What Martial Arts Style(s) Do you Practice and Why?

ShadowSpear

ShadowSpear.com
Administrator
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
1,251
SSMP
SOF Mentor
In an effort to get this forum repopulated, I'll ask what style of martial arts do you study? What did you study and why did you stop? I know many of us have tried multiple styles, but what made you stick with the one you are currently practicing?
 
Ranger combatives/Jujitsu/Gun-Fu

Ranger combatives because it was what I was trained and worked in the past, in combat
Jujitsu because it's the basis for Ranger asskickery
Gun-Fu because its always good to have a trump card in your hand.
 
This January will mark the 37th year I have been involved in Martial Arts in one way or the other. In that time, I have taken the following:

Shotokan
Wado Ryu
Shorin Ryu
HapKiDo
Bujinkan budo Taijutsu;

And 30 years worth of Defensive Tactics/Combatives of various styles and forms while working Law Enforcement as well as a lot of pressure point systems.

As of right now, I am no longer doing any type of formal training. I have paid way too much money and spent a lot of time learning to bend, break, and lock things with simply another name for doing it. In other words, there isn't a lot of new things out there for me to learn at this point. I mainly spend my time teaching women how to get themselves out of incidents when things go really bad and their lives depend on it.

I just look at it has having as many tools in my toolbox as I can. It never hurts to be as equipped as possible when the tools are needed.
 
Last edited:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA for 9 years.

Recently, I've found my interest going towards self defense that incorporates EDC knife/pistol like South Narc. It seems practical but I haven't taken a class yet.
 
Krav Maga and SOCP instructor (for work) Jiu Jitsu and some boxing, mostly to round out the ground/grappling game.

Honestly, I don't train nearly as much as I need to (or would like to for that matter) but it's a question of time.
 
Well, for me it helped since I had a rehearsed to reflex, technically applicable, and scalable response to a combatant that decided they wanted to step up to the plate. I think he got off easy in that "fight", if you want to call a one sided asskicking between a hadji-twig with an attitude and a 6'3" (1.9m) 1-milradian-from-berzerker-mode Ranger a "fight".

Without knowing combatives, the only option would have been to shoot the fucker and that was contrary to our mission... so combatives/martial arts knowledge directly contributed towards the accomplishment of the mission.

The other would-be-combatant who saw what happened to his buddy that tried to zerg rush me also became strangely compliant and docile after he saw what happened to his buddy.
 
What style of martial arts do you study?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

What did you study and why did you stop?
I use to do Muay Thai & BJJ in Jordan, but there aren't any (reputable) Muay Thai places near me.

What made you stick with the one you are currently practicing?
Aside from the above issue, I do BJJ because it is one of the best experiences of my life. Every class is a healthy dose of reality. You don't have the opportunity to kid yourself. Sam Harris' assessment describes in perfectly:

I can now attest that the experience of grappling with an expert is akin to falling into deep water without knowing how to swim. You will make a furious effort to stay afloat—and you will fail. Once you learn how to swim, however, it becomes difficult to see what the problem is—why can’t a drowning man just relax and tread water? The same inscrutable difference between lethal ignorance and lifesaving knowledge can be found on the mat: To train in BJJ is to continually drown—or, rather, to be drowned, in sudden and ingenious ways—and to be taught, again and again, how to swim... I am convinced, however, that training in BJJ offers a powerful lens through which to examine some primary human concerns—truth v. delusion, self knowledge, ethics, and overcoming fear. -Sam Harris

Every class I'm confronted with my mistakes and weaknesses, and on the drive home all I think about is how I can improve- and that translates into my everyday life as well.
 
Well, for me it helped since I had a rehearsed to reflex, technically applicable, and scalable response to a combatant that decided they wanted to step up to the plate. I think he got off easy in that "fight", if you want to call a one sided asskicking between a hadji-twig with an attitude and a 6'3" (1.9m) 1-milradian-from-berzerker-mode Ranger a "fight".

Without knowing combatives, the only option would have been to shoot the fucker and that was contrary to our mission... so combatives/martial arts knowledge directly contributed towards the accomplishment of the mission.

The other would-be-combatant who saw what happened to his buddy that tried to zerg rush me also became strangely compliant and docile after he saw what happened to his buddy.
Nice, do you think you still retain muscle memory now? (I know your circumstances now are a little different) The reason I ask is that I haven't trained for some time but still have responses to random things that occur, such as a person running past, or in one instance getting into something sticky & being able to respond.
 
I'm older, fatter, out of the military, slightly damaged thanks to. The advantages are that I believe I've learned more "markers" for possible threats over the years where I am more in a proactive prediction mode of what might be issues and actively changing what I am doing to mitigate the effects those issues can cause (everything from changing lanes to making eye contact while having the wife swap sides or fall back during a walk on the street, as an example).

