My next chapter doesn't include TKD

[skribs]

I'll be moving 2000 miles next month. (That's 3000 km for you heathens out there). My parents moved last year. My sister and her family a few years earlier. They are much happier there now. The weather, the politics, the cost of living, the job opportunities. And so I will be following.

My original plan was to get my 4th Degree and KKW Master Certificate before going down. That way, I could open up a school of my own when I got there. There's a few KKW schools in neighboring towns, but none where my parents live. However, my tests kept getting pushed back.

My relationship with my Master was already strained. He's a great teacher, but not a great manager. Since he knew I was eventually leaving, it was like he had already checked out on me. Kept forgetting that I wanted to stay until I got my 4th Dan and KKW Certificate, and acted like I had already put in my 2 week notice. There were also some unrelated factors (some remote job opportunities that fell through, among other things). So I decided to move before achieving those ranks.

My Dad (also a 3rd Dan) has talked with a few of the schools in the area about me and my goals. There is one that said he would be able to help me get my 4th Dan, Master Cert, and open up a school in my parent's town. He's older than my former Master, a degree higher, a title higher (Grand Master instead of Master), and seems much more down-to-earth. A lot of the issues I had at my former school would probably not be issues here, and it would be a great opportunity.

However, I have also for a long time wanted to learn BJJ. That art in particular is booming in my new town. One school is owned by a member of my parent's church. I was able to go in for a visit when I visited my parents last month. It wasn't during class, but I got to meet the owner and the Professor (what we would call a Master).

I would be in a similar situation. Like me, he's a 3rd Dan nearing 4th Dan...but that's in the BJJ system where he's probably got the same experience as a TKD 6th or 7th Dan. In general, I'm worried about the culture of BJJ, based on interactions on some of the forums I've been on. Mainly Reddit. However, the school I'm joining has more adults my age (mid-30s) than a bunch of high school and college age kids, so it should help tremendously. The blessing and the curse is that it's a newer school. This means the focus of the Professor will be on the basics and fundamentals, but also means there isn't a whole lot of experience outside of him (the next highest is a single purple belt, everyone else is white or blue).

In theory, I could just take both. Well, every single martial arts school in the area has adult classes of my belt (Black in TKD, White in anything else) at around the same time, so it's impossible to double up on days. I also couldn't really find one I liked. I'd like to hit the bonus classes at the TKD school, but doing so would have me 2 days at BJJ - one gi, one no-gi - and that's basically one day a week in two different arts.

I'll also be searching for and/or starting a new job. (I'll be moving in with my parents until I find one, so no rush). I'm hoping to get a 9-5, but I may get a job with overtime or chaotic shifts. I may want to pursue hobbies outside of martial arts, including going back to school and getting a degree in something related to my field of IT, instead of my current degree in Psychology. I don't know that I have the bandwidth to manage both TKD and BJJ, and do other things as well. To be honest, I'm kind of burned out on TKD. I've been doing it 6 days a week, 20 hours a week, on top of a full time job, for the last 8 years.

I still would like to open my own school. I may come back in the future. I've come back from a 14-year break before. This time I wouldn't have to start over. I've seen when students come back, how much of their skill comes back right away, and it's mostly a matter of re-learning the curriculum. I learn forms fast. I'll re-learn them even faster (especially if I practice every now and then). I would have to learn new school-specific material anyway. And I don't think my Master taught things exactly the Kukkiwon way, so maybe some time away to flush the system, and come back ready to learn from someone else might do me some good.

The more I think about it, the more reasons I find why I would be happier doing BJJ that TKD in the near future. I feel more and more confident in my decision. It'll be nice to be a white belt again for a while. I'm sure the teaching itch will come back, but it'll be a lot less pressure if my only responsibility is to show up when I can.

 

[J. Pickard]

I train BJJ on top of running a TKD/TSD dojang and I will say BJJ is worth it if you can find a good school/instructor. It was a very refreshing reset and helped reinvigorate me as a martial artist.
Have you considered opening your own Dojang as an independent school until you can get Kukkiwon master cert? Just throwing it out there, most people outside of TKD have no idea what kukkiwon is and it holds no importance to them even after they learn. Some of the most successful TKD schools have no affiliation to KKW or ITF and have instructors that never earned higher than 2nd dan. In the 22 years I've been training I have never, not once, had anyone ask what my rank credentials were and have only ever had a handful of students as what degree black belt I was, it has absolutely no bearing on the success of the Dojang (I actually removed the Dan stripes from my belt and it had no impact on membership). I got my 4th Dan under Ed Sell, who is a pretty big name in the TKD world and I used to use it as a point of advertisement and would bring it up to new prospective members to try to impress them into joining our school and it had zero effect on enrollment compared to when we left the Sell team.

Hope everything works out for you.

 

[wab25]

I hope the move and the new school / style work out for you. I find it lots of fun to start a new art. I look forward to hearing your findings as you study bjj.

 

[drop bear]

Honestly it is just nice to turn up and train without having to deal with all the shenanigans that goes on.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Enjoy getting to be just a student again! I've had a chance to do that a few times in the last 20 years, and it's a very nice shift. I love teaching and helping others, but sometimes it's good to just be able to focus on your own development for a while, and leave the group responsibility to someone else.

And if you do someday decide to pick TKD back up, it (and moreso your HKD) will likely be improved in odd ways by experience with the BJJ approach.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

doing so would have me 2 days at BJJ - one gi, one no-gi - and that's basically one day a week in two different arts.

