Martial Arts Discussion!!!!!!
 

Any martial arts other practitioners here? I'm a Judo/Jiu Jitsu guy. Been do'in it for 7 years now currently at my Ikkyu rank and going for my blackbelt during the summer. I've also just recently started MMA training. I've been practicing Karate and other striking forms to complement my grappling skills it kicks ass.

I did Capoeira for about close to three years and got to my second belt...was on the verge of getting the third belt but damaged my rotator cuff...I've been doing Kung Fu up here at school now for about a year...martial arts rock, I really want to get back into Capoeira again.

I did Tae Kwon Do for about 2 years, but stopped once I moved. I'm considering joining it again, from what I remember it was a lot of fun.

Ohh damn. That sucks how serious was the injury. Capoeira is pretty awesome. I've wanted to give it a try for a long time but I can't find a school in my area.

I've been training Ju-Jutsu actively for well over 7 years now. I've also trained some Muay Thai and Brazilian Ju-Jutsu.

Question to Man_of_Pie: I fail to see how you're going to improve your grappling skills by training karate. As far as I know, there is no coverage of any grappling techniques in karate.

not sure if you'd consider it a 'martial art' but i do iaido and kendo, still pretty new to it though (only start last year in november) can't wait till i'm good enough to handle a real katana ^^

I didn't say I'd improve my grappling skills by learning karate I said that training in a form that involves striking would COMPLEMENT my grappling skills. Because then I'm be able to use striking for long distances (well not really long distance but I think you get what I'm saying.) and grappling for getting in close.

I have been... "on break" from martial arts training for several years now. I'd really like the get back into it but I don't know if I'll ever reach the same level as I was at before. I've lost a lot of my flexibility and muscle.
I was sick for a while and I take a lot of pain killers and stuff and my weight is way down and continues to plumet.
Before I did Tiger and Crane style Kung fu for many years and wooped many an ass. ::sigh::

It wasn't a tear, though by the time of surgery it was almost a tear. I couldn't get operated on for about 9 months because I had auditions for music schools the year that injury hapenned to me. I got operated on four days after my last audition and by that time I couldnt lift my right arm enough to put my own tshirts on and needed help with that...they said had I waited another month my rotator cuff muscle would have just torn itself...thank god I was able to play piano 2 days post surgery! haha.

My bad, I totally misunderstood what you wrote. Haven't had much sleep lately, sorry. I understand what you mean though.

It's all good.

I'm a Chen style Tai Chi practioner. I've been learning Tai Chi for about 2 years now. Still need to learn to relax!

Are you in Bogu yet? I'm 4th Kyu.

I have been doing Kendo for about a year. Its pretty fun stuff.

I practiced Kendo over the summer and I'm eager to get back to that and try other martial arts (Judo mostly) as well.

not yet, probably be a few more months before i am, i haven't even bothered to get a hakama yet XD but my dojo isn't that fussed since we're pretty small

I practised Judo 5 years but I´m to small and I always lost...

Taken several years on and off of Tae Kwon Do (haven't been to a class in nearly five years though), been considering beginning Kendo recently...

- WraithTwo -

I've tried various forms of Martial Arts, but for various reasons I've never been able to stick with it for very long. It's something I want to try properly at some point in my life though.

Started Tai Kwon Do when I was about..7. I quit after getting my 2nd Dan, which was..uh, 14, or so.

I must admit, I am a fan. I have taken 2 years of Aikido and made it to fifth kyu.

The last time I took Taekwondo was in grade 7. About 9 years ago.

But now, I want to learn Eskrima.

I never officially practiced any form of martial arts, but the film Oldboy taught me you know it as well as you think you do as long as you watch enough television that contains martial arts fights.

That said, if I even find myself in a very long and nearly 2-dimensional corridor with angry dudes weilding wooden boards and knives, all I have to do is duck under punches and hit them with a hammer.

Possibly kick all the guys from the elevator too with a knife on your back.

I used to practise a form of martial arts called Zhuan Shu Kuan, which is a modified Northern Style of Chinese boxing. As many people know, Northern Styles feature heavily on kicks, but because of the modernisation of the style, it also contains many punches, mainly taken from boxing.

