Martial Arts
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 - 4:17pm
I'm a former Hapkido and Tae-kwon-do student. Never belted in either as i was more in it for fun and study then caring about actual advancement. But now that i'm out of college and in the workforce and getting the 9-5 tummy i want to get back in, so question to all you GWJ'ers is what style do you practice/prefer/enjoy?
Also if anyone happens to be from the Los Angeles area do you have any studios you recommend for instructors/price/scheduling?
We have a thread somewhere. Maybe someone with better Goojer search skills than me can find it.
Gotta go to my first Kendo lesson in 5 years today. I've been doing some cardio for a couple of weeks to prepare for it. I'm kind of excited.
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Dirt - I checked for old threads all I could find was the thread about kids lessons and their costs.
on a side note i also really miss my weapons classes. I was talking with a co-worker today and mentioned that i used to study swordsmanship, and they asked "fencing", why no fencing is for people in white suites with mesh face masks, we had big honking wooden or steel swords (depending on skill level) and fought in real leather armor. Man i miss that, longsword and dagger was my preferred style. Although i was learning to get twin longswords with dagger as backup in the boot for rough and tumble ground work.
Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
Search on the site is pretty terrible (I often get better results with google search using "site:www.gamerswithjobs.com").
You might be interested in one of these, though this is probably closest to the question you're asking.
If you're specifically looking for sword advice, Marsman will be a great resource.
FWIW, I train Aikido.
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KrazyTaco wrote:
Thanks for the links Dimmer interesting reads, especially Paleo's link to dojo's i'm going to be using that. Haven't seen any love for Hapkido which is my preferred school over TKD.
Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
Tai chi chuan, though finding a teacher who actually knows what they're doing can be quite difficult.
I used to do Hapkido but our club switched to Okinawa Goju instead. "Little circles" were easier on the joints. I did make it to Black Belt but gave up training after destroying my knee one day. I tore the cartilage in my knee when I kicked something harder than it was. (At least he hurt afterwards too!) We both threw round kicks at the same time and hit knee on knee. Dropped both of us but he was a little taller so he got a slightly better angle. His bruised, mine tore.
One of my senseis actually fought in UFC 2 or 3. Back then you had to do multiple fights. He is 6'4" and was Canadian Jui-Jitsu Champion at the time. He easily won the first fight. The 2nd fight he got the crap beat out of him buy a 5'6" Georgia State trooper. After the match we asked how he felt about fighting in UFC. He answered, "What the hell was I thinking?"
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You sound like a prime candidate for aikido.
Though you will have to do a lot more than a couple nights of training to fight off the "9-5 tummy". I know this first hand as my sedentary job is winning the battle even while on a semi-healthy diet and training in aikido.
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While i am a fan of Aikido i like wrestling Hapkido style a lot. Man there is a lot of Aikido love on the forums
Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
Aikido was fun but hurt like hell when you made mistakes.
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German longsword for the WIN!
Also did Tae Kwon Do and Aikido.
Kendo was too inflexible after training in longsword. I like being able to 'go German'* on somebody.
*Freedom to go non-stop attack from any angle/side/opportunity until they die.
BHA: Lyonroar, Mundor, Slycke
I leaned that way because of what you listed. The belt progression is slower than most other arts. You will get weapons work with bokken and jo (sometimes dagger and gun disarm depending on the instructor). There should be plenty of good dojos and seminars around you because of the west coast location. It would feel somewhat comfortable, while still being a different approach on wrist locks.
If you want more wrestling style then maybe a variant of jujitsu would be better. Really you should pick a style that matches your approach/philosophy. I wanted something that would control altercations and be a pure self-defense rather than trying to destroy an opponent, resulting in possible legal battles. Aikido worked out perfectly for me and it is something I can train in even when I become quite old.
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I always was interested in Hapkido but didn't have any dojangs nearby. My TKD master, although proficient in Hapkido, only taught us some throwns and stand-up elements of it that are complimentary to TKD.
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If you want something to help keep you in shape, with the added bonus of learning some pretty basic body positioning and combat skills, traditional judo is hard to beat. So much of judo relies on timing, positioning, and most of all reading your opponent, and it's fairly physical to boot.
I've trained for over a decade in aikido, which in my experience is kind of hit or miss. There are an awful lot of bad aikido instructors out there, and an awful lot of aikidoka who use "ki development" and "aikido efficiency" as justification for "it's okay to be completely out of shape". With a good instructor and good dojo environment however, aikido is extremely rigorous, mostly from getting up off the mat 300 times a night. University-affiliated aikido clubs are excellent for that sort of thing.
I'm currently studying a Japanese jojutsu koryu, but I can't really recommend that from a fitness standpoint.
I'd highly recommend Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to fend off the 9-5 gut. It has worked wonders for me, and I am only able to train in two hour sessions two times a week. I started about 15 months ago and at my fattest was around 205 on a 5'9" frame. After about 5-6 months of 2 nights a week, I had dropped down to around 175 and went from a 36" waist to 32/33". Now, I hover around 170-175, have added some muscle under the fat that is left and have greatly improved cardio.
You could probably find a MMA gym that offers various classes and try all of them out to find one that suits you. Mui Thai, Judo, BJJ, Wrestling/Grappling should all offer pretty solid cardio work outs that should greatly increase your fitness level even if you only train a few times a week.
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This. I enjoyed Tai Chi when I did it, but too many teacher are of the "little old ladies in the park" variety.
