Is anyone here studying martial arts? (1 Viewer)

[Garrett Lundy]

HTF Educational Posts Presents: Know Your Kung-Fu Teacher.
1. While a neat party trick, people who have spent 20 or more years perfecting Iron Crotch QiGong are probably not people you want to be spending quality time with.

2. Historically, the best KungFu instructors have been albino werewolves.

3. Brazilian Martial Arts, or "Zombie-Fu" have exploded in popularity recently.

4. 'Kung-Fu' is old Cantonese, translating to "Empty Hand". It can also summon demons when used in combination with chanting "Ia Ia Ia Chthulhu F'Taghn!"

5. Your body is a temple. Make yours a Shaolin temple!

 

[Holadem]

Hey! This pic may be from a childhood favorite Kung Fu flick I have been looking to ID forever! Would you by any chance know the title?
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H

 

[Garrett Lundy]

No clue. HERE is the webpage I got it from.

 

[PhillJones]

No clue. HERE is the webpage I got it from.

Dance of the Drunken Mantis?
http://www.dighkmovies.com/v4/236/236.html

 

[Holadem]

A Muay Thai joint finally opened at a convenient distance from me. There was none in a hundred miles radius before. Practicing this martial art has been a long standing dream of mine. While I miss the strict discipline and familiarity of Shotokan Karate which I practiced on and off for many years (never eached BB ugh), the simplicity and power of Muay Thai should be just as fun.

However, I checked out the beginner class the other day, and have some concerns:

Classes are 45 minutes long. Given that what I saw did not seem terribly intense, that seems awfully short. Shotokan sessions took everything out of you -- you had to crawl back to your car. Here, I was a bit dissapointed at the low intensity of a notoriously brutal and powerful art. Conditionning should have been a big part of the session, but save for some rope jumping, there was none. In Shotokan, the Sensei is often like a drill sergeant, in addition to stressing proper form. The instructor here only seemed concerned about form.

I guess I am wondering if this is normal. If you have some experience with Muay Thai, please share.

I do plan on taking the 2 free classes the offered me. Perhaps things are harder than they look fromthe bench...

--

H

 

[KurtEP]

Well, no experience, but Muay Thai is the flavor of the day, so you shouldn't be surprised to find watered down classes. Obviously, the only way to tell, especially if you have some prior experience, is to try it out. Good luck.

 

[PhillJones]

Well, no experience, but Muay Thai is the flavor of the day, so you shouldn't be surprised to find watered down classes. Obviously, the only way to tell, especially if you have some prior experience, is to try it out. Good luck.

The problem is that if you don't have experience it's really hard to tell the legit practitioners from the charletons. I trained in a style of Kung Faux for about a year before I realized i was being taught utter garbage and changed clubs, so this is a real bug bear of mine.
The problem is that there's no sure fire way of telling. Many legit clubs here in America have long term contracts and won't let you train for more than a couple of weeks or so without signing up, that's just not long enough to try something out and find out if the instructor is full of crap or not and if it's what you want to do. This is a significant barrier to many getting into Martial Arts.

 

[KurtEP]

The problem is that if you don't have experience it's really hard to tell the legit practitioners from the charletons. I trained in a style of Kung Faux for about a year before I realized i was being taught utter garbage and changed clubs, so this is a real bug bear of mine.
The problem is that there's no sure fire way of telling. Many legit clubs here in America have long term contracts and won't let you train for more than a couple of weeks or so without signing up, that's just not long enough to try something out and find out if the instructor is full of crap or not and if it's what you want to do. This is a significant barrier to many getting into Martial Arts.

Too true, unfortunately. All of the best clubs I've been associated with over the years were strictly word of mouth and hard to find. Mostly people who just taught so they'd have someone to beat on. Unfortunately, most of the truly legit stuff is kind of brutal and has pretty limited mass appeal.
I hate the contract thing. I trained under one guy for several years and he refused to take a dime from me. Another guy charged me $20 for six months, and his instructor later offered to teach me for nothing (I still regret turning that down, but I had other stuff going on). Yet another instructor saw me hanging around after one class and asked me if I wanted to work out. Never even mentioned money...
Unfortunately, it's been about five years since I've really put any effort into it. Learning any MA seems to be more of a young man's game. Old age is better for perfecting your craft..

 

[Scott_lb]

I earned my black belt in Karate/Kickboxing at Team Roufus after four years of VERY hard training and then trained at Duke Roufus' Muay Thai gym for a few years after that (Duke has some cool training videos up on YouTube if you're interested). After taking an 8 year break, I am now training at a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy here in California. To my eyes, Muay Thai and BJJ have been the most effective from a self-defense standpoint, karate less so. While I have a very long way to go in regards to BJJ, I feel much more well-rounded as a fighter as I had absolutely no ground training before. I plan to train in BJJ for quite some time.

 

[KurtEP]

I earned my black belt in Karate/Kickboxing at Team Roufus after four years of VERY hard training and then trained at Duke Roufus' Muay Thai gym for a few years after that (Duke has some cool training videos up on YouTube if you're interested). After taking an 8 year break, I am now training at a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy here in California. To my eyes, Muay Thai and BJJ have been the most effective from a self-defense standpoint, karate less so. While I have a very long way to go in regards to BJJ, I feel much more well-rounded as a fighter as I had absolutely no ground training before. I plan to train in BJJ for quite some time.

I suppose if I had it all to do over again, I would have done boxing and judo. I studied KunTao for a while, which had a strong element of judo because of the instructor's background. I also spent a lot of time in some miscellaneous karate/kung fu mix that was more useful for banging than any real technique. Did some Aiki Jutsu here and there too.
I'm a strong believer in keeping it simple, direct and nasty. Boxing fits the bill quite well, there. Kicking has its place, but has its risks. Judo covers both throwing and ground. Of course, you can argue this topic until the world ends, but that's my take. Unfortunately, it's very unlikely I'll get back into it too far again. I no longer have time for all my hobbies. :frowning: :frowning: