Traditional Martial Arts are doomed to die
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Q&A with the Coach
What kind of lifespan can we expect from traditional martial arts now that the public is much more aware of modern combat sports?
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Ramsey Dewey is a retired pro fighter, combat sports coach, referee, and fight commentator… and occasional musician based in Shanghai, China.
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This video features original music by Ramsey Dewey
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I fought professionally in Mixed Martial arts, Sanda, Muay Thai, K1 and American kickboxing from 2004-2011 when I was forced to retire due to a broken skull and being blinded in one eye. I hold a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Black belts in multiple traditional martial arts, including Taekwondo and kyokushin karate. I also train in catch wrestling, sambo, taijiquan, judo, and boxing.
I currently coach at the Animal MMA gym, the Extreme Fight Lab, and the Mordor Fight Club, all in Shanghai, China.
Do you know the history of your martial art? How long has it existed for? How much has it changed and evolved since it’s inception? How long will it continue to exist?
Yes I do bjj and I love the fact Roberto Pedreira and Robert Drysdale are using evidence to show the true history of bjj rather than the creation myth of bjj that everyone is told. I think it’ll stick around. The sport has fractured into specialized factions. Hopefully it’ll be put back together in practice but will continue to have so many modes of competition. I don’t think that’ll happen. I think that specialization will cause a greater fraction down to the art.
I am one of those hema guys, and you might be suprised, but its reenactment thing growth up to academic research (it's rare, but it is serious), and its hitting each other with swords growth up to half-proffesional combat sport, with international ranking and paid judges. The techniques persist, because from XV century up to modern fencing they haven't changed much - eepeist could be suprised, but all epee techniques were already described in XV century - for example in Leckuchner messer fightbook. Just because its how you fight. And of course wrestling part of hema fencing, absent in modern olympic fencing, when look at, is nothing different from wrestling and judo; but its nice to think that it was so well described like 500 years ago, and dates probably much further. There are some peculiarities about earliest fencing traditions, mostly related to footwork, but reenactors and researches try to unravel their secrets. Not without benefits for learning combat, yet 100% certain that we can never be 100% certain wether this is how it worked / looked like back in the day.
Savate has existed for about 200 years. It started off for Street Defense, but it eventually became a Sport. Pretty much no one in USA likes this sport. Personally, I practice the Street Defense aspects of it. Like most martial arts, it has Devolved into a Sport/Commercial venture. I don't think it will exist very long in USA. But that is fine, it's like my own Secret Art ;)
I have been practicing Daito ryu aikijujutsu it is a old version of grappling I think 1200 yrs old no one does it so I find it fun
Yep. Aikido. Developed by Morihei Ueshiba out of daito-ryu aikijujitsu from a period roughly 1930-1969. Depending which style of aikido is practiced, some have changed/evolved more, some less. How long will it continue to exist is hard to say. Numbers have certainly been dwindling for a couple decades now.
The year is 2167.
After a grueling test the MMA student passes. And is rewarded by being allowed to add to his traditional early 2000 style tribal tatoo, signif6ing his higher rank. He can now also be in the proud company of those who are allowed to use the traditional Bad Boy shorts.
😂
‘Hail Ye, Mighty Chuck of Liddell’
He also gets to watch the rip from ancient VHS "King of the Cage - Wild n Wet" in the masters locker room
LOL!
I mean to be fair, western culture and history never really let that happen. Too busy trying to kill each other to emphasize values and tradition over martial ability.
You know what I'd like to see...a separation and distinction from "Traditional martial arts" to "historical martial arts" in the same sense that we see Hema, it's very into recreating history of techniqal use but it pressure tests and criticaly evaluates the information previous humans left for us to explore...that'd be amazing.
You may be interested in my channel if you want to learn about how we interpret and understand the historical practice of Chinese martial arts.
This. Definitely this. I am very much up for this.
@@thescholar-general5975 subbed!
What a sensible and pragmatic approach to suggest
@@zompreacher 🙏
Judo was founded in 1882 by Jigoro Kano which makes it 141 years old. It stems from Japanese Jujitsu
You know your history!
Spot on about Taekwondo. I take Tang Soo Do and at my school we readily acknowledge its roots in Shotokan. You can see it in the forms. It's blatant. We also don't pretend it is some ancient system or feel we can't make any changes, revisions, or improvements. And we added BJJ to our school because our instructor saw the lack of any ground fighting in TSD as it is now.
tang soo do is shotokan
@@ektran4205 pretty much. There are some differences in the forms and some additional kicks not found in Shotokan but no denying it's a huge influence.
@@bryanwaldron9076 shotokan was te first stle of karate to be exported outside of japan
I started with Tang Soo Do in 1979 and didn't realize it was Shotokan until many years later. A few years ago I saw an article written by a black belt from my old TSD school where he was saying that MMA wasn't all that and that his TSD training was just as effective if not more so. I asked him if he'd ever gone to an MMA gym and sparred with anyone there, and he said he didn't need to do that because he already knew his art was sufficient. When I countered that he absolutely didn't know that because he hadn't tried it he said I was "getting mad." I told him no, I'm just calling your bluff; don't say you know something if you haven't tried it. This is something I've run into with a lot of TMA practitioners.
Have you read the book A KILLING ART? The author of that book also points out the founder of taekwondo studied Shotokan, but hid the connection to Shotokan.
Archery in all it's forms has got to be an ancient martial art, it certainly has a special place in the culture of the UK, agincourt and all that. Whilst it is true that a modern olympic bow is vastly different from a traditional self bow or composite bow, but the principle is the same and universally understood from the most primitive to the most sophisticated societies.
Absolutely! This reminds me of wrestling as well.
Some societies didn't develop the bow and arrow though... so it really cant be considered as universal as wrestling.
@@linuxman7777You are right, I just checked and it seems the Australilian aboriginals did not have bows, but they seem to be the only ones. However they did have ranged weapons so the concept of pitching a sharp stick at a distant target would not be alien. I will revise my statement Fighting with clubs, everything from Arnis to Bataireacht has got to be ancient.
But if we are talking fighting vs HEAVY longbow I think we are looking at the complete degradation from fighting to sport.
Now sport is good. So not degrading sport, but if we needed bows to fight again the sport is the wrong place to start.
Well grappling yes every county has their own grappling style, wrestling is your talking french *“greco roman”* style or freestyle is only 100 years old.
I got to learn Aikido for free as a kid at the local Y... I think it was very important for me to learn it. Not to be able to defend myself, but it helped me to learn how I learn. dedication, practice, discipline, coordination, confidence in my body. Ya, I learned a lot in a few years.
And honestly these lessons are probably more valuable and practical in your life than knowing how to defend yourself physically in a fight
@@noborikoon until you need to defend yourself..., if you're serious about something you will learn those (discipline, dedication etc) whether it is aikido, bjj, mma, karate
I think it's the true reason traditional martial arts are important.
Ya, I took boxing, BJJ, much later, but in those early years, the traditional martial arts gave me the confidence to be able to walk away from a fight, and not fall into peer pressure. Just what i needed back then.
@@tprnbs same can be said about jiu jitsu, what if you get crushed by something heavy, good luck berimbolo'ing your way out of that one, should've done bodybuilding instead
Pushing the other guy after he's insulted your wife/mother will never die.
