HAve you ever used your martial skills in real life?

[Lambera]

The greatest thing I have learned is how not to fight, so that I dont hurt anyone.

One time at a party a guy walked up to me. Said he heard I knew Kung Fu. Very quickly he said what if I do this and swung at me. Muscle training kicked in and he was on the ground and unhurt. At the time I had not being traing for a large amount of years. It scared to think what I might be possible of. Ive never had a problem since then. You know Kung Fu? No.

[WilliamMckeehan]

i have been in a few fights but i do not have any skills to use so no but yes i do have a nice skill of not starting fights which is good enough for me but will not always work.

[BaguaMonk]

Lambera don't you hate it when people do that? Then people go "Oh look at UFC, that stuff doesn't work"
*sigh* If I had the energy I would go on a 5 hr lecture on their bottom, but its not worth it.

[Walter Wong]

You can chuckle back and say that hundreds of years ago a group of people thought that the world is flat and you could fall off the edge of the Earth simply cause they couldn't see the other side.

The same people who say "Look at UFC, that stuff don't work blah blah blah..." minus well think the earth is flat still regardless of what people knowing and seeing that the world is round would say.

[scramasax57]

i've never heard anyone say UFC was useless. if someone does say that they probably know absolutely nothing about it and have never seen it. it certainly doesnt work for everyone; you have to be the right bodytype to utilize a style like that. a small woman has no use for it at all. but if you are the right body type, it will bring out your natural advantages even better.

[ECBlongfistaz]

Seems like a lot of the time people think of Martial arts skills as definite and independant technuiqes but I have always heard that we train not just to regurgitate technuiqes in the appropriate situations but to internalize the principals and all that of whatever particular art/style we practice.
Specificaly, i am talking about the way we move in response to others or even jsut the awareness that martila arts should create (adam hsu has an intersting article on his site about that).
Aside from random stupid encoutners at parties most of my admittingly limited expereince has come from breaking up other people's fights. THe best example happened a few weeks ago at a party that ran really late, two groups got into it and even at level of intoxication i was at ( hehe I'll leave that to your imaginations) I was at the center of it almost imediatly. Also in the process of trying to push everyone outside and seperating people lots of strike were thrown at the peacemakers (no good deed goes unpunished) and thats when the control and mindset i attribute to martial arts really kick in. Some of the other guys trying to break up the fight got hit as well and they hit back which of course started another fight but though I got a split lip out of it minus whatever I was able to block or cushion, we got the fight stopped and the people out before anyone was hurt. (besides us anyway) Seems to me that that was using martial arts skills as well.
This is only my opinion but one of the reason I like the YMAA curricullem (as set out in their books and perhaps more telling in Master Yang's Posts and his students contributions to this forum) is that whether or not a style is better or worse the another never seems to come into it, the things the style teaches you outside of the tech is more important. THats all Shaw brothers cheesy and all but seems to me to be at the root of everything. TO me it seems like a true Martial Art is more then the sum of it technuiqes or its practitioners ifght records. (whew pontificitiong is tirering hehe) Sorry for the cheese folks but the age old question on whether or not stuff is applicable or if its so good have you ever used it is kinda pet peeve of mine.
Peace

[BaguaMonk]

What I meant was that people say "Look at UFC, kung fu is useless" or taiji, bagua, xingyi, akido, insert any other TMA in there.

[ECBlongfistaz]

Yeah man i totoally agree, i wasn't making a comment on your post sorry if htat was implied. I really was trying to comment on the fact that it often seems that peopl forget all about the other aspects of martial arts ya know. The differences between a comlpete style or art that teaches prinicples and all that and a collection of technuiqes, like UFC or MMA. It kinda anooys me that peopole just think of of fightin and not of the other qualities that training a TMA instills. Little story, we have childrens lass attached to the college club, ther are tow borthers and the yougner one was being beaten up by a bully, the older told him to stop and tried to get the teachers attention, then when nothing else worked he kicked the ully once took walked off with his brother to the school nurse then went up to the office and turned himself in!! Can you imagine a UFC devotee acting with that kind of honor etc. For me thats the real part of TMA all rolled into one.
BM I always enjoy your posts man and i am sorry if my last one seemd all snooty an agressive. totoally not my intention.
Peace

[citrus538]

I have used what I learned in martial arts in real life, but not in a fight : )

Just today somebody kicked a ball high over my head, so I chased it down and, after it bounced, did a jump kick to hit it back over my head towards the direction I came from. It was awesome, and I don't think I could do it again. I also used an external sweep to hit a branch somebody was poking me with. Good times : )

[BaguaMonk]

Yeah its cool, I was really talking to scram because I accidentally implied that "UFC was useless" instead of "Traditional arts in UFC are useless." etc.

