how to build a fighter

[thekuntawman]

i just post this on the other forum, i will post it here,i just posted on some other forum a couple days before, but they close the topic after two days. i was not finish, so i want to bring it here. original one, is that there is a young guys who already has martial arts experience, but not in the knife or stick weapons. he wants to know where can he get some training to learn to defend himself with the weapons.
everybody says this video or book or seminars, but no one has said, go to a teacher. now, i am sure these guys went to a teacher before, but they are now selling tapes and seminars, so they want to promote that (and that is bull****). i believe it is irresponsible and unfair to tell a beginner such a thing like:
>I have to seriously question anyone who would even put forth the idea anymore that a Student has to be "wedded" to an Instructor for their continued growth.
Driving is a skill, when you get your License, you don't go to Easy-Method Driving School once a week for a brush up. Oh, you might get sent to some course by a Judge for being a repeated moron in traffic, but that is that.

If you want to be a Police Officer, you get In-Service training every 6 to 12 months, with refreshers and re-qualifications, in shooting, baton, chemical weapons, procedure and driving.

You do not have the Training Officer or Hand to Hand Instructor, or the Academy Pursuit Driving Instructor in the seat next to you after that.

You are on your own
(end)

now i agree that you have to go on your own to get experience. but after only what you learn in a seminars? a couple of "few good techniques"? no way man! even the driver has to learn behind the wheel before you send him out to drive on his own, or he might learn the hard way and die!

so what do you guys think, can a beginner be encourage to learn a few good moves and train on his own, then fight a street fighter?

 

[jaybee]

I am a new poster and am not quite sure I understand your question but I have taken kempo karate for about 4 years and as I decided to go back to college while working I did not have the time to train and during this time I have bought videos and books and have been impressed with the filipino arts and outside of practicing with friends etc. I have not been to a teacher but now that my school time is finishing I do plan on going to find an instructor to train with but I feel that working seriously with videos and doing carrenza (while I may have picked up some bad habits without supervision) has helped me immensely and the videos have been invaluable and outside of that I would not have been able to do anything. I hope this helps.

 

[Timber]

I had found, in my own professional craft, that books and videos only help so much, they give you a grounding, someplace to start, a familiarity with terms and tools, but a craft which has taken me twelve years to come just this far in, working at it most days for eight hours a day, is not learned through a book or even a video. A seminar, or a class, does not even cut it. It is having your mentor there to kick you in the ass and push you on down the log at those times when you are frozen with your own panic, locked up with indecision and terrified of making a wrong choice. Your teacher is the one who can say I am satisfied now get back to work and leave that alone, it's good enough.

The teacher also is there to check ones run-away ego, which can be as stunting as the fear to make decisions or the endless cycle of beating oneself up for perceived catestrophic mistakes.

But not everyone is a good teacher. In my craft there are many who don't know didly and yet run crews and head companies. I have avoided instructors in the martial arts, often because of people I've seen as damaged instructors but in my own craft all of my early teachers were lacking in some manner, yet they are the ones I owe so much to. It is very odd.

I've spent so many years practicing solo and
I did believe that I was good due to that practice, but it was a recent visit to a local teacher, following some advice I got here in the forums, that showed me very clearly that I was lacking in a few crucial areas. I think I do have good strikes, a good base, and it should not take me long to incorporate what I have seen, but I think I will be far better off to practice with this man, and the other students, rather than returning to my solo practice right away.

When it comes to craft I am very disdainful of videos for craft is about repition, application and adaptation. Every job is very different in some manner and a video can not replace the dynamic of a teacher and a student.
Craft is as much about the finished product as the process. How much different is that from martial arts?

 

[Taomonkey]

Something Ernesto Presas said to me might help on this topic. He said " Someone can watch for mabey seven years or more and never understand until a teacher gives them teh keys" As a filipino martial artist I would agree. After meeting some very self proclaimed "stickfighters" and "knife fighters" I would have to strongly agree. Tapes only serve as a reference for skills you have already achieved with an instructor, not a substitute!

 

[thekuntawman]

the guy who is developing his own without the advice or guidance of a teacher who already did that experimenting before, he is going to waste a lot of time "discovering" what was already discovered. he will only be able to see the little bit he can be expose to as a "freelancer", just the basic stuff everyone else has. so this guy might get pretty good, but he is only going to be good at simple things. the few guys who have advanced knowledge even if its just advanced knowledge becuase of a lot of experience, they will be able to whip him or outsmart him easy. the really experienced guy will really be able to expose his weakness. so what you end up with is a beginner. maybe a beginner in good shape, or a beginner with a lot of basics, but no higher level. this is the difference of the artist, and the fighter, and the fighting artist. the fighter knows a lot of techniques, and he might be really good at a lot of it. but he lack the smarts. he can outsmart the average guy or over power the smart man, but thats it.

the artist knows a lot, but he might or might not be able to use his technique inthe real fight. this guy might have a theory that works, but then he might not. but he is what we call "knowledgeable" because he can show you stuff all day. most of the seminar teachers are this guy (the ones i met). they can demo great stuff, but they have reasons not to fight or excuses or they get mad when you ask them to prove a theory (or the students step forward because in reality, they know).

then you have the fighting artist. he is the man who have the most experience. and will demo his stuff by having a match with whoever it is. he has theories, but he can prove them all, becuase he uses them. sometimes you met one who has a lot of them, sometimes he only has a few. but what he knows, he can use it. the fighting artist was dedicated and patience to learn all his teacher had to show, then he went out to test his fighting ability. when he sees what beat him he will study it, or he'll go back and find out where he went wrong, then changed it so he wont lose again. finally the fighting artist can show people fighting styles other than the one he uses, because he got enough experience, and wisdom, which makes him a higher level than the fighter.

i want to be the fighting artist, because he knows his techniques well, and can prove it. he's just as tough as the fighter and just as wise as the "martial artist". there arent to many of these guys around, just pretenders.

oh yeah, there is a fourth kind of fighter/martial artist. we call this guy the phony. > )



[This message has been edited by thekuntawman (edited 03-30-2001).]

 

[Randal16-1]

thekuntawman, I will agree with you on having a teacher is best. Ex-specially to keep you from picking up bad habits and to teach you the true meaning and history of the arts. But I also believe videos can help you stay in tune also. Like in my case there are not to many Filipino school in my area and do to my work schedule it's hard to commute to the more popular areas.

 

[thekuntawman]

you know what randall16? if a guy really wants something and its not close by wont he travel to find it?

if you met some beautiful blonde model on the computer and she wants you bad, you mean you wont find one weekend to bus or train or drive to her town to get her (if you know what i mean)? come on, people will do almost everything for something they love. but not if there is a easy substitute close by and they dont want to work hard for it.

i dont know where american canyon is, but if you are in california, i have to say there is probably arnis teacers anywhere inside of one hours drive anywhere in the state.

 

[Randal16-1]

thekuntawman,

You are a 100% right, That if you trully enjoy the arts you will find a way to train. I am now training in Sacramento.