Ive been running about twice a week trying to get my stamina up. Do yall get most of your cardio from sparring? Or is there certain workouts yall do to supplement your martial arts?

I'm from Brazil, the birthplace of capoeira, and I did it when I was a kid.

Nowadays, after having got into combat sports and training for years, I'm thinking about coming back to Capoeira as a 34 years old. I still have good enough flexibility, preserved back/spine, good knees and all.

I'd like to learn the acrobatics stuff they have, not necessarily for combat sports, but I also wonder if there's valuable stuff for actual combat sports application there.

earlier today i did a class with muay thai and bjj for the first time. moved from tae kwon doe to this gym. at the end of my muay thai they told me i was really good as if i had done it for at least a month. so i am pretty happy with that part. i just need to get better at the thing where you like collide your knees and elbows i forget what its called tho. then when i started the bjj it was so hard. like we jumped right into the drills and i didnt understand anything. but then we got into the wrestling thing hwere one starts on the ground and you fight to get back controll. it was very difficult. but i got it after a minute. i almost beat someone who was like twitce my size. SHE WAS SCARY BRO. she was like a year younger than me and still like twice my size. i twelve and i weigh 120-130 5,6 but im not exactly sure but she was elevena dn like five nine and almost TWO HUNDRED POUNDS. it was very painfull bro.

Im planning to hang up my slip bag, pretty small little one that maybe weighs a couple pounds at most. Do I need to find a ceiling joist or could I just screw an eye bolt into the drywall and call it a day

Trained Wing Chun for a while then left in pursuit of boxing and wrestling. Over the years I always found myself going back to It. Wing Chun is simply fascinating. It's ingenious, I have this intimate relationship with it. The concepts and principles are ahead of its time. It does have limitations most notably within its defence, counter-blocking measures, distance control but it's actually really practical and ideal for self-defence. Wing Chun is at its best when it's used in conjunction with other arts and styles. A tool, supplement, a means to an end if you will. The one thing it's severely lacking is conditioning. Students are as soft as butter. If you train Wing Chun make sure you condition your body. My second instructor was a former Muay Thai expert and he would incorporate the drills in our training to toughen us up. This helped and improved our overall skills immensely. My instructor said and I quote. "If a Wing Chun man adopts the mindset of a Thai boxer, you have a dangerous Wing Chun man."

I was curious about how realistic the grappling is in this brief scene from Master of the Flying Guilotine. I could be mistaken but I feel like it’s a rarity to see grappling exchanges in this era of martial arts movies.

Left Eye injury sparring

I keep getting caught on my left eye when I spar. Got checked up today and doctor said I have an eye abrasion/scar it will take 1 week to heal with eye drops. I dont use headgear.(mma gym almost no one uses it also we go quiet light 50% or less). I spar guys that are way more experienced than me and they always time me and catch me with their jabs. I am working on my defense every day but wanted to hear from anyone else what they did if they ever experienced this. Will headgear reduce this problem tremendously?

Okay I know this might be a ridiculous discussion however it's worth making an extraction. Zafina in Tekken 8 uses a 100% fictional martial art called "ancient assassination martial art" (full move list here: https://youtu.be/jtVnlKFnTF8n ). I felt allured by it distinctly because of its unorthodox motion utilizing every proportion of the body in a whiplike manner while there's a fluid edge to the impact. Now we can neglect the immensity and flourished aspect of tekken. The dynamic transition from oddly rigid positions/stances to flexible, fluid and I might say, If someone suddenly pulled something derived from the mannerisms of her scorpion kicks, sweeps and hand strikes I might actually fall for it. The hip disbalancing and strikes are a curious spectacle.

To the best of my knowledge there are genuine practical dambe strikes and capoeira scorpion kicks/hand strikes/hip disbalancing that do replicate the effect of traumatic shock. (mainly due to them prominently striking the head or neck or abdomen). Some of Zafina's strikes resemble some of them, with an eagle eye you would notice a succession of wrist strikes. They're, usually frequented to disorient, asphyxiate and if weaponized, prove fatal to the target. But that's not my basis for exactly thinking on the subject. I Just think it's plausible to innovate and construct something out of it, it doesn't necessarily have to be exact to Zafina's combat style.

I ask we look at this in terms of what martial arts have really encapsulated or probably inspired the fictional style of Zafina and whether there's potential to actually devise a modernly unnoticed movement vocabulary from it, even if it was sourced from fictional grounds, i would also add martial arts inspired from fictional sources and how they externalized their characteristics.

