Lack Of Failure In Traditional Martial Arts • Martial Arts Explored
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- Опубліковано 8 січ 2019
- We all experience failure when we start learning Martial Arts, which has a humbling effect. Yet as you progress in Traditional Martial Arts oftentimes the failure rate dramatically decreases, potentially leading to terrible results. More about that in this Martial Arts Journey video.
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Lack of Failure in Traditional Martial Arts
How many people actually allow themselves to constantly fail in order to become better? And how can avoiding failure affect our martial arts training?
Hi, my name is Rokas and in this Martial Arts Journey video we will take a look at the Lack of Failure in Traditional Martial Arts and how it affects our development.
Before we begin though, I would like to define what I mean by saying Traditional Martial Arts, as there are a number of possible interpretations to it and discussing a subject while having different interpretations of the same term may lead to a lot of misunderstanding. I do not mean to say that I think other definitions to be wrong, but the one that I am about to share with you proved to be the most efficient to me personally when debating traditional martial arts and trying to understand the whole subject.
To me, traditional martial arts are martial arts which are heavily focused on tradition, rather than practicality as its primary goal. While not always - this focus on tradition is often related to various cultural aspects. To give some examples I’ll ask some questions. Why do most Japanese martial arts schools teach to sit on the knees? Is it because it’s the healthiest way to sit? Or is it because it’s part of the Japanese culture? Why do Bujinkan (often referred to as Ninjutsu) practitioners usually wear black Gis? Is it because black is more practical for being less visible while training? Or is it rather because it alludes to ninjutsu practitioners on certain occasions in the past prefering to wear black to disguise themselves? How about defending from a Japanese sword? Is it very likely to be attacked by one these days? Or is it trained because it was more likely to happen in Japanese culture 400 years ago?
There is a story of Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, telling that he started decreasing the amount spent in newaza, grappling on the ground, because in his opinion, to quote him: “Humans were meant to walk, not crawl”, which is actually a representation of the Japanese cultural mentality. This mentality was passed on from generation to generation even till today, as newaza in Judo is more of a side, than primary focus. Yet the question is, is it so because it’s - quote on quote - not practical or less important, or is it because it’s part of the tradition? On the other hand the Gracie family started off training Judo, which back then was still more commonly known as Jiujitsu, yet Brazilians are infamous for not caring much for tradition and authority. They did not concern themselves with such beliefs as not “crawling on the ground” and while they kept a few, minor traditions, such as wearing the Gi (which has practical aspects too), they focused mostly on practicality and efficiency, which made Brazilian Jiu Jitsu one of the most widely recognized effective martial arts today. Many more examples could be given, but as you may see, traditional martial arts tend to have a high emphasis on preserving tradition and sometimes even sacrificing practically and efficiency to do so, often times doing so unknowingly.
To summarize, one definition of traditional martial arts may be closely related to the heavy investment of a particular martial art into traditions, such as Aikido, Bujinkan, Wing Chun, various styles of Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do and more versus other practices which are more focused on practicality such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Boxing and Kick Boxing. This is not to say that practices focused on efficiency do not have traditions or “limitations”, for example boxing focusing on striking only and neglecting wrestling or kicking. Yet it’s investment into traditions is much less significant than that of traditional martial arts. It is also interesting to point out, that the age of the martial art is not of greatest significance here. As for example Aikido, commonly referred to as a traditional martial art, being actually fairly young - officially established in 1942, compared to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu which is not referred to as a traditional martial art - having been developed around a similar time.
Now with all of that in mind, having a single definition of traditional martial arts for this discussion, we may start looking at how lack of failure may affect a traditional martial arts practitioner.
#martialarts #martialartsexplored #martialartsjourney - Спорт
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Great video Rokas, loved the challenege at the end, like you say, if this video or your "challenege" at the end anger you, you probably are insecure about your arts effectiveness to begin with.
Very well written. Good job.
But I don't have any friends to share anything with...what do I do? :(
This was a good video, but it doesn't fully match my experience.
I'm planning to try for 2nd kyu this summer. I hope I'll have the time to prepare. :) I'm mentioning this to make it clear that I have a few years of experience under my belt, but I'm far from a master.
Tbh, while I have seen plenty of Aikidokas with a really bloated ego, at the seminars I've had the chance to attend, these weren't among the black belts. Quite on the contrary, the people who've tried to correct me the most weren't even as experienced as I am - and this is not really pleasant, tbh. I won't go into details right now, I'll only mention that I decided to just go with the flow - if they want to correct me, let them, this is a valuable experience too, despite being unpleasant.
When it comes to failure, though, I think other things should be taken into consideration. Thanks to not enough experience in performing ukemi I once ended up with a sprained ankle. I could barely walk for weeks. That was my failure. A badly performed mae tobi ukemi a year and a half ago injured my back rather unpleasantly. That was also my failure. The pain I've suffered after failing to comply with a wrist lock was my punishment for a failure. The countless times I've failed to execute this or that technique... These are all experiences I try to learn from. I've had sparrings - with other Aikidokas, and with people with some experience in other arts. Some I've won, some I've lost. I try to learn from both winning and losing.
Martial Arts Journey fascinating take, first 30 seconds plus the title had me thinking about martial arts in a different way.
I went through a similar journey as you, starting in kung fu and ending in BJJ.
One thing about kung fu is that there’s a sense you’re preserving a traditional form of human movement unchanged for 600 years. You’re almost like a living museum to human movement.
But of course, this preservation is the opposite to the mantra of life: adapt or die.
Everything goes through natural selection, metaphorically speaking. These traditional arts deliberately do not adapt, therefore they die.
And by “die” I mean become ineffective in a modern unarmed combat setting.
My Wing Chun teacher asked me “You’ve been training for 3 months only, why you wanna do sparring?” and I said “Because Im feeling invencible and I wanna fix that.”
I love your definition. I've struggled to put it into words, but the idea that some practicality is sacrificed for tradition hits it on the head. Muay Thai is ancient and rooted in rituals and tradition and thai culture, but combat is the ultimate measure of muay thai, whereas there are younger and hybrid martial arts that are considered TMA. Well put and this is the definition I subscribe to.
Thanks. It's been a big question for me for a while and when I came to this definition it Really helped me in better understanding and communicating in this subject.
You made the perfect example since Muay Boran matches perfectly Rokas' definition of traditional martial art. I say Rokas' definition because he made the point here. I've practiced Muay Boran and they define themself as "traditional muay thai". Even though there's sparring, the competition - at least there was during the years of my practice - it's pretty much like kyokushin rules and it's restricted among the practitioner of the association. According to my experience, pressure test is not encouraged at all and it's mostly focused on drils, forms (yes, they study forms), techniques and phisical training.
