I have recently started Aikido with the great encouragment of Moe and Kismit both of whom I know practice their own martial arts. A special thanks to both of them particularly Moe who has walked me through everything and is always ready to listen or offer advice and encouragement.




My experiences so far have been extremely positive, sometimes humbling, often humorous and always exhilerating.

My first class was the hardest...literally. I was the the only beginner, only 1 of 3 women taking the class (aprox 30 men) The toughest instructor from the club taught that first class. We stretched every single muscle in our body and then he started us with sit-ups, push-ups ( toes & knuckles) and followed by laps around the dojo. It was sheer torture. About 45 minutes into the class (class is 1 1/2 hours long) I was wondering what the hell I was doing there. Then I started reciting in my head "I have no ego. I am ego free" and somehow I got through it.

I trained one on one with a lady blackbelt. We did drop rolls. We did pivots and techniques (I should be using the correct terms as I have to know the Japanese terms by next week). I bruised my lower back, every muscle in my body was screaming but I felt glorious. At the end of that first class the instructor introduced himself and told me that the class I just had was probably as tough as it gets. You know what? He was right.

I woke up feeling deceptively good the next morning. It took me 4 days and a soak in a hot tub to be able to move without wimpering. Just in time for my next class. This one was taught by a different instructor and a different blackbelt gave me one on one training. I took nage (the defender) and he took uke (attacker) I blocked his strikes. Then we switched; he was nage and I was uke. I had to try and strike him. That class left me with bruises on my forearms that didn't fade for at least a week.

I am learning about Rei or bow which means "appreciation and respect” and the manner by which, it is expressed. I am learning the correct terminology

I am so intrigued by Aikido. Aikido does not require force. Force works against you. It is a martial art that allows a smaller woman to either escape or to immoblize a larger (male) attacker. It in fact it works best if you are "soft"....but more on this later as I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of soft.

I have signed up for 3 months and have a years membership at the centre. I am hooked and am most definately planning on continuing. As a beginner I can take advantage of up to 6 lessons a week. Right now I do two 1.5 hour classes.

So tell me about your martial arts.

I did karate when I was in my early teens, got to Brown belt. Never liked it, became to much of a hassle. quit.

i studied kenpo...would like to learn more but i haven't go the time at the current moment. great knowledge to defend yourself, work out, and great art. ienjoy all forms of martial arts.

I got my black belt in karate 2 weeks ago. (well technically Jr. Black)

I took Tae Kwan Do a while back. We had to do forms in order to receive our next belt, and when I saw what I had to do to get my purple belt, I quit.

And just in case anyone's wondering how far I got, the belt ranks were:
White
Yellow
Orange
Green
Blue
Purple
Brown
High Brown
Red
High Red
Black

Also depends on the school. They all have different ranks.

Very cool! Congratulations Yasha!

For Aikido one of the other students told me that in Japan kids learn it like North American kids learn hockey and achieving black belt only means you are now truly ready to start learning Aikido and that on average it take 4 years to earn your black belt

Oh I think it was my third class and and I spent the whole class being the one tossed to the mat as the technique was rather complicated and I did not know it.

all schools have different forms and belt classes. for example, we emphasized kicks more than we did punches. the school i went to singled in on wanting to be fast and decisive. i really hope to take up taek kwon do and kick boxing someday. how was any of you guys and ladies sparring done???

and Dot, aikido if i am correct focused more on strength more than speed right???

I use to take karate, i quit when i was 12 or 13. Took it for 3 years, i was 3 belts from black. BTW, i went to tiger schulman, i hope to try capoeira one day. I've always wondered what sort of secrets some of the martial arts masters from china, japan, and korea still keep. I wonder how many more martial arts are out there, that we the public don't know about.

I don't think so. I might be wrong about this (remember I am new to this) but from what I understand is the Nage (the defender) is soft (or gentle, or relaxed) because this works best. If the Nage is relaxed then the uke (attacker) has nothing to resist, nothing to fight against. By not using force the uke is unlikely to feel the urge and have the opportunity to counterattack. This is why this is supposed to be a good martial art for women.

