Mrartial Arts

[lynx]

take any class you like

Ultimately, what's important is how you use the martial art you learn. I think it's what you bring to it that's most important-- your attitude and enthusiasm. If you like the martial art, you'll really get a lot out of it. And, please, stop thinking you can fight more than one guy at a time. Movies are one thing, the streets are another. In a martial arts school, there are rules, but the streets have no rules. Take a martial art to build up confidence, improve your physique, and to build character, but don't expect to become Jet Li or Bruce Lee and start beating up bad guys. If anything, avoid street or bar fights. Crazy guys don't care if you have an 8th-degree black belt or if you're Mike Tyson. They'll just use a gun.

 

[Caesar20]

with my 60 kg i have quite good experience how it is like to defend yourself from a couple of guys (even one) who try to give you hard time on like a bus or in the pub.
i have no intentions whatsoever of doing that.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Listen, Lynx. Martial Arts isn't about going around fighting bad guys. It's about being the most lethal guy in the room, but being harmless at the same time. You get wise, and you stop looking for fights. The more deadly you are, the more peaceful you become, because you are truly free.

And yes, you can fight off more than one opponent. My sensei defeated 3 of his own blackbelts with swords, blindfolded and barefisted for his 7th degree test. Many arts have special moves for taking 2, 3, even 4 people simultaneously. Hapkido is pretty big on that in fact.

 

[BMW]

hehe. Everytime there is a martial arts thread, everyone suddenly becomes an expert.

 

[Soshyopathe]

here here

 

[Cremasta]

If you are going to go to the gym and build yourself up first with the intention of going into a martial art later, you can prepare yourself for it by doing the following:
1. Work on your flexibility, I don't just mean being able to do the splits, but keep a full range of motion for all your joints especially your shoulders and hips/waist.
2. Try Power building exercises, move the weights quickly on the concentric phase of the lift and then move slowly on the eccentric. E.g. When doing the bench press, push the weight up as quickly as you can and let it back down slowly to your chest. This builds up your speed. Make sure you have been doing at least 6 months of 'normal' weights first to get your technique right or you'll just injure yourself.

Find a halfway decent gym instructor with proper qualifications, they should be able to sort a decent programme for you.

 

[coin]

Do yall favor Wing Shun Kung Fu, Shotokan karate, Kenpo karate or aikido?

My favorite is kendo, but that is completely useless in a fight.

 

[lynx]

kendo is good

Coin: Kendo is great. I take foil fencing (European fencing), and I might take kendo in the future. If you enjoy kendo, stick with it. It doesn't matter if it's useless for self-defense nowadays. What matters is that you're building up your character and body.

 

[Last-Man-Standing]

Concerning swords or what you call them... anyone knows something about Iaido? My university is offering it as well as Kendo so I'm curious and eventually want to try it out

 

[Soshyopathe]

Originally posted by coin
Do yall favor Wing Shun Kung Fu, Shotokan karate, Kenpo karate or aikido?

What kind of Aikido? There are dozens of Aikido styles. One form of aikido is bow and arrow.

Shotokan or kempo would probably be the most street-effective styles, although it all depends on you and your sensei. I'm a big fan of all of those.

 

[lynx]

Iaido

If I recall correctly from my readings, iaido is the art of sheathing and unsheathing the katana (the samurai sword). It comes from iai-jutsu, just as judo comes from jujutsu. In other words, iaido is a watered-down form of iai-jutsu. Kendo, on the other hand, is a watered-down (or sport) version of kenjutsu, the art of swordsmanship. I suggest you visit both classes at your college and decide which class you like. Have fun.

 

[coin]

Kendo and Iaido are both awesome.

Kendo is fencing. It's not meant for self-defense and is purely a competitive sport. You wear armor during matches and use a bamboo sword.

Iaido, on the other hand, still uses a real sword. The only thing you do in Iaido is practice drawing the sword from the sheath and striking with it in a single move. To my knowledge you never face off against another human in Iaido (because someone would probably die, as you always use live swords).


As for aikido, I don't really know anything about it. It seems like a good style to learn for self-defense though.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Originally posted by coin
The only thing you do in Iaido is practice drawing the sword from the sheath and striking with it in a single move.

Ama Kakero Ryu No Hamekei

 

[Last-Man-Standing]

They use real swords?