Martial Arts

[Uchiha Barles]

Absolutely. Don't get me wrong, all that other stuff is a big part of it, but if they *have* to fight instead of take you out like an assassin, they can making use of extremely effective footwork, grapples, joint manipulations, and precision strikes.

edit: Actually, it seems that ninjutsu *used* to mean solely the study of those guerrilla tactics as schools used specific terms for various aspects of martial arts. Ninjutsu was only one such aspect. Nowadays though, it seems to refer to a complete system based around guerrilla combat.

[KrayZ33]

isn't "ninjutsu" the overall term used for their training

so it includes both unarmed and armed training, espionage and camouflage etc etc.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't know if there actually is a combat/self-defense oriented martial called "wushu",

"Wushu" in literally means 'martial arts' in Chinese. I don't know if that has a contemporary, narrowed meaning now. I'm guessing it's just the general term used to mean Chinese Martial Arts, and the instructors just teach you whatever sub-category they are willing or capable of teaching.

For all intents and purposes, 'Kung Fu' and 'Wushu' might as well be synonymous. The former's simply a Cantonese phrase.

[Ryllharu]

In the US anyway, "wushu" refers to acrobatic martial arts displays, not the sparring part of it. It's an exhibition sport, similar to Floor gymnastics.

[MFauli]

oh god, im too tired. was thinking up some provoking reply for this thread that combines sexism, misogynism, criminality and idiocy. Will try to come up with a proper troll reply tomorrow. good night, minna!

[Edort4]

oh god, im too tired. was thinking up some provoking reply for this thread that combines sexism, misogynism, criminality and idiocy. Will try to come up with a proper troll reply tomorrow. good night, minna!

¿Something about Wushu lovers craving for a long thick spear to hold in their hands and move around their bodies trying to get to a zen ecstasy?

Wushu is Rhythmic Gymnastics with other tools IMHO not much of a martial art "per se" but im biased here.

[Killa-Eyez]

Jew-jitsu.jpg

Jet Li - Wushu
Donnie Yen- Wushu
Jing Wu - Wushu

I guess studying Wushu will make you a great martial artist on-screen. I think it's also a good prep to learn any other martial arts.

I myself had a couple of lessons in Tang Soo Do, got blue belt in Free Fight Wushu style and when Ip Man came out I did some Wing Chun too. I think the latter is the most all round kung fu out there, except maybe for Jeet Kune Do (which is hard to master compared to Wing Chun). I'm not much into other fighting sports that take too much towards brawling. Like Boxing, Kick Boxing, Muay Thai or Wrestling. They're too straight forward. Also, what is said in Ip Man that Wing Chun is a woman's martial art and therefore inferior but that it doesn't lie in the style but in the practitioner, is something that applies to any martial art really.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=646427505415711

[Buffalobiian]

What do you mean by 'they're too straight forward'?

[Killa-Eyez]

Their elegance leaves a little to the imagination. It's very obviously "to hurt or take down, regardless", while some martial arts have a little more complex ways to take an enemy down as simple as they may seem. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a tough Muay Thai fighter or a speedy and powerful boxer but their martial arts are ones I'd never practice. I'd like to see opponents dominated physically and mentally, without hurting them too much, so they realize that there's no point in fighting (lulz). So those are the ones I like.

[Uchiha Barles]

There we go! Perfect example of what I mean by finding an art that meshes with who you are and how you think.

[Buffalobiian]

Ah. In that case I like the opposite. The key I'm looking for is effectiveness. I suppose that means brawling.

Given that I'm not talented physically nor with quick-thinking, I would want to learn something that is simple and effective without thinking too much about complicated locks etc. If a move looks great and is effective, that's awesome. If a move doesn't look cinematic but is physically effective - good. If a move looks good but isn't the most effective one for the given purpose, I would look elsewhere.

If I was to learn martial arts, my objective would be to best my opponent. I'm more interested in coming out of a fight unhurt (defense) as opposed to finding ways to take out my opponent quickly and surely (offense). The two aren't mutually exclusive of course, but you get the idea.
If an attack involves me risking myself a lot to punch the hell out of my opponent, I'd go for safer techniques. This assumes that the opponent staying 'up' longer doesn't become riskier than the initial move.

