Wow, lots of martial artists around here.
I started the summer I turned 6 in a karate class, in highschool I took some judo and tae kwon do. By the end of highschool I was turned off. I guess I still have reservations about it. I dont think most people can handle themselves with it to be honest. Even with a decent teacher who\'ll tell the students not to beat up on people and that this doesnt make you superman, most people still think they\'re tough stuff. They dont realize a real fight is nothing like the scenarios in class, tournaments or on TV. I\'ve just seen too many people stand up when they should back down or be targetted because they\'re in a martial arts class. The usual \"why didnt you kick his ass?\" questions got on my nerves whenever I\'d walk away from a confrontation too.
That whole \"back off I know Tae Bo\" mentality is dangerous, I love the idea of \"womens defense\" classes but in reality they make me scared for the women that fight instead of run and scream for help. Same deal for the guys or gals that fight instead of giving the thief their wallet. Took me a while and a few fights to realize that throwing a punch and throwing a punch while scared out of your mind and being pounded in the face are two very different things, once I got that threw my head martial arts classes lost their appeal for me. But of course learning how to kill a man with your pinky isnt the only reason to take a class but that was what I wanted out of it. I mean for me personally, all the \"show\" was pointless and annoying. I didnt want to know how to dance around like a ballerina I wanted to know how to defend myself. I didnt care if my kick didnt \"look\" right, I cared how it felt to the recipient sort of thing.
Near the end of HS and for some time after I spent a few years reading books and practicing at home with my punching bags and dummies, boxing, kick-boxing, jeet kune do (a friend got into bruce lee and reading some of his books were the major inspiration to break off from classes and \"go it alone\") or whatever I could get my hands on. I had a few friends that were into the same things so that made it interesting and fun, we\'d spar and discuss techniques at length. The military combat tactics type books were very informative also IMO, less martial arts and more staying alive and being effective.
From what I\'ve heard, it\'s done by hitting the insides of one\'s wrists together to create microfractures, or something like that. Rather than actually snapping the bones. The repaired fractures make the bones far stronger. Whew!
Actually all martial artists, boxers, fighters do this, if not always intentionally. Every time you hit something, jump up and down, any jarring move really, breaks minor parts of your bones cell structure. When you heal, your body always over compensates and over heals basicly. If you break a bone it will have a bump around the fracture so it\'s both larger and more dense. Anyway, that\'s one reason a veteran boxer hits so much harder than the new guy who has the technique and strength to match the veteran. It\'s also part of the reason the veteran can take so much more pounding, his/her ribs, collar bone, spine, face/head etc etc are all that much stronger, thicker, denser from years of these minute break downs and repairs. Sounds extreme but it\'s not anymore painful or damaging than hitting a punching bag really. Well, it doesnt have to be at any rate, I\'ve no idea how hard they slam their wrists together in that Kung Fu class. When it was first said they break their wrists it made me grimmace.
*I\'ll second that phew this is a long post*
Injuries, luckily fairly few. Only really serious things was a couple \"boxers\" fractures in both hands, 3 times over the course of my life, or so I\'m told that\'s what it\'s called when you break off the knuckle of the bone under your pinky. Tore my anterior cruciate ligament in HS football too, but that\'s not too martial artsy I guess.
Darn, now I\'m all misty eyed because I\'m missing the good times in highschool and university.
