Posted by: Ed_Morris
The 'good ol days' ? - 05/12/06 10:02 AM
I've noticed there is a certain psychology shift in perspective as we get to be older MAists...we start thinking that what we learned and studied when we were younger, is somehow much better than what the young are now doing. although I was training as a kid, I often peeked in on adult classes. I was both facinated and frightened by the intensity. I transferred from the kids class to adult class when I was 13 in '79. The mood starting changing in the mid 80's ...we started asking 'why'....and guess what...overall technique improved. training was smarter instead of simply doing something harder.
so sure, there is crap now...but there was a different kind of crap in the 70's too. but crap is still crap. and ...I also remember hearing older folk then complaining about how 'people dont train right nowadays...' etc. I bet the next generation will be saying the same thing.
I think today, there are more MAists in touch with classical? MA (pre-WWII) since MA hit the world shores in volume. awareness and information sharing is certainly much better now than the 70's. back then, what were a students contemporary sources? your sensei and BB magazine.
some people lucked out and happened to get in the knowledgable circles ...most others just accepted what was being offered and assumed it must be the same everywhere.
Today, there is opportunity to much more easily research backup to what you hear/see someone teach, and call them on it for explaination...dont like the explaination? train elsewhere. There seems to have been more 'blind dojo loyalty' than now. 'blind loyalty' being not necessarily a good thing....but like I said, some lucked out by giving blind loyalty to a place that happened to be quite good.
Of course, today there is more info, which means there is also tons of bad info out there...but just the fact a student is questioning their training is a step forward from the dark ages of 'just do this 10,000 times, then I'll tell you why'.
people trained like that in the 70's..."hit the makiwara till your first 2 knuckles bleed", "practice Sanchin kata with so much strain it leaves blood in your stool", full contact no pads... then tomorrow do it again....you'll see why later.
right. People questioning it then were silently regarded as 'soft' and 'couldnt hack it' or 'werent willing to pay the price', etc. Today, I call healthier practice as being informed and smarter training.
So before waxing people with stories from 'the good ol days', (which are often conveinently unverifiable), think honestly to yourself....was training really better then? I say overall, no. doing something 10,000 times and not knowing why is NOT better than doing something 10 times and knowing exactly why....or at least sorta know why.
no doubt some MAists who were training 25+ years ago will chime in here and let everyone know they were one of the lucky ones to have had 'proper' training...uh huh. I'm the ONLY one who observed semi-harmful training practices that was prevalent in commercial dojos 25+ years ago... right.
I'd be able to tell by looking at your first two knuckles. mine are the size of grapes....and since I was young, I wasn't even hard-core compared to most adults training then.
just some memories that were jogged when reading posts from people bathing in their past training.
oh yeah, and did you young people know that back then, we all had to walk to class in the snow...uphill, both ways...
for me, the best memories of those days were the friendships and satisfaction of getting thru something which was hard....just happened to be Karate, but it could have been doing anything. I suspect that aspect hasn't changed all that much.
so sure, there is crap now...but there was a different kind of crap in the 70's too. but crap is still crap. and ...I also remember hearing older folk then complaining about how 'people dont train right nowadays...' etc. I bet the next generation will be saying the same thing.
I think today, there are more MAists in touch with classical? MA (pre-WWII) since MA hit the world shores in volume. awareness and information sharing is certainly much better now than the 70's. back then, what were a students contemporary sources? your sensei and BB magazine.
some people lucked out and happened to get in the knowledgable circles ...most others just accepted what was being offered and assumed it must be the same everywhere.
Today, there is opportunity to much more easily research backup to what you hear/see someone teach, and call them on it for explaination...dont like the explaination? train elsewhere. There seems to have been more 'blind dojo loyalty' than now. 'blind loyalty' being not necessarily a good thing....but like I said, some lucked out by giving blind loyalty to a place that happened to be quite good.
Of course, today there is more info, which means there is also tons of bad info out there...but just the fact a student is questioning their training is a step forward from the dark ages of 'just do this 10,000 times, then I'll tell you why'.
people trained like that in the 70's..."hit the makiwara till your first 2 knuckles bleed", "practice Sanchin kata with so much strain it leaves blood in your stool", full contact no pads... then tomorrow do it again....you'll see why later.
right. People questioning it then were silently regarded as 'soft' and 'couldnt hack it' or 'werent willing to pay the price', etc. Today, I call healthier practice as being informed and smarter training.So before waxing people with stories from 'the good ol days', (which are often conveinently unverifiable), think honestly to yourself....was training really better then? I say overall, no. doing something 10,000 times and not knowing why is NOT better than doing something 10 times and knowing exactly why....or at least sorta know why.
no doubt some MAists who were training 25+ years ago will chime in here and let everyone know they were one of the lucky ones to have had 'proper' training...uh huh. I'm the ONLY one who observed semi-harmful training practices that was prevalent in commercial dojos 25+ years ago... right.
I'd be able to tell by looking at your first two knuckles. mine are the size of grapes....and since I was young, I wasn't even hard-core compared to most adults training then.
just some memories that were jogged when reading posts from people bathing in their past training.
oh yeah, and did you young people know that back then, we all had to walk to class in the snow...uphill, both ways...
for me, the best memories of those days were the friendships and satisfaction of getting thru something which was hard....just happened to be Karate, but it could have been doing anything. I suspect that aspect hasn't changed all that much.
. (Obviously set low but even so....) I have major trouble even imagining that kind of (IMO-fwiw) insanity training!
. More isn't necessarily better. I guess the increased interest and study into kata bunkai may be my generation's main contribution to the martial arts, but heaven knows how long that has been going on before now.
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