I wonder why most people in the west dont consider boxing and wrestling a "traditional martial arts" since at least their modern iderations have been around 200 years easily
Yeah if we think about it. Sherlock Holmes had been doing boxing 150 years ago and his author Conan Doyle. And Judo existed only 120 years😅.
Because the word 'traditional' is used in contrast with 'practical combat sports' such as boxing and wrestling.
@@موسى_7 judo isnt near as useless as aikido ☠
@@موسى_7 Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
To hear you talk about HEMA alongside other martial arts so casually is incredibly validating
I felt the same way.
I haven't been involved with Hema but it seems like a great idea. I wish it was available when I was young.
So in high school after doing Karate for basically my whole life I got my second degree brown belt. After this I started looking through the techniques I had been taught and started pressure testing them and making them work in sparring or at least trying to. After a lengthy process of about 6 months doing this I compiled a list of techniques that worked and techniques that I modified to make work, and realized I had just reinvented kick boxing. I left my school a few months later and moved to Kick Boxing and then to Catch Wrestling later.
The "modern martial arts" or combat sports or what have you are simply the traditional martial arts with all of the pomp and tradition stripped down to pure combat effectiveness. They are simply what the art was always intended as before people got too focused on uniforms and belts and stuff that doesn't actually help you win a fight.
There is no divide between "traditional" and "modern" martial arts. There are just schools that lost sight of what martial arts is actually about and those that didn’t, and that is winning a fight.
"realized I had just reinvented kick boxing". So funny, so true.
That's what I try to tell the Wing Chun and other TMA enthusiasts (many who don't even train, they just like to talk about why it is the best MA why they would train it if they did...haha..) that whenever someone takes their favorite MA, pressure tests it, and adapts it to live sparring or fighting, most of it ends up looking like the same kick boxing.
I have seen a few exceptions who can pull of some impressive, pretty, textbook techniques in an MMA fight that look like something from Karate Kid or a Kung-fu movie (Tenshin, Wonder Boy Thompson, Oliver Enkamp), but is very rare. I also think Kevin Lee demonstrates some legit ways of doing this.
Well, no, actually EVERY SINGLE MARTIAL ART EVER, everyone of the 3000 Kung Fu styles in China, all Silat, all Karate, all ancient Muay Boran, etc, they ALL were developed to defend against a common street attack by a thug.
Grab with one hand, two hands, choke, push, pull, single overhand, front kick, double leg, etc
They're not like Kickboxing.
Think at all of them like Krav Maga.
That's the point of the forms
Good on you for going through that process.
However, all striking sparring does tend to end up like kickboxing because it is kind of its own thing.
It's a particular approach and ruleset, so you do what works within that.
As mentioned above, none of your sparring will start with someone grabbing you, for instance.
Self-defence is not sparring is not fighting.
Though obviously there can be lots of overlap.
Kickboxing is literally karate & came from karate, but yes all striking styles look similar under real mma rules.
Pretty much what Bas Rutten did as well
Awesome video. Not many people know that Shotokan Karate is the precursor of TKD. Glad you mentioned it.
But where did the kicks come from? I dont got deep knowledge or experience in either style of shotokan or taekwondo.
But i remember both reading and hearing about shotokan not having much fancy kicks in its original form.
So where did the spinning and flying stuff come from?
@FrodeFalch Good question. I don't know too much about Shotokan, but I have seen basically all of the TKD kicks in various styles of Karate. I'm guessing that because of the ruleset for sparring TKD became specialized in these kicks and refined the technique over time.
@@FrodeFalchthere is nothing unique about Taekwondo’s kicks, literally all of them are in shotokan and all they did was put an emphasis on them over other things. The fact that it needs to be explained in 2023 is still kinda wild to me. The only reason I reason its not addressed directly is due to tensions with Japan due to WW2 and Japans genocidal occupation of the Korean Penisula
@@FrodeFalch modern karate high kicks come from Savate which evolved from sword (fencing, dueling). Karate in the early 20th century was also influenced by western boxing. Old Okinawan Te had no high kicks, and it was basically evolved from older Chinese arts.
@@FrodeFalch From the French Savate.
A lot old traditional techniques are not taught properly or not taught at all. There’s always that miscommunication or language barrier between East and west, plus many traditionalist styles (wether it’s in China, or Japan or any other traditional country) don’t want to adapt old techniques into modern ways to show they can actually work.
Btw, I’m a Bajiquan and Goju Ryu and my teachers always focus on modernizing old techniques to show how it can be applied today. My teachers told us, “learn the forms rigidly but apply them in ways that work best for you as an individual”
I love this. My kung fu teacher is the same way. A Phoenix eye fist,by itself, is goofy. You set it up with some in fighting and it's ugly. Rapid fist with set up? Win. A 6 to 12 elbow uppercut after a one handed clinch to the back of the head? Xingyi.
Folks tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater, I think. If you train it under pressure, you can make it happen. Folks just have to be real, brave, and willing to put it in.
By the way, I'm jealous. I've always wanted to try Baji
btw in america you can buy the belts
@@ektran4205 that’s the other issue, the thing about west is that we focus on quick improvements without taking our time. Even though, a lot of teachings involve patience but many of us have rejected patience in exchange for quick results.
A lot of eastern countries have the concept of patience whether because of culture or Buddhism or Hinduism or Daoism or whatever other philosophy/ancient beliefs. It’s integral to them
@@bw5020 Bajiquan is really fun and has a lot of great techniques.
I’m glad you added your thoughts about because you notice that some old traditional eastern styles use same techniques as traditional western styles but named it different or practice it differently
Yep, my teachers are the same and are very pragmatic and you do have this problem with traditional styles, yes very traditional with the style because we train with Japanese instructors, but this is what stuff like Kata Bunkai is for.
Thank you so much for answering my question, Ramsey! I really appreciate it.
In french martial arts, there was no ranking either. In the salle d'armes (training room), there was the teacher, the assistant(s) aka prévôt(s) and the students, which formed the bulk of the group.
In Japan, there is no ranking system either. Everyone has a black belt. The ranking system was invented in the USA (to improve the commercial value of the teaching). The ranking system does have a value to set up the base from which you progress. However, I've found the best and practical school (in traditional martial art especially) were the ones that didnt apply the ranking system... everyone could train with everyone
Jigoro Kano wanted to make Judo more educational in nature, vs how Japanese Jiu Jitsu was so he developed a belt system like how a school system has a grade system. It caught on quite a bit because it was relevant for the times, as martial arts lost their real life combat value with the invention of gunpowder.
So nowadays martial arts seem to be more about fitness and learning than about actually becoming a warrior.
Everywhere in the world where martial arts is practiced they didn't have a ranking system especially those who joined the military in the 1900s and learned Western art like boxing, fencing, stick fighting, and bayonet.
@@vonb2792 Kyokushin had two belts. White and black. White belts would fight black belts and would improve at a significant rate.
@@aurelianspodarec2629I like that
Wise words. I was training karate shotokan when I was a kid in the 90'ties. I got green belt, won few tournaments (in kata and kihon kumite). After 25 years I went to train karate in the same club (it's a good club that's a member of World Karate Federation, not some McDojo) - with the same trainers. I was SHOCKED how it changed over those years. Training became way more practical, elements of judo and BJJ were introduced - it was obvious that MMA had influence over the karate trained in that particular dojo.
