Any martial artists out there?

[drizzt]

My girlfriend\'s into Hung-Kar Kung Fu 3 years now. I\'m seriously thinking to start Hung-Kar next year or maybe karate as I\'ve heard there is a respected teacher near where I live. I really would prefer Hung Kar but they tell me the teacher here is not much into the \"theoretical\" or \"philosophical\" part. I also have access to train into Tae-Kwon-Do and Aikido but I\'ve been told that they are shallower than the first two.

Martial arts people have very graceful moves and I respect them a lot.

 

[MClimbin]

12 years of Aikido here, but haven\'t trained for the last couple years because of knee problems and toddler issues.

Grazzt, please don\'t call Aikido shallow (TKD either), even in relation to other arts. Profundity/shallowness is dependant on the character and focus of the teacher and the student. Any martial art (or even a sport) can be profound and life changing, as long as you have the right attitude and teacher.

 

[drizzt]

MClimbin: I didn\'t call Aikido shallow, I said that I\'ve been told so. I don\'t know Aikido in order to evaluate it or any other martial arts yet. Only saying what I\'ve heard, and the reason for my post was also to learn more on them

 

[Hieronymus]

I\'ve taken some Western Martial Arts seminars, German longsword, Italian Longsword and pollaxe. When I can afford it, I\'ll get more involved. Learning to use a four-foot sword is really allot of fun:twisted:

 

[DaN]

Used to do kung fu (I forget what style) when I was in first school for at least 3-4 years...

Started Tae Kwon Do a few years ago, although I wanted to do Kendo, but couldn\'t find anywhere in Dorset and went for a bout a year or 2 (Green stripe) but had to give up.

Currently doing kickboxing, but once I start making enough money, will probably also restart TKD at the same club, as the teacher runs both.

@ McClimbin- Could you tell ME a bit more about Aikido too?

 

[Rodnik]

On McClimbin\'s behalf----if he doesn\'t mind, of course.

I found this nice little FAQ.

http://www.aikidofaq.com/


Calling Aikido \"shallow\" would be akin to calling the King James Bible \" a bit of light reading\".

I guess I could concede that from a technical perspective, it seems a bit limited at first----so, I could understand if a brief practitioner referred to it this way.
I\'ve always felt the depth of Aikido comes in the philosophy behind and the applications of the techniques. The challenge is that these two things aren\'t evident in any martial art until someone reaches a \"legitimate\" Nidan/Sandan rank (not one of those 1500.00 \"guaranteed black belt\" things).
Where Aikido often surpasses other styles is in the actual mastery behind its Dan ranks---
About 95% of the Aikido schools *require* a time committment. That is, you must train x number of days for x number of years to achieve rank. Most Shodans are at least a five year committment---depending on how a person trains.

I\'ve found, too, that cross-training improves application in almost all martial arts, as none are comprehensive enough to be effective in all circumstances. For exampe---train a 1 meter style with a 3 meter style---or train a hard style with a soft style---or any other complimentary combination, of course.

Kev

 

[airhead]

noting really martial, but played in the SCA for several years with heavy weapons.

 

[MClimbin]

Originally posted by drizzt
MClimbin: I didn\'t call Aikido shallow, I said that I\'ve been told so. I don\'t know Aikido in order to evaluate it or any other martial arts yet. Only saying what I\'ve heard, and the reason for my post was also to learn more on them

Fair enough.

I\'d just like to reiterate that any advice or opinions from a person who calls another martial art \"shallow\" should be taken with a large dose of skepticism, at least in my experience.

Thanks Rodnik, that is an awesome faq and a good explanation.

 

[supervike]

I took a year or so of Judo. Its basically just wrestling but with fancier clothes and deadlier holds....

My daughter (10) however is kicking butt in Karate...I to her involved in it around November of last year...she has been promoted three times and has won first place on two different tournaments! Hi-Yah!

 

[Bastetcat]

Originally posted by airhead
noting really martial, but played in the SCA for several years with heavy weapons.

that would be the western martial arts I was referring to, although we are both getting more and more interested in more historical aspects. We especially like polaxe and longsword.

Airhead: what\'s your SCA name? This is Duchesse Judith, and my husband is Duc Gaston.

 

[Hieronymus]

Originally posted by airhead
noting really martial, but played in the SCA for several years with heavy weapons.

SCA combat counts as a martial art. I\'ve seen some very artful fighting at pas d\'armes at Pennsic. Watching Brian Price or Bob Charron fight in person is like watching any other artist do what they love.