I did Judo for 6 years, but eventually quit .

I would like to learn Kendo thouhg. Hope I'll have time while in the military, or I'll have to learn it after I finish my service.

My girlfriend does Karate and to tell you the truth, she rules in it! I've seen her fight against guys that are twice her size and she defeated them in no time. And she looks sexy in that kimono

Oh yes and Kismit looks most stunning in her Dobok , allthough I doubt people fight wearing Kimonos , it is a difficult costume to do a jumping front kick in , and most definately there would be no snap in your side kick .

Tae kwon do is a Martial art which originated in Korea . We spar side-on rather than front-on, as you would with Karate . It creates a smaller target and allows an easier transition from instep to back or hook kick . There are two schools of Tae kwon do in New zealand the federation the one I am a member of which is international and the Union which is not recognised outside of New zealand , but is still a great way to ease stress and get fit .
We also do Apkido a form of self defense , as with Aikido it is better to be relaxed , you use less energy and learn to use the attackers momentum against them .

Our belts are yellow , yellow green tip , green , green blue tip, blue, blue red tip , red , red black tip , and black . Then of course you can go for your dans .



I have a full contact tournament coming up in March . My first , but because I double graded recently I will be sparring against more experienced fighters , and run the risk of hurting my pretty nose .

Actually, bring on the South island champs , I waisted many afternoons play sparring with Jeff Fenich's old sparring partener and I still have a pretty nose after all that . I guess I will just have to be faster .

Link to painfull pictures and animations

I am most proud of you ninja Dot , you can now officially kickass

Here is the link to my aikido club JCCC Aikikai

Thanks Kizzy Again congrats on double grading and good luck on your upcoming tournament.

I trained in Aikibudo and Kobudo. What i like with aikibudo because it's relaxing and some pretty funny things can happen in training sessions. It also fun because you and launch some one without bearly moving. Kobudo is really graceful all the moves are practiced with a form of "lightness", almost like dancing.

***
Sweet! Dotty we practice the same thing! remember it's all in grace.

had a cousin that i full sparred with every week when i was still learning martial arts(no blows to face or groin area)...full contact i believe is the only way to get better in...no pain no gain...

kismit i wish you good luck...keep us updated...does anyone here have a personal story or heard a story from someone in your class about them using thier skill to ward of potential physical harm????

I did Karate when i was young. Well, that was utter crap. The move are so impratical. It's useless in real life. It's like learning a super advance form of maths which you will never use in life

I did Ju-jitsu once. It was good. Good close quarter combat/ defense but i was 14 at the time and the instructor put me with all the 6yo. The other class was 16+. A bit hard to train with 6yo so i quit

I'm trying to get into boxing now. The gym i got to has a a few punching bags so i just teach myself. Guard up and use your hips to punch, not your shoulders

I used to take karate too...but I agree with Dowdy: the method of teaching wasn't up to much. The classes were far more about money changing hands, than actually teaching the pupils anything constructive...you might leave the place at the end of the session able to do a pretty double jumping miageri, but you won't have a clue how to use it.

Sparring was lame too...there was no freestyle whatsoever, with a specific attack, and a specific block, each time having to shout out exactly where you were aiming before you struck (jodan and chudan, or thereabouts...it was a long time ago). Didn't teach us much of anything really, although I can to this day kick people in the head

More recently I went with Sera to her wrestling practice, which neither of us are able to do anymore because we both work Sundays. Surprisingly, this was much more fun, and productive...the sessions were five hours long, so we were able to try out so many moves and holds. We were shown dozens of shoot holds, and most wrestling holds are actually only slightly modified versions of actual holds (a hammerlock in wrestling is just a judo half-nelson, only holding the hand at a different angle to hold off the pressure).

