Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Well we went to Wing Tsun today, and it all went pretty well, a lot of training and a lot of fun had by all. We did self defence drills against chokes and arm grabs and the occasional bear hug. The bear hug was Jessie's favorite to train with me, mostly because I got to run up and hug her.
The one thing that does irk me, though, about this class, and to be fair, it's pretty much the *only* thing, is that the teacher feels compelled to 'sell' his martial art over others. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until everyone listens. The best martial art for any given person is the one they like, because they'll keep taking it. Given that there's not some other reason for you to take a given martial art (like knife fighting in a place where everyone carries a knife) that is the *only criteria that matters*. I've been learning a lot of different sort of 'styles' of self defence that are based on wing tsun moves, which is totally fine, because in a few years, those will be the moves I'm used to throwing, but I kind of resent the idea that other defensive styles are 'invalid'. They're not. They're totally valid for people who are used to a different martial art.
If you want to really learn to defend yourself, learn to grapple. They did the experiment, they called it the UFC, and the grapplers won every time. Other than that, just take the martial art that you enjoy. It's no good taking grappling for 4 months and then quitting because you hate it. Find any goofy martial art and take it for 20 years, that's the best one for you.
-N
The one thing that does irk me, though, about this class, and to be fair, it's pretty much the *only* thing, is that the teacher feels compelled to 'sell' his martial art over others. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until everyone listens. The best martial art for any given person is the one they like, because they'll keep taking it. Given that there's not some other reason for you to take a given martial art (like knife fighting in a place where everyone carries a knife) that is the *only criteria that matters*. I've been learning a lot of different sort of 'styles' of self defence that are based on wing tsun moves, which is totally fine, because in a few years, those will be the moves I'm used to throwing, but I kind of resent the idea that other defensive styles are 'invalid'. They're not. They're totally valid for people who are used to a different martial art.
If you want to really learn to defend yourself, learn to grapple. They did the experiment, they called it the UFC, and the grapplers won every time. Other than that, just take the martial art that you enjoy. It's no good taking grappling for 4 months and then quitting because you hate it. Find any goofy martial art and take it for 20 years, that's the best one for you.
-N
Comments:
Your last line about finding a goofy martial art made me think of Jackie Chan's "Drunken Boxing" I don't know what the movie was called in English. Lol to that.
Is wing Tsun something I might have heard of?
S
Is wing Tsun something I might have heard of?
S
The way I usually describe it to people is to think of all those cool things they did in "The Matrix", but only from the waist up. All those neat little combinations with hands and elbows and clever looking blocks, most of that is Wing Tsun.
Here's a good video: the guy on the right is a definite high-level black belt, you can tell by how quick and practiced all his moves are, and how he doesn't have to look at the other guy, he's just feeling the motions with his hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaP1X-lEtgc
Enjoy!
-N
Here's a good video: the guy on the right is a definite high-level black belt, you can tell by how quick and practiced all his moves are, and how he doesn't have to look at the other guy, he's just feeling the motions with his hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaP1X-lEtgc
Enjoy!
-N
Fascinating demonstration. Seems like it goes from the lowest form of girly hand-waving fighting to breaking necks in no time at all. But I recognize that if it were more punctuated and performed my Keanu Reeves that would be totally Matrix. Thanks!
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