Martial Arts training.

[saven]

Say a few words about the one MA you like to train/use/enjoy because of what you know about it. I'm looking for good responses or even bad ones about why you didn't like it.
Reason behind all this is because well..ya I wanna get into a class that can make me tougher and stronger and most importantly, have fun with it. I'm not a small guy at all. I weigh in at 203 of the end of the day and 197 or 6 depending on consumption of water or food that day. My height is 6'3 and I got long arms and legs. My dad has always been into MA but he is busy in life but still can ask questions and get a few lessons out of him if need be.

Please discussed in short, if not that's cool. Ty!

[Dimmauk]

There are many Martial Arts to choose from, and they all offer different types of training. Are you into grappling or stand up? I think someone of your size and length would like Kickboxing or Karate.

You should post in the MMA thread and ask there too.

[saven]

@dero Does not help much. Anyone with more effort to type something informitive or useful to me? Thanks. *Edit* Oh wow, mma thread in this place?! I'm gone! xD CLOSE THOU THREADITH NAOW. Sorry. Shoulf of put it thar.

[SephYuyX]

Muay Thai, MMA, or Jujutsu if you just wanna beat ass.
Jeet Kune Do, Hapkido, Tai chi chuan, Jing Quan Do, or Aikido if youre looking for a meaningful relationship between beating ass, defense, and control.

Or maybe Chun Kuk Do, lul.

[SamanosukeShiva]

I did kenpo for 2 years in middle school before I called it quits, shit was too hard.

[SephYuyX]

Also, it's not so much about what discipline you pick, it's a lot about what kind of Sifu/Sensei you want. Aggressive teachers will chew you up and spit you out regardless of the style, giving you worth to being there. While a lot just make you go through the motions and thats it. Try to find a small school where the teacher is able to work individually with you. The smaller the school and the better the teacher, the better experiance youll get, but it will be hard as hell. If you get in to a large school, and the teacher isnt hands on and just lets the seniors do the work, it wont be very rewarding.

[Celestialstrife]

I used to take Tae Kwon Do back when I was in High school. It was pretty fun and kept me in pretty good shape. Learning the forms and such is kind of a pain but pretty fun to do in class.

[richardd]

my friends mock it, but im very drawn to capoeira. i find it mesmerizing just watching it, especially when its drawn in actual combat. its a ballet, and the art of it is incredibly inspiring, even if lots claim its uselessness, lol. i have TREMENDOUS respect for it. i practice kickboxing for the most part, and capoeira gives me a lot of problems when its 1 on 1. its very unpredictable and you need to have fast reactions in order to handle it... but when you get the gist of it, and can read your opponent, it really is a bit easy to handle after awhile. still doesnt take away the fact that i want to learn it.

another form of martial arts i want to learn is Brazilian ju jitsu. its another mocked art from my friends because i guess its not something you'd be utilizing more often than not, especially since its mostly grapple, ground work, but i like it. its right up my alley.

idk what the bandwagon is for MMA. tbh i never really got into it. and unless its live, and in person, i cant stand it. but im still trying to perfect kickboxing. i love it. its a GREAT way to fight depression (unless you're getting worked by a 5'4 asian kid), and get a true sense of your spiritual strength flowing through your feet and fists.

[-Zer0-]

Also, it's not so much about what discipline you pick, it's a lot about what kind of Sifu/Sensei you want. Aggressive teachers will chew you up and spit you out regardless of the style, giving you worth to being there. While a lot just make you go through the motions and thats it. Try to find a small school where the teacher is able to work individually with you. The smaller the school and the better the teacher, the better experiance youll get, but it will be hard as hell. If you get in to a large school, and the teacher isnt hands on and just lets the seniors do the work, it wont be very rewarding.

Seph's got the right idea. It's about who can train you, who you can train with, and who you want to learn from. You don't want to be stuck in a place that's for-profit, stuck with only one body type to train with, or lack of individual time. You'll also want to try and stay committed to the place(s) you choose to train with. Stay a while to see if you like the environment, don't just sample the platter for a week and go try another.

I study Budo Taijutsu and Jeet Kune Do.

[orson]

Generally speaking a well rounded fighter that wants to be competitive is going to want to practice at least a combination of ground and stand up disciplines. Judo, Jujitsu, kickboxing, wrestling, regular boxing and Karate are all very common martial arts practiced by MMA athletes. Obviously if you're actually just wanting to do martial arts for the other aspects socializing, great cardio work out, and minor competition then it's usually best to get into some that you find interesting. Most dojos/gyms will let you come to 1-2 classes before forcing you to pay so I'd say experiment or try something your friends are into.

