Martial arts discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

I think becoming strong can sometimes lead us to become arrogant and overconfident, so practising humility and being responsible is something of a constant reminder.

One thing I'm not fond of schools where students are strictly confined to train within only people of the same 'category,' whether that be skill level, size, strength, speed etc. I prefer classes where students are often just randomly mixed together so it's very much possible for a raw beginner to be paired up against one of the most senior students in the school. Cos I find that when you're only allowed to train with people of the same level as you, you're not used to fighting against someone who's vastly superior than you, and most importantly, learning how to defend yourself against a superior opponent which is the core of learning self defence anyway. I find direct training with someone who's bigger, stronger, faster and better trained than you is often a good way to learn humility.

Your point reminds me of one of my friends whose grandfather knew kung fu (in my friend's words, "he could hold off 18 unarmed men with a staff"), but always refused to teach one of his nephews because he knew his nephew was the kind of person who'd go out and pick fights with people...

Your friend's grandfather sounds like a wise dude. I wish more martial arts teachers were like him... student quality over quantity. Then we'd have less thugs learning martial arts.

I stumbled upon this interesting video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...6eglkLa8#t=60s
^It's a demonstration of Chi Na grappling by Taiwanese Police, and it looks similar to the kind of grappling we do in Tai Chi; note that the grappler is always upright and never goes to the ground with the attacker. Grappling is a good form of passive self defence as you don't actually strike the attacker -- from a police POV they would have to learn a lot of passive submission techniques. I particularly found this part of the video interesting where he's showing counter-techniques to an assailant attempting to grab an officer's holstered firearm, and the golden rule of counter-grappling, don't resist and pull away, rather give in and go into the attacker.

*sigh* Watching this really makes me miss my old training... wish I could find a proper school.