Your Martial Arts Journey

[Tony Dismukes]

I started training martial arts training at age 17 with Tae Kwon Do. I was paying for lessons out of my allowance and I ran out of money after a few months. Then I found a non-profit Bando club which was almost free so I went there for a few months, but it was on the other side of town, I didn't have a car, and my mom got tired of driving me.

After that I spent about a year or so mostly picking the brains of friends and relatives who had any sort of martial arts background. In college I joined the Tae Kwon Do club and tried to start a general martial arts club which ended up being just myself and one other guy with some Karate training.

Around this time, the Ninjutsu boom got started in the U.S. thanks to Stephen Hayes. A local club was started up by a guy who had been to a few seminars. I joined and for the next three years, we organized local seminars starting with Hayes and continuing with some of his black belts every few months. In between seminars we would practice whatever we had learned. At the time, there were only a few actual dojos in the U.S. with black belt instructors and none in my immediate vicinity (Baltimore). I made the trip several times to the dojos in Dayton and Atlanta.

After graduating from college, I moved to Dayton to train in the Bujinkan dojo there. (This was originally Stephen Hayes' dojo, but he had left it in the care of some of his students while he focused on the seminar circuit.) I trained in the Bujinkan for a few years, travelling to numerous seminars as well as attending regular classes. I also cross-trained with friends who practiced other arts whenever I got the chance. I also spent several years in the SCA, participating in that version of armored combat.

Eventually I drifted away from the Bujinkan. Partly this was the result of various political schisms and partly because I was starting to suispect that the art was not as amazingly effective and perfect as I had been led to believe. I put an ad in the local free paper looking for training partners and found a few people from various backgrounds to meet up in the park or at the local Y. Around this time the first BJJ instructional videotapes came out and I was trying to learn from them. I didn't get very good, but I did learn enough to occasionally catch sparring partners with an armbar.

After a year or two of this, I heard that there was a guy teaching Muay Thai locally. I had been interested in that art since attending a Dan Inosanto seminar some years previously. I tracked the teacher (Oscar Kallet, still a friend after almost 30 years) down and started training with him. Oscar was teaching out of a jujutsu school (Yudansha Fighting Arts, a Danzan Ryu offshoot) and I began training that as well. I did a couple of amateur fights (1 win, 1 loss), but I was in my late 30s by this time and didn't have the drive to pursue a fight career as I headed into my 40s.

BJJ was starting to become more available at the time and I started attending seminars and visiting nearby clubs. The highest ranked person locally was a blue belt and there were a couple of times I drove a couple of hours to train with a purple belt. I didn't make the switch to training BJJ as my primary art until after my old jujutsu instructors left town. By then I had a BJJ brown belt (Mike Patt) to train with. During this period I also started training Judo at our local community college and continued attending seminars in other systems whenever I had the chance.

About 20 years ago I moved to Lexington, Kentucky and joined an MMA gym run by Mike O'Donnell. I've been here ever since. BJJ has continued to be my primary arts, but I've also kept up with Boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA. I'm fortunate in that practitioners of other systems have come through the gym over time and I've also been able to visit other local schools as my schedule allows. This has given me the chance to train Judo, wrestling, Sumo, Capoeira, Kali, Wing Tsun, Sambo, and more. Currently I split my training time between BJJ and HEMA.

Making some very rough guesstimates, my training time over the last 43 years works out to something like the following:

7400+ hours BJJ
2000+ hours Muay Thai
1500+ hours Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu
600+ hours Yudansha Fighting Systems (a Danzan ryu spinoff)
500+ hours Judo
450+ hours Boxing
300+ hours SCA heavy weapons fighting
350+ hours HEMA
300+ hours wrestling
200+ hours Kali (various flavors)
200+ hours Sumo
200+ hours Capoeira
100+ hours Wing Tsun
10 - 100 hours each TKD, Bando, Tai Chi, Karate, Sambo
less than 10 hours each Silat, JKD, Shaolin Do, Jow Ga Kung Fu

 

[Buka]

I started training martial arts training at age 17 with Tae Kwon Do. I was paying for lessons out of my allowance and I ran out of money after a few months. Then I found a non-profit Bando club which was almost free so I went there for a few months, but it was on the other side of town, I didn't have a car, and my mom got tired of driving me.

After that I spent about a year or so mostly picking the brains of friends and relatives who had any sort of martial arts background. In college I joined the Tae Kwon Do club and tried to start a general martial arts club which ended up being just myself and one other guy with some Karate training.

Around this time, the Ninjutsu boom got started in the U.S. thanks to Stephen Hayes. A local club was started up by a guy who had been to a few seminars. I joined and for the next three years, we organized local seminars starting with Hayes and continuing with some of his black belts every few months. In between seminars we would practice whatever we had learned. At the time, there were only a few actual dojos in the U.S. with black belt instructors and none in my immediate vicinity (Baltimore). I made the trip several times to the dojos in Dayton and Atlanta.

