Archive for Martial Arts
My first 25 years of martial arts training, an overview, Part 3
Posted by: | CommentsI left things in part Two with the different arts I trained in. In this part, I’ll cover some other stuff and wrap it up.
Shifting focus
After I finished competing, I shifted my focus mostly towards self defense. Self defense had always been one of the reasons why I trained and it was continuously on my mind. But when you’re a competitor, you don’t focus on it as much. So once those days were over, I had more time to study the issue in depth. I’d had my own share of violent encounters of course: a lot compared to some, peanuts compared to others. Regardless, I delved deeply into things like scenario training, the effects of stress-induced adrenaline, the psychological effects of living a life of violence, etc. In other words, all the things traditional martial arts routinely don’t or can’t offer. I had already been reading up on it for a long time but intensified those studies big time.
Some of the information I found was impressive in its practical use. Other sources were nothing but blahblahblah to make the author or expert look important. But I learned the most from talking to and training with people who lived a life of violence. Some of them were LEOs, bouncers and soldiers. Others were just people who lived in a bad part of town and faced violence every day. Still others were the kind of people you wanted out of your life as soon as you discovered on which part of the line they really stood. But all the information was good, regardless of who it came from.
The one thing I got out of it the most is that there is no such thing as a one-stop shop as far as violence is concerned. The topic is just way too complex. For example: violence in the slums of Bogota is not the same as a a fight at a frat-boy party on a California college campus. The consequences can be the same, but the parameters and dynamics are totally different.
What’s more, the unique common denominator of all the violence in your life is you. What you bring to the table, your skills and knowledge, are just as much a determining factor than the other dynamics involved. Case in point: Read More→
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What Meryl Streep can teach martial artists
Posted by: | CommentsI’m not a huge Meryl Streep fan (though I do like some of her movies) but there is something she can teach martial artists, especially those who have just started out. Take a look at this interview she did for “Iron Lady” (for which she just won an Academy award) on Belgian television. The relevant part starts at 4min,35 and you might want to skip forward to that unless you speak Dutch…
These are some solid words of wisdom. I believe they also apply to martial artists.
When you discover the martial arts and find you have a passion for it, chances are you’ll want to be the best martial artist on the planet. You’re going to be as good as Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto and Rob Kaman all rolled into one. You want it so bad, you train real hard in class, train some more at home, attend all the seminars you can find and so on.
Sounds familiar?
We’ve all either been this person or have known tons like them in class or in your own school. But where are they now? What happened to their enthusiasm, their drive to be the greatest? Read More→
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Lenten Challenge 2012
Posted by: | CommentsOver at Cook Ding’s blog, he just posted his yearly Lenten Challenge. To put it in his own words:
The challenge is this: from Ash Wednesday (Feb 22) until the day before Easter (April 7), train every day, without fail, no excuses; even if you have to move mountains. Simple enough said, a little harder to do.
I think this is a great idea. As I train pretty much every day anyway it’s less an issue for me but that doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. The last couple months have been exceedingly hectic and my training has suffered for it in both intensity and consistency. Combined with injuries acting up, I’m not in the shape I want to be. Case in point: last weekend I did some interval training and was disgusted at how poorly I performed.
Time to change all that and Cook Ding’s post gave me some extra inspiration on how to do this. Here’s my own challenge for you: Read More→
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My first 25 years of martial arts training, an overview, Part 2
Posted by: | CommentsIn part one of this trip down memory lane, I talked about my beginnings in training and ended with some stuff about competing. Let’s take it up from there.
Muay Thai
As I didn’t have a Sanshou trainer, I was always on the lookout for information on how to be a better fighter. As a result, I automatically started looking at other combat sports which eventually brought me to muay Thai. The first fight video I ever bought was a tape (remember VHS?) of the epic battle between Rob Kaman and Ernesto Hoost. 5 rounds of insane intensity and neither one of them backing down; I was hooked.
Even though at the time there wasn’t a huge selection available, I read all the books and watched as many videos on the art of eight limbs as I could find. I then drilled the techniques and concepts I learned over and over, both in solo training and during classes. To be clear, I never became a real nak Muay because I adapted the Thai techniques for the Sanshou format I competed in. It might seem weird to reverse engineer techniques like that but back then, there was very limited information on Sanshou and even fewer experienced coaches.
