About
My name is Brad Ledbetter. First, and foremost, I am a martial artist. It’s not what I do for a living, but it’s how I live my life.
I’ve studied various styles since 1999. Mostly Chinese styles: Wing Chun, Southern Five Family Fist (Ark Yuey Wong lineage), a Northern Long Fist system, Yang Tai Chi, Wang Shu Jin Ba Gua, and a bit of Xing Yi. Most of that is passing study; I focused on the Northern Long Fist and Yang Tai Chi over that time. Since 2007, I’ve been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; only seriously studying since 2008. As of right now (Fall 2009) I am taking an eight week Krav Maga class – I haven’t decided if I’m going to pursue that seriously or not. I primarily focus on Tai Chi and BJJ nowadays.
I’ve estimated that all in all, I’ve put in somewhere near 10,000 hours of study in martial arts. Averaging 20 hours per week (sometimes more, sometimes less), taking a couple weeks off per year, for 10 years. In Western professional terms, that would make me a senior professional in my field. In martial arts terms, I’m just getting started.
Obviously, I am interested in martial arts. I think all styles have something to offer us. I enjoy discussing martial arts: telling “my master” stories, comparing and contrasting techniques and methods, researching histories and lineages, hypothesizing about cultural influences of various styles, comparing differing codes of behavior (martial ethics), and generally expanding my knowledge about martial arts.
I also have strong opinions about what I think is “good” and “bad” in martial arts. I feel that any art that doesn’t evolve and grow with the times will soon become irrelevant. At the same time, I feel it is important to keep the traditional ways alive. I feel that any martial art that doesn’t teach street effective application in the context of the local community is failing as a martial art. I believe that those who do not practice their techniques against many different styles invite weakness, injury, and defeat. Mixed Martial Arts is not a martial art, it is a combat sport. Sport fighting is not the same as street fighting – believing that they are is dangerous, possibly fatal. Black belt factories really annoy me. I believe that martial artists who have attained a high level of skill have a responsibility to teach and spread their knowledge. Not to say that I have attained a high level of skill – as I said, I’m still just starting.
In short, my ramblings here will focus primarily on martial arts. If what I’ve said so far has upset you, annoyed you, made you angry, or happy, or sad, or moved you in any way, I encourage you to comment on any post I make. I invite and welcome civilized, courteous discussion in keeping with the ground rules of the site. I’ll also post links, pictures, videos, tournament information, and other things I find interesting, possibly related to martial arts, but not always. Life is more than just training, after all.
All that being said, thanks for visiting, please stay a while, comment and add to the discussion.
-Brad-
