Five Hard Truths about Martial Arts that you don’t want to believe.

[PDA]

I pretty much learned everything pretty quickly. I would become completely obsessed with a new art....washed my GI every night and then would stare at it for hours, you know the drill. Boxing came easily to me. I would compete, do well and then move into teaching. I was always one of the best in the class.I did this with about 8 different martial arts. After 2 years of Kali I was almost always dominating sparring, even against the instructors.Today, people ask if I ever fought professionally. I say no, but I can tell you how I would do. I would get my ass kicked by anyone who fought in the UFC, including the losers. I would have fought in lower tier organizations, maybe the bar you drink at on the weekends. And if lucky I would have been a 500 fighter. Don't even get me started about D 1 All American wrestlers.

Well hopefully you keep challenging black belts so we get to see you fight one day.

[preschol]

I pretty much learned everything pretty quickly. I would become completely obsessed with a new art....washed my GI every night and then would stare at it for hours, you know the drill. Boxing came easily to me. I would compete, do well and then move into teaching. I was always one of the best in the class.

I did this with about 8 different martial arts. After 2 years of Kali I was almost always dominating sparring, even against the instructors.

Today, people ask if I ever fought professionally. I say no, but I can tell you how I would do. I would get my ass kicked by anyone who fought in the UFC, including the losers. I would have fought in lower tier organizations, maybe the bar you drink at on the weekends.

And if lucky I would have been a 500 fighter. Don't even get me started about D 1 All American wrestlers.

[Mandem]

Okay, I used to live in the dojo. i got up in the morning, exercised, ran and then practiced. I put in four or more hours a day, seven days a week training on my martial art. I lifted weights, ran some more, and trained with my sensei as well as in different styles and even boxing. It still did not take me to the top of ranked fighters of my day. I made one heck of a good teacher but as a fighter I sucked. You should add "and have an innate ability for martial arts" because without it you will never reach the top. I can say, however, I have had my backside kicked by some of the best. There is a certain fame in that. Isn't there? Oh please let that be so because otherwise it was nearly 50 years wasted.

I created a three tier system for understanding your place in any occupation or skill. Tier 1 -- You will never get it and no matter how hard you try you will not get it. Tier 2 -- You can sort of get it with lots and lots of work but it will never be instinctive nor will you be labeled one of the best at that skill. Tier 3 -- You get it and will know you get it almost at once. Like a Joe Lewis you will earn multiple black belts in a year and be one of the greatest of all time. If you are a computer programmer you learn new languages in days instead of months. If you do GIS you will have learned it after 15 minutes of tinkering with the program. I fell into Tier 2 of martial arts. I worked hard, got passably good but would never be confused with Chuck Norris. I didn't just suck I sucked really good.

You know what would make this post better?
Competition footage

[onclewillie]

Okay, I used to live in the dojo. i got up in the morning, exercised, ran and then practiced. I put in four or more hours a day, seven days a week training on my martial art. I lifted weights, ran some more, and trained with my sensei as well as in different styles and even boxing. It still did not take me to the top of ranked fighters of my day. I made one heck of a good teacher but as a fighter I sucked. You should add "and have an innate ability for martial arts" because without it you will never reach the top. I can say, however, I have had my backside kicked by some of the best. There is a certain fame in that. Isn't there? Oh please let that be so because otherwise it was nearly 50 years wasted.

I created a three tier system for understanding your place in any occupation or skill. Tier 1 -- You will never get it and no matter how hard you try you will not get it. Tier 2 -- You can sort of get it with lots and lots of work but it will never be instinctive nor will you be labeled one of the best at that skill. Tier 3 -- You get it and will know you get it almost at once. Like a Joe Lewis you will earn multiple black belts in a year and be one of the greatest of all time. If you are a computer programmer you learn new languages in days instead of months. If you do GIS you will have learned it after 15 minutes of tinkering with the program. I fell into Tier 2 of martial arts. I worked hard, got passably good but would never be confused with Chuck Norris. I didn't just suck I sucked really good.

