How Many People Waste Time in Martial Arts

[big maclol]

I started with occasional Sambo class at 14 but still had a hunger to larp. Asked bullshido about ninjutsu schools and got schooled. Lmao.

[Raycetpfl]

Did TKD as a kid but not much.
I knew bjj was the truth when I saw Royce wreck everyone as a kid.
i didn't start training until like 2008 though.

[ksennin]

Even as a super broken person you should be able to do BJJ if you are able to do Karate. John Danaher is one of the highest figures in the sport and he has 3 hip replacements, no ligaments in either of his knees, several damaged disks, and the list goes on. He is still able to practice. I'd strongly suggest checking out a local BJJ place and giving it a month or two (after the apocalypse is over, ofc)

I have been training sporadically in BJJ for over a decade now. I know pretty well what I can do and cannot do. I have a bad hip and no means to have it replaced. I cannot even get up the floor on my own on one side after doing minor stretching, much less shrimp or twist with someone on top of me. I have multiple disk damage and last time I tried to do a fancy guard move my back cracked loudly so that everyone around me could hear it. I tried to teach a beginner a simple armbar from guard and my hip would not let me position the legs to do it, something I could do in my sleep just a year and a half ago. I have a collapsed ankle so I can no longer do most kicks or throws. I no longer spar. Much less roll. I can barely walk sometimes. I have trouble climbing stairs.

When I say I can do karate, it is the crap karate I am expected to do at the place I used to go. I have 35+ years of experience on karate and other standup arts, so I can teach and do basics without much trouble because I can do it without unnecessary tension and I know well what moves I can do and which ones cannot. I do mostly bag work without kicks now.

And all of this is now purely academic. All schools are now closed because of Covid. I have not done anything but simple stretchs and shadow boxing for months. I have lost the last bits of flexibility and endurance I had. I don't know if I will ever get anything back now.

[Myn]

I have been training sporadically in BJJ for over a decade now. I know pretty well what I can do and cannot do. I have a bad hip and no means to have it replaced. I cannot even get up the floor on my own on one side after doing minor stretching, much less shrimp or twist with someone on top of me. I have multiple disk damage and last time I tried to do a fancy guard move my back cracked loudly so that everyone around me could hear it. I tried to teach a beginner a simple armbar from guard and my hip would not let me position the legs to do it, something I could do in my sleep just a year and a half ago. I have a collapsed ankle so I can no longer do most kicks or throws. I no longer spar. Much less roll. I can barely walk sometimes. I have trouble climbing stairs.

When I say I can do karate, it is the crap karate I am expected to do at the place I used to go. I have 35+ years of experience on karate and other standup arts, so I can teach and do basics without much trouble because I can do it without unnecessary tension and I know well what moves I can do and which ones cannot. I do mostly bag work without kicks now.

And all of this is now purely academic. All schools are now closed because of Covid. I have not done anything but simple stretchs and shadow boxing for months. I have lost the last bits of flexibility and endurance I had. I don't know if I will ever get anything back now.

Have you tried the YogaforBJJ program? Sebastian is a great teacher. He recovered from 4 herniated disks with yoga, and generally speaking its a fantastic way to restore mobility to your body.

[kimjonghng]

Have you tried the YogaforBJJ program? Sebastian is a great teacher. He recovered from 4 herniated disks with yoga, and generally speaking its a fantastic way to restore mobility to your body.

As a yoga instructor now, I can honestly say yoga has done more for my sciatica and slipped disk in the 200 hour practical course I did than any physio I got over 18 months. I honestly think I'd focus down the yoga route these days

[kimjonghng]

Getting back to the title of this thread before I forget, I realized that I probably both have and haven't (Long post incoming)

I got into martial arts out of a mixture of thinking it was cool and also being in an unpleasant social environment that I couln't get out of until I moved away and went to uni. I started in the Bujinkan because it was the nearest club to me and being someone suffering chronic anxiety, the closeness of the group along with the constant ribbing and dark humour did wonders for helping me develop a thicker skin over time.

I went away to uni and continued to train but I developed a thirst for martial arts that never really left, becoming a bit obsessed with kung fu films, watching MMA fights, reading obscure chinese myths about who founded what and learning all I could. I dabbled, read, went to seminars on as many systems as I could get my hands on. After my Bujinkan club closed I decided to try something else and checked a lot of places out before landing in a Goju Ryu club that trains knockdown and kudo rules, did BJJ and K-1 as well. It showed me I had a long way to go before I was tough or conditioned enough to fight in any competitive sense. I also learned there was a well respected Judo club up the road and with my sensei's blessing I went and did that together with the striking and BJJ to give me the stand-up, ground and striking game. All I felt i was missing was weapons training, save for some basic escrima patterns I picked up and remembering some drills we did in the bujinkan for sword, knife, staff, rope weapons etc.