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by Bastetcat
Airhead: what\'s your SCA name? This is Duchesse Judith, and my husband is Duc Gaston.

I was Ruud the Mongol. Many years and one elbow ago.

 

[Avicenna]

\'Shallow\' martial arts are more to do with that particular teacher or even branch rather than any particular martial art itself. That accusation usually originates from people who get mixed up in the politics of lineage and \'official\' representatives of (particularly Chinese) martial arts. I have been very lucky in my training in that I started off with a okinawan karate which had me along the right philosophical path from the very beginning, and before I moved down to Devon I was training a very traditional Gong (Kung) Fu which was internal but also both hard and soft at the same time. We had no sparring and no gradings, but I have never done anything like it in my life

As for mix and match martial arts, if you find the right one it\'ll come to the point where \'technique\' as such becomes irrelevant and you will have all the power you need within the basics. But it all relies on a good teacher - as they say, judge a teacher not by his technique, but by the quality of students he produces. If anyone lives near Wembley or Croydon in London, PM me for details of a VERY good Kung Fu class. :yes:

 

[Modderrhu]

Avicenna,

I\'ve heard that Okinawan Karate is very close to its ancestor - Shaolin White Crane, philosophically and in form. And I\'d guess that your hard/soft style is a type of White Crane. If so, how do they compare?

I study at YMAA SA, and if the quality of the instructors is comparable, I hope that http://www.ymaalondon.com/ is somewhere near enough. Dr. Yang is strongly traditional, and doesn\'t grade lightly.

 

[Rodnik]

The first time I had to defend myself went like this:

I was in a bar...it was dark with lights strobing on and off--so you can imagine how difficult it was to see anything.
I heard from behind me..
\"Hey, four eyes...get the hell outta my way!\" (it was pre-lasik for me).

I turned around and prepared myself for the worst...

I heard it again---\"I said, four eyes..move your ass\"...

I couldn\'t take it any more.....

I backfisted the guy across the bridge of his nose. I threw a ridgehand, for the combination, across his temple. I ended this devastating triple combo with a very powerful sidekick....
So powerful, in fact, that his wheelchair must have rolled 40 feet.

 

[Avicenna]

Actually, the Gong Fu I trained was a Southern Style (Hakkan) Praying Mantis kung fu... there were some similarities, especially with the use of torsion (twisting in the waist and punch in the karate), but in the mantis style we were taught very differently, and trained it in pretty much everything we did. It felt almost like these things had been lost/missing from the karate, which was odd.

Originally posted by Rodnik
So powerful, in fact, that his wheelchair must have rolled 40 feet.

ooops...

 

[dougaderly]

I always try to avoid getting into arguments about best martial arts. I see it like studying any other subject, like math for example. When you\'re learning 2+2, no one is going to sit down and explain string theory to you, they say \"Just figure that out so you can do your times tables!\" then you learn a little more. Finally, someone says \"Now that you know the basics, lets discuss what you can do with them\". String theory, statistics, physics. All these things depend on the basics. I think a lot of martial artists don\'t take the time to get past this point, and so all their comparisons are frivolous.

Two friends of mine in college were talking about what they were going to do when they graduated. They both decided they were each going to pick a martial art to learn (They both had started, and quit, multiple arts after only a couple months) and then once they mastered it, they were going to \"compare kata to decide which one was best\". Forget that each art, and each kata, is actually more of a lesson plan than an actual sequence for fights. But oh well. I\'ll just keep on going with my Kenjitsu and my jodo and quitely be amazed at the subtleties that I learn as I get better at each.

Hope I didn\'t bore you all

 

[Avicenna]

Originally posted by ModderrhuI study at YMAA SA, and if the quality of the instructors is comparable, I hope that http://www.ymaalondon.com/ is somewhere near enough. Dr. Yang is strongly traditional, and doesn\'t grade lightly.

Unfortunately, London is where i used to live, so unfortunately its a bit too far away... 200 miles

 

[Rodnik]

I always try to avoid getting into arguments about best martial arts.

I\'ve always felt that if someone takes the time to actually study one, they are worthy of my praise.
To be studied correctly, a martial art becomes a lifestyle, and that\'s quite a committment from anyone.

And with my best dubbed voice impression---
\"*My* master is more powerful than *your* master!\"
(now where\'s a ninja smiley when I actually need one)

Kev

 

[mistamick]

I\'d like to think of myself as a jackie chan person. but i fear it may not be true....:cussing: