sacp81170a
Member
The best system is what works for you, and only to the extent you pursue it with genuine passion.
You sir, speak the truth.
The best system is what works for you, and only to the extent you pursue it with genuine passion.
JMHO based on being a TKD instructor for 26ish years. Edit to add, virtually no martial arts program in contemporary America strikes me as having sufficient rigor and focus on geniuine combat as to capture my interests and my respect. Most are hobby at best, with half-wit, wanna-be-professional instructors to who falsely inflate their rank to something north of their real Black Belt rank.
The best system is what works for you, and only to the extent you pursue it with genuine passion.
I don't know if you're familiar with Japanese Shorinji Kempo, but it too incorporates chin na type techniques. But then Master So Doshin was a Japanese spy in China where he traveled widely, posing (and actually being) a student of the Chinese martial arts. I've found the Shorinji Kempo techniques to be quite effective in practice.Dean, a clarification, qin na ("seize and control") is not exactly a stand alone style but a subcomponent of grappling which is one of the four methods of boxing (hitting, kicking, throwing, grappling). All divisions of Chinese boxing feature qin na to some degree. Some systems, e.g., Eagle Claw, Tiger, White Crane, Praying Mantis, inter alia, have a heavy concentration on qin na.
The "football" answer has merit; evasion of a rush or breaking loose of a grab.
to look for a particular instructor.
I know of Shorinji Kempo from Master So's very well illustrated book which I purchased in the 1970s, as well as a couple of Sonny Chiba movies!Sure, I know of Shorinji Kempo but only by talking to students. There's one or two guys that come to the Boston qinna seminars and there's a club that comes to Chicago when Dr. Yang comes there.
Very happy that you found something you like.
In fact, I'd say we're overdue for the Martial Arts world to give birth to Gun-Do.
You're 400-500 years behind the times. Ever heard of Ho-Jutsu or Teppo-Jutsu? They're the Japanese martial arts of shooting. They go back to when matchlocks were top of the line.In fact, I'd say we're overdue for the Martial Arts world to give birth to Gun-Do.
It's not so much being able to defend myself I'm worried about, it's being able to control my strikes and direct the strikes to knock someone down without really smashing them up. I'm as much worried about not hurting them too much as defending myself.
In my experience, weapons training forces you to focus your attention outside your own body and work with distances that are far different than simply working with your own body does. I would submit that kendo and fencing are far more realistic representations of combat than you can imagine if you haven't tried them.
Then again, I'm just giving someone advice on something that they might try based on actual experience and training, not expressing my prejudices.
I've had a couple years of fencing, a couple months of kumdo (Korean kendo), a small amount of ARMA longsword, and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Riiiight. And of course you assume I'm not, just because I happen to disagree.
The idea of kendo is to tap the other guy with a stick, without injuring him.
The idea of modern fencing is to touch the other guy with the tip of a metal stick, without injuring him.
Well, you also learn trigger control and sight alignment with bullseye shooting, does that mean that 50 foot bullseye is a great gunfighting method? No.
contemporary martial arts (non-firearm) are either 1) a way of life or 2) a sport, but they are NOT 3) combat preparedness. I submit for the consideration of my fellow expert martial artists, how much less so is the pursuit of a mere one or two techniques sufficient preparedness?
This really is an interesting thread. Some parts of it read like an old Kung-Fu movie... "My Dragon style is far better than your weak Eagle style...!"