Here are a few that came to mind while investigating and other martial arts affixed on unorthodox weight transfer principles:

Pencak silat harimau (tiger): https://youtube.com/shorts/yohMxLgjjC8?si=aXlf8yKAino860WM

https://youtu.be/wwcQag2jyu4

Làmb-- senegalese martial art

Engolo: angolan martial art

capoeira -- afro-Brazilian martial art

Taido --Japanese martial art composed from very intriguing geometric and mathematical grounds.

Ancient martial arts inspired by fictional sources:

Eight Drunken Immortals Boxing (Zui Baxian Quan)

Wu Song Breaks Manacles (Wu Song Tuo Kao)

Now can someone have the Undulating flexible capacity to arduously train, develop and execute Sinuous body motions like Zafina? arguable. I feel it pays a certain cultural debt. I know Brazilian,Arabian and North/West African combat styles apply directives coherent to rhythms and cadences to make their martial arts. Physical coniditioning is usually something that utilises what is commonly attribtued to the cultural heartland's environment. Like for example, african and indian martial arts have a rough like-brutal habit in its execution. Not often are they refined in the raw capacity. What I don't know is if there's a motion principle and posture aligned to something Zafina executes.

this also relates to how cultural upbringing, traditional engagements and environmental factors help develop philosophies and movement of a martial art. eg. there are capoeira stances, movements that take many semblances and origins from traditional folk dances, local contests and combat games (Pernada carioca, batuque, Sambatuque and Tiririca.) the same case applies in African and Eurasian martial arts like:

Egyptian Tahteeb.
Nigeria's Dambe and Gidigbo.
Ukrainian Combat Hopak.
The Slavic's Buza.

If anyone can mention or expatiate by describing noticeable influences in Zafina's combat styles from a particular country's indigenous culture, It would help.

Kind of an old vid, but I like to come back to it every once in a while. It’s a fun watch and I like the music along with the kickpad claps.

Kevin James was in Here Comes The Boom, which is a perfectly average rocky style sports movie. A teacher becomes an amateur fighter to raise money for the school. It’d be completely forgettable accept it unironically has some of the most realistic fights I’ve seen for a fighting movie.

Doing a 3 day symposium and both of these are going to be there presenting. Not sure what to expect, but I am open to learning and I've been to this symposium before (not with them), and it's always a good time. About 10 hours of training, options to experience lots of different styles. It's a great weekend.

My Professor is good friends with Doug Marcaida, and said he'd sign our Eskrima sticks, or karambits if we wanted and take some pictures with us too.

Has anyone ever trained with him? He's doing a seminar on Karambit and Tomahawks. I am almost 100% sure I'll never use a tomahawk in real life, but I think it'll be super cool to train with them.

I have my first muay thai smoker/competitive sparring match on saturday. Im absolutely terrified of embarrassing myself. I've trained for months and my coaches have hyped me up a lot. They seem to be under the impression that I will do really well. This makes me even more scared as I don't want to go out there and absolutely suck. I don't know how I could even face them or myself in that case. Honestly I have never done a sport seriously before so I have very little experience in competing. I did a jiu jitsu tournament recently and even though my coaches had high expectations I lost both of my matches. That time I had the excuse that I was moved up 30 pounds but there won't be an excuse now. Do any of you guys have advice?

so i have been going to this new mma gym and the coach is always telling me to spar in striking classes even though i only started 5 days ago and during sparing he tells me to hit my sparring partners full force on the head.Most of the times in this mma gym he tells me to go to the bag for 10-15minutes before sparring someone its quite difficult for me to spar as i dont know the basics properly or foot work now granted he did tell my sparring partners to hit me lightly or not at all

Hi, a question to women who do full contact / sparrings and competitions: what chest protectors do you use?

It's really hard to find any offline shops so I could try, and online versions have some vague descriptions.

Are there any good ones? And for the belly as well?

I need for karate / taekwondo/ hapkido types.

Thanks!

Hello all,
I am traveling to Tokyo later this year and I am looking for suggestions for places to visit in the Tokyo area that are related to martial arts or martial culture. This could be stores, historical sites related to the martial arts, memorials, gyms, etc. I have been to Tokyo before and so far I plan on going to the kodokan to observe and visit their library, and I plan on going to an Isami store and the toudoukan store. I don’t plan on doing any training because of some recent injuries. Any suggestions are appreciated. I am trying to not be limited to martial arts I have trained so any art or style is fair game.

Hey Guys,

Kyokushin Karate white belt here.

How would you guys train the low kick if you don't have a bag or pads to hit at home?

Is going through motions in air enough and then apply them in sparring at training?

Also, I can do it pretty well-ish on my right leg, but I need some work with my left, how would you approach this?

