cloudz wrote:
I like your approach - Internal conditioning methods + MMA style training.
What i don't so much like is when you say point out someone like Tim Cartmell who has put some of his sparring out there and say it's not internal. You are happy to go around saying you don't see any internal, but state people won't see it in your clips.
That's kind of a sneaky get out clause for elevating your methods, when coupled with what you write. At the end of the day re. your method and internal we only have your descriptions to go on.
Well, thanks for the slam with this idea that I am trying to elevate myself and be sneaky.
First of all what I stated about Tim is that in the video that was offered he...not me...he...was only outlining practical jujutsu theory and it had nothing to do with internals. Some folks in that thread attributed the principles he was talking about as internal. I also stated that on the whole it was *good* jujutsu theory. I then suggested thay ask TIm if he himdelf...would call that video either internal training? or jujutsu 101 training? Look, Tim deserves his rep and is also supposed to be as good a teacher as a fighter. If there is some debate over his internal skill and knowledge- I can't be a part of it. I don't know the guy and have not felt him...and his fighting skills are not relevant to -that- discussion now are they?
I like many others on here do appreciate the exercise we have gotton from CIMA - nei gong to be precise.
It just gets a bit silly when a group of people continue to set them selves as a cut above and assert no one else "has it" or "knows it". And that's what seems to be the case here.
They are a cut above many.
They are also still below others well.
If your current level is not self evidently above most MA'ers you have encountered then your idea of "more training" need to apply to you as well. I have never once asserted no one else has "it." Are you nuts? Not even close. I don't know who you are referring to. Its certianly isn't me. This stuff is old and is in several cultures.
I am not concerned with who and where, I am more interested in what and how. And in case you missed it, I openly share what we do and try to help people to improve. I train people to be able to stop people like me, so the idea of you trying to tell me I want to come across as "top dog" over someone else is ...what did you call it... "a bit silly"... to cast my way. I have better things to do in my life than to try and play king of the sandbox. I find the methods intriquing. Sort of like a game of physical chess. Who is better at it changes constantly. Hopefully you are pursuing your particular "it" like we are.
Like you say it is about the effort - it sounds like you have made great efforts in your own training. Maybe you should give your own efforts and time more credit than what you may think is specialized training available to only a tiny tiny group, such as you.
i think the methods are out there to be taken up, without necessarily going half way round the world to get them - not that they are on every doorstep either. the rest is up to the individual. I continually get the impression of 'secret' method when reading some posts.. when really the only secret is lots of training.
Want to point to where I said anything contrary to this? It seems to me I continually remind people (even right here a few posts back) that
a) good grapplers are numbered in the thousands many unsung and unknown and have been around for decades.
b) so are those who understand internal training-though fewer in number I would guess.
c) Those who combined them- though I do believe are far fewer in number than that, are also out there to train with.
I think you need to go back and revisit both my posts and my intentions. The views you expressed are certainly not my own.
Can you say something about your exercises. I can't imagine them being all that different to what's out there. I assume you didn't creat them in a vacuum.
I have many times here in these pages. I don't have the time to go find them. I don't go into great detail accept in person and I try not to do one time show and tells. If people don't want to commit to coming at least a few times a year I don't want to commit to wasting my own damn time on them for free either. But as you say this stuff is everywhere so I am sure you are doing what I do and are possibly even better at it than I am-who knows.
It's maybe a case of you being a big strong guy who's a damn good skilled fighter too. I'm also aware that internal methods can cause a 'sea change' feeling in people on different levels. And of course if i didn't beleive from experience that you get solid improvements with this the kind of training I've found in IMA I wouldn't still be doing it. Nor do I think they are the kind of thing I'd pick up in your average Karate class for example.
Big strong guy? Well, I've not had the experience of someone mistaking my power for muscle. It is usually just the opposite, but whatever. And that would include some more educated folks like more than a few master level Japanese and ICMA teachers. one of whom invited me to come live with him in China to train. And two of the Japanese teachers I wound up teaching some of my training methods to, one is coming here again tommorrow. But again lest you continue to misconstrue and reinterpret what I actually do say...I do
not believe I am unique or special in the big picture. I do what I do and let others be the judge of what's out there. I'm more concerned with whether or not - I - improve in any given year or if I am just kidding myself. There is still sooo much I am dissapointed in-in my own training. But hey-it's only Budo I am looking forward to the next twenty years and some possibe improvement.
Good luck in your training
Dan
Last edited by Bodywork on Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:24 am, edited 5 times in total.