I decided a long time ago that, for the most part, the only way martial arts will make any difference at all in a real fight is if you're exceptional. Short of a dan ranking, or maybe a black belt, most styles aren't likely to shift the balance in an actual tooth and nail fight..definately not as much as size and strength will. That's why I feel a lot more secure knowing the various holds and restraints I do than having my pretty kicks

i take muay thai and tae kwon do soon i will add wing chun to that list. full contact matches are the only way you will learn how to fight

I took Kenpo up until a couple of years ago. We used to think our sensei was a sadistic S.O.B who liked to hurt us with his 120-minute drills and insisting on full-contact sparring. And you weren't allowed to exactly go soft when you were practicing either. So overall it was hell in a dojo for the first year..
..Until I actually got in a fight where I found myself being hit repeatedly by a 2x4 and kept shrugging it off. It was amazing to me. Here I was being smacked repeatedly by a heavy piece of wood and I barely felt it and actually won the fight. After that I didn't complain about how hard the classes were..
I had to stop taking it when I moved out-of-state; but I'd love to go back someday if I could...

Out of curiosity what reasons does everybody have for starting martial arts?

Mine was stress release, learning to toss and pin someone is a bonus

self defense i did also looked into becoming a cop...in fact was going to study to be a cop but was persuaded not to...

falco:

i took kenpo too.
and yes...in real life thugs are just going to beat the shillings out of you. i like your masters idea of 120 minute full contact drills. the world isn't nice..

i took it because of self defense

Well I started to be more active, the summer was over and the football season was comming to an end, so I needed some indoor activity to be able to stay in shape. Started with Judo(was fun but i moved too far from my dojo), tried out Jiu Jitsu ( way to complicated) and finally Aikibudo (what i'm currently doing along with Kobudo, very relaxing, and i get to smach some one with a wooden stick)

I started taking mainly because i was obsessed with power rangers, and everyone was still coming out of the martials arts obsessed 80's . So i thought, i'll try it, then after 2-3 years it started to really suck. The sensei was a dick, and the people in the classes were dicks to. They would always do those kata's, which were really cool, but wouldn't help you in a fight. We barely did one on one, mostly cardiovascular and leg working stuff. I'm afraid to do martial arts again, because it's more about money to. *ninjitsu, drools*

Dot Looks rather adorable in her gi too Kizzy, however the one surprise I got was how easily the obi can come undone...I now wear tank tops underneath

Revival! lol.

Lucky me! I get to do the new black-belt test as well! Over a course of 6 months...

-18,200 pushups, situps, jumping jacks and "crawlers"
-200 revisions of each kata and self defence
-6 books of enlightenment and such
-1 full day mute
-1 full day no food(water/juice)
-3 hours blind under supervision
-Eat healthy over 6 months

Those are the minimum numbers!

And our school makes everyone wear a shirt underneath gi for certain reasons..

I took akido for 2 years. My father in law is a master of the art.He has attained the highest level you can recieve in the US. It was always fun watching him throw several people around at once. I have also took karate and a little judo.

Wow, Dot, Aikido sounds incredible. I want to look into that! Just...wow!

I actually just started Tae Kwon Do this week, and am still in the embarrassed, 2 left foot stage. I've only had 2 classes, but LOVE it.

I decided to try it bc I just like any new ways to improve my mind and body. I really like yoga and pilates (for a more mental exercise), but wanted to incorporate more strenuous physical activity with it. I try to run about 10-12 miles a week, and hike or play tennis on the weekends, so am always looking for new ways to stretch out my muscles from that.

I took Karate classes once for a week....but suddenly had to move...

...never got back into anything....

....I was an avid fan of the TV show Kung Fu though.....ah, Grasshopper...

.....oh, I do have a martial art though, discovered quite by accident while coin surfing through a friends new couch...about 20 years ago....found a pair of Num Chuks...beat myself half to death but eventually became quite proficient with them...

Very proud of you Dot.