Thanks so much, would love to hear what you guys do/have done :)

Thanks!

I've been practising martial arts since 1999, from traditional Chinese martial arts to competitive fighting. I understand that for people from the outside, it is sometimes difficult to grasp what kung fu is and isn't.

I recently put together a video series called So, What Is Kung Fu?

Episodes:
1. So, What Is Kung Fu?
2. Styles: There Isn’t Just One Kung Fu
3. Horse Stance And Other Kung Fu Stances
4. What Are Kung Fu Forms?
5. What Does Kung Fu Training Actually Look Like?
6. Why Do People Learn Kung Fu?
7. Do You Have to Be Young, Flexible, or Fit to Start?
8. Can You Really Learn Kung Fu at Home?

It explores the basics of Chinese martial arts, including different styles, stances, forms, what training looks like, and why people practise. It's intended as an accessible introduction for people who are curious about Kung Fu but don't necessarily know where to start.

You can find the series here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLahbNSvfpo

From the 42d Kobudo demonstration in Japan. Year 2019. The third spear that appears seems to be great treasure, looking at it!

Hey everyone
Started learning martial arts and began going to the dojo regularly about 1.5 months ago.
It’s been a solid stretch of consistent training and I’m really enjoying the process so far the structure, the focus, and just showing up.
Curious to hear from others who’ve been through the early months what helped you stick with it, and what advice would you give someone at this stage?
Looking forward to reading your experiences.

Hi guys - wanted to start a discussion on this that's maybe somewhat unique to my situation. I'm 5'6, 160lbs, 39 years old. I've been training traditional Muay Thai for over a decade, have trained on Thailand on 5 septate occasions for months at a time. I would say I'm fairly experienced at Muay Thai.

My issue is that I am fairly small and don't feel like I can adequately defend myself on the street against someone who is 6'0+. don't get me wrong, with gloves on, in a setting with Muay Thai rules, I have a huge advantage and don't think I would basically ever lose to someone untrained, regardless of size (I've tested this theory MANY times in sparring throughout the years). however, in an uncontrolled environment against a bigger opponent (let's say 6'0+, 170lbs+), I feel my odds of winning are VERY low. simply because I can't use gloves to block, kicks basically do nothing unless you're landing 10 of them (unlikely because street altercations last 30 seconds), and punches I need to get in so close that I start to be at risk of being grabbed (and clinch becomes much less effective against someone with that big of a size advantage).

Goes without saying, I am pretty avoidant of confrontation. but I have a family, and I do play scenarios out in my head of us being attacked and despite having so much training, being effectively powerless against most people.

so I guess my question is, if you were me with the goal of self defense in an uncontrolled environment, what combat sport makes the most sense for me to practice a few times a week and over a few years get to a point that neutrlizes larger opponents? I am leaning towards wrestling or judo because both will work well off my Muay Thai and clinch base knowledge, and I think both help alot with size.

any practical input would be appreciated.. again, not looking for street bro fight cred, but more confidence in my ability to defend myself and family in a do or die scenario.

I’ve trained in combat sports since I was 7, but I started meditating 4–5 years ago.

It helped me control my thoughts, manage my reactions, and stay calmer under pressure. I’ve also noticed benefits in sparring, competition, and everyday life.

Do you meditate? Have you noticed a difference in your performance or mindset?

I'm curious to get this subreddit's thoughts. For many, being a great fighter is being a great martial artist (and that's fine). For me, I have some different criteria:

Combat skills / prowess

Probably the first thing everyone will think of. I believe that in order to be a good martial artist, it's important to be able to fight. Athleticism, fight IQ, speed, power, etc. all matter. One must adjust for the time period, size advantages/disadvantages, etc., of course, but we can all tell a good fighter from a bad one.

Innovation

This is where the concept of greatness is important to define. Good martial artists are skilled in tradition; great martial artists, in my view, add in what is uniquely their own. Miyamoto Musashi dual-wielded swords, Bruce Lee laid the groundwork for MMA, Anderson Silva brought unorthodox moves (including an elbow from Ong-Bak) to the Octagon, and Dieselnoi innovated in Muay Thai with unconventional knee strikes.

Influence

Another vital component to greatness is legacy. A modern-day fighter can be an excellent combat athlete, but to be regarded as great, we need to see their influence on later generations of martial artists. Modern-day MMA fighters will cite Fedor Emelianenko and Georges St-Pierre as inspirations who played a critical role in informing their own combat style. Masahiko Kimura has a judo move named after him. I think that's important in the greatness debate.

