横綱、飛猿のような立ち会い
Is that Hakuho Tobizaru?
照強の小股掬い
Komatasukui done by Terutsuyoshi
Random martial musings (and lgbtq+ people fighting)
Random post to inform you all again about how much I miss training
I get my second shot of covid vaccination next week, so I’ll be ready when clubs come back in september
Had some exchange of techniques yesterday with some friends who train in a queer self defense program, was nice to kick people again, but considering the flaws in what they were taught lgbtq+ people are really in dire need of some legitimate clubs with quality training.
One interesting and extremely important thing that came out from this exchange though was their emphasis on psychological training, as in “reaction to danger and pain”. While I always thought it should be one of the main goals in this sort of program, doing too many specific exercises outside of application (= sparring) seems to be counterproductive after a while. My main gripe with what they were doing, was that they were separating that from self-confidence ; and that only comes from realizing your technique works.
Outside of pure martial technique and its application, I always thought the main thing about teaching how to fight to LGBTQ+ people is that we’re dealing with people who all have to deal with trauma of some sort : whether it is from experiencing violence (psychological and physical), body dysphoria, PTSD that goes with, etc.
And as much as I think teaching how to deal with that is important, I think teaching simple but efficient responses is the best way to build up enough self confidence to start handling your trauma.
Landing something simple against a resisting opponing, like a jab, a good front kick, or a takedown, will do supreme good to people who have been on the receiving end of violence OR suffer from body dysphoria.
Put yourself in the gloves of a trans person who feels disconnected from a body that isn’t theirs ; imagine how it feels to use that same body to throw someone bigger than you on the ground and successfully push them away with a good front kick. Suddenly, you just gave them tools that can help them get out of desperate situations. Suddenly, you turn a reliance on luck and hope into something that can be controlled, to an extent.
When I was helping with women’s self defense program, before doing anything else, the instructor who teach everyone how to do proper front kicks, palm strikes and a basic takedown (something akin to a judo osotogari, a leg sweep). And she would not send anyone into sparring or sparring-like scenarios until they had that done. And I’ve seen the incredible effect it did on the women who took the program, because when thrown into situations where I would play the role of an agressor, they were able to take me down or stagger me long enough to be able to run. Believe me, the realization that with these three simple things, they managed to take down a scary 95 kgs guy wearing all sort of protections really changed something in them.
I figure LGBTQ+ would have the exact same experience.
Now another important thing would be how to bring lgbtq+ people outside of their spaces and into mainstream clubs, both as means of normalization AND for more effective training (train against people who look like your usual agressors => you won’t be scared again when you realize you can resist). But this is another story and I don’t have data on that, yet.
Can’t wait to go back to all that. Savate again, and probably kyokushin. Though I’m really debating taking up judo too. My grappling and takedown game SUCKS, and Judo is cheap and extremely easy to do here, with the bonus of being SUPER scary in a self-defense scenario. Too much to do, too little time.
Gott love random bruises from muay thai!! Just from drills too no sparring lol
To quote one of my friends that practices Muay Thai and trained in Thailand, “Builds character.”
I wanted to ask the community as a martial artist who isn’t currently active:
How was practicing/participating in martial arts been through the pandemic? How has it changed in the studio?
We pivoted from in person classes to multiple Zoom sessions per week. While it was still feasible we also did physically distanced lessons in the park.
As a Chinese martial art practitioner a good portion of the material we study is solo form work. Which does lend itself to Zoom rather well. The lessons are also available so that they can be reviewed. Being able to see the same movement multiple times at half or a quarter speed has prooven to be useful to a number of members of our club.
Given that things are not location dependent we’ve also managed to reconnect with a number of previous members of the club that have previously moved away and where not able to attend in person as well. We’ve had members participating via Zoom from as far away as Greece, Hong Kong and Australia.
My own persona practice has taken what I feel is a large step forward as I was forced to put pretty much every aspect of my own practice under a microscope for further inspection. Plus I’ve also had an oportunity to connect with individuals oftering classes and material via Zoom that I would have otherwise never been able to participate in.
Students aren't customers? Really?
https://www.thestickchick.com/post/students-aren-t-customers-really
It really depends on whether or not you want to approach teaching a martial art as a buisiness model or not.