TMA will never "die out". They may become niche disciplines, but if something like "Bartitsu" can gain a following, after seemingly going extinct, I seriously doubt that other MA disciplines will. Besides, as your fellow YTuber "The Karate Nerd" once demonstrated, there always can be gems found in TMA, when he demonstrated that "katas" weren't just dance moves, and that they were designed to help stimulate muscle memory, based on the fighting style of the era that they were developed in. Food for thought.
That’s like saying dinosaurs aren’t extinct because paleontologists have found their fossil remains and learned stuff about them.
@RamseyDewey Well, they do say that modern-day day lizards and birds are descendants of dinos, which gives us homosexuality sapiens an idea of what they might have looked like, as well as what their physical mechanics might have been. I'm not saying that you are wrong in your assessment, my caveat is that, at the end day, you can find something useful in TMA, for today's application, if you have the talent and know how to pull it off. Just depends on the setting that it is being used for, that's all.
@@dswynne Exactly! It's about constantly refining the techniques as well as mental aspects of the system.
@@RamseyDewey The knowledge of TMA is not transmitted by the bones of those who have practiced them (although ancestor worship also exists...), but by the living practice of those who continue to bring them to life. I hope you can identify your cognitive bias.
@@ISkandarash I identified a post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy for you. You’re welcome.
Great video. That was a good question, and I love the way you answered it. I appreciate that you were respectful of people's religious, spiritual beliefs, or lack thereof. You are an inspiration. I learned a lot too. Thank you, sir.
I bet you got 10k steps doing this video Ramsay. Awesome content man. Great insights.
I personally think that there is a future for traditionally safe martial arts. Kids won't start martial arts with MMA. And very few people who never did any sport will move into MMA when they are already adults.
Kids need karate, taekwondo, judo etc to start their martial art journey. The reality is that I am close to fifty and while I enjoy exercise I never ever had the need to punch someone in the face. That applies to most people I know.
I think wrestling is best for kids.
agree
The kids classes are not really traditional, they just became common practice as a daycare program to help pay the bills. That practice was a major source of watering down the perception of what martial arts were, but it did help keep open doors of gyms for authentic evening classes for longer. The demand for adult classes was and remains usually too low to cover rent. In the 90s at least, most of the credible guys in the CMA community were teaching out of their homes and in parks.
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
@@موسى_7Wrestling is very hard on the body
I continue the traditional style at my gym and it is passed down carefully. I dont believe they will ever truly die as long as at least a few carry the torch.
All things will change. Sometimes for the best and other times for the worst. Traditions can change or they fade away to be replaced by other traditions.
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
Traditional martial arts will never disappear as long as (daycare) aka after school martial arts programs, exist. Parents love it. Also, it is apparent that many people like paying for belts, bowing, wearing strange pajama like uniforms, learning to count to 10 in Korean, and learning to say techniques in various foreign languages. I did all of those things. Let me save you a lot of time, money, and frustration: If your goal is to improve your fighting skills, you know what actually works. Now, as a very wise man once said, “get out there and train.”
PS: great video!
I think u mean mcdonalds i mean mcdojo lmao 🤣
people might enroll their bullied kid into a Gracie Jiu Jitsu program, only to find out that it doesn't work when he decides to fight back against his bully, since bullies never operate alone and always fight together ... and what's to keep his bully from training jiu jitsu as well ... back to square one, and as long as they pay, the Gracies won't care he's a bully
@@ColossalSwordFormAndTechniqueyes, to me virtually all traditional martial arts are best suited for Mcdojos.
@@SINdaBlock411 if the kid joins a real gym, he won't be alone in the fight either. If the bully joins the gym, they will likely become friends with some mutual respect. Even if the bully joins a rival gym, they can test their skill in competition. Heck, the bully might not need to start fights at school anymore as an outlet. I know all of this is a bit overly optimistic, but it's to counter all the negative "what-if" scenarios with some hope
@@strongwiseandfree what do you mean "a real gym" they're all the same, and none of his bjj friends will help him at the moment of truth when he's at school ... bullies don't befriend victims, they never change, bjj will make a good person arrogant and a bully an even worse bully ... competition will only make things worse between them ... now the bully can bully the victim both at school as well as on the mat ... again, bullies stay bullies, they never change, if a bully learns bjj on top of his already superior strength, it will only make things far worse still for the victim ... yes, very optimistic indeed, delusional even ...
They will never die completely. They are great for kids. There will always be parents who know nothing about what is useful or not useful.
Traditional martial arts will survive because a large number of people practice it for sport, discipline, fitness or as a group/social/fun activity rather than for combat effectiveness.
Started in karate but just started my journey in boxing! Excited to see where it goes.
As a Taekkyon teacher, I can tell you that taekwondo and Taekkyon really have nothing to do with each other.
By the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea, there were very few teachers: Im Ho, Song Duk ki, Kim Hong Shik, and Shin Han Seung. Kim died during the Korean war. Ho died in 1957. Both shin and Song died in 1987.
The bulk of the art that remains was the collaboration between Sien and Song from 1970 through 1987, Shin having trained under two of Song's Contemporaries circa the Japanese occupation and in private.
Even my own work that has spanned the last 35 years in restoring the art to what it was is perhaps similar to the work of Jim Arvantis' work with Pankration.
For over three decades, my own work has shown that Taekkyon was originally a similar approach as today's mixed martial arts.
The original art was a mixture of traditional dance footwork combined with Shoupo, Xiangpo (collectively: Wuyi), and Shuai Jiao.
Along the way, cross-cultural influences included Shaolin longfist and in some aspects Wing Chun. Perhaps maybe as many as a dozen other arts were absorbed, most of them through trade and warfare.
The key is actually in the footwork which is known as pumbalgi, or stepping on triangles. A rhythmic alternating lead.
The focus of my work has been restoration and the preserving of it- where it goes after I publish my works in the next few years remains to be seen. But at least it (a comprehensive curriculum I call Jinhwa, or evolving, Taekkyon) will be in print and on video with the intent being very specific, such that the art remains versus what happened during the Japanese occupation.
Of interest is how Chinese martial arts nearly died out when Mao's forces destroyed the Shaolin temple in 1928. Jing Wu and Wushu came out of that. At the same time, Karate was struggling to stay alive and 1928 was a banner year in that Karate styles sprang up that year to impress Kano, who came to visit around the same time Itosu and Funakoshi were inserting watered down karate in the school system to keep it alive. In Korea, 1928 appears to have been the year the Japanese began suppressing the practice of Taekkyon in earnest- perhaps there's a video in there. (This info is based on the info I have read- if you have more/different info, I'm all ears). It appears that 1928 was a BAD year for most martial arts and for different reasons.
Anyway, I truly enjoyed your commentary on the roots of taekwondo because it seems its origins are the myth that simply will not go away.
Great video!! Much respect to you.
Great comment but Mao didn’t come to power till 1949.
As a Taekwondo practitioner, I know for a fact that Taekkyon and Taekwondo are very different systems. The kicks are light years different from each other and the overall focus is different.
