Martial Arts Experiences

[visualkei]

As I was reading [B]Sojiro47[/B]'s response on the post: [I]What do you want?,[/I] I thought, wow, that's hardcore. I used to love martial arts... not as much as that person, but I really enjoyed it.

[B]My questions to you are, if you've taken martial arts, what did you take? How are you coming along in regards to it? What was your experience like? What was most memorable?[/B]

The first martial arts I took was pretty obscured, called Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial arts. The students and I were quite close, most of them were my relatives or close friends, and I also got along with all the people there. My instructor was a very personal man who knew our families, and worked in similar businesses as they. It was a far drive, 30 minutes, but we thought it was worth it at the time. Then we quit, because we felt it took too much effort and time to go there, we practically took away half the class. It made me feel horrible, but that was my decision.

Class took place in a run down room that you had to walk through a convenience store to get to. The socialization that went on there was interesting, but I really looked forward to seeing myself physically improve during the time I spent there. I took about... 3 tests in that class, I think. My instructor would host parties for us at his house, and we also saw him at parties which our parents attended. On the day we left, we were all at the beach together because we've camped out for a night. Told stories and played games. It was memorable.

He had 2 sons that attended class. One was about my age, a teenager at the time. The other was an unruly child who was 12 at the time. He always messed with me and the other girls, and I was really agitated since he stood behind me, though I never complained or told on him.

One day our "sifu" was talking about the founder of Vovinam who's last name is Le, and his son blurted out: "Is he related to Bruce Lee?" [B]I guess that was the last straw, because my teacher walked towards his son, and gave his a hard slap on the face.[/B]

The whole class was silent. My instructor went back to the front of the room, composed, and continued class, and we went on as if nothing happened. I don't remember how his son reacted or if he continued practicing with us, though. This might sound cheezy, but I remember it like it was some scene in a movie, that's why it was memorable. hehe.

The second martial arts I joined was in college, and it was Tae Kwon Do. I only took it for a semester, and I didn't even take the test to go up a belt. The thing that I'll remember in that class was that I've never been so shy and disfunctional about my attraction, and it was for the teacher's assistant! When we took the class exam for points, I was tearing myself inside to ask him to leave because I was mentally distracted. I was so pathetic! :animeblus

Overall, I enjoyed VVN more than TKD, not just because of the people that I interacted with, but because, well, I thought VVN's fighting was more fierce, and I liked that more.

[Raiyuu]

[font=trebuchet ms]I took Judo for a while when I was in primary school, but my [b]fear[/b] stopped me getting any good - I just couldn't relax when being thrown, and couldn't seem to get my head around lifting with the [b]knees.[/b] That's a perennial problem I have, that's popped up when I've done rock climbing as well: I try and do too much of the work with my arms, instead of letting the great big muscles in my thighs take the strain. I tended to go up by a single colour tab at each grading session - I suspect because the instructors didn't want to be disheartening.

A couple of years ago I took up [url=http://www.shintaido.co.uk][u]Shintaido[/u][/url] Bojutsu, because the fancy took me to learn a martial art once again and it was the only club I could find in my area. Shintaido's kind of meditative and not really any good in a combat situation, but I learned some cool-looking staff kata - and standing for two hours on a Sunday morning in [i]fudo-dachi[/i] ('strong base' stance) really helped educate me into drawing power from the legs, instead of the arms.

Since I've been at university I've been practising ninjutsu, which is far more practical if I ever get mugged in an alley. It's all about wristlocks and inflicting pain - learning which way joints aren't supposed to bend, and then how to get them into that position from a blocked punch. Sensei Bill carries half a credit card in his wallet - sliced neatly across the numbers, so the edge is slightly serrated, so if some fool demands his wallet he can pull that out and give them a good scratching. He's a scary man.[/font]

[Retribution]

[size=1]I began Karate when I was seven years old, and I continued until I was about eleven. I joined after watching Power Rangers and deciding "Hey, I wanna do that!" All in all, I got up to green belt, which isn't too far off from black in the discipline.

I tried coming back when I was about thirteen. I went to all my little brother's sessions, and I got all nostalgic watching him, and begged my parents to re-enroll me. They did, and I stuck with it for about two months before realizing that I wanted to quit for good.