My principle instructor once confided in me that after rent, insurance, and other such things he maybe takes home around 3,000$ Canadian a year. Now, obviously, he’s not in it for the money. Before he retired he was a sucessful insurance salesman. Teaching Taiji Quan was, in part a side hussle for him. It kept him active. It allowed him to go to various seminars to further his skills. Also he got to write off the purchase of shiney new weaponry on a semi-periodic basis as a tax deductible buisiness expess. All while being a general pillar of the local martial arts community by connecting individuals from multiple clubs. Hosting various instructors that had come from abroad and having a fairly substantial Chinese New Year celebration.
You’ve also got instructors that teach groups in parks. Thus avoiding the whole rental issue. Which, arguably have managed to thrive a little bit better this past year. Is the old man in the park going to treat his students like customers? Probably not.
Then again, I am approaching things from the perspective of the Chinese martial arts where everything is associated in terms of familial relations. Your instustructor acts somewhat like a parental figure in certain respects. The other students your brothers and sisters. Whereas individuals that had trained alongside your instructor are viewed as your aunts and uncles.
Should you treat your students in terms of customers, striving to provide excelent customer service? Personally I don’t think it fits the model that I am working with. Alternatively, to someone that is dedicating their life to teaching their particular matial art their particular value set and goals may be different.
Just my two cents on the matter.
One of my pet peeves when it comes to fantasy and historical action/adventure fiction, including (quite paradoxically, considering the point is to hurt characters) whump fic, is when characters are wearing armor and/or fighting enemies wearing armor, but wounds are inflicted as if there was no armor, with even swords cutting easily through chainmail as if there was nothing there. Plate armor's usually a bit better but characters might not be wearing full plate and even if they are, it's not necessarily as effective as it should be if it happens to be narratively convenient for the character to not be wearing armor. But chainmail really is the worst, like I see it get treated as completely ineffectual in fiction all the time and it's like... I don't know, it bothers me more than it should tbh given that I usually don't care much about accuracy, but still
Like, honestly. Do people not realize that armor was used because it worked? Like, really. You are not going to get a sword to cut through chainmail unless it's a magical sword that cuts through metal overall, and you shouldn't equip all your characters with magic swords. If you have a character wearing armor, either get a hit in to somewhere the armor doesn't fully protect, or have the injury be broken bones rather than open wounds (because crushing blows of weapons designed for that do work, and if the sword has enough force behind it, it too can break bones through mail armor. Of course the padded arming doublet will take some of the force and protect to an extent, but it is more likely than getting the sword to actually go through armor). Or if you really must make the character bleed in a place the armor protects, then have it be a spear that pierces through the mail, or an arrow with a long and narrow head designed to fit through the links of the mail.
But if you have a character wearing armor, then please for the sake of my sanity do not wound the character in a way that shouldn't be possible with the kind of armor the character is wearing
even heavy denim/canvas or leather is VERY hard to slice and pretty tricky to stab through, that’s why punks wear vests and men traveling used to wear leather jerkins or doublets. Not only is is sturdy clothing it’s poor man’s armor.
One of my pet peeves when it comes to fantasy and historical action/adventure fiction, including (quite paradoxically, considering the point is to hurt characters) whump fic, is when characters are wearing armor and/or fighting enemies wearing armor, but wounds are inflicted as if there was no armor, with even swords cutting easily through chainmail as if there was nothing there. Plate armor's usually a bit better but characters might not be wearing full plate and even if they are, it's not necessarily as effective as it should be if it happens to be narratively convenient for the character to not be wearing armor. But chainmail really is the worst, like I see it get treated as completely ineffectual in fiction all the time and it's like... I don't know, it bothers me more than it should tbh given that I usually don't care much about accuracy, but still
Like, honestly. Do people not realize that armor was used because it worked? Like, really. You are not going to get a sword to cut through chainmail unless it's a magical sword that cuts through metal overall, and you shouldn't equip all your characters with magic swords. If you have a character wearing armor, either get a hit in to somewhere the armor doesn't fully protect, or have the injury be broken bones rather than open wounds (because crushing blows of weapons designed for that do work, and if the sword has enough force behind it, it too can break bones through mail armor. Of course the padded arming doublet will take some of the force and protect to an extent, but it is more likely than getting the sword to actually go through armor). Or if you really must make the character bleed in a place the armor protects, then have it be a spear that pierces through the mail, or an arrow with a long and narrow head designed to fit through the links of the mail.
But if you have a character wearing armor, then please for the sake of my sanity do not wound the character in a way that shouldn't be possible with the kind of armor the character is wearing
^this.
even heavy denim/canvas or leather is VERY hard to slice and pretty tricky to stab through, that’s why punks wear vests and men traveling used to wear leather jerkins or doublets. Not only is is sturdy clothing it’s poor man’s armor. Even SILK, depending on the weave, can be resistant.
