Martial Arts?

[lost miracle]

Does anyone here, Take any form of martial arts?
I like to hear what others experiences are with them.

I take Taekwondo currently. I've been in for one year, and will be taking it for several. 5 before i start on XMA or any other form. I plan to take it most my life, considering i can't get a 5th degree black bel til' i am 40 years old -_- So i will have 30+ years before i earn that ^_^

 

[FoxDemonSoavi]

I have learned a lot of random combat techiniques from people over the years. The most important thing I learned is a martial artist tends to lose to a grappler. Learn to grapple as well as a martial art.

 

[m_artist200]

^_^ finally!!! something I KNOW i can talk about and not be off!!!

I practice taekwondo, karate, kendo, a little grappling, a few random weapons and some other random stuff my friends taught me. A way to pass time....TKD i've been practicing for about 10 years. Karate i've just started..and kendo only a few years.

I don't really have a belt rank....most of the time i leave a dojo/the program ends/i run out of cash for lessons. Whenever I do this, I just start over again from white when i go to a new school. Usually, the tkd teachings vary from place to place, and things tend to change so much from school to school i feel its just best to start over again. I don't really care about belt ranks. >.>

And ya, what soavifox said is true. Grapplers beat martial artist because if they grab you, you don't have room to punch and kick. :P learn judo or jujitsu. Or join the schools wrestling team. Fun stuff.

 

[lost miracle]

My instructor teaches us more of a self defense type, rahter than olympic style.
We can hit to the head, and stuff, no legs, and no face hits.
He teaches us SOME grappeling, and to get our kicks in and out in less than a second.(unless its a set up power shot)

I'm paid out for now, It cost like hell too <.<
What i want to learn next is either XMA, Brazilian jujitsu, or weeping style jujitsu (if its even still around).

Afterwards i don't really know. Maybe Karate, or akido.

As for TKD, They do appear to change ALOT from school to school. There is ranks 10,8,6,4, and 2 (i think thats right) premade as certain belts. 10 being white i think.
Then it is up to the instructor to decide the fillers (1,3,5,7 etc..)

In some schools they go white, 1 and 2, orange 1 and 2, and so on.
In mine, we go white, orange, yellow, CAMO(<.<), Green, blue, red1, red 2, brown1,2,3, black rec.,1,2,3, first dan blackbelt.

In that order.

 

[ryanwh]

American Taekwondo is pretty lame. You're basically "buying" your degrees, and the age limits were what made me quit. Its stupid that I'd of had to stay in there for 2 more years just because '2nd degree blackbelts must be 16' when I was ready for it after only 3 months.
It was fun, though. Just an expensive hobby, and not really useful for anything except showing off since sparring basically gives you a feathery restraint that makes it so even if you got in a real fight, you'd just be tapping them cus you were never taught how to follow through. The new boards they have are a joke too, catered to a generation of kids afraid to get hurt.(for those who dont know the boards they use arent wood most of the time but a hard plastic-rubber plaque with a lego-like detachment in the center or "breaking point") I remember almost breaking my hand on the old boards but man I could snap the new ones like nothing even after over a decade of haitis. Not a surprise though, cus like I said its mostly just a process of paying for belts and badges and a peice of black tap to go around the belt, and if you have the money you bascially will pass
90% of the time. Totally nerfed and lame.
Anyhow back in the day I was really REALLY adept at jump reverse sidekicks. One time I jumped over 4 people and broke 3 red boards doing it. I was only 12 too, fun stuff. Id kill myself trying to emulate that now, or at least hurt the 3rd and 4th person grouching down.

 

[Dopples]

I took Taekwondo til about Red Belt. Then I learned that Ninjitsu was a real class. I'm taking that in a few monthes. I've also been taking swordsmanship for a little. Mainly with katana's, and I've worked a tiny bit with throwing stars. It's pretty fun actually.

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

Let's see...

I've practiced traditional fencing (primarily the epee and sabre styles) since I was eight. I started practicing savate at around the same time because my instructor taught both.

I practiced tae kwon do for about two years starting at the age of ten, but grew bored with it rather quickly.

I started practicing kendo when I was thirteen and have practiced it daily ever since. The same teacher taught me combat hapkido (which forms the basis of my personal style in equal parts with savate).

I picked up some muay thai and judo from my years of friendly sparring with my best friend, who practices both.

I took one year of aikido during my freshmen year of college. It was fun, but the defensive focus was not to my liking. I've done my best to incorporate its strengths into my personal style.

I took another two months of tae kwon do about a year and a half ago, but quit after discovering that I could consistently beat the instructor in sparring matches. It sounds arrogant, but I actually like the guy and the presense of a "white" belt who could beat the instructor kind of undermined his ability to effectively teach the other students... particularly the younger ones.

