| No offense, but I think your opinion shows why most martial arts are in a state of disgrace right now. Martial arts are very different from one another. True martial arts are supposed to give you three things:
- Ability for self defense
- Good health (not only physical health)
- Some sense of inner peace, zen, or whatever you may want to call it. One of the many problems of the current state of things is that most societies are culturally oriented to consume things, the more the better (no offense, but the Americans excel at this). So most people wouldn't want to learn a martial art and start very slowly, nor they would spend 6 months learning the basics. They think that the more you learn, the better. In martial arts, you learn very little and practice alot. In the past, students would spend 6 months just doing simple movements, one of the reasons was that if you don't get the basics wrong you would not go far.
I agree with you that today most people practice martial arts and don't have a clue of how to defend themselves, but in the past if a martial arts master would not know how to fight he would simply end up dead or severely hurt.
Nowadays, people want to be able to fight after 2 classes and want to be black belts or masters after one or two years. A good example of this kind if practice is Muay Thai fighers. They do not show that many techniques, yet they are devastating because they dedicate and practice alot.
Another good example of fighting with strategy is BJJ. You see smaller guys with much less strength taking on bigger guys by employing smart strategy. Either way, there's much more about martial arts than physical strength.
My advice is that you first define your aims. What do you want? Be a good fighter? Be in a good shape? Dedicate some time, or just a few hours on the weekend? Based on your objectives, you will be able to choose wisely. |