The Martial Arts Thread - Share Your Stories, Thoughts, and Theories on Why Martial Arts Are Relevant to RP

frequentlywrong · 2013-11-06T07:35:47+00:00

The more I think about it, the more I find fighting to be a physical manifestation of game.

I do muay thai. What I find interesting is the maintaining frame concept. It's basically the same thing in fighting as it is in game. In fighting you must always maintain your frame and prevent the other guy from maintaining his. It's a battle of wills and skill over who has the strongest frame, or in more fighting terms, who can impose his will on the other. To be successful you must maintain your balance always and be able to react to any situation you find yourself in.

Guys who have been training and fighting for a while all have an ease to them. They move like a fighter and they have confidence like a fighter. I think fighting is the single best activity a man can do to better himself.

chuckchucker · 2013-11-06T07:52:00+00:00

I've got about five years of serious boxing training in, with a handful of amateur fights.

This experience has been -beyond doubt- the best thing for my confidence and the way I carry myself.

I don't get in street fights except with very good reason and I certainly don't advocate them. But I am never intimidated in a social setting.

A big drunk guy tries to stand over you? Means nothing when you've spent hours in the squared circle with trained (and sober) guys who aren't just posturing/barking about knocking your head off.

I know lifting is the big thing in here, but I'd recommend any red puller at least get their cardio from a practical combat sport.

I'd say there are plenty of swoll betas, but you can't fake the fighter confidence.

elheretic · 2013-11-06T08:35:45+00:00

Knowing how to fight is like knowing how to swim: before you know how to do it you are always going to be a little bit nervous out on the water. In this case the water is social settings where there is any sort of male aggression that might manifest physically (that is, almost any public gathering, esp. where alcohol is consumed).

I'm not a great fighter by any means, nor have I had to fight with people in public gatherings, though I have been attacked on the street before and taken people out. Having spent many years with combat training (not sport fighting) has taught me to be unafraid of fights, or more specifically, other males' silverback displays of chest thumping and bellowing threats. When you know you can take out an eye, snap fingers, crush throats, stomp knees, etc., you see all that bs for what it is, and you know you're not going to engage unless life and limb are threatened.

What another commenter said about fighting being a test of frame is completely correct, and I'd add that I think this starts well before any physical altercation takes place. The correct frame prevents violence. If you can look someone in the eye and not jump out of their way when they threaten you, they are most likely not going to attack. But you will be unable to do this unless when you look them in the eye they see that you are ready to fight, that they will have to fight you if they press it, and that you will not roll over for them. More than anything, if you walk with the quiet confidence of a fighter, you will most often be left alone by idiots and thugs looking for an easy target.

Anyhow, I completely agree, knowing how to stand your ground and be calm in the midst of threats and violence is key. The gym is great (I spend a lot of time there), but being able to bench press someone only scares people who don't know how to break your jaw.

2013-11-06T08:19:29+00:00

It's good. Just make sure you do one that emphasizes sparring.

BellatorCordis · 2013-11-06T08:55:01+00:00

The only fight you're sure to survive is the one you abstain from. That doesn't mean you shouldn't practice self-defense, if only to bolster your confidence, but I found that the more I studied martial arts the more I was confronted with the reality of combat. Real life is not like a sport with a ref and rules. That 130 pound kid could have a knife, or while you've got him subdued, his friend could have a knife, and shank you from behind. I wish that weren't the case to be honest.

creatineboss · 2013-11-06T08:24:11+00:00

I trained muay thai and jiu jitsu for about four years, and competed a couple of times. Extremely beneficial experience, I got my ass kicked in the gym more than I did the ass kicking; but Its experiences I would not trade.

Since stopped about a year ago due to conflicting goals with weight training and time management etc. Planning on returning soon, but I if you can train it; do it. The benefits cannot be bought, and 95% of the people training are awesome.

