Improving in Martial Arts

[Kung Fu Wang]

Actually fighting people worse than you can absolutely help you learn. You can use it to to work on new combinations and switch up strategies. When you fight better people you have to stick what you know works for you but with lower people you can try out new ideas

Agree with you 100% there.

Old saying said,

- 1st you go to a grade school and beat up everybody.
- You then go to a junior high and beat up everybody.
- You then test your skill in a senior high and beat up everybody.
- Finally you go to a college and beat up everybody.

After that process, you will developed some dependable skills.

If you don't follow that order and test your skill in college students right away, you may be beaten up so bad that you lose your self-confidence and quite MA training forever.

 

[Paul_D]

If you won't watch the video there is no point in continuing. What you're saying has nothing to do with the topic.

That's because I am not discussing the topic, I am discussing your blanket statement "I think what he has to say goes for any martial arts student, despite the subject being BJJ ".

What I am saying is that no, it doesn’t, because different people train for different reasons, and therefore there are martial artists to whom it does not, and will never, apply.

It's the idea of a boxer intentionally training with the guy who always lands a left hook on him instead of training with the guy he knows he's going to beat

Ok, so let’s discuss the actual topic then. I have a training partner who trains purely because for an hour and a half he gets to switch his brain off from all the stress of life. He improves, but does so at his own rate and had no interest in going outside of his comfort zone to do so, because improving isn’t the motivation behind his training.

We had a mother and daughter who trained for over two years. They very rarely trained with any of the other students. They trained purely as it was, for them, a fun way of having some mother/daughter time. Did they improve, yes, but much more slowly than other students in the class, did they care, no because that wasn’t the purpose of their training. Therefore going outside of their comfort zone had no relevance to what they did in their MA training, or why they did trained.

As you yourself say “It was about the best method of improving as a martial artist/fighter/competitor and reaching your full potential”. What I am saying is that many are not interested in the “best method of improving” as improving is just a side effect of regular training, but that is not in any way directly relevant to the reason they train regularly.

If you want to achieve your full potential great, just accept that that isn’t the goal of everyone who trains MA, and therefore what is said in the video doesn’t ‘go for any martial artist’.

If you think anyone is going to get better by avoiding their weaknesses then I'm at a loss for words.

As I never made that statement, I too am lost for words.

I don't know why you're so bent on arguing semantics instead of looking at intent and context (ie the video referenced).

I'm not, I am trying to get you to understand that not everyone has the same motivations for training that you do, and therefore there will always be martial artists to whom the video (or indeed any other video containing any other message you wish to choose) does not and never will "go". Which is a statement of fact, not an argument.

Finito.

 

[kuniggety]

Summation of this argument:

Me: Check out this video as I think it applies to other martial arts aside from BJJ. One of the points is that if you want to reach your potential then you should be training outside of your comfort zone (in a competitive art this would mean getting wrecked by those better than you).

Paul_D: not everyone wants to reach their potential

Me: Okay, they don't want to reach their potential so then this clearly isn't about them

Paul_D: but people train for different reasons and have goals other than reaching their potential

Me: Agreed, it was about reaching your potential and not training for other goals.

Paul_D: Not everyone has the same motivations for training.

Am I missing something here? I'm kind of confused about what the argument is about. I haven't refuted that people have different training goals.

 

[drop bear]

If you have good wrestling skill and nobody can take you down, that should not be your problem but your opponent's problem.

MA has a lot of paradox. As Confucius said, "One should make friend to whom is better than you." The question is if someone is better than you, why should that person want to be your friend if he thinks the same way as you do?

Here is an example.

You walk into a gym and you can beat up everybody in that gym. Finally someone walks in and he can beat you up. You told yourself that you want to stay in this gym so you can improve yourself from that person. If that person also feels the same way as you do, since he can beat up everybody in that gym include you, why should he stay in that gym since he no longer be able to improve himself? If the best guy in the gym always leaves, there will be nobody left in that gym at the end.

- A gym has A, B, C, D and A > B > C > D.
- A is the best, A leaves. B, C, D remain.
- Now B is the best. B leaves. C, D remain.
- Now C is the best. C leaves. D remain.
- Since D is the only person left. There is nobody else to practice with, D leaves too.

This logic just doesn't make sense.

Lets use this quote.

Iron sharpens iron.

 

[drop bear]

So the casual martial artist who takes a couple of lessens a week just as a more interesting way of keeping fit than going to the gym, needs to get wrecked?

No, different people train for different reasons, so not every student needs, or wants, to push themselves, get wrecked and beat down everyone.

Thankfully i train at a gym where i am not encouraged to be mediocre.

You can train at any level you want. But if you train more effectively you will get better than if you don't.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I'm kind of confused about what the argument is about.

I think the argument is like this:

A: If you want to be a good fighter, you should ...
B: Not everybody want to be a good fighter.
A: But I'm talking about if you want to be a good fighter.
B: But I'm talking about if you don't care about to be a good fighter.
A: ...
B: ...

What A is interested in, B is not interested. What B is interested in, A is also not interested. Some people believe that MA training is "fist meets face". Some people believe that MA training are for health, self-cultivate, inner peace, be a better person, ...

 

[drop bear]

I think the argument is like this:

A: If you want to be a good fighter, you should ...
B: Not everybody want to be a good fighter.
A: But I'm talking about if you want to be a good fighter.
B: But I'm talking about if you don't care about to be a good fighter.
A: ...
B: ...

What A is interested in, B is not interested. What B is interested in, A is also not interested. Some people believe that MA training is "fist meets face". Some people believe that MA training are for health, self-cultivate, inner peace, be a better person, ...

But that argument is balls anyway.

I do yoga which is all harmony and betterment and junk.

And it is still hard. There are still top guys who train it and you can still get smashed doing it if you want to be good at it.

They don't encourage me to be mediocre either.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Lets use this quote.

Iron sharpens iron.

Agree!

One of my students could lift up a V8 engine (about 500 lb) off the ground. One day in a wrestling match, he lifted his 300 lb opponent over his head. That shocked everybody in that tournament.

To prepare my last tournament, I lifted up a 200 lb rock from one side of my drive way and drop to the other side of my drive way. I repeated that 20 times daily for 3 months. During my tournament, I knew I was the strongest guy in the whole tournament.