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Old 04-10-2007, 04:50 AM   #39
Ecosamurai
 
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Dojo: Takagashira Dojo
Join Date: Jun 2002
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Re: Internal strength in bowling, fencing, golf, etc.

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
Nikkyo, interesting you bring that up. In my MMA context I have pretty much dismissed it as being useful. Why is that? It does not work for me. Maybe this in and of itself demonstrates my inability to understand Jin. Good point. This should demonstrate to you the level of honesty and scenarity of have concerning this. At least I am not deluded (as I once was) in thinking that what I was doing in my aikido practice would actually work for me.

This does not imply that nikkyo is worthless, only my own limitations possibly to understanding it
This is kinda what I was talking about when I referred to MMA 'cherry-picking', I've said it before but I'll repeat it. An MMA guy loudly announced to me that nikyo didn't work and nearly screamed when I applied it to his wrist. What he meant to say was 'nikyo doesn't work for me' instead he declared 'nikyo doesn't work'. Not saying that's what you did but I usually view it as the downside of the MMA combined with competition approach. There are probably plenty of things that work just fine but don't make it into MMA's common repetoire or UFC toolkit. I suspect this happens more often than not because the common MMA attitude is that if it can't be made to work with minimal training and I can't apply it in the ring with minimal training it 'doesn't work'. I think it may turn out that as UFC &c continue to get older more and more things that have been thrown out as being 'ineffective' will begin to creep into it as it becomes more sophisticated and the skill level of competitiors increases.

It wasn't so long ago that I remember all 'internal' skills or 'soft arts' as they were often called (using the hard/soft dichotomy) were dismissed as rubbish and 'ineffective' People who dismissed them this way were often stunned when they came accross someone who was really good at the internal stuff (I knew a really impressive muay thai fighter who told me he was intimidated by my aikido teacher for example. Even though my teacher didn't do anything that would be viewed as intimidating, it was simply his presence).

Mike

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
-Martin Luther King Jr
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