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I've made attempts at learning martial arts a couple times in my life. I tried karate or maybe taekwondo at a very young age and then capoeira a couple times at the requests of my friends, though I never got very good at either. Currently, I'm trying to learn foil fencing. I'm still not very good at it, but I've been pushing myself to get out of the house and go, and I (almost) always enjoy it when I get there. I got into fencing because I had moved to Europe, and fencing is very European in my mind and you get to use a sword, which is cool, so I took the opportunity, and I've been doing it off and on for a while now. I like it a lot, but there aren't a lot of people there my age, which is kind of discouraging. I think it's a lot easier to go to practice when you have friends there. But I'm trying to push myself to actually learn, and maybe one day I'll be decent at it. The exercise at least is definitely worth it. How did you get into your martial art? Do you like it?
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Nov 6, 2022 21:11
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Shadow0 posted:How did you get into your martial art? I never post in the plethora of MA threads here on SA, mostly because I live and breathe this stuff every single day and at the end of the day I want to read and talk about other poo poo on this dead gay forum. With that said... I've been training/teaching/coaching/fighting for almost 40 years. Got my start in TKD when I was 10ish, because I was being bullied at school. I hated TKD. I discovered Kenpo Karate (Ed Parker's system) a couple years later and that changed my life. Got my first black belt in that at age 16. I was lucky to have a very good Kenpo instructor who was also into stuff like JJ, JKD, and Kali. Kenpo, which I've always thought of as pretty goofy, is a lot of fun to learn. It's a great gateway drug - at least it was for me. The best part about Kenpo are all the silly names for techniques - Fatal Deviation, Obscure Claws, Cross Of Death, Heavenly Ascent, and so on. Being exposed to Kali really turned me on and made me want to learn everything I possibly could. I got bored with Kenpo and moved on to the Filipino arts and the Thai arts (all the stuff under the umbrella of pahuyuth: muay Thai, krabi-krabong, ling lom, muay Boran, etc). I was a pro boxer for a short time, and a pro muay Thai fighter for years. I competed in the world Kali/Arnis/Escrima championships several times, and that was a goddamn blast. Then I discovered Silat (harimau, silat suffian bela diri, and Serak) and my life changed once again. I've been to the motherland of some of these arts - Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bali, and was able to study with some very gifted teachers. I was also lucky enough to go to Myanmar and learn some Lethwei. BJJ is alright, I have a black belt in that too. I never got into pure wrestling, and if I could do it all over again I'd probably start with that. I've coached and cornered at several UFC events over about 10 years. I don't keep up with it anymore. Surprise! Dana White is an rear end in a top hat. I helped choreograph some scenes for a couple of Steven Seagal movies. He is a giant loving rear end in a top hat and we do not like each other. At all. We can't be in the same room with each other, not that that happens much anymore. Wesley Snipes kicked me in the head while working with him on Blade 2. I used to teach weapons stuff to law enforcement - handgun retention, baton use, grappling with a blade, etc. I don't like cops so I don't do that anymore. My wife is a badass muay Thai fighter in her own right (not pro, though), taught by her father who was an instructor in the Thai military. She and our 5 kids constantly try to beat me up. They all are/have been involved in the martial arts. I just moved my oldest son to California where he is going to start boxing professionally, the big dummy. Shadow0 posted:Do you like it? I guess 
isaboo fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Nov 8, 2022 |
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Nov 8, 2022 23:00
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I did a boxing 101 course in college. They taught olympic style boxing and the class was mostly the fundamentals. Never went far into it, COVID started soon after and everything shut down for a bit. Classes were a little disappointing honestly. It was like a 45 minute circuit work out and maybe 15 minutes of actual boxing work. I get the work outs help build muscles for doing the basics but I wanted to work the bag(s) more. No regrets, would do it again and hope to resume when my knee gets a bit better. Just got a reflex bag from Wal-Mart recently and man I suck. During COVID I also discovered an Iaido Dojo(? is that what it would be?) in my area and was hoping it would open up while I was there. Iaido is the Japanese (  ) art of drawing the sword, cutting with it and re-sheathing it basically. I ended up leaving the area after graduating but there is another school by me now that teaches it. My busted knee is kinda benching me but I want to check it out when it heals up. An Iaido sword from Japan can run 300-400 in the low end and go up to whatever you want to pay really. I bought a bokken, wooden practice sword, from Seido Shop so I might be able to use that until I buy a proper Iaido sword.Lastly I have had a life long interest in Muay Thai. Played too much Street Fighter as a kid. Never actually trained for it, I did read a book about it when I was a kid though! There is a Muay Thai gym near me now that actually has a fairly famous instructor that I want to check out maybe in a year or two. Fencing sounds fun, have you looked into HEMA stuff? HEMA = Historic European Martial Arts. I know "The Flower of Battle" was a famous Italian text about sword fighting. Need to pick that up after I finish Tao of Jeet Kune Do. I am a better reader than fighter I guess.
