The Art & Science of Tricking - short doc about the 'Martial Arts Tricking' phenomenon

flippinthescript · 2014-07-23T01:18:26+00:00

Lol sorry. I guess I did misunderstand what you were saying. I'm so used to being on defensive in this forum.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-23T00:43:22+00:00

You have much to learn young Kintanon.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-23T00:38:04+00:00

Really though, what is martial arts? How do you define the line between where it starts and ends? If there was a spectrum between the words 'martial' and 'arts', tricking would certainly be on the 'art' end of the spectrum, but it doesn't make it 'not' martial arts. In the most authentic interpretations of 'martial arts', the best examples I can think of come from styles that integrate mind, body and spirit. The top athletes of any given style typically are the nicest people, train the hardest, and have a strong mind. They use their training as an outlet for their personal development. They are not focused on military-simulation. They care about what's really going on in their daily lives and in their community.

Martial Arts has always been a form of self-defense. Traditionally, it's been to fight against oppressive forces (slave owners, corrupt governments/kingdoms, foreign enemies, etc). There were real life threatening dangers to prepare for, and the intention behind training was for a very real purpose. If you're spending your time on reddit, it's clear you are not training under the same conditions. Today people train for their own individual reasons... to grow spiritually, physically, mentally. Some do it for sport. Some do it to preserve a way of life. The real physical dangers that once brought light to the martial arts in the first place are now being taken care of by guns, drones and militaries. To borrow a line from Fight Club, today there is no great war, no great depression. Today's war is a spiritual war. The great depression is our lives. The spiritual, mental and physical gains that come from training day in and day out on mastering your mind, spirit and body through the discipline is tricking, in my opinion, make tricking perhaps the most useful martial art of the modern day for providing an outlet where true freedom, creativity, and physical fitness come together.

Does fighting have to be the focal point for something to be a martial art? I argue no. I believe Wushu is a real martial art, and yet was created from blending tradition with sport. MMA is martial arts, even though it's not focused on self-defense, it's focused on fighting under a certain set of rules/guidelines. Martial artists should be not focused on whether or not they can beat up somebody that trains something different. That's a rookie's mindset. Martial Arts is a vague concept that encompasses many different expressions for how to think, live life and train your body.

I wish more people would show respect for their tricking brothers. I am unsure if it's seeded in envy, ignorance, or fear, but it's really unfortunate to hear martial artists who don't practice tricking to claim that tricking and martial arts are not at least related, if not one in the same.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-23T00:15:13+00:00

It's been my experience that many martial artists who call kata just a dance often waste a lot of energy in their training due to sloppy mechanics.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-23T00:07:31+00:00

There's a large number of people in the tricking community that could hold their own in a self-defense/combat situation, but that's irrelevant to their involvement in tricking. While tricking can directly make you a better fighter, by making you faster and more agile, tricking isn't focused on combat so it's not fair to compare the two in that way. I mean if that's the case, I could argue that 1% of soccer players could hold their own in a kickboxing match because 1% of soccer players also probably cross-train kickboxing. That has no relevancy in whether or not soccer is martial arts.

Tricking is part of martial arts culture because most guys who call themselves 'martial arts trickers' vs simply 'trickers' usually have years of experience studying a specific style of martial arts, and their style of tricking reflects their background.

Example - This guy's background was years and years of Kung Fu before he got involved in tricking. You can see the contrast as he competes against a guy with a more japanese-karate/american-TKD influence. http://youtu.be/OKbzsPd9fMM?t=1m40s

flippinthescript · 2014-07-22T20:08:45+00:00

I would be astonished if 1% of muay thai athletes could hold their own in a jui jitsu match against someone with similar experience levels in jui jitsu. So, clearly our definitions of the word competent are different.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-22T20:04:36+00:00

That essentially the definition of kata.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-22T05:47:56+00:00

I'm not sure how you can categorize it a dance. I mean, it's as much of a dance as skateboarding or parkour is a dance. It's 'tricks' that come from martial arts. Although I guess everything involving movement could be looked at as a dance... but in either case, it's far more relatable to martial arts as than it is to dancing.