So Taekkyon is a restored art? Like HEMA?
"Of interest is how Chinese martial arts nearly died out when Mao's forces destroyed the Shaolin temple in 1928." You have confused it with the burning of the Shaolin Temple under the patriotic Kuomintang government, well BEFORE the Maoist period. On the contrary, the Kuomintang played a fundamental role in the transmission of Chinese martial arts with the creation of the Central Guoshu Institute: this period corresponds to a boom in traditional martial art throughout Chinese society due to government policy. If "Kung fu" is known throughout the world today it is mainly thanks to these people... The practice of Chinese martial arts is far from being limited to the Shaolin monastic tradition, it is above all family traditions , and we must also add the Taoist tradition, at the time of Mao traditional martial arts were already widespread throughout China and among the popular classes as explained! It's not a matter of "Monks"...
People want everything fast now, thanks to the internet, plus no one is willing to put the time in or dedication that made traditional martial arts special. The world is moving too fast for these old systems, plus we live in a generation that was raised watching UFC. I still do my Kata. Take care.
Today's TMA were yester-year's MMA. 200 years from now our MMA will be "traditional".
Nah, traditional Asian martial arts isn't going anywhere for a couple of reasons. The big reason is that contrary to what people may think, combat sports like MMA are still a niche, not mainstream like boxing. It just seems that way because the fans congregate at events and on UA-cam channels.
Second reason is that both combat sports and traditional martial arts have limitations, not just TMA. TMA has stuff like eye gouges, fish hooks, strikes to the throat, while combat sports does not because of rules, while combat sports has the advantage of pressure testing. So the limitations go both ways.
And the third, and this is a BIGGIE, is that a lot of people love practicing forms, especially with old weapons like swords, staves, and spears. And these people have ZERO interest in going into a cage.
The more I think about, the more I'm positive that the video title is 100% incorrect, and not even close to reality. TMA is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Just listening to the video and reading the comments
A bunch of uneducated thugs , ignoring ART
Well tbh, he is kinda right.
Like, it's true, but not for the reasons many people believe.
Traditional martial arts won't die because they are uneffective, they will die and fade away because their own foundations are not of this time. The way of the martial artist is one of a lifetime, starting off in childhood and which never finishes because there is always room for improvement. How could this extremely long and rude lifelong journey would attract anyone in an era where everything is fast, quick and intense? The food, the TV shows, the movies, the professional careers, everything is made to create as much dopamine in the brains of people as possible. Who cares about a lifelong journey of mastering the body, the mind and the spirit through erasing the limits of the human mind such as fear or pain? It's not marketable, is it? But saying "train for 3 years and become the boxing world champion !!!" is definitely much more marketable right? You understand where i'm getting at?
So the death of traditional martial arts has nothing to do with traditional martial arts in itself, but it has everything to do with the modern situation of our world who can't get anything profitable from such a "boring" lifestyle, which is the one of a martial artist.
@@jundullah9869 Your observation is interesting because it reminds us of something that most people don't know about traditional martial arts: they have NEVER been popular. That is to say that they were never made for the masses, they were traditionally reserved for a minority of selected individuals, a master meticulously chose his future students because he knew that this type of transmission required particular faculties. the Transmission Circle remained family and privileged. If they became so popular it was only by "accident", traditional martial arts never needed to have 10 million Bruce Lee fanboys to survive. So NO: these arts are not going to disappear because they had more reasons to disappear 300 years ago because the number of practitioners was MUCH lower than today and limited regionally!
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
I'd like to add that Okinawan karate was originally a loin cloth martial art and some of us uphold that tradition at home.
Also there where no styles , thows and joint locks were also part of Te. And if your teacher had shown everything he knows it was normal to go to another sensei to learn more from him.
Great video! Thank you!🙏
traditional really means the 1880s interpretation of historic. so, realistically its a contemporary martial art.
Well, most of todays traditional martial arts don’t even go back that far. Judo, for example, started around 1890, but wasn’t fully codified until the 1920’s, and wasn’t the sport we know today until some time later. And every TMA that uses a gi and belt came after judo. Most of the TMA’s that don’t are either historical revivals or gross misinterpretations of the source material. (Take karate for example: about 80% of the techniques from kata are grappling and hand fighting techniques, meanwhile what’s actually taught is most dojos is 100% kicking and punching)
@@RamseyDewey thanks or the reply coach. Just look at how lots of American JI's stationed in Japan in the late 40s got suckered into thinking Aikido was pure ancient martial arts. the Dojo's made a fortune out of selling black belts to them.
@@RamseyDewey taekwondo was created in the 50s by general choe hong hi by combining taekkyon and shotokan
@@ektran4205 I know they say that about taekkyon, but it's not actually true. Taekkyon was a dead art in the 1950's. There were martial arts scholars in Korea who knew about taekkyon on an intellectual level. People weren't practicing it. Because of Korean nationalism, they made the claim that TKD was derived from taekkyon. As I said in this video, taekkyon as we know it today, is a historical revival like HEMA, not an unbroken lineage of traditional martial arts, contrary to what they will tell you.
@@RamseyDeweyThat's kind of disingenuous. Judo in it's widely accepted form was created then, but Kano studied several koryu bujutsu styles for most of his life, and it is from these, much older, systems that his art was derived. There's a reason he called it "Kano Jujitsu" first. This is literally how every "style" of martial art came to be. It is not unique. So to say the "traditional" components of Judo started in the 1920's is being kind of pedantic. It stems from much older arts. As do those arts. As do those arts. Ad infinitum.
A Black Belt is not something you have, a Black Belt is something you ARE. At least that's how it should be.
Interesting you bring up the point about some martial arts teachers acting as if they are gods. I visited a wing Chun school taught by Ben Der, a former high school classmate of Bruce Lee. I noticed the lack of formality in his school compared to The Japanese martial arts where people arrive at the same time bow in and start class. He responded he didn’t want to be a god. I think the teaching was done by his senior students, but he would drop by and give more detailed instruction to the student being guided by the senior student. Gichin Funakoshi, in his book karate do: my way of life poked fun at those who made grandiose claims of their martial art. He wrote that you cannot transcend the bounds of human limitations.
Ironically high school wrestlers with no belts and no hierarchical traditions are practicing the world's oldest martial art.
Ironically, what you call “high school” wrestling isnt as old as you think. It was invented around 19th century France because they thought that’s how the ancient Greeks wrestled. In reality, how the ancient Greeks wrestled is a totally different style from “high school” wrestling. Traditions and such are just the customs and practices of the local culture. “High school” wrestling has them too…you just dont realize it.
I hope Ramsey you will also make a commentary on Authentic Shaolin Kung Fu. I saw a sparring video of Jeff Chan with them.
One of these days I suppose I’ll have to make another trip to Henan to make a video about Shaolin.
@@RamseyDewey Thanks. By the way I really love listening to your realistic commentary about fighting and because of that I'm already skeptical about self defense technique. Before, I am also one of those who are delusional about self defense. Right now I play boxing and BJJ which are both legit martial arts. By the way I'm just a beginner and I am not good. I'm still studying how to be a better practioner of the sport.
@@RamseyDewey adam chan wing chun/kung fu youtube channel
I agree but Muay Thai & Boxing
will never die.
