Traditional Internal training-does it transfer to MMA

[kreese]

I think it's more a problem of balance. Guys who like soft training need some hard training (this was my experience). Guys who do lots of hard training would benefit from soft training. Finding balance in anything is a slippery goal. I find it hard to balance my life, and training is no different. We start to build momentum in one direction and it is hard to integrate the opposite end of the spectrum. It is rare to find the individual that has reconciled these opposites, but when we do we often find someone with something special.

[mixjourneyman]

I've just recently gone back to bjj and been doing some kickboxing stuff.
What I have noticed is that at first the IMA didn't help the bjj much, but rolling the other day I tried to use relaxation principles, rolled better, and wasn't as sore afterwards as I usually am.

IMA really helped my kickboxing though!!
Getting the basic round kick only took me a couple days before I could really wail away on the bag with it (though the mechanics are much different than IMA, the overall idea is easier to grasp if you can already do something subtle and complicated with your body). For the punches, the main problem I had was using xingyi type footwork. I ended up with too slow of a time in getting my weight so that my foot was not front loaded for a long time.
After I got the footwork a little better, I noticed that I can really use my whole body to throw the punches. Again, different body mechanics, but quicker uptake to learn this type of stuff.

For sparring, I've been playing with some of the kickboxing and bjj, but I still find that my techniques from bagua and xingyi serve me best. One thing I did take away though is to stay lighter on my feet.

[somatai]

what Tom Said....it is not soft vs. hard it is more a question of where is your power coming from.....from my limited perspective.....it seems like it is more a question of depth and wholeness.....in terms of how deeply into the body are you connecting your force and power and how much of you is involved in all your movements....Dan is very soft in that he is not overtly tense or rigid, but he is also very hard and solid from what I have felt.....with very little power intended in his strikes he can hit hard enough so that he has me reflexively flinching even when i don't want to...my body over rides my brain...it says oh no not that again......this is not because he is hitting hard or hurting me...he is being nice, but my body still says i remember that and i am not gonna stand here and let it happen again.....i have no doubt of the value of ima in mma.

[Chris Fleming]

I don't do Daito ryu.

I'm probably speaking to the wind here, but what the heck. This right here is exactly why any and all attempts at trying to talk to you end up in frustration. I asked you in a past thread what method you do. You hinted that you have a back ground in Daito Ryu and also that you do "internal jujitsu.". Now you say you don't do Daito Ryu. Like pulling teeth.

[somatai]

not to speak for Dan, but your statement answers your own question, he said has a back round in daito ryu that does not mean what he is talking about is daito ryu?

[Chris Fleming]

Oh yeah sorry, I forgot one part. I asked him what method he does and he replied with "DR what do you do?". I'm assuming the DR means Daito Ryu. Just answer the damn question or just say you don't want to answer it. Why be passive aggressive?

[somatai]

you may be better off to let all that go and just consider some of what he says, if it is valuable for you good if not, so be it....internet and keyboards make it tough to communicate....Dan is open and a kind teacher in my experience and having felt some of the better martial artists out there I can say that he deserves his opinions and can back up his talk.

[Bodywork]

Chris
I think the hostility is all your own. I got my internals from DR. I left a long time ago as I didn't like the jujutsu they do or the lack of live training. I do MMA.

[Chris Fleming]

Thank you. That took me asking like 5 times but hey, it's better than asking 10 times. I don't know how to be any clearer, if I seem hostile it is because you drop little bits of nothing while making some claims about this or that. When people ask you about your name, your background, what martial art you do, etc, you give them the runaround. I don't buy that whole "keyboards make it hard to communicate". The people on the keyboards are the ones who have the difficulty communicating.

Look Dan, I'd even go so far as to say that I want to like you. I appreciate all advanced practitioners (if they really are that) and would want to learn. Can you drop the mystique and be more straight forward when a person asks you a question?

[Bodywork]

Stop calling it mystique and alluding to it being subtrafuge and the run around or something always dark, and we'll be fine.
There are many reasons people don't talk about themselves, and more so with certain people. Why always opt for negativity. Think positive my man, assume the best. For the most part most people in martial arts I have met, were pretty decent folks. So far after a bunch of people from here and many other forums met me and trained with me, no one much cared what I did-just HOW it did it, and if I could teach it.

As for my writing being about little bits of nothing? Well, thanks for that.
How about contributing something as equally technical, something of substance that we might consider little bits of something. Do you have anything to say that adds value to the discussion other than talking about me personally?

[shawnsegler]

Lets keep it polite, ladies.

S

[Chris Fleming]

Ok then, while I have not done pro MMA, I have done full contact sparring with people, usually friends, classmates or guests who were willing to mix it up to develop their fighting skills. I find that my punching techniques from xing yi worked much better and much more powerfully than any kind of boxing or pseudo-boxing my partners tried. Sticking to the technique works well. I'm not knocking boxing at all, it's just that some attempt at doing things like jabs and hooks when their martial arts basis would serve them better. Either that or getting a better handle on boxing skills.

[bruce]

hi have had a lot of good insights into my "internal" training from sparring with mma types. one thing i try is to not play their game but to really feel what they are trying to do to me. this has been good for me since most ima people i have met will not "mix it up".

i think they can both transfer in each direction.

[klonk]

One way of looking at the matter is that IMA's excel at developing balance and body awareness. These things can help with any sort of fighting you mix them with.

[edededed]

Ok then, while I have not done pro MMA, I have done full contact sparring with people, usually friends, classmates or guests who were willing to mix it up to develop their fighting skills. I find that my punching techniques from xing yi worked much better and much more powerfully than any kind of boxing or pseudo-boxing my partners tried.

That's good--being able to maintain your xingyi frame and techniques in full-contact sparring, instead of changing into boxing or pseudo-boxing like some CMA folks do under pressure.

From my admittedly very limited experience with Dan, the CIMA his frame and shenfa remind me the most of is xingyi. Song family xingyi, actually.

Song family xingyi? This is the branch of xingyi I am least familiar with - what did you find similar?