There are More Masters of Martial Arts Today than ever Before

[@TheMorteReport]

I have always thought that old Masters were just average martial artists that just went to the next village over where their knowledge of biomechanics made them seem like they had supernatural abilities.

[@Rex-golf_player810]

Something about one eyed man in the blind world or something

[@meyes1098]

This is similar to what my physics teacher told me about 20 years ago: "There are more scientists/researchers (in Romanian we call them "savants") alive today, than there have ever lived in all of history".

[@minhducnguyen9276]

People forget where the word "Master" in Master degree comes from. Back in medieval and later renaissance time if you are a master then you can teach in a university. And during the time of Newton, there were very few professors in an university, most of the teaching were done by masters.

[@CriticalThinkingRevisionist]

The problem is however- that in a lot of important ways- so-called scientists nowadays are far more indoctrinated and consensus oriented.

[@martialgeeks]

"Some casualy, some professionaly and some at a mediocre level" I felt that "mediocre" on a spiritual level hahaha 😂

[@Krixxed_]

I scrolled down and read this at the EXACT time he said it while the video was playing XD

[@martialgeeks]

@@Krixxed_ 🤣👌

[@doaimanariroll5121]

The most annoying thing isn’t thinking people were better fighters. It’s thinking they were more moral, upstanding and spiritual. People are people. Some good, most ok, some terrible. And unfortunately terrible people tend to make pretty damn good fighters, especially if you’re a feudal lord wanting a guy who will kill and beat whoever you want. Those were the fighters of the past.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

Exactly!! I blame kung fu movies, while they are extremely entertaining and probably my favourite genre... They created this delusion that all martial arts "masters" were these righteous and upstanding people who had no vices, fought for justice and were always moral in their standing, when that is simply not true.... Many of those films are based on Wuxia legends and as any story goes, they are often greatly embellished for entertainment purposes or maybe to reach a lesson to the audience... But in reality one just has to look back at ancient China or Feudal Japan or any ancient nation to see that martial arts at its core was meant for warfare, both the unarmed and armed versions... The word martial in itself means war, so essentially it's "war arts".... It was and always has been meant for fighting, for maiming and killing...its only today in the modern world where it has been adapted and applied for sport because with guns, no one really needs to know how to use a sword or spear anymore or how to disarm bladed weapons.... One just has to look at events such as the Taiping Rebellion or Boxer Rebellions in China to see how "Chinese martial arts" were applied for warfare, the numerous no holds barred Lei Tai events that were recorded right up until the 1930s in China which the National Government had to ban because of how many people got gravely injured or killed in those fights....or the fact that even the Hongmen or Triads had a group of enforcers called Red Poles that were trained fighters, skilled in martial arts and many other examples I could mention.... Even the so called righteous "Shaolin Monks" were involved in various conflicts through out Chinese history and the Buddhist monks of Japan formed militia groups called Sohei to fight against ambitious samurai clans that wanted to take their lands.... Martial arts has always been for war and fighting and I'm tired of people like Jeff Speakman pretending that it wasn't

[@Toreadorification]

@@cyborgchicken3502 Well we also have the White Knight prototype in the West!

[@Dracon7601]

Both of these are based around restraining martial artists by chivalry because there wasn't any other way to do so.​@@Toreadorification

[@Gen-yh1jz]

Oh my goodness, I remember thinking all Masters were magical beings when I was kid. Many were selling nonsense. I was gullible. Now there are really skilled Masters who are teaching.

[@shinomori69]

I'm old. I remember believing the Frank Dux BS. As long as we examine our beliefs and adjust them to new information we are being better than we were. That's good enough for me.

[@JimmyMac-jo3zh]

Fun fact. There are still grown men who will spend an inordinate amount of time online defending the honor of Frank Dux, to the point of wanting to fight over it.

[@shinomori69]

@@JimmyMac-jo3zh ... that's not so fun. I'd still fight them.

[@Gen-yh1jz]

@@JimmyMac-jo3zh I would never say he was a man of integrity and ethics but a good storyteller and an inspiration for people to become involved in Martial Arts. Now with the internet I can’t understand how anyone would believe his story was true.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​@@Gen-yh1jz exactly, he probably just appropriated the Kyokushin karate 100 man kumite, which is a real thing and then was like "yeah I did that"

[@hailhydreigon2700]

The "Humble Martial Artist" is a recent phenomen, I think. From what I've studied, Martial Arts masters of the past were usually upper class individuals who could afford the time to train instead of work. Not exactly the type of people I'd associate with humility. In fact, in the East and West, a lot of martial arts masters in their writings/treatises, talked massive crap about other people while boasting about themselves.

[@stevelethal2910]

Looking damn good for 46! Holy crap would have never guessed.

