All that is black belt is not truth

[Flying Crane]

I always had this goal that perhaps someday I could break the soundbarrier with a front snap kick. Leaving sonic booms in my wake...

Haven't done it yet. I'll let ya all know when I get there.

 

[tradrockrat]

Because ability, training, and education are not necessarily the same as CHARACTER.

may I quote you?

That's a great statement.

 

[Flying Crane]

I'm afraid I can't answer your question, though I've heard of one or two similar cases. When I hear of such things, I always start from the assumption that instead of being a calculating, cynical charlatan, the instructor in question has... well, has developed a cracked bearing somewhere and lost touch with reality to some extent. In other words, there may be a serious personality problem here rather than an effort to deliberately deceive. But it's hard to say...

I think you may have hit upon something here. When I think about a few certain people i have run across, I think this is the best description.

 

[Ninjamom]

may I quote you?

You betcha!

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[CuongNhuka]

If you can move that fast, why would you need more than one strike. I've heard of a wing chun practitioner who could do 8 punches per second (supposedly full force). Needless to say I was sceptical of that. Let alone twelve...

The question isn't "can he do 8 full strength punches in a second", it's "can he doing 8 full strength NONE-one inch punches a second?". Or is that what you meant by full strength?

 

[CuongNhuka]

The question isn't "can he do 8 full strength punches in a second", it's "can he doing 8 full strength NONE-one inch punches a second?". Or is that what you meant by full strength?

Just to make sure people understand me. Is he claiming to do 8 one inch punches in a second? Cause thats not that hard, heck I can do that. But is he doing 8 full, none-strikeing hand in Wu Sao postion, punches? Cause that streches the imagination.
One inch punches are easy to get going fast, heck I could probably do 12 in a second, lol. Got me? -coughs Em MacIntosh's name-

 

[terryl965]

In my 40 years in the martial arts I have met many black belts that were good fighters and bad instructors and many that were great instructors and poor fighters, they knew thier principles.
Several times I ran into a particular Sensei who had developed several good solid schools yet claimed to be able to deliver dozens of strikes in one second. So years pass and I move across several states to settle in the Pacific Northwest, I'm alone without a school, student or fellow instructor. Wow there in the phone book is a listing for-----------(the listing is omitted to protect the faker). Great I dial up and am told the instructors name, E-gad it's him, Mr. 12 strikes per second. Now I am informed that he is a black belt in 16 styles. I hang up.
Question;
How can someone with real certifications with real Sensei and a real ability to produce good if not great students and schools be so full of it.

Hvae money can get certificates, get together and form a group and you are certified in another couple of style. You sign mine I'll sign yours.

 

[tellner]

The way I see it there are four major attributes that a martial artist can have

1. Fighting prowess
2. Technical skills
3. Teaching ability
4. Moral, ethical and emotional development

Having any one of these in no way gives you any of the others.

 

[jks9199]

If you teach commercially and try to teach ethically, keeping costs down etc you will run at a loss trust me! We run 'commerical' classes but frankly it barely covers costs like travelling costs, cleaning materials etc. We have to rely on the MMA shows to make a living.
We could of course have contracts and all that stuff but prefer not to. Means we get pushed out of the market though by the type of club described here. We'll teach you to fight but it won't be the fancy 12 strikes a minute thing.

The simple truth is that if you're running a business, whether it's selling burgers, teaching martial arts, or fixing cars, you've simply got to give people what they want. Right now, lots of folks want an "activity" a couple nights a week that'll help 'em get into shape, but they don't want any bruises or real pain. Or they want somewhere to stash their kids where there'll be a bit of discipline while they're at work...

If you're teaching commercially, you have to recognize the business demands; you've gotta pay the rent. And that means that you have to adapt what you teach to the market's demands. A very few, very exceptional individuals have avoided that trap; they have my respect and admiration, 'cause I really don't see how they do it. Most have to settle for paying the bills...

Which is why I have a "real" job, and teach martial arts the way I was taught.

 

[Tez3]

We've accepted that the clubs as such will never make money so we concentrate on the martial arts kit we have designed, made and sell along with the shows. We don't want to water down what we teach as we feel it would be fraud to send people out thinking they can defend themselves with a couple of easy moves. Likewise we want a blackbelt to mean something and have people work for it.
It just seems a shame that we can't run a decent club that will at least pay for itself if not make a living, without compromising what we do. It makes for stressful times trying to balance the books. We actually end up paying for stuff out of our own pockets. I do have a fulltime job and I don't get paid for anything I do in martial arts.
The kit business is kicking off, we have good quality BJJ suits at reasonable prices that people seem to appreciate (we don't export so I'm not advertising or touting for business!) we have our own design MMA gloves which are taking off as well as other stuff so hopefully we will have both a living and our standards!