Thoughts on flexible weapons nunchaku monkey fist flail meteor hammer etc?

[Taipan]

Yeah, looks like a backyard "master." Far too many flaws to even think about listing them.

Were those kicks? I thought he was just checking his shoe to see if he stepped in some dog poo. I couldn't watch past the first half of the video - just had dinner. Agree most all of the weapon moves were useless. Pray that guy never gets into a knife fight. Most likely self-"taught." I hope he didn't pay anybody to teach him this stuff.

Ryan - If you're there, don't equate looking cool with being skilled. Many here have experience with actual weapon masters and are not impressed by amateurs. Thanks for your interest and welcome to the site. Hope you stick around and enjoy the chat - some of it is very informative.

Thanks for the welcome!

I would have to agree that it wasn't very applicable to real life combat. It seems that there are two camps in the martial arts world. There are "martial ARTS" and then there are "MARTIAL arts". I'll have to admitt that even I have jumped around between the two. I like my Combatives to be as practical as possible, with nothing useless in them. My philosophy on it is (to quote Miyamoto Musashi) "Do nothing that is useless".

Then there sre times when I do like to just "look cool", and mess around a little. I think there should be a balance though. You can teach "looking cool" and treat it like it is combat ready.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Thanks for the welcome!

I would have to agree that it wasn't very applicable to real life combat. It seems that there are two camps in the martial arts world. There are "martial ARTS" and then there are "MARTIAL arts". I'll have to admitt that even I have jumped around between the two. I like my Combatives to be as practical as possible, with nothing useless in them. My philosophy on it is (to quote Miyamoto Musashi) "Do nothing that is useless".

Then there sre times when I do like to just "look cool", and mess around a little. I think there should be a balance though. You can teach "looking cool" and treat it like it is combat ready.

There's a lot that falls between "look cool" and direct fighting application. I think you misunderstand the purpose of a lot of MA practice in the "martial ARTS" (those with more -do focus).

 

[Taipan]

There's a lot that falls between "look cool" and direct fighting application. I think you misunderstand the purpose of a lot of MA practice in the "martial ARTS" (those with more -do focus).

Not at all friend! I think I failed to communicate mu thoughts properly.

I want my training to be as effective as possible. I think there is hardcore combatives and there is flashy nonsense. I also know that there is a lot of things in between. It's also possible to "look cool" and be effective at the same time.

I guess my main point is that I couldn't care less about looking cool when I'm practing martial arts for real life application. For example I don't care if gouging my thumbs into an attackers eyes looks flashy or not. It just has to work.

Then when it comes to "showing off", lets use nunchaku as an example. There is almost no situation in real combat that an "around the neck toss" or "wrist roll" would be a good idea to perform. It would be idiotic! However, I have nothing against playing around with a pair of Nunchucks. It makes training interesting sometimes!

I hope I have clarified my thought process.

 

[lklawson]

Thanks for the welcome!

I would have to agree that it wasn't very applicable to real life combat. It seems that there are two camps in the martial arts world. There are "martial ARTS" and then there are "MARTIAL arts". I'll have to admitt that even I have jumped around between the two. I like my Combatives to be as practical as possible, with nothing useless in them. My philosophy on it is (to quote Miyamoto Musashi) "Do nothing that is useless".

Then there sre times when I do like to just "look cool", and mess around a little. I think there should be a balance though. You can teach "looking cool" and treat it like it is combat ready.

I can't say that I agree. The "art" part of "martial arts" is not about looking cool, though it may not always, in every circumstance, have as much to do with what any specific person may or may not think of as "practical" in their opinion. But "practical" is a whole different can-o-worms.

And even then, that is based on a dramatic misunderstanding by modern readers of what the term "art" means in context. The short version is, you (and nearly everyone else) think they know what it means, and you don't.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[JowGaWolf]

So I am not a fan of flexible weapons. Like they look good in routines but I have yet to really see the martial aspect of them. When compared to non-flexible counterparts I don't see any advantage. I am wondering your guys thoughts and if you guys have any stories of people using them in martial applications?

My thought not realistic

Most people who try to use them probably don't know how to use them.

Real life application? Takes us back to the video above.

In terms of skill level needed. Flexible weapons require a lot of skills because the weapon tends to "bite the owner' and driving power to it is not as simple as what the movies make it look like. If you don't train a flexible weapon then I wouldn't recommend trying to depend on one in a tight spot

Just realized this is an old post lol.