That 'personal touch'

Have you developed your own flair/style to your MA practice? If so, have you drawn inspiration from anyone/anything (eg. your instructor, film, art, anime other MA'ists, nature)? Has your personal style evolved (eg. many beginners imitate their instructor at the beginning but develop their own flair as they progress).

Or do you think that style should not be contrived but is an indirect outcome of your personality, ability and learning?

I have seen a wide variety of personal touches, style, flamboyance and some pure funny stuff that has cracked me up (eg. a guy in our dojo who thinks Batman is the bees' knees and tries to add a 'batman' quality to his MA).

What are your experiences, thoughts, opinions?

 

Not quite flare, but I use a systematic method of analysis based on my sparring experience to trim unnecessary movements from my style. It looks a little rough-and-ready but I find it more pleasant to use than a flashy style.

 

yeah, i do this cool thing where i put my hands up and walk forward while eating punches until i'm close enough to hit them back...seems like everyone's 6 feet tall these days :bang:

 

ROTFLMAO!!!

 

You should see my dojo mate in action. Lucky he hasn't got his utility belt or we'd be in real trouble

Back on topic, I personally notice that I incorporate my flexibility and good balance into my jjj but nothing flashy (maybe a little during sparring). I just feel that the MA'ists I have seen with their unique style have been the ones who were more confident and comfortable with their techniques and taking their MA to the next level. They seem to have more 'alive' technique as well.

 

I don't really have flair or anything like that, come to think of it...

 

I tend to aim for the groin, even if it's not allowed in some of the MA's I do

And, I guess I've got some of that FMA-flow in whatever I do as well, as people use to tell me I'm "all arms, legs and impossible to spar with"! I take that as envy

 

Sounds like Teh Blast!(tm) An invention of mine... I'm not going in detail here, but it's banned by several governments, and is best done during sparring a few hours after you've eaten beans, peas and suchlike.

Personal touch my ass! (Pun intended!)

 

Sparring WTF style! - It's unique outside the WTF.

 

I always figured this was inevitable and I see that lots of people who teach the same thing have their own "styles" within their systems. I watch my teacher and copy him but I also check my fellow students, my teacher's fellows and pictures of old masters as far back as photography will allow for tips and pointers. I keep going back over my forms and tweaking them, espescially the first one which is intended as a general introduction to the style. I try to make it so everything works - then it'll look different to the guy next to me, or to my teacher, because of body type and so on anyway. I have my little foibles too - I like to use jumping kicks in close range, I'm a little too fond of hanging my front leg, things like that, but I guess everyone will come across parts of his art that make perfect sense to him and others which he can "do" but secretly believes he will never use. I have begun using these too. I'm not good enough to have flair, but I could show you some flail...

 

My personal touch is usually to close up on my opponent, whatever the size difference. The only flair I have is a tendancy to start grinning inanely during full contact, but it's not really a concious decision of mine to do that, and I'm not usually aware of it at the time.

 

I tend to go for a crappy submission from guard which lets my opponent pass and do there own sub attempt on me because escaping submissions is about the only way I can achieve a dominant position.

In short I suck at everything except submission defence where I'm virtually un-armbarabale or kimurable due to my long hours of practicing the defence for the techniques in sparring.

 

I have a similar strategy as Slindsay, I let them throw a technique (or perform a move to force them into a technique if they are playing a similar game), dodge/block their move and counter. My attack being the counter.
My first technique rarely has the intent to strike - apart from right at the start of the fight. I always start a competition match with a jumping kick to try for a mental advantage.

Other little combos I pick up from other people or I make up myself can emerge and disappear for months at a time. All of a sudden I do something I haven't done in ages and score a point or two - then I keep it for a while until everyone I spar is used to it again. I guess my style/flair tends to be trying to stay unpredictable.

 

having to adapt parts of moves becasue i'm a lot smaller or lighter than my training partners? i suppose that counts.

 

One area I devote particular attention to is timing. I'm more concerned with executing the correct techniques at the right time versus just being fast or strong. An example I love to use is Floyd Mayweather. People may think I'm crazy for this but when I saw him fight Zab Judah I did not feel Mayweather was the faster puncher but I felt he was the more accurate one. If you watch you will see Zab Judah throwing rapid fire strikes that are extremely fast but often do not make the mark or are recieved as glancing blows. (also because of mayweather's movement another example of timing) And in contrast when you notice Mayweather's style you see counter strikes delivered with not quite the same speed but are more accurate because his timing is better and he could get better openings. Two things, first I'll never be as good as Mayweather accept in my dreams lol, and second I am by no means saying he's slow, his handspeed is incredible, it's just that I think his strongest suit is his timing which aided him with an opponent who in my opinion is even faster than he is. In my own way I attempt to incorporate this sort of discipline in my own training so that I am more difficult opponent because my timing is good.