Hi all,

I was wondering how people become a rounded artist. I'm not saying perfection of course as everyone has a weak spot somewhere but I would like to structure my training to allow for long term ability.

For example, if you go to any japanese ju jutsu class, they'll teach you to defend against all sorts of weapons, attacks etc and practice with a variety of weapons. Unfortunately i've not really managed to find a class that strips this down to its core. Many seem to be aiming for what looks good rather than what's actually effective i.e. multiple follow up attacks and throws seemingly for nothing more than the sake of it. My karate training does seem much more applicable to real life whereby most attacks are met with block return without needing to grip your assailants hand in a certain way or hoping they leave their fist in front of you for 5 seconds whilst you sort yourself out...

This being said, I do still appreciate the thought process, I like understanding the joint manipulation and being able to do the throws (which is why I also study Judo)

Locally we have a variety of israeli special forces things...krav Maga, Kalah and eveything in between but there nothing more about it than teaching people to bite their way free and anything goes - I saw an instructors demo video teaching students to disarm their opponent of their knife and stab them?!?!? how is that self defence??

That's not my goal.

I neither wish to be seen as the toughest guy around, the best, a competition fighter or anything of the sort. What I seek is that internal confidence that comes when you really know your techiniques.

Is there one art that actually does cover it all? or am I doing the right thing in cross training?

I mean where did the original arts go? or is my interpretation of those arts driven by the movies and what I think was there never actually existed?!

I'd be keen to discuss how others work this out.

At the moment i'm retraining from sales into Fitness, I work for myself and earn a living however it's the arts that drive me, I just want to train and continue learning and the only real times I feel like i'm doing that is at camps. Full intensive days coming away broken mentally and physically. I want more of that!

is it out there or do I need to do it for myself? train harder on my own regularly?

Bah rambling now!! help!!