Modern Muay Thai is an hybrid martial art. It owes a lot to western boxing. If you dont believe this, check out videos of Muay Thai in the early XXth century or current muay boran training.
@@saifernandez8622 muay thai is now evolving to include better boxing technique. especially for fighters that want to compete overseas
I've long noticed that in traditional martial arts, there is generally an idea that the greatest practitioners are legendary figures from the past, with the skill level decreasing the more generations removed one gets from these figures.
Whereas with competition-testing-based sports, such as Olympic sports, there is generally an idea that each new generation surpasses the athletes of previous generations.
The difference in these patterns of progress vs. devolution is worth thinking about.
A very insightful comparison! TMA have it's greatest fighters in the past, with newer students being ever further from. Practical martial arts have it's best fighters in the future with newer students ever closer to.
Mark Zima these iconic figures were often great because of the amount of time they had trained. It was a different time . Now few people can make a career out of martial arts , there are a few I think though. Out side of martial based sports athletes few people can dedicate the time. This was these people's 9 to 5 job then their hobbies. Martial arts are generally our few hours a week hobbies. All about the training.
@@michealpuckett8856 As I understand it, the People's Republic of China now selects children at a very young age for full-time Wushu training. Shall we expect these children, when grown, to rival or exceed the iconic martial arts figures of past renown in terms of their skills? They will be putting in a lot of time and consistent effort.
What about boxing. I love boxing but everyone looks to older boxers like Joe Frazier and Ali and how they were the best of the best and no one has touched them in the past 40 years. Even Bruce Lee... Michael Jae White said that he'd beat Bruce Lee in a fight because of size and current knowledge of combat. The amount of backlash he received was enormous.
Same with Olympic Taekwondo. Many believe that the older rules produced much better fights.
"He who never fails, never learns."
-The Ancient One
Happy birthday!
@@varanid9
Thank you! 💕
Try explaining that to a teacher.
A very powerful message - especially at the end! “The truth will set you free - but first it will piss you off!”
But losing makes me UNCOMFORTABLE! Questioning myself is scary!
I know... Loosing is for losers! 😏
Oh, okay so some people are discussing a topic while others are discussing themselves. I always think of martial arts as a topic like Aviation or something.
Says the guy who trash talked TKD saying it was garbage, beat some very new MA guy up on video via StreetBeefs (one of the rare times you can say "X" person was truly a beginner).
You went on KwonKicker who is a longtime kickboxer through TKD, you basically had to rationalise your behaviour by admitting you were a jerk because you wanted to 'expose' TMA - possibly because this direction was hurting your Hard2Hurt business. Strangely, you made an admission during that video that you knew little about MA - I think because you said you had no pro fights or were a good teacher but not very skilled in your own right?
@@FreebyrdFayelanx I was going to argue that I've never said TKD was garbage but I probably did. I've probably said all martial arts are garbage at some point or another... someone who follows me so closely should know that. Secondly, only TKD dude I've ever fought (that I know of) said he was a black belt and instructor at his school and challenged me to a fight. Turns out he wasn't. And yeah I was a jerk about a lot of things and have been very clear on that. But lol at my hard2hurt "business" being hurt. Thanks for the laughs and stay tuned... maybe I'll do a video on how bad TKD blows and how kwonkicker is an unskilled fraud for you soon.
Dude Kwonkicker has several titles and won several kickboxing and TKD competitions and won Alympic TKD and kickboxing. He even fought in Muay Thai in Thailand. He trained in ITF TKD which is the most practical style of TKD. So if I were you I would shut up. You are just a troll who has nothing better to do than trigger people for your own amusement. You have no facts or sources to back up your argument. You are a poor sad excuse for a man. LMFAO
Oh Rokas, you're going to get SO much hate mail for this...lol. Good thoughts.
Welcome to my life! 😂
@@MartialArtsJourney LOL! I bet!
I love this video and train a traditional gongfu style. Truth is truth.
@@nyhyl Much respect to you for training in a traditional gung fu style, but not hating on someone who talks truth.
Awesome video! Like the good and great in story, if we fail, we fail with glory.
An interesting thing about TKD is that it is fairly young (1955) and actually has "legendary" fighters who fought in the Korean war etc. Sadly, it has largely descended into being a K-Pop dance routine.
I was given a reality check by a golden gloves boxer, when I was a 19 year old karate brown belt. Switched to full contact kickboxing, after my ego quit stinging lol
Congrats and respect!
You know kickboxing came from karate and the karate you learned wasn’t that good. There are traditional Karate users who proved that it works in MMA. Also Kyokushin bro. Kyokushin.
@@Shadowrulzalways Also, I sparres with a Shotokan black belt a while back, been old friends for a while. Either way, I got the win over him due to takedown experience and ground control that I learned in BJJ. Be it I won, with a bit of work done, Shotokan can prove quite useful when combined with kickboxing.
Sparred*
@@Shadowrulzalways ++ lol
That Master Wong shade at the end. Lol.
Haha! I couldn't help it. It just fit so well
@@MartialArtsJourney :D
They all hate him cuz he gets more subscribers. After his training he should do a collab with Master Wong and spar him.
The first one was a "alright. I'll just make a quick reference." The second one was a "you know, I don't think he'll get it of he sees this video. Better just make sure. Ahh heck, I'll throw a little advice in for him too, just in case!"
I was 25 , 90kg and black belt in a "traditional ma" and I was destroyed by a 45 year-old, 75 kilo, bjj blue belt guy
Now I am a BJJ blue belt myself😁
Oss!
Congratulations and Respect!
I can relate. A boxer of 6 months destroyed my wing Chun of 2 years and weighed almost 20 lbs less.
As a proud ignorant teenager that hurt and I became annoyed the next day with my black eye doing sensitivity drills. I think they knew but instead we did calming down practices (breathing)
And focused on flow.
I left never returned, when one texts me I told them I've moved on.
My grandfather was a boxer back in the day and gladly worked with me and helped me get into it. Sadly I lost him. Had I known. I would have worked with him growing up over Chinese bullshit.
But I wrestled as a kid and into my freshmen year of HS. So I did have a grappling base and I'd always snicker when they'd do groin shot defenses to takedowns as if they worked.( I was a dick)
Which begs the question why did I continue?
Same experience here: 30 yrs of ma training, entered a BJJ gym and got my ass beaten by everyone in the class... Now after mastering some techniques I am able to make other white belts tap. But against any higher belt I still don't stand a chance.
@@rye-bread5236 To clarify, it sounds like you practiced Wing Chun under its traditional training philosophy.
@@barrygroeneveld6901 yep. I thought wrestling was enough. It is super important but being choked out is an eye opener.