That's pretty common. I have a buddy I work out with that started doing MT and BJJ about 2 years ago. When he started, he was 260 pounds. At 5'7", that's not a great place to be. In 18 months (granted he also altered his diet using the Livestrong website), he managed to get himself to a very muscular 160.
He made a very interesting comment the other day that I thought was pretty telling. He said that he lived most of his adult life obese to the point of presenting a serious danger to his health from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or some kinds of cancer. He was unable to enjoy his life because of problems of mobility and body image and no one said anything. Now, however, that he is fitter than he has ever been in his life and competing and winning grappling tournaments, folks are suddenly worried about him losing any more weight and perfectly willing to lecture him about it.
I agreed and told him that 1) he looked better than ever, 2) that he wasn't insane for wanting to get down to the 150 weight class for competition, and 3) a BMI of 23.5 still puts him on the high end of normal so he should tell everyone who is lecturing him to get with the auto-fornication.
I think Paleocon is right about pretty much everything. -- Mex
Paleocon is entirely right --DanB
I agree with everything that Paleocon said... --Boudreaux
Paleo is right on. --Legion
I love Paleocon. --- SallyNasty
I was thinking if you're looking for something to work off the gut, try something that'll keep you moving. MT, BJJ, TKD, Krav Maga are all good.
MT- might be tough to find an instructor but since you're in the LA area it shouldn't be hard to find someone near you.
TKD- easy to find. They're everywhere.
Krav Maga-Was making a rise over here in Austin but I haven't seen anymore schools lately.
BJJ- Shouldn't be hard to find in LA.
I don't know what everyone's experience is with Martial Art schools but my experience is that they like to mix it up with similar styles on a different schedule. When I did TKD, the school would have TKD for 2 hrs then a Hapkido class right after and then the next day was Aerobics and Kickboxing. Around here, if you can find a BJJ or Krav Maga school, they'll most likely have a MMA or (kick)boxing class.
Remember though, not all instructors are the same even within the same school so you're most likely going to have to look around.
Edit: just to add
For some odd reason I (and other male students) have always been brought to near puking when there's a female instructor for the day. Generally it's a little (read: a lot) more aerobic. I thought ppl would quit bc maybe they can't focus on a possibly attractive instructor....apparently lines to the bathroom mean that a work out is tough.
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BMI is kind of useless.
There was a capstone paper I read a while back that stated the BMI chart is actually flawed and not scientifically grounded/endorsed. (The paper was on whether or not government should become involved in reducing childhood obesity or something like that)
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Hey Marsman, where did you find a school that focused purely on weapons work like german longsword?
My personal style is Scimitar/ long dagger but the school i studied with is only in North Cali.
I guess the big problem is finding reputable reviews online, or just sucking it up and be willing to spend an hour sitting around in some crappy dojo's to find a really good one.
Hapkido (at least the school where i studied originally) was really about the "casual" self defense that somehow left the other person busted up on the floor unable to continue. But at this point i'm willing to try most any school since on some level there's only so many ways to punch a dude in the face. Or throw a 6'6" guy over your shoulder.
Also your pic of the standard opening stance in TKD makes me giggle i hated fighting in that stance when i started out in martial arts and was a big reason why i switched to Hapkido.
Our opening stance is one leg slightly beg (or forward, basically taking a normal walking step) and both hands up in front of the face as if surrendering of placating the person your facing open palms towards them. From there you could go into any number of grabs, locks, throws, tougher to drop into a clean punch but still easy enough to kick from.
Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
on BMI:
My boss had to go to several doctor to get insurance because his BMI was too high... he has something like 4% (and yes I mean four percent) body fat.
An old D&D buddy of mine called me one day and said he was taking classed where they swung these big-a$$. I joined him and loved it.
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ARMA might be able to help you find a school in your area. Looks lik thay have a group in Orange County.
BHA: Lyonroar, Mundor, Slycke
Yeah same thing happened with me, Theatre tech buddy of mine was like hey dude come with me to WCOS and i was hooked.
Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
Where in LA are we talking? It's a big place and traffic makes certain places pretty difficult to get to during certain parts of the day.
If you're anywhere near Long Beach, you're in the land of fantastic martial arts. If I lived out that direction, I'd for sure work out at the Inosanto Academy.
I think Paleocon is right about pretty much everything. -- Mex
Paleocon is entirely right --DanB
I agree with everything that Paleocon said... --Boudreaux
Paleo is right on. --Legion
I love Paleocon. --- SallyNasty
I have a black belt in Aikido and am going for a second black belt in a different style of Aikido. I love it but it takes a while to get any noticeable skill. I did judo for a while and karate a long time ago but I'm older now (38) and Aikido just suits me perfectly.
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10th Planet Jujitsu is in LA, bet it is expensive though. Probably get to meet some cool people there.
Eddie Bravo is a beast. I love his rubber guard stuff, but there is no way in hell I'd ever be able to do it. I will never have that kind of flexibility.
I think Paleocon is right about pretty much everything. -- Mex
Paleocon is entirely right --DanB
I agree with everything that Paleocon said... --Boudreaux
Paleo is right on. --Legion
I love Paleocon. --- SallyNasty
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Certis wrote:
Steam: Cayne912
Hmm. Inosanto Academy is just over in Marina Del Ray (about 15 minutes away if you have a motorcycle). If you're looking for the real deal, Danny Inosanto is about as real as it gets.
I think Paleocon is right about pretty much everything. -- Mex
Paleocon is entirely right --DanB
I agree with everything that Paleocon said... --Boudreaux
Paleo is right on. --Legion
I love Paleocon. --- SallyNasty