A shirt of maille is dang near impossible to cut someone through without a REALLY heavy shearing blow. but a very narrow bodkin arrow can ruin your day- a hunting arrowhead will barely nick you. (Also stop writing maille without something sturdy under it) What you GET is broken limbs and ribs because Maille doesn’t absorb impact
Stop writing armored people getting sliced right through it unless there’s a really good reason the enemy’s blade breaks the laws of physics or manages to counter the protection that armor offers!
If you’re confused on this, talk to some historical reenactors who do their research and also regularly wear and use armor.
Exactly! Not to mention that a gambeson (which many regular soldiers who could not afford metal armor would historically have worn to battle, and that people who could afford metal armor would be wearing underneath the metal to absorb some of the force of the impact, as well as to make the armor easier to bear and stop it from chafing. Plus depending on the type, the metal armor was also typically attached to the gambeson or arming doublet with points to keep it where it was supposed to be) would be several layers of fabric quilted together, possibly with layers of wool between, which first of all does something to prevent broken bones by absorbing more of the impact, and second of all means there's more stuff to slice through before you've gotten your sword into the squishy vulnerable human beneath.
So like you said, stop writing chainmail, or any sort of armor really for that matter, without something more than a t-shirt under it, because that's not gonna happen. If someone can afford metal armor, they can afford to wear the proper stuff underneath it.
I said it already but I think it bears repeating: armor was worn because it worked. Stop writing it like it doesn't.
Do a bit of research on how effective different kinds of armor were against different weapons - it's not hard, I promise you, I can find dozens of youtube videos of reenactors and other history nerds talking about different kinds of armor, the evolution of armor, historical weapons, etc. very easily - and decide what you're characters are wearing and what they'll get hit with and how they'll be injured based on that.
*jumping up and down* YES.
THIS
Aikido honestly 100% paid off the one night when I fell into a highway and had to employ a breakfall
I once made a post commenting about how most of your favorite old fighters aren’t even in their mid fifties yet and that once we started to see that, we’d start to see what boxing fans frequently do. UFC vet Spencer Fisher, 44, offers us a look into what is to come and it’s not pretty.
If you’re an MMA fan, this is a must read.
This is probably the best piece of MMA journalism and some of the best sports journalism we’ll probably see in 2021. Please read it if we get the chance.
Was reading reactions to this article on r/mma and came across this comment from former Bellator Light Heavyweight Mike Mucitelli
Read this.
A straight, double edged sword with snake quillons,
- OaL: 37 in/94 cm
Timurid Empire, 15th century, from M.K. Antiques.
queerstudyrambles-deactivated20 asked:
I was wondering, do you or your followers have any tips on bo staff training? I've been working with one, but am still hesitant.
gaymartialartist answered:
Hello there! I am fairly new to Bo Staff training myself, and one thing they’ve had us do is wear our chest guards to prevent bruising and to get used to where to stop. Also it is best to train with a heavier bo staff. So when you switch to a lighter one, you are more fluent, reserved, and faster.
Here is a previous post where some fellow budoblr have given advice! If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to add!
Slightly different tradition, being Chinese in origin as oppose to Japanese…. yet a stick is a stick. So you might find some use out of this set of beginner lessons in the Bian Gun or Whipstick by Jack Yan.
Swords are bougie garbage, spears and axes are the weapons of the honest working man
IMAGINE GETTING KILLED BY WILD ANIMALS BECAUSE YOU FAILED TO DISTANCE YOURSELF
THIS POST MADE BY POLEARM GANG
I have a Sword and a Spear, because my family makes pottery and aren’t low class farmers like yours
Lmao this dude doesnt even have an axe.
I mean, we’re potters, not glass blowers. Look at this fucker talking about owning three weapons
Halberd gang rise up. It’s like a spear AND an axe.
yeah well lets see you split wood with it
Can’t hear you from all the way over there! I’ve got my halberd between us! Poke poke.
hey hey
bitch
YEAH WELL LET’S SEE YOU SPLIT WOOD WITH IT
The fuck’s all this bougie shit about? Who the fuck has money for metal weapons in this economy?
elitist jackass talking abt ‘crafted weapons’ just pick up a rock you fucking snob
Anonymous asked:
Hey how many swords do u have
bisexualdemondean answered:
Sword of a lot
Blocked
Parried