I would actually bring up a point that's not quite a counterpoint, but not quiet agreeing either. Even while emphasizing tradition over failure, many TMA (though that's still a messy term) have lost their origins as well. I do TaeKwonDo, and am constantly trying to dig backwards, because once upon a time, someone fought with this art. If not this one directly, the arts that it was born from. There was a practicality and a violence to the art once that has been lost. Even schools that frequently spar, they spar with kickboxing, not TKD. The forms hold techniques that once had a reason for being.
The fact that we don't use them any more means we've forgotten them and they need to be found again and used and tested and failed with and fought with.
This is a very interesting point. I hold a 3rd Dan in WTF Tae Kwon Do and have since moved on to really concentrating on my Muay Thai and BJJ. It was pretty humbling for me to really end up fighting with people and realizing that my degree didn't mean anything in the real world. I was not a martial artist that never sparred or failed to be athletic/conditioned, so I could hold my own fine, but it still taught me lessons.
I also learned to utilize some of my previous art in my current fighting style, and it gives me new tricks and tactics. You make a great point on not being AFRAID of TMA and what they can teach us. The key is to reframe them and put them into something practical and battle tested. The stuff that works, keep it around. the stuff that doesn't, discard.
Absolutely, there is nothing new in martial arts, just forgotten stuff that is rediscovered...or not as the case may be.
That's true. I've researched the methods used in Okinawan Karate and Fukien Chinese boxing and found that many techniques are simply taught wrong, or badly misunderstood. Some, however, were counters to methods or weapons that are no longer relevant today. But, to understand these things and differentiate one from the other, one has to do some very difficult digging through scanty sources, downright fairy tales and often conflicting testimony. Also, there is something to be said for preserving a martial art in its anachronistic form simply as a historical artifact that furthers our understanding of past conditions and frame of mind. This is why, in Japan, it is illegal to change the arts taught by the remaining schools of Samurai swordsmanship.
BTW, beware of martial arts "historians" who attempt to inject their own meanings into old moves in an attempt to make their own arts seem more potent or to promote themselves as supposed "experts" on "lost knowledge".
@@varanid9 Yeah, one of my biggest complaints have been people who are too arrogant and sure of their interpretations. I mean, this is like trying to recreate a dance based on some drunk audience member's memory of it and the newspaper reviews of the performance. If you're sure of something in recreating a historical martial art, you're probably wrong
You talk like bjj is some kind of overpowered martial art and is more effective than other arts because of ground fighting, judo for example is traditional and has very good takedowns and very good ground game, bjj is better on the ground (that doesn't mean a judoka can't tap a bjj player, it depends on the practitioner).
For me judo is better for self defense, one good throw in concrete can easily ko someone if he doesn't know how to breakfall, and if you end on the ground you have a solid ground game to escape or submit.
Karate can be very effective if you're in a good dojo, many karatekas were successful in mma.
Kung fu has sanshou, its a form of full contact competition.
And many TMA are effective and they spar.
So, yeah....
But good video
@iDesireToasters *ground grappling
@iDesireToasters Shuaijiao? Translates to Chinese Wrestling. That's where the takedowns from Sanshou Sanda come from. It's considered the ancestor to old Jujutsu
I think it’s because BJJ is his reference as a newcomer to the art.
Judo has camps that take the traditionalist point of view and shun competition, and they get wrecked by the competitive peers in the pro-competition camp. The only successful karatekas in were those from kyokushin and they all simply used it as an addition to boxing/Muay Thai. Sanshou is not kung fu. Its kickboxing with throws and none of the actually successful Sanshou competitors train kung fu. The best sanshou fighter started in college with wrestling.
@@cjohnson3836 that's nonsense, Lyoto Machida comes from traditional karate, and he uses it in the cage, wonderboy uses point style karate foot work wtf are you talking about, the only good fighter I know that has a kyokushin background is gsp.
Sanshou IS kung fu, the takedowns come from traditional Shuai Jao, boxing exists a long time ago and kicks are in kung fu....people think a kung fu guy will fight like the forms.
We all come from the same place, its just fighting and biomechanics, its like me saying muay thai is kickboxing with elbows and knees.
And many judo competitors from japan have heavy presence of tradition, and MANY of them are the best judokas out there lol Olympics and IJF have some dumb rules that only deteriorates judo effectiveness, so idk wtf are you talking about, I can put you many names that have a heavy presence in tradition that come from Japan.
Muay thai, considered one of the most effective striking arts in the world, they have A LOT of tradition in thailand, were are the best thai boxers in the world.
So yeah, a martial art doesn't need to become a pure sport to be effective, many traditional arts are effective, obviously when they spar, but they also preserve the tradition and philosophy.
Good message, thank you for posting.
This is one of your best videos. Thank you. Well done
Awesome video as always. Ignore the haters and keep doing what you do. Side note: The beating at 10:33 of the so called master is pure gold!
How you doing man. I really appreciate your videos, thanks for your input.
i agree, and i also like those 10 mins videos, more than the 40min-1hour videos
Thanks. More will come. My intention is to publish longer videos on my newly created second channel "Martial Arts Journey Podcast" for those who like to watch them, but I will make very rare exceptions of the best of the best.
Both types plz
Awesome Video!!!
You said it all perfectly! Thanks!
Great video!!
Excellent video! If I may say, this was probably the best video I have ever watched from you, both content and editing wise.
I quite enjoyed the various clips/images that went along with the narrative. Excellent vid 👍
Thank you guys! I'm glad to hear that. I plan on doing more of these this month!
The hard work in these videos shows, thank you. These are questions every martial artist asks himself throughout their lifetime, taking u for tackling them.
Well done video.
I totally agree and went through the same journey. Rokus you are someone who chose to evolve, thank you so much for sharing, it is motivating and inspiring.
Great informative video, but the part about the gracies not being interested in tradition and authority and instead purely focused on what works and innovation to that end, is wrong. The gracies are ABSOLUTELY about tradition and ESPECIALLY authority, they just insist that authority is themselves and that the traditions are things that they have chosen. In the early 1930's when Carlos and the rest of the Gracie clique were promoting their form of jiujitsu as they very best grappling/fighting system in the world. (Very much with the same sentiment as kung fu masters with supernatural powers) their system and athletes were rudimentary and inferior to the types of grappling and athletes already common in Brazil at the time. Carlos refused/backed out of contests over and over again with Rufino dos Santos (a wrestler who challenged him) over and over till the whole Gracie family jumped him in the street and beat Rufino nearly to death with weapons, destroying his joints so he could not wrestle again. Gracie jiu jitsu was developed on the same business model as other cult like bullshido martial arts, in that them and them alone had the secret methods. That you had to attend their classes for years, paying them money and earning belts. The only difference was that it was indeed a method based on functionality with testing in every session, it was not a theoretical art, and obviously over the years it developed into something excellent. But that doesn't mean they are not focused on tradition and authority! Even since BJJ made its appearance at UFC in the 90's, and had surprising success against bigger stronger striking based opponents. Fans simply started to believe BJJ was a mystical superpower just like Karate and kungfu used to be perceived. Even then, that success was based more on fighters not realising how important grappling of any sort was rather than the TYPE of grappling. During that period of Gracies having success in MMA, any competent wrestler could still take them apart. But the gracies had a great brand which they themselves fixated on along with their self importance. And those interested in martial arts lapped it up, because they hungered for the same mysticism that made them believe that you could knock people out using chi.