Education / advocacy

This one may be controversial, but I do think that a great martial artist actively plays a role in educating the next generation. Whether it be through books, instructional videos, a YouTube channel, or a podcast, it's important to preserve traditions as well as document new innovations and advancements in techniques for other fighters. From Yamamoto Tsunetomo (author of Hagakure) to today's martial arts vloggers (e.g., Sensei Seth, Jesse Enkamp, Kevin Lee, and others), I love seeing skilled combat athletes share knowledge.

Philosophy

Another potentially controversial addition, but I think the greatest martial artists form, hold, and share their martial arts philosophy. Miyamoto Musashi wrote extensively about his beliefs, including in The Book of Five Rings, and Bruce Lee developed Jeet Kune Do based on his philosophy of being like water and learning to adapt (take what works for you, leave what doesn't, add in what is uniquely your own). A philosophy doesn't have to be highly complex or spiritual; simply advocating one's personal mental approach to the art and how to improve oneself internally and externally can be highly valuable.

Examples of great martial artists (in my opinion, in no particular order):

• Miyamoto Musashi - For me, the greatest of all time. An undefeated samurai with over 60 duels, he excelled not only in combat, but in literature, painting, sculpture, and other media all centered around his philosophies. I highly recommend The Book of Five Rings if you're looking for something to read.
• Bruce Lee - Not a competitive fighter, but probably the best martial arts educator and advocate of modern times. He is to martial arts what Carl Sagan is to astronomy. Combining martial arts like Wing Chun, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, and even Kushti, he set the stage for MMA (see the fight scene with Sammo Hung from Enter The Dragon). He also fundamentally transformed the way immigrants are perceived in the United States, and as an Asian American myself (who grew up with his films and is still influenced by him), he will always hold a special place in my heart.
• Muhammad Ali - Fighter, activist, and poet. What I love about him is that he brought his fighting spirit and bombast to his political advocacy. And everyone has heard the lines "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee / The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see." His influence on boxing is unmatched.
• Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu - Not only is Sylvie an amazing fighter, she is bar none the best Muay Thai historian and archivist. Not only does she interview and train with Golden Age Muay Thai Legends, but she incorporates their special techniques into her own unique style. Add that to the fact that everyone can view her content online and she is, in my opinion, a complete martial artist.
• Anderson Silva - Combining Muay Thai, BJJ, Wing Chun, and Jeet Kune Do, Silva's style is just so unique and fun to watch. At his peak, he was possibly the greatest fighter in UFC's history, and he continues to train future generations of martial artists, both through seminars as well as through media such as clinching tutorials.

This is by no means a complete list, and I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

and he agreed with them...

The subject surrounds capoeira itself and its deviations from what it was, which is recorded in this book describing capoeira from research compiled and explained first, thoroughly witnessed and produced from a historian and capoeira master, Mestre Andre Lopes. Here is an excerpt of the book containing an official testimony from Carlson Gracie about his experience with the martial art, its historical practitioners and his current deductions. Nothing here is mendacious or constructed from me, nor was any text posted here congruent to an agenda. You can investigate the source by the book itself, I posted its free pdf download link at the end of this post. Feel free to make your extractions.

Carlson Gracie — “A Few Words”

“My first fight was against ‘Capoeira,’ one of the strongest guys in Rio.”

"André Lacé learned capoeira from the late Neyder (Neyder de Oliveira Alves de Souza), a great capoeirista, a fearless fighter, always good-humored, and a personal friend of mine. It would be a great injustice not to include him in the History of Capoeiragem in Rio de Janeiro, which is why I was pleased to see him mentioned and pictured in the book A Volta do Mundo da Capoeira.

I received that book as a gift from its author, André Lacé, together with an invitation to write a few lines for his new work, in which he delves even deeper into the capoeiragem of Rio de Janeiro from some time ago, this time focusing especially on the figures of Zuma Burlamaqui, Inezil Penna Marinho, Sinhozinho, and Rudolf Hermanny. Several other capoeiristas are also remembered, including Luiz Aguiar (Cirandinha), whom I had the opportunity to fight, and Artur Emídio de Oliveira, who fought my brother Robson Gracie.

My brother Robson and I emerged victorious from those two fights. That is why, initially, I did not understand the reason for André's invitation.

“Capoeira is growing enormously, spreading throughout the world, but at the same time it is losing quality in its practice as a martial fighting art. What we have now is more pyrotechnics than anything else,” André Lacé argued.

And he continued:

“There is a modern, stylized capoeira that markets itself as a fierce fighting art but, in practice, avoids any serious combat, hiding behind pseudo-folkloric performances, always on stage and always accompanied by maculelê, puxada de rede, and so on.”