[DOM]

ecb good story with a good point.I say the same thing all the time I have no p[roblem with mixing martial styles.The problem I have with most of the mixed martial artist I have incounterd is the lack of there ethics and morality.A lote of what I have seen just promote violance.Society does not need any more of these peaple exspecial highly trained ones.

[John Noonan]

I use the horse stance to keep my balance on the subway.

I'd use the unicorn stance, but that'll make people laugh more.

[zipwolf]

I use the horse stance to keep my balance on the subway.

I'd use the unicorn stance, but that'll make people laugh more.

Hey i did that in london! w00t! i'm not alone!

[BaguaMonk]

I agree dom, thats my only qualm with such methods these days.

[Walter Wong]

Agreed.

Without morality and humility instilled during the years of training, Martial Arts training just makes one into a thug.

[5AnimalTom]

I don't know if it inherintly makes you a thug, it's just like any other type of training. How much you let it affect you, and the ways in which is does, is going to determin your outlook on it. Some doctors are compassionate, caring individuals. Some see a dollar sign next to your eyeballs. Some just don't care at all.


It all depends on the teacher and his students.

[ECBlongfistaz]

I think it does. Martial arts make you stronger then most people, martial arts channel agression, martial arts teach you how to fight better then most people. they give you confidence in yourslef based on your physicla or martial abilities, which are greater then most peoples, and they put you in violent or comfrontational situation (sparring, competative fighting, slef defence) more then most people. I don't know what you would a call a big strong, agressive, person who is comfortable in and/or enjoys violent conrontation, and supremely confident the no one can take them. But that sounds exactly like a thug. Withthout he constraints of "martial Morality," a boxing match inherently becomes a street fight, wrestling inheretnly become a brawl, and a person inherently becomes a thug. Any "outlook" or "way it effects you" is the result of moral preconditioning or training. Without it and in situations where the opposite is actually encouraged, as agressiveness, "meanness", "badass attitude", "look out for number 1," "ground and pound", "domination," often are in BJJ, MMA, sport Muay Thai, UFC, etc. The brand new student has no choice but to compy especially since they are aopting a new thinf just by seeking out training. That is what Walter, BM, DOM and myslef are saying. "martial morality has to be taught directly and obviosly, as part of the stadnard curriculem becasue most peopl coming int martial arts dont have it programmed for the specific and new aspects of morality they will face as martial artisits

[5AnimalTom]

Perhaps if said faceless trainee were learning an art in which there was nothing but attacks, joint/bone breaks, muscle ripping, and in general predator like behavior, then of course they're going to be more prone towards acting like an animal. I've yet to see a style that doesn't have some kind of merciful movements within it.

Take the punch for example. A punch, internal or external, is merciful. Sounds crazy, right? Think for a moment about the open palm. Fingers that can stab the eyes. Fingers that can lock onto a muscle and rip. Fingers that can sense out a weak point and jam themselves into it. The fist, on the other hand (no pun intended), with the obvious exception of bone breaking, is just pain. You don't have to see what the next few layers of skin look like. A fist isn't going to tickle the back of your brain through your eyesocket. This is an extreme example, yes, but look at locks and throws. Both merciful ways of besting your opponent. You can lock someone out, or you can rip out their rotator cuff. Both possibilities exist within a style.

By the same logic you're using, teaching a surgeon how to perform a heart bypass would mean he'd go around switching every heart he could get his scalpul near. Nothing's inherently passive or aggressive. The one who's fighting has to decide, at some point either there, or way back in his training, how to use his abilities.

At some point, someone had to figure out that he didn't need to rip off the other man's head to keep him out of his territory. Concepts don't just get born from one mind and then passed. More then one culture realized killing each other willy nilly wasn't the greatest of ideas. I've got faith that more then one person could figure out how to not be a thug.

[scramasax57]

a fist is definitely capable of major, permanent damage. internal injuries, possibly resulting in death, can result quite easily from a powerful punch. it happened to houdini, and he's not the only one. i would say a palm strike or good hard throw are the merciful options, having less penetrating power.

[Patbirder]

I would agree that a throw sounds most merciful if contact cannot be avoided. Probably less dangerous than a punch which of course can be controlled. Concerning self defense, maybe progress in training is best demonstrated by the amount of self control one has both emotionally and physically. With humility one realizes that there is no point in showing off and with control of emotions one doesnt have the desire to cause harm. Well, I feel like I am reiterating what others have basically said so i will reiterate once more in saying that some ethical and moral code should play a primary role in training.

peace out,