Bruce Lee Was the Best Eva!

Training
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I will also say that someone earlier said that not many people really have mastered the soft TMA arts such as bagua et al. enough to apply them. I agree with this.

I think the big thing is that arts like boxing, muay thai, TKD, karate are easier to pick up on and learn to become effective at than ‘soft’ arts like bagau. This is because of 2 things IMVHO:

  1. they teach relatively easy to learn skills first like basic punches, kicks, etc, and introduce sparring very early. You also get used to getting hit very quickly. Basically, while you won’t master anything in short order, you’ll become proficient enough to be able to use the individual skills if you need them very very quickly and are aware of the feel of a punch.

This is in contrast to the LONG DAMN TIME that soft TMAs require to become proficient at, as they are currently taught (for the record I VHB that their training regimens were better when they were widespread in past centuries. Not nutrition and weights, but teaching methods and regimens)

  1. they are very widespread. This makes it relatively easy to find a good instructor. There are still a lot of schools out there that are crap (witness Mcdojos in karate and TKD), but the SHEER number of the places open makes it relatively easy to find a quality place.

This is in very stark contrast to the soft chinese TMAs where there may not even be 1 instructor in your state/province. That means you have to REALLY search for someone who’s put a ton of time and thought into practicing, honing, and teaching the art and really understands how to apply it. The statistical chance of finding the equivalent to an excellent boxing/MT/kickboxing coach is very low.

So basically, I think that many “obscure” or “soft” TMAs have a lot to offer but are not really taught effectively due to the incredibly small number of overall instructors now. The small # of good instructors means that the teaching process does not benefit from the “cross talk” that should happen with colleagues. It also means that many things that could have been useful were lost in time.

I think that the state of TMA understanding was greatly increased during those earlier centuries where they were widespread (*in their home countries). This would mean that the so called “real life” effectiveness of the arts was increased because they were tested relatively often by other schools etc. compared to today.

I’m not making any specific claims about the greatness of bagua masters to overpower Fedor. Just saying I think a lot of the TMAs former greatness has been lost to time and the decline in popularity of the arts. In other words, they are a shadow of their former selves.

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[quote]Aragorn wrote:
I will also say that someone earlier said that not many people really have mastered the soft TMA arts such as bagua et al. enough to apply them. I agree with this.

I think the big thing is that arts like boxing, muay thai, TKD, karate are easier to pick up on and learn to become effective at than ‘soft’ arts like bagau. This is because of 2 things IMVHO:

  1. they teach relatively easy to learn skills first like basic punches, kicks, etc, and introduce sparring very early. You also get used to getting hit very quickly. Basically, while you won’t master anything in short order, you’ll become proficient enough to be able to use the individual skills if you need them very very quickly and are aware of the feel of a punch.

This is in contrast to the LONG DAMN TIME that soft TMAs require to become proficient at, as they are currently taught (for the record I VHB that their training regimens were better when they were widespread in past centuries. Not nutrition and weights, but teaching methods and regimens)

  1. they are very widespread. This makes it relatively easy to find a good instructor. There are still a lot of schools out there that are crap (witness Mcdojos in karate and TKD), but the SHEER number of the places open makes it relatively easy to find a quality place.

This is in very stark contrast to the soft chinese TMAs where there may not even be 1 instructor in your state/province. That means you have to REALLY search for someone who’s put a ton of time and thought into practicing, honing, and teaching the art and really understands how to apply it. The statistical chance of finding the equivalent to an excellent boxing/MT/kickboxing coach is very low.

So basically, I think that many “obscure” or “soft” TMAs have a lot to offer but are not really taught effectively due to the incredibly small number of overall instructors now. The small # of good instructors means that the teaching process does not benefit from the “cross talk” that should happen with colleagues. It also means that many things that could have been useful were lost in time.

I think that the state of TMA understanding was greatly increased during those earlier centuries where they were widespread (*in their home countries). This would mean that the so called “real life” effectiveness of the arts was increased because they were tested relatively often by other schools etc. compared to today.

I’m not making any specific claims about the greatness of bagua masters to overpower Fedor. Just saying I think a lot of the TMAs former greatness has been lost to time and the decline in popularity of the arts. In other words, they are a shadow of their former selves.[/quote]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with what you are saying. TMA’s do have a lot to offer if you can find a master level instructor, but like you said, that’s very rare in this day and age. And even then, training in more modern systems on top of utilizing the principles from effective TMA’s would still be better than pure TMA imho.

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i have in my possession the “aphoristics of jeet kune do” written by christopher casey who trained under taki kimura. this book was presented to the kou-shu federation and as i stated earlier, they were so impressed with the “philosphical” understanding of the chinese boxing ideals, that they honored bruces sysem with is own flag and its own lineage! the only hybrid given this honor. i feel in these posts, people truly dont understand the significance of what he accomplished. to hear that he has no philosophical perspective is appalling, but hey, this is a new generation, the mma generation in which the “art” is lost to just “physical” movements. oh well, i’ll kept appyling his system, and ideas “to honor the masters who came before us, but evolve”