What makes us superior?

Posted by: Jay_Sea_JC

What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 08:11 PM

Martial artists. What is it that you think makes us superior to those that do not practice fighting arts? The physical conditioning? Just the fact that we have repeatedly practiced forms and know application for different situations? Im interested to know what you guys think make us better (as fighters).
Posted by: Mr_Heretik

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 08:44 PM

Loaded question.
Posted by: JKogas

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 09:00 PM

I don't know that we ARE superior. Anyone that trains athletically will have conditioning on their side. Also, it's assumptive that we can just beat anyone up isn't it?

So are we superior? I don't like to be quite so arrogant.


-John
Posted by: MattJ

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 09:25 PM

Agreed with JKogas. I view martial arts as a way to gain parity with other, more naturally inclined fighters. They ALREADY have the superior attributes that I (we) lack, so martial arts is catch-up.
Posted by: Tashigae

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 11:21 PM

Quote:

Agreed with JKogas. I view martial arts as a way to gain parity with other, more naturally inclined fighters. They ALREADY have the superior attributes that I (we) lack, so martial arts is catch-up.



I can agree to that to a certain degree, if you're talking about some kind of "contextual" nature of MA, not the "essential" nature (not sure I can make myself understood here, my meaning's awfully difficult to explain).

Frankly, take a look at the skill of some Chinese or Japanese masters and tell me again that they're just "catching up"...


I'd say that what makes a martial practitioner a better fighter (than the hypothetical same person without martial experience), in the earlier stages of their progression, is their training, conditioning, techniques, experience, etc... Then at some point, it's no longer the skills they have learnt but the efficiency principles they've deeply imbedded in themselves from honing those skills again and again.

Just my opinion.
Posted by: ThatSpearGuy

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/08/07 11:34 PM

The word supurior makes that question a bit dicey. If I understand the gist of your question though what makes a trained martial artist more likley to survive a real street fight is multiple. Experience, conditioning, knowledge, and the trained ability to deal with the fear and speed involved in a real fight.
Posted by: ashe_higgs

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 01:45 AM

Quote:

Anyone that trains athletically will have conditioning on their side.



depends on what they're doing. bodybuiling will definitely decrease your performance.

anyway, we shouldn't feed the troll.
Posted by: crablord

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 03:01 AM

i hate this argument.

Martial artists are NOT superior, and running til you vomit for footy training is a lot harder than a bit of sparring every week.
Its how hard you train, and what you train in.
that includes streetfighting.

And all this crap about martial arts "bettering people" and whatnot is just a load of crap
Posted by: metempsychosis

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 04:17 AM

Stupidly ignorant question. And it's the fact that some 'martial artists' think they are superior that gets them a beat down. Some scrub that was a black belt in karate was acting tough and bragging until I challenged him and made him cry after 3 simple punches while dodging all his. I didn't have any martial training at the time...
Posted by: JKogas

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 09:14 AM

Quote:


depends on what they're doing. bodybuiling will definitely decrease your performance.




Is that true across the board or are we being more assumptive?


-John
Posted by: ashe_higgs

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 02:58 PM

Quote:


Is that true across the board or are we being more assumptive?




J,

notice i said bodybuilding which is an important distinction to make.

even other methods of strength training like using kb's, etc. will mess up your explosiveness if you put too much emphasis on absolute strength.

bodybuilding style routines only have two places in MA imo, and that's to add mass in the "off season" to a fighter who wants to move up a weight class, and the prophylactic effect that thicker connective tissue can offer.

however, even these can be accomplished more appropriately through other training styles like Oly and modified Oly lifting routines.
Posted by: Jay_Sea_JC

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/09/07 08:57 PM

lol wow I got flamed . I probably shouldn't have said superior but more capable in combat? Well, it's not that I mean to insult those that do not train in the martial arts, but what I wish to know is what part of the training we do really ups our chances at winning a fight. Sorry if I offened anyone
Posted by: Neko456

Re: What makes us superior? - 06/10/07 12:19 AM

What makes us better at fighting is that we train to fight against odd weapons, mutiple attackers and from various ranges. Just like a NBA basketball player, NFL football player, Socker player, Rugby player or Weight lifter are better at doing what they are trained to do, so are we. Does that mean we are superior? No. Does mean that we can beat everybody we encounter? No. Does it gives us a better chance? Most definitely. Being prepared, is more the half the battle. IMHO.