 

[lost miracle]

American Taekwondo is pretty lame. You're basically "buying" your degrees, and the age limits were what made me quit. Its stupid that I'd of had to stay in there for 2 more years just because '2nd degree blackbelts must be 16' when I was ready for it after only 3 months.
It was fun, though. Just an expensive hobby, and not really useful for anything except showing off since sparring basically gives you a feathery restraint that makes it so even if you got in a real fight, you'd just be tapping them cus you were never taught how to follow through. The new boards they have are a joke too, catered to a generation of kids afraid to get hurt.(for those who dont know the boards they use arent wood most of the time but a hard plastic-rubber plaque with a lego-like detachment in the center or "breaking point") I remember almost breaking my hand on the old boards but man I could snap the new ones like nothing even after over a decade of haitis. Not a surprise though, cus like I said its mostly just a process of paying for belts and badges and a peice of black tap to go around the belt, and if you have the money you bascially will pass
90% of the time. Totally nerfed and lame.
Anyhow back in the day I was really REALLY adept at jump reverse sidekicks. One time I jumped over 4 people and broke 3 red boards doing it. I was only 12 too, fun stuff. Id kill myself trying to emulate that now, or at least hurt the 3rd and 4th person grouching down.

I agree about American TKD. My instructor is sorta' like that, jsut passes you through.
Though i do my best to earn it rather than just skip through it.
Red boards? Hmm...we don't have those where i train...or where i buy from O_o

@blackstaticwolf: Aikido, mind telling me a bit about it?
As for sparring, you beat their instructor? :P Hate to be him ^_^
I'm told i'm a perfectionest, and thats why i prefer forms over sparring. so i generally don't do well in sparring (defensively(sp?))

 

[m_artist200]

American Taekwondo is pretty lame. You're basically "buying" your degrees, and the age limits were what made me quit. Its stupid that I'd of had to stay in there for 2 more years just because '2nd degree blackbelts must be 16' when I was ready for it after only 3 months.
It was fun, though. Just an expensive hobby, and not really useful for anything except showing off since sparring basically gives you a feathery restraint that makes it so even if you got in a real fight, you'd just be tapping them cus you were never taught how to follow through. The new boards they have are a joke too, catered to a generation of kids afraid to get hurt.(for those who dont know the boards they use arent wood most of the time but a hard plastic-rubber plaque with a lego-like detachment in the center or "breaking point") I remember almost breaking my hand on the old boards but man I could snap the new ones like nothing even after over a decade of haitis. Not a surprise though, cus like I said its mostly just a process of paying for belts and badges and a peice of black tap to go around the belt, and if you have the money you bascially will pass
90% of the time. Totally nerfed and lame.

:P ya, those dojos suck. Pretty much "you get a black belt in a year if you pay $100 a month!!". >_< I hate those places. On place I went to had the saying "We train to fight in the real world" but at the same time we never sparred, or practiced grapples because "someone might get hurt". >_>
Fighting? In the real world? With TKD? Ya...right.....Gun>TKD in real life.

And....I *think* TKD was created in the 1950's for sporting purposes. Not really for fighting....(could be wrong). The better styles would be akido or jujitsu if your serious about self defense.

@BlackStaticWolf- :P ya, i had a similar experience at one dojo. White belt winning against red and blue belts in sparring matches. I wasn't to impressed with the place.....
@DopplegangerSora- Beware of ninjitsu dojos. 99.999% of the ones i've seen or researched were fake dojos set up to make easy money.

 

[The Cry of Fallen Angels]

'bout 10 years ago I took Judo classes. Never do ne anything similiar after that.

Martial arts are overrated, as M_artist mentioned, grab them and they're powerless.
Point being that you can learn 17 ways to kick someone's head off, if your opponent can grab your feet, your large arsenal becomes quite a bit smaller. Don't rely on flashy moves, quick simple movements are all you really need if someone's bothering you. Though guns tend to work too. But Europe ain't America, as it's illegal. Fireweapons are still easy to get though if you have the right connections.

 

[Despain v.1]

i don't need karates b/c im packin' heat nig

 

[lost miracle]

I take them as a form of hobby. As for defense agaisnt a gun, i wouldn'y try to fight it at all unless i was less than a foot away, and HAD to.

As self defense, we are taught to NOT do flashy moves, like the flying, twisting, 520, kicks people do on TV. Back leg round kick, lead leg side kick to the leg. Inner and outter.
For defense we mostly work on "if this" scenarios rather than the real deal sorta' examples.

Also, A long time ago my dad told me Aikido was a form that worked self defense againt msot other martail arts. Is that right?

 

[m_artist200]

Also, A long time ago my dad told me Aikido was a form that worked self defense againt msot other martail arts. Is that right?

I'm not sure I understand the question....