I was very into Karate during my run. I went to my first tournament, where I placed seventh out of twenty, and I cried pretty hard because of it. I had won two spars but lost the third, and I had only done mediocre on my forms (kata) and so I was eliminated.

I hope to pick up a less involving discipline than Karate in college, just as something to keep myself in shape with after hours of studying. But Karate will always hold a special place in my heart. Ah, the good ol' days.[/size]

[Sojiro47]

Wow, a thread about Martial Arts! I can't pass this up!

Umm, where to begin? I have trained in my current style, Shutokan Karate Do, for about 6 years. That said, I am a first degree Black Belt. Not to brag, but I am considered very apt in my style, and I know 38 katas, or forms, which is at least 10 more than any of my peers. Huh, I train under a well known Martail Artist named Morris Mack. for the past three years, I have been training about three to for hours a day, not counting Sundays. Not much to say execpt that I have almost no other life outside Karate.

I am flatered to hear that someone considereds me hardcore, although it is true. A very large chunk of my friends are from Karate, and with out Karate, I would probably be on the steets, starting fights.

My Martial Arts history is too long to tell over a post, so if you want to know more, just PM me.

[Andy]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Hmmm...I took Tae Kwon do for a while, I got up to red belt and then I think I quit it because it was taking up too much of my time. But while I was there I had a lot of fun and I made new friends too. But because I was there all the time it started messing me up in school because I kept missing my homework. So I quit, oh well, it was fun while it lasted^^[/COLOR]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#656446]I took up [b]Judo[/b] for PE when I was a freshman. My university had some sort of dojo (2 actually, one for kendo and another for judo), and I wanted to see what they looked like. At the end of the semester, I still wasn't able to understand the point system, but I absolutely became fascinated with the concept of using your opponent's power against him.

Although ankle blocks satisfy the "disable with minimum effort" mantra my teacher preached, my favorite throw has got to be [i]Ippon Seionage[/i]/One Arm Shoulder Throw. It involves locking the crook of your arm with your opponent's arm and throwing him over your shoulder, so it requires a bit more effort than, say, leg wheels. But when done properly, it's easy to move on to a good grapple and secure a win (plus it looks mondo rad too! Kinda like them fancy moves that show up really nice in slow-mo).

And yeah, like [b]Raiyuu[/b] said, it's kinda hard to get the whole "lift with your knees" thing. I only learned how to do it halfway through the semester, when I was paired up with my 190+-lb classmate. The whole class, I think, was watching 'cause he's the largest guy in class and it's the first time he was paired up with a girl. One [i]ippon seionage[/i] later, I was laughing in disbelief 'cause 1) his back was on the mat and; 2) I got commended by my teacher. Booya.[/COLOR]

[pooperson]

I took Tae Kwon Do for a few years, and I loved it. I quite unfortunately had to quit though because it was expensive, and I didn't have the time for it. :( But anyway, I got up to be a recommended black belt...


[U][COLOR=Indigo]I WILL EDIT THIS LATER.[/COLOR][/U]

Okay. I'm back.

So I became a recommended black belt, and one month before my black belt testing, I had to quit. However, the experiences there were timeless.
I had known my instructor long before I joined because my brother had been in it for several years before I. So he already knew a lot about me because I had spent a lot of time there before I joined. Once I did join though, he taught me invaluable lessons. For example, one particular day sticks out in my mind.
We were sparring on a Wednesday night, and I believe I was fighting my own brother. Well, as I said, he had about 5 or 6 more years of experience, not to mention he was taller, stronger, and a higher belt than I, so I hated sparring him. Well, basically, I got the wind knocked out of me and got hurt pretty badly, and I started crying and freaking out. I sat down to take my gear off, and Mr. Brochin (my instructor) told me I needed to finish the fight. Oh man, I was pissed off at him. I started taking my gear off, and he told me that [U]I was going to finish[/U]. So I did, and I got hurt, and I cried. I didn't understand why he was making me do that until several years later. Now I know that he was toughening me up to be a stronger and better person.
So join Tae Kwon Do. It's good for you.

[orbindo]

[COLOR=Red]Tae Kwon Do, whenever i was little (like, 8 or so).
Quit after halfa year because it was costly, back then when my mom didnt work.