I got very interested in researching styles until I realized by logging photos, seminars and instructional dvd's and videos I either got dirt cheap or found uploaded online that I have effectively encountered more styles than mortal kombat wiki even lists. What I found was that there is far more in common between all of them and all I got from the ones I did benefit from was either a tactic or two I hadn't considered or some interesting conditioning drills. I was basically taking Bruce Lee's 'absorb what is useful' attitude to such a level I was pulling a fighting game final boss and trying to have the best attacks from everyone else on the roster.

Speaking of Bruce, he got me massively into fitness and strength training, which helped me in more obvious ways with my physical health and strength. I realized by the time I damaged my elbow and needed it cast that I was a very different person than when I started out. Younger me wouldn't have just groaned, told someone to fuck off for trying to pick me up by the arm that was ballooning and bruised and then gone down to A&E only to get back on the mat a few months later, I probably would have quit altogether. I wasn't put off by pain or anywhere near as sensitive as I was and that helped me deal with a number of personal problems i had to face to make things better for my life. Martial arts became a vehicle for me to overcome other obstacles in my life, become healthier and a more rounded person. Had I not I don't think I'd have left the small safety net I had and gone to see Kerela, met some great friends through seminars I'm still in touch with or been to India to become a yoga teacher and study kalaripayattu at the same time.

Can I fight? Well, I have handled myself in scuffles without feeling too shook up after, but getting in a cage probably not, and it's not in my interests. If my goal was to become an unstoppable killing machine and live out the fantasy I had as a 14-15 year old back when I started because I wanted some sense of control, then no, I didn't get that. I got something significantly more worthwhile instead.

I've hit this point with martial arts with all this stuff that if the dojos all close around here and martial arts isn't an option for me anymore I can most likely let it go until I live somewhere near a good gym that teaches something like MMA or a combat sport (Im honestly sick of remembering forms, let alone learning new ones). I still want to go travel to some cool places and experience martial arts while Im there: Thailand is on my bucket list and I will try the Muay Thai while Im out there, and there's a number of countries I want to see where I can do things like the Israel travel and train camps where you go see cool sightseeing locations and every other day do a Krav bootcamp, or spend a week in China doing Sanda at a vaguely temple-esque shaolin setting, that sort of thing does appeal but it wouldn't be the focus and just a way to see and do something fun and have some stories for later and memories to look back on. I'll probably just go in the direction of Yoga and other activities that require coordination and physical mastery as a challenge, which is part of the early appeal of martial arts had for me.

So yes, I probably wasted a lot of time in this dabbling/learning/absorbing/referencing process when it comes to becoming a good fighter. I have a lot of short sequences and drills from all over the place I can pull out of my head and I have a wiki's worth of trivia and 'cool historical fact here' moments. The Bujinkan didn't teach me much in the way of fighting, but I got more valuable things that martial arts opened the door for than I thought I could. Now when I have my little sproglets in the future when Im actually ready to settle down and breed (if the economy ever allows for it) I will probably teach them some things like how to mess up their hands with a good jab, or how to block sensibly and breakfall or roll properly, just some lifeskills.

Anyway, my small essay over. Go have a good day

[scipio]

It's Friday afternoon - I'm pretending to work by watching crap on YouTube. I saw this wonderful clip - this guy pretty much sums up what Bullshido has been trying to get over for years..... love it - although his taste in lumberjack shirts and braces is a bit dodgy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHw7yvmT3S0

[Adam Gold]

I've studied ITF TKD for about 25 years now. It has helped me gain an understanding of how to embrace my fatness as my degrees increase.

May be it could be argued that my first 2 years in MA were a waste - Shotokan Karate with a massive emphasis on kata. But honestly, even as a teenager I enjoyed my time there, think it gave me a good base to move forward from and had I not have spent time as a teenager doing karate, might never have had the amazing journey in MA that I had. So maybe no - no time wasted at all in the big scheme of things.

[Adam Gold]

I've studied ITF TKD for about 25 years now. It has helped me gain an understanding of how to embrace my fatness as my degrees increase.

May be it could be argued that my first 2 years in MA were a waste - Shotokan Karate with a massive emphasis on kata. But honestly, even as a teenager I enjoyed my time there, think it gave me a good base to move forward from and had I not have spent time as a teenager doing karate, might never have had the amazing journey in MA that I had. So maybe no - no time wasted at all in the big scheme of things.

[Beep the Meep]

I spent two years doing Tae Kwon Do in the early to mid 90s, I even bought a black belt. A fool and his money quickly parted. I did make a great friend who I still talk to so I guess it wasn't all bad.

[ty5]

I did the Wing Chun for a few year, of course it is useless for actual fighting, but it was a good exercise class and helped me give up smoking (everything) so not all bad really. Moved onto Judo to get abused by old police men.