I started martial arts becuase a club opened up just two doors down the road from my house . I wanted to get some excersise and couldn't resist the opportunity to relieve some stress.

The full contact tournament is roughly the same thing , I don't have to do it but the champs are being held so close to home it would sadden me to miss them. And full contact should be taken seriously , I would not want my practise partner to be soft on me during sparring , that would lead to me getting my arse kicked during the real thing , and I like my pretty nose .

Indeed kismit. You are wise. How one trains in the martial arts, is how one shall perform it. My Master once told me, "if you want to learn how to fight, you must practice fighting against someone who is fighting back."

this is the wisdom that lured me to his class. I wanted full contatc. No forms. No fancy widow dressing. There is nothing more real then being hit in the face. So I took up a mixed martial art.

The result? I got beat down for years. Why? Simple. I had been doing nothing but forms for years before. And these things did not stand strong in the face of the muscle bound fighting neanderthals who were my sparring partners. but they broke me of many of my bad habbits. Silly stances.Silly punching methods. The hands that were previously rested upon my hips, were now held infront of my face like a boxer.

We used a method called progressive reistance. Moe went from open hand strikes to the head with no grappling, to full contact punching and kicking, with take downs and submissions. It was painful. But thanks to the progressive training tactics, I barely noticed the progression. One day i just found myself, holding my own against the brutes. I had become one of them.

so now we grunt like a cave man.

"mugguh mugguh ! " We bang head with stick.

a place where you only practise kata's are bad dojo's

Wooo a martial arts thread!

Ok let me see... I started Karate when I was about 8 and got to orange belt. never enjoyed it, and as street-defence it is pretty useless so I quit.

I left martial arts alone until about 3 months ago when all of a sudden I re-realised that I absolutely loved them and was fascinated with them. I read about Chinese martial arts (CMA) until my eyes bled, almost literally... I read about the majority of the systems, both internal and external.

After hours of studying which martial art best suited me I decided on Wing Chun, which Bruce Lee originally started with though he never learned the complete system before moving onto other things. Can I just add that the fact Bruce Lee one did it had nothing to do with my decision, it really was the martial art that I liked most and felt I would be suited to. It works on the centerline theory, and is incredibly fast and effective when you get to a decent level.

Started off finding a local school which was the Kamon Wing Chun system, founded by Kevin Chan http://www.kamonwingchun.com/ This turned out to be really crappy, no body-conditioning and no sparring (I asked the older students and they told me this). I then got booted out as I questioned their methods on a amrtial arts forum and the teacher threw a real hissy fit. Case closed, bye-bye Kamon.

Not to be put off so easily I then looked around again in my area and found a school called the UK Wing Chun Kung Fu Association, founded by James Sinclair http://www.ukwingchun.com/

Turned up at the lesson and after an hour I knew this was the school for me. First of all we had heavy conditionnig... i'm talking press-ups, squats, sit-ups, running etc, a very good (and hard) warm-up session. Also a lot of padwork, we hit the pads hard and for a long time, and the drills are plentisome. Good for punching and kicking work, if you don't know how hard you can hit you may as well quit trying. You find your hitting strength, then build on it. Also sparring is an option here, we just stick on some light padded gloves and work on a few moves at a time to start (only been doing it 3 months remember) and then we can use these moves against eachother freeform, so we learn how to use and block against them. At later levels sparring will obviously become more complex and in-depth. I've got a class of it tommorrow, can't wait! Oh, and my instructor is also a Kali teacher (Filipino martial arts, weapons based and VERY scary, lol) so when I get to a decent level of Wing Chun i'll start that too.

Another style also fascinated me... namely Tai-Chi. I'd heard a bit about it but didn't know much so I did some reading up. Far from being the innefective dance I thought it was I discovered that as a fighting system it is comprehensive and simply awesome. The catch? It'll take a good 10 years to become truly proficient. Anyway I found an amazing teacher called Dan Chisholm http://www.chentaichi.co.uk/Instructor2.htm who studied it martially with the masters and grandmasters of the Chen family in China and I study with him now, and it is also going well. The more I learn about it's complexity the more I love it, it is VERY powerful, but you need to invest a LOT of time, far more than the average martial art, to learn it.

