How are boxing and wrestling martial arts?
Does it count if I only hold pads and get violently pummeled by my little girl and her eskrima sticks?
FoodFight, sure. Neil, in order to understand what qualifies as a martial art I need to define it first. This was pasted from wikipedia. Btw, this is going to take a while to explain. "Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. While they maybe studied for various reasons, martial arts share a single objective: to defeat a person physically or to defend oneself from physical threat. In addition, some martial arts are linked to spiritual or religious beliefs/philosophies such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism or Shinto while others have their own spiritual or non-spiritual code of honour. Many arts are also practised competitively most commonly as combat sports, but may also be in the form of dance." Western boxing is a striking art, but with only punches. There is a lot of technique and disipline involved in boxing. There is more to it than just punching. You must know how to punch correctly, transfering your body weight into a punch, defend such as blocking or knowing how to take a punch. For example, parrying punches, rolling with a punch to less the impact of the blow, countering, etc. There is a lot to learn in order to know how to box. Those fighters on tv make it look easier than what it really is. It may take a person a few years to develope a boxer's form. Anyone can step into a ring and start swinging, but it takes real skill to box. As for wrestling, I am referring to mat wrestling and not what you see in the WWE. But I'm sure you know that. It falls into the category of grappling. "Grappling refers to the gripping, handling and controlling of an opponent without the use of striking, typically through the application of various grappling holds, choke holds, and counters to various hold attempts." (wiki) Wrestling is also used in MMA for takedowns and pinning an opponent while possiblly striking or attempting a submission hold. The keys words are "training for combat". Over the years wrestling has intergrated with many styles for cage fighting. I could go on and go on, but there is way too information to list on here.
Beware of injuries. I was attemping to muscle out of an armbar. Funny thing is.....the arm that was trap was not the arm that was injuried. I have a slight numbness in my left arm.
I tapped out my instructor today. I'm on cloud nine right now.