[@LupeJustinian]

Fr Ramsey is living the dream. Looks 34 😅

[@benjaminyoung9694]

get out there, train, eat right and you'll look good for your age to

[@Sbv-25]

There’s many martial arts masters today, but there can only be one Hater Grandmaster Sensei Chosen One

[@Tymeb0mb]

As a former enlisted Marine, I don’t believe in any martial art that doesn’t end with a boot stomp to the grape while shouting “Marine Corps!"

[@cassiuslives4807]

I belong to one of the Wing Chun lineages, and we venerate the late master and Yip Man. That being said, the more interesting dimension is the stories passed down as part of the "family history"- opium smoking, horse races, late night conversations and street fights. My teachers trained with the late master in Hong Kong and those stories- including those of Bruce Lee in our history- humanised the late masters and made us appreciate the culture and context from which the lessons we learned came from. I think that's importance to establish the providence of a martial art- its track record, its history, its network of adherents.

[@OpnDoarPlcy]

You’ve described a situation in which an environment has been created which establishes martial artists as venerable and where studying the patterns and cycles which their lives took through the application of their discipline has become a disciplined way of life. Ideally, they would have also learned to fight.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​​@@OpnDoarPlcy but the thing is.... Many of these so called Martial Arts masters weren't as disciplined and moral as we try to make them out to be... Yip Man for example had a gambling and opium problem... Bruce Lee was a regular cocaine user, Wong Fei Hung had multiple affairs and was married multiple times.... I'm not saying we shouldn't admire them for their contributions to the martial arts world, and that we shouldn't strive for discipline and morals, but we have to remember that like everyone else, they were also human and has flaws

[@OpnDoarPlcy]

@@cyborgchicken3502 thanks for sharing your insights with me.

[@bubblewhip382]

There are a lot of masters of martial arts today, Beijing Sports Universities hands hand out plenty of Masters in Wushu degrees every year!

[@benjaminlamptey1867]

Happy birthday in advance Mr Dewey 🥳🎉

[@Oldschooldan1]

I’ve never liked the title of “Master”. I’m 52 and started my martial arts journey when I was 7. I have several high-ranking black belts in several forms of martial arts, but I have mastered nothing. I learn something new every time I step on the mat and I hope that never changes. I’ll be doing a 4 round exhibition kickboxing match on the under card for a couple of retired pro fighters next month. My opponent is 24, I keep getting older and they keep getting younger; such is life.

[@ehellsword2]

2:47 That's what most non martial artists believe from my experience. Also it's in media a lot so I'm not surprised people believe that. Even some martial artists as well. And the martial artists that preach that kind of stuff don't even know what they are talking about most of the time. They are just repeating what someone else told them.

[@Danetto]

u know its so funny that i get beer ads from your videos XD

[@RamseyDewey]

Seriously?

[@Danetto]

@@RamseyDewey ikr xd

[@lewislewis4240]

When I hear all these stories about marshal arts masters it reminds me of UFO & Ghost signing. It’s always in some weird places that nobody goes like old walk paths or that dodgy old house by the hill. The one thing I as say when i hear these stories is “ did you record what you seen?” And the most common reply is “ this was before smart phones” it’s a real reminder that with modern technology a lot of these stories don’t make sense when back in the day you could tell stories about anything.

[@RamseyDewey]

Walk into most BJJ schools and grapple with the black belts. You’ll see masters of submission grappling. Go to any wrestling room in America and get on the mats with the best guys. You’ll see mastery of the offensive positional aspect of grappling immediately. Visit a competitive boxing gym and spar with anyone who has more than 10 professional wins. It will blow your mind. Visit the UFCPI and observe the coaches and trainers. They are masters of their craft of programming and executing training schedules. Masters are everywhere today. Most people are just looking in the wrong places.

[@Xzontyr]

UFOs and ghosts? Being compared to martial arts masters? How? why? I thought my city had stories, but are saying your area has stories of karate masters pulling off streets of rage in back Allies, but nobody recorded it?

[@blockmasterscott]

I’ve had other martial artists say that I’m a master, but I never really thought of myself as one.

[@ericschaab5135]

Finding a martial arts master is difficult. Finding a martial arts master who is also a master at teaching, even more! 👆🤣

[@Chris-ez4ce]

Ramsey ...keep up the good work.

[@w4rf4c39]

We live in a beautiful time. The evolution of martial arts over the last 40 years has been parabolic

[@yeout4386]

Hi ramsey dewey i would like to ask a question me and a friend of mine train at the same dojo and the last few years his technical level has gotten really good however when it comes to actually using his skill when sparring he absolutely sucks he is afraid to get hurt and even more afraid to hurt someone else even when doeing drills when he punches to someones face instead of hitting he always stops a few milimiters before making contact the same with kicks i know he can hit hard becouse when holding pads or a shield his strikes actually hurt Do you have any advice how i can help him get over that fear?

