Which Martial Arts should I pick up?

[CB Jones]

But I am advanced enough to know my craft.

Just curious....but how do you know that?

Do you compete? Live sparring with other Martial Artists?

 

[Flying Crane]

I guess you're not understanding, I don't need a teacher at this point. Unless I took up Karate or JKD. But I am advanced enough to know my craft. I'm just looking for others with similar platforms to practice with and shoot short films. I've trained for over 20 years and most likely skilled several levels past a black belt. I don't want to waste money or anyone's time.

May I ask, how do you assess your skill level? How do you know you are so skilled? Particularly in Capoeira?

 

[drop bear]

yes its dishonest not to point out the limitations, that doesn't seem to run contrary to anything ive said in this thread

Individual criteria of working basically means everything works. You can't suggest online is any less efficient a method when the results are completely subjective.

 

[Razznik]

I think grappling training can be exhausting if you are doing it right. If you want to lose weight and are looking for an exercise component to that approach, you could do worse than grappling.

I definitely agree. I'm not trying to go against every grappling technique ever, I just don't think judo is the perfect fit for me.

 

[jobo]

Individual criteria of working basically means everything works. You can't suggest online is any less efficient a method when the results are completely subjective.

but we either have individual criteria or every one in the world is forced to use your critieria,

the first seem more pragmatic and fair, iif their main criteria is that they enjoy it, that isnt subjective, it is individual, but it can be measured by comparison with things they enjoy less

the world rather consists of people doing things they have to do and doing thibgs they enjoy doing, most people can accuratly rate the enjoyment factor in activities

 

[drop bear]

but we either have individual criteria or every one in the world is forced to use your critieria,

the first seem more pragmatic and fair, iif their main criteria is that they enjoy it, that isnt subjective, it is individual, but it can be measured by comparison with things they enjoy less

the world rather consists of people doing things they have to do and doing thibgs they enjoy doing, most people can accuratly rate the enjoyment factor in activities

You have a set of empirical results and then apply your criteria to that.

Not make the results a factor of your criteria.

We can look at psychic powers. Now empirically they don't work. And we know this because we can subject them to blind trials.

But psychic powers do make people happy.

There is two different standards of measurement that apply in different contexts.

Confusing those standards of measurement is where you might get in to trouble.

We can look at yellow bamboo as an example. From an individual criteria it may work at making you happy. But it won't work if someone wanted to attack you.

And confusing those concepts leads to problems.

 

[jobo]

You have a set of empirical results and then apply your criteria to that.

Not make the results a factor of your criteria.

We can look at psychic powers. Now empirically they don't work. And we know this because we can subject them to blind trials.

But psychic powers do make people happy.

There is two different standards of measurement that apply in different contexts.

Confusing those standards of measurement is where you might get in to trouble.

We can look at yellow bamboo as an example. From an individual criteria it may work at making you happy. But it won't work if someone wanted to attack you.

And confusing those concepts leads to problems.

youve decided to change the terms of referance to happiness,from enjoyment which are rather different but possibly related concepts

so lets stick to enjoyment, as its what i said.

if people enjoy using a Ouija board im good with that, just as if they like gardening or cleaning, non of them rock my boat, but im not going to dedicate a big chunk of my life telling them that if their garden doesnt look like hampton court, they are wasting their time, if it passes an hour or two on pleasantly for them its all the justification they need to keep doing it

im currently doing up an old mountain bike for my neice, there is no actual logic in doing so, by the time i add up the cost and particularly the time spent it would make more sense to buy her a new one, but i enjoy it, what more justification do i need ? seeing her happy makes me happy, but that can be achieved in many ways, so i picked the one i enjoy doing

 

[Flying Crane]

I definitely agree. I'm not trying to go against every grappling technique ever, I just don't think judo is the perfect fit for me.

That’s a fair assessment and I feel the same way about it for myself.

 

[KenpoMaster805]

Any martial arts will do as long as your dedicated motivated and you can loose weight too.

 

[drop bear]

youve decided to change the terms of referance to happiness,from enjoyment which are rather different but possibly related concepts

so lets stick to enjoyment, as its what i said.

if people enjoy using a Ouija board im good with that, just as if they like gardening or cleaning, non of them rock my boat, but im not going to dedicate a big chunk of my life telling them that if their garden doesnt look like hampton court, they are wasting their time, if it passes an hour or two on pleasantly for them its all the justification they need to keep doing it

im currently doing up an old mountain bike for my neice, there is no actual logic in doing so, by the time i add up the cost and particularly the time spent it would make more sense to buy her a new one, but i enjoy it, what more justification do i need ? seeing her happy makes me happy, but that can be achieved in many ways, so i picked the one i enjoy doing

Correct. Which justifies on line training. Because whether it makes you any better or not isn't a factor.