Joe Rogan has an awesome speech on the benefits of jiu jitsu on his podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tp7LP6ciU0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDZZ5qZc6Dk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTgNoOX4MFA

_Reticent_ · 2013-11-06T10:22:55+00:00

I've practiced in martial arts since I was about 11 (28 now), starting with a mixture of Chinese boxing and various martial arts. My trainer was taught in the 70's when he was a kid (after the Bruce Lee boon) and when men were hardier, so he's brought a lot of how he trained over to how he trains us.

Years later I met his son at high school and we became friends and I started to train with him. The training encompassed everything he'd done over his years which was ju-jitsu, t'ai chi, yoga, classic boxing, Maui-Thai, wing-chun, savate and wrestling. Recently (6 months) I've started learning Krav Maga at the nearest city to me.

Over the course of learning I've been in several amateur fights and one professional MMA fight, which I did for the test to myself, and this is important in how I want to portray martial arts as I know it and have used it in my life. The MMA fight wasn't what I thought it would be like though, it's a strange thing; a competition, and not a real fight to me.

The training, the sparring, the beatings, the actual fights, they all serve to deflate and defeat your ego. Our egos are entirely poisonous to us, and with respect to TRP it's my belief that white-knights are the ones that can't let theirs go.

I think about it this way: I've been asked to do (and eventually done) shit I couldn't imagine physically possible. On the other hand I've attempted stuff I thought easy and it almost broke me. That little voice in your head that tells you "this is the way it is/this is the way it ought to be/this is what you can/can't do" needs to shut the fuck up. When it's silenced you're free from a lot of the social conditioning you've received all your life.

So, when I came across TRP I had the white-knight voice in my head "this is wrong, this isn't the way it's done" etc, but I quashed it, because more often than not, without having done it, you can't comment on it. And it takes a strong-willed person to eventually turn around and release themselves from it. We think that our ego, that voice is us, but I say it isn't, it just masquerades as us and, if we let it, will get us to do what protects us from the most harm and discomfort. It's the gate-keeper of our world view.

As /u/chuckchucker has already stated though, the boon of training is the confidence is your self. Not a power on this earth can sway your confidence in yourself if you've put all those hours in and weathered all those blows. Being chilled out in social environments is massively helpful, and taking no shit from people is easy by comparison. It makes you fit, strong, and helps you understand basic body-language and posture.

The other way that it's helped me in life, both socially and in my job, is the rapport you can gain quickly and the strong frame you have because of your self-belief. When you train or teach there are the different types of processing people use to take-in information: auditory, visual, kinaesthetic.

Some people can listen and learn, some have to see it in action to understand, others have to take part physically to understand, and obviously people often mix and match. What I've found (and I know I'm deviating here) is that people's 'systems' often correlate to how they speak and behave socially in their exchanges. Realising this can help you build rapport super-quickly by using their words (I hear what you saying/I see what you saying/I feel what you're saying) back at them. It sounds weird, and too-small to take into account, but it's one of the things I've learned with reading bodies and talking to a lot of folk.

McDoogleSnatch · 2013-11-06T09:15:50+00:00

12 year of martial arts for me. Can't say it hurt, but it certainly never helped in getting out of being a blue piller. That's my two cents.

SteelChicken · 2013-11-06T13:39:07+00:00

Practicing Martial Arts is a good way to re-build confidence, but don't overfeed the ego wolf, because that bastard is hard to tame when it gets too big.

You should approach martial arts training with not the intention of winning fights, but avoiding them altogether.

The_smartest_man_evr · 2013-11-06T11:11:40+00:00

"you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle , you put water in a teapot it becomes the teapot! now water can flow or it can crash.....be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

the tao of keet june do is really cool, everyone here would love it.

aww40 · 2013-11-06T19:46:41+00:00

I wrestled in high school. As someone said earlier, the point of imposing your will onto someone really builds character. The competitiveness really cultivates character as well as making friends. I miss it. There was nothing like a victory after a long fought match and no better lessons were learned then when I lost a match, only to be set on fire with passion and fervor to bettering my technique. Greatest extracurricular activity I did.

