Martial Arts?

Pineknot - one thing I recall that gave me a lot of trouble when I started with FMA was "unlearning" some of the stuff that had been drilled into me in the more traditional styles I had studied - especially the footwork. Traditional styles (I came from a shotokan background) emphasize rigid, seated stances, whereas FMA and many of the more "modern" styles have very loose, flowing footwork based on triangular movements. It was quite an adjustment.

 

That's why I reflected to a history of other types, it's been 20 years since I trained but some things are stuck such as mental discipline

 

I'm not Jeff and cannot speak for him, but he's obviously accumulated a lot of experience and I'm pretty sure he's not suggesting that shotokan is inferior to FMA, it's just different. The longer I'm in martial arts the more convinced I am (caution: generalization follows) that the various arts are each just portions of the whole. Which art a person studies depends on what he or she wishes to protect against. For example, if I had a daughter I'd suggest she study BJJ because she would probably find it useful if her boyfriend gets too aggressive. Had I a son I'd likely encourage Krav Maga (or FMA) because he's more likely to be confronted by multiple opponents. My father would probably do best with Tai-chi-chuan, preferably the Chen style if it's available. But these are all portions of the hypothetical Great Martial Art. As just one example, when one really takes a look at the leverages in Tai-chi, he'll see comparables in BJJ.

Ultimately, I think, it's better to choose the art that best defends against the attack that is most likely to happen. After that, it's the Indian and not the arrow.

 

Sorry if I missed something here. Orance is correct, Pineknot. I had no intention of judging one style over another. If you've read my earlier post in this thread, that's the very first thing I mention. Each style does, indeed, have a place and time in one's training. Pine, I didn't read your above msg as a criticism of my comment, but if it was, then please understand that I intended no offense.

Orance - I have three kids (two daughters and one son - each of them grown now), and I made sure that all three of them had good training in self defense. My oldest daughter "developed" early. I wanted to make sure she A) never felt pressured into doing anything she didn't want to do, and B) was fully capable of defending herself if someone *tried* to pressure her. IOW, "A" was the confidence, and "B" was the practical application of her training. When she was thirteen, I brought her to my FMA class. It was a light- to full- contact class (beginners were light contact, advanced students went full on) and she absolutely HATED it! I told her that as soon as she could beat every other student in her class, she could quit. It took her two years. Then she sparred the top kid in her class in a full contact match. It was close, but she beat him. As we got in the car to go home, she told me "I did it. Now I'm done." She never went to another class and neither of us ever regretted it.

My son studied for a while with the same FMA instructor, but the guy went out of business (an interesting note - I have found that, in my experience, the best instructors also seem to be the worst businessmen). A year later, I found another decent martial arts instructor for both my son, and my youngest daughter. He was a former Marine, and taught a combination of styles that he called "American" TKD. I recognized a lot of the techniques from my FMA training, as well as some more traditional Japanese and Korean styles. The younger two took to it like fish to water.

And you guys are absolutely right... the confidence and knowledge stays with them.

 

Thanks for the story about your oldest, Jeff. She, at thirteen, showed more character than a lot of people demonstrate in their lifetimes. I know she's grown now, but I surely wish we had more young people like that.