Hot answers tagged training
43
Consider learning a self defence system instead of a martial art
If getting good at defending yourself in a fairly short space of time is more important to you than long-term study of a particular martial system or philosophy, you may wish to consider a self-defense system instead of a martial art.
In an essay titled, "Are Martial Arts Self-Defense?", Marc ...
26
Go and have a look at all the clubs around where you live. Train once or watch a session. Then pick the one that has the best instructor, the more friendly students, and the one you had the most fun with. Style is second to whoever is teaching you, to whomever you train with, and to however much fun it is. All in equal measures.
23
The flinch reaction is a nervous system reaction to a stimulus in order to protect a portion of the body inherently felt to be at risk. When your nervous system is repeatedly overridden (for example, when we repeatedly stretch past the point of basic resistance) the body relaxes and the signal to fire that reflex is no longer sent under that stimulus.
...
16
Traditionally, in times of war you teach the right hand. In times of peace, you teach both hands. I train in a Chinese school, and Chinese schools typically favor ambidextrous training ... if you have the time.
In my case, I find myself freely using either hand in simple, day-to-day life tasks. This happens without thinking. I find that movements that show ...
16
In my experience there are a few reasons why someone loses that passion:
that person was never going to stick around anyway
they have a mistaken idea of the glamor and mysticism in martial arts
the teacher fails to keep the student inspired
the student requires a bit of a holiday
For #1, there is nothing you can do. Life is full of people like this ...
15
In the fire service we have to train on conserving air in life safety situations. So we work on breathing control which lowers our heart rates as well.
One method Reilly-Emergency Breathing Technique (R-EBT):
While exhaling, “hum” your breath out in a slow, consistent manner.
The hum is low and usually cannot be heard over the low-air alarm. In
...
14
Define "adept."
You aren't going to find much in the way of scientific studies that are specific to martial arts in this regard. There are too many variables, and we encounter many of the same problems that the fitness community does.
To add a data point, however: With my group's Hapkido, we're taught to use both because it is a self defense martial art ...
13
Sparring should emphatically not end in you being beaten bloody, no matter the sport. Sparring is a contact activity, and you should expect to take some knocks, but it is also an activity founded on control and trust. There's an important difference between toughening up and learning to take a hit and actually being harmed.
This is doubly important for ...
12
Young male, not looking for anything specific, but I am a huge fan of
MMA in general.
You just answered your own question: try something that has already caught your interest. It's not at all hard to find a school in your area. Look some up and check them out.
12
The first, and biggest, point is that if it hurts don't do it. Be careful with an injured shoulder, possibly focusing more on the opposite side or starting on your injured side significantly more slowly or at a lower height (get the dive roll perfect from the knees first). The other major thing is to make sure you are practicing on good mats. There's no ...
11
a wrestler will say wrestling, a bjj player will say bjj, a muay thai fighter will say muay thai.
But to be fair, they are all right.
There isn't really 1 specific art that is better then the other for a base. i know, some people will argue with me for this, but if you look at the current state of mma, there are champions with a wide assortment of ...
11
In my experience this is not a good way to learn, no matter how capable a teacher you are. I'm not saying that it won't work, just that the chance it being successful is very low.
Any martial art takes a lot of time, patience and discipline to learn. Outside of the dojo these things can all be in short supply. Training at the dojo forces you to make the ...
10
You should practice techniques on both sides. That being said, most of the time you're going to use your dominant side, so you should practice that the most, but more often than you expect, the opportunity is going to come up where a non-dominant side technique will allow you a decisive score or perhaps even a victory, so never discount the possibility.
...
10
Very interesting question.
Having long been fascinated by body language and micro expressions, I incorporated that into my training. This won't even remotely be an option for most people as the time it took to even develop a functional use when not under pressure was well over a decade.
That said, a few tips that came from that training that have been of ...
10
I'm going to be very precise with my answer here. Your technique will remain the same, your kicks and punches should still be the same as when you practice them. What does change though is your approach to your opponent so that you can deliver that technique.
Because your opponent is taller, you will have more issues than it just being harder to reach their ...
10
I had this exact problem, at the same point in my progress at judo.
