FMA madness!!

[judoist]

What the heck is going on?!? Everywhere I look, I see people drooling all over the FMA! Seriously, people have told me that learning how to fight with a stick is also learning how to fight with a knife. Yeah, right. These two weapons have their similarities, but the differences are just as important. There's a big difference between somebody who knows how to handle a blade, and a "stick jock" who also says that he's a "professional knifer". My primary style is Judo, but I do know that knife use requires different body mechanics, movement and range control than stick, much less empty hand combat.

I'm also confused with all of those people who tell stories of supposed "death matches" between the maestros, and raids on the Japanese during WW2. That's all fine and dandy, but just because the founder was a bad-assed piece of real estate does not make these people badasses themselves, just because they train in the guy's system. These guy's arts were just one of the components in their arsenal. Did they use only that? Hardly. These guys had a will to survive and protect their families and to kill to achieve these goals. Their art just allowed them to do this in a more sophisticated way.

I do have lots of respect for the FMA, their traditions and training, and all of the honest FMA players/instructors, but those f*cking Kali WW2 LARPers drive me nuts! If anyone has anything to add in terms of FMA LARPers, by all means, DO IT HERE!

[Chili Pepper]

If someone tells you he's a "professional knifer" and you're not speaking to him during the prison's visiting hours, he's full of ****.

That said, I've met enough FMA'ers who feel they are competent with knives, but when pressed admit that they've done precious little work with live blades. Hell, I started doing Arnis in 1991, have long association with blades and in fact treat it as a bit of a specialty of mine, and still wouldn't call myself a "blade expert"

To (hopefully faithfully) quote Chas Clements: "how can he call himself an expert with knives, but doesn't have any scars?"

[MikeRC]

The whole knife fantasy thing comes from the fact that it really is 90% theoretical. Unlike unarmed fighting where a choke, a knockout, or a submission is a real, tangible and verifiable thing, knife work is based on supposition and largely second hand knowledge of what a knife is "supposed" to do. You just can't keep knifing your training partners to find out if it really works, so the default is to keep re-telling the old war stories, and even worse, adding new BS war stories.

[DerAuslander]

What the heck is going on?!?

You're ranting and making yourself look stupid?

Everywhere I look, I see people drooling all over the FMA!

*looks around*

Must be a Serb thing.

Seriously, people have told me that learning how to fight with a stick is also learning how to fight with a knife.

It is.

These two weapons have their similarities, but the differences are just as important.

Thank you for this revelation. I am sure no one in FMA community has ever come to this conclusion.

There's a big difference between somebody who knows how to handle a blade, and a "stick jock" who also says that he's a "professional knifer".

You actually meet people like this?

My primary style is Judo, but I do know that knife use requires different body mechanics, movement and range control than stick, much less empty hand combat.

The knife does not require vastly different body mechanics, or vastly different movement than the stick. The range control is not dependant on the difference between stick and knife. A short stick shares the same range as the short knife. The long stick shares the same range as a machete.

But by all means, continue to lecture us on things you have no experience in, but "know".

In closing...shut the **** up.:pancakebu

Mmmmmm...pancake bunnies....

[Strifes]

But by all means, continue to lecture us on things you have no experience in, but "know".

In closing...shut the **** up.

This.

[judoist]

*looks around*

Must be a Serb thing.
Thank you for this revelation. I am sure no one in FMA community has ever come to this conclusion.

You actually meet people like this?

WTF do you know about Serbs?

I have met two people who were selling some FMA form with a 13
letter name on two seperate occasions. One did a 12-line on a heavy bag with a wooden knife. Another tried to do a 2-line on me with a plastic knife.
I side stepped, he missed. The first one dropped the blade comletely. The second had a bad grip on the "blade" and as he hit the table, his grip was so poor that the knife slid into his hand. On the other hand, I've had my neck hurt as hell for 4 days when one of my fellow MA nuts who did filipino kuntao struck my neck accidentally with the same 2-line the second "master" used, and his wooden knife remained firmly in his hands.


I don't say that I'm the first person to figure out the whole "stick does not equal knife" thing, I'm saying that people who aren't aware of this or use the lack of awareness of their "students" for their financial gain drive me nuts!

[Styygens]

*sigh*

Anyone got any popcorn?

[Whacker]

*sigh*

Anyone got any popcorn?

Yeah but it's only the low fat ****, we're out of the buttered stuff. Have some milk duds instead.

[Styygens]

judoist --

If you really are meeting freaks who hype their art, you should just say, "That's nice what you do. What I do is Judo." No more really needs to be said.

Why are you throwing Eris' Apple into our party? This is a silly argument because you'll probably get half the responders to say "Sticks and knives are different!" Because, duh, they are. The other half will say, "No, fundamentally they are the same!" Because, as Der pointed out, they share a lot of similarities in mechanics. Its not really an "either/or" proposition.

Meanwhile, you've shown no knowledge whatsoever about knives and/or sticks yourself.

I think you should stick to talking about Judo for awhile.

I suggest we all discuss whether or not Underwater Taekwondo should be added to the Summer Olympics in a bid to increase media coverage.

[karma2343]

Maybe because I'm part of the Dog Brother FMA circle, but I have never heard any of these things.

What do you do where you just happen to run into FMA LARPers by the busload?