Are we living in the age of the super athete

silat liam

Hi
Due to the last thread I started entitle "Is grappling safe" on the street", prove to be so poular and expose the limitation of MMA in dealing with Knife defence and not regarding self defence as worth while learning, instead just practising for the ring and keeping fit, along with the new found interest people or now having for Silat especially Columok who has express a great interest in understanding silat, which is great fair play to you. I thought this article about the super athete would be a good thread to discuss and see where the view of MMA guys are with this. I would also like to discuss this with all others including SD, TMA and RMA people

The Age of the Super Athlete



A lot of arts speak of some kind of spiritual or metaphysical aspects that they contain. Some perform these exercises frequently within the system while others use it as a sort of extra curriculum when and if a student wants to look into it. We call our art a Spiritual art that just happens to contain physical moves which conveys how we rank the importance of this portion of the art. The blending of these two qualities can transform the practitioner from being just a physical brute into a living piece of art. Most students do not voluntarily become these living moving works of art with out much guidance from the teacher. Many however do passively await this guidance that may or may not ever arrive. This art with it's whirling, elaborate, animated yet ordered turbulence comes to its finest expression when a fully schooled student taps into that inner being and transforms that "feeling" into physical expression. However these ideals are based on very old Principles . In contrast the contemporary "World View" emphasis that, change is good and equals progress. To high a value is placed on expediency, innovation, the” latest thing”, the newest "Blend" of this and that. It is the small details we as teachers can add to the student’s way of moving which comes best when a "feeling" is used as a vehicle that comes together in talented individual and results in the stunning precision. The way we practice is in the end the way of the art period. Art can not survive in books or memory only. It only takes one generation of practicing incorrectly to destroy it. Yet this has happened even in Silat and our goal has been to research this special movement and cultivate it in our art. I think what we are experiencing now is much different from what the last four hundred years of classical martial arts thrived on. We are in the age of the Super athlete, super training methods and the thought that just bigger better conditioned people can use only this to pound out a victory in a cage or in the street. Yet, where is the rest of it that was designed for something much more ? If you are asking yourself now what is this "more" you are in the wrong school. There can be no shortcuts to making a complete martial artist, there are no tricks or innovations in classical training. In the old Silat Schools people new who the experts were and they were respected by their peers. The consensus of experts is now missing.

It’s a very difficult position to be in because the only vehicle to rank martial artists merits has become competitions where only physical beatings are the desired end result. No serious Martial artists should ever believe the training goal is to just to compete. The belief that you practice to unfold your natural potential until it is fulfilled and your physical body can offer no more is the first step, then the next is to turn inward and go further. This is the step that appears missing. Going inward here gives the body a rest and it tunes one to another entire world. A world that as one grows older becomes a place to slip into more and more and which can show you how to make up for possibly decreasing physical abilities and then transform them into some that are far better than you even had before. Isn't it nice to know you can KEEP getting better? The last and perhaps largest danger is that we live in a technological age. Its guidelines include the principle that only the latest things are good if they improved on the old. The word "new and improved" appears worldwide in every language on every product. Look at computers every four months your equipment is outdated. You can’t even trade it in as know one wants it. We are not hear to reinvent classical martial arts because everything that was needed and proven over many real battles both inwardly and outwardly have been fought "FOR REAL" In Summery this article is concerned with my assessment of Classical martial arts. I believe we are now at a juncture of either going wrong with these wonderful arts or seeking the keys that have always been there and preserving them .The ability to derail classical arts is tempting because we have arrived at the age of the super athlete which superficially represents in the raw what we all think we desire to be until you realize you live on the inside and only here can you really find what you want..


www.silateurope.com

Drexl Spivey

Hi Silat Liam,

I like your point of view and I respect it.
Silat seems to be a lifetime involvement.

What do you think of Krav Maga which is based on both fitness and deadly techniques use?
We know that this system works because it is used by military and police.

Would you disregard a system because it is new?


I have seen MMA and they have deadly techniques too: Guillotine


Competition is not the answer to everything. But how can you know (how do you measure it) that your skills are to the right standard (you can protect yourself).

Another question for you: what physical training is part of a silat practitioner?

Thanks for your input.

tomboru

silat liam, your not saying anything we haven't heard a million times before. the spiritual is in the 'doing' and in the 'competing'. if your training in martial arts and you don't compete at some level, are fit and enjoy what it is your doing you are wasting your time.

Roper

Liam,
I don't think your previous post unveiled or revealed anything we didn't already know. Nor does this article. It's new age drivel to be honest.

silat liam

Jeff Bond wrote:

Hi Silat Liam,

I like your point of view and I respect it.
Silat seems to be a lifetime involvement.

