New to the forums...

Hello everyone, it's great to be here. I just registered a new account on Martial Arts Planet and am looking forward to meeting all of you and getting to know more about what it is you do. For all purposes and intentions, I prefer to remain anonymous, so I've chosen the screen name "Street Stylist" as an alias that you can refer to me by, and to which I will respond here on this forum. After reading the topic on Introducing Yourself by Anth, there isn't really much I can tell you at this time concerning myself, but I will start by answering a few basic questions found in Anth's sticky topic.

What art do you do?
Although I have "some" training in the martial arts, including Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, Yip Man Wing Chun, Shotokan Karate, Gracie Jiujitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, in actuality I don't practice a single art and I am really just learning all that I can right now from just about any style I can learn from.

What grade are you?
I do not hold any rank in any system at this time, as I do not train under a certified instructor, nor do I belong to any organized group or school. My training instead has come from many years of accumulated knowledge and experience in different martial arts, be it through classroom training, or video training, and at this time I do not cling to any rank or system.

Where are you?
I am located in the United States of America, but that's about all I'm going to tell you at this time.

What other hobbies do you have?
Well, I like video games, historical movies and documentaries. I like music, and I like poetry and sometimes I even write lyrics or play piano.

 

Welcome to MAP, hope you enjoy it here!

 

Thank you all, I really appreciate it. I just started doing this whole internet conversation thing so I'm still getting used to it. I just left another MA forum because of some misconceptions and arguments which were taking place there. I was a bit misleading about my training in the martial arts because I didn't want people to shy away from me for being a self-trained street stylist. This led to some really nasty discussions, so I'm looking for a fresh start and have decided to be completely open and honest here on Martial Arts Planet in hopes that you will not ridicule me for being different.

Before I was self-trained, I actually did have some formal or personal training under a certified instructor. I've been to several martial arts schools and MMA gyms where I recieved some hands-on training in different styles for the purpose of street defense. Since I am not certified and do not belong to any organised school or group, I've decided not to share the names of my instructors so that, should I do or say anything which is wrong, the shame will fall on me alone and not on my trainers. But as with any social network, when you tell people what arts you have training in, a lot of times they want to know who you trained with or what background you come from.

This is especially the case with arts like Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, Gracie Jiujitsu and Yip Man Wing Chun, so I will not tell you my instructor's names but I will tell you who my instructors were trained under, and the names of some of the people I have trained with. In the case of Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, my instructor in that system was certified under 15 original students of Bruce Lee, and some of my hands-on training includes seminars with Dan Inosanto, Richard Bustillo, Ted Wong, Daniel Lee, Taky Kimura and Jesse Glover. None of them were my direct teachers in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, but I have had the pleasure of meeting and training with all of them. In the case of Yip Man Wing Chun, the system I started to learn comes from Yip Chun, Yip Ching and Chan Man, though I have also trained with students of Wong Shun Leung, Samuel Kwok, and Michael Tse, and I once knew a guy who trained in Red Boat Wing Chun under Chai Saturn, and some knowledge was exchanged between us in those two systems.

I learned a little bit of Gracie Jiujitsu, Shotokan Karate, Japanese Judo, traditional Muay Thai and other martial arts from a former UFC judge, Olympic champion, police officer, U.S. special forces trainer and MMA instructor whose name I will not mention. I still train and spar with some of his students outside the gym, including my roommate who holds a 1st degree black belt in Jujutsu, and who I am best friends with.

Although by reading all of this you might think that I am myself some kind of grandmaster, you couldn't be further from the truth. In all honesty, I am still a beginner. I do not hold a rank in any system except for Yip Man Wing Chun and Shotokan Karate, and I do not cling to any ranks, colored belts or systems. I have never earned a black belt, even though I spar and train with black belts, and I have never finished learning or training all the way in any single traditional martial art. I left off in Yip Man Wing Chun as a 1st level beginner red sash, and I skipped a few ranks and left off in Shotokan Karate after earning a red belt. So really I'm nowhere near the level of being a master.

A great deal of my training has been self-training, through sparring and learning from videos. I do not go to a school or gym, but rather, I train by myself or with a partner in my own backyard. A majority of what I learned comes from this sort of street style experience. I am mainly concerned with street defense in its most purest form, handling no-holds-barred contacts with traditional and modern weapons. Through this way, I have also practiced traditional Japanese Kenjutsu with wooden bokuto swords, and developed several methods of disarming a knife fighter or gunman using Sayoc Kali, Krav Maga and other techniques from different martial arts. Style is not my main concern because every individual has their own style and really I'm just working on developing whatever works for me, regardless of whatever style it comes from.