The history and the record show all this kind of cheer leading for BJJ or what have you, to be seriously misleading. This whole myth Rokas is promoting that BJJ makes you a morally superior person is a fraud. BJJ...wrestling...CACC...all good stuff, but spreading new mythologies because you don't like the old mythologies is just more of the same nonsense he complains about endlessly in his videos.
@@jamesowens9710 yup I see him as dangerously close to falling into that trap! he is not quite there and it's great he went to a general MMA camp in the USA to train rather than a BJJ place. But he certainly gives the impression that BJJ practioners are authorities or "masters" in combat just because they do BJJ.
Rokas if you are reading this, please consider that you seem close to blindly venerating BJJ the same way you venerated Aikido. Being good at fighting is the same as any athletic activity. It is as much about athleticism than method. And methods in something as unpredictable as unarmed fighting has enormous diversity in effective techniques, and that those techniques should be tailored around your athletic strengths and weaknesses.
For example you are a tall long limbed guy, so fancy TKD kicks would be a worthwhile thing for you to invest time in but not for others. Striking in general should be a strength for you but I have seen very little of that in you videos.
And what we have seen nothing at all of and no mention to my knowledge, is strength and conditioning. You are a lanky beanpole kind of guy. You should be building muscle mass & strength with as much focus as the fighting skills you are working on.
This is an underrated comment
I really like the way you put together this video. A problem isn't with the arts themselves but the way you train. Good stuff
Spot on. Great video. I will always remember the shock during my first sparring session.
A very well put message!
Nice one my brother!
Thanks
If u ever come to Bangkok, come to roll at our gym bangkokfightlab :)!
Really good video
good points. good to think about these things.
Man good video I’ve been training in martial arts since I was 4 n u said it all brotha
Hey, I'm a musician who has a very remote interest in martial arts but a similar issue with the "tradition" in in which composition and musicianship is taught for some time. I was wandering why -other than having a very brief episode in aikido- I was intensely attracted to yor videos for more than a week now, this video made me understand why. Godspeed!
Man...I have much respect for your humility and self-honesty (some would say they are the same thing). I remember when you first encountered BJJ/Gracie JJ, and your response was amazing. Strong work, sir.
"Failure" is one of the best things that can happen. We teach our students that the best thing you can do is 'Make a New Mistake'. The worst thing is to give up. Just like your body needs resistance to get stronger, your brain and character needs the same.
Interesting perspective, thank you.
It's good that Yi bring light t alot of things alot of us may not even realize! I love your channel to it's honesty, like witcher said "true words are rare birds" lol
So, for the guy who practices in a wing chun school, how do you suggest that i suggest to my teacher to incorporate pressure testing. We know that sparring is somewhere down the line at a higher level in my school, but that's still sparring with people from the same school. Should we have regular cross training sessions with other schools and other martial arts?
Good vedlo keep makeing them hope youchannel dos well
Great video with a lot of valid points, I began training in Bujinkan and wing chun for just over 1yr and graded to 3rd kyu in bujinkan and completed siu nim tao (1st form in wing chun) and got savagely choked when rolling with my older brother who was a 1 stripe white belt in BJJ at a gracie barra school at the time (he had never been interested in martial arts, but started after I encouraged him to try out a style of martial arts) and it was a huge eye opener for me, feeling true resistance and pressure, I'm now a 2 stripe white belt at the same school and also train at a kudokan judo club once a week to supplement my stand up game and have completely fallen in love with grappling, it has also brought us closer together as brothers (Like the Diazs').
Keep making great videos, you are a fantastic part of the UA-cam martial arts community.
Also the red headed girl in the video is stunningly beautiful.
11:20 I'd love to, but it's hard to think of anyone to test with even without this quarantine. Do you think I could just walk in some practical martial art dojo and ask for a sparring match? Any other ideas, or is this one fine?
Awesome message Rokas. You stated it very well in my opinion. One question: do you think that through pressure testing and adopting to it, every martial artist would in the end have a similar style? Like today there are a lot of different systems like Karate, TaeKwonDo, Kung Fu etc. with own specific kind of fighting and techniques. When someone then does the pressure testing and starts to adopt to it so it starts to work, do you think they end in the "same" style? (for example in how to defend a punch.. not trying to block it in a certain way but keeping your hands close to your body for defense)
New sub here. Saying hello from Richmond, VA. USA
Great message Rokas. I really need to get back into BJJ and boxing. I’ve been a bit underemployed lately, and both because I’m broke, and because my only current source of income is teaching some Tai Chi lessons here and there, Chinese martial arts forms training has made up the bulk of my recent training. I miss pressure testing, and I miss more practical martial arts.
It might be rare to find, but at least the Tai Chi I practice does a certain amount of free sparring.
We started with sticky hands, then moved to pushing hands, and then went straight into spars...
raherql I practice Chen style which is a pretty martial version of Taijiquan. Chen Ziqiang, the guy in the thumbnail for this video, is the nephew of my teacher’s teacher, Chen Xiaowang. Taijiquan functions decently as a standup grappling art. It teaches you to issue a lot of force, but doesn’t really teach the distance control and timing necessary for striking effectively. I think one of the biggest problems is the kind of students it attracts. You walk into an MMA gym, a Muay Thai gym, boxing gym, or BJJ school, and you are going to have a lot of serious competitors to train and spar with. Iron sharpens iron. Taijiquan tends to attract the “for health” crowd, senior citizens, hippies, and new agey types. Even if they like sparring, they’re not going to give you the same level of sparring. I’ve been in the Chinese Internal Martial Arts since 2001. They build a lot of attributes useful in a fight, but they don’t teach the full picture of a fight. Happy training, brother.
@@CrossingFist
Whoa. An actual reply from a non-troll, and you know what Tai Chi is to boot!?
Do you realize how rare it is to find someone like you ANYWHERE!?
Mad props!
I've actually been watching a few of his spars pretty recently, from back when he did them in front of cameras. Learned Yang style from a little old lady who learned it from a student of the guy who brought it overseas... I know what you mean about not being able to find decent partners. Yang is even worse.
I've been going to a BJJ gym locally to spar, and am picking up their curriculum to add to mine. It's both fascinating and beautiful to learn, and I never walk away disappointed (sometimes limping, but never unhappy).
Thanks and same!
