Moving from TMA

Discussion in 'Western Martial Arts' started by bujingodai, Jul 30, 2014.

  1. bujingodai

    bujingodai Retired Supporter

    May I ask, did you move from a TMA and why did you then become or join a western system?
    Is it the structure, reputation, movement?
     
  2. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    In my view, all martials arts are TMA. that is, at one point each were developed to be something different for their own use

    I think someone should study both TMA and updated Western

    Think of it as owning/driving a classic car and a modern car
     
  3. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I started in Ninjutsu (definitely TMA).

    The most western thing I actually train in is wrestling. I train old school thai boxing, BJJ and kali. They're all older than TKD and Judo (not in cluding BJJ).


    Do I train in Western arts? I'm so lost right now.
     
  4. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Careful now, which arts are you calling "Older Than"......?
     
  5. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    Technically, I suppose I did. And I say technically because:

    I started in taekwondo, which is generally considered a TMA despite its relative youth. I think this is mostly because the West's definition of "traditional" is based on what we encountered earliest on. Not what's actually been around the longest. Taekwondo features the things we associate with martial arts. A hierarchical student-teacher relationship, belts, kicking, etc.

    My next move was FMA. More traditional than taekwondo in a literal sense, but not generally regarded as such. But my interest in FMA was sparked by JKD, which also sparked an interest in Western boxing. And since Western boxing and Western fencing both play a role in the development of FMA, I got interested in and trained in both.

    So that was the literal reason for pursuing Western arts. Their relation to the Eastern arts that originally caught my fancy. That said, I do highly value the quality of movement you see in boxing and fencing. Boxing generally speaks for itself. Fencing is interesting to me because, despite the lack of real contact, it's one of the most "alive" martial arts training approaches I've encountered in some senses. There are rules, sure. And there's touching versus hitting. (Mind you, given what they're emulating, a touch is really all that's needed.)

    That said, you spend far more time geared up testing your theories in free play than I have in any other training environment ever. Not prescribed drills. Not line practice in a mirror. Sparring almost from word "go."
     
  6. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Isn't sparring from the word go generally a bad thing? Or is fencing an exception to the rule?
     
  7. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    I don't think it is a bad thing. It needs to be structured. Scaled to a person's ability at that time. I'm not talking free sparring. But I believe strongly that people would struggle less with employing their techniques in sparring if, instead of being told to wait a year before first trying them on a moving opponent, they were doing so in small, controlled ways from the beginning. "We're just using jabs" or "you're just evading using footwork." Etc.

    You could argue those are drills. I tend to call them sparring drills. In that they're designed to focus on a specific skill or two. But there's more free form to them than a true drill.

    Same with fencing. They wouldn't necessarily teach you a riposte and then say "okay, do whatever you like." They'd work on the riposte. But with the footwork, timing, distancing, and unpredictability in place.
     
  8. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    In BJJ, I found things like the 'guard game' to be extremely useful. Beginners commonly bring a lot of ego to their first sparring sessions; submission is seen as crying uncle rather than just being technically outmaneuvered. The guard game is an isolation exercise where one student has to try to pass his or her opponent's guard while the other has to either sweep or submit her or his opponent. In my experience this tends to focus beginners into playing their techniques and thinking about what they're doing rather than making it a contest to win. Sounds like basically what you're talking about :]
     
  9. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    It certainly does, my friend. Come to mention it, "isolated sparring" is another term I've heard for that approach.

    I've only done a couple of intro classes in BJJ, but we sparred (rolled) in both. Day 1. I found that very valuable, personally.
     
  10. John R. Gambit

    John R. Gambit The 'Rona Wrangler

    I just grew up as a small child watching my SD-based ninjutsu extended family from the "Ohio Barn" days training in my yard. When I started training ninjutusu and judo myself (still a child), it was before the first UFC aired and I had already been told that ninjutsu students should cross-train and "anything that works is ninjutsu." That ninjutsu community was already sparring with early MMA style gloves (so crappy compared to the gloves today) pre UFC. I remember being advised to watch the first UFC and learn from the other styles and their weaknesses. I was pretty influenced by it.

    I'm not really sure where that story falls within the idea of "Western" and TMA though, frankly. I consider ninjutsu a feudal MMA at the most traditional schools, and more "doomsday preppers of RBSD" in the older American schools.
     
  11. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside


    Went from Xingyiquan and Taijiquan to Jeet Kune Do (some call it western some call it Chinese)

    Went to JKD because I always wanted to give it a try, and I liked it. Also saw a lot of similarities to Xingyiquan, more than any self-respecting JKD or Xingyi person would be willing to admit

    Went back to TMA because the JKD school closed and moved south of the Mason Dixon line..... and I am quite a bit North of that
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2014
  12. bigreddog

    bigreddog Valued Member

    Started with a mix of muay thai and Japanese jujitsu. Have rattled around lots of things, but I'm competitive, so the trad arts tend to lose me - for example I love tkd sparring, but the forms are too dull
     
  13. Kurtka Jerker

    Kurtka Jerker Valued Member

    Started in TKD, later joined the Bujinkan. About seven years ago I had my first exposure to live training in a submission grappling and MMA gym and since then I couldn't imagine training regularly in any other environment except as a form of moving meditation.

    Really the live training every class is the issue. Traditional or not is irrelevant to me. Without that, IME, you tend to get schools advertising martial arts but producing performers.
     
  14. Archibald

    Archibald A little koala

     

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