I don't teach martial arts, so much as exchange second-hand knowledge and experience with other martial artists. So that's what I plan on doing here on Martial Arts Planet, and that's something I do away from the computer as well. I do not waste my time and energy on accepting challenges from street thugs, or bickering over the internet about lineages and knowledge. I'm a very down to earth, realistic person who is serious about my training and learning experiences. I'm telling you all of this so that we will have a clear understanding ahead of time and will clique almost instantly, as I'm trying to make new friends in the internet community and I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me being a self-trained street fighter. So thank you all again for welcoming me into your fine martial arts forum and I look forward to getting involved here almost immediately. Let's have some fun.



~ Street Stylist

 

What style of Jujutsu does he study?

That is hardly "street style" experience. You're at worst mucking around in the back yard and at best trying to work things through from a limited base.

How do you integrate anachronistic weapons into "street defence"? That's what you'll be doing when dealing with traditional ones, now there are some that would be adaptable so I'm interested on hearing how you do it.

What does your street defence include beyond the weapons?

The redundancy in your terminology leads me to believe that you probably have very little, if any, in the way of training in traditional Kenjutsu but I could be wrong.

So what ryu-ha do you study?





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Already ahead of you chap.

If I may ask why not train in a proper gym, with teachers and students with real abilities?

 

Well that was a vision of the future if ever I read one.....

 

I screw around with my friends in the backyard too. It's called playing grab buttocks (edited for sensitive ears :] ).

 

Video removed as off topic.

 

If Martials are such a big part of your life, why don't study under one or more teachers? You don't have to reinvent the wheel yourself...
Also, you are pretty vague about the amount of training you received. What is "some" training? Years? Months? Weeks? Days? Hours?
Finally, I hope you don't take video learning/courses to seriously...

 

The exact "style" of Jujutsu, I'm not sure. His training comes from MMA, so there is a mix of Judo, Japanese Jujutsu, Greco Roman Wrestling and Gracie Jiujitsu... I believe he holds a 1st degree black belt in Japanese Jujutsu, I've never actually asked him myself. The grappling and groundfighting methods that we practice together could be considered "eclectic" or "mixed" at best.

My base is Wing Chun... or I should say, it "was" Wing Chun, before I started practicing JKD, MMA and other martial arts which broke me away from my original base. The style I practice now has no base. There are no forms/katas, no ranks, no cirricullums or set training methods. Again, it could be considered "eclectic" at best. I admit that my knowledge is limited, but someone famous once made a statement that "Knowing is not enough, we must apply" and it is through this sort of first-hand experience that I have learned to use whatever works for me. Many people have commented that perhaps some of my methods are incorrect. My argument to that is that if my methods work for me, and if they are effective for me, then how can they be incorrect? My whole thing is just to use whatever works, regardless of where it comes from or how other people use it. As long as it works for me, that's all that matters. The second thing someone might ask is, how do you know it works for you? My answer to that is by sparring with other people.

Well, there are many weapons I don't train with, such as JKD nunchucks and Ninjutsu throwing stars. I mainly train with the type of weapons you might find on the streets in today's modern world. I use air-soft pistols or wooden pistols for handgun training. I use magic markers or non-sharpened metal bars for knife training. One of the most traditional methods I've trained in, which is also one of the most contraversial, is wooden sword training. For this sort of training, I actually hand-make my own wooden swords from scratch, and I train full-contact without any protective gear whatsoever. This is definately one of the most intense types of training I do, since injuries can and do occur. Other weapons I train with are the jump-rope, the bow and arrow, the crossbow, and weapons philosophy, such as using the enviroment and furniture around you as a weapon. Things I don't train with are tazers and pepperspray or things like that. Most recently, I've been more focussed on techniques for disarming a gunman. But there really is no set cirricullum or schedule. I just kind of work on whatever comes to mind at any given time. It's a very loose program. Very simple and basic.

I do everything... Besides training with weapons, I also practice kicking, punching, elbows, knees, fingerjabs, grappling and groundfighting. A lot of it is parallel to JKD or MMA in a way, with repetitive drills and intense workouts rather than kuens or katas. Calisthenics, cardio exercises, diet nutrition and weight lifting are all a part of my training, much like you would see in Western Boxing or American Kickboxing... I spend a lot of time focussing on sparring, or one-on-one training with another person. Again, it's a very loose program and each day really brings something different to the table. One day, I might just practice boxing. Another day, I might do nothing else but wrestling. So it's always changing what I'm going to do from day to day, but really I just practice everything and again, it doesn't really matter what style I get it from as long as it can be applied effectively with simple results.

No, actually, you're right... Depending on your definition of traditional Kenjutsu... I don't use a bokken, or practice kata, or wear a Kendo uniform. The type of Kenjutsu I train in, of which the style has no name, is quite literally the most traditional form of Kenjutsu training anyone can get. I practice with a wooden sword, hand-made, what you might call a "bokuto" of sorts, and I train by sparring with another person in actual full-contact without any protective gear... This sort of training is shunned by many of today's sport-like martial artists for its brutality and chance for injury. For that reason, not many people practice Kenjutsu the way I do. There are no forms/katas in my training, and everything is learned through injury and first-hand experience through traditional sparring.

