" my way through it. When I recognize that I have the advantage, I have a hard time exploiting it because my brain doesn't learn the way that most teachers teach. So far, all I've learned in BJJ is the "step-by-step" process for various moves. That is not a format that my mind can digest very effectively. In order to use a technique "automatically" I have to understand it conceptually and practically. That is, if BJJ were taught from a critical thinking approach, I would learn it much faster. When learning striking, the "why" is as straight forward as it comes. So the form is much easier to apply fluidly.