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

There will never be any Masters again like the past that would run on treetops.

[@martialgeeks]

So this turned into a nice lesson on The Law of Large Numbers, love it

[@andymax1]

I don't know about large numbers, the Coach is a Master of Wing Chun ,he just happens to be better at BJJ than anyone I know, in fact his students are at a fricking ridiculous level and I can't complain as I get to level up. I also Study Ninjutsu and my god that is something else at its ultimate level, is the Boss of that (what we call him ) a Master, I would say so.

[@shinomori69]

Anyone else want to see a Street Fighter vs SNK movie with fight scenes choreographed by Coach Ramsey and maybe Scenic Fights?

[@schermanism]

haha, It's a shame that my parody of "traditional" thinking wasn't more clear, but I'm still glad that thanks to me, new great material was created on this legendary channel :D

[@BMO_Creative]

Happy Birthday Bro!!!

[@skinnybrucelee435]

Do you think practicing 1000 punches a day is practical,for example a 1000 jabs a day

[@KastaRules]

This holds true for every Art and Science for the very same principle.

[@justinAclark2075]

The title is both objectively true, and also a very good stab at folks who act like they're superior

[@ajshiro3957]

My teacher is 40 something. I like that he's still learning stuff. And he's bald. "Clearly from training so hard, his hair fell out." If the pinnacle of martial arts was 1000 years ago, then i guess they never heard of Japanese, Korean, and other arts. We stopped at China and Rome

[@PhilipAJones]

Saitama?

[@lordMartiya]

There used to be a large number of kung fu masters with chi powers, and at one point they joined forces to deal with the evil of materialism. Then the Seven Nations Alliance gunned them down to suppress the Boxers Rebellion.

[@kevingray4980]

The context of martial arts has changed so much it is difficult to compare. 100 years ago police officers were all trained to fight with a baton, like really. That was their bread and butter. Even after the handgun was invented, in countries like China they were limited in availability and reliability. Even in America, where quality guns were common, batons saw far more action in day to day police work. Nowadays, police are trained to juggle a half-dozen gadgets, ticking off a checklist before they get to use the gun without getting sued. Aforementioned gadgets have little crossover to actual fighting. Most never use the baton aside from breaking windows. If I could choose someone to teach me to fight with a stick, I'd go back in time, easily find thousands of people whose lives heavily relied on it with decades of real life experience. The same cannot be said today. Modern fighters are optimized for the civilized conditions of the modern world. The 19th century in China was a much scarrier place. Fighting with your body was in far higher demand: weak central government, colonial powers stirring things up, rampant banditry, several revolutions resulting in tens of millions of deaths. There's a reason the martial arts of the region were held in high esteem: they were developed out of necessity. Modern masters trying to preserve a cultural heritage obviously aren't going to be of the same calibre.

[@marcelgomes1574]

People are feeling more nostalgia than ever before, this is due to the fact that we are more connected to world problems than ever before, which makes us feel with a great sense of powerlessness. Most people don't know it, but originally nostalgia was considered a medical illness.

[@JimmyMac-jo3zh]

People miss the days when people like Mas Oyama fought 100 guys at the Kumite or knocked out a bull with one punch. I guess.

[@RamseyDewey]

People are still doing the 100 man kumite. Mas Oyama did not knock out a bull with one punch. It’s on film. You can watch it on KZbin. It was not a bull. It was tiny old docile steer. He hit it repeatedly.

[@marcelolage1395]

​@RamseyDewey It's pretty sad that those lies keep being perpetuated. And to be fair, I would have even less respect for Mas Oyama if he went around killing random bulls for nothing. Kyokushin is great but people need to believe their art is the chosen one and the rest is inferior so they need a demigo to be the creator of their style

[@JimmyMac-jo3zh]

Sorry Ramsay, I should have made it clear I was joking around a bit. I've seen people saying that Mas Oyama fought in the Kumite and that if he did it and KOed 100 men, why couldn't Frank Dux or Count Dante, or whoever.

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

​​​@@marcelolage1395a Korean make sucess in Japan it's almost a Super Human feat because well everyone know the sad story between Korean and Japan because the war and how Koreans are like dogs for Japanese people, Oyama gained the Respect of Japanese people being a Gaijin it's honorable the man are legend for that.

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

​@@JimmyMac-jo3zhKumite of Kyokushin are a fantasy but create strong Warriors like Francisco Filho K1 legend.

[@dusandragovic09srb]

Time is space, it's just a measure.

[@Xzontyr]

If the old masters could train and be present in our modern day, in the same art that they mastered, an art that has grown and adapted for the better, than they would be students.