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Nov 9, 2022 00:00
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I did Krav Maga for 8 years, taught it for 4. For me, when I decided I wanted to do some kind of combat sport, I researched styles of martial arts I was interested in (for me, "realistic", useful for self-defense, etc) and read blogs and watched videos of stuff. I liked Krav's no-nonsense no-frills style and I had the sense it was kind of simple to learn and effective in real-world situations. I googled well-reviewed gyms in my area, got a free class try-out, loved it, signed up. Most gyms and dojos will let you try out a class and see what you think. It might be hard to judge based on one class but from my experience, you should be evaluating both the instructor's style as well as the culture of the class. My Krav schools were always very cooperative and compassionate, no gym jerks trying to humiliate people. My instructors always wanted people to succeed and feel like they had mastered something even if it was their first day. But then again, you might WANT the mean-rear end bootcamp experience to push you. I personally think it's not as good but YMMV. I think communication with any instructors are key. Martial arts people love to talk martial arts, so just go in with some questions. What is the application of this art, what is your teaching style, is conditioning a big part of this or just technique, do we spar or just work the bags/pads, is this for tournaments or for war, what kinds of people train here, etc. One thing to watch out for with Krav and BJJ in my experience is that a lot of cops take it. So, if you're someone who doesn't want to gently caress around with cops, that might be something to evaluate too. In my area, we have an anarchist-owned self defense studio that specifically doesn't allow cops, so that's something you might want to take into consideration depending on your vibe. edit: sorry, read your post kind of fast, realized I was answering a question you didn't really ask. To bring it back around, what kept me going in Krav for 8 years was the camaraderie. I liked the culture of the studio, I liked the people, there was lots of laughter and friendship and kindness. I never felt like I was competing with these people, it felt like we were helping each other grow. I have felt that in both martial arts but also yoga classes too. I think finding a vibe and a culture you resonate with is key. It's what will keep you coming back when you're sore and tired and not feeling it. You might even be able to find like meetup groups or informal clubs of like-minded people if you can't find a full on studio. For awhile, I was waking up at 6am and doing workouts with guys in a local park. Your area may not have that but you should check it out if that sounds interesting. That Dang Dad fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Nov 9, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 06:21
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I do kendo, it's a form of Japanese fencing with bamboo swords. It's both an art and a sport and can get pretty competitive. I've been doing it for about 18 years, since I was 12, and I'm currently a fourth dan (black belt). I've also been teaching for the past two years. Obviously I like it since I've done it so much, and I've had chances to compete internationally quite a few times and even represent my country. Unfortunately in recent months I've been handling various injuries but hopefully I can get through them and resume competing early next year. I love it for various reasons - the martial arts/traditional part of it, how strict and organised it is. I love the competition and how fierce, energetic and quick it is. There's nothing else quite like it. It's definitely very different from other martial arts but it also has the benefit of being very safe. In 18 years I've had maybe two or three incidents that I had a (temporary) injury from actual impact (most of my injuries are from overuse etc.).
