Karate demo angst.

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:04 pm

MajorKong wrote:

I always thought that swat was something you did to bugs.

Yes. And our karate school also has a SWAT team. But we do a little more than killing bugs, and a little less than storming buildings with automatic weapons where hostages are being held (too bad Sad

).

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:05 pm

HyLander42 wrote:

"karate doesn't work if you can't yell"?

I would think it actually is less effective if you can't yell. While some martial artists would go into the whole chi/energy thing, I simply percieve myself as being able to hit a lot harder when I yell. Breathing is also important. If you breath in and out at the proper times it's essentially impossible to get the wind knocked out of you.

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:08 pm

Unless Uty happens to be on Codeine at the time...

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:10 pm

There's a whole lotta truth about yelling, but there's also a whole lotta bullshit about yelling. If you can't breathe, you can't fight, that is true, but if you can't yell, you can still kick someone's ass. Imagine a mute black belt. He'd look kinda silly with his mouth opening like he was yelling and not actually yelling anything, but his kicking your ass would be less funny.

As part of my karate training, we black belts are learning some interesting things about chi-gung (chigong) and while a lot of it sounds like and even looks like bullshit, the proof is in the pudding. Meaning, if you try it, it actually works. Chi-gung is basically learning about energy by breathing. Neat stuff.

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:46 pm

I don't know about some of these ancient breathing techniques though. There's a breathing warmup exercise we do in Hap Ki Do that "circulates air through the eight major organs."

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:59 pm

The word "organs" is misleading because as westerners we view organs as things like livers, and hearts, and whatnot. Chinese/Japanese/Korean energy believing people think of organs as more of a system in the body than an actual seperate slimy pink thing that you can't live without if it's ripped out of your body. That's why acupuncturists are always talking about "lung 16" when they're jabbing needles into your hand. That organ/system isn't in one place, it's a pattern of enegery that flows all over your body in specific pathways. Basically that breathing pattern is flowing energy (supposedly) in different pathways, not like warming up your liver or whatever.

Crazy Guy with Knife Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 1441

That "Karate doesn't work if you can't yell" line is from (or paraphrased) from Catwoman in that episode; I thought it was funny, not true.

As far as yelling is concerned, I have no desire to scream while I'm attacking someone (or being attacked). If the noise has any effect, it's at best psychological and that doesn't interest me too much. Which isn't to say it's useless; Hung Gar stylists perform certain parts of their forms while making certain sounds; building up the muscles that make those sounds can increase the effectiveness of the practical applications. (Wong Fei Hong, played by Jackie Chan in "Legend of Drunken Master" was a Hung Gar stylist.)

Breathing, on the other hand, is extremely important; most martial arts have a good amount of focus on breathing, in the same vein as chi kung exercises. This is particularly notable in "internal" martial art styles, like Tai Chi Chuan, Baguazhong, or Xing Yi Chuan, where breathing is a very stated part of the forms and focused on from the beginning. Most external styles have these aspects, but generally treat them as advanced topics.

But, yeah, if you practice chi kung exercises correctly, you can actually feel the effects.

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 8:49 am

Yelling, regardless of if you're a highly trained martial artist, seems to have the effect of making you hit harder. When I help teach kids classes, I sometimes (ok, often) encounter kids whom are half-assing some technique, but once I get them to yell, they start hitting a lot harder.

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:42 am

I know when I yell i forget what i'm doin and put more effort into it. It's like w00t, i'm doing something cool. Behold by flying kick of bitchassery.

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:22 pm

Code:

JAY attacks with KICK OF BITCHASSERY for 17 damage.

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:36 pm

Speaking of Kick of Bitchassery +1, Felt so good sparrin last night. Last week I was just so damn winded I couldn't do much. This week I was actually kickin some ass.