[@maluill]

Dewey do you still spar at 46? And how is it different from when you first started training? Maybe you've done a video on this already.

[@andymax1]

Great Masters Live, my BJJ coach is a great Master, no seriously beyond what you can even imagine, there isn't anyone who knows him who would disagree, only a 4th degree blackbelt at BJJ and that really that undersells his ability but he is also a Master of Wing Chun as well who lives in the neighbourhood of Master Wong..... Unfortunately he doesn't roll with me anymore, but that's fair I'm twice his size, in saying that I have zero chance, no one ever does.

[@robertsutherland6162]

Well I'm older than both of you so there's that. My Taekwondo teacher was an ROK officer, 5th Dan, his brother a 7th Dan Hapkido and 8th Dan Taekwondo. If you taught and ran a class like they did but now, people would cry and get lawyers. I never saw anything like them and still haven't as far as the TMA goes. But there are good ones out there, they just have a different approach typically.

[@theprocess1993]

I’m only into the first two minutes of this vid and I’m rofl 🤣 Ramsey is the man

[@aquaticlibrary]

This is a loaded subject lol. I know some traditional Japanese Sensei’s in Okinawa that are really about that life. But I also recall my Sifu saying Shaolin masters were normal dudes that have hella issues lol. A lot of shady stuff I encountered with different masters in the U.S.

[@flamezombie1]

The swordsmaster I teach from primarily, Joachim Meyer, only lived to be about 34. When HEMA gets to be older in 10 years or so, there will be a lot of guys who are WAY better than Meyer with a longsword in a very similar, if not exact context. Something interesting to consider though is that we do have to rely on these medieval and renaissance masters to deal with weapons. The safe trainers we have today are facsimiles, and good ones in many cases, but never close to the experience someone like Johannes Lichtenauer or Fiore d'ei Liberi went through fighting with real steel and often to the death. Interesting to think about comparing unarmed and armed martial arts here.

[@michaelmurphy2112]

Ah, the greatest source ever: "Trust me, bro"

[@phillipmarlowe0525]

I remember back in the 70s and 80s men would arrive leave South Korea as a 2nd Dan but arrived in America as 8th Dan Masters and GrandMasters. lol

[@makenjikarate]

It's definitely fun to think that martial arts and martial arts styles/brands is so widespread that for example karate is a household name but in the 1800s is completely unheard of (partly due to the name "karate" not existing yet 😂)

[@RamseyDewey]

Nobody called it “karate” until 1936. And even then, it was still usually called tote-do/tang shou dao/tang Soo Do until the late 1950’s.

[@TylerConway-z6s]

Happy Early Birthday 🥳 🎉

[@MrRourk]

I tell these people to go study the 1928 and 1929 China National Tournament. 1928 no single winner as they learned what happens with no rules whatsoever. In 1929 with minimal rules the winner used wrestling and basic Shaolin Kung Fu. The eventual winner had a lot of sparring and street fighting experience.

[@bensweeney5878]

You didn't have any kung fu masters, but i bet you could find some badass cowboys there!

[@Dan0rioN]

It's a double edged sword.. We have more information & yet more distractions..

[@FrodeFalch]

The key is to develop a good personal bullshit filter.

[@Dan0rioN]

@@FrodeFalch True that.. There is a lot of bs out there especially in the world of combat. Much more than people realize with all the sanctioned "martial art" gyms & half the population fat npcs

[@gsdggasgs1799]

I think the idea that martial arts masters are somehow always good people is for a far simpler reason - people want to believe the world is a "just" place. They can't bear the thought that the most powerful people are indifferent or are cruel.

[@piotrd7355]

I have seen several documentaries on this subject , on ancient information media called VHS tapes. He is right. Comparing these recordings with fights in the UFC, Pride and so on it becomes obvious. Such techniques as dim mak, jumping 5 meters up, levitation or the ability to win an all-night tournament with five per mille of alcohol in the blood, have become forgotten. They are cultivated by a small group of masters, mostly at Tik tok and in gyms where only creditworthy vips are allowed in.

[@user-ng9gd4vl9s]

I'm not good at maths but this sounds like a maths equation!

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

Humanity is fascinated with heroism, that's why have a Cult of Bruce Lee in China he's a Chinese hero. He made the Chinese people respected in the USA people love Legends.

[@johnkulcsar9131]

Not sure if Ramsey Dewey will see this comment, but isn't the reason that we have more masters now then in the past not only because we have such a large population but also because we live in one of the easiest points in history? If we go back 100 or 150 years weren't the vast majority of people involved in back breaking labour for the vast majority of the day which limited their time for other activities?