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Nov 9, 2022 08:54
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Sorry in advance for the long post!isaboo posted:Then I discovered Silat (harimau, silat suffian bela diri, and Serak) and my life changed once again. I've been to the motherland of some of these arts - Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bali, and was able to study with some very gifted teachers. I was also lucky enough to go to Myanmar and learn some Lethwei. That's awesome! It's always nice to experience something at the source. It's part of the reason I wanted to do fencing while I'm over here. isaboo posted:The best part about Kenpo are all the silly names for techniques - Fatal Deviation, Obscure Claws, Cross Of Death, Heavenly Ascent, and so on. That rules! I hope to get good enough at fencing to one day name my techniques. I will shout them at my opponents to intimidate them. Did you ever learn any secret techniques and/or have you ever had to smash/seal the hands of your sensei so that only one person may be the true inheritor/successor of the art? isaboo posted:I helped choreograph some scenes for a couple of Steven Seagal movies. He is a giant loving rear end in a top hat and we do not like each other. At all. We can't be in the same room with each other, not that that happens much anymore. Ha, that's pretty funny. My friend just last week played Steven Seagal as a DnD character. He just spent the entire time bragging and being rude. I guess it was a pretty accurate portrayal. I'm also never in the same room as that guy. Wrong Theory posted:It was like a 45 minute circuit work out and maybe 15 minutes of actual boxing work. This is the worst part of it. I don't mind the exercise at the start, but I hate that by the time I'm suited up, somehow half the people have already gone home. There are days when I only get 2 or even just 1 match and then everyone's gone. Wrong Theory posted:Iaido Dojo(? is that what it would be?) Yeah, almost certainly. "A place of the way", haha. Iaido is really cool. I didn't realize it was an entire art. I thought it was more of just a technique or something like that. Wrong Theory posted:I bought a bokken, wooden practice sword, from Seido Shop so I might be able to use that until I buy a proper Iaido sword. I've got a bokken and a shinai, but I didn't bring them with me, unfortunately. I saw there's a kendo doujou in town, so when my evenings open up, I'm thinking of signing up. I briefly tried to get into it while I was living in the homeland, but I needed the equipment. So I just practiced suri-ashi (slide foot) and came to watch. When they yell "Men!" (head), they always sounded like goats somehow. "MEHEHEHEHN!" It was really weird, haha. Once the instructor had me hold the bokken, and then he had his against mine as if we were in a match. He then thrust the sword forward and the tapering on the blade was enough that my own sword was instantly knocked aside, and his sword was at my neck. It all happened so fast, it was super impressive. The same instructor also showed me a real katana he had. Really cool. I hope you're able to get your iaido sword! Wrong Theory posted:Fencing sounds fun, have you looked into HEMA stuff? HEMA = Historic European Martial Arts. I know "The Flower of Battle" was a famous Italian text about sword fighting. Need to pick that up after I finish Tao of Jeet Kune Do. I am a better reader than fighter I guess. HEMA might be really cool. I might need to ask my fencing instructors about it since the language barrier is often a barrier for me looking this stuff up on my own, unfortunately. I love the historical stuff though. I know they used to write a lot of treatises on various weapons, like the longsword, from back in the Medieval Ages. Maybe I should read up on them. That Dang Dad posted:edit: sorry, read your post kind of fast, realized I was answering a question you didn't really ask. It's no problem, the OP is merely a suggestion, haha. That Dang Dad posted:To bring it back around, what kept me going in Krav for 8 years was the camaraderie. I liked the culture of the studio, I liked the people, there was lots of laughter and friendship and kindness. I never felt like I was competing with these people, it felt like we were helping each other grow. I have felt that in both martial arts but also yoga classes too. I think finding a vibe and a culture you resonate with is key. It's what will keep you coming back when you're sore and tired and not feeling it. You might even be able to find like meetup groups or informal clubs of like-minded people if you can't find a full on studio. For awhile, I was waking up at 6am and doing workouts with guys in a local park. Your area may not have that but you should check it out if that sounds interesting. Yeah, I think that definitely helped when I was doing capoeira - there were some cool people there. Ultimately, my laziness (and moving) won out, but I really miss that now with fencing. It's basically all children. I like it when the young 20-year-olds show up because they'll talk to me and are nice, and the instructors will make conversation with me, but it often feels like I don't belong. But I want to fence, and it's my only option. That Dang Dad posted:One thing to watch out for with Krav and BJJ in my experience is that a lot of cops take it. So, if you're someone who doesn't want to gently caress around with cops, that might be something to evaluate too. In my area, we have an anarchist-owned self defense studio that specifically doesn't allow cops, so that's something you might want to take into consideration depending on your vibe. Fencing used to have strong ties to some unscrupulous folk, but I guess these days, it's mostly normal people. No more dueling scars (for the most part). kiminewt posted:I do kendo, it's a form of Japanese fencing with bamboo swords. It's both an art and a sport and can get pretty competitive. Yeah, the armor looks pretty heavy. Kyuudou (way of the bow) also looks like fun. I don't know if that counts as a martial art though? It's also very strict with very precise movements and entrances and everything. I think they also use suri-ashi for no reason, haha. Ceremony and tradition. That's just how Japan be. And of course the ban on military training or whatever after WWII meant they had to lean heavily on the "art" in "martial art" to have it be considered legal, so that contributed a lot. I think I'm convinced now, I'll check out the kendo doujou in my town when my evenings free up.
