Martial arts are the ultimate form of self-expression.

Propane Daddy said:
I've heard this said by people who practice traditional Asian martial arts like Karate and Kung Fu. What exactly is self-expression, and how could that be achieved by being a karate nerd?
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The people who think that are treating martial arts like dancing, but for men. Just take ballet lessons and learn to box/wrestle for when people try to kick your ass for being such a fairy.
 
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Propane Daddy said:
I've heard this said by people who practice traditional Asian martial arts like Karate and Kung Fu. What exactly is self-expression, and how could that be achieved by being a karate nerd?
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When you're fighting someone (not sparring or practicing) a part of you that often does not get to express itself comes out. It's that fire, that animal that just roars. There is a way to sort of control that intensity and shape it through conscious thought and it takes on something of your personality. You can see it in boxers too. Tyson's raw aggression, the calm power of George Foreman or the sly creativity of Manny. These three guys all followed the same rules and trained in roughly the same way, but if you watch just a few fights from each you can see their personalities coming through.
As for the second part of your question I don't think you can get that level of self expression by doing exactly what some 40 year old "karate" instructor is telling you or just learning how to kill a dude like Krav or Sistema.
 
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Propane Daddy said:
What exactly is self-expression, and how could that be achieved by being a karate nerd?
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The concept of self-expression should be self-explanatory, and the self-expression of martial arts is "I like punching people & I will karate chop you from scalp to pelvis if you fuck with me look at me wrong."
 
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BigRuler said:
from what i've heard, many traditional asian martial arts are bullshit that doesn't hold up under scrutiny
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It's worse than you think. It's not necessarily about style but legitimately varies dojo to dojo whether they're legit. And beginners (as you'd expect) don't have the knowledge they need to tell the difference.
 
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As someone who studies traditional martial arts, this has to be one of the most pretentious and flippantly galaxy leveled hare brained pieces of nonsense I've ever heard.

Anything could be the ultimate form of expression and get someone into that state of mind of "flow" that allows them to naturally just become who they are.

Martial arts could be one of them but simply just are the top form? Bull fucking shit.
 
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BigRuler said:
if you want serious business go for jiu jitsu (the brazilian kind), muay thai, or simply old fashioned boxing
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As a 13 year old kid forced into Karate theres something to be said about the eroticism of Brazilian jiu jujitsu. Every day I watched 16 year old girls pin each other down and roll around. Just watched them... all the grunting they did didnt help either

I failed Karate btw
 
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ApatheticViewer said:
As a 13 year old kid forced into Karate theres something to be said about the eroticism of Brazilian jiu jujitsu. Every day I watched 16 year old girls pin each other down and roll around. Just watched them... all the grunting they did didnt help either
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Gey.
 
you have an idea, and energy flows through your nerves to your arm to your open palm which smashes some kid's brains into and around a radiator that the universe conveniently provided

trained mind and body came together and the expression of your will erased another being,
overwrote everything they might be simply in the performance of an act

it's a matter of perspective i guess
 
Martial arts are maybe the ultimate nerd/jock convergence point. Eastern culture fetish + mine is stronger than yours * chi power levels ÷real life street fighting.

The ultinate form of self expression is the drum solo. It expresses regret at having chosen percussion, bit also the vindictiveness to make everyone else suffer while they can.
 
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If you want to go by this logic, then I'd be inclined to rank it below dance.
 
A good old street punch up is a far better front for self expression to be honest, far more so than Asian martial arts.
 
Don't know about eastern martial arts, but I took fencing lessons as a kid (epee and sabre) and some HEMA classes (Polish sabre) as an adult. I didn't really feel the trip that I was ultimately expressing myself. It was just fun competing against other people. It felt great to win. But that's no different than any other sport. It's just nerdier.

I think there is something to be said about it helping to sharpen your mind and your reflexes.
 
BigRuler said:
from what i've heard, many traditional asian martial arts are bullshit that doesn't hold up under scrutiny
if you want serious business go for jiu jitsu (the brazilian kind), muay thai, or simply old fashioned boxing
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Up to scrutiny for what? I love bjj, train it every week, but it's not really applicable for any type of street fighting... it can help a little if you're a cop and you need to subdue someone, or if you've got a drunken uncle that's getting rowdy at a party, but that's about it.
What good is an armlock or choke going to be if he has a buddy standing there right next to him? That's why people learned to punch, or sometimes kick, because that's how you have a fighting chance against being outnumbered.

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The gracie's are self-aggrendizing liars that thank their fame to the maffia infested UFC.

Gracie once famously invited Kimura for a fight under gracie rules (win by submission or unconsciousness).

It's a fight that Helio lost conclusively and embarrassingly (and it didn't help that they put up a coffin before the fight to intimidate Kimura).

Now they're lying and saying that Helio never intended to win and that he supposedly was 3 weight classes below kimura and that Helio is such a hero for not losing faster.

BJJ and muay thai are popular because they're good styles for UFC MMA rules and unlike most other nations, the thai haven't cucked all risk out of their fighting.

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If you go besides the politics, martial arts is fun to learn, in the way that shooting a bow is.

You learn to optimize your strength, speed and such and you get an okay workout. You're likely to build up unrealistic perceptions in about half of mcdojo's. But if you couldn't tell, you deserve the bullshido you're training.

Learning how to fight is just a couple of things. Learning not to flinch under stress (very hard to train as trainings are in controlled enviroments where you expect the fight), learning to measure distance accurately so you know what punch or kick will hit you and which you can ignore, and learning to hit the other hard without losing your defense. The rest is window dressing. But just because it's simple, it's not necessarily easy.


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Finally the term "expressing yourself" is a meme. Every thing you say and do is expressing yourself. It's a way to sell martial arts classes. I should know, I've done that. Confidence! Happiness! Balance in life! Self-Expression! Self-Defense!

It's all a meme. At its core it's just fighting and it can be smart or dumb fighting depending on where you train.
 
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First of all, how dare you make me relieve seeing that Hank Hill orgasm face again. Heh, Propanal.

Secondly, like most popular things, people add a metaphysical likeness to activities that seem outside the realm of normalcy. Turning your body into a weapon isn't a form of expression as it is outward expression of angst. Those bullies sure will stop giving me swirlies when I can dragon kick them in the balls.

If you really wanna express yourself, immerse yourself in an activity you enjoy and go full bore on it. Create things for it, talk about it, and tell people why you like it if they ask you.
 
MediocreMilt said:
It's worse than you think. It's not necessarily about style but legitimately varies dojo to dojo whether they're legit. And beginners (as you'd expect) don't have the knowledge they need to tell the difference.
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As a beginner I'm curious, what is the difference between legit and fake dojos?
 
MeatRokket08 said:
As a beginner I'm curious, what is the difference between legit and fake dojos?
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Literally whether what they have to teach you is worth a shit.

There are places that are started by guys that make shit up, and more horrifying, started by the students of a guy that just made shit up.

I'd say look for a place that is affiliated with a reputable organization of dojos, though depending on style you may have some google-fu to perform before you learn any kung-fu. And even then, just because a dojo is independent doesn't mean they're a bad dojo. Really just in general look into the reputation of the instructors, I guess. But go deeper than the Yelp reviews.
 
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