Martial Arts

[MDowdey]

Has anyone taken or is in the process of taking any martial arts? im interested in beginning a program, but just like buying things, there is way too much to look through. im not particularly interested in any type of wrestling, and i want something that is high impact. any suggestions from the peanut gallery out there?


thanks

your friendly moderator.

md

 

[terri]

No, but may I say the thought of you in one of those cool little white butt-kicking costumes, yelling, "Aiiiii.....YAH!" is totally hot.

That is all...carry on.....

 

[aggiezach]

I've been wanting to do the same thing for some time now... so I'd be interested in knowing about this as well!

Maybe after I'm outta school...


Zach

 

[Bokeh]

Has anyone taken or is in the process of taking any martial arts?

Hi MD,

Hope you don't mind this long reply, but that's a long question and I just want to possibly help.

I've been training for years and I absolutely love it and wouldn't trade the time I've put in for anything in the world. IF you train in the rihgt art and IF you go to a good school (bad schools are often referred to as "McDojo's") you get a combination of physical fitness, confidence, self defense, you meet new people, you improve your reflexes big time etc.

Honestly, my strong suggestion would be to sign up for the forum at mma.tv and ask for good places in your location; people do that all the time and get tons of great advice.

But I'll give you my thoughts, I'm no expert and I get beat all the time, but for what they're worth...

First, decide what you are interested in, or, put another way, decide how serious you are about training.. Are you just interested in a "cardio" workout or just to be able to say to your friends that you're taking martial arts? Are you interested in the "metaphysical" side of martial arts, whatever that means? If you're interested in any of that stuff, I can't help you at all, try the local YMCA or tae kwon do school, and you can stop reading now and ignore the rest of this message...

But if you're interested in self defense, I would suggest a school that teaches a combination of Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Most schools nowadays offer both, because both of those have been proven to be the most effective arts (and really, the only effective ones) out there through events like the UFC (www.ufc.tv) and Pride (www.pridefc.com).

Here is the main school I train at: http://www.carlosmachado.net
Here is another school I train it, every other Friday: http://www.saekson.com

I personally go to the best BJJ and best Muay Thai school in the DFW area, however, not everyone can afford to do that. Look for a school that offers both, from accredited instructrors.

Here is a good example of a school that that has a "combination" of muay thai and BJJ: http://www.ndbjj.com

I will warn you about this, it is not easy to find a "good, quality'" school. If you live in a small town or very small city, your chances of training at a good school are not good; but it is possible. This is why it would save you a lot of grief to sign up at mma.tv and post a message telling people what city you're in - if there's a good school there, trust me, you'll hear about it. And as a side note, that site gets about 40,000 hits a day and some fairly famous people are on there; I've talked to Joe Rogan several times on that forum! Didn't know if you knew but he's into martial arts also.

As a "general rule," if you check out a school and they're teaching you to fight guys who have guns, or they have you bow in and treat the instructor like he's some kind of GOD, and they tell you you should never use your art becase it's too "deadly" or you'll have to register your hands as weopons when you get your black belt (which is typically about a year), or that their art will teach you that you can kill Shaquill O'Neill in one blow (Sorry to break it to you, but if you trained for 10 years in any martial art someone like that would probably hurt you bad), then run! As fast as you can - you'v encountered a true McDojo.

Hope that helps, let me know if you need any other information, take care.

 

[Mitica100]

MD, Tracy is absolutely right! You have to find the right person instructing you, otherwise it's a waste of time and money on your part. Ask around before you commit. I was lucky to have studied and trained in Aiki-Do while away from home (in Aspen, CO) and with a wonderfully skilled Sensei, Black Belt 7th Rank. Upon returning home to AZ I looked for the best Aiki-Do Dojo, went there and was totally disappointed with the style of training. All they were interested in was how much money they can make off you and not much else.

It's a very good idea to investigate first, as to the quality of training of a particular Dojo. Perhaps there is a web site ranking Dojos in every state, I don't know...

Good luck.

Oh, BTW... I took some T'ai Chi as well, which I felt it helped a lot with gaining the proper physical and mental balance.

 

[Luminosity]

Like the others said , choosing a quality school and instructor is paramount.
Have ya looked into Taekwondo darl ?

I got my black belt in Taekwondo when I was 15 and , yes , it is a fantastic martial art.