[@gunadihudaya6041]

No, the kid is right. There were more master of martial arts in the past. Today we have sportmen, but long time ago we had a lot of master of martial arts who used martial arts to kill in battle. They may psychopath who can kill without remorse. But they used their martial arts to survived. While today we learn martial arts for only self defence and sport

[@TheBlahblah86]

I tend to think we have more people to take deeper dives into their arts and cross train to add more depth to our styles. I keep thinking martial arts can grow rapidly because of this, but become too robust to truly master.

[@gsdggasgs1799]

Ramsey could you give your opinions on the commercialization of martial arts/combat sports? I know everyone needs to make a living but i'm not what exactly the right price should be. I'd like to train with other people whose incentives are purely just that they enjoy the sport, they want to improve, but that isn't so easy to find for some reason. That and with the economy tightening i'd rather save a few dollars. Of course morality/spirituality isn't heavily tied to combat sports (good fighters aren't good people always) and maybe shouldn't be, but then why should money be tied to combat sports?

[@benjaminyoung9694]

Im out there training.

[@qowkerf]

Athletes today are trained by nutritionists and sports scientists who have a better understanding than all of past humanity about how the body works and how to build it to purpose. We also have much more food available in the 21st century which leads to healthier, bigger, more well-muscled and developed humans overall, let alone someone who makes it their job to reach the absolute physical peak. I refuse to believe some half starved, 5 foot flat, ex-rice farmer on top of a mountain in 1600 who probably believed that alcohol contained actual spirits made for a better martial artist than modern UFC fighters. Magic chi power voodoo crap is what these people have to fall back to because they have no arguments. It is romantic fantasy.

[@AlexanderLayko]

So why isn't India winning world records in human accomplishments? Not enough people?

[@RamseyDewey]

Is this an argument for Chinese exceptionalism?

[@DesCoutinho]

Corruption and nepotism are our national sports if we get them in the Olympics step aside

[@GeorgeOu]

Always pay deference to someone who cites "trust me bro"

[@devinbeckwith8056]

Bring back Deadliest Warrior. Do a whole pankratiast vs cagefighter episode that'll answer the question lol

[@RamseyDewey]

How? Modern pankration is glorified karate trying to be a historical revival and getting most of the details wrong.

[@Zz7722zZ]

Wuxia is just fantasy, but the way wuxia stories are written they are often intertwined with real history, so it's easier to conflate such fantasy with reality for some people. The only argument for there being more masters in the past is the fact that there were more people engaged in melee combat on the battlefield, and those who survived by virtue of their skill are probably true masters compared to the masters of today, especially in the realm of weapons combat, but those are a small subset of masters.

[@curtismaul2552]

Ramsey you look the same but I can not belive you are 46 years old time goes by so fast it seems like the older I am getting the faster time goes by.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

I looked at the title and though you were referring to modern combat sports athletes. Yes, it is true that the title master being handled out is meaningless but if you look at how the title master is awarded in my country during feudal time we have plenty of masters by that criteria. You just need to be the reigning championship of the regional tournament which is just a few villages and population back then was much smaller than today. Today if you are reaching national level athletes you are probably just as good as the masters of old times.

[@CryptoC4T]

He is kinda right if he would talk about HEMA. In the past fighting skills where more important to the point most countries had a group of people who trained fighting from very young age and their skills where close to the sole reason for their existence. I can't belive we are currently on the level of people who did this for a living with their very life on stake.

[@RamseyDewey]

HEMA is a historical reenactment. That’s why.

[@theimpaler5034]

A house painter does Kung fu painting houses is king fu so he’s a king fu master

[@RKKY-mf7fe]

There is more of everything nowadays

[@TheFox-d3x]

Hey coach when are you going to tell us about your alien experience

[@RamseyDewey]

3 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJ2Vaq17Yqeamsksi=ytc45MkijXfXE-3u

[@TheFox-d3x]

@@RamseyDewey how did I miss this I have been watching your channel for like 4 or 5 years now

[@kamenriderman]

If what written on old book 72 arts of Shaolin is true, then to master such amazing skill we need to sacrifice years of our lives, and to make it functional, we should keep it secret. If our enemies know our left hand has deadly poison, then they just watch our left hand, and all time we use to master to get poisonous hand will be wasted. So people now don't want to train such skills anymore because there are a lot of easy modern ways to kill people.

[@peterpancik5176]

Mythbuster Ramsey? 😊

[@EvanLoper-tl9qj]

Don't ask Chun li about her boob job scars or her tummy tuck scar she's a master of hiding her own insecurities

[@ChewieLuke]

I think that there are fewer martial arts masters out there. I mean, we can't ALL be Captain Krav Maga...

