wow. the site has changed... well i heres a little history lesson.
first started out as a traditional martial artist in Tang Soo Do (which i still do as my base disipline). i heard of a local tournament and thought id go. well simply put, i sucked. my "way" of doing things didnt make a good enough show. but i did meet and learn that there was a new world of martial arts!! XMA! (haha) so i decided to check it out. it was so cool and flashy. but turns out i discover it was a waste of my time with in the "actual" world. it had no self defense concept! around that time i was at a cross road. either keep it tradtitional(which had become jaded with little inspiration) or quit. well i turn the tv on one day and i watched for the first time a cage fighting show. i thought it was pretty barbarac at first but it was a reallity show and better yet it was a marathon. man i loved it. well its been a long time since then and let me tell you, if i had met myself when i first came to this site then id slap myself silly. Along with my Tang Soo Do, i also incorporate Muay Thai, Wrestling(yes i wrestle for school), and Gracie Jiu Jitsu.
now really, who here could walk out fully condfident as a black belt, and take what ever life throws at you? and if your one of those ignorant, biassed kinda persons dont respond.
peace
I am one of those people. :) I have trained in traditional martial arts as well as some eclectic arts. I did Thai boxing in my youth as well. The with people in the tradtional arts is not the art but the one deminsional thinking that people use. To many people just spit back what they are taught without thinking outside the box. Now is traditional martial arts the answer to everything? Nope, but neither is MMA. However I respect the hell out those fighters as they are some of the toughest trained athletes around. I love watchnig the UFC and Pride. Would I personally step into a cage? HELL NO!!! I'm way too pretty to fight. :) Plus I have a real job where I can't afford to sustain an injury that will prohibit me from working. Now I just like to point out a couple of things you mentioned that you were ignorant on (and I don't mean that in a bad way. I am talking that you lacked knowledge on the subject)
1) There is the traditional martial art world and there is the tournament world. If you were to keep going to tournaments you would have learned that it is mostly for performance and not exactly what you would do at your school. It is like gymnastics. If you go to the gymnastics club you practice the flips and tumbles. You would even do some floor exercises. However when you go to the competition you would perform...face gestures, body language, etc. This is the same for most touranments. It is not everyone's cup of tea.
2) XMA is not a martial art. I don't know why people think it is. It is simply a program used to enhance the performance aspect of the martial arts. It is not a form of self defense, nor should anyone go around saying "I have a black belt in XMA". If they do, then they are either the biggest idiot in the world or their instructor needs to slapped big time for putting that idea in their head. So if you thought that XMA was a new martial art, then you were sadly mistaken. I'm not sure how much research you did on it, but apparently not enough.
If the MMA world works for you that is great and I'm happy that you found something that you can excel in. I give you props because I know that is not an easy training regimine. However, if you came on to this site simply to pick a flame war on how XMA is just an inferior martial art and people shouldn't waste their time doing it, then please don't bother. Not everyone wants to be the next Matt Hughes. Some people just enjoy doing their tradtional arts along with doing sport karate tournament. To each his own.
Hey Xmafanatic Here,
Dont be dissing xma! I have competed and placed in many grappling tournaments
So dont get me wrong MMA is the way to go! But if you think Xma is a waste of time, its not!
Xma is a way to enhance ones performence, its not a not a style! Thank you TeamSharkey for explaining that to him.
As mike chat in camp chat says, dont forget your roots and basics just add on to your knowledge!
Xma is the new age of the tournament worlds and I am ready to accept it! :)
See Ya, Train Hard=Results
naw just j'n. i just remember the olden days of samuraibushi giving his long hard talks and i just wanted to see if there was anyone like him.
and hey dont say you respect the mma guys for the conditioning cause the xma work out isnt a walk in the park either. lol
and in response to the first guy, im not that ignorant!! lol but you wouldnt believe the number of ppl that think there the next bruce lee just becuase they trick. i see if i can tape them some time.