Here if ya need to ask questions about it but heres a link anyways http://www.wtf.org/

 

[Bokeh]

Like the others said , choosing a quality school and instructor is paramount.
Have ya looked into Taekwondo darl ? http://www.wtf.org/

Luminosity, I absolutely love your avatar...

I try and be real respectful of all martial arts, but it's hard for me to be that way toward some because I've seen that many simply do not work. I took TKD (tae kwon do) as a 16 year old from an accredited school and, honestly, my humble opinion is that things like tkd, almost all karate, and akido will typically only serve to make a student overconfident and undercompetent. Even Bruce Lee said that arts that have "katas" like tkd and karate added very little value to reality self defense. And thanks to events like the UFC and Pride, It's been proven that fancy high kicks only get people hurt, esp. on concrete.

I hate to break thisto people I talk to about martial arts, but despite much of the hype and Karte Kid type "myth" surrounding martial arts, esp. like karate, tkd etc., unfortunately SIZE MATTERS. It's dangerous to me to see karate and other arts try and convince people that they can get a black belt and go out and beat up on someone like Shaq (I use him as an example because he is such a giant guy).

If you watch early events like the UFC you can see several black belts in different martial arts get their tails handed to them by people with no training at all, in particular by a guy named David "Tank" Abott who was outspoken against martial arts in general, until he got beat by people who studied arts that DID work and then he was like 'oh, ok, some are ok I guess' He was sort of a jerk, but he helped us all realize that although it's ok to take any art if you're interested in the "spirituatl" side of it, you have to accept that some will simply get you hurt in a self-defense situation.

Here's some stats on "Tank" Abbott; you can see he's not a physically impressive body building type guy or anything. In fact, he used to brag that to train for fights he just drank beer and partied. He's just a tough, strong guy. And I don't care for him but again, he did educate many students of martial arts, whether they liked it or not.

http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterid=110

 

[John E.]

It all depende on what you are interested in?

If all you are interested in is fighting, then something along the lines of combat karate, thai kick boxing and so on would work.

If you are interested in martial arts in which being able to defend yourself better is only a sideline, then you would have to choose between hard and soft style, Remember martial arts is art/ philosphy at least in the good schools, self defence kinda makes the art a practicial art.

Practicing Kata's will not make a person a better fighter. What it is is a form of meditation that teaches the body brain to do what it has to do and the mind brain to also be able to act on its own. The repeitive movemnents if done properly will but a person into trance state. There are other benifits to Kata's to long to list here.

Hard styles would be along the lines of Karate and Tai kwon do. Soft styles like akido and kung fu are soft and takes ages to master, if it is possible as they are highly technicial, but can be very satisfying also.

A martial arts master (can't remember his name right now) said " One cannot practise martial arts without practicing Zen. One cannot practice Zen without practicing Martiarl Arts." Zen is the only evolving philosphy ever, it is not religion.

As others have stated there are way more bad schools out there than good ones. Pick which ever one you are most interested in and do your research. Remember the worst schools are the ones that push the idea of being able to beat up just about anybody and force you to buy hundreds of belts, after all, for the right amount of money in some schools one can pretty near buy a black belt.

 

[Bokeh]

Hi Cruizin! Thanks for the comments.

It all depends on what you are interested in?

If all you are interested in is fighting, then something along the lines of combat karate, thai kick boxing and so on would work.

Well, I disagree with karate being a good art to take to learn how to fight, for the reasons mentioned above I won't reiterate, but to each his own. But I see your point, if you want to learn to defend yourself (what you call 'fighting') then learn arts like Muay Thai (the best striking art in the world) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (the best grappling art in the world). Those two have been proven in combat to be far superior to all others.

Practicing Kata's will not make a person a better fighter.

Absolutely correct Cruzin...

What it is is a form of meditation that teaches the body brain to do what it has to do and the mind brain to also be able to act on its own.

I would agree with that. However I would contend that there are better methods to do that than practicing kata.

Hard styles would be along the lines of Karate and Tai kwon do.

I'm not sure why TKD and karate would be considered "hard styles." If you mean difficult, I would say that making it through a thai boxing class is far, far more difficult than any tkd or karate school I've ever been to or seen in my time.

Soft styles like akido and kung fu are soft and takes ages to master, if it is possible as they are highly technicial, but can be very satisfying also.