I'm humbled. Thank you Rokas. ☕
Thank you
Wonderful video.
I agree.
Yes I do agree in this was delivered very well
There is a big irony in all this: Most of the Traditional Martial Arts tends to be pretty confident about how they cultivate values as humility, but because this "lack of failure", and the hermetic atmosphere that surrounds them, it tends to create exactly the opposite.
I'm a ShaoLin Kung Fu practitioner, and I often see how we fell pretty confident about the Buddhist and Taoist influence on Kung fu, witch are, in their own ways, spiritual practices that focus on the "limitation" of life, how life is about facing limitations: suffering, change beyond our influence and control, the conciouness of the decayment of life itself, etc...
But because of this focus on "form/tradition" rather than effectiviness, and its refusal to open itself to the test, it becames detached, and creates a false sense of security that the system is complete on itself. The practitioner tends to become arrogant, and cultivate a very powerfull image of himself (ego), what is just the opposite of what Buddhism and Taoism are about.
very nice
Haha! Someone disliked this video even before watching! 😂
I like before watching usually, so I guess I found my Nemesis....
Haha!
That quote from Kano is fake. There is no evidence ever said that and the reason for the lack of priority given towards laying on you back is more practical than traditional. You have not shown how the "Japanese culture" would lead to the lack of focus on groundwork particularly when you consider other types of Judo with a focus on groundwork exist.
@@jameshardenbeastmode Guys, there IS a school of Japanese Judo that has quite a bit of ground work, and that is what the Gracies learned, this "Kosen" Judo, which stressed Newaza because, not a separate "style" per se, it derived from matches where the fight didn't end when one opponent was thrown. By all accounts, it's just more "my master said this and I believe it" stuff about BJJ being all that different from its Japanese counterparts. I don't know if its true or not, but, apparently, catch wrestling was popular in Japan as well, and some claim that that's where Judo got its ground methods, but I have no knowledge of the timelines involved to make that a possibility. Perhaps someone here with more OBJECTIVE historical knowledge could clear that up?
Martial Arts Journey if you’re Batman that must have been the Joker then! 🤔
Great presentation brother, without challenge. How can any of us grow? 🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽
Nice one ending with a shot of Master Wong! You better stay off the streets for a while 😉
This was actually a pretty decent video!!!
Everyone can train to fight but you have to have a mind of a warrior to know when and why to fight, that comes from within, keep up the great work 👍🏻
I want to say that I really appreciate your channel. I see the 27 dislikes on the video and I hope they don't get to you. It doesn't matter if people disagree with you or not because you're being critical, and that means there's room to learn something even I or anyone else doesn't agree with the stance. I value the honest takes you give in your videos, it feels like you really want to help educate people and provide insight. I find it valuable.
Once I watched on TV a grandmaster of some martial art saying: "being a master in a martial art doesn't guarantee you anything. You can even go walking the street, slip with a banana peel, fall to the ground and break your neck".
Also, Kenwa Mabuni, Founder of Shito-Ryu karate wrote that karate as it was developed by them was still an incomplete and imperfect fighting system, and a fighter who wanted to become more complete would have to train other arts, like judo or other to become a complete fighter.
So they were traditional, they developed their styles as sport, self-improvement system, and to some extent as a fighting method (that probably was the best in the early XX Century), but they didn't bullshit people with invincibility promises.
I've watched your progress since you began testing your Aikido against an MMA practitioner, and loved that you were willing to challenge your preconceptions. And I've been impressed with your recent move into kickboxing/BJJ.
I came from many years in American Kenpo -- 2nd degree black belt, captain of the demonstration team, and respected instructor in the academy. I was quite good at it. And try as I might to be humble, the lack of real failure in that environment operated as a confirmation bias for over a decade. By the time I was out of college, I was convinced of my skills. And indeed, some of them were legitimate -- a kick in the head hurts, whether from a Muay Thai kickboxer or a karate expert.
But nothing prepared me for the shock of my first Brazilian jiu-jitsu class. I wasn't sure just how my karate skills would translate, but I was sure they would help me . . . somehow. They didn't. Not even a little. I was twisted up like a pretzel and submitted, over and over again, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I had a lot more success when I tried kickboxing of course, but still -- the karate "juice wasn't worth the squeeze." While I did in fact have kicking advantages, my footwork wasn't smart and my hands were abysmal.
Almost anyone coming out of traditional martial arts will have this experience. The question is how they handle it and what can be done to help them. It reminds me of watching people deconvert from a religious delusion -- so fundamentally committed for so long . . . and then the armor starts to crack . . .and then the floodgates open . . . and then . . . well, folks handle it differently.
I stuck with BJJ and occasional kickboxing. Like you, I embraced the idea that they presented skills I was entirely unable to cope with, and I needed to learn if I had any hope of being the "capable" person I had been imagining myself to be. That was some years ago. These days, I'm a BJJ purple belt and wouldn't go back to traditional martial arts for anything.
It reminds me of a quote I once heard: "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
Keep on keeping on.
Nailed it! Great job Rokas. I found once I started training in the functional martial arts, I couldn’t go back to the traditional martial arts. And I did try. One of the main reasons I couldn’t go back was the out of control ego’s those dojo’s/gyms had (which I never noticed originally) and the lack of any opportunity for me to ask challenging questions about whatever technique we were learning. And whenever I tried, I was brow beaten and told I was “disrespecting the master/instructor”. Yeah no thanks. It also helped that when I made the switch to the functional arts for good, that the things I was learning were practical and realistic. Sadly I learned that lesson very quickly one day when I was attacked in a parking lot, but luckily I knew enough that I was able to survive and defend myself making my attacker run away. That was an eye opener for me.
Hey Martial Arts Journey! Could you make a video about the effectiveness of bujinkan ninjutsu(like interviewing somebody about it like for the jeet kune do video, or else)?
You are mistaken about Ne-Waza in Judo. It's a central aspect of training in any good trtadityional Judo Dojo. It's the olympic aspect of the sport that made Ne-Waza less popular, but Kano Himself had admitted his mistake and later integrated a lot of ground techniques from nany ju-jitsu schools, admitting that it was more practical to train in such a way.
I also often fight with brazilian ju-jitsu practicioners and in my opinion, they learn backwards. It's not very practical to learn armbars and chokes as a neophite if you can't find balance or pin your opponent on his back. I'm only Yellow belt, but that's what I noticed fighting with BJJ guys of equivalent level.
@Benjamin MOLINA OLIVIER That thing about getting taken down as a smaller person in sexual predation situations is just so bad. Just because that's where your enemy wants you to be, doesn't mean you should let it happen just so you can fight in that position.
There are many ways for a small person to stay up, which offers a lot escape options, which in turn increases survivability. Don't threaten other people's safety by saying it's a good thing to fall over to a sexual predator. Even one person might take your advice, and then an avoidable disaster could occur.