2013-11-06T21:34:59+00:00

if you KNOW that if it comes to a fight you can fight, you will be able to be much more calm and relaxed when you are in a argument with another dude that is escelating and because of it you are able to deescalate if you so chose. or be able to set bounderies and your whole body language communicates you are serious. people are more likely to respect those bounderies. also you are less afraid, less emotional.

also, it increases your confidence and you also give less of a fuck, after working out 4-6 days a week, having pain in your entire body from all the punching and kicking.. you care way less about all the unimportant stuff that used to get an emotional reaction out of you. at least thats the case for me.

doing muay thai for a couple months now after a break of a few years.

also the whole violence isnt as solution is utter bullshit.

kids used to bully me from kindergarten until 5th grade. thats when i lost my temper and punched the kid that kept repeating the same stupid phrase for HOURS with no break over and over and over and laughing like an idiot... at some point i just snapped and punched him.

guess what happened? no more bullying for the rest of my life. parents didnt help, teachers didnt help. talking didnt help.

now when i hear about a teenager killing him/herself because of bullying im always thinking "if just somebody told them to beat the crap out of the piece of trash that are picking on them, those kids would be still alive, but that wouldnt be nice."

2013-11-06T08:46:39+00:00

After years of MMA training with a special interest in BJJ and Judo, I believe that combat sports reveal the amazing comradery that men can share as well as offer you a multitude of benefits. It will boost your testosterone production, make you crave competition, get you in great shape, and even help you earn an incredible confidence that nothing else can give you.

Opioidus · 2013-11-06T09:47:16+00:00

As a man you NEED to be able to defend yourself physically because nobody else will do it when and if the situation ever demands it, you're not a woman, nobody will intervene if a couple of guys jump you on the street, nobody will white knight for you when you're in danger.

As a player this need is doubled because you're constantly challenged by other men, and some lower betas and omegas have no other way to impress a bitch except getting in fights. They think if they beat another man their beta status would be changed, they're correct, women get horniest when a man fights another man because of her(or even kills another man), but his beta behavior will neutralize the effects pretty soon and another fight is needed to fuel the sexual attraction again.

When you're approaching dozens of women every week, you will eventually get in trouble with their ex-boytoys still trying to score back that banged up pussy, their beta orbiters, some random dudes trying to impress the cunt you hit on earlier tonight and so on..

wakeupzombie · 2013-11-06T08:37:09+00:00

I want to study martial arts mostly to learn how to deescalate a confrontation. Too many streetfights end up with people hitting their head on the fucking concrete and dying.

Growing up in a bad neighborhood, going to lots of hardcore and metal shows back in the day, and tending bar for a decade has taught me that there's no excuse for violence, and the only response to physical assault is merciless aggression until the enemy is incapacitated. It's Newtons third law. If I knew how to execute a takedown and submission hold, then maybe I won't have to break somebody's nose with my forehead or punch them in the throat. Or maybe I should just carry a gun. I'm just sayin: It's all fun and games until somebody's eye gets poked out. Ever go to a real Oi or Ska show, and notice that there's always at least one old skinhead with an eyepatch?

RedSunBlue · 2013-11-06T16:26:33+00:00

5 years of wrestling plus 2 years of BJJ and Judo here.

