The etymology of Martial arts comes from the Latin word Mars (the Roman god of war).  In simple terms it means war arts.  In ancient times, warfare involved melee combat with edged or blunt weapons and often times hand to hand.  Now in modern times, warfare is mostly waged by various advanced technology and as such has replaced the man on man type fights on the battlefield.  Today, martial arts are instead used for personal self defence, sport combat, as an art form, or preserving tradition.  In this discussion we will look at the martial aspect of training.

As we know, most traditional martial arts training begins with forms play (katas).  Forms are good as they catalogue the array of techniques of the respective style, it can also be loosely seen as a type of shadow boxing.   However some practitioners focus solely on forms whilst falsely believing that it encompasses all facets of martial training.  Mind you if it is the practitioners objective to utilize the forms for acrobatic/performance nature then that is a different story altogether, as it is the artistic element that they are attaining (i.e. Wushu demonstrations showcasing forms).  

On the other side, if a practitioner truly wishes to attain pragmatic combative ability then they must also focus on other areas.  These include bag/pad work (striking punching bags and having a feeder to work target mitts while you apply combos in a dynamic manner) which are essential to building power and timing.  Physical conditioning is another important step.  This entails cardio and strength training, as a certain amount of strength and endurance are required if you plan on using you skills against a live opponent(s).  Which leads to the next stage, sparring (including chi sau, luk kiu, etc).  This is required to gain perspective on distance, speed, and timing.  There are different levels of sparring ranging from point no-contact to full power.  To gain FULL potential in your combative value, full power and speed must be used (of course you may always choose to tone down the level of power if that is your preference, but keep in mind this will cause a reduction of training efficacy accordingly).  Some practitioners may argue that certain techniques would be too deadly to use at full power.  This can be offset by safety equipment ranging from the wide variety of head guards, chest protectors, and gloves which are available and can be worn to suit the practitioner preferences.  Still others would argue that the big 16 oz boxing gloves would hinder certain hand techniques.  Certainly this can be solved by using open finger gloves such as the 4-6 oz mma glove which allows the practitioner to apply any and all ranges of motion as a bare hand would while still providing safety.

In conclusion Martial arts focusing on the combative side should be trained as such.  Comparitvely looking at other athletic endeavours such as hockey, a player gets on the ice with the proper gear, a baseball player does more than just play catch with his dad, and as Bruce Lee stated: "a swimmer cannot train on dry land, they must get into the water to do that".  So in a nutshell a martial artist who wants to acquire combative skills should then do more than just play forms…    

Be without ego, have respect, and train hard.

Most everyone is familiar with the caged combat sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).  Raison d’etre is there are monthly events being aired on PPV and cable TV from big promotions such as UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, to name a few.  In turn it leads more and more of the general populace to seek out training in MMA due to the growth in popularity.  So what does this mean for TMA (Traditional Martial Arts), is there a place for it in the modern era, and can it be effective in MMA?

For sure it does.  Let us look at some well known pro-fighters with TMA backgrounds that compete successfully in MMA: Georges St. Pierre - UFC welterweight champion (Kyokushin Karate), Lyoto Machida - UFC light heavyweight contender and former champion (Shotokan Karate),
and Cung Le - Strikeforce middleweight contender and former champion (San Shou Kung-fu). 


MMA as we know it today is in fact a style in and of itself.  It consists of stand-up striking (boxing and various forms of kickboxing), grappling (wrestling, judo, shuai jiao, etc), and ground submissions (BJJ, sambo, etc). 

Of course each of the mentioned fighters are well versed in all the aspects of MMA but also that they have a solid base in their respective TMA, they can utilize their styles and techniques to bring something “different”  to the fight game and capitalize on it. 

So what does this mean?  Simply put, learning other arts/styles does not dilute or taint YOUR art.  In fact it goes to enhance it as you become familiar with the opponents arsenal while formulating how to effectively employ your skills. 

At the end of the day be open minded, learn new things, think outside the box, and in turn you will grow and adapt as a martial artist.  Just like all life must – evolve.