Martial Arts

I have been practicing martial arts ever since I was about 8. I have studied Southern white crane and Southern Praying mantis Kung Fu for a long time. When I was a kid I studied Tae Kwon Do, it is great for kids and for adults to get exercise but it is practically useless in a real fight, the problem being Tae Kwon Do is almost all high kicks. Once your opponent gets in close its all over. It is a sport, nothing more.

I used to spar with a guy who took Tae Kwon Do and every single time he tried one of those high kicks id sweep his leg and knock him on his *** :P. It is very hard to find a good martial arts school that will teach you good self defense techniques, most schools out there are "Americanized" and are only there to make money by getting more students and making students pay to take tests for their belts.

In the old days of Martial Arts there were no belts, In the old days fighters would fight in dirt pits the fighters would wear white belts and the more they fought the dirtier their belts would be until they became black and that is where the belt system originated from.

If you are serious about martial arts find an art you like and stay with it, do not go from one art to the next, you need to get the techniques you learned so in grained into you that they are second nature to perform, studying several arts can make that hard to achieve. There is a saying in Kung Fu "Practices many master of none".
 
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I am a 1st. degree in ITF syle tae kwon do. I agree that tae kwon do is not the best art for self defence for all people. Most schools include hapkido techniques for self defence, and even these are questionable against street fighting techniques. However, there are probably those who would be able to use it successfully to defend themselves.

Tae kwon do certainly is a good aerobic workout though, and it does look pretty (Best of the Best fight scenes).

Remember, the best defence to an attack is not to be in a fight in the first place.
 
Yup my sifu used to tell us the best fighter can stop a fight before it even happens. ;)
 
I am also interested in TKD. Seeing as how I used to do karate back in the day (idk I was like 6). I enjoyed it. I am looking for all around, but mainly aerobics and to get back into shape. I am not much a fighter, I try and follow a more ghandi style to fighting, but know how to already as I studied boxing for about 2years. I was wondering what style would give me the most speed and flexiablity in the form?
 
Kenpo is the big thing in California, with TKD being close. Kenpo is a little more fast paced and aggressive, wheras (depending upon school, master, and style) TKD can be overly focused on leg work to be quite as practical. Either will give you a great workout, but if had a choice to start over again, I would probably choose Kenpo over TKD. Of course, everything is dependent upon your instructor and master, so your mileage may vary.
 
curt said:
I'd love to take Sambo, but there's not too many places around here that teach it. An interesting alternative would be Hapkido, I suppose.
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most places that advertise hapkido are just TKD places very few people actually do it in america to be honest. if you like sambo look for a Brazillian juijitsu place around your area its the exact same thing.

I am a blue-almost purple belt in brazillian juijitsu and I have been boxing and thai boxing for about 4 years. I was an instructor at LA boxing for a while before getting my certs. I have competed in american kickboxing(BLAH!!) muay thai, amatuer boxing, and MMA and will be looking for a pro mma fight before the end of the year when school starts winding down.
 
TKD here too! LOVE IT!
 
AJ Hidell said:
Kenpo is the big thing in California, with TKD being close. Kenpo is a little more fast paced and aggressive, wheras (depending upon school, master, and style) TKD can be overly focused on leg work to be quite as practical. Either will give you a great workout, but if had a choice to start over again, I would probably choose Kenpo over TKD. Of course, everything is dependent upon your instructor and master, so your mileage may vary.
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Thank you very much. Ya, I will have to go in an sit in on a Kenpo and TKD. I live in a small town so, I know we have atleast 4 of both here lol. Thank you for your reply.
 
Just wanted to share with everyone that we tested today, and I got my yellow belt! (and it was really cool to be able to break a board, too!)
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I took judo for a semester while at college. That was definately fun to do. You learn lots about ballance and using it to your advantage. plus its fun to lear the flips, trips, and holds (both on the mat or while standing). but if you want more hitting and combat style, ju jit su (sp*) is right for you
 
ah... musta watched too much MMA on spike tv lol
 
it happens a lot my personal fave is when people call it UFC fighting or just UFC when talking about mma in general. To me it's the same as people calling us ambulance drivers...
 
Hey, just wanted to share a few pictures from our promotion test/graduation to yellow belt....

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Epi-do said:
Hey, just wanted to share a few pictures from our promotion test/graduation to yellow belt....
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Congratulations! Keep it up!
 
Wow your pictures look neater than mine lol.

I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do...been doing it for about six years...

I suggest for anyone looking for something hardcore with a lot of hitting - check out Krav Maga. I believe that's grappling and hitting and made for "real world" combat. Last I checked it's still banned in professional competition for being so hardcore.
 
masquedxangel said:
I suggest for anyone looking for something hardcore with a lot of hitting - check out Krav Maga. I believe that's grappling and hitting and made for "real world" combat. Last I checked it's still banned in professional competition for being so hardcore.
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not really. Krav Maga is not "banned" Certain techniques are and those techniques are used by krav maga and many other martial arts. Remember, krav maga was comprised from several different martial arts.
 
True, but I swear I heard somewhere that Krav Maga is...pretty much ONLY those sorts of things so someone trained in Krav Maga is going to have a hard time with not getting kicked out of competition lol.

A friend of mine was stabbed in the back twice, and her Krav Maga saved her life. Pretty awesome.
 
I'm a brown belt in American Taekwondo Association. I haven't taken a class in, wow, actually, I'm not going to admit how long ago it was. LOL

I've actually considering going back into it, starting from the beginning.
 
masquedxangel said:
True, but I swear I heard somewhere that Krav Maga is...pretty much ONLY those sorts of things so someone trained in Krav Maga is going to have a hard time with not getting kicked out of competition lol.

A friend of mine was stabbed in the back twice, and her Krav Maga saved her life. Pretty awesome.
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It depends on the competition. Not all competitions are designed alike. Some of the MMA competitions are pretty hardcore.

Krav Maga can indeed save your life but it is not the only martial art built with realistic self defense in mind. Some krav maga schools are watered down. Other martial arts schools will use the krav maga name just to get students but tehy aren't really learning krav maga.

As I said krav maga has been put together from several martial arts. Since MMA has become popular, and even before it did, others have put together like minded arts. Even the IDF has learned and used some new arts.
 
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