Traditional Forms

by Paula

I think that MMA is pretty awesome. MMA and other fusion martial-arts can be cool, as long as the martial-artists remember their roots. Mixed Martial Arts started as a way to combine martial-arts, but now there are many Mixed Martial-artists (I said many, not all) who have never studied a single martial-arts. All martial-arts have their merits, and each martial-artist has different reasons and goals for studying. The problem is when the "athlete" never studies a martial-art and never understands the traditions or values behind the martial-arts.

Traditional forms are ONE of the many aspects of martial-arts that gets left out when people take the traditional aspects of martial-arts. I have met and heard of many MMA fighters and "self-defense martial-artists" that have never learned a form. Forms, patterns, poomse, and/or katas are one of the key aspects of martial-arts training. Yes, they can be boring and tedious, but they are important. I personally love forms, and I can make a class full of students work so hard doing forms that they are pouring and sweat and want to puke. I can make myself sore by practicing forms strong and hard like they are supposed to be done. Yet, some fighters think that forms get in the way of "practical" training or a good workout.

Forms can be annoying! If you ever had an instructor spend 45 plus minutes on one form to make sure that you have proper technique, then you know what I am talking about. But this is so important for teaching the martial-artist proper blocking, striking, kicking, and punching technique. It builds muscles and posture. Even quality time spent on the most beginner forms can be useful for learning and developing technique to make technique strong and keep the fighter safe.

A couple of years ago I was speaking to a MMA fighter who had broken three bones in her hand and had to put in metal rods. She had never practiced a traditional martial-arts, and she had never learned a form. Therefore, she had never learned a proper punch and how to strike with force without hurting herself. She did not develop the muscles in her hands, wrists, and arms from repetitive punching while doing forms. Instead, they taught her only the skills needed in the octagon. She got hurt punching somebody during a competitive sparing match. This is just one of many examples of people who get injured from not learning martial-arts the traditional way.

Not learning traditional forms is just one of the ways fighters skip out on the important aspects of truly studying a martial-art. People get hurt, people get cocky, people hurt other people, and people give true martial-artists a bad rep when they miss out on traditional lessons.