[richardd]

Seph's got the right idea. It's about who can train you, who you can train with, and who you want to learn from. You don't want to be stuck in a place that's for-profit, stuck with only one body type to train with, or lack of individual time. You'll also want to try and stay committed to the place(s) you choose to train with. Stay a while to see if you like the environment, don't just sample the platter for a week and go try another.

I study Budo Taijutsu and Jeet Kune Do.

let us train together, my love

[Slott]

I do a mixed style that consists of: kung su(tae kwon do) as like..the foundation, that transitions into kung fu with bagwa zhang as you progress. We also practice judo, aikido/hapkido and tai chi, as well as various weapons. I feel close with my instructor, like I can talk to him about anything, so learning there for me is awesome. Been at it for roughly 8 years straight now, and it definitely turned my life around.

[Woozie]

my friends mock it, but im very drawn to capoeira. i find it mesmerizing just watching it, especially when its drawn in actual combat. its a ballet, and the art of it is incredibly inspiring, even if lots claim its uselessness, lol. i have TREMENDOUS respect for it. i practice kickboxing for the most part, and capoeira gives me a lot of problems when its 1 on 1. its very unpredictable and you need to have fast reactions in order to handle it... but when you get the gist of it, and can read your opponent, it really is a bit easy to handle after awhile. still doesnt take away the fact that i want to learn it.

another form of martial arts i want to learn is Brazilian ju jitsu. its another mocked art from my friends because i guess its not something you'd be utilizing more often than not, especially since its mostly grapple, ground work, but i like it. its right up my alley.

idk what the bandwagon is for MMA. tbh i never really got into it. and unless its live, and in person, i cant stand it. but im still trying to perfect kickboxing. i love it. its a GREAT way to fight depression (unless you're getting worked by a 5'4 asian kid), and get a true sense of your spiritual strength flowing through your feet and fists.

You like kickboxing and BJJ, but not MMA?

And speaking of Capoeira...I've never done it before but it looks like it would be one heck of a workout. Probably a lot more of a workout than most other arts, just from looking at it. I would imagine that stuff would get someone into shape really fast. Is it really has hard as it looks?

I did boxing and Tae Kwon Do for a number of years. Both were really fun, but the training is a lot different. The atmosphere and training in boxing reminds me more of a gym you would go to for a good workout whereas TKD was more like a structured class where everybody did the same thing at the same time. In boxing, people come in when they want and one of the trainers would tell them what to do and watch them do it. Lots of people would be doing different stuff at the same time, and there was a trainer for every 5 people or so.

In TKD, everyone worked out together for the most part. My uncle (who was my TKD instructor) would start out with jogging and a warmup and stretching, move on to drills and technique, and then maybe some sparring. There would also be forms/kata occasionally (though we never called it "kata"). He was really tough and classes were kind of like being at a bootcamp in the movies and my uncle was like the stereotypical drill Sergent from said movies. Other martial arts classes aren't like that though. My uncle was just a little insane (I think he literally may be insane). In TKD, there was like three trainers or less regardless of the amount of people. Sometimes we'd end up with one trainer and 40 people, which I hated.

I started MMA about a month ago. I've been doing standup for years, so it's fun to finally get to do some ground stuff. I broke my rib while grappling Saturday before last (I took the guy down and landed on his knee) so I'm currently not doing anything at all, but I'm anxious to get back into it once it heals.

I can't really decide which was the most fun. I'm also not sure which of the three was the best workout. TKD had some really really tough workouts from my insane uncle, but some of the classes were mixed with children, so those were easier. For my green belt I had to stand in the horse stance in a freezing cold creek for a half hour while white belts kicked mud into our faces (I told you he was insane). That was physically one of the hardest things I've ever done, and that was only the first half of the test.

All three of these were very fun and very worth the time. If you plan on doing actual tournaments, note that karate/martial arts tournaments are often "point based", meaning the judges will stop the fight every time someone does something that scores them a point. After someone gets enough points, they win. TKD tournaments, boxing tournaments, and MMA all have continuous fighting, meaning you get to just keep going. In my opinion, continuous fighting is much more fun. In TKD, I've never done an actual tournament under TKD rules (all my tournaments were karate/MA point fighting), but I did do so for sparring in the gym and in boxing. If you don't plan on doing tournaments, the sparring you do in gym will almost definitely be continuous regardless of what you choose.

I'd say try a few different gyms for a month at a time and choose what suits you best. Even different gyms within the same style can vary drastically, so if you try one Karate gym and don't like it, that doesn't mean you should just give up on karate, for example.