[Aka-Tora]

The truly amazing thing about Bujinkan institutions is how they don't tend to spar with decent contact yet are so proficient at inducing severe brain damage in so many of their students...

Kim and others here who escaped the Booj with their cognitive functions intact should be relieved.

[PDA]

Well this guy sums up my thoughts, and considering he seems to have an actual somewhat verifiable lineage(at least according the Japanese government and one Japanese University) I give him some modicum of respect:
Emphasis mine
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20135674

Was their a historic group that were both skilled and feared known as ninja? Sure there were. Does any of that authentic teaching survive until today? Honestly I have no clue. It seems like it might, but it might also all be BS.

Here is what I do know, Japanese Jiu Jitsu with it's standing joint locks and odd throws was based on fighting an armored opponent. Swords, weird eggs, and throwing stars are at best anachronistic in modern times when you have guns, tasers and CS gas.

Let's say for a moment that Bujinkan's(whether that Hatsumi bit or the Kawakami guy) historical lineage claims are accurate. What then do you have? When I look into it I see a variant of Buddhism mixed with(again assuming it's lineage claims are accurate) Martial Art/guerrilla warfare system that dates from the late fifteenth century and had relevance for at most 150yrs before it was shelved under the Shogun.

Ok, each person is entitled to their own imaginary friend, and having picked my own, Buddhism, at least the deep dive into that Bujinkan has, doesn't really interest me.

That leaves the martial art. At best it is anachronistic and having suffered from lack of any serious development for hundreds of years, isn't really relevant to self defense or combat. Now if it was like Kendo where they readily admit it is more of a cultural tradition in which some real martial skills are learned(such as timing and explosiveness) then I could see some merit for those who wanted to learn it because they liked the culture and the fancy black pjs. As it stands though with the nigh on cult like belief that they are the ultra-deadly, the modern variant not only disinterests me, I believe it deserves derision.

Personally I believe the most effective bits of Bujinkan(since they were supposedly renegade Samurai anyway, or at least that is one story that gets told) have been boiled down into Judo and BJJ.

This somes is up for me:

[PDA]

I found some parts of it translated into judo I went on to do, in some ways, and I have used it in the past against some untrained twat who tried to get all hard against me but thats all. If you like weapons and do serious training elsewhere it might provide some fun and a different perspective on techniques but otherwise.... meh, I like to train the weaponry side but I bare in mind its just something I did for fun, not like how i train now.

Please list parts that translated into Judo






Seriously







List them








We are all listening

[Michael Tzadok]

And here comes the ignorant Ninja hate again!

How predictable as soon as somebody mentions booj everybody piles in with "yeah ninjas suck balls" when we all know that there is a huge difference between Booj and The real Booj that originates from the anti Samurai assassin forces in ancient Japan.

It is like a man with no sense of smell comparing 2 buckets filled with brown liquid , on the surface they look the same but one is filled with shit and the other with chocolate.

Without putting his spoon in and having a taste he will never know which is a bucket of chocolate and which is a bucket of shit and may assume that both are poo incorrectly.

This is of course a tragedy .

Well this guy sums up my thoughts, and considering he seems to have an actual somewhat verifiable lineage(at least according the Japanese government and one Japanese University) I give him some modicum of respect:

"In the age of civil wars or during the Edo period, ninjas' abilities to spy and kill, or mix medicine may have been useful," Kawakami says.
"But we now have guns, the internet and much better medicines, so the art of ninjutsu has no place in the modern age."

Emphasis mine
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20135674

Was their a historic group that were both skilled and feared known as ninja? Sure there were. Does any of that authentic teaching survive until today? Honestly I have no clue. It seems like it might, but it might also all be BS.

Here is what I do know, Japanese Jiu Jitsu with it's standing joint locks and odd throws was based on fighting an armored opponent. Swords, weird eggs, and throwing stars are at best anachronistic in modern times when you have guns, tasers and CS gas.