Far better is it to promote smart fighting. Stay aware, stay mobile, stay on your base. Know clinch and takedown defence, and know how to escape from the ground position, not fight in it and increase risk to yourself.
@Benjamin MOLINA OLIVIER I did not say not to learn ground and grappling defence, nor did I say fighting on the ground doesn't happen. However, your words were that leaning back and getting to the ground quicker would be advantageous to small people because they would get taken down anyways, which is a defeatist attitude and helps no one. Go ahead and tain the way you want, but don't give stupid advice that reduces someone's options to escape danger safely just because it gives some justification for BJJ ego.
@Benjamin MOLINA OLIVIER Maybe so. It is prudent, however, to train in a way that prepares for real possibilities.
You were on point..i will also like that to add most of the arts that are not practical..have no bag training..very little intense sparring..and emphasis is put on amount of techniques and memorization...my school is into using effective combat and through classical kung fu which we had to completely reengineer to make it effective and adapt to all forms of fighting
Well done my friend you became a thinker 🤔 good for you 🤗
My biggest problem with aikido... now training MMA and it's a lot better. Nice video man.
Glad to hear that
Hi, are you practicing Aïkido next to MMA ? Or did you stop Aïkido ?
I have been an Aïkido practitioner for seven years now. As I am documenting myself with Martial Arts Journey's videos or Ramsey Dewey's videos and many others, I am thinking about learning MMA too. I love Aïkido and I'll continue to practice it, but as a young person I feel the need to learn something else, to test myself, to know what is a fight.
Rokas, I love your work, your attitude and philosophy. It's a reminder and a path to how martial arts can be made great again, but without the delusions and ego-aggrandizement. With the jujutsu and aikijujutsu in particular there has been a movement towards magical thinking and the my-art-is-too-deadly-to-be-tested storyline. Here are some personal experiences, hopefully relevant: I had been practicing a traditional Japanese art (purportedly over 1000 years old) and used resistance as well as somewhat realistic attacks during free practice to develop some level of pressure testing. Five years or so into my study, one of the senior practitioners of the art who had the reputation of taking on all comers and demonstrating the full effectiveness of the art in combative situations (he had what they called the Menkyo Kaiden level of attainment), visited our dojo to deliver his teachings and thrill us with his mastery. I was very excited to have this opportunity and had nothing to prove. When it was my turn to be his uke, I was filled with a mixture of trepidation and excitement, hoping to at least survive the experience. However.... when I grabbed his wrist and he moved to throw me... nothing happened... when he went to apply a pin, I didn't go anywhere. When I gripped his gi and he tried to release my grip... the hand remained in place. The look of surprise on my face was only matched by the embarrassment and rising anger on his. After a few minutes of this, we actually ended up in some kind of grappling match, which closely resembled amateurish Judo!
I totally agree with the message this video is intending to convey. I also really like the way it has been broken down and simplified, yet keeping the quality of explanation un-compromised.
The use of analogies here I think is key, in fact this relates to the biggest reason why I am a huge advocate of martial arts of all lineages - the practice of self defence in general no matter how/what/style etc. is incredible in it’s direct correlation to anything and everything in life. As long as the mindset advised in this video is being perpetuated by the teachers/instructors/leaders that is, even so the lessons learned over time will eventually become apparent to oneself eventually anyway.
On that note: moving from a traditional martial art (WTF Taekwondo) to the very practical martial arts (Muay Thai) was hugely influential in the ability for me to set aside what I think from what I actually really know, at the end of the day. For example I quickly realised that the brutal efficiency and simplicity of Muay Thai and it’s methods/intentions in it’s practical use just completely made redundant my previous 11 years of Taekwando training.
I understand why, as WTF style is intended on a more sport/performance oriented purpose with rules and structures, whereas The Thai kickboxing has only a single focus - finish the fight asap, and come out of it in better shape than your opponent. A very symmetrical analogy to a real life conflict scenario, and also to many other aspects of life.
I will not discount however the importance i place on the previous experiences and lessons learned through the more traditional Taekwondo however, as patience/virtue/mutual respect etc. as well as many intrinsic and fundamental truths/wisdom is a very core foundational focus of the tradition based martial arts.
If anyone has actually bothered reading this whole post I thank you for your dedication (and I really mean that - I am known to ramble a bit haha)!
I would just lastly say that in all as a takeaway - this mindset is just a very fundamental aspect of life, regardless of anyone’s opinion of it. It is a raw truth that is not easy to wrap your head around the concept of, let alone accept in oneself.
If you do however find yourself agreeing with this message; try and apply the concept to scenarios and context outside of the world of martial arts. You will be amazed at how much better life becomes for you as a result.
Okay I lied. This is the one last thing: If you’re thinking of what kind of martial art to pursue, why not think about practice in both a traditional, and a practical based martial art if possible. Go for the well rounded option, as you learn more by exposing yourself to more. Avoid that knowledge/belief bubble trap that envelopes those who don’t break outside of their comfort zone!
I hope this post provides some valuable contribution and insight (from my own perspective) to the discussion and learning of all who are interested.
Kind regards to all from Downunder,
Hayden.
Where is the video from 10:10 from?
The great thing about most styles of martial arts is that they teach people (especially children) that you will probably fail at your first attempt of anything, whether it’s rolling in Bjj or doing a tornado kick in TKD. But if you study and practice, eventually you will have ability. There is no progress in martial arts without failure...at any level. This is how kids become confident, they learn there is nothing they can’t do if they do what is required to get to that goal.
As for TMA vs modern and/or practical...I believe that everyone practices martial arts for different reasons. Whether fitness, self-defense, sport, etc. The problem is marketing, and when instructors pass their art off for something it’s not. Sometimes, people thinking they’re signing up for something that will protect them in a violent situation but they’re really getting something that is more cultural or fitness based.
Great video! I really like the content and the presentation! Oos!!
8:57 - looks like you’re fighting against the actor Selton Mello 🤣
This is a very smart video! I'm a fan and practitioner of both traditional and modern arts, and testing oneself is always a good idea. But a big part of the problem is not the student's ego so much as that of the teacher, who often warns students not to mix it up with other schools and styles, because "you'll give away our school secrets," or "they play by the wrong rules, " or something equally as silly.
I'd also distinguish between beginners and experienced practitioners, because I do think it's important for a student to practice the basics movements in order to really absorb them into their instinctive reactions first. Only after they have really learned the basics is it worthwhile to start testing and "taking your lumps" otherwise, you end up absorbing a lot of bad techniques.
In the description you say Judo is less practical because Kano wanted to stay standing, but in fact staying off the ground is more practical in most contexts. If you go back a few hundred years, ground fighting is hard to find in most martial arts. Old martial arts were used in war and in self-defence, where the presence of multiple opponents and weapons makes it important to stay standing.
