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Martial Arts Nonsense

Back in the 90's I worked with a guy who said virtually the same thing as your friend. He was very advanced, and really into it - and proficient in other martial arts - so I was really quite surprised when his response to my asking what the best training for self-defence would be was, without hesitation, 'learn to box'.

The training regime is probably one of the best and most balanced you can engage in, too. The fittest old sportsmen I know were all either keen boxers, or cyclists (and, in some cases, still are).
Boxing, Muay Thai and the always unfashionable Judo were the best Reality Martial Arts you could do back the 80s and 90s...cant comment on what Special Services do for street situations ?
 
Hear is a drunk Don getting beaten by a Boxer.

He is a class bloke.
 
Wing Chun isn't totally useless. I did it for about 6 months and it was designed for women - and I wanted my wife to learn it. At work having a couple of people try and punch me in the face, I found it useful directing the punch away from me. It does work. Not sure how good it would be against a trained boxer.
 
Wing Chun isn't totally useless. I did it for about 6 months and it was designed for women - and I wanted my wife to learn it. At work having a couple of people try and punch me in the face, I found it useful directing the punch away from me. It does work. Not sure how good it would be against a trained boxer.
Chris Eubank would do some corkscrew type of punch which looked a bit like Wing Chun.
 
I was watching an old Hollywood silent movie which features a brawl in a Chinatown area of the city as a setpiece. You might expect the participants to be busting a whole load of kung fu moves, but actually they were wrestling on the ground and pulling guns on each other. No kung fu in sight.

The extras were all of Chinese origin as far as I could tell, but I wonder at what point in the 20th century they would have been portrayed using martial arts? I think Henry Silva in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate was the first to use kung fu in a Hollywood movie, and he wasn't even Chinese.
 
Krav Maga appears to be pretty “real world”. sounds like it would make it effective.

The best martial art is still, however, the one l practise: Situational awareness, avoidance, evasion and de-escalation.

maximus otter

Agree.

A proper Krav Maga instructor will teach those.

It's focussed on real life for sure - defence against knives and guns too - but there are few quick fixes, whilst on some occasions a single punch will get you out of trouble, top level Krav Maga instructors train for many years.
 
I was watching an old Hollywood silent movie which features a brawl in a Chinatown area of the city as a setpiece. You might expect the participants to be busting a whole load of kung fu moves, but actually they were wrestling on the ground and pulling guns on each other. No kung fu in sight.

The extras were all of Chinese origin as far as I could tell, but I wonder at what point in the 20th century they would have been portrayed using martial arts? I think Henry Silva in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate was the first to use kung fu in a Hollywood movie, and he wasn't even Chinese.
The earliest ones I can remember was when James Cagney performed judo in Blood on the Sun way back in 1945, then Spencer Tracy used martial arts to knock the stuffing out of Ernest Borgnine in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
 
The earliest ones I can remember was when James Cagney performed judo in Blood on the Sun way back in 1945, then Spencer Tracy used martial arts to knock the stuffing out of Ernest Borgnine in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Yes, good ones! They weren't playing Chinese characters, mind you, I suppose it took Bruce Lee to make every Westerner believe all Chinese can do kung fu to incredibly high standard.
 
Wing Chun isn't totally useless. I did it for about 6 months and it was designed for women - and I wanted my wife to learn it. At work having a couple of people try and punch me in the face, I found it useful directing the punch away from me. It does work. Not sure how good it would be against a trained boxer.

They say the best form of self-defence isto avoid conflict altogether by whatever means you can. I’d say NOT encouraging women to punch you in the face is best practice here.
 
They say the best form of self-defence isto avoid conflict altogether by whatever means you can. I’d say NOT encouraging women to punch you in the face is best practice here.

It was two men who tried to punch me on different occasions - they weren't work colleagues. I sometimes have to manage violent people. Re: Wing Chun - I tried to get my wife interested as at the time there were muggings going on. I was saying Wing Chun was created by women for women as it took out the physical strength aspect of defense

I am very aware of verbal de-escalation and conflict management, as I've trained people in how to do it.
 
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The earliest ones I can remember was when James Cagney performed judo in Blood on the Sun way back in 1945, then Spencer Tracy used martial arts to knock the stuffing out of Ernest Borgnine in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Thats a real good screen combat scene for its time.
 
I read that Cagney became quite enthusiastic about Judo and practised for many years until he was quite proficient at it. He only gave up due to back problems.
 
Very impressive and no shaky cam obscuring the action.
I liked the hits as well as controlled and not done from a angle plus most fight scenes you see today flick backwards and forwards in seconds apart the fight scenes in gangs of London as that was pretty good in the first episode.
 
I liked the hits as well as controlled and not done from a angle plus most fight scenes you see today flick backwards and forwards in seconds apart the fight scenes in gangs of London as that was pretty good in the first episode.
Cagney began his career as a dancer and also did a bit of boxing in his younger days which would probably help in choreographing the fight.
 
l have never done any martial arts, but from things l’ve read Krav Maga appears to be pretty “real world”. The Israelis have some experience in being attacked, and KM’s pragmatic essence - “Is there a fire extinguisher nearby? Hit the ****er with it!” - sounds like it would make it effective.

The best martial art is still, however, the one l practise: Situational awareness, avoidance, evasion and de-escalation. “You win every fight that you don’t get involved in.”

maximus otter
Doesn't give you the same level of satisfaction as shutting down a chav does though.
 
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