Small town problems--whether to bother with training

[Mister X]

Kyokushin veteran here. I always wondered (but only vaguely), why what we did for most of class, looked nothing like what we did when we sparred. Fortunately we did do a lot of hard sparring so I was able to learn what worked and what didn't to some extent, but there was always that weird disconnect.

I can definitely relate. I stopped practicing Shotokan for the most part way back in 92. It just continually made less and less sense to me over time in the context of self-defense, although I didn’t have a clear understanding why things were done the way they were. Over the last few years, guys like Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy and even Jesse Enkamp have done a good job of explaining the origins and historical development of karate systems. Their work has really put the pieces together and provided the evidence that I was correct in my decision to pursue a different path.

[EPF]

We are dabbling in the realm of “get a shotgun because you don’t have to aim” level of advice for a beginner here

I suppose one could find a former golden gloves bouncer who teaches American Kenbokujitso out of the loft above the barn he rented while cleaning up the local honkey tonk.

Or, we could do the standard PF thing we do with shooting and realize we live in an amazing time where we have access to experts. Experts who have already done the work for us, thus allowing a huge gain in time and resource efficiency.

Then do the work

[Mark D]

We are dabbling in the realm of “get a shotgun because you don’t have to aim” level of advice for a beginner here

I suppose one could find a former golden gloves bouncer who teaches American Kenbokujitso out of the loft above the barn he rented while cleaning up the local honkey tonk.

Dalton is legit, yo.

Kyokushin veteran here. I always wondered (but only vaguely), why what we did for most of class, looked nothing like what we did when we sparred. .

And since this is a technical subforum, I'll add that I've had a very similar disconnect going from FoF all day, to a square range qual that same evening. Like night and day.

(Side note: I've always been impressed with Kyokushin. The kumite looked intense.)

[EPF]

I've always been impressed with Kyokushin. The kumite looked intense.)

You managed to find the only positive descriptor I can think of for this 😂. You should be a diplomat!

[PNWTO]

Grapplers Guide, and the rest of Jason’s “-guide” sites are great value for the money; wait for a Memorial Day sale or similar. Tony Blauer also has some good stuff available virtually.

[Mister X]

I would add to use extreme caution no matter what you pursue. Considering your outlined goals, it’s just not worth beating yourself up or risking getting seriously injured, especially so at this point in your life.

And to be honest, the martial arts are full of very damaged(both mentally and physically) people. As the president of the WKF once told me, we are all here(at a high level) due to something lacking in ourselves or our lives. We may have been bullied or abused as children, are insecure or maybe lacked discipline/direction in our lives and started creating mischief. Those are many of the instructors you will encounter, no matter what art or system you decide to study.

I’ll be turning 50 this year, and if I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I would have trained at all or just maybe some very minimal actual self-defense training. I’ve never been in any altercations I didn’t essentially put myself in. Most martial arts have little to do with personal protection and more about being and seeing who is the biggest, baddest silverback gorilla in the room. I played those monkey games for far too long, but feel like I’m getting a grip on it after decades and emancipating myself from that nonsense and look forward to a future free from it. It may sound odd, but it can very hard for certain personality types to get away from it.

The point is be very careful, since there are people who won’t hesitate to hurt you and hurt you bad or expect you to abuse your body and that is the antithesis of real self-defense training.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I guess you're too far south to join a hockey team?

[EPF]

Newton’s 27th law of physics:

Any internet thread about martial arts gets weird.

[Mister X]

Newton’s 27th law of physics:

Any internet thread about martial arts gets weird.

Not at all surprising considering how strange many serious martial artists happen to be.

[Moylan]

I guess you're too far south to join a hockey team?

Originally from yankeeland. Proudly non-yankee now. Growing up, the local youth hockey players had access to the college rink for practice, at 0-dark-thirty. This did not appeal to me for some reason.