If you want instant hard-b*stard status and gratification then take Western Boxing... or preferably Muay Thai as they are both heavy on the conditioning and sparring, and frighteningly effective. If you want something to take with you into your twilight years that will yield more and more with practise then study CMA.

I'm rushing here as my girlfriend is whining that i'm not sitting downstairs with her but I really do love martial arts, they are an amazing thing to do for body and soul, and my future kids will start learning them at a suitable age, as I wish I had done.

Martial arts rock, and the variety out there is staggering.

We should have more martial arts threads, lol, I could talk about them a lot with people if I had the oppurtunity, good to know there are some experienced guys here.

Anyone done Kendo and can reflect his ideas about it?

Yea! I am so happy to find this tread. I love Martial Arts. I want to be in a Martial Arts film. I studied under my boyfriend and his friends for awhile. (They took the classes and came home to teach me.) Then I got into kickboxing. Then the sensa was like I want u to be in Karate, so I did. I did great. All the students thought I should have been a black belt but I had to work my way up the line. By time I was a first degree green belt, my boyfriend and I realized the sensa wasn't really teaching us any more, (my boyfriend and I were helping the students more than he was) and he just got money hungrey. The training was a mix between Aiketo, jujitzu, tae kwon do and street fighting. Go figure. I liked it alot though. I love to spar! It is fun to spar my boyfriend too. I just hate getting hit hard although I like to punch and kick alot. I love the combonations that we come up with and I love Pad work. Man, I sure miss taking Karate. I think we are gonna check out this one place near us that teaches Bruce Lees style. Jeet Kun Do.
(sorry if I misspelt anything, I am excited.)

jeet kune do is a philosophy. you might as well read his book

wingchun is amazing. the speed of the chainpunches is astonishing.

I am. It's called the Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee

The thing about wing chun is that it is made for using in the trapping range. Which is exactly the same distance as grappling range. Given the opportunity, I would rather go for a sumission as opposed to a trap. Its more reliable.

I did wing chun for 2 years. It is very cool . The trapping techniques and footwork are very economical. But my verdict? It doesnt hold up in a full contact fight. I know this from experience.

Against karate? It works brilliantly. Karate practioners only strike with thier rear hand. So the chain punching ( or striaght blast as we call it in JKD) prove very economical as it lands before the karate reverse punch. But against a boxer, who uses fents, jabs, crosses, uppercuts and moves in and out of ranges, its is very hard to use. The straight blast is just too limited in range. if a 300 pound grappler has got you in his clinch and is throwing devastating knees strikes at you, it just doesnt hold up too well.

The only thing i was able to pull off in a fiull contact sparring match , were a few well timed, bong sao, tan sau traps. In this case the tan sao actually became a backhand , and I was able to follow through with a double leg take down. But it was not classical wing chun. It was very modifed.

I teach a martial art called Taiho Jutsu, as far as I know I am the only teacher of this art in North America. It originated in Tokyo for the riot police and is a mixture of three martial arts, Aikido, Combat Sombo(Sambo) and Judo. I was taught it In Northern Ireland by a British police man (Brian Eustace) how brought it over from Tokyo. I had my own school in Ontario for five years before falling ill 8 months ago which unfortunatly stop me from continuing it. I hold 4 more senior grades in seven other arts that I took but Taiho Jutsu was the most affective and rewarding and I only hope it will branch out so others can experience this great art.

Gmac, this sounds very functional indeed. Tell me more of this martial art that you teach. Some basic combat strategies perhaps.

I agree Mo, you take WC into a full-contact ring fight such as K-1, Pride or UFC and you will get demolished. If a guy gets close then you are screwed, he'll grab you and tie you into a pretzel.

