Kung Phooey

[bjacobs]

Martial arts and fighting have been coming up in the general discussion forum quite a bit. Its a subject I'm interested in, and have pretty strong opinions about, so I found myself derailing threads to argue things every now and then. It seemed to make more sense to start a new thread here.

So. Who here trains some kind of martial art? What do you train? What would you like to train, if you had the chance? And what martial arts/training methods/techniques do you think make the most sense to practice?

I guess I'll start things off.

I'm currently training in brazilian jiu jitsu, a type of submission grappling (think wrestling only the goal is to apply a choke or joint lock, not a pin). I love it, and highly recommend it to anyone. It's easiest to pick up if you have some kind of a grappling background, like high school wrestling (any other wrestlers here?), but pretty much anyone can learn it if you're willing to work.

My general take on martial arts: athletic training is the way to go. MMA (mixed martial arts) and NHB (no holds barred) competitions have shown consistently that people who train arts that can be entirely trained athletically, against full resistance (such as wrestling, boxing, judo, brazilian jiu jitsu, kick boxing, muay thai, sambo) absolutely destroy arts that train in other manners. If you have the time or inclination, an mma gym is the best place to train at, but any alive, athletic, full contact art will do you a world of good.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

eh, I did kendo, and iaido for a year, and before that I did TKD for six months, and then went to a kung-fu/tai chi chuan camp for 2 weeks. Now I just spar with my friends full contact.

[noodle]

oooookay. i no longer actively practice martial arts. all the experiences and knowledge is still there, though, its just rusty. i know that i'm eventually going to go back to martial arts in the future, but i have no time for it now. i practiced for something like 12 years and was a professional for a few years. some of the major styles i partook in were shaolin kenpo, wushu, taiji qigong, hsing-i, kendo, tkd (for tournament use only), and a few others on the side.

my take on martial arts: athletic training is important, yes. its a big part of things. but it is not everything. skill and form is also a big part of things. i've seen martial artists who were very good because of their strength/athleticism. i've also personally met people who looked almost frail but were incredible because they could execute technique flawlessly. MMA is the way to go once someone's proficient in one style. no one style has every answer to every solution.