Practised Taekwondo for about a year and a half, figured out that it really wasn't for me (although I earned first dan), and went on to practice Pigua/Baji style Kung Fu. Loved it ever since, and have been practising for about three years now.

Im a black belt in taekwondo, and took private lessons from a guy who won the world title in martial arts twice (Dan Lovas), and he taught me eskrima, grappling, tumbling, knife fighting

I study Nintai do Matsamura Shorin Ryu Karate. Going for my sankyu (advance brown) in a couple of months, and it's been about 2.5 years since I started. I studied songahm tae kwon do before, but the instruction was pretty substandard so I don't really claim that much.

I took karate - or what passes for it - at the YMCA for about 5 years. I started when I was 8? 9? I got to be a seven gyp Blue Belt before I quit. I never really stopped practicing per se but I never went back to classes.

As of last November, I'm slowly starting to learn some Krav Maga. Okay, yeah, it's from a book which is the wrong way to do things but it's pretty damned simple (knee people in the groin, gouge eyes with your thumb, kick their knees in) and easy to pick up if you have a fair understanding of body positions. I'm afraid to take classes because they literally beat the piss out of you; not like body blows and flags and points, but like you have one guy in a defensive curl and the other guy is stomping on your hands and back.

I practiced Kendo for a year when I was in the seventh grade.
My grandfather had some kind of high rank(?) in Kendo, and he was obsessed with the idea of training me as a good Kendo fighter.
I really didn't like the idea; wearing those smelly armors was disgusting, and I just didn't like fighting. But I did it anyway to convince my grandfather, and I quit it after a year of simple practices; swinging the sword up and down and tripping into the world of zen or something like that.

After all of those training, I learned that I really suck with Kendo, and my granpa seemed to understand that clearly, which rapidly burned out his motivation of training me.
I really don't see the point for training martial arts, and I learned that screaming out loud or throwing nearby objects works just fine to get myself out from some dangers.

This question is going to look dumb in a martial arts thread, but for the people who practice martial arts, why do you practice martial arts?
I'm just curious, nothing else.

Well to answer your question I just do it for the love of the game. Same reason as anyone who plays basketball, baseball, soccer w/e. Also because I wanna fight in like Pride FC one day. Even though it'll probably never happen.

I do it because it is healthy to remain active, and it also helps me put my life into perspective. I do agree with you about not wanting to wear smelly armor though :).

I have been taking Tae Kwon Do for a little more than 6 years. My instructor is Master Je Kyoung Kim, undefeated 8 time World Champion and 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist.

I am really lucky that he moved in our area because not only is he a godly martial artist, he is an amazing teacher as well having been a former Olympic Team coach.

Anyways, I hope to get my 2nd dan Black Belt very soon and have participated in quite a number of tournaments. Glad to see so many fellow martial artists here :D

I am taking up Taekwondo and have been practicing it for the past three months now, and at the moment I am working on getting my yellow belt. And to answer Kiseki's question, I started martial arts to get back into shape, and learn some different perspectives as far as life in general is concerned. That, and learning how to improve my views of life.

I took it for really two reasons:

Mentally: It helped my patience, my focus, my self discipline, my self control, my respect, and it helped me to relax. Martial arts isn't just fancy and flashy punches and kicks, it is a very mental activity as well.

Physically: Martial Arts helped my flexiblity as well as helping me get in shape. I took Tae Kwon Do because I wanted a way to defend myself if I were to get in a position (slim but possible) where I would need to be able to fight back.

I've done judo in the past along with the basic hand to hand combat training the Army provides. I think I have to qualify as a brown belt in something for my CREST training, but that won't be for at least another 8 months.

Before high school, I had done Hapmudo for about 3 years and stopped when I got my black belt. Later in college, during my brief stint on a gymnastics exhibition squad, I did "trickin" in which a group of us just did ridiculous shit. Fun times. That lasted for less than a semester. Haven't done anything since.

I'm practicing Choy Lee Fut style Kung fu since 2-3 month!
Like it so far!