[@cyborgchicken3502]

It's like people forget the word "martial" in martial arts and forget what that word actually means.... It means War.... So essentially War Arts.... It was always about fighting and in some cases killing... It was never about peace and love and righteousness...thats an idea that was sold to us by kung fu movies

[@BeamMonsterZeus]

Though sin is not a parameter of my social evaluations, I know the sentiment you mean to infer. I fully agree, now. I don't see a commitment to one's own held beliefs, and such deep intellectual dishonesty towards oneself interrupts perception of the knowable facts of reality. Only what supports the belief is filtered in.

[@BeamMonsterZeus]

As I think more on it, the topic deserves far more consideration than was given.

[@bravelilspidey]

I made a bad joke and deleted my comment. Good video. I'll be 46 in March.

[@OpnDoarPlcy]

It’s interesting to hear someone from the United States praise the efficiency of an authoritarian regime. Edit: answer to your question about why young boys imagine an idealized world of martial arts is because the cognitive elements of learning martial arts often happen before the first day of training. The imagination replaces details that are missed by lack of experience, which tends to mystify the event and therefore a tendency developes in which certain key elements attributed to martial arts, never really existed.

[@RamseyDewey]

“Praise the efficiency of an authoritarian regime” is a very strange way to say “said that throwing lots of people at problems can solve problems quickly”

[@sugelanren]

I think you're slightly dismissing this young lads comment. (I'm 51 years young, but am far inferior to your good self as far as martial experience). I don't think he mentioned magic in his comment, which is the straw man you seem to have used to beat him down. In the past there used to be knights Templar. In the past full time students were a thing. These days if you train 3 times a week, you surpass (plucked out the sky) over 50% of martial arts students. If you train 5 days a week, that surely must be up in the high 90s. I don't know the context of the comment, but surely the idea that there are less full time, dedicated martial arts experts (not brawlers or fighters) is less magnificent of a statement than you seem to be posing? Posting from my phone at work, so it's a short message. Peace and good will to yourself sir.

[@RamseyDewey]

Except that’s not even true. There are far more full time martial arts practitioners today than there have ever been in the history of the world.

[@sugelanren]

@@RamseyDewey how would you define "full time"?

[@Aname550]

Damn fool. Do you know how much an olympian trains? Combat sport athletes I personally know train 6 days a week, two to three sessions a day. Just because you aren't exposed to the world of high level competition does not mean they do not exist. There are more people than there used to be. There are more people with access to resources than ever before. Not hungry 17th century children taking lessons in pugilism, nor Chinese orphans picked up by shaolin temples because they have nowhere else to go. Real resources, verified training methodology, perfectly balanced nutrition, armies of coaches and scientists and nutritionists and trainers who are commit their careers to enabling these athletes to reach the pinnacle of human capability. There are more full time martial artists by virtue of the fact that there are more functioning humans in the world, that don't need to worry about the seasonal changes affecting their crops, the looming threat of war, the taxes due to be paid to their feudal lord.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​​@@sugelanren literally every single Martial Arts academy in China....those people train full time, the various military forces around the world as well... Train full time... Professional fighters, when not injured, train full time.... How I would define full time is if this is literally what you spend most of your week doing.... And if you think the Knights Templar only did training 24/7 with no breaks and rest periods in between then buddy you live in fantasy world, the u forget that much of their time was also focused on spiritual matters and charity work as well since after all they were highly devout Christians, same with the Shaolin monks, most of their time was spent on meditation, temple chores and studying the Buddhist Sutras... They didn't just do martial arts from sunrise to sundown... That is physically impossible for the human body, and you're more likely to end up a cripple and injure yourself badly by not giving your body time to rest and recover from training.... But there definitely are people that train most of the time and very frequently dedicate their entire life to honing their craft and skills

[@sugelanren]

@@cyborgchicken3502 Hi. Going to get the low hanging fruit over first...I'm going to go out on a limb and say, you have never been to China. Literally doesn't mean what you think it means. Literally means all de facto, and that not a true statement. There are by far more full time martial artists (per head of the population, but I'll come back to that) in Thailand or South Korea than in China. China is bigger, so in real numbers maybe yes...But it is hardly their national sport as in the two countries mentioned. All martial arts schools in China are not full time, and it's students definitely are not all full time. Most are hobbyists like here in the west My post wasn't intended as a defense of the past, or even as a definitive statement. There is definitely truth that before the invention of the gun (and the mobile phone for that matter), that the ability to fight with your hands was more marketable skill. Does Amazon have a trained fighter in their van when they deliver stuff? No. Go back to the ching dynasty and bodyguard was a very normal and marketable skill set. Have you ever heard of the boxer rebellion? Most martial artists are hobbyists, even a lot instructors here in the west have full time jobs. They don't earn a living teaching middle aged men to triangle choke. Now there is a difference between total number, and per head of capita. I could be both true that there are more now, but less as a percentage of the whole. I was merely steel manning the young lads comment, he never mentioned magic or woo. He seemed to only be harking back to a time where things were rougher than they are today, and when someone taught fighting, they could fight. But like I said, I don't know the context of the post, they could have been discussing zero touch death moves for all I know.

