Martial Arts Thread

Number 1 thing (and it's probably been said), you are going to screw up, and you are going to get hurt. And it's totally worth it. You may just get your stance wrong at first, or hold the focus mitts and stuff wrong (that's my problem, but I've been getting better), or maybe you'll injure yourself by rushing through the lesson or sheer dumb luck. Who knows. But stick with it. It's worth it.

Unless, of course, you break your arm or leg. In which case, go to the hospital, get better, THEN get back on the horse.

There are convergences and divergence, different trainers will tell you different things, but generally speaking most styles with hand strikes will have a jab. Most will tell you to throw your hip into your straight right.

But hooks? fuck even in boxing there's no consistency. In general terms most styles will have similarities but different focuses based on the various factors listed before. The other thing to keep in mind would be discrepancies between the different sizes of the people forming different arts. Tea kwon do was clearly not created for the use of heavily built people. Free style wrestling doesn't help much if you're giving up a big size advantage. There are things to take from each regardless of your size but it's probably not the style for you to focus on.

It's kinda the general play to your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, not play to your weaknesses to try to balance them out.

Although on the point of jabs, I was taught two versions. A more formal jab where you hitch forward and lower your body and everything, and a more a casual jab which is exactly what you would expect it to be.

This is the first time i've heard about a formal jab.

Well, by formal, I mean more sports-ish.

Gotcha now.

"Formal jab"?

I know only the BROFIST.

So, who here is a fan of knees and elbows in fighting?

^Everything goes.

One of my favoured moves involves elbowing a pinned opponent in the nose.

Elbow to the temple; I love that move.

So a couple of friends and I are doing weekly sparring matches. We did our first today and fuck I'm sore.

What kind of sparring?

No gear, body shots only, other than that anything goes.

Sounds fun.

It was fucking awesome. It started with just me and one friend, then some of the wrestlers came and we did that for a bit.

I got my ass handed to me probably because a) I'm out of practice b) The person was a lot bigger than me and c) he wrestles.

A) Practice more.

B) Use your speed, and skill, and experience to counter that.

C) Don't get taken to the ground.

One of big problems is that I'm not very aggressive. I tend to wait for him to attack me, but when he does I shy away instead of countering. It's something I definetely need to work on.

Sparred today. Everyone was exhausted, but it was the good kind of exhaustion. And I got to spar our newbie white belt, which meant for the first time in a while I got to be the senior belt, and practice on shifting.

My favorite moves are either uppercuts or straight punches.

Unfortunately, those are predictable, but I love it when those connect. They're so satisfying, and if they freak out during the wind up, so much the better.

^^What rank are you?

Still a green belt. 4th rank. Rank has no effect on sparring. We spar everyone.

edited 25th Feb '11 7:03:01 PM by MrAHR

^Love those days.

With about 2/3rds of my Shaolin pattern training done, I'm finally starting to understand how they can be used in a fight. And not just "use X to hit [area]," I mean "use X to hit [area], shift into Y, then use Z to hit [second area]."

All the fights in my head have been very short.

The fights usually involve Mooks who don't know kung fu and I've known for a while that real Shaolin is less flashy than Wire Fu (one of the patterns specifically targets the opponent's throat), but it's still very sobering.

Also, is it normal to think "I really really don't want to get hit in a fight because then I will lose speed/agility, and that's sort of my main advantage over most people—oh god, what if I actually need to fight and then I get hit and can't run?!" I'm very resilient and people mention I'm very strong for my size, but that doesn't change the fact that getting hit is extremely likely to break something since I'm five feet tall and roughly 110lbs, most of which is bone and muscle rather than cushiony fat.

Getting hit doesn't slow you down that much. You just need to be prepared for it and know not to leave yourself open when it happens.

Dodge or block. A good trick for small people is to shift constantly so your opponent can't get a decent moment to unleash anything more than a jab.