Another factor is that traditional Chinese arts usually aren’t very practical for competitive fighting with rules and protective equipment. I’ve seen loads of people try to use them on the Lei Tai or in the ring and usually fail miserably. There are always exceptions of course, but I don’t see the point in tinkering with techniques that were never meant to be used in a competition format until you can squeeze them into that mold. Modern muay Thai being just that, it was the most interesting source of information and inspiration I found. If anything, it improved my kicking techniques. They weren’t bad per se but there’s nothing really quite like the bone-crushing power of muay Thai’s circular kicks, especially the leg kick. Until you’ve been hit by one of these, you don’t know the raw power involved or how to handle it.
Not that I’m down on muay Thai’s punching techniques but I don’t think there’s anything Western boxing can’t teach you on that front. Elbows is another matter… Read More→
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Enter The Dojo, Episode 8: Attack the Heart
Posted by: | CommentsMaster Ken is back in Enter The Dojo, Episode 8: “Attack the Heart”. As always, this episode is hilarious. My favorite quote:
“You wrote a lot…”
:-)
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My first 25 years of martial arts training, an overview
Posted by: | CommentsThis year will mark the 25th year of martial arts training for me. Looking back at it now, it’s been one hell of a ride so I figured I might do an overview here. Thinking back about all this, I was forced to do some introspection and faced some of the more unpleasant experiences I’ve had. I hesitated mentioning certain things for a variety of reasons. In part because some of the people involved are still alive but mainly because there’s no need to rip open old wounds. On the other hand, I also don’t want to lie by omission or leave it to people who weren’t there to fill in the blanks. So I tried to give an accurate account without ruffling too many feathers.
I hope you enjoy reading my “memoirs”.
The beginning
I started with Judo and Ju-Jitsu as a teenager because my best friend at the time trained in a dojo that taught these two arts. I didn’t know much about anything then but it looked cool. The classes were a mix of both arts in that you had a curriculum for each and had to pass for each part during belt tests. Looking back on the training, it wasn’t all that practical but it taught me how to do break falls, for which I’m still grateful today. Most of the techniques were trained in a format that didn’t really work well for self defense though. But I didn’t know any better at the time and I enjoyed the training a lot.
A long time ago... I'm the yellow belt tucking his gi in.
I made it to orange belt before I quit. The reason I quit was not because I didn’t like to train anymore, on the contrary. Here’s the story. Read More→
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Why the untrained fighter kicks your highly trained butt, Part Two.
Posted by: | CommentsIn part one of Why the untrained fighter kicks your highly trained butt, I covered some of my thinking about the whole training vs. experience thing so you might want to read that part first before going over what follows.
In the comments section, Viktor wrote this:
All of this makes sense, i’ve though along these lines before even though i don’t actually have any experience of real life violent situations.
I have trained martial arts for some time now, but i don’t think i would stand a very big chance if i actually ended up in a fight with someone that has been in many real fights no matter how unskilled they are in any form of martial art. (partly because i’m not that skilled in martial art yet nor am i very well trained physically or have any experience at all in real situations, all in al not much in favour of me)
And one thing i’ve been thinking about a lot is how to train for a real situation, San shou or sparring is of course a way to train techniques in a simulated fight, but that final touch that is needed for a technique to work in a real situation; a situation with adrenaline, full power and speed is hard to train for. I’ve often thought that i should aim for competitions because i think that is as near as i can come without actually being in a fight for real even though i otherwise think that fighting or violence as a competition doesn’t make sense. What is your take on competition as a way to train and test techniques under stress?
What would you say is a good way to train for real situations? Can it even be done?
It’s an interesting question but before I answer it I need to give some qualifiers and context:
- Viktor says he’s not very skilled, experienced or in great physical shape. Two out of these three are things you can remedy quite easily by training harder and more frequently. Doing so will give you not only more skill but it’s also a quick way to get your physical attributes (like speed and power) to a higher level. Once you do that, your chances of coming out on top in a violent conflict are better already. There’s no guarantee that these things will let you win every fight you end up in but I believe not working on them definitely decreases the odds in your favor. So I’d say: go out and train some more. There’s no reason you shouldn’t.
- That said, I don’t think there are easy answers to the “I lack experience, where should I get it?” question. I know people who answered it by starting to work as a bouncer or join the military. I know of others who would go out and pick fights to see if their techniques worked. They all ended up getting experience though not necessarily the kind they wanted. E.g.: One guy on purpose tried a crescent kick as a knife disarm and found out it worked perfectly. The only downside was that even though his attacker was now just as empty handed as he was, the knife was now stuck in his foot. Kind of ruined the rest of the fight for him… Read More→
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