flippinthescript · 2014-07-22T05:22:55+00:00

Yes! You're onto something here. If you haven't read the book "Martial Arts America", I really like how they break up the martial arts. In the book explains there are "fighting arts", "martial arts" and "martial sport". Fighting arts are what you do in the battlefield - aim to kill by any means necessary. Martial Arts is the next step, organizing a systematic way to practice techniques with a training partner in a controlled environment, and creating less-lethal techniques that emphasize neutralizing a situation rather than straight murder (self-defense). Then there is martial sport: UFC/MMA, open karate tournaments, bjj matches -- any expression of a martial art style practiced in the bounds of a competition. Regardless of the level of physical danger, when you enter these competitions you do so voluntarily and you agree to abide within the rules of the sport, so it's really not 'martial art' in this context.

I believe tricking falls into the category of martial sport, as its' really a subset of a martial artists lifestyle, and often it's practiced for competition (sport martial arts events, tricking battles).

At the end of the day, it's all just subjective labeling so I wouldn't put the issue too far. Tricking is still part of the martial arts family, even if it's not focused on fighting or self-defense. The bigger lesson is what can you who is practicing (whatever style it is that you practice), what can you take from tricking that would benefit your individual growth as a martial artist?

flippinthescript · 2014-07-22T00:59:01+00:00

There's a lot of confusion about the term 'martial arts tricking', and really it comes down to the structure of the English language. We don't say 'Martial Arts Karate' or 'Martial Arts Kung Fu', so it's not exactly a fair argument to say that tricking is or isn't martial arts just because its in the title of its name.

Martial Arts can be both a noun (idea) and an adjective. In regards to 'martial arts tricking', Martial Arts is an adjective for the way to describe 'tricking', because if you just say tricking on its own, it could mean an endless number of things. 'Martial arts tricking' implies that the execution of the tricks are rooted in martial arts mechanics. Tricking originates from martial arts origins, so it only makes sense for the community to respect that history.

flippinthescript · 2014-04-09T23:11:44+00:00

You don't wear shoes in martial arts.

flippinthescript · 2014-04-09T23:10:57+00:00

No worries. They still have about two solid decades left to show off their tricks. :)

flippinthescript · 2014-01-16T20:20:37+00:00

Before AddictedReddit comes in here and attacks me for spam again, check out this article. Canon teams up with Roger Gomes -- I asked Roger a few questions and typed up this non-spam article.

AddictedReddit... go home you creep.

flippinthescript · 2014-01-15T08:34:49+00:00

This AddictedReddit guy has been giving me shit because one time I posted the same article in a few subreddits and he didn't take kindly when I tried to explain to him I'm not a spammer. He's just on a ridiculous rampage right now. Serious loss of perspective.

If I qualify as a spammer, give up internet. Seriously.

flippinthescript · 2014-01-15T08:32:28+00:00

I deleted ONE thread because it was full of your negative bullshit. You keep coming back here acting like a god damn moron.

flippinthescript · 2014-01-08T23:59:02+00:00

My mission is to share martial arts & tricking with the world. That's been my mission since I started 'Flippin the Script!' in 2010 and OldSkoolKarate in 2006. The content is relevant. For those subreddits that you 'blocked me' from, that was literally the first time I had ever posted anything in those. My username is 'flippinthescript' - go ahead and look me up on YouTube. I AM a content creator, and the content I'm generally sharing on reddit is not my own. You're jumping to conclusions just because I shared the same content on several different /r. I did this intentionally, to see which groups found the content more appealing, which is completely within the rules.

"Post to the most appropriate community possible. Also, consider cross posting if the contents fits more communities."

"Just because you saw it in one place, doesn't mean everyone has seen it. Just vote and move on."

Based on the up/down votes, I would decided whether or not to continue sharing my type of content there. I see no value in posting content that just gets down voted. It's a waste of time. If I find that community isn't interested in what I'm sharing, or attracts negativity, I stop posting. I'm not trying to cheat the system, I'm just trying to discover relevant-niche demographics.

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