Martial arts discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

Don't get me wrong, someone who practices MMA would have the advantage in a punch up since you are trained to take and deliver punishment but as soon as weapons or multiple opponents are involved (typical in a street fight) it becomes a whole new ball game.

Traditional arts also have a lot of conditioning exercises for building endurance such as:
* jabbing palms and fingers at a gravel-filled bag (known as Iron Palm or Iron Hand)
* bumping limbs against teach other (known as "knocking")
* gradual striking of parts of the body

Here are some videos showing conditioning exercises to harden parts of the body:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fKSoB2GByM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poN-ExZRQxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im9NzBciths

[Hot Rodimus]

lol much to say but I am going to stay in the shower

[GoktimusPrime]

Some of what's demonstrated in the third video are more parlour tricks than conditioning exercises. You just need to be able to sift through the relevant stuff away from the 'smoke and mirrors.'

See the previous posts regarding "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!: Martial Arts" in:
Post 106
Post 107
Post 108
Post 111

That's a great episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! which goes about debunking a lot of the myths and mysticism surrounding martial arts.