After forty years of intense study of the martial arts, of studying Karate and Shaolin and Aikido and other arts, I have learned one very interesting truth about fighting. This truth is that people become better fighters if they study martial arts forms. And, sadly, people who don't study forms don't always get better at fighting.
The very interesting thing about all this is that most people don't really know what fighting really is. People are locked into the bang and pow of such things as reaction time, and they never really open up to the subject of developing intuition. Only through classical forms, such as are taught in such classical martial arts as wing chun or Shaolin, will a person make serious inroads into and start to develop the reality of this subject of intuition.
Most training methods in todays consumer related karate, you see, rely on making muscle, on increasing speed, on being bigger and better and faster. Yet, the sad truth is that being the biggest, bestest, fastest does not always make one into a good fighter. The best fighters in the world are the ones who have trained themselves to perceive what is coming before it arrives.
Most martial arts training methods in modern times, you see, because they rely on reaction time, have reaction time built into them. Reaction time means that you are moving because something else has already moved, which means that you are moving too late, you are moving after the punch is on the way and nearly there. To not learn to move too late you must train in a classical method, such as Krav Maga or ninjitsu or Aikido, which teaches you to move before the punch is thrown.
Thus, to accelerate yourself as a fighter, to improve yourself on every possible level, you need to study martial methods, such as form training in classical styles such as hung gar and wado ryu, which address you in areas other than just muscle and reaction time. The forms of the classical arts accelerate your ability to fight as I am discussing here. Yes, they sometimes seem unweildy and one does often have to adapt and change what they learn to make the various teachings work, but the benefits are great and far in advance of meat and muscle and bone, and a person will be vastly improved, on an intuitive level, as a fighter.
When you do a classical form from a classical art you are traveling down the same, old street. After a while of traveling down that street you begin to realize that you are seeing the same things over and over. After a while you gain the ability to predict what is going to happen on that street before you make passage.
This kind of prediction is just the start of the martial arts, however. The real key lies in finding the silence of the form, which is available through such arts as Uechi ryu and Goju ryu. In the middle of silence you can find and define the exact thought that must precede every action.
Nothing in this universe moves without a thought occurring first. Thus, the study of the classical martial arts, with correct form done correctly, with correct training methods, aid the fighter in developing intuition. Yes, studying forms, such as in Isshin ryu and shito ryu, opens your mind and allows you access to abilities that are not found by the fellow who just fights. - 30300
The very interesting thing about all this is that most people don't really know what fighting really is. People are locked into the bang and pow of such things as reaction time, and they never really open up to the subject of developing intuition. Only through classical forms, such as are taught in such classical martial arts as wing chun or Shaolin, will a person make serious inroads into and start to develop the reality of this subject of intuition.
Most training methods in todays consumer related karate, you see, rely on making muscle, on increasing speed, on being bigger and better and faster. Yet, the sad truth is that being the biggest, bestest, fastest does not always make one into a good fighter. The best fighters in the world are the ones who have trained themselves to perceive what is coming before it arrives.
Most martial arts training methods in modern times, you see, because they rely on reaction time, have reaction time built into them. Reaction time means that you are moving because something else has already moved, which means that you are moving too late, you are moving after the punch is on the way and nearly there. To not learn to move too late you must train in a classical method, such as Krav Maga or ninjitsu or Aikido, which teaches you to move before the punch is thrown.
Thus, to accelerate yourself as a fighter, to improve yourself on every possible level, you need to study martial methods, such as form training in classical styles such as hung gar and wado ryu, which address you in areas other than just muscle and reaction time. The forms of the classical arts accelerate your ability to fight as I am discussing here. Yes, they sometimes seem unweildy and one does often have to adapt and change what they learn to make the various teachings work, but the benefits are great and far in advance of meat and muscle and bone, and a person will be vastly improved, on an intuitive level, as a fighter.
When you do a classical form from a classical art you are traveling down the same, old street. After a while of traveling down that street you begin to realize that you are seeing the same things over and over. After a while you gain the ability to predict what is going to happen on that street before you make passage.
This kind of prediction is just the start of the martial arts, however. The real key lies in finding the silence of the form, which is available through such arts as Uechi ryu and Goju ryu. In the middle of silence you can find and define the exact thought that must precede every action.
Nothing in this universe moves without a thought occurring first. Thus, the study of the classical martial arts, with correct form done correctly, with correct training methods, aid the fighter in developing intuition. Yes, studying forms, such as in Isshin ryu and shito ryu, opens your mind and allows you access to abilities that are not found by the fellow who just fights. - 30300
About the Author:
Al Case has been perfecting his form for 4O years. You can see the results of his endeavors with a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