Im thinking about trying to get into something like that again, but i dont know if time will be a problem now. oh well.[/COLOR]

[Zen]

[color=darkred][size=1]

Martial arts are a pretty big thing in my life.

When I started martial arts, I was 13. I enrolled under a traditional military-style Tae Kwon Do master. I spent around six to eight months under him, and attained my yellow belt. Also during this time, I studied under one of my Dad's friends who was a tournament champion and a user of Gojinjutsu (a type of fused Karate and Jujutsu). He tought me more direct combat things than my original Tae Kwon Do master.

Then I moved and came to my current town where I've been studying Tae Kwon Do under my current masters for the past two years. I quite enjoy their more direct combat-oriented style of teaching, as they compensate for Tae Kwon Do's lack of close range fighting by teaching us Jujutsu and Hap Ki Do, which I accelled at. I'm currently the heighest ranked non black belt at the school, a second degree red belt, and should be testing for my own Black Belt in the coming months.

Martial arts all together have become my passion and have changed my life dramatically. They've kept me in great shape, they boosted my self confidence by bounds, and they have given me the ability and confidence to defend myself against just about anyone. Believe me, if you know what your doing, then it works. Haha.

I have alot of experiences, but I don't much care for typing that book right now. Haha.[/color][/size]

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]Let's see...I started [B]Judo[/B] when I was about, I guess, five years old. I've had a pretty odd thing going with my martial arts, because I moved around so much. I got to yellow belt and then we moved, and I was put back at white belt. I carried on with Judo until I was about seven but sprained my ankle and couldn't carry on with it.

I took up [B]Karate[/B] (please don't ask me which particular style, guh) when I was around the age of ten. I was seriously into it, and my sensei and sempai were both really impressed with my progress. I quickly rose from lowest in the class to the top and had about two kata under my belt (which sounds a little weak compared to everyone else posted here). Then, again, we moved to a totally different country and I couldn't even find a dojo to carry on. My sensei actually told me that it was a terrible shame, because I would have been really good =/

Last year I found a dojo that teaches [B]Kobudo[/B] and [B]Jujitsu[/B]. I started taking Kobudo classes, taking the [B]nunchaku[/B] on as my first weapon. Sadly, again, distance intervened and I only had the one lesson. It was a twenty-minute drive from our house and my mum didn't want to sit around waiting for me. That was pretty disappointing, too. As, once again, I'd been told that I was picking things up very quickly.

So...yeah. I have an odd past with martial arts and I desperately want to take it up again. There just isn't anywhere I can easily get to without inconveniencing someone else, which sucks.[/SIZE]

[DeadSeraphim]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=arial]I did some obscure thing for six months, wherein I learnt that my instructor was a pot smoker and extremely cool, but little else. Then I did Tae Kwon Do for a year, but was so lazy I only ever learnt how to punch properly and assume a respectable stance for sparring. I never got past yellow belt, and it doesn't worry me, since learning how to do a proper boxer's 1-2 jab through Tae Kwon Do has helped me more than anything in any brawls I get into. lol Since quitting that God-forsaken class, I have never down a single roundhouse kick.[/font][/size][/color]

[nomad19]

started when i was 11 i took up Tae-Kwon-Do for a 3 years i got up to the high-red belt(a promo away from black) they said that i was a really promising student, competing in regional tournaments both fights and formations, god i love performing the jumping turning long kick! hehe i got up to a silver medal in two tourneys and 1 gold both junior divisions...
the lack of time made me quit i can't take up martial arts and play football at the same time.

now that i've got time again i'm taking up Aikido i'm already ranked as 1st kyu brown belt and a rank away from being a 1st dan black belt.

i don't know how Tae-Kwon-Do could help me with Aikido now since not much kicks are involved and more bone-breaking and throwing, it's pretty intense!! and i have to go up against 10 black belts at once to rise up to black :animedepr

[Your Mother]

[SIZE=1]I've never taken Martial arts before, but now that I'm going to university, I'll have the chance. I can choose between [B]Aiki Jujutsu[/B], [B]Aikido Yoshokai[/B], [B]Judo[/B], [B]Godai Ninpo[/B], and [B]Tae Kwon Do[/B].

Could you guys let me know what each entails and recommend one?[/SIZE]

[Riku]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][SIZE=1][FONT=Tahoma]Ever since I was little, I've always watched those olf Kung- Fu movies and wanted to be just like Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan.

