I would have thought you'd agree that ueshiba had what most would consider superhuman powers through ki. Considering you've used this video to make a similar point about the power of ki in the past. And whats happening in that video surely seems superhuman to most folks. Or am I misunderstanding something?
A true statement in each and every style of martial art. Which proves my point that it is never about style, it is about the individual that is training at a certain moment in time, and equally, the teaching style. Which then also lends itself to my assertion that the entirety of this exercise equates to mental masturbation. Thusly, and in keeping with the aim of this thread, I hereby rank MY engorged martial art as a new designation SSSS above the previous pinnacle of Ameri do te. What ranks A and below is nothing more than insignificant rebellion against the obvious and incontrovertible truth.
"Ki", while a useful visualisation tool, does not exist in a physical sense. There's nothing superhuman in what Saotome does in the video: hundreds of folks in Japanese and Chinese arts can do it to various extents because it can be trained. Saotome is apparently relaxed (= no unnecessary muscle contraction) but maintains structure through a system of tensions in his tissues, a bit like this chair:
Even wrestling isn't always the same.
The point is that German Longsword doesn't need to "evolve" just because some 27-year-old kid thinks it's "stagnant." It doesn't need to.
That's an Appeal to Authority. It doesn't matter if he's a cop, a nuclear physicist, or a pregnant mom. What matters is if the argument holds up, or if it even starts out from a logical base.
I think you're missing the point. "Combat" is a vague word that gets thrown around a lot here on MT and in martial arts circles in general. I've seen it mean anything from a sporting match where there's not generally an expectation of death or serious bodily injury (such as boxing or MMA) through 2-person dueling with lots of ceremony and "rules" (such as Hamilton/Burr) or a multiples-vs-one duel such as Peeke vs. the Spanish rapier masters. I've seen "combat" used to refer to armed civilian self defense such as Cyrano de Bergerac using his rapier to fight off a large band attempting to assassinate him or a modern U.S. citizen using a firearm to defend against a mugger or a home invation and I've seen "combat" applied to Greek Phalanx's and Roman gladiatorial contests (many of which were not "to the death"). I've seen "combat" applied to modern U.S. actions in Afghanistan and Iraq (which have fairly restrictive Rules of Engagement) and to Custer's Last Stand.
It's not something that you can agree or disagree with. The "rankings" are analogous to ranking the best musical notes.
Legend! Am so glad you brought it up. It really is undeniably top of the list material. I mean, look at that strange fellow's skill kicking WHILST grappling... If do right, no can defense!
Believe it or not, there was a time on this forum when folks' first reaction would have been to have a little fun and shared their opinions.
yes and no. I totally agree that how folks train matters. And some styles build in contact or lack of contact as a feature of the art. For example, take a guy like Machida... definitely a traditional karate martial artist. But he has also trained sumo, is a BJJ black belt, and has modified his training so that he saw a lot of success in MMA. Most karate guys can't do that, or at least, without changing their training model and mindset in a similar way. Depending on the school, this could be a significant shift in mindset. Another example, I can't remember his name now, but I'm pretty sure one of the founding members of bullshido was a kung fu instructor who often commented about the significant changes he had to make as a practitioner... not unlike some of the comments you've made over the last few months.
yeah, also references being a cop and a bouncer.
Only if I insist he's correct because he's a cop. I haven't even argued that he is correct, so it's just context shared.
Lethwei is basically the same as other Asian kickboxing arts (Muay Thai, San Shou), but with headbutting actually allowed and encouraged.
Hi Steve, I’m not sure which comments of mine you are referencing. Significant changes I made as a practitioner? If you mean boxing, my Sigung was also a boxer in the navy so we have always had that in the style. I am curious what you mean.Believe it or not, there was a time on this forum when folks' first reaction would have been to have a little fun and shared their opinions.
yes and no. I totally agree that how folks train matters. And some styles build in contact or lack of contact as a feature of the art. For example, take a guy like Machida... definitely a traditional karate martial artist. But he has also trained sumo, is a BJJ black belt, and has modified his training so that he saw a lot of success in MMA. Most karate guys can't do that, or at least, without changing their training model and mindset in a similar way. Depending on the school, this could be a significant shift in mindset. Another example, I can't remember his name now, but I'm pretty sure one of the founding members of bullshido was a kung fu instructor who often commented about the significant changes he had to make as a practitioner... not unlike some of the comments you've made over the last few months.
yeah, also references being a cop and a bouncer.
Only if I insist he's correct because he's a cop. I haven't even argued that he is correct, so it's just context shared.
In my experience most people training BJJ only engage in the rulesets when they are about to compete and the folk that compete are probably in the minority
An even smaller minority is no gi BJJ(whether they compete or not), and look at the differences there. A belt ranking in jacketed wrestling like judo and BJJ isn't the same as someone with a lot of no gi experience. That's a whole other level.
