I was just jokin around which is what I’m usually up to. Can’t take me too seriously.
I grew up in and around the parts of Boston and NE the tourists don't frequent. You learned how to handle your **** early and often on those streets. Wrestling and football made school interesting. After college (when I graduated I was ranked 13th in the nation, NCAA Div. 1), I took a year to heal and save a very modest amount of $$ then sold my car and bought a one-way ticket to the furthest place from home I could identify on a globe. Turned out to be a city in the middle of China. I landed, wandered around for a few days, ran into a guy from England, and after 30-40 beers he agreed to try and get me a job teaching at a university in the city where he had been working for about a year. His girlfriend at the time also introduced me to a very nice young lady, but that's another story.
Anyway, I met some people who knew some people who knew some people and I got to training early, early morning before teaching classes and late evening after teaching and learned as much of as many Chinese martial arts as I could. I also met some guys who wrestled for the provincial wrestling team that competed in China's version of national comps. Worked out with that team a lot, so I managed to keep pretty busy. During all this I befriended a lot of folks who the local Han tended to shun. Some Uyghur folks in particular tended to raise the ire of local Han farmers, so we got into some pretty interesting street fights late at night when the night markets were letting out and folks had a good amount of booze in them. Some hair-raising **** went down during those. My friend, the guy from England, was no fighter, so he got pretty freaked out during some of these when he happened to be around.
During Spring Festival one year me, the British guy and two Japanese ladies we were seeing at the time traveled around China as widely as we could, and here and there ran into some folks who had a beef with Japanese people or American people and various unpeaceful events took place accordingly. I should say though that most people were astonishingly welcoming, generous and hospitable to all of us. The great, great majority of folks were so wonderful to all of us that it really left a lasting impression on me. Anyway, while we were traveling, we took in some places along the southern border of China and Burma and Laos. Some of the villages along here seemed to be built around fighting rings where a lot of Chinese MA and the Laotian/Burman versions of Thai boxing and some sorts of Silat were practiced and tested straight out. Almost everywhere we went, the local folks wanted to put on an MMA kind of thing to see how I could do against their local guys. A lot of these guys were tough as hell, but I acquitted myself well enough to earn the respect of the locals. A few times I got the impression that some of the pro guys were going a little easy on me, but I wasn't about to make an issue of it. I had enough bruises and blackeyes as it was. Most combat sport guys everywhere in the world (more stories there) share a respect with anyone who puts their *** on the line. So, our trip along this border had its fair share of interesting experiences in local-made gyms/rings/streets. It would take a long time to recount them all (one actually involved a sort of fireworks battle - ridiculous).
Family matters called me back to the states, and when that was resolved I decided to take a job in Japan. During the years that I lived and worked there I had the opportunity to learn and practice various Japanese martial arts. These included Kempo, Kendo, Aikido, Iaido, and several others to lesser degrees. While working out at a local gym one day I met a guy who ran his own Nihon Kempo club, and he invited me to go teach his students some wrestling. They did a lot of free sparring, so I had the opportunity to go live with guys from a number of different backgrounds several times a week. When they went live they really went live, so that was fun. I didn't get into many street altercations during my years in Japan. Mostly with other gaijin who were drunk and bad-mouthing the US. I of course made time to continue practicing the things I had learned during my years in China as well.
Once again personal family matters called me back to Boston, and this time I became involved in business interests that mostly kept me there. I made a point of hitting different gyms/clubs/dojos around the greater Boston area on a regular basis. Sort of a circuit of boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, CMA, JMA, Ninjutsu, etc. When MMA became a thing, I hit a few of those gyms too. A wrestling club in one of the sketchy parts of Boston was a regular weekly stop. As will happen, there were incidents now and again on weekends. Especially when hanging out with some friends who were not good at drinking or fighting, or controlling themselves. Career interests continued to develop, and at one point I had to go to Korea to train and manage a few branches of a hagwan. I was there for about 7 months. Not long, but I made a point of finding opportunities to train Ssireum and Taekkyeon as much as I could. Time passes and many things transpired over the years and decades, but I have always trained and built on all I have learned. I am now teaching at an inner city school district, and I am also head wrestling coach for all the high schools in the city.
