Any fighters here at NS?
At every internet forum there usually happens to be a number of people who have studied or are studying a martial art, to include fencing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, pugilistic boxing, karate, judo, or what have you. If you are one of those people, check in here at this thread and talk about what you've studied, why you studied it, and what your goals are/were. Please also give an opinion of your training and the facility at which you trained.
Example:
I've been training Muay Thai for about half a year, between 3 and 5 times a week. I knew it was a straightforward practice with few frills, centered in efficiency and power. I plan to begin an amateur career sometime next year. I've trained at two gyms thus far, both of them here in California. I've enjoyed both, but I switched from the first one because it was too far and was killing my gas tank.
Here is your disclaimer:
This is not an internet toughguy thread.
This is not a place to discuss why one martial art is better than the other.
This is not a place for people who "get into fights" to talk about how their drinking problem is the same thing as a hand to hand combat discipline.
If there are no other fighters here, let the NS forum gods smite this thread into oblivion, to be forgotten forever <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wow.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":0" border="0" alt="wow.gif" />
Example:
I've been training Muay Thai for about half a year, between 3 and 5 times a week. I knew it was a straightforward practice with few frills, centered in efficiency and power. I plan to begin an amateur career sometime next year. I've trained at two gyms thus far, both of them here in California. I've enjoyed both, but I switched from the first one because it was too far and was killing my gas tank.
Here is your disclaimer:
This is not an internet toughguy thread.
This is not a place to discuss why one martial art is better than the other.
This is not a place for people who "get into fights" to talk about how their drinking problem is the same thing as a hand to hand combat discipline.
If there are no other fighters here, let the NS forum gods smite this thread into oblivion, to be forgotten forever <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wow.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":0" border="0" alt="wow.gif" />
Comments
And, as a bonus, according to my nan (who was still alive at the time, bless her), unless you went back some 7 or 8 generations before me, you wouldn't find a specialised swordsman in the family. My cousin uses swords (well, wooden ones), as part of his Jui-Jitsu training, but I'm the only one specialised in swords.
I still batter the hell out of him in a duel... He might be handy with the rest of his body, but I'm by far the better swordsman <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
This is not a place to discuss why one martial art is better than the other.
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I'll tell you why martial arts isn't really good for most people.
Depending on their teachers/masters/etc, if they don't work the people hard and they don't give an effort to doing the exercises, punches, etc, not really useful.
I've seen many black belts, who don't really give it all when they punch, kick, do a form, etc.
Anyway, if you want to learn martial arts, a strict master/teacher is the best way to go.
I havnt been into any related arts but I've been interested for quite some time. However I fail to get what drives you on to work from bottom scraping to, well better. I had a singel class in fencing but havnt returned since, it just felt like time lost for something that isnt going to be fun after doing it 50 times.
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Quite a bit of fencing is to do with natural ability, and bloodymindedness.
If you've got the natural reactions of the town sl*t after a night on the tiles, then you're not going to be fantastic at fencing. Reactions can't really be taught easily. Finesse however, can be. Finesse and reactions make up a lot of fencing. Having a good tutor helps loads.
Oh, and I didn't start off with fencing. I did Jui-Jitsu for a while as well. Got to using weapons, and I wanted to advance that part more. Fencing was the only real options, as there's not really any other choice around here <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Basically, you've just got to be really interested to keep going at it. It's good for fitness and for speed too...
That I made people laugh until violently ill
I read the signs and portents, I saw that it was true
That I was the lolfighter, my discipline the lol-fu
A woman was walking down the street, she was a Tai-Kwando (spelled wrong i think) Black Belt, suddenly a man popped out of an alleyway and confronted her with a knife. He stabbed her several times and she was found dead, later the suspect was apprehended three days later.
Sure you could say she obviousley didn't practice her art enough, but I think she froze, the arts are for the most part a focusing kind of thing they CANNOT prepare you for real life. Did we learn martial arts while in basic training? Somewhat, but only to get the other guy off of us. Enough to were we can get our firearm back.
I think the best example of martial arts vs. modern day weapons is when in Indiana Jones The Last Crusade ( I think) , you see Indy running and a guy with two schimitars popps out of the crowd, he puts on a dazzling display of swordsmanship to apparently scare Dr. Jones. Indy smiles, pulls out his pistol and shoots the guy.
Those are some of the reasons I stopped, I was a blue belt. Fun stuff, but it isnt going to help you dodge bullets.
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
I have no problem with any of the arts, im just pointing out the stuff I learned. I don't mean to say that your art is useless, just in my experiance a handgun with some time at the range will make a much bigger difference than years of training.
Took about two years of Kenpo, then settled in at a studio teaching 'east/west' which was a fusion style of everything from karate, thai kickboxing, american boxing, kenpo, aikido, judo, jujitsu, kenjutsu, hanbo-do/jutsu (my favorite), and a number of other styles. The general rule of thumb was 'if it works, it's not stupid'.
