Martial Art Styles

Karate: For example Karate literally means the way of the hand. Its the Japanese form of Boxing with influences from Gung Fu. It focuses on forms, katas, one steps and belts to advance through the levels.

Tae Kwon Do: literally means “the way of the foot and hand” or more appropriately Kick Boxing. Taking influences from Hapkido, the Korean form of Akijutsu (combat Aikido), JuJitsu, the ancient Hwarang warriors and the art of Taekyon combat. Tae Kwon Do does have some Mixed Martial Arts influences from stand up kick boxing to grappling and weapons (escrima sticks, nunchucks, staffs and swords). Most styles in and of themselves are not exhaustive or comprehensive.

Brazilian Jujitsu: has a powerful ground game however it does show weakness in stand up fighting especially against multiple assailants.

Krav Maga: is more aggressive primal street rage self defense, almost the essence of JKD without the deeper philosophy or technical foundation. They don’t like to grapple they’d range break or destroy something to escape. Survive, escape, destroy and avoid are the main goals.

Boxing: For the hand combat range Boxing is still king.

Muay Thai: is good for close range has a solid set of weapons (has some solid elbows, knees, shin kicks, and thigh kicks) and body conditioning but they can get smothered on the ground or cut with a weapon.

Savate: the art of French Kick Boxing is like the art of Boxing with your Feet and at times can look like a cross between TKD, Muay Thai and Fencing.

Wing Chun: provides some tools in traps, simultaneous parry-trap hit and straight blasts that are beneficial.

Aikido: I do like Aikido’s use of opponents force to redirect and their Chin Na like joint manipulations.

Hapkido: is more combative like Chin Na yet comes from Akijtsu. Grappling arts such as Shoot Fighting, Sambo, Greco-Roman, Freestyle and Jiu Jitsu combined make for a powerful ground game.

Penjak Silat & Eskrima: also provide some traps, immobilizations as well improvisational weapons that can be destructive with Escrima and bladed weapons.

Kajukenbo/American Kenpo: Arts like Kajukenbo and American Kenpo in a sense are stylized forms of Mixed Martial Arts which have some JKD influences they are formalized and don’t focus on ground game as much, grappling is done briefly along with and attack and retreat mindset.

Sang Shou: is the form of Chinese Boxing that looks a lot like Muay Thai, and MMA without much ground game but does include lots Chin Na.

Ninjitsu: has some funky looking techniques. I personally like the punch as a block concept.

The Scientific Study of Martial Arts: is liberating and helps take the limits off and at times it helps to simplify what others try to mystify and complicate.

Cross Training: It is essential to cross train and to train in all ranges of combat. Understanding close quarter combat is crucial so is long range or kicking range and punching range are core competencies one must acquire. Just as ground combat is essential. Its the development of tools that work for you that is essential. Be a master of all, student of none. Don’t focus on one range or tool and neglect the others. Not everyone can do a Tornado kick or a jump 720 Crescent Kick while those are stylized TKD techniques there not devoid of usefulness. If you have ever seen Olympic TKD you can see the speed and power. Bruce Lee was against high kicks until he spared with National Karate Champion and Tang So Do practitioner Chuck Norris. For the stylistically uninformed Tang So Do is essentially Tae Kwon Do just by a different name. They are both Korean and emphasize condition and power kicks, as well as punching and grappling to some degree. I got my black belt in Tae Kwon Do as you can tell I’ve got a lot from it. Think Muay Thai just with a lot more powerful long range kicks.

The Essence Of Combat

The essentials to any combat system are the same good kicks, solid punches, traps-tie up, grappling, locks, chokes and holds. Those essentials I’m going to cover here not the stylistic differences just the basic most essential essence. Bruce Lee said unless we grow extra arms and legs there are only so many ways to parry, block, hit, kick, etcetera… Becoming solid in the basics and learning the use of drawing, leading and timing are crucial. A fixed form without timing can be devastating in a street fight. Without the liveness of combat or timing great form can’t protect you. This is why for example Krav Maga focuses on the trap hit, strike, etcetera… not so much the technique just the essential conditioning to prepare you to fight. You don’t need to look pretty you want to survive. How you use these skills comes with practice, knowledge of timing and the practice of using the main tools in varying combinations.

Having training aids, pads, bags, partners, mok jong, conditioning equipment, etcetera… is essential. All training should start with warm ups and stretch’s.

Do not practice these techniques without stretching and warming up. A good supplement to martial arts is weight or strength training, proper nutrition through the use of vitamins, shakes and an athletic diet are beneficial.

One thing to remember is to seek to be non telegraphic, do not telegraph you movement you don’t want people to see your hand or foot coming. You don’t want to give some one the opportunity to intercept your movement with a stop hit. So when training be aware and make sure you don’t lean forward before you punch or lean back to kick. You want your foot and hand to start moving a split second before your body does so that when the person realizes what is happening its already in motion.

The average person takes 10 seconds to respond, a trained martial artist can take 3 seconds to respond. The quickest, most direct and least telegraphic way to attack is the best. And a good offense of stop hits and simultaneous evade and attack is the best defense. So let’s get into the meat of this discussion.

To be continued… (formal lessons in combat, training and techniques)

Related articles

• Lessons 1: A Solid Stance (Fundamental, Technical And Foundational Martial Art Techniques) (paradoxparables.justparadox.com)
• Lesson 2: Foundational Footwork (Fundamental, Technical And Foundational Martial Art Techniques) (paradoxparables.justparadox.com)

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