It's still there, although I'd venture that it's rusty. I wouldn't trust it wholeheartedly, but that's why I do holster drills. I can do that by myself, it's somewhat hard to practice takedowns to positions of dominance and following submissions by yourself... I'll be able to drill more (and in the process teach a valuable skill to her) once my daughter gets older and bigger. She won't be hair pulling in a fight unless it's to help drive a heavy knee to the head home. ;)
 
American Kenpo /green belt
American Kickboxing /black belt
Aikido / 1st Kyu
Krav Maga/ no ranking
MACP/ L2
PPCT/ DT, GAGE INST

Long story short, I picked up a few things from each that help in my personal technique for putting the hurt on someone, but all in all they are time consuming and require more time and practice than I have to take.

Most effective? Probably MACP, but as said I took technique from every system.

I would like to practice more MMA/MACP, but hard to come by in my A/O.

What would I recommend? A sold MMA gym that has boxing, BJJ, wrestling, and Judo.

$.02
 
Last edited:
I'm older, fatter, out of the military, slightly damaged thanks to. The advantages are that I believe I've learned more "markers" for possible threats over the years where I am more in a proactive prediction mode of what might be issues and actively changing what I am doing to mitigate the effects those issues can cause (everything from changing lanes to making eye contact while having the wife swap sides or fall back during a walk on the street, as an example).

It's still there, although I'd venture that it's rusty. I wouldn't trust it wholeheartedly, but that's why I do holster drills. I can do that by myself, it's somewhat hard to practice takedowns to positions of dominance and following submissions by yourself... I'll be able to drill more (and in the process teach a valuable skill to her) once my daughter gets older and bigger. She won't be hair pulling in a fight unless it's to help drive a heavy knee to the head home. ;)
That's what I was thinking, even though fitness or whatever changes the core skills remain. I'd like to know what others think.
 
I think that depending on how long you have done it...even though your reaction time may diminish to a degree from lack of active training, I believe there is a certain level of muscle memory that will take over when the time for it becomes necessary. I also think a large part of that comes from possessing the right mindset to utilize what you learned and why you learned it.
 
What style of martial arts do you study?
Taekwondo.
Tang Soo Do.
A bit of Hapkido.
A bit of Arnis
MCMAP.

All of these I studied in the past. In addition to competing in point karate.


What did you study and why did you stop?
Tang Soo Do. I got bored quite frankly and I want a new challenge. I am leaning towards BJJ so I can learn the ground game (art) and compete.
 
Brazilian jiu jitsu for a grand total of five years with a four year break in the middle. I stopped in 2009 when the guy I trained under had to relocate and work/family started taking up a lot more time.
 
Karate
Wing Chun Kung Fu
MACP

I started Karate in high school and really enjoyed it, but as I moved up a little in rank the set forms started to annoy me more and more, I hated doing them and just wasn't interested.

Years later I took up Wing Chun and it really opened my eyes up, particularly with the flaws in Karate, I enjoyed the system until again the forms and dragon dancing thing turned me off.

I am a level one MACP instructor and I fucking hate it. I have no idea what it's like in the higher levels, I guess it gets a lot better but at level one I think it sucks and I just brain dumped that shit.

I realized I was interested in purely fighting and not the martial aspect of the arts. I learnt a few nasty moves over the years and if I'm ever seriously challenged and need to, my aim is to disable my opponent in one or two strikes. I'm interested in giving Krav Maga a shot, haven't as yet and honestly I'm a lot less interested in going hand to hand nowadays.
 
Karate
Wing Chun Kung Fu
MACP

I started Karate in high school and really enjoyed it, but as I moved up a little in rank the set forms started to annoy me more and more, I hated doing them and just wasn't interested.

Years later I took up Wing Chun and it really opened my eyes up, particularly with the flaws in Karate, I enjoyed the system until again the forms and dragon dancing thing turned me off.

I am a level one MACP instructor and I fucking hate it. I have no idea what it's like in the higher levels, I guess it gets a lot better but at level one I think it sucks and I just brain dumped that shit.

I realized I was interested in purely fighting and not the martial aspect of the arts. I learnt a few nasty moves over the years and if I'm ever seriously challenged and need to, my aim is to disable my opponent in one or two strikes. I'm interested in giving Krav Maga a shot, haven't as yet and honestly I'm a lot less interested in going hand to hand nowadays.

Yeah level one is a joke, level two is much better (at least with the old MACP courses). I'm not to sure with the changes made. Most of the level threes I've rolled with were on top of their game and solid on stand up and the ground.

I was not impressed with Krav Maga, but its probably more to.do with the gym/instructor than the system itself. I'm not big on structured martial arts now, a good MMA gym with a solid boxing coach, BJJ, and or wrestling is how I lean these days.
 
Yeah level one is a joke, level two is much better (at least with the old MACP courses). I'm not to sure with the changes made. Most of the level threes I've rolled with were on top of their game and solid on stand up and the ground.

I was not impressed with Krav Maga, but its probably more to.do with the gym/instructor than the system itself. I'm not big on structured martial arts now, a good MMA gym with a solid boxing coach, BJJ, and or wrestling is how I lean these days.

Good to know.
 
Back
Top