Off the top of my head, these are the main benefits I derive from martial arts:

It's a litmus test for my physical condition. If start excessively smoke, drink, and eat, I feel it when I spar. There's no worse feeling, and no better motivation to be healthy, than being exhausted while your opponent is gunning for your throat.
It subdues my ego. I have nothing physical to prove to some guy on the street since I'm engaging in combat on a near daily basis. Also, it makes me painfully aware that there are people in this world who could absolutely destroy me should they choose to do so.
It makes conflict avoidance much easier. I believe that when you know how to fight, that ability manifests itself in the way you carry yourself. I have never been a big guy, but I've never really been fucked with or picked on and I believe it's because of my grappling experience (nobody wants to risk getting tooled by the guy in skinny jeans). Much like how a disqualification from an experienced player is attractive, conflict de-escalation from a guy who knows how to fight but doesn't want to is more effective than if it came from a guy who doesn't know how to protect himself.
It's fun as fuck and you make a lot of great friends. My best friends in this world are my high school wrestling buddies.

trpRX · 2013-11-06T10:39:39+00:00

I studied muay thai for a bit, I learned to look a man in his eyes and not be afraid of anything. Knowing you can take a hit and give one back is something that cant be faked. I study BJJ now and while its much easier on the bod, its not as primal as muay thai was. That said I would stay away from martial "arts" and stick with one that is a practicing sport with active sparring. Muay thai, boxing, kick boxing, bjj, judo, etc...

Learning to fight is something all men need.

2013-11-06T10:50:27+00:00

TLDR, fighting is always going to be an important part of our species.

Its... complicated on my end. Ive done a spattering of things, and nowadays i do MMA for sport.

Ive been the delusional young man who thinks hes learning a martial art thats also a combat system, ive been the pussy who does some lame watered down version of karate, ive quit judo because it was too technical, and ive boxed because it was more violent.

At first it was about self defense, and fighting. That eventually evolved into me realizing that in a fight theres the possibility of losing (bad), and in self defense, leaving lends the best chances of being unharmed (good). So basically if i got pissed off with someone id rather sucker punch them or use a weapon (safe) than fight them (unsafe). If i was attacked, im fucked if the other person has already worked that out (they have, generally).

That changed my view on training from realistic combat self defense art (see the logical contradiction? with few exceptions, those things cant all be true at once) to sport. Its a really fun sport and it does wonders for you.

EDIT: Minor addition. Sucker punching or using a weapon is safe in terms of the 'fight', but the legal ramifications nullify it as being 'good'. So i dont, and wont.

2013-11-06T12:13:03+00:00

I never resorted to violence unless I had to defend myself, my honor, or the safety of my friends.

Would agree with all of that except the honor part, especially if it's just some moron or drunk running their mouth.

pcadrian · 2013-11-06T17:41:19+00:00

So what martial arts do you practice/have you practiced TRP?

In chronological order, I've done some Taekwondo, Krav Maga, and Filipino Kali/Eskrima.

Do you think in today's world, fighting is important?

I don't think fighting itself is important (I hate fighting), but I think KNOWING how to fight is very important. Of course, there's the whole having the ability to defend myself argument, but I think it's more than that. Knowing how to fight somehow magically developed this increase in confidence in other areas of my life.

Nitzi · 2013-11-06T18:39:48+00:00

I know a kid that has been bullied for years, then he started kick boxing and his whole attitude changed and he became alpha.

ThisisMalta · 2013-11-06T18:59:00+00:00

Learning to fight should humble you..I've been in Boxing and Muay Thai for about 3 years, Wrestling and submission grappling for a little longer. There's always someone better, or even someone that can get lucky and get the upper hand on you. However, it should also build confidence, a good work ethic, and a strong confident demeanor that women know they want. Have the confidence to always walk away, laugh in someone's face when they try and posture up on you, call you a faggot, or whatever..Validating your pride is never something to fight over. However, any MA should also be trained not just for what I mentioned above, but for real world self defense...you just have to know how and when you can respond in different situations (Eff it, Here's my wallet, not getting shot or stabbed over a few bucks and a card i can cancel).

Plus we're grown ups, fighting can lead to serious legal ramifications that will follow you in every job interview, background check, etc.

30303030303030 · 2013-11-06T20:52:51+00:00

In a nutshell, do them. Go to a kickboxing/boxing/muaythai gym and if you can't bruise your face (you can..) go to a bjj gym. Stick to it for 3 months and see what it does to you.