None... I do not belong to any widely accepted organisation, school, style or system... My ryu is my own backyard. There are no ranks, no written doctrines or things like that. The group of people I train with are really diehards in martial arts who are all about using whatever works to accomplish their personal goals. Everyone is different, we all have different reasons for training, but one thing we all have in common is learning and self-discipline. When you come to train with us, you acknowledge beforehand the possibility of injury and the no-BSing approach to martial arts. We do some very intense workouts and cardio exercises. We also do a lot of sparring... As far as style goes, I will study just about any style, and sometimes I will pick techniques here or there to learn or practice. So it's really "anything goes".

 

One of the main reasons I don't train at a martial arts school is because of the lack of money... And to answer the question of how long I've trained this way... Many years, around 7 or 8 years now.

 

Think of all the money you've spent on crossbows, airguns and medical bills in those 7 to 8 years, You would of easily been able to afford to train properly.

If you 'done got none money' for classes, you should probably do something about that, before wasting time hand making sticks for playing 'wack-a-stick' with.

 

Sparring is a limited arena. Who are you sparring against? Under what rules? What level of contact?

What are you goals for training?

Before you can say "it works for me" you have to ensure that your training meets your goals. At the moment it all sounds a bit washy.

You might be better off heading down to an MMA gym for a while.

What injuries?


Also you haven't really answered my question.

There's no depending. It is what it is, if you aren't doing it then you aren't doing it.

You don't use a bokken?

Kata are central to all traditional Japanese arts.

A Kendo uniform? Do you mean keikogi and hakama for Kendo?

Let me refresh your memory.

What do you think a bokken is?

As for the rest you are kidding yourself.

I'd put money on that you don't and there's a good reason why.

Your ideas on what full contact sparring with a solid bit of wood is and mine probably differ greatly though.

Kenjutsu is not a sport.

You aren't practicing Kenjutsu you are playing around.

No it's not because you'd be dead if you had a half decent opponent.

Kata have a central role in JSA for a number of very good reasons.

You aren't doing traditional sparring or traditional anything, do you know why? It's because you have no tradition, you are making it up so how is it traditional?

You are living in cuckoo land I think.

You do have a BSing approach because you are trying to kid yourself that you are doing something that you are not.

 

These fantasists are the main reason I am a rare visitor to MAP. Bloody backyard kenjutsu.

 

Many of the weapons and much of the equipment I use is cheap... dirt cheap... Or like I said, I'll just make them myself by hand, such as is the case with my wooden swords... And some of the equipment was donated freely by the people I train with, such as some of the boxing gloves, focus pads, wrestling mats, headgear, etc.

One of the things I really can't stand, though, is when people tell me what I should do or how I should train. To me, that is one of the biggest problems with today's martial arts, and today's martial artists. Just because something works for one person, doesn't mean it works for everybody. Just because I train a certain way, doesn't mean it's going to be right for you. Martial arts is a personal thing, you can't just go around telling people what they should do or how they should train. What is 'proper' training to you? To me, proper training would be anything that works for me personally, regardless of however it's learned or delivered.

A perfect example would be like this time when someone who was very skeptical of my program asked me for a demonstration. I agreed and asked him to attack me. He went to grab me and I seized his arm, twisted his elbow and took him to the ground without hurting him. I could've injured his arm, but I restrained myself just like any real martial artist should. He then asked me where I learned that technique from. I told him it was a basic Judo technique. He then asked me what the technique was called. I told him I did not know. The truth is, I never learned Judo, I just learned from watching other people.

The point I'm trying to make is that you can't use the same methodology to train every single person you see. It just doesn't work that way. Another person here on Martial Arts Planet just recently asked me what forms I learned from Shotokan Karate - Please forgive me, I'm not very computer savvy and haven't yet figured out how to use the Private Chat option to talk to this person. The truth is, I started learning Shotokan much in the same way as Daniel-son from the Karate Kid, by doing some one-on-one training in my own backyard with a person who held a black belt in karate. That was many, many years ago and since then I've forgotten the Shotokan katas in favor of less stylized methods of training. It's not because I think Shotokan Karate is a bad system. Actually, I think Shotokan is a very good system. It just wasn't right for me, personally. Now do I still practice some of the techniques I learned from Shotokan? Yes, but it is no longer Shotokan Karate because I have since modified my style to incorporate other things.

 

Utter nonsense. I have seen people hospitalised through a minor strike with bokuto. Where's that 'rolleyes' smiley?