Ok i was surfing the net just now and came across another martial arts site like this one with a forum and almost 50% of the posts were style vs. style bashing and which would be more effective on the street and which ones are not. I have seen endless posts on here about the same subject and i'm sure someone else has posted a post like this one before to try and put an end to it all, but i felt like writing this because i'm just kinda venting because i'm sick of all this style vs. style crap and street effectiveness. I have been training in martial arts for over 7 years now, not a very long time i know. I hold a 1st dan in shotokan but i have also cross trained in Kajukenpo, judo and tae kwon do. All of which i saw its strong points and weak points, all martial arts have them no matter who says otherwise. NO style is better than the other, every style has its effectiveness and it all depends on the training of the techniques and the conditioning. The martial artist has control over his/her own effectiveness by the way they train themselves. I am thoroughly convinced that even though some masters may say otherwise that strength and size do matter, after 7 years of training the people who are more street ready are the ones who workout outside the dojo lifting weights and conditioning themselves. This may seem like common sense it may not to some. I have grown sick of people who think they can beat a 6'5 mountain of muscle, its possible if u can get a good kick to the groin or a throat strike and a few other techniques such as eye gouging but otherwise ur done unless u can escape thats ur best bet or avoid the confrontation all together, this is where martial arts are the most effective, awareness. And just to put this aside before i continue, yes big people have the same pressure points as anyone but they are extremely hard to execute on someone who is larger. I know i'm gonna get bashed by the people who have been brainwashed to think they can beat bigger people, yea they have a slight chance but very slight. And just to get the record straight by big people i mean people who are not near ur height or weight range because most people will not pick on people who they think can beat them so they are normally bigger and in most cases much bigger but anyway, don't get me wrong, i want to believe i can beat someone who is bigger than me, i'm only 5'10 160, i'm by no means big. I will definetly say that if u pit a small martial arts against a big attacker they would have a better chance of survival than a small normal person but its a small chance and its a chance to take to train in the martial arts, thats why i am. Now for the striking vs. grappling debate, there is no debate because in a real fight u don't know if it will end up on the ground or stand up, yea a grappler would want to take it to the ground but how can anyone predict he will? You can't, its impossible, debates like that are just stupid. Anything can happen in a street fight, anyone can win any given day, martial arts will help to prepare u for that but no art can prepare u better than the other, YOU can prepare yourself better by ur training in and outside the dojo. The art you are training in is just stepping stone, to reach the top you need to take the extra steps to be a better martial artist. I know i'm probably gonna get slammed by some people for this post but its what i believe, after over 7 years of training i have come to this conclusion, yea 7 years isn't much i know but its a logical conclusion.

Dude, though I generally agree with your sentiment...can you say run on sentences? How's about a paragraph break or two. Eye strain you know.

-B

well wait a minute Butterfly, are you saying YOUR writing style is better than his style??!!
lol

seriously - good post, but another way to defeat something is by not giving attention to it...let everyone believe theirs is the best...and indeed it probably is their best - so nobody is wrong, and everyone can get back to drinking...I mean training.

Nope...my writing are as bads as anyone's elses.

-B

Me fail Engrish? Thats umposible!

It's better to get out that stress and aggression on the forum through a long paragraph of rambling interwoven with highly relevant key points than to take it out on the street, or on someone.

Shoto 19,

No insult intended. Just poking a little fun. But like I said, the gist of what you are stating is something I agree with.

-B