What do you consider as the best martial art in the world?, page 4

Originally posted by Badge01
Let me guess. You teach Tae Kwon Do. Are you American? What is the name of your school, if you don't mind my asking?

No and no, I did do Tae kwon do from the age of seven to ten though. The current school I am associated with teaches Jujutsu and WingChun Do Gung Fu, I'd rather not be to specific.

"Some styles are better suited to different body types and some better suited to different personality types."

Can you be more specific? Do you mean styles which use leverage, like Judo and Jiu-jitsu are better for smaller persons? Which styles of self-defense are best suited to which personality types? Sounds like an interesting theory. Tell us more.

Yes shorter stockier people are better suited to throwing arts, it's just a generalization and not a rule, as for personality traits, It's quite simple, an aggressive personality will adapt well to aggressive arts while he may be frustrated with more defense oriented systems and vice versa, however this can be good for personal growth in the long term a passive person can be brought out of their shell so to speak from practicing aggressive techniques and an aggressive person can learn patience from defensive arts. Again just a generalization, I'm using broad strokes here.

"Actually, many traditional arts are restrictive, I've seen martial artist fail in real fight situations When you fight for real you have to forget everything you've learnt and just fight with your subconscious mind. "

I seriously doubt that you've seen any traditional martial artists in actual fights. It's a very rare phenomenon, almost like a car crash. It happens, but it's rare to witness it, and even rarer for an instructor to witness it. Did you step in and help, or are you just talking 'theoretically'?

If you've ever worked in the security buis then it's not so rare, especially if your in the ass end of town in the right clubs, pubs. Working at the time of course you step in.

In addition, I doubt any martial artist ever fought with the subconscious mind. If so, how would you know? Maybe you mean something else?

I'm referring to the concept of Mushin or "no mind" it's not magic, people do this all the time, eg.. Driving your car and not remembering the details of the journey, someone throws something at you and you surprise yourself by catching it with lightning reflexes. Athletes and martial artist do it naturally even if they aren't aware of it. In fact I doubt that many martial artists/boxers/athletes don't do it, conscious thought is too slow for real fights or some sports that involve fast reaction timing.

"As one poster mentioned the overlooked techniques of gouging eyes, pulling hair, pinching flesh, biting, using your environment and even spitting are the most effective natural tools in the arsenal. A natural martial artist is someone who is in touch with their dark side and can turn it on at will."

This is completely erroneous. In order to use foul tactics, pinching, or gouging you have to be have Positional Dominance and you have to have a delivery system. This means be in control of your opponent so that you can apply such a move. In addition unless you have a reliable way to deliver a pinch or bite, it won't work. You can't just run up and bite someone. You have to have control of the area you'd bite or pinch. If the opponent rips away reflexively or punches you, you're more likely to lose teeth.

Yes of course. It depends on the situation. You are assuming to know how these might be applied without a description. I respectfully disagree, you don't always have to be in a position of dominance to apply them, I know from experience.

Here's a video outlining Positional Dominance using Kesa Gatame (scarf hold)

Explain how you would counter this hold using biting, hair pulling and pinching before the fighter disabled you with a choke or a submission? (You might think you can bite, but you can not; your head is held immobile by his forehead pressure.)

There are some holds you may never get out of, but not that one it's actually pretty easy. Best defense is not to get in them.

It takes several moves to get to a constraint, if you find yourself in one you've failed several times. Training with a grandmaster once a student ask how he would get out of a particular armlock, he replied that he would let him break it and counter with the other. Extreme yes but that is budo.

"You need to be familiar with all aspects and all areas of fighting to be successful, stand up, grappling, ground, weapons, multiple attackers "

So how do you explain UFC 1, where Royce Gracie was able to defeat all his opponents knowing only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Brazillian Jujutsu is possibly the best ground system IMO, In a real fight there may be multiple attackers, hidden weapons etc.. finding yourself in a clinch on the ground is not the most strategical for real fights on the street or the battlefield and could be potentially fatal.
Much respect to the Gracie's.

"and of course strategy which is most important"

Can you give an example of a martial 'strategy'? Many people talk about it, but few can actually explain it. Even fewer can do it.

Just curious. Thanks for your post.

Fighting is the art of deception, deception on all levels, this really is a broad subject, but much of it is simply common sense eg the classic "beat the grass to startle the snakes" quite simply is to fake a move to force your opponent to reveal his intentions, used on the battlegrounds the ring and even the boardroom. Fighters know these things even if they don't study strategy. I disagree that few people can do it because I see it all the time.

Thanks for your questions.

[edit on 17-6-2008 by squiz]