The Death of TMA

[Anthony]

A thread like this makes me wonder how relevant martial arts (hand to hand combat) is in our society at all.

I mean, how often (after grade school) do you really exchange fisti-cuffs with someone in your everyday life? Hardly ever. And if it does happen, you most likely put yourself in that situation.

If any ancient fighting art was truly evolving it would become a sport entirely. There would be no arguments. You compete, you either win or loose.....end of discussion.

[golden arhat]

What makes someone a talented TCMA?

he has to be making a lot of money from teaching BS to many many ppl

[rogue]

A thread like this makes me wonder how relevant martial arts (hand to hand combat) is in our society at all.

I mean, how often (after grade school) do you really exchange fisti-cuffs with someone in your everyday life? Hardly ever. And if it does happen, you most likely put yourself in that situation.

If any ancient fighting art was truly evolving it would become a sport entirely. There would be no arguments. You compete, you either win or loose.....end of discussion.

What part of My Little Pony Land do you live in? Sport is great, but it's not the final outcome of any evolutionary process.

[Christopher M]

A thread like this makes me wonder how relevant martial arts (hand to hand combat) is in our society at all.

Practicing martial arts makes you healthy, brings you together with new friends, gives you enjoyment, reconnects you with your body and the physical world (very important for office workers, academics, etc., which make up much of our workforce), and helps you participate in our cultural heritage.

That's about as relevant as you can get.

[sunfist]

he has to be making a lot of money from teaching BS to many many ppl

If thats your idea of success, then i suppose your training in wushu makes sense

A thread like this makes me wonder how relevant martial arts (hand to hand combat) is in our society at all.

While any sort of combative skill is obviously only an emergency measure for the average person, id say that of those skills hand to hand combat still does retain a very important place. A gun or knife should only be drawn when the situation clearly demands the use of absolute force, leaving a massive grey area to be covered by unarmed combat. It may be a nessicary step towards aquiring or drawing a weapon. It also arguable requires much longer to gain true proficiency in, and so needs extra attention.

[David Jamieson]

A thread like this makes me wonder how relevant martial arts (hand to hand combat) is in our society at all.

I mean, how often (after grade school) do you really exchange fisti-cuffs with someone in your everyday life? Hardly ever. And if it does happen, you most likely put yourself in that situation.

If any ancient fighting art was truly evolving it would become a sport entirely. There would be no arguments. You compete, you either win or loose.....end of discussion.

Sometimes you don't put yourself into anything but you just happen to live in a socio-economic segment of society that has a different texture to that of which you apparently have become accustomed too.

I didn't live in any sort of a sedate loving and happy community until I was almost 30 yeasr old. The rest was tied up in middle impoverishment and a lot of people around me were let's say "entrepreneurial" in their approach to living. There was lots of conflict and plenty of physical violence.

Nowadays, I enjoy a more sedentary life in a relatively quiet setting where the people are better off financially and educationally.

But After reading this, I'm afraid I would agree with rogue on his assessment of your world view. You gotta get out in the world more.

[BlueTravesty]

Just as there are people of the mindset "I don't ARGH! want to learn a buncha RAWR! goofy forms and UGH! philosophical crap. I just wanna take someone's GROWL!!! face and bash it into floor! Awoooooooo!" (This isn't the majority of MMA school attitudes, but there are way more than there should be.)

There will also be people whose outlook is more like "Sweet, I wanna do moves like in that movie I saw. WATAAAH! Those pajamas are cool!" This is the majority of TMA schools.

At the same time, there are people of the mindset "I don't want someone telling me I can stop a grappler with eye gouging, but at the same time, it's called Martial ARTS; I don't mind doing something besides learning how to hurt people. Besides, I left all the chest pounding and ego-stroking behind when I got out of Junior High." This is the extreme minority of TMA schools. They won't teach you to beat someone who fights professionally day in and day out, every day, but they will help you handle yourself when some insecure twit takes a swing at you for "lookin at his woman." And every once in a while you can actually do something besides learning creative ways to punch an opponent you just took down in the face as they're begging for mercy

[WanderingMonk]

Most TCMA feature inside trips, but now with people doing BJJ this is a very bad idea

because I have zero ground fighting knowledge, would you elaborate a bit on why the inside trips get one kill against a bjj guy?

[LeeCasebolt]

because I have zero ground fighting knowledge, would you elaborate a bit on why the inside trips get one kill against a bjj guy?

Inside trips, as a rule, land you directly in the BJJer's guard. If you have zero ground fighting knowledge, not a good place to be.

[Knifefighter]

Even worse are the step behind takedowns favored by Hung Ga... straight into a knee bar.

[WanderingMonk]

appreciate the wisdom

[Becca]

Even worse are the step behind takedowns favored by Hung Ga... straight into a knee bar.

You know, I used to give you just a bit of credit when you said drivle like this... Then I took your advise and found a good, proper grappling teacher. Now I know it's baised drivel.

A "step behind take down" is called a sweep. And I have been taught 4 different ways to do them from a wrestler's point of veiw. And all 4 have a mirror in TCMA. This tells me that a TCMA guy getting knee bared with that move is like a grappler getting knee bared: It's a lack of experiance, not a style thing.

[Mas Judt]

Knifefighter - I'm not that familiar with Hung Ga, care to elaborate? Thanks.

[David Jamieson]

I assure you that Knifefighter is even less familiar with Hung Ga than you are.

[Knifefighter]

You know, I used to give you just a bit of credit when you said drivle like this... Then I took your advise and found a good, proper grappling teacher. Now I know it's baised drivel.

A "step behind take down" is called a sweep. And I have been taught 4 different ways to do them from a wrestler's point of veiw. And all 4 have a mirror in TCMA. This tells me that a TCMA guy getting knee bared with that move is like a grappler getting knee bared: It's a lack of experiance, not a style thing.

LOL... In MMA, wrestling and BJJ we call it a takedown.

And good luck the first time you step between a sub-grapplers legs from behind.