What defines a Martial artist? (Taekwondo)

As a 4th degree Taekwondo blackbelt with over 15 years experience, I have experienced much of what Taekwondo has offered me. While I'm still climbing the mountain of my martial arts journey, i have recently had an eye opener to the martial art I spent alot of time on, just by simply asking myself the fundamental question, "What is a martial artist?" . My goal is to inform other traditionalists as well as the general public the true definition of a "martial artist".

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBYJSjD4Rbg"]The Reality of Martial Arts: What makes YOU a Martial Artist? - YouTube[/ame][

The video is kind of long, but I hope you take into consideration my background and what I have to say!

Peace,
Matutor

 

I think this has been covered previously. Try the search function and perhaps add to that thread?

Welcome to MAP!

 

Yep.

 

I went searching....very hard to find...if you find it, can you link it?

 

I have to admit I fell into the "TLDW" camp too

 

Couldn't make it past 3:00 .

Plus, I think before you can define Martial Artist, you may wish to try and define "Martial Art"

I took a stab at it once.

Trying to get agreement on this is like herding cats.

 

Got to three minutes. Then pretty much had the same reaction as Mitch. When you have a solid series of points to make and explain them a bit clearer I'm sure it would be worth a watch.

I did wonder what actually is the point of putting this online? You don't really sell yourselves to me in a way that I would want to watch that whole >30 minutes video. It just looks like two guys sitting down to talk about their training background...Slowly.

 

I am at odds with these types of "one-way discussion videos". People who do this, seem to me as "one-sided conversationalist". Or a 'look at me" concept. I loose attention when someone is doing all of the talking without interaction from others. One-way discussion videos seem to be people who want to "say" something, but this does not allow feedback from a viewing audience. I would rather someone post in words and get responses (such as a forum or blog)

My humble suggestion: Don't make a boring video because you have nothing else to do. Stop wasting time posting long videos. Start training in another, new art as it seems both people in the video became numb in their past martial art experiences. Start in a new art that will be a refresh....and probably keep you from having the time to make a boring video

What defines a Martial artist? Someone who has action, more motivation per to seek other training, not someone creating and posting rhetorical "one-way discussion videos".



I was searching for a link thread on the subject and still haven't found it...anyone?

 

Haha no, i honestly want some feedback. And thank you, I know that it was long and I didn't really cut clear to the points all the time. However, the entire video I do go back to things I didn't clarify and make them more clear, but you don't have to sit through that entire thing haha and I do propose a solution but like I said you might have to painstalkingly watch the video to find out.

 

Yes. I do know that it looks like that we were just talking super slowly, but we were trying to be delicate as we know people may not like to hear what we are saying about Taekwondo. But we will probably upload more concise things in the future, we just felt very passionate about this topic and didn't bother to cut it in any way. Our intention was to sound as real as possible. But yeah TLDR is something we will work on haha

 

Our arguement isn't one sided. We spent years and years in a martial art and want people to know the reality of it all. And as a matter of fact, we do train in new martial arts (brazilian jiu jitsu, submission wrestling, boxing, kick boxing, mma). Our point is to let people know that what they will get out of a Taekwondo school won't be as legitimate as a school that trains you how to fight properly with a resisting opponent and legitimate techniques. Like i said, if you watch the entire video you will see I cover all the points you said. However, I do understand that it is long and you don't need to watch it necessarily. Plus , while posting on a forum is good we also think that videos also get the message across and we would reach a wider audience such as those who are considering taking up martial arts.

And as far as training in a new art goes, we absolutely love training mma. However, we want to make a statement to those out there who train taekwondo that if they want self-defense, its not for them. IF they want to do alot of forms, spar in a fight simulation with too many rules and unrealistic attacks, and be in good shape, then Taekwondo is the martial art for them.

 

I didn't watch the video, a Martial Artist is someone who practices a Martial Art.

 

I disagree as it depends on the curriculum of the TKD instructor. I come to believe, you had a typical high commercial TKD school and instructor.

I studied TKD way back in the early 70's and I can tell you, it is quite different

 

Agreed. Some of the folks I've trained with are very narrow in their approach and couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. But you find those people in many martial arts.
I've also sparred and trained with some TKD folks who care about effective fighting skills, use the whole curriculum regularly, and are tough as nails.

 

Back in my "years", all of the TKD instructors were Korean, straight from Korea. Some had military experience, as well as studied in other arts. And back then, no one was "given" a black belt, especially under the age of 18. And, their self defense curriculum was specialized.

The problem with US TKD is that it became "watered down" with people who have received their rank (from a Korean, or per generation of ranks from). It also became a popular Asian sport

Interesting to also note, TKD in Korea is very different than that abroad

 

I'm saying that MMA is the closest thing you'll get to realistic attacks. And as far as all the other martial art systems, of course one single style is going to have its flaws which is why you need to combine as much as possible. If you don't have fighting skills, in my opinion, you're not a real martial artist. You're pretending to fight. And yes mma has rules but compared to all the other styles of sparring has the least amount. (unless there is a sparring that has fewer please let me know)

 

What I'm getting at is that it's no longer effective anymore and people should look to other things for self defense here in America. Have you looked at the Korean Tigers? They are a dance group. Why didn't these koreans you speak of compete in major events such as vale tudo and ufc when it was just getting started? If they had solid technique, why didn't they dominate?
I'm not saying all schools are bad, I'm just saying a vast majority of them are.

 

Not really. No HAOV, no pre- fight escalation, no weapons, no alcohol involved, no surprise attacks from a neutral posture... Good resistant training, to be sure. Develops good general fight skills, definitely. A good representation of what you would expect to see in self defence scenarios, no.