Your own martial art......

[Superbabe]

OK

Without refering to any technique or style, answer the following.

You have never in your life had any contact with any Martial Art nor even heard of them. You decide to create your own art. You have your whole life time to train in this art and you can spend as much time training as you like.
You can even train with other people but they like you have no knowledge of martial arts.

Do you think your style would be as good as what you train in today, or better or worse? And what would it be like?

 

[absolute hardgainer]

If you never had any training in martial arts at all then what would you base your own martial art on?

hardgainer (?)

 

[Superbabe]

at some point every art started somewhere.......

 

[dirty]

i think I would suck, it would be more boxing or wrestling based, as I was never very flexible in my legs until I started kung fu

dirty

 

[absolute hardgainer]

Superbabe, I don't think most traditional martial arts actually started out as martial arts. In Okinawa for example Karate was used for centuries without being called Karate or actually regarded as an art form. As humans evolved they decided to encode patterns to counter habitual acts of violence which over time became martial arts. Today's 'new' martial arts are for the most part based on what has already been practiced.

Try www.society.webcentral.com.au on info on MA history, in particular on Karate.

hardgainer (kiai)

 

[Thaibox]

Interesting question. Mine would probably be based on kicking because its sort of a natural feeling for me.

Damn, now you've got me thinking.

 

[DesertTiger]

Wrestling

Wrestling is the oldest form of unarmed combat. Its on hiroglyphics in Egypt and mentioned in the bible a couple of times. They had no other martial art to base thier style on. They started to wrestle because its a natural way of fighting. Little kids will wrestle without any instruction naturally.

 

[HAD]

Kung Fu was based on animal movements.

 

[Skeeter1]

Superbabe, that is a great question. My answer is that all Martial arts have developed in accordence with the laws governing the bodys basic kenisetic spectrum so i would have to come up with something similar to what now exists, my guess is depending on bodytype and aptitude there would be a certian inclination, to kick, punch, grapple,ect more.

 

[Superfoot]

If that was my purpose in life, I'd try to get into a lot of fights.

After getting the crap beaten out of me a few times, I'd get a good idea of what I needed to work on (and give that a try). I'd also see what worked for other people.

If nothing else, I might learn that I'm a lover not a fighter...

 

[absolute hardgainer]

Superfoot: That makes about as much sense as wanting to swim in the ocean in order to study marine life or wanting to hit a wall at 100 miles an hour to study the effects of crashes.

To actually think that you could study or analyze fighting techniques or self-defense techniques by deliberately getting involved in fights is immature and wishful thinking.

hardgainer (been there, done that)

 

[Superfoot]

Well, let me put it this way...

I know a lot of people with great theories on fighting. Every other person you talk to will go on and on about what works, what doesn't and what they would do in a fight. If you weed out all of those that have never gotten hit, you'll end up with a hell of a lot less people.

I'm not saying people today, should go get into fights to find out what works, I'm saying (in the context of the question) that if there were no martial arts and your task was to develop a fighting system, I would want to make sure mine worked in reality (not just theory). If you don't want to get hit, you should find another job. How would it feel to be the only person on the planet with their own fighting system and getting a beat down from some drunk dad at a football game...degrading.

Let me also say that to start with, you'd probably be better off watching a lot of fights. Essentially, if you want to write a paper, you've got to do the research.

I've never gotten into a fight for the sake of fighting, in fact I've never started a fight. When I was a bouncer though, I was involved in quite a few and (even though I was already a black belt) I picked up a few more tricks.

 

[absolute hardgainer]

This makes a lot more sense than what you originally said.

hardgainer (pump)

 

[Superfoot]

Well I don't think I contradicted myself in any way, just expanded...

My point is that you can't expect to develop a fighting system if you've never been in a fight.