[@Reflectionmaterial]

Seems back in the good old days before firearms people had an awfull lot more experience in killing people in melee combat than today. So not sure if there actualy are more martial arts master or whatever that means.

[@omnitvz]

There certainly were a lot more mcdojos back in the day.

[@AmericankickboxingMMA]

There are more bald masters today? Icy Mike? Ramsey? Master Wong?

[@WadeSmith-oe5xd]

There's a sixth degree Shotokan black belt who teaches about 4 miles away from my house, but he's no better than a white belt in the style I originally trained in, which was old school Isshinryu. Don't look at the points sparring nonsense the new Isshinryu instructors are doing. I'm talking about when Isshinryu used to promote based on FULL CONTACT, no rules fighting ability.

[@EduNauta95]

Ok, i’ll be the devil’s advocate here. No one should doubt that we are now living the best golden age ever (with no end in sight) for martial arts, in terms of technical ability. However, i do think there is a point with regards to the link of martial arts and spirituality, mysticism, energy flow, chi and all that stuff that is being seriously repressed in today’s material world.

[@EduNauta95]

Btw, i don’t mean materialism in terms of morality, corruption etc (this is basically cope and depression on the part of that guy). I mean more like in the sense of having a spiritual mindset, curiosity, sensibility…

[@RamseyDewey]

I would say that the ideas you presented of martial arts & spirituality, mysticism, energy flow, chi, etc are being greatly romanticized and misrepresented today. 气 is air and breath, not mystical energy. Mysticism is the 15th century Christian idea that a normal person can have supernatural experiences with divine beings (eg: receive revelations from God, see angels, etc- the Spanish Inquisition happened because of that) energy flow is a new age term. I don’t think people who lived in a time when life was nasty, brutish, and short could afford the modern first world luxury of deluding themselves into thinking that their martial arts practice was a new age hippy fest.

[@EduNauta95]

@@RamseyDewey I have to solidly disagree with you here. Spiritual history in china actually goes very deep. This recent video on the topic is very good! kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4jXZaCCiLR1Y5Isi=R9dZ7cP7Y5g4JDam

[@EduNauta95]

@@RamseyDewey I have to solidly disagree here. Spiritual history in china actually goes deep. This recent video on the topic is ver good! Cheers kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4jXZaCCiLR1Y5I

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​@@EduNauta95 why do folks like u that espouse this idea of "spiritualism, chi and morality within martial arts" always leave out the historical aspect of the word "martial" in martial arts... Martial means War, therefore martial arts means War Arts.... The Knights Templar and the Shaolin Monks just so happened to be religious people that knew how to fight, but even they, at many points in history, set aside their "morality and spirituality" and participated in the horrific act of war... History proves that much... Do you think the samurai developed jujitsu or kenjutsu to be "spiritual"? No, they created it for warfare, to kill other people in the most effective manner ever

[@martialartnerd1396]

Sorry but there is just one successor of the Hokuto shrunken ! 😂

[@Pasaken]

I get your point, that "magic martial arts" has never been a real thing and never will be - but for a matter of fact: humanity has carried out it's wars mostly in melee combat for almost all of history. Furthermore, violence tended to be a far more common occurence before modern societies with largely similar laws and the means to enforce them. Warriors back in the day spent large parts of their lives training for melee combat, what we would call martial arts today, hence the name. They did not do it as a leisure activity, like most people today, but out of necessity and the need for survival. They took lives in close combat, something that practically no modern day human has done, let alone under those kind of circumstances. With all respect for the top athletes of today - I can see that many of the "martial arts masters" of this day and age are nothing more but delusional quacks - But I would never think of disrespecting the capabilities of our ancestors living in completely different times, under completely different circumstances I cannot even really comprehend, who spilled their enemies blood and gave their own to fight for the very, very safe and comfortable future I happen to be born and live in. This is why I would never call myself a master of martial arts, no matter what kind of success I were to achieve today.

[@RamseyDewey]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/naisk4qPrZiLiaMsi=qCMeI6cE4nD6XX3G

[@tennesseecopperhead7874]

Well he isnt wrong......todays generation is lazy. However Im 49 and been involved in Martial Arts for 45 years. I myself am not a Master. Just lots of experience.

[@EvanLoper-tl9qj]

Did you hear them say they are masters?

[@RamseyDewey]

No. Self proclaimed mastery of a craft is no mastery at all. You don’t give yourself a nickname. You don’t give yourself a black belt. You don’t call yourself wise. And you don’t decide that you are a master.