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Nov 9, 2022 21:48
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Shadow0 posted:
I did learn the famous Death Touch. Sort of. This story is lame unless you're a total martial arts nerd, and it still is even then. But it was funny to 21 year old me at the time. I was dabbling in Aikido, and went to a seminar held by Carmen, a senior Aikido instructor. At the end of the first day's session, someone jokingly brought up Dim Mak - the Death Touch. The aikido master suddenly stopped and stared at us all, and told us to sit in a circle. "The death touch is very real," he said. "I will teach you the first level." We were loving stoked. We had no idea what he was about to do, but just the thought of learning something, anything, obscure and secret was like crack to us. He led us in a breathing exercise that lasted, hmm, probably 20 minutes or so. He'd occasionally say something like "feel all the chi energy flow through you" blah blah blah. "Place your right thumb on the mat. Imagine all that energy flowing through you, to that one point. Breathe.... flow.... breathe.... flow" The air was electric. It was like being in an evangelical church. We were all breathing in unison, all in the same state, ready to loving KILL WITH ONE TOUCH. "Press the mat with your thumb.... flow... breathe...." "There. You can now kill an ant." Our first reaction was a large collective exhale, followed by everyone bursting into laughter. He built us up, and completely pulled the mat out from under us, so to speak. I got to know him a little after that, and he's how I got to work with Seagal and later, Snipes. Carmen was working with the choreographer of Seagal's Under Siege film, and wanted to try a few things out. I'm about 1/2" taller than Steven, and they needed someone about the same size to spar with so I was a good match. I don't think anything we came up with ended up in the film, but it was a fun experience. Steven didn't like me from the start, because, and I say this in all seriousness, I'm everything he wishes he was (except wealthy and famous). I mean personally - not professionally or martial arts-wise. That and I called him out for putting his hands on someone he shouldn't have. Years later, I saw him at a seminar and I told him that his Aikido was just fake Silat. That really pissed him off, lol. Anyway that's my Steven Seagal and Death Touch story. e: oh, I've heard stories and seen all sorts of wild poo poo with regard to magic and poisons in the Filipino arts and in Silat. specially made blades, rituals, poison powders, etc. isaboo fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 22:59
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Any Judokas here? I've always regretted not getting into judo. Other stuff I'd like to try- fencing, Kalaripayattu (a very old art from India), naban (myanmar wrestling) and of course, Gymkata.
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Nov 10, 2022 18:04
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isaboo posted:I did learn the famous Death Touch. Sort of. lol 🐜 isaboo posted:e: oh, I've heard stories and seen all sorts of wild poo poo with regard to magic and poisons in the Filipino arts and in Silat. specially made blades, rituals, poison powders, etc. Apparently, they used to put rocks or knifes in their hair or under their toenails in capoeira, or so I've heard. isaboo posted:and of course, Gymkata. Adding that movie to my list. Speaking of my own OP and famous people, apparently one of my fencing instructors was really inspired by Rocky as a kid. It's what got him into sports. He told me he wanted to write a letter to Stallone, and he wanted me to help with the English. It's such a nice story. I'm looking forward to seeing his letter.
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Nov 10, 2022 21:33
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Shadow0 posted:lol 🐜 I had a capoeira guy teaching at my school for a little while, and I heard the same thing from him. From what I've been told, the 'death touch' story was borne from tiny blades that were attached to the finger with a normal looking ring. the tip would be dipped in poison, and just a little prick was all it took. this gave way to the myth of just touching someone so they'd die a few days later. I used to have one of those blades, and it was really discreet. Fun fact: old school Kali and Silat guys would carry a small, lovely knife that they'd use first in a fight. They'd stick it in their opponents ribs, then break it off at the handle. The metal would work itself in as they fought, then the big badass knife would come out for the killing strike I heard a crazy story about an old Kali grandmaster who would nail his foot to the docks (through his shoe, not his foot), and stick fight that way just to prove how much better he was. After meeting him, I believe it. isaboo fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 21:44
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Shadow0 posted:Yeah, the armor looks pretty heavy. The armour weight varies, and you can sacrifice protection for it being lighter which people sometimes do for competition or when you practice exclusively with advanced people (since misses and hard-hits are much more common amongst beginners). Please report back on how it went! Kendo can be a bit tough at first as you get used to not-very-natural movement but it pays off greatly in my biased opinion.
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Nov 11, 2022 09:04
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my discpline is just lobbing around sticks of dynamite
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Nov 24, 2022 18:18
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JOHN CENA posted:my discpline is just lobbing around sticks of dynamite This is not a real martial art
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Nov 24, 2022 19:39
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mewse posted:This is not a real martial art Ah but he finger tuts as he does it
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Nov 24, 2022 19:49
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mewse posted:This is not a real martial art You fixin to be the next victim of my boomkata
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Nov 24, 2022 22:46
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