I just wanted to note that I would not regard gi and no-gi BJJ as two different arts. It's the same art in two slightly different contexts.

 

[Yokozuna514]

Good luck with the next chapter, It's good to be a student again and it has a way of changing you as a teacher as well. Enjoy the journey.

 

[Holmejr]

There is a big world out there and some really great arts to explore. Grappling arts would be a great compliment to your TKD, as would boxing or even FMA. Consider it an adventure. At 66 years old (67 in august) I’m truly grateful for the different arts I’ve trained in and the art I’m currently training in.
Blessings in your new adventure.

Eskrido de Alcuizar
World Eskrido Federation
Buena Park, CA

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I just wanted to note that I would not regard gi and no-gi BJJ as two different arts. It's the same art in two slightly different contexts.

I didn't even register that comment in the post. I'd agree. It makes more of a difference in BJJ than it would in his HKD, but doesn't change the fundamentals of the system (though obviously it changes some of the tactics significantly).

 

[skribs]

I just wanted to note that I would not regard gi and no-gi BJJ as two different arts. It's the same art in two slightly different contexts.

Different enough that I don't want to do one day a week of each. If I'm only doing 2 days, I want it to be more focused.

 

[J. Pickard]

Different enough that I don't want to do one day a week of each. If I'm only doing 2 days, I want it to be more focused.

Is there any BJJ that combines the two? The class that I take is Technically a jujitsu-gi based class but every drill we do (and I mean literally every single one) the instructor also shows a no-gi variation. I figured this would be pretty common but I've only ever been to two BJJ schools so maybe it's not so common.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Is there any BJJ that combines the two? The class that I take is Technically a jujitsu-gi based class but every drill we do (and I mean literally every single one) the instructor also shows a no-gi variation. I figured this would be pretty common but I've only ever been to two BJJ schools so maybe it's not so common.

There are a minority of techniques which are really only applicable to gi - collar chokes and the like. Or at least they are only applicable when the opponent is wearing some sort of clothing that you can use against them. The distinction is more relevant in sport application, since you aren't allowed to choke someone with their rash guard or t-shirt in no-gi competition, but most street clothing could potentially be used in a real fight.

Most of what I teach applies to both gi and no-gi. I tell my students that training in the gi will improve their technical defense, since the opponent has convenient handles to use against them, and training no-gi will improve their offence, since they don't have those convenient handles to use against the opponent.

 

[drop bear]

And generally people compete in both. Just so you get more rolls for your buck.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

There are a minority of techniques which are really only applicable to gi - collar chokes and the like. Or at least they are only applicable when the opponent is wearing some sort of clothing that you can use against them. The distinction is more relevant in sport application, since you aren't allowed to choke someone with their rash guard or t-shirt in no-gi competition, but most street clothing could potentially be used in a real fight.

Most of what I teach applies to both gi and no-gi. I tell my students that training in the gi will improve their technical defense, since the opponent has convenient handles to use against them, and training no-gi will improve their offence, since they don't have those convenient handles to use against the opponent.

Tony, this gets me back to something I've been thinking about. Gi and no-gi probably make more of a difference in BJJ than in my experience (our grappling doesn't make use of the clothing as often as BJJ or Judo, and we don't do a ton of ground work), so I don't know how much my experience answers here. Would you expect development at about the same pace (with different levels in different areas) training either (gi or no-gi) or both at the same time?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Tony, this gets me back to something I've been thinking about. Gi and no-gi probably make more of a difference in BJJ than in my experience (our grappling doesn't make use of the clothing as often as BJJ or Judo, and we don't do a ton of ground work), so I don't know how much my experience answers here. Would you expect development at about the same pace (with different levels in different areas) training either (gi or no-gi) or both at the same time?

For developing an understanding of the martial art and overall fighting skills, I think training in both at the same time will probably yield slightly faster results. If you are only training for sportive competition and only plan to compete in one area (gi or no-gi), then training in just that environment will generally give you faster results. (That’s assuming you have limited training time. If you’re training 4-5 days per week for gi or no-gi competition, then it might be a useful supplemental exercise to occasionally train in the other modality.)

 

[skribs]

For developing an understanding of the martial art and overall fighting skills, I think training in both at the same time will probably yield slightly faster results. If you are only training for sportive competition and only plan to compete in one area (gi or no-gi), then training in just that environment will generally give you faster results. (That’s assuming you have limited training time. If you’re training 4-5 days per week for gi or no-gi competition, then it might be a useful supplemental exercise to occasionally train in the other modality.)

My opinion is also the amount per week. I think there's a difference between doing 1 day of X and 1 day of Y, vs. 3 days of X and 2 days of Y.

 

[drop bear]

You turn up as often as you can and you will get better.

So the point of doing gi and no gi is that there are more BJJ slots open for you to train.

Rather than say a gi and no gi class on at the same time.

(Which the gym would have to be massive to accomplish)

 

[Gerry Seymour]

My opinion is also the amount per week. I think there's a difference between doing 1 day of X and 1 day of Y, vs. 3 days of X and 2 days of Y.

I’d disagree with the idea that they are X and Y. You’re talking about the same thing, in two variations. But the same thought still holds. 5 days of X in yep variations will usually develop faster than 2 days of it.

 

[Dirty Dog]

You won't even throw kicks at home?

Did you miss where he mentioned continuing to practice his forms?