Man_of_Pie ~ Jeff135
I know that you will lose your title if you use your skills on the street (if somebody tells the "Sensei" that you used it), but have you ever used your martial art skills in a daily fightings or something like that?
I'm not talking about those official matches, I'm talking about the fight that you might have between your friends or somebody from the streets.

I've seen some fights, but all they did was smack and grab each other like little kids do. I know that those people did not had an experience with martial arts, so I just wondered whether you all do something nice/clean/cool when you have a fight.
Again, just curious.

I've been doing Tae Kwon Do for about a month now. I've already earned my white belt.

For many years I've practiced mostly Judo and Hapkido styles. But the last 4 years I havent really done much. That's what I get for wanting to settle down for once.


Great styles if you want to keep things grounded. I can throw someone to the ground much faster and it keeps me balanced which is great.

Well, we would lose our title if we used it irresponsibly (ie. to bully or to attack etc) but in a self defense situation then it is ok to use it. And in fact yes there has been a time when I was required to use Tae Kwon Do for self defense. It was a year ago so my memory is kind of hazy, but here is about what happened:

This big bully guy was hitting on my friend so I told him to **** off (at the time I was kind of upset). Well, the day after one of his friends told me that he wanted to fight me. At the time I thought nothing of it and thought of it as an empty threat. Then one day I had to stay after to finish a project for my art class. When I walked to the parking lot to drive home sure enough he and his goons were there, waiting.

So the guy who was hitting on my friend told me to go over there and fight him. I refused, and proceeded to my car. Suddenly, I heard him charging at me. Without hesitation I jumping back kicked him sending him backwards and stunned. When he got out of his daze he tried to punch me, but I spinning hook kicked him in the face knocking him to his knees. Then to prevent further attackes (he didn't look like he was quite ready to give up) I round house kicked him twice in the gut. After this he was bleeding and moaning.

After this I helped him up and helped to get him medical attention. In reality it is NO fun to hurt somebody this bad, even if you had to. I felt really bad about this even thought it was his fault.

I do boxing.

/me awaits all the shitty comments on how boxing isnt a martial art.

Boxing and muay thai is the toughest sport on the planet, the training that I have to go through before fight is torture. But the feeling you get when you knock the other guy flat-out is like a orgasm, you just want more and more!

I've never actually been involved in a street fight. (Even though I think it would be an exhilerating experience I try to avoid that type of thing.) I have however done a few friendly matches against other martial artists that go to my school. We usually just have friendly matches in a park or in someone's garage or something. It's some good practice to fight against people who use different styles. The only downside is that none of us have a medical degree. :p

Sure, my adrenelaine was up, but in the end you really feel like s***.

Actually, I like the idea of boxing for its practical value. I practice Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, but unfortunately, there's not much real sparring. Don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetic aspects of it, practicing the forms and such, but I want to find a school that will really teach me how to defend myself.

I've been doing muay thai and jiu jitsu for a over 5 years now. Since fighting on the amateur MMA/NHB circuit for a couple of years I've been learning more about wrestling. I do boxing once in awhile, but my primary focus is on muay thai.

I have about 3 Years of Shaolin Kung Fu and about a year of TaeKwonDo...had to stop because of alot of school events -- Band and Sports so that kinda sucked.

Once I get my College Schedule and job schedule all finalized I'll probably jump into MMA.

I came out to Japan for a year last September and took up Aikido in December at my local dojo (it's actually in a police station). Nothing beats training with 4 year old children, and in Japanese! The sensei don't seem to know where to put me and I train some weeks with the beginners, and sometimes with the black belts.

I was hoping to take my first belt in the summer, but I think that I'll have to return to the UK before the next shinsa. I really hope that I continue practicing when I get back.

I have a quick question for all of you. I have considered taking martial arts lessons for....well..... whatever reasons, mainly I just feel big by knowing it, and just in case I get in a fight.

But anyways, what type of martial arts should I take? Karate, judo, dojo...?

It depends on what you want to do as far as commitment and stuff. Karate I think is the easiest since it is mostly striking to where Judo is more of a grappling style.

I think I'll be quite committed to it, but the main problem I might have to simply what section to get into.

