Putin earned his black belt in judo; his current rank is honorific, but belts above 5 dan are pretty much awarded for services to judo. He’s studied it (and sambo wrestling) for decades, he has a competition record and he’s got decent technique. His taekwondo 9 dan black belt is purely honorific, though.
Erik - nice video, good technique! I’ve trained with some krav maga guys and wasn’t that impressed, to be honest; I think if you’re seriously training technique rather than trying to pick up the basics for the minimum effort, focussing on boxing and MMA is a better way to go. If you want to bring in weapons, silat and escrima are good.It all depends on the instructor, though.
Thats informative, thanks Humean. What is your personal specialty?
Second on Escrima. I did one seminar once and that sufficed to teach me effective sword and stickfighting basics.
Mostly Russian (ROSS) and taoist (ba gua) with some boxing, judo, BJJ. I’m not actively training at the moment, though, I really should get back into it.
Systema’s got some good points for tying existing skills together (integrating striking and grappling skills, for instance) but there’s a whole load of “supersecret Spetsnaz skills” marketing - that you get with most Russian martial arts, to be fair, but they really lay it on thick - and the “psychic energy” crap. Which is exactly the same as the “empty force” demos of the chi-masters in buddhist/daoist martial arts, and is basically just advanced suggestion that works amazingly on well-conditioned (or susceptible) students but doesn’t work on resisting opponents who are trying to hurt you. If you have good basic skills already, then the basics of movement and posture that it teaches is useful stuff, though.
That’s what I find - it’s great for refining posture, and working on tendons and joints. It has very effective elements of blending in with situations, being flexible with them.
I feel that boxing as an art, or form of self-expression should be elaborated on further.
I imagine that some may ask " How is swinging wildly at another person a form of art? ". If you were to juxtapose boxing with the traditional arts, then the dubiousness is valid. But if one were to experience boxing first hand, as opposed to the myopic framework of pre-conceived notions, then one could, truly, appreciate the primal beauty of it. A painting is created on a canvas; boxing is also done on a canvas; the painter either creates his masterpiece with finesse, or he splatters the paint all over the canvas vehemently and chaotically; In boxing, there is the technical fighter - who calculates his attack with extreme precision, and there is also the brawler - who swings wildly at his opponent like a violent savage; a painting is done with brushes and paint; boxing is done with fists, blood, sweat and tears. In both cases, there is a silent rage that is present, a rage ready to discharge itself, to express itself.
Sometimes, when I’m sparring, my movements are done effortlessly, as if I were possessed. My bobbing-and-weaving, punches and feints are non-contrived. Everything flows naturally, like water. And like I stated before, I feel so invigorated when boxing, even more so when my body begins to suffer. My internal rage is surfaced when my body starts to enervate — an electrically euphoric sensation, that counteracts the fatigue, an ecstatic rage. This is what ancient warriors felt before entering a battle. They would work themselves into a fury, a rage - which eradicated feelings of cowardice and infused them with power. They would scream, roar and shout before attacking. I believe this is also why Bruce Lee did his iconic screams when punching or kicking; there is something primal about screaming or shouting; it causes the hairs on your arms to stand up, an electrically euphoric sensation of power. It allows repressed anger/suffering to be surfaced, self-expression.
Boxing would be rightfully coined as " Violent self-expression".
As it goes, there is something called primal therapy where you would relieve yourself by screaming and expressing aggressive acts.
I frequently do this myself, I will enter the local woods early in the morning and run around screaming, best therapy ever…I also probably look like a mad man with long hair and beard running around screaming…
That seems fairly extreme, what was the objective?
I’m not trying to lose weight but rather just give my body a cleanse. I recently bought a juicer, so I might do a fruit/veg juice fast for a few weeks and monitor the results…
This was my first boxing match. I TKO’d him in the second round. The fight took place in his home town of Geneva, NY - so the ref. raised his hand, for showing heart. The kid was tough; he got up after I knocked him down - he had grit, but his body simply said " No " - he was spaghetti legged and the ref. called it off.