It will boost your confidence, calm you down and keep your ego checked. First time I stepped into a bjj gym I was 28 and got chocked/tapped out repeatedly by 40 pounds lighter 17 year old . This is why there are no douche bags there, they don't return after the first day.

2013-11-06T23:18:00+00:00

I've practiced Taekwondo for 3 years and Combat Karate for a few months now.

It has made tougher, more disciplined and most importantly - braver. I have only been in one fight since I started training, but the confidence boost you get from it affects all areas of life. From the way you walk down a street to the way you interact with other people.

I_BRING_THE_STORM · 2013-11-06T23:46:38+00:00

This actually interests me more and more as I hear it. I do many things, but Martial Arts isn't one of them. Where do you get started in these?

Kombaiya · 2013-11-06T23:49:40+00:00

Got a question red pillers...

When I go out around my area, I get along with everyone. Apart from this one guy that absolutely hates me. If I'm ever out and he's there, he will go out of his way to belittle me. There's nothing I can really say against him because his tone is racist in nature and I don't know if you've tried but it's basically futile to reason with a person like this because he'll just laugh and use a racial epithet against me.

This guy is bigger than me (but not that much) and I know he's into the UFC (though I don't know if he's an actual fighter).

This frustrates me because I don't like to go out to places where he is and sometimes dread going out with friends encase he'll be there. He's a classic bully type and I think he's trying to provoke me into getting into a fight with him.

I am pretty athletic. I was the only guy in my school that could dunk even at just 5'11'' tall.

General_Fear · 2013-11-07T03:09:21+00:00

Studying martial arts will do wonders for your confidence. When you know that you can drop a guy with a punch you will not be afraid of anyone. Why do I say you can drop a guy with one shot? Because most people do not train in fighting. So they can't take a punch like a boxer. You on the other hand, will be a trained fighter. You will train on how to end a fight quickly. A solid left hook on the temple of a guy who has never taken a real punch in his life is going down.

Also, it is good to study some type of grappling in case it goes to ground combat.

georgedonnelly · 2013-11-06T12:22:35+00:00

I started doing martial arts 2 years ago and it has made a big difference for me. I do aikido, and only with other aikido students, so I don't get any huge ego boosts off of defeating people who don't know martial arts. Frankly, deploying aikido on innocents just for fun would be really dangerous.

I have a better feel for my body now, feel more comfortable in it. The meditative practice that is part of and accompanies aikido has given me tools to remain calm anytime anywhere and indeed I do feel like I could really effectively end a physical assault on myself in many, many situations.

So, a lot of benefits without having to fight the uninitiated for fun.

I don't mean to harsh on you, just to say that not everyone is up for garage dick-measuring contests and you can still make a lot of progress without that.

Scott555 · 2013-11-06T15:49:17+00:00

Trained Krav Maga for several years before moving too far away from the training center. Loved it. Miss it.

Most important skill learned? How to absorb a strike and not fold. There's wisdom there, TRP and otherwise.

hermit087 · 2013-11-07T02:50:28+00:00

I hate to be that guy, I just have to point out that strength training and carrying a firearm are more effective for those with limited time and money(almost everybody).

Are there times you can't carry a gun? Sure. Do small guys beat up big guys sometimes? Yeah. But size and strength make a huge difference, and the time it takes to lift weights twice a week is nothing compared to the commitment over several years required to really master a martial art. And thats assuming its an effective real world martial art like Krav Maga and not Taekwondo.

My hat's off to you guys who actually do master a martial art though. I would be lying if I said I never wanted to try it.

elheretic · 2013-11-06T13:01:58+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Title	The Martial Arts Thread - Share Your Stories, Thoughts, and Theories on Why Martial Arts Are Relevant to RP
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	21
Comments	59
Date	November 6, 2013 6:43 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/1q0ffw/the_martial_arts_thread_share_your_stories/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/the-martial-arts-thread-share-your-stories.7729 https://theredarchive.com/post/7729

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