Ground fighting is convenient because you can do it safely at something close to full intensity, but in the broader context it's not really all that practical. But that's fine - in the modern world martial arts are a hobby, and that's a good thing.
I started out in Muay Thai when I was 11 or something, I quit because I was a lazy overweight kid and for years held a grudge against the teacher because he was harsh (the team where I trained was very tournament oriented, so they trained HARD). Many years later I started doing ISMA Wing Chun(a german branch), I did for a year and a half, can't remember the reason I stopped, but soon after I started BJJ. In doing BJJ I realised that only a couple things of Wing Chun actually worked and fell in love with BJJ. I had to stop doing it because of school, but now I'm back at it training hard and focused on competitions and I feel much more prepared to defend myself than I ever(if needed).
Keep up the good work, I'm loving the channel. An big hug from Brazil!
What's the difference between BJJ submission and Judo Submission ?
I agree with the definition of this video for traditional martial arts. I had often wondered why certain martial arts were considered traditional and others weren't. It certainly didn't have to do with age. Mauy Thai is an ancient martial art, yet it is not considered traditional. Taekwondo on the other hand, is considered traditional, despite being formed around the mid 20th century.
This video also articulated something that I had been trying to understand myself. When I did TMA, I experienced quite a bit of failure when I was first learning. I describe learning martial arts as like scaling a cliff: Eventually you reach a plateau and you stay there for a little while feeling comfortable, but you always have to start scaling again. The cliff in this case never ends. When I finally got my black belt, I had become comfortable with everything I was doing in the martial art. I was even considered to be one of the best at my school. Strangely enough though, this didn't give me a false sense of confidence. It actually started to hurt my confidence. I knew I had lots of room to improve, but the routines and training drills that I had been doing the whole time no longer challenged me. I was training every single day, but I felt stuck. I had reached a plateau, but I couldn't figure out how to start scaling the cliff again. I eventually realized that I needed to move on from my training in TMA. I took up BJJ and mauy thai, and once again, I started experiencing failure. Funny enough, this actually made me regain my confidence. Anytime I was choked out, I was learning something. I had started to scale the cliff again. I still enjoy TMA for what it's worth, but I certainly see how there can be a tendency for a practitioner to become a little too comfortable with the same exercises. We will always need someone to make us humble and show us where we need to improve. The black belt was always supposed to represent a beginning and not an end. A plateau if you will. But just because you reach a plateau doesn't mean you should stop scaling the cliff. Thanks for the video!
Hello Rokas - I something to maybe think about for future videos. You have put a lot of emphasis on people maintaining a sceptical attitude and deciding for themselves whether what they are being told is valid. But in your recent videos, particularly ones where you engage in discussion with BJJ instructors, you seem to have a very deferential attitude and accept any statement about the efficacy of BJJ in every situation without challenge or discussion, either with the instructors or in the videos you make on your own. I am glad you are enjoying your new art, and if it is working for you, that’s fabulous, but are you really approaching it with the sceptical attitude that you would like other to have to their own practices? Or are you pursing this new practice in the same way you did Aikido?
Ive experienced way more ego in BJJ than TMA. Look at my medals, our team is the best, I tapped him out, I can get out of any joint lock etc. I agree with pressure testing. Just my personal experience has been with people that compete is they get lost in their own ego. That has been my experience. You are lucky to have had a better experience. But I do fully agree with the main point that there is a lack of opportunity to grow through failing. thanks
Hey Rokas, I was once had the same train of thought as you about traditional martial arts and though if I wanted practicality, I should study Combatives or Modern Ma.
Ultimately I ended up trying "The Japanese art of Jujutsu" and came with this conclusion;
" In traditional Arts we are not training to fight expert fighters(against people who spar and train purely in unarmed combat and go into competition), instead we are training to defend against someone who just default to using their brute strength and rely on swing their hands wildly and also against people who maybe using inhebreated".
That being said I still agree with most of your points about traditional martial arts main focus, which is more on the actual Tradition rather than what is the most effective, however I personally feel that calling some thing practical really does depend on the situation and context.
An example of this is in standing arm and wrist locks, found in many traditional systems of Japanese MA, (Jujutsu,Aikido and so on) those techniques won't work on a modern martial artist, yet it's still taugh to police, security and door men because it works against really uneducated and unskilled fighters, so there really is a time and place for certain techniques.
That being said I want to close with this, "if you want to learn Traditional Martial Arts Or Modern Martial Arts, really depends on your purpose or objective of why you want to learn something, they all have their pros and cons".
big respect .. oss
Un vídeo muy excelente
I do agree with all that you are saying. One of my friends who is a martial arts practitioner. Made a good point just now. Many of the martial arts schools Water down. The training regiment because most people found it too hard. So in an effort to keep students they made it easier. By doing away with pressure testing. But like your video all good things come full circle now we see pressure testing is alive and well once again.
The reason Kano didn't focus on ne waza was also partly because of the idea that if a confrontation ends with someone slammed on the ground and you were standing above them you would be in the position to either disengage or realistically kick them in the head or something and if you transitioned to a choke or something the chances of them defending are really quite small. In competition judo the timing on ne waza is just there to keep matches quick because as you see with bjj it can drag for ages when people reach a high level and are evenly matched
Man, I love your content, I just can't stop watching! I've been thinking about this stuff for ages and it's so refreshing to see someone else's martial arts journey thinking about the same.
I agree 100% with what you have said, but the ego is something personal, the ones with big ego would never test themselves.
As usual, spot on. No one will take this advice because of their egos though. For many, they will never find the truth because they never get tested. For those that are tested however, I hope its in a safe environment and not in a potentially life threatening situation.
The ironic thing about traditional martial arts is usually, they emphasize things like "honor", "respect", and other traditional values, but I agree that often (not all of the time), it's traditional schools and mentality that often features more posturing, ego, and prescribed ways of acting/being. Great video.
This is so true. I don't get to honestly spar with others, but I shadow box with an imaginary opponent several times my speed and sometimes myself, I most times I lose. lol.
Sometimes, my kids want to play fight and they get hits in without knowing any art. That's super humbling.
I even play online fighting and shooting games in which one can get real humbled by the fact everyone will wreck you no matter how hard you trained against the computer.
I agree with you. For so many years I’ve felt the same way. As a teenager I took boxing which I’ve used to defend my self successfully . I also reached brown bell in Aikido. But always had doubts about if it would work in a real situation. I took some Wing Chun I felt better but I mixed it with boxing as I’m most comfortable with. I took short edge weapons (knife) kali loved it. You basically summed up how I’ve always felt. Pressure testing to make sure you can defend yourself. Make the mistake training not in the streets.