I grew up in and around the parts of Boston and NE the tourists don't frequent. You learned how to handle your **** early and often on those streets. Wrestling and football made school interesting. After college (when I graduated I was ranked 13th in the nation, NCAA Div. 1), I took a year to heal and save a very modest amount of $$ then sold my car and bought a one-way ticket to the furthest place from home I could identify on a globe. Turned out to be a city in the middle of China. I landed, wandered around for a few days, ran into a guy from England, and after 30-40 beers he agreed to try and get me a job teaching at a university in the city where he had been working for about a year. His girlfriend at the time also introduced me to a very nice young lady, but that's another story.
Anyway, I met some people who knew some people who knew some people and I got to training early, early morning before teaching classes and late evening after teaching and learned as much of as many Chinese martial arts as I could. I also met some guys who wrestled for the provincial wrestling team that competed in China's version of national comps. Worked out with that team a lot, so I managed to keep pretty busy. During all this I befriended a lot of folks who the local Han tended to shun. Some Uyghur folks in particular tended to raise the ire of local Han farmers, so we got into some pretty interesting street fights late at night when the night markets were letting out and folks had a good amount of booze in them. Some hair-raising **** went down during those. My friend, the guy from England, was no fighter, so he got pretty freaked out during some of these when he happened to be around.
During Spring Festival one year me, the British guy and two Japanese ladies we were seeing at the time traveled around China as widely as we could, and here and there ran into some folks who had a beef with Japanese people or American people and various unpeaceful events took place accordingly. I should say though that most people were astonishingly welcoming, generous and hospitable to all of us. The great, great majority of folks were so wonderful to all of us that it really left a lasting impression on me. Anyway, while we were traveling, we took in some places along the southern border of China and Burma and Laos. Some of the villages along here seemed to be built around fighting rings where a lot of Chinese MA and the Laotian/Burman versions of Thai boxing and some sorts of Silat were practiced and tested straight out. Almost everywhere we went, the local folks wanted to put on an MMA kind of thing to see how I could do against their local guys. A lot of these guys were tough as hell, but I acquitted myself well enough to earn the respect of the locals. A few times I got the impression that some of the pro guys were going a little easy on me, but I wasn't about to make an issue of it. I had enough bruises and blackeyes as it was. Most combat sport guys everywhere in the world (more stories there) share a respect with anyone who puts their *** on the line. So, our trip along this border had its fair share of interesting experiences in local-made gyms/rings/streets. It would take a long time to recount them all (one actually involved a sort of fireworks battle - ridiculous).
Family matters called me back to the states, and when that was resolved I decided to take a job in Japan. During the years that I lived and worked there I had the opportunity to learn and practice various Japanese martial arts. These included Kempo, Kendo, Aikido, Iaido, and several others to lesser degrees. While working out at a local gym one day I met a guy who ran his own Nihon Kempo club, and he invited me to go teach his students some wrestling. They did a lot of free sparring, so I had the opportunity to go live with guys from a number of different backgrounds several times a week. When they went live they really went live, so that was fun. I didn't get into many street altercations during my years in Japan. Mostly with other gaijin who were drunk and bad-mouthing the US. I of course made time to continue practicing the things I had learned during my years in China as well.
Once again personal family matters called me back to Boston, and this time I became involved in business interests that mostly kept me there. I made a point of hitting different gyms/clubs/dojos around the greater Boston area on a regular basis. Sort of a circuit of boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, CMA, JMA, Ninjutsu, etc. When MMA became a thing, I hit a few of those gyms too. A wrestling club in one of the sketchy parts of Boston was a regular weekly stop. As will happen, there were incidents now and again on weekends. Especially when hanging out with some friends who were not good at drinking or fighting, or controlling themselves. Career interests continued to develop, and at one point I had to go to Korea to train and manage a few branches of a hagwan. I was there for about 7 months. Not long, but I made a point of finding opportunities to train Ssireum and Taekkyeon as much as I could. Time passes and many things transpired over the years and decades, but I have always trained and built on all I have learned. I am now teaching at an inner city school district, and I am also head wrestling coach for all the high schools in the city.