I have traveled around the world with jiu-jitsu, and I have personally witnessed the growing success of capoeira abroad. Even in Japan...

I therefore agree with André's initial statements. I also agree with his analysis of capoeira as a combat discipline, because I believe that capoeira today is, above all, a beautiful stage spectacle. Especially because its association with the berimbau and other musical instruments—which was uncommon in the capoeira of old Rio—has resulted in a unique spectacle, increasingly applauded throughout the world.

For capoeira to recover its character as a complete fighting art, as Zuma Burlamaqui was already advocating at the beginning of the last century, it would be necessary—and indeed will be necessary—to resume training and fighting without the berimbau.

The problem is that the berimbau has become so inseparably linked to today's capoeira that, in my opinion, it will not be an easy task to undertake this kind of training and fighting. Particularly because martial arts have evolved enormously, especially with the emergence of events such as Ultimate Fighting, and they continue to evolve.

Having made these initial observations, I will now offer some brief comments on the confrontations between jiu-jitsu and capoeira in which I participated or which I witnessed.

I will highlight three of these encounters: my fight with Luiz Aguiar (Cirandinha), the fight between Rudolf Hermanny and Guanair Gial, and the fight between Robson Gracie and Artur Emídio.

My fight with Cirandinha was the main event of a competition organized in 1949 with the aim of raising some money for the victims of hardship in northeastern Brazil.

Cirandinha was an extremely strong athlete, and perhaps for that reason he did not train his capoeira as much as, for example, Rudolf Hermanny did.

Intensive training, combined with good nutrition, is fundamental to producing a champion.

Cirandinha also had talent, but, as everyone knows, physical endurance is essential in any sport.

A capoeirista who does not win a fight in the first few minutes—or rather, in the first few seconds—will find it difficult to win later on, because he will tend to become exhausted from so many jumps and gingas.

That is what happened.

It is worth remembering that in jiu-jitsu strategy, the situation is almost the opposite, because as time passes, provided he knows how to conserve his energy, the jiu-jitsu fighter will have an increasingly greater chance of achieving a successful submission.

The fight between Rudolf and Guanair, as the newspapers emphasized at the time, was surprising.

Although he still knew little about close-quarters fighting—he had only just begun studying judo at the Cordeiro Academy—Hermanny, with tremendous determination and physical conditioning, relying essentially on his capoeira (the Sinhozinho style), sustained an open, hard-fought contest for more than an hour.

The fight ended in a draw, having been interrupted by circumstances beyond their control. It was a period of electricity blackouts, and there was still the final fight to take place.

As for my brother Robson Gracie's fight, it would be better for him to comment on it himself.

But since I witnessed it, and discussed it extensively with him afterward, I will venture to say a few words.

A native of Itabuna, Bahia, Artur was an excellent capoeirista, practicing a capoeira with a great deal of ginga to the sound of the berimbau.

He made a very good impression on the audience at the beginning of the fight.

However, as I have already said, as the fight progressed, jiu-jitsu ultimately prevailed.

Nevertheless, in all these confrontations, we must recognize the merit of the efforts made by the capoeiristas involved.

In other words, the only way to improve capoeira as a real fighting art... is by fighting for real.

And I hasten to say, with great pleasure, that my academy is open to any and every capoeirista who wishes to test their abilities or—why not!?—develop a joint training effort.

Finally, in fairness, I want to make it clear that we agree with André Lacé when he states that “capoeira is much more than a fight.”

In other words, the path of confrontation in the ring will always remain open, but there is nothing unreasonable about capoeira, or some capoeiristas, choosing to follow a path of their own.

As is the case, indeed, with traditional Capoeira Angola.

Carlson Gracie Academy

Rua Figueiredo Magalhães, No. 414, Room 302, Copacabana

Rio de Janeiro, February 15, 2002."

I utilized Chatgpt to translate the portuguese text of a capoeira book popular for how in-depth it covers the martial art. I obtained the source on my own, objectively. I'm curious to what your observations are and whether your martial art has a case particularly resembling what Carlson Gracie describes here. Not necessarily in a performative transition but rather if globalization altered your martial art to focus on a certain side of it, then incidentally disregarded the other aspects as it was passed down in major circles. Correct me if I'm wrong I believe schools outside competitive judo and Brazilian jiujutsu where striking is permitted are experiencing a similar case.

Complete English translation of Duas Palavras, pages 19–22, A Capoeiragem no Rio de Janeiro (2002), https://cev.org.br/media/biblioteca/4056017.pdf#page=193 . Translated directly from the Portuguese, retaining the original paragraph order and first-person wording.