My first martial art - if you want to call it that - was full contact swordwork using metal helmets and rattan swords (in the Society for Creative Anachronism). You could swing as fast as you want and didn't have to play at stopping before you made contact because rattan sword vs. padded metal helm makes a loud noise but no damage. We fought in the round and we often did "melees" of multiple opponents or teams. What we lacked in an ancient system with time-tested moves, we made up for by trying stuff and letting the armor soak up the damage.
When I moved to a traditional martial art I accepted the wisdom and experience of my instructors in those areas I knew nothing of, but I was always puzzled about their weapons work. It seemed impractical. It was beautiful to be sure and it took great skill to stop the boken before breaking your partner's head but that sort of limits the techniques in your arsenal. Also since we were just practicing forms, we knew what attack was coming and defense was ridiculously easy. The attacker wasn't allowed to notice what the defender was doing and changeup - which my SCA experience had taught me is a very basic practical skill.
The occasional randori - mass combat with foam bonkers - was not much better since attacker #2 tended to let a defender finish his technique on attacker #1 before himself attacking. No no no! a really good time to attack someone is when they're busy executing a technique on someone else. In all humility, I excelled at randori (compared to my limited skill otherwise) because I was comfortable with the chaos of the melee.
Perhaps by now SCA combat may have grown into an art with a substantial body of knowledge but even in its early days its constaint "pressure-testing" (as "Martial Arts Journey" puts it) produced practical results.
100 % agreed (from a 3rd dan aikidoka who stopped for starting MMA practice one year ago)
Excellent video! Some very good points! I think to put all TMA schools in the same category is a mistake. We had a base in Taekwondo but would practice kickboxing,grappling,weapons defense etc. I also worked club security for many years. That was of the best places to test yourself. Needless to say I didn't use any fancy techniques but brought back many of those lessons back to the school. My point is not all TMA practitioners are blind to the real world of fighting.
Interesting video and u make some good points about practicality and tradition but u put a lot of images of Shaolin Kung Fu in your video yet u don't rly talk about it and I doubt u know much about it. Don't get me wrong I don't blame u for that. There aren't any good sources on Shaolin culture on Western media outlets and everyone wants to pretend like they understand it. Most of the images of Shaolin u showed involve my friends at the temple and lumping them in with morons who don't know what they're doing is disingenuous in my eyes.
Hey You Know Shaolin Kung Fu Is Not Seen In MMA Fights Like those Taichi Guys Who Got Beaten By MMA Guys. Btw I'm In The MMA Side Because I Know Kung Fu Would Only work And Look Cool In Movies Than In Real Fights I Learn That From Watching Master Wong's Videos Then I Changed when I Saw Ramsey Dewey An MMA Coach Who Tried Master Wong's Self defense That Doesn't Actually Work In A Real Situation Your Opponent Is Not A Rock that Is Not Resisting Also They Always Show cool Forms But when They Actually Spar with MMA Guys They Don't Have These forms.BUT ANYWAYS IF ITS PART OF YOUR CULTURE THEN IM JUST GONNA RESPECT IT. IF You Can Answer me I'd be happy
I agree, and I'd like to say any martial art, new or traditional, must focus on "martial". Without martial, there is no art. Any art wants to go without martial, is not martial art, call the practice whatever is appropriate (eg. dance), just don't ever pretend it to be martial art.
Exactly!
When I was fairly new to Kung fu, someone in my class successfully defended himself against three guys who tried to mug him - South Africa, gotta love it. Admittedly, "all he did" was punch the guy who didn't have a weapon and then take advantage of that gap and run like hell.
He said the constant sparring we did in class gave him confidence and quick reaction in the situation. This guy could also punch hard and fast.
The school I went to put emphasis on bag-work (no gloves; our knuckles bled,) body and mental conditioning, fitness, and sparring - if it went to ground it was on a concrete floor and it only stopped when someone tapped out.
We'd also go straight from the physical training to sparring - complete with projectile vomiting when punches or kicks connected with exhausted torsos.
That said, as things progressed there were more forms (katas) to learn and, with all the classes I missed because of work and because I have a memory like a sieve, I couldn't keep up.
I definitely felt that there was too much emphasis on forms during that phase so I ended up doing the fitness/bag-work classes instead.
Anyway, I've moved to a different country and I do miss the school and its trials. And I'm getting fat from German beer, bread, and chocolate. Time to start something else. Any suggestions?
I'd like to see you go visit a judo school and cover it in an episode. Judo is a "traditional" martial art, but it's also a very functional one. BJJ is a great martial art, but it doesn't spend enough focus on takedowns and is more geared towards competition. I've trained both btw.
It's on my list of things to do. Thanks!
got to agree with you sean, i;ve trained both, and if you could only ever pick one art, judo is probably most practical. judo;s only down side it never modernized its kata, some of these would give it a very well rounded system.
Depends on the school and who you train with. My bjj coach has a wrestler who teaches wrestling. We mainly focus on takedowns and sometimes top pressing positions and how to break the turtle position.
It's an mma club but has grappling days and kickboxing days. I mainly grapple and box.
@@wadoryujujutsukempo6289 the downside of judo is that after a correct throw the match is finished... and that's where a BJJ match starts!
@@barrygroeneveld6901 after a correct throw in judo on concrete it should be lights out, but judo has a system which is over looked called ; kosen judo; ua-cam.com/video/wldzW5FvjEI/v-deo.html
i like how he's using fitz outro in his intro
I'm a self defense instructor since 1986, pressure testing does not apply on certain or specific martial arts style but in the instructor or si fu or master or guru, depends on who teaches you and ultimatly on one self, pressure test yourself.
Great video! I have a first degree blackbelt from the Bujinkan and some experience in funcional martial arts and a form of HEMA (Esgrima Lusitana). In Bujinkan and Ninjutsu I trained with instructors that pressure test part of the curriculum and others that didn´t. Eventually I grew frustrated with the lack of realism and havent trained TMA consistentely for over a year. Recently I managed to find a traditional martial arts instructor from Silat that has experience in live combat, is ex-military and trains with aliveness. I hope I dont get disapointed... I want to practice mma, but the gym is too far away, unfortunately. I still want to teach in a few years, and become an instructor from Japan Ninjutsu Federation (a lot diferent from bujinkan) but the pressure testing and aliveness will be a part of the training, even if I have to throw away a big chunk of the curriculum or even open my own style. I want to become one of the few TMA instructors that teaches with realism and aliveness and build a solid reputation. Abraços from Portugal!
Maybe you should check out DaiShihan Rob Renner of the bujinkan, hes took the whole school and remade it to work for modern day, even labels the traditional guys who think the basic stuff they believe will work "bujintards" and stresses to always test at speed with and random attacks nothing staged. Just my sense.
@@jrpm.4436 Thanks for the tip :-) Abraços.