Thread: Tell me about your martial art

Fencing~
I'm certainly more flexible, my club is very relaxed, it's a calm experience more often than not.
The goal is to hit someone without getting hit. It's not hard to learn, just another way to see everything.

Perception has changed, I suppose

I can think from a ready-to-fence stance one second, then sitting on the floor the next

I can change perceptions. Hooray.

Flexibility and constant changing view.
Not really sure if fencing even counts, now that I look at it

No no, that's an interesting proposal. Fencing is just as much of as a martial art as any other, it just involves swords and is more of a sport. Kind of like Take Won Do

Not sure if there are any fencing places in my town, but yeah, the fencing state of mind "hit and not be hit" reminds me of Lyoto Machida (UFC LHW Champ) He uses that same state of mind it seems, as he is patient, tactful and waits for the perfect time. Sometimes it can make for a boring fight, but it's still amazing technique.

Originally Posted by grasshoppa

No no, that's an interesting proposal. Fencing is just as much of as a martial art as any other, it just involves swords and is more of a sport. Kind of like Take Won Do

Not sure if there are any fencing places in my town, but yeah, the fencing state of mind "hit and not be hit" reminds me of Lyoto Machida (UFC LHW Champ) He uses that same state of mind it seems, as he is patient, tactful and waits for the perfect time. Sometimes it can make for a boring fight, but it's still amazing technique.

Of course, that's pretty much the whole game
if you can wait for your opponent to mess up, and stay ahead of them, it's hard to lose

but then from your semi-philosophical point of view, it all depends on what kind of metaphor you put behind it

A game of waiting

Wing Tzun.

Im no master, but I love it.

It has helped me by giving me a new attitude towards fighting. Its very direct.
The first rule of the martial art is,
"When, and where, the way is free, strike".

Its taught me that fighting is evil and if you ever get into the situation, you have to end it as fast as you can. The longer a fight goes on, the more chance there is that you will be seriously injured.

To give you an idea of Wing Tzun's attitude towards fighting ill give you the other 3 principles;

2. If the way isn't free, make it free, and strike.
3. Stick with what comes (as in, go with the flow) and when and where the way is free, strike.
4. Follow through as they retreat, and when and where the way is free, strike.

The last one always makes me laugh.

Here's a video to show how the good guys do it.



Come to think of it, that video makes it look like he's just giving the guy some really fast highfives on the chest - but Im sure hes doing more ;P

Traditional Taekwondo, not WTF.
There's a large difference in training, from what I see. WTF is sporting, traditional TKD for me brought the attitude of how well to really fight, not to score points.
I don't know much about WTF honestly, but from many videos I see, and from people I've trained with, self defense seems minimal in comparison.

Just stay away from places that advertise that they are MMA. They are utterly useless for self defense situations. Also stay away from ones that are just for sport, also useless in self defense.

Find yourself a nice traditional tae kwon do (make sure it's traditional) or a karate class. As a rule of thumb, the older the instructor, the better the class because they are less concerned with things like the UFC and fighting as they are self defense. That's not always the case, I'm only 24 and I teach real self defense, but I'm always weary when I see a master instructor who's under 30, makes me wonder how he rose to the rank of master so quickly.

Thanks for the input guys. I've heard Wing Chun is similar to tai chi in some aspects. The video looks a lot like push-hands which is used to cultivate usable technique in tai chi.

Yeah, TKD seemed cool to me at first, but a lot of places do it as a sport and not as a martial art. Which is useless for self-defense as you said.

I think MMA gyms would be cool to go to, but again, it's for sport and doesn't teach self defense. I'm a big fan of the UFC, but I'm personally not a fighter at all which is why I want to learn self-defense. Not to mention fighting as a sport means you'll most likely suffer brain damage if you do it for long enough.

There's only one martial art that looks this cool. Tiger and crane.

I was surprised to learn that archery is officially recognized as a martial art after I had
started taking it, but there you go. I trained some with a bare 35# recurve, and I loved every
moment of it. It's probably way out of the way of what you're intending to study, but you
never know. You might enjoy it if you can find a range near you. I would be taking classes
with a dear friend of mine who has studied ninjutsu diligently for the past several years now,
but financial constraints prevent me from doing so.

There's another one. Like fencing it is also a martial art.

I've used bows before, I was younger, but I remember them being very hard to use. Not only was it hard to pull back, but hard to aim. Must take a lot of practice.

Wing chun was originally designed to counter the other kung fu's.

It basically uses your opponents force against them. So in theory, its meant to help you beat a stronger opponent using skill and speed rather than a stronger opposite force.

Originally Posted by Dizko

Wing chun was originally designed to counter the other kung fu's.

It basically uses your opponents force against them. So in theory, its meant to help you beat a stronger opponent using skill and speed rather than a stronger opposite force.

That's true for all martial arts. Martial arts isn't like street fighting, the more skilled opponent will almost invariably win.

while the tkd I trained in was "officially" under the WTF banner. ATA for those wondering, my instructor had utter distaste for how they do things. Thus, we had a much more self defense structured curriculum. we also did focus a lot on stamina and flexibility though so that we COULD participate in sparring tourneys if we wanted..which I did because they were fun. However, now I am in a judo/jujitsu school and Im having a lot of fun learning and thinking about things I didnt before. I like schools that teach you both sport and self defense because it is a wider amount of training and a lot of fun and creative at least for me.

A good supporting martial art is Aikido, it takes quite some practice, but it's very effective in combination with TKD, as I'm sure with others.

Hmmm...

lol, Ive seen that one...but believe me you will not have enough time to worry about if you look gay or not. You will be too busy trying to not get choked or joint locked.

Just a joke, it's one of two things I'm seriously considering. There isn't much in my town in terms of martial arts...

YMCA karate
1 good karate dojo
1 good martial arts facility (karate, judo, BJJ, others)
1 kung fu, tai chi/qigong place.

=(

What styles of Kung Fu do they teach?

Depending on that, I'd personally choose either that or Karate.

Jeet Kun Do...thats if you can actually find a certified instructor for it. If not, you'll have to take Wing Chung and Mui Tai, for most effective aspects of it.

And like Dizo said, Wing Chung is very nice as far as defense is concerned. It's all about "intercepting the fist". Pair that up with Mui Tai for some of the easiest, yet effective kicks and you should be solid.

I've never had those classes individually, but in my Jeet Kun Do class, we would rotate various martial arts per week (IE Mui Tai, JKD, Wing Chung, Kali). And it was traditional, not that MMA crap.

I agree with cloud~ mostly because I havnt had the oppertunity to learn in a real kung fu/tai chi school and I have always wanted to.

Jeet Kun Do was actually meant to be a philosophy by Bruce Lee, I have the book and I love it, in truth, all schools who dont stick to a strict regiment and consider new ideas and always re-evaluate whats the most effective for them are studying jeet kun do.

I already go to the kungfu place to learn tai chi, so it would be easy for me to add in some kung fu classes. I know he is an excellent teacher, I'm just skeptical about kungfu itself. It works in movies, but how practical is it for self defense?

Very, it's one of the best rounded martial arts. It's one of the few martial arts that was actually designed for combat. Obviously it depends on the instructor though.

^ yep, just gotta make sure its not one of those that focuses on the showy wushu stuff seen at form tournies and the like

But don't be deterred if you do see some of that. The biggest mistake that I see martial artists make over and over again is to ignore forms and flashy techniques. Yes, they're completely useless in a fight, however they teach balance and coordination, which are vital, this was Bruce Lee's biggest mistake.