BEST MARTIAL ART EVER

[Elder Iptuous]

I trained with the bō staff when doing Tae Kwon Do, and we didn't use any gloves or anything either.  Because if you're the sort of sissy who drops your weapon when someone hits it hard, you shouldn't be trying to use one in the first place.

your stick or your hand?

[Cain]

Both, though I was thinking mostly of the stick.

If you don't train in the sort of conditions you would expect to use the weapon in, you won't use it properly.  I would bite someone's hands off if they had a weapon and I got close enough, so you can sure as hell bet I'd try and break their hand if I was armed.  If you can't move them fast enough to avoid being hit under controlled conditions, you sure as hell won't be doing it after an adrenaline dump.

[Elder Iptuous]

Both, though I was thinking mostly of the stick.

If you don't train in the sort of conditions you would expect to use the weapon in, you won't use it properly.  I would bite someone's hands off if they had a weapon and I got close enough, so you can sure as hell bet I'd try and break their hand if I was armed.  If you can't move them fast enough to avoid being hit under controlled conditions, you sure as hell won't be doing it after an adrenaline dump.

while that may be true, i would think there is a place for solo training (routines), training with protective gear, and training without protective gear.
i would think that a gradient of lethality would be a more appropriate way to come to skill than 'Step One: DEATHMATCH!'

Iptuous,
sissy.

[Richter]

I like your point, Cain.  I've practice delivering kicks wearing shoes and boots or drawing a stick or knife with gloved hands for this reason.

At the same time, if you're training at more than half speed / half power, you can end up with debilitating injuries from accidents as well as simple mistakes. 

Personal experience: 
Even with protection, I've gotten fingernails exploded and joints sprained.  Blocking with your hands hurts, even through 16 gauge stainless, padding, and leather gloves.  I've seen novices learn not to do it FAST.  Regardless of training quality, I'd rather err on the side of keeping my writing / typing ability.

Big protective gloves are a pain in the ass too.  -4 to Dex., which I get back when I spar in ways that only require light gloves, or nothing.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

TKD is particularly bad for debilitating injuries.

TTM,
thinks impact training is a stupid idea.

[Telarus]

I just got the Actionflex Hit Series Escrima sticks (2, and 2 of the Hit series Swords, and 2 of their shields) from my girlfriend for my birthday. Got a chance to play with them with my sensei on Fri.

I've got to say that these are some of the best professional quality training sticks I've ever worked with. Don't need gloves, and the padding and flex action will leave your fingers sore on a hand strike, but probably not busted/bruised. Took a few really good shots to the hip with an Escrima stick, and was sore while walking around for about a day.

http://www.centurymartialarts.com/specials/New_Products/ActionFlex_HIT_Series_Escrima.aspx



(I know a website based out of San Diego that will give you a 20% discount on most Century stuff).

Oh, and I definitely recommend Escrima as a weapon art. Once you grok the escrima "angles of attacks/footwork/avoidance/disarms" it become a lot easier to see how other styles use these concepts adjusted for empty hand work. Also, the simple fact that you use a stick changes so much, in that you are no longer going for cuts/stabs and want to target joints and hard bony body-points. With a stick, I'd rather hit your hand than your forearm (I'd rather break something than wait for the bruising to sap your ability), or your ribs rather than your belly. With a blade, you go for other target areas.

[PeregrineBF]

I train with wasters & federschwerter (wooden swords and blunt steel swords). Getting rapped on the knuckles hurts. If you're blocking with the hilt you're doing it wrong, and the reminder helps you learn faster.

[Lies]

My personal favorite martial art in terms of weapon (stick, sword and knife) and all round awesome defensive martial art, is Aikido.

These guys are so awesome that MMA won't let them enter their competitions. SRSLY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RaUpEMpxuY&feature=PlayList&p=25D8E75D8B0DFA53&index=0&playnext=1

Look at the dude attack the other dude with a weapon and instead of defending with his sword he just takes the weapon off his opponent at 2:51!

[LMNO]

I'd actually like to see a real fight between that guy and, say, Chuck Lidell.

In that video, everything is planned out, including the falls.

[Richter]

Aikido is very different from other martial arts.  I'm not certain if even calling it a "martial" art is appropriate sometimes. 

Personal practice in it, and hearsay; you're not going to use it to win fights, and it's not going to give you the immediate skillset that jiujitsu or MMA would.  Once you've been at it for 15-20 years though, and have gotten used to free practice over rehearsed forms, you're damn ahrd to touch as long as you have room to move. 

Even the mindset using Aikido influenced or similar techniques is more like playing a trickster than a fighter.

[Telarus]

This.


I love Aikido, and have studied it a bit (haven't stepped into a dojo due to time/money, but so much of it applies to any practice you do that I have had a chance to practice some of the Ideas, if not the exact techniques.) Much of my conception of Chi came from my Aikido+Zen Meditation practices.

That said.... there is always Aikijutsu (the /combat/ form split off from Aikido, do some video searches). Another problem is that certain lineages of Aikido have been "dummed down", where moves that are practiced to get the idea behind them into muscle memory and then should be abandoned for the master level technique are instead just taught as an effective technique (these entry level techs usually have a glaring opening/weakness but are usefull for understanding the circular/spherical chi flow and how to "enter" into an opponents movement in order to blend with it). This leads to the "dancing in fancy pants" syndrome that Richter and LMNO allude to. This is also why I have avoided commercial Aikido dojos, as until recently I wouldn't have been able to tell if the one I got was any good.

[NotPublished]

I've always been a fan of Iaido, I think its Fancy .. I forget the name of the other one, Battou something something - but its to do with concealed weapons

*edit* Ah, its called Batto Jutsu.

[PeregrineBF]

I like Hapkido (Korean "boxing"). Many joint locks, like Aikido but with a different focus: In Aikido you disable your opponent without causing permanent harm (preferably). In Hap-ki-do you disable your opponent by breaking things so they can't do whatever they were trying to do. People with broken wrists & elbows can't punch, and a broken knee is a major impediment to kicking. Likewise a man without functional fingers and his eyes gouged out will likely have trouble aiming and firing a gun. Also quite a few kicking techniques.

[Lies]

I'd actually like to see a real fight between that guy and, say, Chuck Lidell.

In that video, everything is planned out, including the falls.

True, in that video, since it's a demonstration video, there will be a lot of pre-rehearshed moves.
But once you earn your blackbelt you do "Randori" more and more which is freestyle unprepared against multiple attackers.

Don't mistake a prerehearsed video with it being ineffective... it's amazingly effective once you are accomplished in it.

I like to think of Aikido as a "soft" martial art and most every other martial art out there as "hard" martial arts.
Don't let the names mislead you though, I like to think of it akin to D+D in that a "fighter" class is a "hard" class and is effective and useful from early levels, and that the wizard is a "soft" class in that in the beginning and for quite a while, it will seem quite weak and ineffective, but once you get to the higher levels, you're nearly unstoppable and can wipe the floor with the fighter by lifting your little finger.

[Requia ☣]

I didn't... for the filipino stuff, you really needed the dexterity in your fingers, and any sort of protective gloves would hinder that.

But for the Robin Hood staff stuff, you should probably ask a larper.  Or a Kung Fu dude.

I've used a big staff a bit in an anachronist group.  Fingerwork didn't really come into it, it was arms and a ton of footwork.