Sports vs Traditional

[Richard Kerr]

I was thinking to myself at work today what is the best training, sports or traditional Martial Arts? I actually thought for a good ten minutes and then came up with this.

Fitness or Learning?

1.A sports Martial Art is actually going to make you fit or very fit depending on how competitive you are.A Traditional Martial art will make you fit but this is not at all the main focus.

2.A sports Martial Art will teach you what works in competitions according to the rules. A traditional Martial Art should hopefully teach you what works on the street with no rules.

3.The basic but effective moves that are learned for competition will be practiced and made very strong, however limiting practitioner to one on one combat practice according to the rules. Most traditional Martial Arts will eventually prepare you for multiple opponents and hopefully include weapon offense and defense techniques.

4.I have found in my experience that a Traditional Martial Artist is more likely to be humble, and/or Honorable in every day situations. Where as allot of highly ranked Sports Martial Artists sometimes do not respect anyone that isn't competing. This may sound very prejudice, however this is what I have found over the years in my competition experience.

5.A sports Martial Artist can reach a high level of aptitude in a short space of time, however they may be full of themselves and also deluded because of there success in the sport meaning they have a bad attitude problem with the people and the world around them.

Champion or Master?

A truly Traditional Martial Artist may take 20 or more years to master their chosen discipline, but in those years may possibly gain the controlled mentality and also the intelligence of a truly Traditional Martial Artist without becoming deluded and obnoxious.

This in my opinion makes all those years of hard discipline and focus on the chosen Art worth while as they will more than likely become very successful, and also respectable, and not feared people in whatever path they chose to walk.

6. I think in every day life Traditional Martial Arts are more relevant and can improve and sharpen your perception and make you think both more positively and confidently. Although it may take a while to actually be able to use your Traditional skills on the street they should certainly be more effective in a street fight without rules.

For a hobby I would certainly say Sports Martial Arts are the best as they are far less serious and don't contain spiritual depth like some Traditional disciplines do.

7.I think that there is a place for both training forms, and I personally feel that they compliment each other in many ways.

I train in both but only practice full contact Sports Martial Arts as I don't want to start believing that street fights are nice. Point sparring and light contact to me are OK to start with but can lead a practitioner into a false sense of security.

I know that not everyone has time to practice both, but I feel that allot can be gained from the disciplined training methods in both Traditional and Full Contact Sports Martial Arts that have not been bastardized.

I reckon it would be really cool if there was Street Defense Sports where by multiple opponents are fought with weapons in an uncontrolled environment with a referee. Is there such a thing? If not then it should be created, this way we can see what works for different people before we start assuming it does.

Can anyone that isn't a Troll give me their honest opinion on such things.

[Tom Yum]

Originally Posted by Richard Kerr

I reckon it would be really cool if there was Street Defense Sports where by multiple opponents are fought with weapons in an uncontrolled environment with a referee. Is there such a thing? If not then it should be created, this way we can see what works for different people before we start assuming it does.

Can anyone that isn't a Troll give me their honest opinion on such things.

The Dog Brothers have experimented with sparring multiples with weapons (various sticks) and protection. They're quite good at it. Is it a sport? Yeah in the sense that you can't use a pistol; otherwise, its as real as you can get.

I read your observations.

Combat sport arts (muay thai, boxing, judo etc) do fight with rules, but they put their techniques to work under resistance, emotional pressure etc. Someone whose put in over 100 rounds of sparring and has progressed will be better prepaired in an empty-handed scenario than someone with a few years of TMA and very little high-speed, high-impact training.

Combat sports are put to use and applied more quickly than most traditional arts. You can get injured while sparring; that's real. Practicing a punch defense against a complaint partner is good for starting out, but shouldn't become a regular practice.

That's my 2 pesos on the subject. Can I get change?

[Richard Kerr]

Originally Posted by Tom Yum

The Dog Brothers have experimented with sparring multiples with weapons (various sticks) and protection. They're quite good at it. Is it a sport? Yeah in the sense that you can't use a pistol; otherwise, its as real as you can get.

I read your observations.

Combat sport arts (muay thai, boxing, judo etc) do fight with rules, but they put their techniques to work under resistance, emotional pressure etc. Someone whose put in over 100 rounds of sparring and has progressed will be better prepaired in an empty-handed scenario than someone with a few years of TMA and very little high-speed, high-impact training.

Combat sports are put to use and applied more quickly than most traditional arts. You can get injured while sparring; that's real. Practicing a punch defense against a complaint partner is good for starting out, but shouldn't become a regular practice.

That's my 2 pesos on the subject. Can I get change?

You are right full contact sparring is needed to be prepared for street defence. I believe Muay thai is very beneficial on the street as it is easy to apply and not too hard to Master. I have seen the Dog Bro's and yeah they are pretty realistic in all fairness. I reckon that the top guy in this could kick most peoples ass if he had his stick in his pocket.

[Tom Yum]

Originally Posted by Richard Kerr

if he had his stick in his pocket.

let's just hope he's happy to see us...

[Richard Kerr]

Originally Posted by Tom Yum

let's just hope he's happy to see us...

Or maybe just hope they are good dogs.