S
soccer50
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I was wondering, for purposes of looking for a good school, are there any standards for various martial arts? For example, what should be learned in 1 year, or how is ranking decided?
OP
MartialArtist
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- #3
There are certain standards that are applied to most schools and the like, but no such standard is universal nowadays.
OP
soccer50
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- #4
Every school no matter what style shares common standard for the basics. For example, in Muay Thai, the basics should be learn within a period of 6-8 months. What should be covered is: training drills, jab, hook, uppercut, elbow, roundhouse, low kick, and clinch. Those are just the basics. Every Muay Thai gym teaches that no matter what. Thats what I consider a standard. What is the standard for Judo Sport, ITF TaeKwonDo, Kyoushin Karate, or whatever your style is? Thats what I wanna know
OP
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Well, the arts I know best are combat TKD and wrestling, so I'll attempt to elaborate on that.
The TKD I was trained in is not the normal TKD you see around. It starts at a young age (around 6 or so) and it's around 3-4 hours of training daily. The first few months, like almost any other art starting from the very beginning, was conditioning. Conditioning is still the foremost thing when one starts out. One cannot learn technique well and learn how to apply it if he is a beginner and is out of breath and about to fall. Thus, conditioning is first built up. There was no real full-contact (as in bruises, sprains, blood) until you were 16, but I returned to the US before that. However, that didn't exempt you from getting hit during training, or your instructors punishing you with a jukdo. I do remember the first thing after conditioning was developing "toughness", which wasn't anything more than a process in developing heart and desire. Some stamina and mind-control type of stuff. Will you break was what people were looking for. Then I remember it was footwork, balance, agility, and flexibility that was stressed. Agility, speed, and coordinated footwork, being able to attack and defend from all angles, maintaining balance, etc. Then jab, punch, some different stances, some locks, throws, takedowns. Basic kicks, all that.
One thing I also remember is that the older students did a lot of power and speed breaking. I don't know the requirements for that. Not knowledgeable enough.
ITF standards, I'm not sure, but you can go to any school and they'll give you the testing requirements.
For example, testing for a yellow belt would mean that you would know the basic patterns and maybe one form, know the basic front kick, straight punch, etc.
In wrestling, the first thing was also conditioning. Basic offensive and defensive stances, basic footwork such as circling, pressuring, backing and pulling, side steps, snap downs. Basic set-ups came next. Inside grapple, ducking, arm drags, locking on, underhooks, getting hold on an arm to control the opponent, head taps, pushing the head down, pressure and releasing... Reaction drills for everything. For example, when a person posts up, what do you do? Reaction drills were a bit loose so one can experiment with what the person likes best. The things that were taught on the first day were taught almost every day, and drills focusing on the basics were also practiced every day for about 30 minutes.
Then came shooting once basic footwork was down, as shooting depends on footwork. Shooting is footwork in its pure form. Double legs, single legs, low-level finishes, some basic defensive work such as snapping the opponent down after using footwork, creating angles for an attack or for a counter-attack, wizzers, front headlocks, front quarters. All were done to the final stage until control, usually a pin.
Again, this was all that was done for the first few months. The above would be practiced at every practice, but it just didn't consume all the time. There were some neat techniques that were taught that were dependent on the individual. Some riding techniques only work for some people while not for others, while other riding techniques work for the others but not for them. A lot of groundwork such as saddling up on the opponent, arm bars, countering arm bars, locks, etc.
Throws were taught last, once a person got a reasonable amount of experience with sensing an opponent's balance and theirs simultaneously. Throws, suplexes (for freestyle), wrist locks... Although some were illegal, they were practiced anyway in order to get certain principles like actually putting pressure on certain areas of the body. Throws and suplexes were personally my favorite aspect.
After a few months on throwing, then there were victory throws. Yeah, they were not intended to be used during a real match, just something in case you were down by 14 and there's 10 seconds left on the clock... Also, they were done just for fun, nothing really serious.
That was basically covering what you will learn in one year of wrestling. Professionals also practice the basics every day, which is a known fact in most sports.