Those aren't what people mean when they say traditional martial arts did you not pay attention
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
muay thai also isn't the same that it was before
Neither is boxing.
Didn't boxing start in ancient Greece/Rome?@@mattlarrubia
Alot of traditional arts need a Jigoro Kano for a new age, as they must adapt for modern times. Like how because of Judo, Japanese Jiu Jitsu didn't completely die, and it aroused new interest.
Thanks for the video
I had some assumptions and this video confirmed most of them
But even boxing has changed greatly! Ancient Greek boxing was very different from bare knuckle Pugilism of the 1800s. Bare knuckle allowed for head locks, sweeps, throws, hammer fists, back hands, etc. Some rule sets even allowed for stomps to the feet & shins + kicks to the shin.
Bare knuckle boxing was clearly different from boxing post Marquis of Queensbury rules (modern rules) but even so boxers in the 1920s fought different than those in the 1960s & they fought different than boxers in the 1980s, etc.
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
so what was the difference of ancient greek boxing to bare knuckle pugilism and ancient greek wrestling to modern wrestling?
@@jmgonzales7701 ancient boxing (as I understand it) was essentially just punching. Defense via foot work/maneuvering was seen as a negative. They stood in place & took turns hitting each other as it was a test of strength, resilience & endurance.
Bare knuckle pugilism was street self defense & fighting that was practiced in a sporting fashion. It allowed many hits ban today (hammer fist aka chopper, backhand, rabbit punches, etc). Also standing grappling, headlocks known as chauncery, foot sweeps, stomping the opponent's shins or feet, kicking the opponent's shins, etc were all allowed..
As for wrestling I know less about the differences but I believe it's more subtle. Kinda like the difference between traditional jujitsu & Ringen aka Medieval German wrestling.
@@jmgonzales7701 aditionally the Olympic wrestling style of Greco-Roman (possibly Free-style too but I'm not positive) was created for the 1st modern Olympics. It was done to create a common set of techniques & rules for competitors since many countries had indigenous wrestling styles but many styles had different rules & varying techniques.
@@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145 so pugalism is pratically street fighting in sport form.
I love to listen to Ramsey's words. Watching him pacing around, not so much.
In another few hundred years, will someone revive them as "ancient, forgotten techniques"
Bro, I just watched an amazing Jason Lee video with Erik Paulson doing some impressive Wing Chun variations.
I think it’s the opposite: mma proves that, for example, judo should return back to its origins, since original judo was more dangerous and combat oriented than the sport version that we usually see now. In fact Bjj came from original judo and so on most “modern” jujitsu methods (like Clark that came from Kawaishi)...
Judo is dangerous because you can train the moves at full speed against a resisting partner without needing an ambulance afterwards.
@@Reflectionmaterial Judo was a lot more dangerous when it was firstly created by Kano and his first “followers”. You should see world jujitsu federation method.
@@mattonthemoon225 great.
But how do you train their stuff at full speed against someone who is an expert grappler??
The answer. You don't.
You either mess each other up during training and will be to crippled to do anything in real life.
Or you end up doing choreographed stuff without resistance that will fall apart when shit hits the fan.
@@Reflectionmaterial you miss the fact that first judo had ground and grappling techniques (do you know where bjj came from?).
First judo was called Kano Jujitsu, it was a very complete martial art, it was trained with randori (free style combat with a subset of dangerous techniques) but it had a lot of dangerous techniques that today are not trained or only present into katas. If judo kept its striking and grappling background into the modern sport you will see a kudo and bjj mixed martial art.
@@mattonthemoon225 Judo has groundwork.
And again how do you train Kudo safely at full force???
Can kids compete safely in a sport with dangerous techniques and strikes?
guys guys guys... we all know very well that the only traditional martial art that will survive the test of time is Detroit Urban Survival Techniques
Hahahahahaha!!!
So okay. I do kung Fu. Like animal and various. I do kickboxing and spar for modern combat.
As I age I realized how essential kickboxing and sparring was to help me even understand my old kung Fu.
And so in return I now I'm super into kung fu. And I break my forms down into kickboxing or just modern techniques and ways. I find it beneficial in various ways. 😊
Yes, traditional "ye olde kuh-rah-di" of the ancient days of the 1930's-1990's is indeed dying out. But traditional martial arts are actually coming back.
Ramsey, I think I'd disagree with your characterisation of Judo. Yes, the form it's in dates back only a hundred years, but Judo originally was just a methodology or system for teaching traditional Jujutsu. No idea how far those techniques as a somewhat cohesive body can be traced back, but they definitely predate Jigoro Kano by a considerable time period.
I suppose in the last analysis it's a matter of definition.
Kuresi exists for over 6000 years and looks similar to Judo
aikido jujitsu and judo were all one style before kano and ueshiba came along
As long as I can watch all the old king fu movies it will never die Sam Snead lives forever
"You have been trained in the ancient ways, no go forth and show the staggering strength of namek!
...Fool. if he had been trained in the new ways, he might have had a chance."
didn't expect a TFS reference here 😂😂
@@pascalpodszus8091what’s TFS?
@@RamseyDeweyteam four star, they do anime abridged videos on youtube. This is from Dragon Ball Z abridged.
@@julian7247so it’s a parody of a Japanese cartoon I’ve never seen?
@@RamseyDewey Yes.
Depends on why you train martial arts, if it’s just to fight , or to be used in a particular application of violence then most traditional arts fall way short, but if it’s for the beauty of the movement or the preservation of the artform itself, then it will always be there, it’s all about intent
"Christmas" is actually a great example of a tradition that is also not so old. For example the thought of a "white holiday" is can be traced back to the works of Charles Dickens and the fact that during his lifetime there was one particular winter with way more than average snow, influencing his writing. So his "Christmas Story" later on became a Christmas classic, participating in forming this "tradition" of a white Christmas, laying the ground work for a lot of things that latch onto that image: Santa Claus (which is an invention of the 20th century) climbing through the chimney (which is borrowed either from Native American or Skandinavian literary traditions) etc. etc. Christmas is also a very made-up tradition that is barely a hundred years old, similar to what you are describing considering Martial Arts.
What? Christmas is the birth of Jesus . And is the same date as a Roman festivity. So Is and old tradition.
Even having a "Christmas" tree comes from a pagan Germanic tradition .
If you mean the thing about giving eachother presents you are correct.
@@AlexiusRedwood Okay, so first of all, yes, it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Is it the date that Jesus Christ was born on? Most certainly not! Is Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ an old tradition? Also not; it probably only dates to around the 1700s (that is more than 1.5 millennia (!) after said birthday. Also, most of the elements of this celebration that you can think of (for a US-american for example eating a big dead bird with a lot of gravy, handing over presents, having a guy with a white beard and a red dress driving around the country in a Coca-Cola-Truck etc) are also barely decades old. Yes, even the gifting thing is a very recent development. Up until the 1800s most presents in Christian countries were not given for Christmas, not even for one's birthday, but for saint's day (i.e. the day that is associated with the saint that you are named after). One of the main origins for Santa Claus for example is also Saint Nicolaus, a Byzantine bishop, who was celebrated on December 6th. I am so old that I can still remember that St. Nicolaus came in early December and the little Christ Child (yes, no joke) came for Christmas. Because, you know, a baby Jesus to deliver presents makes more sense than a guy wearing a red suit (if you are referencing Christmas as a religious birthday of sorts). Funny little details as well: The traditional celebration in Spain is Epiphany (January 6th) where the children receive presents from the three wise men, which also makes a lot of sense.