[@EvanLoper-tl9qj]

@@RamseyDewey mastery over a skill is not mastery of an art? You can master skills without being a master in a "discipline". Also id prefer to hear them say this like stolen valor. Let's take our personal vendettas out of this let's encourage people to join to make them better not tease mental illness for a temporary high. After all martial arts is a discipline not an ego boost...

[@DRKILLIE]

True Masters or mcmasters?

[@RamseyDewey]

Did I stutter?

[@EvanLoper-tl9qj]

Funny you can call someone a fake master when there's emails of them asking for lessons????

[@RamseyDewey]

What specifically are you referring to?

[@EvanLoper-tl9qj]

@@RamseyDewey a ghost ask Mexican chunli

[@RamseyDewey]

I tried very hard to understand what you have been trying to communicate, but alas, I do not know what you mean by any of this.

[@elosoguapo8137]

The commenter seems ripe to be recruited into a martial arts cult. They still exist unfortunately.

[@DarrinKemp-lr1cz]

That martial arts masters are moral nonsense. How highly moral can people who dedicated their lives to hurting other people really be?

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

Only the Greeks had reached the highest form of MMA humanity today has not reached A 10th of what the Greeks had accomplished in hand-to-hand combat.

[@RamseyDewey]

But 10% of an Olympian god is still pretty good.

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

@@RamseyDewey 😂🤣😆👍 I guess you can say that .

[@cranerigging3604]

The world is full of Master artist's of bull shit today .... The older I get the less I know .... LOL ! 😁

[@edwardanderson1053]

Lol, if he met a master how would he even know? Dudes walking around today almost ring ready at all times lol. And yes people had a purer environment and more work in the past making the average medieval farm boy pretty tough, but modern training is a big advantage. Love the classics but they are art and not reality. Magic exists but is mostly interior manipulation, and love, love is the greatest magic.

[@RamseyDewey]

1. How? Real recognizes real. 2. The average life expectancy in the Middle Ages was 31 years old. For a medieval farm boy, even less. They walked around in 4 feet of human excrement that lined the streets back then.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

​@@RamseyDewey It's not that bad if they managed to live past 30 years. But I have 2 arguments for Why modern athletes are better than the masters of old times. First is the talent pools. To be considered a master in my country back in feudal time you need to be the reigning champion of the region which can range from the dozen of villages to a province. Today a province and easily have 5-6 times the population so a modern regional champ has to compete against a larger talent pool. Secondly, time dedicated to training. In feudal time, most people dedicated most of the time for farming, martial artists were no exceptions. Compared today where you have national level champions who not only cross training but also do that 5 days a week you should expect better performance.

[@edwardanderson1053]

Yes they had literal crap in the streets 🤣,But they didn't have depleted soils,BPA,Ethyl Lead,PFAS, and about a thousand more industrial pollutants and hormone disruptors. And my use of " farm boy "refers to a full physically grown though inexperienced individual. Have a great day!

[@marcelgomes1574]

China has the second largest peope of the world. The first is India because they awnt to have a big army.

[@jackruwe7142]

Early

[@petrairene]

But you have to take into account that only a fraction of the young people in our societies train martial arts. In other cultures it was pretty much the norm that every boy trains in folk wrestling. In medieval times where I lived every adult male citizen of a city had to have arms and armour to defend the city, should it be attacked. Your income determined exactly what type of armour you had to have, and there were regular checks that the armour was there and in good condition. They regularly came together to train. In a lot of old cultures literally every able bodied male trained to fight. If every man knows how to fight and every boy learns it, I'm sure you get a pretty high standard of fitness and technical ability, considering it was a potentially life or death ability. The advantage today is the cross pollination of different international styles.

[@TC2642]

I still think Ramsey's point about population is right. Take England in the 1500's, there was a population of about 2m, say half was male, then say about half of that was either too old or too young to be really combat effective. The population today it is around 56.5m. Even if it's just a fraction of people training, then by numbers alone that medieval number would be overwhelmed.

[@ninjutsudojo]

I've been thinking recently about faith and its relation to martial arts. Faith typically refers to belief in something that can't be proven, or at least has not yet been proven. Should faith be a component in one's martial journey? If so, faith in what or who? You're a man of faith. Curious to hear your thoughts on faith in the martial arts. PS I run a ninjutsu dojo. Feel free to have fun with that 😜🥷🐢

[@paulpowell774]

Happy upcoming Birthday's Baby. Keep it Real so my living in the land off Woop Woop is more satisfying.💯 Grow Old with Happiness; and movement Kyū (Japanese: 級, [kʲɯː]) whatever!! "Kisses not Slaps, Hugs not ??☠