Things that didn't work for me
I tried doing uchikomi slowly and deliberately. This usually ended up with me hunched over in a full squat, unbalanced, unable to stand back up with the throw, without any kuzushi applied to my uke.
I tried uchikomi for speed, whipping into each rep. Doing ...
10
Yes! Martial arts can help you with posture, improve you overall fitness and stamina, and give you the discipline to do things correctly.
No! There are much better ways to get a good posture and behaviour while working at a desk than joining a martial art class. You can see a physiotherapist, get a new chair, have a work station safety analysis done, take ...
8
Self-defense Scope
Self-defense has many elements unrelated to hand-to-hand combat. Everyone interested in self-defense should wear a seatbelt, avoid smoking and addictive drugs, stay fit (in particular, capable of running very fast), and cultivate a basic knowledge of general self-defense strategies like being assertive, de-escalation, and situational ...
8
Its really useful. Most useful the sooner you see it afterwards. I've found, in the past, that anything relatively tricky (like jumping techniques, or flips) really benefit from this.
Many times with instruction I've been told, "you just need to do X" and I'll think to myself that I was doing X! Very easy to sort out the "I thought I was doing X" ...
8
Choosing a teacher can be very important, but as you are a beginner you don't have to be too fussy initially, you should be prepared to experiment and trial a few different schools. But personally I think you are looking at this the wrong way. There are a number of things to consider:
the classes are only an hour long. This could be the result of a number ...
8
If the students are going too hard on the beginners, the instructor either don't care or has lost control of the class. It's his or her responsibility to make sure everybody is safe. Most good schools ease their beginners into sparring. They start of with some light sparring, and then progress from there. Even pro fighters spar easy a lot of the time, as ...
8
"Clinch happens."
Without training, people who fight very frequently end up in a clinch or on the ground. (This is common for people who train in non-sparring, non-grappling arts, too.**) It's just a natural outcome for a fight, unless you're proficient in grappling.
In most cases, one cannot stop grappling without...drum roll...grappling.
Probabilities
...
7
There are a few different martial arts that focus in that area. Some traditional and some modern. It should also be mentioned that the art you practice regularly and reliably is the "best" art in this regard: A very experienced US Tai-Chi practitioner can still be very effective in a self defense situation, simply because they know so much about how to move ...
7
How you re-enter the school will depend on the school and instructor. Ask their advice, and be up-front about how much you've forgotten and your current level of fitness. Don't pretend you can walk into a school with a preconceived idea of what belt you'll be wearing and what level you should be training at: that is ultimately your instructor's decision. ...
7
stslavik has the right idea. You need to dampen your current reaction so you can substitute another.
Martial Arts hoodoo talk:
You flinch because your mind gets caught on the idea of being hurt. If you can still your
mind, your reactions will become more in line with your intent.
For me the thing that's helped most is visualization. As stslavik ...
7
I want to make sure I hit every part of this, so I'm going to make heavy use of quotes here...
First, we need to answer an unasked question: What is pain?
This is important first off since, in order to work through pain, you have to understand pain. Pain is a nervous-system response to intense or damaging stimuli. When someone strikes you, your body ...
7
They can be. I don't know that they are universally, but a lot of schools/teachers seem to be willing to accommodate at least some degree of disability. I suspect that it would be something that could be asked of each individual instructor.
In my school, at least, testing is a formality that takes place when the instructor judges that you are ready to ...
7
This reminds me of a training technique my old track and field trainer sometimes used for condition training. If you get short(er) breaks then you'll be forced to run (or in this case fight) while you are more fatigued than usual which indeed is good for condition training. It will also teach you to "keep up" your coordination and technique while ...
7
Without knowing what your goals are for getting into shape, or how you intend to get back into kendo, all I can do is comment on how I approached getting back into karate. I had a lengthy layoff from karate (about 2 years) due to issues with psoriasis on the soles of my feet. What I didn't know at the time is that the intensity of the psoriasis was related ...
7
Don't.
Stop practicing and let it heal. What you should do is rehab work. Stretches, slow (VERY SLOW) movements exercising the range of motion of various muscle groups.
[Edit - I know a girl who injured something in her hip, I don't know what, and she won't let it heal. She reinjures herself constantly.]
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