If you're looking to get tougher and stronger, try weight lifting, or jail time, or (preferably) both. If you're looking to learn self defense, check your state's gun laws (this can also help you with the toughness part too).

Edit: Also, TKD emphasized much more than just training. He made kids do homework, and he emphasized for everyone to live a good lifestyle and disciplined and learning culture and all that other stuff. Boxing and MMA are just training period. They could care less if you wanted to kill hookers and smack children on the weekend (so if you like to kill hookers, you should consider this).

[Cream Soda]

I've always been a Tae Kwon Do fan.

After bicycling for so many years, my legs are definitely my best feature in terms of offense, so would make sense to train them. I'll be looking into starting training when I've graduated college.

[Chun Liroy]

Idk man, your head really fucked up that car.

[Cream Soda]

lol, my head never made contact w/ the car. My head hit the ground on the way down. The point of contact was actually my legs :D and I'm sure I put a nice dent in that fucker's shit too.

[richardd]

You like kickboxing and BJJ, but not MMA?

nah, BJJ is one of the arts i wanted to learn. i actually just joined the community in my area a few months ago, and before i start branching out, i still want to have fun learning all i can about kickboxing to a certain point where i would start feeling comfortable starting new things. i was asking around, and the majority of people i talked to said KB would be most useful in my line of work. but looking back, i would've went a different route lol. im blessed with VERY fast reactions, but my judgment and readings on others can deceive me way too many times, especially if i notice any slight predictability in their movements and executions. This is why i love joining an ACTUAL community, rather than a class or small seminar or something, I get to train with these guys and get to know them on a level you you dont normally get passed with normal everyday activities. i made some friends, and my teachers have helped me through plateaus even in some bodybuilding areas.

i'd be lying if i said i had to rely on kickboxing on more than a few occasions, but i dont regret it one bit. even if i never had to fight for the rest of my life, i use it as my personal church, and a way to relieve stress and depression. even if im the one on the ground bleeding, its a learning experience lol. i wish my parents wouldve signed me up for this when i wanted to do it as a kid lol.

[Psion]

I've done tai chi for a few years, and I find it to be really fun, as well as a good work out. (Sun style)

It's cheap as hell too at our community college, but our sensei is top notch. She does have to go to do demonstrations around the country sometimes, so sometimes she's not there, but our other sensei is just as great. We generally start with warm up exercises (~10-15 minutes) followed by lots of walking and kicking laps different ways around the room (~20 minutes), followed by practicing what we've gone over so far (~20 minutes), and then usually a mix of application demonstrations, where we partner up and she shows us how part of the form is used in actual combat, and learning more of the form (~45-60 minutes), and then cool down exercises (~5-10 minutes)

It's kind of weird because the kicking laps is probably the most brutal part of the class, so it goes from warm ups to exercise to light exersise (although some parts of the form make the kicks look easy, and after kicking for 20 minutes it's still tiring lol) to cool downs, and at the end you feel a little tired but at the same time more energized than when you started.

Oh, and the whole time we're doing this on squishy mats that make balancing VERY difficult. In fact, I've even seen the teacher almost lose her balance once or twice, though she covered it up pretty gracefully. When you try the form on actual solid ground you discover just how much better you've gotten at balancing though, haha.

It's quite a fun martial art, and a lot harder than it seems.

[Zhais]

I'll second/third Jeet Kune Do. Definitely worthwhile if you can find someone teaching that.

Find an outfit that isn't family-geared for a better experience in my opinion, or at least will separate their money-making family schemes with those serious about learning the art. If it's all "OOOOOOH you betta RESPECT-a your senSE---I!" and all forms, not worth it. I've found the less 'traditional' the school is, the better education you actually get.

[Woozie]

Oh yeah, aren't you a bodyguard or something, Richardd? I forgot that you're in a line of work where martial arts is very useful.

Do you have any tips for conditioning? I know you used to be really big and out of shape and now you're in shape and muscular, so I imagine you had to do a lot of work in terms of cardio? As a person who's out of shape and needs to improve his endurance, do you have any tips? I should probably be asking this in the BG fitness thread.

Back when I did TKD and boxing my shape was awesome. I could go on forever despite my heart and lung problems. I don't know how I got so terrible so fast I'm not fat or anything (I'm somewhat muscular), but I'm wondering if getting even leaner would also help. It seems like the thinner, leaner people in my gym can last longer than the muscular, larger people. I'm wondering if I should cut down on the bodybuilding.