 

[jobo]

Correct. Which justifies on line training. Because whether it makes you any better or not isn't a factor.

well it depends, if improving is part of the enjoyment, then it doesnt totally justify it, as your enjoyment is decreased

this is only really a factor if your not taking an informed decision on how much if any progress is realistic, if you know and accept that and ita still deemed as a benificial use of your time then its all good.
if your paying a lot of money with out being made aware of the imitations then your being taken for a ride,

in these times it maybe more benificial as a social/ group thing even if its not in anyway helping your ma to progress or even stopping it decreasing

 

[drop bear]

well it depends, if improving is part of the enjoyment, then it doesnt totally justify it, as your enjoyment is decreased

this is only really a factor if your not taking an informed decision on how much if any progress is realistic, if you know and accept that and ita still deemed as a benificial use of your time then its all good.
if your paying a lot of money with out being made aware of the imitations then your being taken for a ride,

in these times it maybe more benificial as a social/ group thing even if its not in anyway helping your ma to progress or even stopping it decreasing

Exept if the person thinks they are progressing then they may enjoy it more. And so validating the process of not being honest.

 

[Martial D]

So I'm kind of new to the whole martial arts concept. I've been doing Taekwondo for the last couple of months but don't feel it as a "fit" for me. Can anyone recommend where there are these few things involved:

• A lot of physical action (So no yoga XD)
• Where there is a relatively high skill level
• One where actual skill is required and you don't pay to earn belts (as I've seen a 3rd grader have the black belt first dan in taekwondo)
• Where it isn't a cheap rip off of the real version (cough cough western taekwondo cough cough)
• Where you don't use extra weapons (like nunchaku)
• And where you can also train your body at the same time (I'm overweight XD)

Thanks a lot!

The answer to this really depends on what you want to get out of it. Watch a class. What are they really doing? Are they punching and kicking at air? Are they doing drills that are fully cooperative, or focus on responding to slow motion or unrealistic attacks?

If so you may become good at doing these things.

Are they rolling, grappling, and sparring without any scripted motions? If so you might learn to deal with real attacks.

 

[mrt2]

So I'm kind of new to the whole martial arts concept. I've been doing Taekwondo for the last couple of months but don't feel it as a "fit" for me. Can anyone recommend where there are these few things involved:

• A lot of physical action (So no yoga XD)
• Where there is a relatively high skill level
• One where actual skill is required and you don't pay to earn belts (as I've seen a 3rd grader have the black belt first dan in taekwondo)
• Where it isn't a cheap rip off of the real version (cough cough western taekwondo cough cough)
• Where you don't use extra weapons (like nunchaku)
• And where you can also train your body at the same time (I'm overweight XD)

Thanks a lot!

OK, so I read this entire thread, and it doesn't seem as if you are any closer to finding an answer to your question. I will start out by saying I practice Tae Kwon Do, and when I started I was overweight still am a little, but not as much as I was 3 years ago, Here are a couple of thoughts, FWIW.

OP, you seem to have some idea of what you want, and no idea at the same time. You know you don't like Tae Kwon Do, presumably because it is too easy, though I wonder if this means that after 2 short months you are already dominating the best students at your school. Or is something else going on here? Does it matter that your TKD school trains children? Do they make you spar against children? I sure hope not, but then again, anything is possible.

You also said you don't think a grappling/throwing art like Judo isn't for you, but you didn't really say why.

You also indicated that part of your motivation is to be strong enough to not be picked on because your are weak. I get that. When I was in high school, that was my motivation for taking up Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art similar to Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The only time I ever tried to use it in an actual fight, things didn't happen at all like I expected. In my mind, I pictured some cool Chuck Norris moves, slipping and blocking the other guy's punches and finishing him off with something like a roundhouse kick, and the actual fight was something much more messy. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. I had only been training a few months, and that is not nearly enough time in any martial art to actually learn how to fight. But surprisingly, despite the fight being ugly, I never got in another fight again in 4 years of school. The closest I got was a year later, and it wasn't really a fight, but more of a guy pushing me and getting in my space. I hit him with a push front kick, which he walked right into, and it dropped him, and that was the end of that confrontation. So I guess after a little more training, it actually did work.

