Do people think you have "special powers"?

I'm not sure exactly where to post this question, but I wanted to ask people who train, so MMA, OT and Wasteland weren't good choices... It applies to stand-up as well as grappling, but since I'm partial to grappling, I thought I'd ask it here:

Do people you know who have no martial arts training sometimes think you have "special powers" because of what they have seen in movies and on TV? Do people ask you if you can catch flies with chopsticks, and other silly shit like that? I've done TKD, JKD, and I'm currently into boxing and BJJ. All of this seems "mysterious" to the curious people around me. I rarely get mad about the questions, but I'm often amused.

The other day, my boss sent me to a different area to look for a part we needed. After searching, I didn't find what he wanted. He checked the same place a few hours later and found the part. He then said to me, "I thought all of that Karate stuff you do gives you sharper senses so you can detect hidden things better." At first, I thought "WTF"? - and then it dawned on me that the only exposure he's had to martial arts is the Kung Fu TV show from the 70's. Thank you David Carradine...

What kind of stupid things have people asked you before about your martial arts training? TMA - MMA, it doesn't matter. It's all the same to 99% of people anyway.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go register my hands as deadly weapons down at the courthouse...

 

I have heard the "black belts have to register themselves as deadly weapons" line alot.

 

I always hear the line "you can kill someone by pushing their nose bone into their brain"

 

The most I've heard was "Holy shit man I didn't know you tapped out Rickson with a flying double armbar?"

This is mostly in my dreams though.

No but honestly I've always thought of people who did any MA before as stronger then a regular guy.

 

Yes! I use Jedi mind tricks to get women to like me. I can also shimmy up peoples balconies without using my legs ( really, no joke, I can!).

 

i do bjj. a guy at my work asked "does your ninjitsu training mean you can sense people about to attack you from behind?"

 

People who don't train do not know the difference between Kung Fu and Bjj so think it as all the same and make some funny comments...like..bow to your sensi

 

LOL.

 

People dont immediately assume I have supernatural powers, but usually when I say "I teach Judo" there's a short pause while they readjust their thinking and from then on they seem extra polite & friendly.

I'm far from a big, threatening bloke, nor do I walk around with an attitude & come across as a "tough guy". I'm always courteous & friendly to everyone so sometimes the idea I'm a "fighter" as well as an "instructor" throws people a bit (judo pun intended).

 

I think The Karate Kid movie has left a huge impression on people. I hear "wax on - wax off" a lot.

And some people actually think the "crane" move the kid used at the end of the movie is the deadliest, most kick-ass technique in the world. Someone asked me once if i knew the "crane kick" and I told them my sensei wasn't allowed to teach it because he wasn't Okinawan. OMG - I might have started another myth by telling him that....

 

Everyone seems to only be able to think of Karate. I say I train in BJJ and try my best to explain it to them ("It's just grappling, and you can basically do whatever you like but there are no strikes") and then later on they ask stupid shit like "Can you kick really hard now?".

Retards.

 

...They know I do.
MUWAHA HA HAAAA!!!!

 

I seem to get that a lot, even when i explain that im a thaiboxer and dont study karate im still asked about the crane kick, in the end I just learnt to do it so i could end the conversation without giving a lecture. Still I'm worried I may be perpetuating a stereotype.

The dumbest thing i ever hear is when people ask me about presssure points, typically "can you really kill someone with one touch?" etc. I must of heard it a couple of hundred times but it still really bothers me.

 

I get the impression people think it's Bullshit that woulndn't really work and that they're just humoring me to talk about it (I do BJJ but it'd be the same with any MA). Whenever anyone asks me I just tell them it's like wrestling and leave it at that as for some reason people seem to take a western art more seriosly.

So no - not superpowers, quite the opposite infact.

 

That happend to me too when I first started doing BJJ. People would talk to me and ask about my "karate". And you'd have to correct them. If someone knows you train MA they think "karate" for some reason.

 

whenever i say something ebough wrestling, i always get some remark about cutting weight. this is the only thing that gets tiring to me as i've tried cutting once in my freshman year and since i've always insisted on wrestling up in class just so i'm not gassed from all the pre-match cutting.

 

when i tell people i have training on the ground and standing up they dont believe me, then when i roll or spar with people they think i have special powers. like i have a submission chip installed in my arm or something.

 

http://secure.fightfast.com/ShowView/ghetto_blocks_bb/?p=FT-75&r=FT-75_News_Banner

 

LOL^^ When I first started wrestling, my family kept asking if I was gonna be "jumpin off the top ropes like them fellas on TV." I'm From Missouri BTW....

For the longest time I thought that NO ONE could take me down when it came to wrestling, but then I met Rich Clementi who sets up his DLs with a straight right. He got so far in on me that I was looking at the back of his knees before i knew what happened. That was pretty much the end of my "special powers"