For this episode of the podcast we have guests Matt Thornton and Peter Boghossian. Matt Thornton is a personal hero of mine, founder of the Straight Blast Gym organization, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. Peter Boghossian is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University.
Listen in as we discuss critical thinking and fantasy in martial arts, actual effectiveness of certain martial arts, risk assessment and analysis in physical movement, and a lot more interesting stuff!
Download Episode Here (MP3)
Download a transcript of this episode here (PDF)
Websites:
http://mattthornton.org
http://www.straightblastgym.com/
http://peterboghossian.com/
Twitter: @PeterBoghossian
Paper: Critical Thinking, Pedagogy, and Jiu Jitsu: Wedding Physical Resistance to Critical Thinking
30 Day Guide to the Paleo Diet
Want some extra help? Have you been trying Paleo for a while but have questions or aren’t sure what the right exercise program is for you? Or maybe you just want a 30-day meal plan and shopping list to make things easier? We’ve created a getting started guide to help you through your first 30 days.
Don’t forget, Wired to Eat is now available!
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, iBooks
Great show, great discussion, and a topic that is very close to my own concerns as a philosopher and critical thinking educator.
I found these guys to be fairly ignorant and parochial. They criticize other arts as being “fantasy” but really any martial art that is a combat sport and which defines success as winning an officiated match is fantasy. There is a lot of benefit to combat sport training but it is NOT realistic.
I wish I could up vote this a million times.
In the ufc there’s so many rules and strikes that are forbidden. A lot of traditional martial arts focus on being able to damage these areas so can’t be effective in ufc. The majority of bjj players would have their eyes gouged out or nuts crushed or bitten in a street fight with some of their moves that dominate in the ufc.
This is ridiculous and unsubstantiated in literally dozens of no-rules challenge fights between MMA/BJJ practitioners and “traditional” martial artists.
The individual who trains with full resistance against opponents will virtually always have an advantage over people who solely employ “dirty tricks” like eye-gouging and biting. Furthermore, styles like BJJ and Wrestling that actively train–with full resistance/at fight speed–to establish dominant positions via grappling, will be significantly more successful in both defending against, and even applying those “dirty tricks” themselves.
If you can’t even keep someone from passing your guard, much less obtain a mounted position on the ground, how do you expect to “gouge someone’s eyes” in the first place?
Thank you for sharing.
Robb,
I’m was pretty disappointed in the tone and content here. I don’t understand the need to put down and openly mock other forms of martial arts because it’s not what you do. And dismissing karate because they teach katas and horse stance is not ‘critical thinking, it’s more like willful ignorance if you think that’s how they all train to fight.
I trained for several years in Kenpo and we always had a ‘street fight’ orientation to many of the skills we learned and often in our sparring. This was especially true as you rose in rank which is where we incorporated skills like grappling, fought without sparring gear, and occasionally in street clothes. I know of 3 instances from my classmates where skills taught in this so-called ‘fantasy’ martial arts class stopped attacks cold. No grappling, no hip tosses no chokes. 2 of the 3 were single strikes. End of problem. The one with additional strikes was by a 16yo girl. She was a BB but was also outweighed by about 100 lbs. It simply doesn’t get more true or more real than that.
And no, none of them were standing in a horse stance when they defended themselves. Speaking of which, standing in a horse stance in a full dojo kiai’ing at the top of you lungs as you throw various strikes is an exhilarating experience.
Easy to mock too I guess.
JD
I am a taekwondo BB and have mixed feelings about the forms. Forms are my least favourite part of the training because I find them to be the hardest. Forms require precision, physical effort, technical ability, and they certainly require mental concentration AND cognitive ability. Folks from (kick) boxing (which is also taught in our school) tend to give up taekwondo when they realize the effort required in the forms. I don’t practice forms because they will help me in “real-life battle”, and I do not practice martial arts because I feel I am in risk of being attacked on the street. I do not live my life in fear. I disagree with the popular notion “a martial art is useful only if it will help you from a real attack” – because this ingrains FEAR and THREAT into the training. Not everyone lives in dangerous areas and not everyone learns martial arts because they are scared for their lives.
Forms will give a great sense of accomplishment once they are learned. Forms also bring a sense of calm – like what you get from stretching and yoga. So, often times I don’t like forms because I am too tired or lazy to concentrate, but I have experienced benefits from them – other than being “battle-ready”.