Let's say for a moment that Bujinkan's(whether that Hatsumi bit or the Kawakami guy) historical lineage claims are accurate. What then do you have? When I look into it I see a variant of Buddhism mixed with(again assuming it's lineage claims are accurate) Martial Art/guerrilla warfare system that dates from the late fifteenth century and had relevance for at most 150yrs before it was shelved under the Shogun.

Ok, each person is entitled to their own imaginary friend, and having picked my own, Buddhism, at least the deep dive into that Bujinkan has, doesn't really interest me.

That leaves the martial art. At best it is anachronistic and having suffered from lack of any serious development for hundreds of years, isn't really relevant to self defense or combat. Now if it was like Kendo where they readily admit it is more of a cultural tradition in which some real martial skills are learned(such as timing and explosiveness) then I could see some merit for those who wanted to learn it because they liked the culture and the fancy black pjs. As it stands though with the nigh on cult like belief that they are the ultra-deadly, the modern variant not only disinterests me, I believe it deserves derision.

Personally I believe the most effective bits of Bujinkan(since they were supposedly renegade Samurai anyway, or at least that is one story that gets told) have been boiled down into Judo and BJJ.

[Pship Destroyer]

A little learning is a dang'rous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not the Bujikan spring.

[ChenPengFi]

And here comes the ignorant Ninja hate again!

How predictable as soon as somebody mentions booj everybody piles in with "yeah ninjas suck balls" when we all know that there is a huge difference between Booj and The real Booj that originates from the anti Samurai assassin forces in ancient Japan.

It is like a man with no sense of smell comparing 2 buckets filled with brown liquid , on the surface they look the same but one is filled with shit and the other with chocolate.

Without putting his spoon in and having a taste he will never know which is a bucket of chocolate and which is a bucket of shit and may assume that both are poo incorrectly.

This is of course a tragedy .

A little learning is a dang'rous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not the Bujikan spring.

[kimjonghng]

And here comes the ignorant Ninja hate again!

How predictable as soon as somebody mentions booj everybody piles in with "yeah ninjas suck balls" when we all know that there is a huge difference between Booj and The real Booj that originates from the anti Samurai assassin forces in ancient Japan.

It is like a man with no sense of smell comparing 2 buckets filled with brown liquid , on the surface they look the same but one is filled with shit and the other with chocolate.

Without putting his spoon in and having a taste he will never know which is a bucket of chocolate and which is a bucket of shit and may assume that both are poo incorrectly.

This is of course a tragedy .

I found some parts of it translated into judo I went on to do, in some ways, and I have used it in the past against some untrained twat who tried to get all hard against me but thats all. If you like weapons and do serious training elsewhere it might provide some fun and a different perspective on techniques but otherwise.... meh, I like to train the weaponry side but I bare in mind its just something I did for fun, not like how i train now.

[PDA]

And here comes the ignorant Ninja hate again!

How predictable as soon as somebody mentions booj everybody piles in with "yeah ninjas suck balls" when we all know that there is a huge difference between Booj and The real Booj that originates from the anti Samurai assassin forces in ancient Japan.

It is like a man with no sense of smell comparing 2 buckets filled with brown liquid , on the surface they look the same but one is filled with shit and the other with chocolate.

Without putting his spoon in and having a taste he will never know which is a bucket of chocolate and which is a bucket of shit and may assume that both are poo incorrectly.

This is of course a tragedy .

[BackFistMonkey]

I dont mind either as an ex boojer, but its not going to make you a pro fighter,

do what you want as long as you understand what it can be used for

The booj will not even prepare you for casual self defense in 90% of it's schools and 100% of its self taught deluded fans. It is a complete shit show of compliant training and low percentage techniques taught as its bread and butter.

[kimjonghng]

Bujinkan and Krav Maga are for pussies.

I dont mind either as an ex boojer, but its not going to make you a pro fighter,

do what you want as long as you understand what it can be used for

[Hairybreeches]

I desperately wanna make love to a school boy.