Stupid things you used to believe about martial arts

**blue-dragon** · Posted On: 3/22/2012 7:16am

I used to think being tough was all about willpower. Experience, training, dedication, strength, and cardio had nothing to do with it.

**Kwizatz** · Posted On: 6/13/2012 10:27am

I used to think that training for a month (maybe even 2) full time with an elderly Oriental master would make you equivalent to about 10th Dan and completely unbeatable.

Training with the above elderly oriental gentleman would inevitably involve some repetitive tasks that at first would seem completely unrelated to martial arts - stirring pots, sanding floors, etc.

eloneamigo · Posted On: 7/11/2012 10:15pm

You can snap a mans neck with a simple twist!

**daishi** · Posted On: 7/12/2012 7:28am

I used to think a 'figure four lock' was a 'finger four lock.' Which makes no sense.

shanblake · Posted On: 7/13/2012 6:04am

Stupid thing about matrial arts.......................
The average martial artist is a hardened fighter
All Chinese people have an uncle or grandfather who is a kung-fu master
I tried to seek out this style; fortunately it's rare enough that I couldn't secure a location to train in it.

**lordbd** · Posted On: 7/13/2012 6:19am

I used to think that Tae Kwon Do was the most applicable martial art in real world settings........because of all the martial arts out there it shared the honor of being in the olympics with boxing and judo. I mean, why would they pick an art that wasn't the best by far to be in the biggest sports competition in the world?

**WoodyCorpus** · Posted On: 7/13/2012 11:25am

Originally Posted by lordbd

I mean, why would they pick an art that wasn't the best by far to be in the biggest sports competition in the world?

Politics.

**dwkfym** · Posted On: 7/14/2012 11:11am

Originally Posted by WoodyCorpus

Politics.

Or, that its a great sport. it may have nothing to do with how good of a martial art it is. I mean, why the heck would you have football or volleyball as olympic sport?

**slamdunc** · Posted On: 7/14/2012 11:22am

Originally Posted by lordbd

I mean, why would they pick an art that wasn't the best by far to be in the biggest sports competition in the world?

Originally Posted by WoodyCorpus

Politics.

Originally Posted by dwkfym

Or, that its a great sport. it may have nothing to do with how good of a martial art it is.

Politics, popularity, and it is a great sport. It is estimated that over thirty-million (30,000,000) people practice Tae Kwon Do, worldwide (well, at least 156 countries).

**dwkfym** · Posted On: 7/14/2012 12:57pm

Originally Posted by Kwizatz

Training with the above elderly oriental gentleman would inevitably involve some repetitive tasks that at first would seem completely unrelated to martial arts - stirring pots, sanding floors, etc.

On that note, I used to think (like at age 15) white instructors in TMA= fake or otherwise not as good. I also used to think UFC was not good because it wasn't teh deadly. this really quickly went away before I even started full contact arts.