I'd personally recommend Shaolin and Baji style Kung Fu, but that's just because I'm in love with Kung Fu in general. It's hard to find good practitioners in some areas though, as Taekwondo is by far the most popular. If you're into more of an upper body style workout, go for Shotokan.

Well, my main for strength is upper body, but hey. I think the best thing to do would be to actually talk to an instructor and to show me just what type of fighting techniques I can learn. Thanks for the help, appreciate it.

Hahahahaha... learning martial arts from a book. I love the idiocy of that. You don't like taking martial arts classes because it's too close to being like at home with your abusive parents? How hilarious. Poor little fucker.

Although that sounds a bit... rough... that's the thing about taking martial arts. You're going to get punched in the face. And kicked in the balls. A lot. Especially with a grappling style like that, it's going to be a necessity to get beaten up, otherwise in a real fight you're in for quite the shock when your nose gets broken (like mine :), luckily this was a tournament fight) The more brutal the style, the more blood you're going to lose learning it. I'd suggest Tae Kwon Do if you don't want to get hurt too badly while training, though TKD is more of a sport than a fighting art if you ask me.

What does you guys'es tournament records look like? Here's results from pretty much every tournament I've ever fought in. A few are missing from the list.
2001 Cherry Blossom Open: 3rd Place
2001 Rattler Roundup: 3rd Place
2001 State Championchip: 5th Place
Kevin Book Invitational: 1st Place (Middleweight Division) 2nd Place (Kata) 2nd Place (Private Division)
2002 Rattler Roundup: 3rd Place
2002 Cherry Blossom Open: 1st Place
2002 State Championchip: 1st Place
2003 Rattler Roundup: 2nd Place
2003 Cherry Blossom Open: 1st Place
2003 State Championchip: 1st Place
2003 National Championchip: Last Place =(
2003 Sunshine State Games: 3rd Place
2003 Gainesville Tournament: 4th Place
2004 Rattler Roundup: 2nd Place
2004 CHerry Blossom Open: 2nd Place, 3rd Place (Kata)
2004 Disney Martial Arts Fesitval: 2nd Place
2005 State Championchip: 1st Place
2005 Disney Martial Arts Festival: 2nd Place
2006 Cherry Blossom Open: 2nd Place

And that's all so far. I look forward to actually getting good results in the national championchip this year.

I've been practicing the Chung Do Kwan style of Tae Kwon Do on and off since 2000. I had to take a break from it for about a year due to an operation I had. It was really difficult, comming back to TKD after having not trained for so long. It was like being a white belt all over again...

The class I'm in meets at the local community college 2 nights a week. I'm currently a purple belt, working toward brown.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...6/IMG_0028.jpg

That depends on the stlye. The older, more traditional TKD stlyes are more of a martial art (and very similar to Karate), where the newer "modern" TKD schools teach it as more of a sport.

There are basicly 2 types of arts, grappling arts (things like Aikido and Judo) and striking arts (things like Karate, TKD, and Boxing). I'd go with whatever you think you'd be better at...

I tend to think of it as more of a sport than a martial art, but I still have alot of respect for Boxing. I'd hate to have to fight a good boxer...

Actually, I've considered taking up boxing, but I have no idea where to go to learn...

Different people tend to have different reasons. I've seen alot of people join our class whos only reason for being there is that they "want to kick ass". Those kind of students normally drop out after they realize that A: learning a martial art is hard, and B: that it's not really about "kicking ass" anyway.

I personally have a number of reasons, but the main one is that I don't want to kill anybody if I don't have to. I have a CHL (concealed handgun license) and carry a pistol with me pretty much everywhere I go. I realized that, while it's a great self-defense tool, a pistol only gives you one option: kill. There are situations where you might need to protect yourself, but shooting someone isn't the way to go about it. I decided that, should I find myself in such a situation, I'd better have something I can use, aside from the gun. When all you have is a hammer, all of your problems will begin to look like nails.

So I started taking classes at my college. It's a good, cheap, practical way to learn. Over time I realized there were alot of benifits to practicing a martial art, I'd list them all but other posters have pretty well covered them.

About the other question, no, I've never used what I've learned in a "real" fight, and I hope to keep it that way...

