It is very easy to stereotype practitioners of othe rmartial arts, don't. Oh, and that whole self defense thing, sure Muay thai is tougher than most others, but persoanlly, anything that has rules is not a fight, I dont care who you are. Does MT sparring teach you how to hit the groin? Gouge eyes? Choke? Hit throats? No it doesnt. But just as any other martial art, each one is missing a piece of the whole self defense puzzle. MT sparring is SPORT, Boxing sparring is SPORT, WTF TKD sparring is SPORT. I say sparring becuase each of these disciplines each has a unique approach to self defense seperate from there sparring practices. If you automatically cast a martial art off self defense wise, then you are disregarding valuable tools that you may not learn anywhere else.
And as always, let look at the term "martial art" (in my view). We have the word "martial" and the word "art". "Martial" pertains to war, self defense, etc. "art" pertains to the spirituality, personal fulfillment, beauty. Some stress one part more than the other, but nonetheless, martial art doesnt just contain the "martial" aspect nor the "art" aspect. They are one in this case and most people make the mistake of automatically thinking "martial art" is totally self defense. Learn as much as you can from other arts, learn what works for you, and cast off what you are sure doesnt work for you. Me, I love the brutal side of martial arts, so I try to stress more on the "martial" aspect than art, but its not the same for all and I will never cast away some of the more artsy thign s I have learned becuase I gain personal fulfillment from them sometimes, and are just plain fun to do. So, whatever your spiel is, do what you think is more fulfilling.
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Creativity is life
"It is easier to destroy than to create"
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