Which brings me to my next point. It takes a long time to become proficient at fighting when practicing a traditional martial art like Karate, Tae Kwon Do or Kung Fu because all are systems that practice a lot of things that are secondary or tertiary to just fighting. Even the old school Karate, or Tang Soo Do I did years ago, which was in some ways harder than what I do now, the sparring was not entirely realistic since we generally did not do full force punches to the face, and tried to do light contact to the body. And throws were generally done with a semi compliant partner. And since in real life, the guy your are fighting is generally trying to hit you in the face or pin you on the ground and then punch you in the face, no traditional martial art can simulate that.

If that is your only reason for training, find a place that focuses on hard, realistic training. If you want to get good at striking, go with boxing, or maybe Muy Thai. And for grappling, BJJ. Getting in the ring regularly with guys trying to hit you will reduce your fear of getting hit and get you good at punching, or throwing nasty kicks or elbows. And the same goes for grappling. But, you need to ask yourself, how do you feel about getting hit in the head and face 2, 3, or 4 times a week? Is that your idea of fun? It isn't mine, but as a middle aged man, I don't really want to get hit in the face constantly.

Finally I want to address the weight thing. If you watch what you eat and work out regularly, it does not matter what you practice. If you don't watch what you eat, you might lose a little weight initially, but you will quickly adapt and eat back most of what you burn off in class. Trust me on this. I have been there many times. Exercise for health, eat sensibly for weight loss (and health).

 

[_Simon_]

OK, so I read this entire thread, and it doesn't seem as if you are any closer to finding an answer to your question. I will start out by saying I practice Tae Kwon Do, and when I started I was overweight still am a little, but not as much as I was 3 years ago, Here are a couple of thoughts, FWIW.

OP, you seem to have some idea of what you want, and no idea at the same time. You know you don't like Tae Kwon Do, presumably because it is too easy, though I wonder if this means that after 2 short months you are already dominating the best students at your school. Or is something else going on here? Does it matter that your TKD school trains children? Do they make you spar against children? I sure hope not, but then again, anything is possible.

You also said you don't think a grappling/throwing art like Judo isn't for you, but you didn't really say why.

You also indicated that part of your motivation is to be strong enough to not be picked on because your are weak. I get that. When I was in high school, that was my motivation for taking up Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art similar to Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The only time I ever tried to use it in an actual fight, things didn't happen at all like I expected. In my mind, I pictured some cool Chuck Norris moves, slipping and blocking the other guy's punches and finishing him off with something like a roundhouse kick, and the actual fight was something much more messy. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. I had only been training a few months, and that is not nearly enough time in any martial art to actually learn how to fight. But surprisingly, despite the fight being ugly, I never got in another fight again in 4 years of school. The closest I got was a year later, and it wasn't really a fight, but more of a guy pushing me and getting in my space. I hit him with a push front kick, which he walked right into, and it dropped him, and that was the end of that confrontation. So I guess after a little more training, it actually did work.

Which brings me to my next point. It takes a long time to become proficient at fighting when practicing a traditional martial art like Karate, Tae Kwon Do or Kung Fu because all are systems that practice a lot of things that are secondary or tertiary to just fighting. Even the old school Karate, or Tang Soo Do I did years ago, which was in some ways harder than what I do now, the sparring was not entirely realistic since we generally did not do full force punches to the face, and tried to do light contact to the body. And throws were generally done with a semi compliant partner. And since in real life, the guy your are fighting is generally trying to hit you in the face or pin you on the ground and then punch you in the face, no traditional martial art can simulate that.

If that is your only reason for training, find a place that focuses on hard, realistic training. If you want to get good at striking, go with boxing, or maybe Muy Thai. And for grappling, BJJ. Getting in the ring regularly with guys trying to hit you will reduce your fear of getting hit and get you good at punching, or throwing nasty kicks or elbows. And the same goes for grappling. But, you need to ask yourself, how do you feel about getting hit in the head and face 2, 3, or 4 times a week? Is that your idea of fun? It isn't mine, but as a middle aged man, I don't really want to get hit in the face constantly.

Finally I want to address the weight thing. If you watch what you eat and work out regularly, it does not matter what you practice. If you don't watch what you eat, you might lose a little weight initially, but you will quickly adapt and eat back most of what you burn off in class. Trust me on this. I have been there many times. Exercise for health, eat sensibly for weight loss (and health).

Hey @mrt2 , great to hear from you, has been awhile. Hope you're well