Also, whats up with people getting black belts in a year? Can you really pick up a martial art that fast, or will they just hand out a belt to anybody these days?

I'm sceptical to the validity of this statement. You can't say that unless you've tried just about every single martial art/sport out there and prepared for a competition.

One of these days I'd like to try Kyudo.

The guy I had was very "progressive," meaning no tradition or anything else, but basic application and sparring. Not fighting, sparring. And it was Songahm Tae Kwon Do, though I'm sure it was just that teacher and not the style, as I had a friend who studied the same style under someone else and he had a well developed sense of practical application.

I don't know about that either. I mean, it takes two years just get brown belt at the dojo I study in now, and then you spend a whole 'nother year as a brown belt (there's three levels) until you can make black.

I've been taking Tae Kwon Do for about three months now. I'm about to get my second belt.

Well . . . I was in Tae Kwon Do for 10 years or so . . . only got to first dan since it was way too expensive to advance to second dan. It's been a while though . . .

As to why I took it up . . . At first it was self defense for school . . . Used to get bullied a lot. But now after doing all the patterns for 10 years, I love martial arts because I find a thrill in the fight . . . An exciting challenge of going up against your opponent and pitting your skills against theirs . . . Whenever I try to explain that though, I look like a bloodthirsty savage . . .

And that thing about a year to get your black belt . . . I find that kinda weird. I was in a national tournament once as a 1st dan and I went up against an american 8 year old 2nd dan. I was 10 at the time . . . took me 4 years to get my 1st dan.

And a question for everyone here . . . Is fencing considered a martial art?

Yes, absolutely. It's a european martial art.

I really wish they had fencing lesson where I am. I've always had a great deal of interest in that sport.

Well, if you can find a local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, you can learn there. It won't be olympic-style, but if it's like the group I'm in, it should be cheap and include all weapon styles.

You could try a local university . . . that's where I took my fencing lessons . . .

I practiced Kung-Fu for about 4 years when I was a kid, and then came back for another 5-6 when I was in my teens. I'm 22 now, been out of practice since I was 18 and left for college. Made 2nd kyu brown belt, and was moderately leet. I really don't think I was as good as I could/should have been, but I'm a lot more confident walking around Chicago (IIT is in the middle of a rough neighbourhood), since I can hold my own in a fight and know a few magic striking points.

I want to get back into martial arts, probably with jiu jitsu. Additionally, I'm still entertaining notions of joining the Illinois Fencers' Assoc. and learning to fight with a foil. Katanas were never really my thing, plus I'd like to learn a Western martial art that's a little more refined than the classic Irish bar brawl technique which, while in my blood, doesn't necessarily look as pretty as fencing.

Anyone into MMA fighting? I just recently started fighting in amateur MMA competitions. I'm more proficient at grappling since I've been doing it longer. I've been using Judo/Jiujitsu and Muay Thai techniques the combo seems to work out quite well for me.

Hmmmm . . . It'd be really cool if we could have a GFF Martial Arts Tournament . . . yes yes i know. It's pretty much impossible but it would be cool nonetheless.

I did kendo.... I achieved my black belt status... I loved it quite well... but I took the bamboo stright to the knee & it damaged my Patella... its kind of ok now I guess but every so often it will slip out of place... it hurts sometimes too, they classify it as a Maltracking Patlla.. its a bitch & its annoying for other sports.. but when I did do the Kendo I though it was awesome, I loved the long Nanchaku's They were my fav off all!

I'm the biggest MMA fan here. Do you train with any of the famous teams? What weight class do you fight at?

I was a paltry Yellow Belt 6th Mon in Judo years back, until I got fed up of us just doing the same practice every lesson (that we'd pretty much mastered) and never actually moving onto anything new.

If and when I can find a school, I want to take some sort of weapons and non-weapons based martial art. Kinda like Wushu or something. Except Wushu looks hellishly hard. ._>

I would agree that boxing and muay thai are among the top in terms of training for toughness. You make it seem by the statement that if you somehow merged the two, you'd create the toughest sport. I don't think thats too far fetched... But if you compare it to something like TKD point sparring, its gonna win by a landslide. But its also true that you don't know, since you'd have to experiment with all martial arts before actually knowing.