So, that's about where I'm at.
you sound like a no nonsense badass to me Unkogami, and that is a hell of a life story. i am sincerely interested, now, in why you take so much offense to what i am saying in this thread, recognizing that i am obviously missing something that is causing misunderstanding of my intent. it sounds like you grew up tough and stayed tough, and perhaps for you hesitation to use force when needed was never an issue and not something you ever had to think about, but it is not so for some people, and i personally found it necessary to train my mind, more specifically, develop the mind i was born with and train the one i have learned to use for social integration in a way that allows the original to have dominion in circumstances it is better prepared for. dropping one-line-negativity bombs on what(i thought) was a productive and respectful conversation doesn't help anyone understand what you know that i am missing.
i know animals better than i know people, just the way i am. i understand them, the way most people understand one another and i struggle. but the way i see it, 99% of what we consider "ourselves" does not belong to 'us' at all. 'we' are like boarders, who rent a room in the attic of an industrial factory. most of what 'our' bodies are doing every moment of our lives happens completely autonomously to our conscious thought process. our brain no less, what constitutes 'conscious mind' is a small and insignificant portion of what our brains are doing. i have trained to use the animal mind, as it is far more capable of using the potential of this body, than my 'social identity' ever will be. that is the 'power' i was referring to, to be clear.
also in my training i include techniques that as you seemed to rightly imply, are not taught in any legitimate dojo, they cannot be, in a world of liability. my luck, i suppose, to have met and trained with people who didn't care. (and survived). but i do believe that in every TMA that this very concept IS being trained, though probably never discussed, and to what degree it makes a difference is up to the student. no one can do this for us, it happens, in our own mind.
when i spoke originally of meanness, i was simply implying that in a fight(or attack) all things being equal, the meaner participant has an edge. never implied that meanness is more important than anything else, only a significant factor (like speed, strength, training, intelligence, etc) not to be over looked. i do think it amounts to more than diddly-squat.
animals aren't mean, but they are not merciful. they aren't mean, because 'meanness' doesn't exist in their world, it does in ours because we define certain behaviors as such-therefore i chose to use the word i thought best suited simplicity. when the word 'ruthless' was offered as synonmous with meanness, i agreed, but didn't anticipate it would only further skew my intention. i think in meanness and ruthlessness people are hearing 'sadistic' and 'cruel', but i do not mean to advocate these things. the Samurai were ruthless in combat, but not sadistic in nature.
in short, though i train to do as little harm as is necessary, i also train to do as much harm as is necessary, without hesitation or remorse. there is no time to make the distinction when it counts, that is why i train to use the mind that can think that fast.
quick example of the autonomous mind, recent enough to mention but not a combative application:
i had a gig hanging art for some folks who just moved to town, moving furniture, etc. one piece had previously been hung horizontally but fit better vertically, so i moved the screws that it hung on. two days later i was in the same room, two feet from that painting, back turned to it speaking with the owners. there was a faint 'crack' behind me, i turned my head to see the painting 2" lower than it had been hung. the wood had a flaw and cracked, the painting fell free, only it didn't fall very far-because my outstretched left arm, at as far backward an angle as possible, was gripping the edge between my thumb and fingers. by the time i turned my head, i'd already caught the falling painting, before i even knew what was happening. the conscious mind cannot do that, the body, and the mind that really controls it, can. this mind also has a very different sense of self-preservation than the mind that is taught all our lives to be 'more than animals'. so for me, the identity that seeks harmonious existence amongst my own species(however distasteful i often find us) is a separate mind than the one that trains to protect the life of this vessel.
how is this relevant to the original post? the question of whether or not the appearance of strength as achieved by bodybuilding gives a person an edge for self-defense. only so much to say beyond 'maybe' about that, so naturally the topic moved to bodybuilding vs. strength training, toughness and attitude, etc as per how they qualify to this end. so here we are, not terribly far from where we started. and i think i've said all i can, i hope this ( and getting rid of the unintentionally 'ruthless' looking samurai image i had originally chosen for my icon) helps you understand where i am coming from, i welcome thoughtful retorts to my approach to self-defense training.