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So, yes, you are right: The metaphor for christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth. But that is only one small puzzle and has only been becoming more important over the past 100-150 years. It is also (today) majorly influenced by the US-American way of celebrating that holiday. That Roman festivity that you are referencing to (Sol Invictus) was a festivity to celebrate solstice and only became a Christian holiday during the 17th century. Festivities for solstices are common amongst pretty much all cultures and are "traditional", yes. But the way the are celebrated can change massively between cultures and also over time. Even if we say "Christmas is just Sol Invictus" (which it is not) I am pretty sure your family would look at you flabbergasted, if you'd celebrate Christmas by grating cheese into a bowl filled with red whine and topping it off with spices.
@@Manta665 In Germany, St Nicholas Day is early December. You put a boot out and if you were good/polite you get candy and maybe a little gift. If you were bad, you get a stick.
intriguing video and an interesting topic! great to hear your thoughts!
Mate, a hundred years is by definition more than a lifetime to anyone less than a hundred years old!
On the subject at hand, I learned Tae Kwon Do back in the late 1980s when it was still written as three words. Our gradings were conducted by Rhee Ki Ha, one of the original masters and General Choi still taught seminars, so I guess I'm closer to the original "tradition" than many people who teach, but for me it's still a hobby. I have few students. I don't charge much. I think there should be a delay between belts to make the students focus and study hard and not treat the grades as participation awards. I actively discourage the students from calling me 'master' and only expect (but seldom get!) the same kind of respect that schoolkids should show their teachers in class. I make no grandiose claims. I am a competent martial artist, but not an invincible human fighting machine. If my students try hard, they will get fitter, understand their bodies better and hopefully be more capable of self-defence than if they don't, but that's all I claim. Those who claim more are lying either to themselves or to their customers!
Many people teaching only the Olympic sparring style make a lot more money out of it than I do, mostly teaching kids. Teaching what wins points in an Olympic style bout is great for winning that kind of bout, but it leads to a style that is as far from real self-defence as olympic fencing is from real swordsmanship (I teach fencing as well btw).
The two oldest sports in the history of man: running and fighting.
In some ways, I think you could incorporate a formula into this. What's interesting about the martial arts market is how is does infact cater to many people's different needs. There are some that want strict functionality, while others want rewards and glam, and perhaps a less physically demanding road down it. Than many inbetween that hold new goals, and some that are a mix of many of them, from cardio boxing to bare knuckle boxing. Fads change over time, and in our modern day where people search for quick satisfaction from a lack of effort, it is interesting to see where some martial arts will go. Yet I think generally, many people who engage in them, do have a good sense of patience and discipline, depending as mentioned on the art. Than there are influences, such as advertising and such that truly push them forward, and basically sell the art to people. Which is interesting, because over time, when an art begins to gain popularity, and is thrown into sport, it seems to become watered down compared to its original form. Some people are claiming that this is happening to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, while an art like karate, that went through Pacification may infact rebound in realism with some karate dojos incorporating more kickboxing like sparring rather than single hit point sparring. So in the end, if you include Advertising, effectiveness, cost, availability, reward, ease of learning, aswell as the opposite, glamor, and general risk vs reward, than you can somewhat guess how it might continue to do. As some say also, it's a matter of keeping it simple and practical.
Anything you can do with your hands and feet will never go out of style ! 😁👍
As much as I like HEMA, it's not always so focused on practicality. There are a lot of people involved in it who react poorly to more practical, yet modern training/combative techniques becaue they "aren't in the sources."
That’s what you will get with historical revivals.
Why are you looking for practicality in HEMA? Its literally the antithesis to what HEMA is. There's zero practicality in walking around with a broadsword. And if you're wearing mail under your shirt then you need therapy. The entire point of HEMA is historicity. Its the first word in the name. They aren't trying to modernize rapier technique, they are trying to recreate what they best perceive to be the art as it was at the time it was practiced. Because, frankly, that's about the most you will ever get in terms of practicality; a history lesson.
@cjohnson3836 I'm only looking for practicality regarding fencing, not self defense or anything. And, frankly, HEMA practitioners who disregard the centuries of sports science that have developed since their favorite treatise was written end up being crappy fencers.
@@paulconrad6220 OMG this isn't hard to comprehend. Their priority isn't being a "good" fencer. Its understanding what the people who practiced the art at the time it was relevant were trying to do. Its a historical pursuit with a sprinkling of exercise. Why is this hard for you to understand?
@cjohnson3836 Oh, are historical presentations what they do at competitions, then? Seemed like people were trying to hit me with blunt swords.
Do you even fence, bro?
I do both modern and traditional combat sports/MAs. I live in a major US city and there are 3 BJJ/MMA schools within a 15min walk from me, but the nearest TMA school is a 30min drive away.
Hey, Ramsey. Have you ever thought of making a video of you sparring with someone who does weapon martial arts? Like HEMA, Kendo, stuff like that. I really like the idea. It sounds fun
A gun
@@thomaskent3136
Why would I need a gun when I can just use a nuke?
One of my students was a local kendo champion. We used to sword fight with poodles after class on a regular basis. Who knew anyone wanted to watch that kind of thing?
@@RamseyDewey
I think it'd be cool. Maybe a thing where it starts out with both of you having them, one of you doesn't have them, you switch who has them, and then it's just regular sparring to close it off. I've always been intrigued with the bare hands vs weapon type of sparring, but I've rarely seen anyone do it
@@hypnoticskull6342 in my experience its very difficult for the unarmed person. Turns out swords are very effective
This made me think of something.
Throughout history there are a lot of example of wars wear innovation beat tradition. One example that comes to mind is the way Napoleon changed warfare with the use of guns. Whereas before armies would March in formation, Napoleon used more guerilla tactics and had his troops use new unconventional methods. Another example is how nobunaga unified Japan using the arbques (spelling) which even Musashi admitted was the greatest battlefield weapon.
So it made me think that in the realm of martial arts, tradition is a bad thing. Sure, there are lessons to be learned from the old styles and the old ways, and it's important to understand history; However at the same time in order for a martial art to be effective -whether I be hand to hand combat or war between nations- it has to evolve in order to stay effective and stay competitive. Even sometimes it goes full circle and the old ways become the new ways, but always it's changing. Even from opponent to opponent you have to adapt your style.
If you remain too attached to tradition you will never learn anything new. At the same time, it's important to respect and honor the people who came before us, and it's important to have knowledge and understanding how things evolved. There is still value in the history of martial arts and I believe that there are techniques from ancient times or in history that lots of martial artists don't use or aren't aware of that could still be effective.
I think it's important to keep an open mind and not become attached to any particular style. I think when you focus on too much of one style a person can lose sight of the purpose of the martial arts.