What do you think of Krav Maga which is based on both fitness and deadly techniques use?
We know that this system works because it is used by military and police.

Would you disregard a system because it is new?


I have seen MMA and they have deadly techniques too: Guillotine


Competition is not the answer to everything. But how can you know (how do you measure it) that your skills are to the right standard (you can protect yourself).

Another question for you: what physical training is part of a silat practitioner?

Thanks for your input.

.


Hi Jeff
Thanks for the reply. To be honest Ive only seen a small portion of Krav Magda. I know its well respected. I seen demo's on it and alot of the self defence and combat applications are very similar to what Ive seen in some styles of silat. The main difference being that the Krav is I think a very streamline combat application system and doesnt offer the Internal and other physical attributes that silat curtails (I maybe wrong on this so correct me if I am). Thats doesnt make it weaker or stronger, just it offers a different approach. The one problem I do see with krav it sometimes advertise in Uk and Ire as a weekend course or even a day long course with exterme high price. This maybe ok for instructors of other styles to come along and take ideals, but Im not sure if joe public would be after a weekend only training session be albe to really defend him or herself realsiticly. Ive seen this also by silat teachers offering a weekend course and suddenly you a silat fighter. Outside of this anything else I know about Krav looks very good.

No I wouldnt disregard system because its new. But in all reality nothing is really new, things if you look closer are just re invented maybe under a new name, or image. For example MMA guys now are no different from maybe Gladiators that were use in Roman days of testing different fighters for the amusements of the Roman public. Even now you will hear Greeco - Roman wrestling being touted as the new big thing, even though its been around for thousands of years. So I not against any other system or art form, every one should enjoy what they do.

Yes I agree MMA guys have some very good deadly fighting techniques.

Physical Training in Silat usually comprises of beside the normal stretches and warm ups. Jurus (Upperbody work) Lanka (Lower Bodywork), Power postures (This really looks like Yoga training), Breathing and Meditations exercise to develop good flow of energy in body and to de stress the mind, Padwork, Buah(Striking and Grappling sequences) Weapon Training (Blade and stick variations) Sparring (Light for beginners/ Full Contact for seniors) Drills to develop awareness, speed and power and Street defence drill. This is a summary of the basic training


Regards

Liam

silat liam

tomboru wrote:

silat liam, your not saying anything we haven't heard a million times before. the spiritual is in the 'doing' and in the 'competing'. if your training in martial arts and you don't compete at some level, are fit and enjoy what it is your doing you are wasting your time.

.

Hi Tomboru
Why do you need to feel the need to compete, what part of your life does this fill??? Can you not do a martial art without the need to feel you are better than someone else by beating somebody in the ring. If you saying that martial arts is all about competations than you only seeing the tip of an iceberg. I agree with you other points keeping fit and enjoying it very important.

Scramble

Why do you need to feel the need to compete, what part of your life does this fill??? Can you not do a martial art without the need to feel you are better than someone else by beating somebody in the ring. If you saying that martial arts is all about competations than you only seeing the tip of an iceberg.

I haven't been training in what would be regarding as sporting or competitive martial arts long at all, really.

One of the things that encouraged me to get involved was when I read something that made me think differently about the notion of competition.

The word 'competition' is supposedly derived from latin roots- Con and petire, meaingly (loosely) "too seek together". What I take from this is that competition is really about working with your training partner towards your mutual goal of improving yourselves physically and mentally. Paradoxically, this is best achieved by actively resisting one another.

As such, competition really only refers to a particular way to prepare or train, in my mind. It just so happens that this process also makes for a pretty good visual spectacle or recreation when they become organised contests, not just two people working together (what we recognise as the sporting end of it?).

I'm not planning on entering any contests any time soon, or trying to win any medals, but the idea of competition is kind of the bedrock of how I think about getting the best from my training now.

columok

Liam,

Why do you need to feel the need to compete, what part of your life does this fill??? Can you not do a martial art without the need to feel you are better than someone else by beating somebody in the ring. If you saying that martial arts is all about competations than you only seeing the tip of an iceberg.

Competition is more than an event, fight, match... Its a state of mind. Competition for me at least is about pushing myself and my friends and them pushing me. Competition is about finding my limits and never allowing myself to be happy with them.

Its not about beating someone else, its not about validation, its not about needing recognition. For me its about realising that validation, recognition and everything else means nothing. I think that competition based (i.e. within the gym or outside) training methods are essential to not only develop the skills needed to apply your martial arts techniques but are also essential to get the spiritual.

Colum