I think by that definition of "soft style" you should list Braziliain Jiu Jitsu at the very top. After all, it literally translates to "gentle art." It is far more of a gentle and soft art than either of those. Most people don't even know what it is, unless they've watched 180# Royce (www.roycegracie.tv) beat guys 3x his size in the ring without ever even hitting them. THAT is what you call a gentle art.

As others have stated there are way more bad schools out there than good ones.

Unfortunately, you are absolutely correct. Again schools who churn out black belts for those willing to pay for it are often referred to as "McDojos."

Remember the worst schools are the ones that push the idea of being able to beat up just about anybody

Well, I'm not sure about that. I would say the worst ones are the ones that tell you after getting their black belt you can go and beat up on anyone and everyone will fear you; this is not the case, since unfortunately there are plent of Tank Abott's out there willing to test your theory. Again, reality is that size and strength matter a LOT and I've seen plenty of black belts get their tail handed to them for thinking otherwise. All it takes is someone who doesn't believe in the "mystique" of martial arts. And when you run across a guy that doesn't care how many black belts you have, that's usually a guy who has been in many fights, and the "average" black belt out there may find a tough battle in a guy like that.

for the right amount of money in some schools one can pretty near buy a black belt.

Absolutely that is correct as well....

MD, the other thing that no one has mentioned yet is the aspect of physical fitness. I can tell you from experience that it doesn't matter how much technique, size, strength, or anything you have, if you are fat and out of shape and can't defend yourself longer than 2min. You would be so, so suprised how many people fall into this category. We've had guys come into our school who even lifted weights but never ran or did any cardiovascular workout. You might guess how easily they were dismantled. At the risk of quoting one of the WORST movies in the history of film, "Roadhouse," I have to, since it is soooo applicable: "Man can't breathe, man can't fight."

Take care

 

[mrsid99]

Has anyone taken or is in the process of taking any martial arts? im interested in beginning a program, but just like buying things, there is way too much to look through. im not particularly interested in any type of wrestling, and i want something that is high impact. any suggestions from the peanut gallery out there?


thanks

your friendly moderator.

md

Ever thought of applying for a CCW?

 

[Bokeh]

Ever thought of applying for a CCW?

By ccw do you mean conceal weopon permit? If so, that's actually an interesting thought. My sister asked me once if I ever thought of getting one. I have, but not for self defense. If someone doesn't like the fact that you just bumped into them and starts pushing you around, are you going to pull out your gun and shoot them?

Also carrying a gun around has other implications that I suppose aren't really relevant here, and we could debate about that all day and I don't care to debate the whole gun issue. I like guns but don't want to go carrying one around, mainly because I have children.

Please allow me to share some recent pictures of a seminar from our BJJ school I did the photography for:

 

[John E.]

Combat Karate is a loose term. It is made up of all fighting styles, the idea is too take a person out by any means as fast as possible. I don't consider it an art. Traditional Karate is generally considered a hard style. Punching and kicking are generally considered hard, while judo and Jiu Jitsu have alot of throwing and grappling is considered soft. I left many styles out as there is way to many to list.

All are good, just depends on what u like. Personally right now at my age I would love to find a traditional Tai Chi class to go to every morning as I am more into the art and meditation.

 

[Bokeh]

All are good, just depends on what u like.

Whether or not they're good at "self defense" depends on which one; some are far, far better than others. It's not that I'm biased, it's been proven in combat events. There's really nothing to debate; in the early days of the UFC, it was pretty obvious that arts like karate and aikido weren't effective when you are put on your back.

As for thai chi, I have respect for that since it doesn't tout itself as a self defense art, but is more excerise, relaxation, etc. I bet if I tried a class in that it would be really good; I just don't have time. But I'd recommend it to someone. You are almost certainly not going to get injured doing an art like that, as you might in self defense arts, at least eventually if you trained in them long enough.

 

[Bokeh]

How odd, I was having dinner with a friend tonight and he started talking about that movie with TIm Allen and James Belushi where Tim gets bullied by that guy off of Seinfeld, and decides to take up kung fu. What was interesting is that my friend made the comment: "Sometimes people don't LET you turn the other cheek or walk away."

How true. I've said before that all those bullies most people ran into in high school didn't just disappear after the 12th grade; no, they're still out there. It's just a lot more fun now when they mess with me

Also, where's MD??

 

[Corry]

It's the weekend...I'm sure he has things to do. He'll be back.