Interesting video, Ramsey. I would like to hear your opinion on something in particular: do you believe the idea of converting a martial art on a sport modality have bad consequences? I've practiced judo for some time and one thing that displeased me is how almost all dojos reduce judo to the sport modality. As a strict sport, there's a lot of restrictions on the techniques studied and practiced and the whole martial art is reduced to a matter of points. While I understand the goal and can see the benefits of the sport, it turns really hard to learn and practice the martial art to its complete extense. Maybe I'm just confusing things. Anyway, thank you for your videos, I appreciate them a lot!
Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, considered that there were three levels to judo: low-level, middle-level, and high-level.
The lowest level of judo is learning to defend against an attack. The middle level of judo is being able to control both the body AND the mind at will; having the full control of one's physique, emotions and mental fluctuations. The highest level, then, is the full application one's energy in contributing to society with maximum efficiency.
So yeah, if you study judo, the "martial efficiency" should really be the least of your goals.
@@Veepee92 Yeah, neither I nor anyone who studied the art need to commit to such ideal. While I respect Jigoro Kano, eastern martial arts try to develop this holistic approach that one needs not worry about.
@mobili2 Kano wasn't really an orientalist in this regard to any extent. He was a staunch modernist, mostly influenced by the utilitarian ethics of Herbert Spencer. Trying to belittle his pursuits as "eastern holism" does a real disservice to his work and his legacy, and it's not that any kind of masculine "sport bad only real fighting good urgh orgh" argument is any better in the first place.
@Veepee92 don't remind saying my argument about martial art vs. sport was better, nor that was it the case. In fact, if you read it properly, you'll see I'm asking for clarification precisely because I believe I may be missing something and there might be a better response. However, saying "this is what Jigoro Kano wanted" only addresses his particular opinion on how judo should be understood and not if judo qua sport modality can harm judo qua martial art. Hope I made myself clear.
I think 'lower levels' of practise are what support the 'higher levels', and are thereby more important to train on a daily basis!
Application training is not basic training. Limiting your application training to one sports modality can produce good results in that specific field, if that's what you're looking for. But yes I agree there's a risk or rather a certainty of losing a lot of the the basic training, if you're training for such limited goals.
It's quite easy to spot if a martial arts school promotes well-balanced and well-grounded practitioners. To me that's the most important thing. And let's face it, both traditional and modern schools can have their issues with ego nonsense. So can competition based schools versus development based schools. A full system versus a limited system. No matter how you draw that divide, both sides will be prone to issues. What's important is a good teacher, good students and a clarity of method and approach. In order to cut away any ego nonsense. If a school can do that, the worst of bad consequences will be avoided.
As for preserving the traditional arts, I don't think we need to worry about all the sport schools, simply keep training it (our more traditional arts) with those who see its merits. We may seem like a minority, and sport styles / competition styles seem to take away from it, but really it's not so. We'll always be at the core while they may look for the limelight. It's all good. As we say in TaiJi, the core feeds out to the rest of the body; The whole body supports the core.
Traditional martial arts are just for kids to get exercise now and some discipline. Not sure of any adults who do that now. Back in the day, Karate was what BJJ/Muay Thai is now. You heard someone was a black belt and it was like they could beat up anyone lol.
Awesome discussion coach! The distinction between traditional and modern styles, codified vs adaptive styles, is always an awesome topic to go over. None of us can predict what will last and what will fade away.
I don’t know if you’re still having folks on your podcast but I think you’d have a great time with @thescholargeneral who is a great guy, and has thoughts on traditional martial arts in China, and how we get to where we are today.
Thanks for the shoutout!
Alot of these "traditional Martial arts" are being exposed as frauds, which makes me wonder what were the ancient people really using as their martial art back then? and are they even effective even put in the present?
Excellent response Ramsey! I don’t really consider myself a martial artist anymore, but I obviously still observe what’s going on. I took Taekwondo as a kid and earned my 1st degree black belt in 5-6 yrs as a teenager. I failed 2-3 of my tests, so it wasn’t easy. Taekwondo nowadays looks quite different & students seem to get through the belts faster. It also looks less effective outside of competition sparring scenarios. I’m also not a traditional person, so those analogies made sense to me too.
IMO, there's a lot of fiction in TMA. But I think some of the reality out there is fascinating. Not far from me, there's a 10th Dan who has an oversized red belt with 10 stripes. He teaches about 75 forms, and it's his own style. I think traditional training is great for health, discipline, and learning control. But I wouldn't choose karate for that necessarily. Learning Naginata or Iaido seems more appealing to me, or exercise Tai Chi. I decided to go to a Shotokan school a couple years ago. I liked the Sensei. What was bothersome to me was that her 8 year old daughter was part of the grading group. Now I'm sure what she said didn't pull major weight, and I totally understand wanting to involve her, but I don't need to be judged by a child. I could rattle on about this stuff for days lol.
I think people get confused a lot about the term "traditional martial arts". A good example is karate, which people always call traditional, but the karate that is widespread today is far removed from what people have been training in the early 20th century. It's almost a completely different thing. In fact, there are still some truly "traditional" organisations that strive to preserve the original okinawan styles and for them, calling the mainstream karate styles of today "traditional" would be an abstruse thing to do. Today's olympic TKD is very different from the "original" one which was a Shotokan offshoot. Modern sport BJJ has moved in a very, very different direction compared to the "traditional" Gracie Jiu Jitsu. There have been many completely new technical developments, and also a bit of reverse-engineering back to Judo as well as significant influences from wrestling and other submission grappling methods.
People often put "traditional" styles in a certain category and then go on to juxtapose them to more modern, practically oriented arts and Muay Thai is always named as one of those. But Muay Thai is a style that's at least as old as karate and is in many ways VERY traditional (especially in Thailand). At the same time, what people know as MT today is in reality something that is heavily synthesized with western boxing, and as of late we're also seeing more influence from TKD and karate style kicking. So clearly this dichotomy doesn't work and doesn't make real sense. In reality, there are not many truly "traditional" martial arts around anymore. Things change constantly, and you can never freeze something in some arbitrary, idealized moment in time and keep it untouched and unaltered for all eternity. In the end, I think the distinction that people are really looking for is formalized arts vs. those that are applicable in a modern combat sports scenario. How "traditional" they are is of peripheral importance in this regard.
I've been a martial artist for 24 years.. With that, I have been to war, been in combat. Did private security and executive protection for Embassadors and Dignitaries... With that, I've been in many fights, mass fights, shootings.. As I aim to begin teaching.. I won't have a traditional school. I'll have a school that teaches combat. The things that I aim to teach I've been put into positions to use. My team has been put into position to use.... and if we didn't.. we didn't go home to our families. . I see more people aiming to become proficient at protecting their families in a more realistic manner.
Thank you for your service. I am pleased to hear/ read that you have become a well trained soldier. I am training to be one too one day. In which unit did you serve, if you don't mind me asking?
Great story of mom thinking everything is for sale 😅. Thanks for sharing.
I think traditional martial arts will be fine. It's very kid friendly and a good way for young people to get started. Not to mention taekwondo and judo are olympic sports.
i didn't expect to, but i like your take on this. i am in agreement with most of it. what a lot of people don't understand is that the "traditional" martial arts are already modern adaptations to "keep up with the changing times" but it's just that those changing times happened 100-150 years ago...