 

[ryanwh]

I thought it was Kung Fu. Not TV Kung Fu, real Kung Fu. Basically flailing your arms about at the opponent. It actually works pretty well. Anyhow I only wanted to do it because I thought it looked cool, even then I was perfectly aware there wasnt a single situation a jump roundhouse kick could be used for because nobody's that tall. It just looks cool, that's why yah learn it. And also so maybe you can be an extra in a wirefu flick someday.

 

[djzalzer]

I do karate, and I'm a Orange Belt (The fourth rank?)
I find it really fun, a way to let off steam, and just an enjoyable sport.

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

The most important thing I learned is a martial artist tends to lose to a grappler. Learn to grapple as well as a martial art.

Actually, the different types of grappling are all martial arts. When people hear martial art, they always think of things like karate and kung fu (which don't use much grappling), but they tend to forget that the grappling arts such as greco-roman wrestling and Brazilian jujitsu are also martial arts. So are boxing and savate (French kickboxing... been around for close to 200 years, but isn't very famous).

@blackstaticwolf: Aikido, mind telling me a bit about it?
As for sparring, you beat their instructor? Hate to be him

Aikido was founded about 100 years ago. It focuses primarily on defensive redirection of the enemy's force. It involves a lot of quite powerful throws and several very effective joint locks. It's one of the few effective defensive martial arts. Most effective martial arts are primarily offensive. I did incorporate several of its elements into my amalgamation style.

As for the sparring matches... the fact that I could beat the instructor wasn't a big surprise as I'd already had close to 14 years of training in effective (not point-sparring) martial arts. That was about the same amount actual experience as the instructor, but I was trained to be effective and not to do flashy moves or moves that waste energy. A martial artist that's trained to be effective will beat one that's trained to point spar virtually every time.

And....I *think* TKD was created in the 1950's for sporting purposes. Not really for fighting....(could be wrong).

Actually, tae kwon do has been around for a couple hundred years. The majority of tae kwon do styles taught today are intended for point sparring, not to be truly effective in a real fight.

@BlackStaticWolf- ya, i had a similar experience at one dojo. White belt winning against red and blue belts in sparring matches. I wasn't to impressed with the place.....

It wasn't about being impressed with the place. I just took lessons because I hadn't practiced or seen that particular style of tae kwon do. I wanted to see what aspects were superior to my personal amalgamation style and incorporate them. I'm quite sure that if I'd limited myself to using only tae kwon do, I could not have beaten him as I was (and still am) a novice at that particular style.

Martial arts are overrated, as M_artist mentioned, grab them and they're powerless.

This, of course, assumes that they're trained only to point spar, and not be effective. Effective martial arts all include grappling. In fact, if the martial artist's style focuses on joint manipulation... you're better off not grappling them and forcing them to rely on strikes.

Don't rely on flashy moves, quick simple movements are all you really need if someone's bothering you.

That's the key difference between sport martial arts and effective fighting techniques. Sport martial arts are flashy and for the most part... useless. Effective martial arts are intended to put the opponent down for the count. Sometimes permanently.

Though guns tend to work too. But Europe ain't America, as it's illegal.

Actually, in the US there are numerous legal reasons why it's better to use unarmed combat rather than a firearm or knife, unless the opponent also has a lethal weapon. But that's rather off topic (yay, I can actually stop myself from going off on a tangent about law)

As self defense, we are taught to NOT do flashy moves, like the flying, twisting, 520, kicks people do on TV. Back leg round kick, lead leg side kick to the leg. Inner and outter.

Yeah. Flashy stuff doesn't work. Jump kicks are a waste of energy... they're so easy to dodge and counter that you're more likely to BE hit than hit the enemy. Kicks to the head and torso... big mistake. Unless the enemy is off-balance, they're very easy to read and either dodge or catch. If you're going to kick... kick to the knees. That'll do damage and it's highly unlikely to be caught. When attacking the torso... do knee strikes to the lower ribs... they break easily. Punches and elbows to the solar plexus, lower ribs, and collar bones are also quite effective. Elbows and punches to the throat are good (very risky though, because if you hit too hard you could easily kill the person). Elbows to the temples are good, as are punches to the bridge of the nose. As for grappling... well, I'm an extremely mean grappler, so I'm not going to go into my preferred grappling attacks.

 

[ryanwh]

Zidane-fu>Taekwondo
ahhahahahaha
*is booed out of thread*

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

Zidane-fu>Taekwondo
ahhahahahaha
*is booed out of thread*

Hehe... It took me a sec to get that.

 

[ddrfreak_bb]

WIN.

 

[Professor Yoshi]

There is only one type of body, 2 arms, 2 legs, etc that make up the human body. Therefore, there can only be one style of fighting. If the other guy had 4 arms and 2 legs, there might have to be a different one. Forget the belief that one style is better than the other, the point of someone that does not just believe in tradition, but actually wants to know how to fight is to take what you need from every martial art and incorporate it into your own. Make it effective and very powerful, but don't worry if you are taking moves from many different arts, that is a good thing.

Professor Yoshi strolls away.