Martial Arts, anyone?

Because it only took Viking-Sensei three years (and the approaching end of Errant Story) to come up with a better name for "General Discussions"
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dubioso
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Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by dubioso »

There's quite a lot of fighting going on in the comic, and some in-depth discussions about the fights in the forums. Which makes me wonder... do you folks practice martial arts? Asian stuff like Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido? Fight sports like Boxing, Wrestling (amateur or professional?), K1? Miss Hovey's self-defense class for girls? Weapons? Archery has been mentioned, or maybe some historic Deutsche Fechtschule? Like to take your Uzi to the shooting range?

As for myself, I started taking classes in Ving Chun five months ago. That's a style of Kung Fu which seems to be spelled differently by each school ;) Most of my training was weaponless, but I also spent some time practicing with a 60 cm rattan stick, a Sai, and occasionally other weapons. I'm not sure why I'm so hooked on the Sai, it may have something to do with watching too much Xena... :lol:

Let's hear it from you...
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Imp-Chan
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by Imp-Chan »

Won't let myself take them, if I go off the deep end and have no training it is a great deal more likely I'll be stopped before doing real damage.

And yes, I've heard the song and dance about martial arts teaching self control so it'd be okay, but I'm already very controlled... so long as I'm not past what I call stage four mania. Past that, all the mental training in the world wouldn't bring self-control, but my body would still remember what it had been taught. No, thank you.

That said, other people's experiences with martial arts are fascinating, and I look forward to reading them.

^-^'
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Tiamat
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by Tiamat »

I've tried martial arts before, but for the most part the mental responsibility aspects bore me so much that I just can't get into them. Not that I don't think people should be responsible, it's just that for the most part I already went through that stuff as part my childhood (to this day I can remember an hour-long conversation on the difference between an accident and an action with unintended consequences. I was 5 and half) and a repetition of all the things I already know puts me to sleep.

Also for a reason more along Impy's lines, in that I tend to reflexively act very badly against certain stimuli and I'd rather not know how to break an arm just in case.

On the other hand you did mention weapons. While I'm still learning to use a handgun properly at a range larger than 20 feet or so, I'm pretty good with long-barreled firearms, especially rifles. My dad and I also go out shooting clays when I can get home from college and have loads of fun, although he's much better at that than I am (~60% on my targets to his upper 90%). On the plus side, knowing I can hit a piece of clay the size of my hand moving through the air at anywhere from 20 to 40 MPH is fairly satisfying in its own right. I still prefer long-range (well, long range for civilian weapons anyway) rifle shooting though.
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LordofNightmares
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by LordofNightmares »

Well I don't know how to say it in a way that does not make me sound like some nut job, but I Cant just look at a person with out 50-100 to kill that person or how that person could die. I do Tai Chi and Yoga, and I do train with a bo staff, Boken, Knives, Daggers, and reading up on Vital points But I am self trained and I want to learn soo much more with a Teacher.
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dubioso
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by dubioso »

Imp-Chan wrote:And yes, I've heard the song and dance about martial arts teaching self control so it'd be okay, but I'm already very controlled... so long as I'm not past what I call stage four mania.
I see. Wikipedia says that Aikido is purely defensive, but I've talked to an Aikido practicioner and he knew tricks to make people hurt themselves by twitching their fingers so they would bang their head against whatever... (hey, didn't there used to be a headbanging smiley in the old forum :? )
Tiamat wrote:I've tried martial arts before, but for the most part the mental responsibility aspects bore me so much that I just can't get into them.
Up to now, that part of my training was limited to learning the German self-defence paragraph by heart. We are occasionally reminded to not go out on the street to search for a victim, of course. Mostly after the trainer shows (as in "display", not "teach") some impressive moves to new students :) We're adults and expected to know how to behave, and the school will notaccept thugs. It would endanger their relationship with the police.
Tiamat wrote:Also for a reason more along Impy's lines, in that I tend to reflexively act very badly against certain stimuli and I'd rather not know how to break an arm just in case.
That's something I'm worrying about, too. I started with a clear focus on getting more control of my body, and to bring it into a better shape under expert supervision. I haven't been in a fight since school days, and do not really look to get into one. On the other hand, a friend working as a doorman at a disco once told me that I am a very very calm person... but once triggered, 4 people would find it hard to stop me. I'm not very good at dealing with my anger. If something annoys me, I usually bear up with it as long as I can, then suddenly explode (verbally) without any advance warning to the people around me. If I can find a more controlled way of releasing my anger, it would help me a lot.
There was at least one situation a few years ago where I would have reacted better if I hadn't been a totally non-physical person. That doesn't mean there would have been a fight, but arguments take a different course when you don't pretend to not have heard the threat.
LordofNightmares wrote:I do train with a bo staff, Boken, Knives, Daggers, and reading up on Vital points But I am self trained and I want to learn soo much more with a Teacher.
Wow. Weapons training without a teacher? I would have found the right end of a dagger to hold, but that's about it :roll: Talking about the bo staff... I'm off to practice a bit. Night has fallen, no nosy neighbours will watch ;)
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Rae
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by Rae »

Hrm, not that I post on the forums much, but I have taken 7 years of classical fencing, foil and epee in french and italian schools. I also used to do a medieval re-enactment that in no way teaches you how to use a sword or shield realistically, but it at least taught how to have really good battlefield awareness and the basics of squad combat.

I am also pretty good with a handgun, but oddly not so much with the long-barrel.
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dubioso
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by dubioso »

Rae wrote:classical fencing, foil and epee in french and italian schools. ...really good battlefield awareness and the basics of squad combat.
That sounds really cool. I'm all for traditional skills nowadays. :D
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by Ged »

Wadu Ryo for a number of years, a bit of Tai-Chi and Aikido. Some dirty tricks I've picked up here and there.
dubioso wrote:I see. Wikipedia says that Aikido is purely defensive,
Eh, you can take some of the circular movements from parts of Aikido and feed it into a punch or an elbow, (etc,) take some of the throws and turn them into breaks or eye stabs. Whether it's a defensive art or not depends largely on the mentality you bring to the table and how you train it.
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dubioso
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by dubioso »

Ged wrote:Wadu Ryo for a number of years,...
Ah, I found it :) http://www.martial-forums.com/forums/ka ... arate.html
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Re: Martial Arts, anyone?

Post by Ged »

Kinda, it's an interpretation of Wadu Ryo but a lot of it's not necessarily innate to the style itself. Point in case, I rather suspect I broke someone's jaw with one of the things he's got down as a block a while back.

Yay, I has internets dongle again. ^_^
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