tips from athletes?...

Post by **Oscar** » Sun 05 Jul 2009 11:00

Well, animals can also be addicted to cooked foods, like we are.

RRM conducted an experiment on cats in his immediate environment. He offered raw fish (or was it chicken?) to a thin(ner) cat (a fatter cat hadn't reacted), who ate a little of it. The next day the cat ate all of it. The days after ALL the cats in the neighborhood came for the raw food. He's been feeding them since.

I'm sure animals will come around after a little initial persuasion if needed.

Bruce Lee actually started his martial arts career under Yip Man. As the story goes Yip Man refused to teach him after a certain point, because Bruce had started to teach foreigners (gwailo) against his master's wishes. This is why he started to include techniques from other styles to the wing chun basics he had learned.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Sun 05 Jul 2009 15:37

(a fatter cat hadn't reacted)

i wonder what it is about the fat cat that it did not want it at first since that's how it was with my cats. the one who likes the fish right off the bat is a very thin abyssinian. the other one is just a fat black one! i've started by just giving the one little pieces of my tuna on a plate and the fat one sits their watching both of us, almost in a state of shock and horror it seems

i try to offer her some, but she just poo poos it. she loves that damn canned food...

i'll keep trying.

i've been looking at this Lok Dim Boon Kwan it's a Wing Tjun style in which an 8 foot staff is utilized. that's pretty cool! i've always enjoyed practicing bo techniques, ever since i was a little kid. this is a little different, the techniques are very spartan like actually. thanks for sharing Wing Tjun with me, it's very interesting.

Post by **Oscar** » Mon 06 Jul 2009 10:24

More addicted to cooked foods. It might be a nice experiment to see how long it takes before the fat cat also starts eating the raw fish. Otherwise you could just cut down the amount of canned food.

Yep, the staff/pole is part of Wing Tjun. What I personally find the most fascinating is the training of the tactile reflexes (chi sao, or sticky arms/hands). This means once you've some kind of contact you can actually let your body take over. You can even fight blindfolded then. Tactile reflexes are much faster than optical reflexes, since they don't involve the brain, but only go through the spinal cord.
I remember the first time practicing two-armed chi sao, that was quite a kick. Later on during free chi sao things happened so quickly that at one point I defended and countered all attacks without me even realizing what had happened! The first time that happened was the most exhilarating experience.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Mon 06 Jul 2009 15:07

wow! that does sound exciting! the more you talk about this style the more interested i become. i might have to seek out a school to learn this in depth.

Post by **Oscar** » Tue 07 Jul 2009 10:50

Unfortunately there isn't a school in the US yet...there are many in Europe though. Sifu Sergio has been to the US in March, also to talk to some martial artists in Denver, Co. If you could come to Amsterdam (regularly) for (private) lessons, that'd be ideal. Otherwise you'd have to find a different branch school near you, but I'm not sure how good they'd be.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Thu 09 Jul 2009 01:21

i see... it's hard enough finding schools of any kind of any martial art, let alone good ones, around here.

i'd love to go to europe and learn and train. that would be really cool. what i'd really like to do though is go to brazil and learn REAL brazilian jiu jistu. plus i would have direct access to all the tropical fruit i could eat!

mmmmmm.....

although... if it's true the the poles might shift in the next couple years... i could have mango, coconuts and bananas growing right here in Pennsylvania

wishful thinking, but you never know.

Post by **Oscar** » Thu 09 Jul 2009 10:24

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a pretty good martial art, certainly one of the best in groundfighting. It does have its drawbacks, however. The tropical fruit would be a huge bonus though.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Fri 10 Jul 2009 14:07

definitely, i agree. a tai chi fighting master could easily defeat the most skilled jiu jistu black belt.

johndela1 · Post by **johndela1** » Fri 10 Jul 2009 16:49

martianwarrior wrote:definitely, i agree. a tai chi fighting master could easily defeat the most skilled jiu jistu black belt.

I don't think it is a good idea to think the one martial art is superior to another.

If I was asked who would win a master fighter of style X or a master of style Y, my answer would simple be: "The better fighter would win"

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Sat 11 Jul 2009 03:05

i suppose i should have been more clear as to what exactly i had in mind when i said tai chi fighting master and jiu jistu black belt.

Post by **Oscar** » Sat 11 Jul 2009 11:26

In theory any style could win over other styles. In practice more depends on the practitioner, like martianwarrior said. But, when comparing training methods/techniques to practical usefulness, I'd say I'd put my money on brazilian jiu jitsu, and not on t'ai chi.

johndela1 · Post by **johndela1** » Sat 11 Jul 2009 22:23

martianwarrior wrote:although... if it's true the the poles might shift in the next couple years... i could have mango, coconuts and bananas growing right here in Pennsylvania wishful thinking, but you never know.

Here are some quotes from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

"These events occur on a scale of thousands of years or longer. Since the magnetic field has probably virtually no affect on weather, sea currents, etc. the main concern would be disruption of communications because of a change in the location of aurora activity."

But, we (humans) really can't say for sure.

"Because the magnetic field has never been observed to reverse by humans with instrumentation, and the mechanism of field generation is not well understood, it is difficult to say what the characteristics of the magnetic field might be leading up to such a reversal."

johndela1 · Post by **johndela1** » Sat 11 Jul 2009 22:50

martianwarrior wrote:i suppose i should have been more clear as to what exactly i had in mind when i said tai chi fighting master and jiu jistu black belt.

I do agree with you, that some forms of fighting are more deadly than others. Some styles of fighting (boxing, Tai Quan Do) are sports while others are used for deadly combat. I don't think boxers learn and practice moves that are intended to kill.

What do you think about Mixed martial arts (MMA). I'm not opposed to it but, this sport is the most brutal modern day sport I have ever seen. These guys are the toughest guys I have ever witnessed.

I don't want to get too far off topic but there is an interesting discussion about this here:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/92116

Oscar wrote:In practice more depends on the practitioner, like martianwarrior said.

Huh? I thought he was implying just the opposite when saying "a tai chi fighting master could easily defeat the most skilled jiu jistu black belt." To me this comment is emphasizing the specific style rather than the practitioner.

But, I actually agree with him in general.

Post by **Oscar** » Sun 12 Jul 2009 11:02

Sorry for the confusion, I meant "johndela1" instead of "martianwarrior"

Even the toughest form of sports is still a sport, which means it has rules. In real life-or-death fights there are none. This means a ring fighter will never have to worry about protecting his private parts, being afraid of his eyes getting stuck out, being killed by a throat blow, etc. Plus the environment is controlled, so worries about glass on the ground, walls, poles, etc are also absent.

I think I'll split off our martial arts discussion, so no worries about getting too much off topic.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Sun 12 Jul 2009 21:13

one thing is for sure... i love practicing mixed martial arts more than i enjoy talking about it on a forum

mma is not that brutal when compared to other sports when you take into account the length of fights, the keen oversight of refs who stop fights before things really turn south for the losing opponent, frequency of a fighter actually fighting etc. most people who know about mma heard about it on bill o'reily or espn where they demonize and trash talk it to hell.

no doubt most these guys are the toughest around but no one has ever died in mma or suffered any serious or debilitating injuries. most injuries that fighters recieve heal relatively quickly or do not effect the fighter that much in the long run.

it depends on the fighters style too, whether or not they take damage in order to inflict damage. this is why i prefer more elusive styles such as tai chi, capoeria, karate, with things like wrestling, muay thai, judo and BJJ as a compliment.

all in all, mma is not fighting lions or to the death against others in a colliseum