Totally agree that the rank systems in traditional systems have caused alot of weekend warrior martial arts schools interested in selling belts and not real knowledge.
Fighting will never die. Certain ways of how it is taught, though, will die, others will be born
That's a very intersting difference. When you ask a practitioner of a traditional martial art why they use their uniforms, they will often go on a rant of a thousand reasons. Sometimes related to the importance of tradition, sometimes inventing weird practical applications. If you asked me why hema practitioners use historical gambesons even though they're not necessary for sparring, I would answer (and I think many others would): we're history nerds, and wearing these makes us feel cool.
Nothing "traditional" existed in the same form before world wars. Just how it is, not even Christmas, that one in 2022 was very different to the 1822 one...
Traditional martial arts are there for cultural experience and vitality.... remembering the forms and doing them when your 80. But, in the age of instant satisfaction, high costs, and lots of entertainment options, less and less people take on traditional martial arts because it takes too long and if there is ceremony involved, unless you like it, feels like a waste of time. It's pretty much proven that MMA, BJJ, Sanda, Muay Thai etc... stuff that has contact tournaments, is best for self defence and phyiscal training.
“It’s bastardized shotokan!”
THANK YOU I HAVE BEEN ARGUING THIS FOR YEARS
Styles may change but techniques often remain the same, throughout the centuries.
There is something that old martial arts had that modern combat sports do not have and will never have.
Therefore, you might start with combat sports; but if you want to really understand martial arts, you have to return to the old arts.
Martial arts belts /and ranking /chain of command and dictatorship.Martial Cults.what is your take on that?
Having personally known a founder of a traditional karate, I’ve seen changes as early as the 2nd generation. Usually when that happens they’ll change the name or modify it, the name that is. Look how much social media has changed us.
I've been practicing Silat and Escrima since 1993 and Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi since 2008. I like practicing slow twisting and circling steps with blades. It nourishes my brain and I circulate my chi to stay healthy and massage my internal organs to stay soft and limber.
The first thing I would teach someone is how to relax and root and circulate Qi. After relaxing, someone can learn basic Gong Fu!
Ginseng
A river of life through eyes
Seen blue skies and dream
Each day’s scene
A shade of green from the leaves
Beautiful blossoms
So many herbs
Spirits
Here you find a shining light
So bright
Tai Chi is the spice of life
Most other exercises give you angry Chi
I like to flow water free
Every seed needs Tai Chi
To grow, flow
And reach a peak of Relaxation
Happiness
Pure Bliss
I heard people explaining that there are multiple realities all layered on top of each other, with us all only accessing one of those realities. So the more apiritual that you are the easier it is for you to experience the chi based martial arts and other exoteric martial arts or magic or spiritual pracices and experiences. So the less spiritual a person is the less likely that he is to eperience or witness mystical effects, including the power of chi. SO we all only get to see the level of reality that we are piritually capable of handling. The less spiritual people only being aware of the more grounded martial arts. I don't believe this idea myself, but just sharing what people have shared with me, for the purposes of understanding how they think.
Great video! Boxing, Wrestling, Archery, Shooting, and Fencing are ‘martial arts’ found the world over. Depending on the laws in your country many of these ‘traditional martial arts’ are more practical for self defense than MMA. Also, all of these martial arts are evolving…. HEMA and Filipino martial arts are influencing fencing, BJJ is influencing wrestling, Muay Thai is influencing boxing, there are modern takes on archery such as the videos by Lars Anderson and the instant Legolas by Joerg Sprave, shooting even is changing with the AR platform, laser sights ect. It’s a wonderful time to be alive with all of the innovations! Belts if done right are more about curriculum… it’s like a university degree…. You need so many credits to graduate…. Martial Artist just say you need so much Matt time and you have to take an exam to be certified. Once you are certified, the cirtification is backed by the organization saying “this person earned their black belt and will be a knowledgeable and reputable person to take lessons from because of what they know and what they can do. Certification won’t go away…. The belts might. Belts just help people keep track of the percentage of the curriculum that is known.
Ironically, the true tradition is one of pragmatism, and continuous improvement; keeping the torch lit, and seeking what the previous generation sought. There's only so long you can keep a certain eras methods preserved in amber. I was on the verge of giving up karate 6 years ago, when I realised that I'd been taught form without function. Then I stumbled upon a certain UA-cam channel that revealed this whole new practical, pragmatic strata of the art that I thought had nothing more to offer. I decided from there to stick around, and even teach it now.
I'm currently trainin' in Zui Quan, and I'm realisin' that it draws heavily on the traditions found in Cockney Kung fu. The main difference is the lack of weapons in the former compared to the latter. Nothing beats a glass throwing star, but they were banned from pubs in the UK back in 2007 and we're already losing some of the forms in the drink-jo.
Mine (Mantis) started to die as soon as it was taught in a standard school. As it was created it started to decay pretty much instantly. It's taken pressure testing, looking at all versions, and looking at historical texts to get the effective ideas out of it. When it went from bodyguard style to dueling style and finally a "sell forms to rich guys" style. It went from a few key motions to hundreds of useless forms.
Hello Ramsey, i've a religious question.
I do not practice any religion but sometimes i feel the need to thanks "God" for some life experience .
And i can't seem to find an appropriate way for that.
Do you have any clue on how to properly thank God ?
Wrestling is the most natural martial arts... everyone wrestle when you have more than 1 kid in a family. Punching is learned... no ones can punch like a boxer unless training even trained boxer go into 'swirl / sucker punch' when under stress (adrenaline rush). In my Japan Traditional Martial Arts, we would learn Palm Striking. Why? We were told, your palm is supported by your foreharm, it won't break as easy as unwrapped closed fist. PS: Breaking fall is the most efficient useful and applicable (you will use it) technique you'll learn in a TMA BJJ Judo. It's a real life saver
Arguably, wrestling, boxing and so on are as well traditional martial arts. Yes, the commenter singled out the Asian variety, but still.
Personally, I believe all martial arts (besides no-touch varieties n the like) offer some useful tools.
Had this recent history lesson told to me awhile back all of this makes sense. Traditions are just traditions.
Bruce Lee said something along the lines of "a kick is a kick, a punch is a punch". The only thing that changes their implementations is rule sets. My system was UFAF/Chun Kuk Do, otherwise known as the Chuck Norris System, which continues to evolve.
The history of my martial art, Bead-Fu, is only 3 years😅 old. Started my OWN martial art 🙏🤛 Absolutely love your coaching and experience! I wear a belt, to hold my pants up, it happens to be black🤷♂️
How would traditional martial arts like karate and taekwondo update their sport rules to be more effective, like kickboxing, muay thai, and MMA while still remaining distinct from those sports and each other?
To people who ask how long to get a black belt on first day or how much for a black belt i advise them that amazon sell them and a swift purchase will save a lot of time, effort and money in the long run.
The Lunge Punch…
Will Never Die
Man,
Just spot on.
Spot on! Eddie Murphy in "Trading Places:" "I have a Chain Belt in Kung-Fu and I am a master of the 'Quart-of-Blood' technique! You hit a man and a quart of blood falls out of him!"
Most of the money in traditional martial arts come from children who can become black belts before they hit puberty . I think there will always be money to be made from this racket . Like PT Barnum said , there is a sucker born every minute