What Makes Martial Arts Effective? Matt Thornton — Rokas
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:38 am
AikidoSiauliai
Published on Apr 23, 2018
Many people practice martial arts which are not really effective for what they claim to be. In this video martial arts legend Matt Thornton will share how he distinguishes what makes a martial art effective. We will also talk about empirical thinking in martial arts and on developing your own style.
Matt Thornton is a martial arts athlete, trainer, and founder of Straight Blast Gym International, an association of over 35 gyms worldwide engaged in training athletes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA).
He is well known in the martial arts community for his formulation and promotion of the concept of "aliveness" in training, as well as for being one of the first gyms to feature cross training in boxing and other fighting sports at the beginning of the growth of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the 1990s. He was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). . . .
Now to summarize this interview with Matt Thornton, in the end it all comes down to aliveness. If a martial art is practiced without alive drilling and it's just based on static form it will have no way to evolve as a functional practice. In other words if you are not swimming in water and practice your moves on dry land how can you expect to swim well the first time you are dropped in water? Thus in martial arts pressure testing and alive drilling is most vital if you want your martial art to be effective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP9MVkac--I
AikidoSiauliai
Published on Apr 16, 2018
Many see that martial arts such as Aikido are not effective for self defense but still believe Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun to be so. In this video I'll talk with Matt Thornton, a martial arts legend who has been an instructor in Jeet Kune Do, yet was able to see it's flaws and went on the path to functionalize his martial arts. He will explain in a simple manner why Jeet Kune Do is not actually and functional martial art and why it is so.
Now to come back to the subject of whether Jeet Kune Do is an Effective Self Defense form, we need to look at the details of what an effective self defense form is. As Matt Thornton very well said in this interview segment: you can not expect a martial art to be functional if you do not include alive training with resistance. That applies as much for Aikido as much as Jeet Kune Do or Wing Chun.
Although Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun appear more "realistic" and more as an effective self defense form, without proper training methods one can not expect it to really be effective for self defense. Jeet Kune Do (or JKD) also has a lot of techniques which are more favored by traditional martial arts which are clearly not effective for self defense which is interesting, because it clearly gives trouble for the vision of Bruce Lee that he had for Jeet Kune Do.
If you ask Matt Thornton whether he still does Jeet Kune Do, he would say yes, not because the forms of JKD are still used, but mainly because he follows the vision of Bruce Lee of looking at what is effective and what can be applied for self defense. This is something that would should all look for as well.
So in the end if Jeet Kune Do is an Effective Self Defense form or not, you will have to decide for yourself. Yet after listening to this talk with Matt Thornton I think you will have an easier time figuring it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuvgeP04TMI
Published on Apr 23, 2018
Many people practice martial arts which are not really effective for what they claim to be. In this video martial arts legend Matt Thornton will share how he distinguishes what makes a martial art effective. We will also talk about empirical thinking in martial arts and on developing your own style.
Matt Thornton is a martial arts athlete, trainer, and founder of Straight Blast Gym International, an association of over 35 gyms worldwide engaged in training athletes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA).
He is well known in the martial arts community for his formulation and promotion of the concept of "aliveness" in training, as well as for being one of the first gyms to feature cross training in boxing and other fighting sports at the beginning of the growth of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the 1990s. He was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). . . .
Now to summarize this interview with Matt Thornton, in the end it all comes down to aliveness. If a martial art is practiced without alive drilling and it's just based on static form it will have no way to evolve as a functional practice. In other words if you are not swimming in water and practice your moves on dry land how can you expect to swim well the first time you are dropped in water? Thus in martial arts pressure testing and alive drilling is most vital if you want your martial art to be effective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP9MVkac--I
AikidoSiauliai
Published on Apr 16, 2018
Many see that martial arts such as Aikido are not effective for self defense but still believe Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun to be so. In this video I'll talk with Matt Thornton, a martial arts legend who has been an instructor in Jeet Kune Do, yet was able to see it's flaws and went on the path to functionalize his martial arts. He will explain in a simple manner why Jeet Kune Do is not actually and functional martial art and why it is so.
Now to come back to the subject of whether Jeet Kune Do is an Effective Self Defense form, we need to look at the details of what an effective self defense form is. As Matt Thornton very well said in this interview segment: you can not expect a martial art to be functional if you do not include alive training with resistance. That applies as much for Aikido as much as Jeet Kune Do or Wing Chun.
Although Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun appear more "realistic" and more as an effective self defense form, without proper training methods one can not expect it to really be effective for self defense. Jeet Kune Do (or JKD) also has a lot of techniques which are more favored by traditional martial arts which are clearly not effective for self defense which is interesting, because it clearly gives trouble for the vision of Bruce Lee that he had for Jeet Kune Do.
If you ask Matt Thornton whether he still does Jeet Kune Do, he would say yes, not because the forms of JKD are still used, but mainly because he follows the vision of Bruce Lee of looking at what is effective and what can be applied for self defense. This is something that would should all look for as well.
So in the end if Jeet Kune Do is an Effective Self Defense form or not, you will have to decide for yourself. Yet after listening to this talk with Matt Thornton I think you will have an easier time figuring it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuvgeP04TMI