As for the woman, it's not that she didn't practice enough. It's that she had never been placed into a situation where she actually had to use it to save her life. She panicked, didn't have any of the memory triggers (many associate their Gi with the martial arts mindset... why the studio I went to had 'plainclothes' days) and lost her life; potentially due to the training. Many black belts develop a 'bulletproof' mindset, and are more likely to walk into dangerous situations where an average individual would not, or at least would take additional precautions.
Thats it.
I practiced Aikido for four years. Then something happened on the news....
A woman was walking down the street, she was a Tai-Kwando (spelled wrong i think) Black Belt, suddenly a man popped out of an alleyway and confronted her with a knife. He stabbed her several times and she was found dead, later the suspect was apprehended three days later.
Sure you could say she obviousley didn't practice her art enough, but I think she froze, the arts are for the most part a focusing kind of thing they CANNOT prepare you for real life. Did we learn martial arts while in basic training? Somewhat, but only to get the other guy off of us. Enough to were we can get our firearm back.
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Well, if the guy with the knife sneaked up behind her and stabbed her in the head or back, then it doesn't really matter what martial arts(<i>Martial arts in this case refer to any type of fighting arts, including kick boxing, etc</i>) you practice.
years of krav maga perhaps. i'm not an expert on that subject, but i know it does involve a lot of real world self defense stuff. pity most of the american KM gyms are mcdojos.
lol zig - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nfr4-J3fio" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nfr4-J3fio</a>
Sticking to the thread rules here, I'm not trying to come off as a bad-######, (###### IS FILTERED TOO?) but yea boxing has come in handy outside of the ring. There's the occasional "LOL I R DRUNK AND YOU LOOKED AT ME FUNNAY" idiots. A drunk man's punch is easily evaded if you keep your cool, and getting punched in the face repeatedly all week prepares you for that. Then there's of course the serious fights where the other guy isn't drunk, or is serious about kicking your ######. In this case the only thing boxing can do is help you punch real hard (durr) and take punches well. I don't know about other martial arts (personal opinion, it's ballet with kicking) but boxing really builds up your confidence when trained properly.
A woman was walking down the street, she was a Tai-Kwando (spelled wrong i think) Black Belt, suddenly a man popped out of an alleyway and confronted her with a knife. He stabbed her several times and she was found dead, later the suspect was apprehended three days later.
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The only training martial arts should do concerning knife attacks is this: "If you see a knife, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction."
She got stabbed because the guy was psychotic, or she tried to fight him, or she froze and he got jumpy. It happens, don't walk around in bad neighbourhoods at night and if a robber comes with a knife, either bail asap or comply. Money isn't worth it.
Any 'martial arts expert' teaching the public how to deal with knife attacks is posing a serious safety risk to the people they're imbuing with false confidence. Nobody wins in a knife fight, fellas.
I used to toy fight with the boys all the time when I was little and if someone confronted with a knife I'd very <b>very</b> likely be so infuriated that someone had the audacity to point a weapon at me I'd fly into a blind rage and try to kill them. I wouldn't be surprised if I die young ^^;
Martial arts though... I did Tai Kwon Do for about half a year or something and I've dabbled in karate and judo lightly with a few lessons in aikido (which I stopped after shuffling about on the floor ripped the skin between two of my toes which bled furiously and stung like 30 papercuts).
If I was going to learn sword styles I think I'd probably want to try out fencing as aikido has too much floor shuffling for my tastes :p
Admittedly I've not tried kendo or the other sword-using arts though.
Right now I'm a highly proficient wii-boxer :3
Is there a martial art that focusses on agility and dodging out of curiosity? I'm pretty light on my feet and I love being able to evade, so I'd kinda like to try out an art that really brings out my strengths... I can't really hit hard with my arms so stuff like boxing isn't my thing.
I don't do any particular style, I used to wrestle in highschool as well.
Love it.
I don't need martial arts to make me dangerously overconfident; I've been that way naturally most of my life when it comes to scrapping <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I used to toy fight with the boys all the time when I was little and if someone confronted with a knife I'd very <b>very</b> likely be so infuriated that someone had the audacity to point a weapon at me I'd fly into a blind rage and try to kill them. I wouldn't be surprised if I die young ^^;
Martial arts though... I did Tai Kwon Do for about half a year or something and I've dabbled in karate and judo lightly with a few lessons in aikido (which I stopped after shuffling about on the floor ripped the skin between two of my toes which bled furiously and stung like 30 papercuts).
If I was going to learn sword styles I think I'd probably want to try out fencing as aikido has too much floor shuffling for my tastes <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Admittedly I've not tried kendo or the other sword-using arts though.