Well... the only Martial Arts I've really taken is [B]Jujitsu[/B] when I was really small. It was fun but a bit hard learning new moves and throws. My favorite part of the whole thing was when we were able to show people what we could do in a real life situation which was awesome. Every class, we would always practice first, have to jump and roll over someone and then we learn new moves.

Needless to say.... after I graduated to Green Belt, I quit because I guess I was lazy. :P Now I regret it, wanting to do it all over again and learn other arts, such as [B]Karate[/B]. I miss me doing some hard work yet learning something that could protect me in a few years or so.[/FONT][/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[The Spectacular Professor]

I am in the same dojo as Sojiro, but I am about 3 ranks behind him (3rd degree brown.) It's pretty fun, because if I harass him after class, I can now survive the imminent beating. My favorite attack is kicking, and I'm thinking about joining the sword class, but Sensei Pete is too scary and he already knows me (I really, really hope he's not reading this...) Oh, and I watch Walker: Texas Ranger. Does that count?

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

I took up judo in my local dojo at about eight I think, it was good exercise and seemed to be fun. Well dojo mightn't be the best worst as we actually only trained once a week in the town hall for an hour or so, the instructor was a friend of my dad's although the fact we live in a small village means that everyone is a friend/acquaintance of everyone else. I have to admit I actually enjoyed sparring a lot because nobody could ever manage to pin me unless they were two of three belts higher than me. Our sensei wanted me to compete in competitions but the fact that I was overweight meant that I'd end up competing against guys older than me which wasn't exactly something I wanted to do. After three years there I gave it up because I was never graded, I don't know why, but three years as a white belt one tip will annoy the hell out of you.

I'm thinking about taking up Karate with my brother this year, although seemingly the instructor, another friend of my dad's is a complete psychopath with new members, the fact that I know him outside of karate will probably earn me no mercy.[/SIZE]

[Shi no Tenshi]

I did Wing Chun for a little while. And Tae Kwon Doe.

Next, kickboxing!

[Guest Kendoka_wannabe]

I've been doing Kendo for a little over a year now. My sempai (instructor) gave me the thumbs up to test for Nikyu (2 ranks under blackbelt) in November.

Kendo is "The Way of the Sword"

[Magus]

I started taking karate at the age of 6. I think it was just your basic karate. Nothing too fancy. Just your basic punches and kicks, and learning how to block. Like Ezekiel, I moved around alot. 1st one I moved from was torn down. 2nd one I been to the instructor stopped showing up. (I'm assuming he was fired or something)

3rd type of martial arts was Shoto-kan. (I believe that was the name) I had to leave that one because the owner (not the teacher) was pretty shady. (Actually very shady) But anyways, I reached yellow belt status. Overall status. I would think I was a little higher because we normally had other schools to come to ours, and we had sparring sessions with them. (I never did know what school they were though) But I was put against a red belt. I don't know if he was taking it easy on me. I don't know if he had a case of bad luck, or whether luck was just on my side. I know I matched him if not beat him. Right after the class was over, I was told that the guy I took on had just reached his black belt status. So I'm wondering, what rank am I really? (I think all the bouncing around paid off)

But right now. I am currently not in any martial arts. I haven't been back in it since the Shoto-kan classes. (9 years ago) I've been wanting to get back into it though, but the problem is that there isn't many adult classes here in Michigan, atleast I haven't came across them yet. And I've been a little picky. (Just a little bit) Because the main styles I've been wanting to take up is Wushu, Tae Kwan Do, and Jeet Kune Do, but as I said, I haven't came across any of those here in Michigan, let alone, Detroit.

[Sojiro47]

Now that Kendo has been thrown into the mix, I will comment again.