[Uchiha Barles]

Most arts I can think of do a combination of simple but effective things, and more complex looking things (which can also be effective). I'll give you an example. In the beginning, after having reached a minimal required level of physical conditioning through calisthenics and form practice, our typical training day would include 1.5 hours of basic technique practice. We would normally focus on 2 out of 6 types of blocks/parries and appropriate counterattacks with those blocks/parries. Very tedious work that builds skill quickly. Afterwards, we'd spend about .5 hours to an hour doing applications, which were the fancy stuff you're mentioning. We call them "applications" because that's what they are, techniques designed to open your eyes to the versatility of the things you just drilled in combat situations. The training was similar shotokan and aiki-jujutsu in terms of how the training was structured. I imagine it's the same for thai boxing if Tony Jaa movies are to be believed.

What I've found, is the fancy stuff ends up being successfully used faaar more often against untrained/poorly trained combatants, while against well trained combatants, you're relying heavily on the basic stuff. What I mean by that is, you might find opportunity in an exchange to apply a "fancy" technique, but the better your opponent is, the more likely he is to sense the impending danger and respond appropriately, forcing you to abandon the technique and adjust as appropriate. This usually means falling back to a basic parry/counterattack. Even against skilled opponents though, you can still often land those fancy techniques and they can be fight enders.

[Xelbair]

Their elegance leaves a little to the imagination. It's very obviously "to hurt or take down, regardless", while some martial arts have a little more complex ways to take an enemy down as simple as they may seem. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a tough Muay Thai fighter or a speedy and powerful boxer but their martial arts are ones I'd never practice. I'd like to see opponents dominated physically and mentally, without hurting them too much, so they realize that there's no point in fighting (lulz). So those are the ones I like.

*cough* aikido *cough*

Most arts I can think of do a combination of simple but effective things, and more complex looking things (which can also be effective). I'll give you an example. In the beginning, after having reached a minimal required level of physical conditioning through calisthenics and form practice, our typical training day would include 1.5 hours of basic technique practice. We would normally focus on 2 out of 6 types of blocks/parries and appropriate counterattacks with those blocks/parries. Very tedious work that builds skill quickly. Afterwards, we'd spend about .5 hours to an hour doing applications, which were the fancy stuff you're mentioning. We call them "applications" because that's what they are, techniques designed to open your eyes to the versatility of the things you just drilled in combat situations. The training was similar shotokan and aiki-jujutsu in terms of how the training was structured. I imagine it's the same for thai boxing if Tony Jaa movies are to be believed.

What I've found, is the fancy stuff ends up being successfully used faaar more often against untrained/poorly trained combatants, while against well trained combatants, you're relying heavily on the basic stuff. What I mean by that is, you might find opportunity in an exchange to apply a "fancy" technique, but the better your opponent is, the more likely he is to sense the impending danger and respond appropriately, forcing you to abandon the technique and adjust as appropriate. This usually means falling back to a basic parry/counterattack. Even against skilled opponents though, you can still often land those fancy techniques and they can be fight enders.

Also - i am training iaido and kendo - but i had to take a 1,5 month break due to sickness and university. In Iaido you usually train without an opponent, but because in my club there are really few iaido trainees, because of that we sometimes end up training directly with sensei. It is the perfect training at hiding your intentions - you have to seriously remove all useless movements to not give away what are you going to do or you'll get 'sliced' by sensei.

[poopdeville]

Wing chun is the shit. Watch your centerline and balance, punch fast, punch hard, kick low. There's a reason why Bruce Lee chose to use it as the basis of jeet kun do. If you can stay off the ground, you can keep up with any style.

I'm a big fan of boxing, though I wouldn't take it up as a sport.

[shinta|hikari]

Boxing is fantastic for striking. It is basically the most efficient method of fist offense in the entire martial arts world. If you allow a boxer all of his illegal punches, he would be extremely lethal.

[Sapphire]

Like what illegal punches?

[shinta|hikari]

Rabbit punch, below the belt, liver blow, etc.

[Buffalobiian]

Liver blows are illegal? Ippo does it all the time >_>

[shinta|hikari]

I thought liver blows were against the rules, but google says otherwise. Let me replace that with any blow that hits the back.

[Buffalobiian]

The only problem with boxing is that the practitioners are used to hitting heads with gloves (and hiding behind fists), which isn't practical in a real fight. Before gloves were used in boxing, people used to fight leaning back to keep their heads out of the way while striking body blows mainly.

If you're training for real encounters, you'll have to practice hitting hard with soft (head with palm) and soft with hard (body with fist). It's too slow to think about that in a situation and you'll just throw whatever you've trained in.

See boxer's fracture. Wiki says it happens with improper form, but the bones of the hand are much weaker than the skull. I really do have to wonder at what would happen when someone punches a hard head/wall with proper form.

It's one example of where the art's evolved into sports by developing effective methods given rule constraints.