Have muay thai training techniques changed? I hear it takes quite a toll on the body.. I've heard some say that you won't be able to walk because your bones are messed up. I wouldn't want to train in something so ephemeral. Why learn an art if you can only use it for a short period of time?

@ Jeff: Were there any legal repercussions because you did so much damage to the guy? I know for a fact that you can get into a ton of trouble if you kick a guy on the ground in a fight, if he has no weapon.

Well I mentioned before that I'd like to try Kyudo. I forgot to mention that I've already tried some sort of Karate, and Judo.

In the Karate, the belt coloring was a bit weird. You started off as a white, progressed to white with a red band, then on to red, then red with a black band, and I forget the rest. I reached Red in a year or two, and then lost interest. Hey, I was still in elementary school at the time.

The Judo was a phys. ed. course I took in college. I missed the last class, so I can't be 100% sure that I didn't get a yellow belt, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't.

I spent a few years when I was around 11 or 12 in a Tae Kwan Do school. It was pretty fun at first, but I later outgrew it. The school was more of a beginner's martial arts academy, and focused more on posture, keeping still, and constantly responding to your sensei, and less on the actual practice of martial arts.

Fast forward a few years, when I learn that a new accademy opened near where I lived. I decided to get back into the game (mostly due to my then-new love of DBZ and Jackie Chan) and joined this Kung Fu school. Unlike the baby steps in the other school, this one got to the point, having the students engage in some very harsh excercises, leaving me quite exhausted yet satisfied at the progress it would bring.

But then about 2 years ago I severly injured my back, keeping me away from the school for one year. Then an old injury with my foot crept back to me, and is still affecting me now. This has kept me out of the school for an additional year. Lately I think about what I missed, and I long to return, but I need to get this injured foot taken care of. I'm hoping once I see my physical therapist, I can practice Kung Fu again within this year. If nothing else, it was the best way to lose weight and get into shape.

Also, I just learned that my old instructor, the owner of the Tae Kwan Do school, had passed away today due to his struggle with cancer. I haven't seen him in years, but I feel very bad about this. He dedicated himself to teaching various martial arts to young kids, and it's very sad to see someone as inspirational as him leave this world. He was the same age that my father is now.

He also taught another martial art called Krav Maga (sp?), some Israelil form of self defense. My mom tried to get me to join, but I immediately rejected it, having never heard of it before. How many Israeli martial artists can you name? I would rather go back to the tried and true Kung Fu, instead of having to relearn a possibly obscure martial art instead.

Nah I'm not with any famous teams haha I wish. But I fight at the Men's Light Welterweight division. 147 lbs of pure muscle.

It's been quite a while since I took a martial art. I took Taekwondo when I was in grade 5 up to about 1st year high school, when I stopped (red belt).

Now I'm considering taking some Escrima, Pekiti-Tirsia to be exact.

Isn't Escrima basically whacking the shit outta people with 2 sticks?

I took Tae Kwon Do up to 1st Degree Black, 3rd Level. (10 level tests per degree i think). Anyway I was more greatful for the self-control I learned from Tae Kwon Do, I was a pretty messed up kid.

I was in ninjitsu for eight years, they don't have belts. I was fairly good at it too. I remember when they brought in people who studied other fighting forms and I did pretty good against a lot of them and then they put me up against a Kito master I think it was and he completely kicked my ass.

For all I know, it applies to every weapon out there. They just use two sticks as a standard.

I don't usually raise old topics but I love martial arts too much to pass this one by. I've wrestled for 3 years and did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for about a month. My specialty lies in takedowns. I've been told I got a fast shot so that helps me take the fight to the ground easy. I definitely don't have as much submission (or grappling for that matter) expertise as Man_of_Pie but I can control the stand up game pretty well.

I have some friends who come from different martial arts backgrounds (and yes I do consider boxing a martial art) and we occasionally go against eachother for the helluvit. From my experience traditional martial arts aren't prepared for the fight being taken to the ground at all but like they say it always depends on who the instructor is.