Right now I'm a highly proficient wii-boxer :3
Is there a martial art that focusses on agility and dodging out of curiosity? I'm pretty light on my feet and I love being able to evade, so I'd kinda like to try out an art that really brings out my strengths... I can't really hit hard with my arms so stuff like boxing isn't my thing.
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<img src="http://webzoom.freewebs.com/ontheroadwithjudy/steven%20segals.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Approves.
I'd say all of them. The only ones I'd stay away from are the grappling ones, like Juijitsu and Judo. TaeKwonDo too, maybe. The WTH (I LOVE that abbreviation. F instead of H.) requires all black blets to do breaking (Which is a big thing with TKD...). Be it cement, faces or wood. It isn't hard though, requires almost no strength.
I love the stlye, very fast, straight forwards, and efficient; theres no kicking above waist height, and most of the techniques aim to just punch someone really hard (at least at my level, practically no locks or other complicated moves to go wrong on). It can be a little brutal (focusing on eyes, groin, throat etc), but if someone has a knife, and you cant escape them, going for someones eyes might save your life.
I also enjoy the excercise aspect, and the people I train with.
I didn't really like Tae kwon do I'm afraid. There's also practically no dodging, defensively it's mostly blocks and a lot of the kicks from it, while powerful, actually leave you fairly open so it's not my thing.
I hear ninjitsu has some focus on balance and agility but from my limited understanding, ninjitsu seems to cover lots of different things which kinda irks me; I just want to focus on the agility side of things instead of bothering with all the other guff. Then again I guess I'm not really interested in martial arts for actual fighting, more just for learning cool stuff, having fun and honing my dexterity :p
I've been tempted to look into parkour but I don't know if there's anywhere that really teaches that kind of stuff outside of france :/
speed and agility are not the same cshank <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I didn't really like Tae kwon do I'm afraid. There's also practically no dodging, defensively it's mostly blocks and a lot of the kicks from it, while powerful, actually leave you fairly open so it's not my thing.
I hear ninjitsu has some focus on balance and agility but from my limited understanding, ninjitsu seems to cover lots of different things which kinda irks me; I just want to focus on the agility side of things instead of bothering with all the other guff. Then again I guess I'm not really interested in martial arts for actual fighting, more just for learning cool stuff, having fun and honing my dexterity <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I've been tempted to look into parkour but I don't know if there's anywhere that really teaches that kind of stuff outside of france :/
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I know I'm biased, but try competitive boxing. Practically the first two months will be spent on defence, like dodging, blocking and "taking it". Unless your trainer is not one for serious exercise, where you punch the other with intent to hit, you won't learn anything. And from what I've seen of all these carpet martial arts, it's more about fitness and grace than about making it in the ring. No offence meant for anyone of course, this is just how I've come to see it.
I'm sure it's great for actual fighting but I'm a pacifist at heart (just one with a raging temper that causes me to seriously injure people if they physically threaten or hurt me ¬.¬ ). I just want to learn new tricks and train my maneuvering skills in some kind of official manner rather than learning to fight or attack.
Steps to be taken in the correct order...
1. Identify attacker. See if the attack is reasonably practicable in the current surroundings.
2. Identify any (possible) weaponry that the attacker could use against you.
3. Look at your attacker, go to give them your wallet/purse/whatever, then...
And here comes the vital step in self-defence...
4. Kick them in the boll*cks, and keep kicking them when they fall to the ground.
Then,
5. Run like f**k.
No matter how much martial arts training you've had, the above 5 steps will work for almost any attacker
<Ed>
Class Dismissed.
</Ed>
see "taking it" is where boxing falls down for me personally. I don't want to learn to be hit and my face is not made for being punched; I quite like it as it is <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I'm sure it's great for actual fighting but I'm a pacifist at heart (just one with a raging temper that causes me to seriously injure people if they physically threaten or hurt me ¬.¬ ). I just want to learn new tricks and train my maneuvering skills in some kind of official manner rather than learning to fight or attack.
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So don't get punched in the face. Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see and all that.
But in terms of boxing's suitability for actual combat, I have doubts as well. A boxer might focus on the opponent's hands too much. Boxing explicitly forbids attacks with other body parts than the hands, and forbids attacks below the belt. This is an artificial restriction that makes sense within the competition, but won't be respected by someone who just wants to take you down. My gut tells me that a boxer who goes into "boxing" mindset in a threatening situation will do quite well against an opponent trying to punch them, but might not see a kick to the groin (which I still believe is the best way to incapacitate someone, not that I've had the misfortune of having to put it to the test) coming before it's too late.
And I see Patch has the groinkicking covered. That just might work. For greater safety (but also greater financial loss), or in the case of multiple muggers, omit step four. Chances are they won't give chase once they get what they were after.