Martial Arts Discussion!!!!!!

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.

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Originally Posted by LeHah

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by David4516

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.

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.

Originally Posted by David4516

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 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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.