I started Kendo three years ago, while I was training in Karate. As Ace said earlier, my beloved sensei, Sensei Pete is the sword instrutor. My rank in Kendo is nt important, as it is almost non-existant. I'm OK, but my basics are fine. Now, I have been told that if I ever aplied myself in the sword, I could advance rather quickly. But I have been far to busy in Karate to really aply myself in Kendo.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][B]Kendoka_wannabe[/B], deliberately insulting or flaming other members is unacceptable here at OtakuBoards. So I have deleted your posts along those lines. And [B]Sojiro47[/B], the next time someone insults you, do not respond in turn. Use the report bad post button in the top right corner of the post in question and let one of the moderators deal with it. Further posts of this nature will result in disciplinary action against the member in question and in this thread being locked. So please keep it civil people. ~SunfallE[/COLOR]

[Japan]

[COLOR=Navy]When I was in middle school, I did an art from South Korea called Kuk Sol Won. I wasn't the best because of my disability but I did pretty good. I got up to red belt which is the belt right before brown. It's white, yellow, blue, red, brown, 8 black stripes, and first degree black belt.

I ended up moving back to the states after those three years. (I was living in England at the time.)

Spending time doing kuk sol won was a blast. I got to practice out on the beach once and we got to go to an amusement park once too. Not only that, I got to paticipate in the nationwide tournament in Norwich in June 1999. Schools in over 25 cities throughout the UK participated in it. I didn't win anything but I don't care. Being there was enough. After the tournament, there was a demonstration done by all the black belts. Oh it was so amazing. I got to meet the Grandmaster of the entire martial art there too.

I made so many friends in there and a few of my friends whom tested in the 4 hour gap between the tournament and demonstration got their black belt! I don't think I could ever get black belt even if I tried.

Anyways, from England, I moved to Washington state and alas there are no kuk sol wan schools here. There are a few odd kinds around here, but I think I will go into karate soon.[/COLOR]

[Guest Kendoka_wannabe]

[quote name='SunfallE][COLOR=RoyalBlue][B]Kendoka_wannabe[/B], deliberately insulting or flaming other members is unacceptable here at OtakuBoards. So I have deleted your posts along those lines. And [B]Sojiro47[/B'], the next time someone insults you, do not respond in turn. Use the report bad post button in the top right corner of the post in question and let one of the moderators deal with it. Further posts of this nature will result in disciplinary action against the member in question and in this thread being locked. So please keep it civil people. ~SunfallE[/COLOR][/quote]


If you decide to use your Moderator Account to ban me for spreading the truth about somebody who was lying to others and making a joke out of all martial arts, go ahead. Hopefully someday real martial arts will be more wide spread and we wont have this problem. The problem of people seeing a few episodes of Samurai X or Naruto and saying that they do something that is fake. Hopefully someday there will be no more Fraudulent Dojo's mocking centuries of tradition by Americanizing Japanese Martial arts. Hopefully someday Naruto will be uncool so genuine budoka aren't bothered by practitioners of "ninjitsu". If you truely want this day to come; I sugguest you finally start using your Moderation abilities for the better and at least allow this post to stay.

Oni No Kenshi

Milwaukee Kendo Dojo

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Kendoka_wannabe']Hopefully someday there will be no more Fraudulent Dojo's mocking centuries of tradition by Americanizing Japanese Martial arts.[/quote][COLOR=maroon]I would just like to comment on this part of your complaint, about "Americanizing" Japanese MA. There's no such thing. It's true that, ever since Japan came out of its closet life, MA has been splitting and changing. However, Japan isn't unique in this sense: you can see in Chinese MA and even Korean MA (which is fairly new) that there are "traditional" and "modern/contemporary" branches. Breaking them further, you'll see "practical" and "performance" styles.

This is in response to the actual use of MA. To use an example, when Japan went to war and attempted traditional Iaido on its foreign rivals, they discovered to their surprise that the opponent won't wait for them to "properly" rise before they attacked. In regards to something you should be familiar with, as cool, hard, and impressive as it is to kick high, it really is not practical to do so in a real fight. Look at Vish Tsun (sp?, sounds like "Wing Chun"): not a single high kick is taught.

I like the changes that have come about in all MA. Why? Because by universalizing things, you find out what truly is the right path to defeat someone, and even the right path to impress someone, lol. Out of this, we have gotten seriously outrageous styles, such as Krav Magrav (sp?) and the other side of the spectrum which I can't think of.[/COLOR]

[Guest Kendoka_wannabe]

lets see....

the whole "sensei first name" thing

That is americanization

I heard somebody say they took "American Karate"

What do you call that?

I'm not talking about the martial arts themselves. I'm talking about the way they're taught.

If I ever called Okawara Sensei "Sensei Tom" he might just expel me from the dojo. I'm not talking about the evolution of martial arts.