But on the street it is more effective. My style of Wing Chun does not adhere classically to the traditional system, it is a little modified, and the entire emphasis is on streetfighting and practical, real-world use. My instructor will stop awhenever he feels the need and explain how a technique can be used in a real-situation such as a club, and against different styles to effectively counter them. He is very aware of the dangers of grappling (where WC is undoubtedly at it's weakest) and while he knows it is impossible to completely avoid it 100% of the time, he does know how to stop someone in their tracks, no matter what the size. Groin, throat, and knee are great places to disable someone temporarily (or longer in the case of a good knee/throat strike).

WC has its definate faults, but in my opinion at high levels it's the best of the Kung Fu systems. Of the other non-chinese martial-arts I would choose Muay Thai without a doubt, that will teach you how to hurt people more effectively than jsut about any art. Only problem with heavy ring-based sports like that is I worry about long-term damage to joints and bones when i'm older due to the massive stress they get.

With any striking art I would always reccommend cross-training in a grappling art such as Brazilian Jui-jitzu, then if someone does take you down you can fight them on their terms without getting demolished.

But always remember, it is not the style that counts, it is the practitioner. No matter how good you think your style is, someone from an inferior style who is simply a better and more canny fighter will beat you, even an untrained thug off the streets with a lot of experience.

Just my thoughts.

i see how are the sparring rules in your training sessions? grappling and ground fighting is allowed at our school.

Just came back from the lesson...

Sparring rules vary depending on your level. beginners take one or teo techniques and spar with them, building up those techniques to a good level. Advanced WC'ers are allowed to use more techniques, as many as they are already comfortable with. There is no point sparring and saying "OK do whatever technique you want" when you don't know how to do them. Concentrate on a couple at a time until you become proficient in them.

Also, I talked to me Sifu about grappling today and he said that he will teach us groundwork later in the syllabus!

And as for WC not being effective in a full-contact situation the more I see my Sifu and the advanced practitioners the more I know that they could truly crucify someone in a street-fight (unless their opponent was a better fighter, and they would have to be good). Their power and speed is amazing, a couple of punches from them and you would be on your back seeing stars. I just think it's a case of finding a good school, if you don't find one that is heavy on the street-effective emphasis and sparring, and instead concentrates more on the spiritual and less agressive side (lack of hard sparring etc) you will never be a really good fighter.

WC is effective... if you get it done right. Not all schools and instructors were created equal.

anybody here familiar with ryukyu kempo and moe eubleck what martial arts do you take now?

Well... I'm glad I found this thread. I've been studying Tae Kwon Do for about 10 years now. The reason I started was mostly for self defence when I was in junior high. I noticed a lot of people stating the kicks they learned were all for show, what I have learned is that you use high kicks mostly for stretching (in a real fight your kick should never go above the knee or you losing precious time and you'll get your butt whooped after you slip and lose balance ) I've been out for about 2 years after I hurt my back but i'm looking to get into again...... by the way I'm a blue belt (couldn't afford the testing after that..... until now)

I did however train with the Black belts in my class (except the forms).

you have a good base of taekwondo you should try another martial arts Black Ops.
like kyokushinkai karate

http://www.jiayo.com/videos/86_leitai.mov

kung fu tournanament in china
i dont know what kung fu

I wouldn't really advise combinging Tae Kwon Do with Karate as they are both primarily "sporting" martial arts with far less street-application than most. It would be far better to take up something like Muay Thai which is heavily kicking-based and very street-effective (yes, it is also a sporting martial art but 10x more brutal than karate of TKD and designed to severely hurt people), and has an insane level of conditioning, along the same lines as Western Boxing. I'd also reccommend Wing Chun, Brazilian Jui-Jitsu and the like, ones that have been tested effective in battle situation. I see people arguing aggainst the effectiveness of Wing Chun, yet it is taught to major police forces around the world. Would you teach your police an inferior methos of self-defence for when they were out on todays increasingly dangerous streets?