After graduating from college, I moved to Dayton to train in the Bujinkan dojo there. (This was originally Stephen Hayes' dojo, but he had left it in the care of some of his students while he focused on the seminar circuit.) I trained in the Bujinkan for a few years, travelling to numerous seminars as well as attending regular classes. I also cross-trained with friends who practiced other arts whenever I got the chance. I also spent several years in the SCA, participating in that version of armored combat.

Eventually I drifted away from the Bujinkan. Partly this was the result of various political schisms and partly because I was starting to suispect that the art was not as amazingly effective and perfect as I had been led to believe. I put an ad in the local free paper looking for training partners and found a few people from various backgrounds to meet up in the park or at the local Y. Around this time the first BJJ instructional videotapes came out and I was trying to learn from them. I didn't get very good, but I did learn enough to occasionally catch sparring partners with an armbar.

After a year or two of this, I heard that there was a guy teaching Muay Thai locally. I had been interested in that art since attending a Dan Inosanto seminar some years previously. I tracked the teacher (Oscar Kallet, still a friend after almost 30 years) down and started training with him. Oscar was teaching out of a jujutsu school (Yudansha Fighting Arts, a Danzan Ryu offshoot) and I began training that as well. I did a couple of amateur fights (1 win, 1 loss), but I was in my late 30s by this time and didn't have the drive to pursue a fight career as I headed into my 40s.

BJJ was starting to become more available at the time and I started attending seminars and visiting nearby clubs. The highest ranked person locally was a blue belt and there were a couple of times I drove a couple of hours to train with a purple belt. I didn't make the switch to training BJJ as my primary art until after my old jujutsu instructors left town. By then I had a BJJ brown belt (Mike Patt) to train with. During this period I also started training Judo at our local community college and continued attending seminars in other systems whenever I had the chance.

About 20 years ago I moved to Lexington, Kentucky and joined an MMA gym run by Mike O'Donnell. I've been here ever since. BJJ has continued to be my primary arts, but I've also kept up with Boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA. I'm fortunate in that practitioners of other systems have come through the gym over time and I've also been able to visit other local schools as my schedule allows. This has given me the chance to train Judo, wrestling, Sumo, Capoeira, Kali, Wing Tsun, Sambo, and more. Currently I split my training time between BJJ and HEMA.

Making some very rough guesstimates, my training time over the last 43 years works out to something like the following:

7400+ hours BJJ
2000+ hours Muay Thai
1500+ hours Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu
600+ hours Yudansha Fighting Systems (a Danzan ryu spinoff)
500+ hours Judo
450+ hours Boxing
300+ hours SCA heavy weapons fighting
350+ hours HEMA
300+ hours wrestling
200+ hours Kali (various flavors)
200+ hours Sumo
200+ hours Capoeira
100+ hours Wing Tsun
10 - 100 hours each TKD, Bando, Tai Chi, Karate, Sambo
less than 10 hours each Silat, JKD, Shaolin Do, Jow Ga Kung Fu

Always enjoying reading anything you post. To me, your fifth paragraph shows it all. Putting an ad in the local free paper for training partners. That’s determination. And watching video tapes to try and learn something.

If more people had your desire, wherewithal and determination the world would have more great Martial Artists.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I put an ad in the local free paper looking for training partners

I put ad in local gym and offered $20 an hour to find sparring/wrestling partner.

During the lunch time training, I taught people for free so I can get free sparring/wrestling partners. Sparring/wrestling is the most fun part for my training.

 

[ap Oweyn]

Briefly trained in judo as a boy in England. Dad tells me I have a white belt. I'm taking his word.

Immigrated to the U.S. in 81.

Started properly around age 13, in 1980-something. In 84 if I had to guess. Studied taekwondo exclusively for about 5 years (that being the local "karate" school where I was located, between Baltimore and Annapolis). ITF if it matters.

Voraciously read everything I could about Bruce Lee during that time.

You couldn't do that in the 80s and 90s without reading a lot about Guro Dan Inosanto, who wound up capturing my imagination much more than Lee himself. So I started looking for FMA in the area. This was pre-internet, so "looking" mostly meant "staring blankly." But I got lucky. The Patalinghug family opened a Doce Pares school near my home. I've been involved in FMA to one degree or another since.

After graduating college, I managed to find JKD teachers in Maryland and began attending. Though my focus was more kali and kickboxing than jun fan, wing chun, silat, etc. Wish I'd leapt on the chances I had to study bando and savate, though. Hindsight and all that.

In terms of FMA, my only official rank is in Doce Pares, though official rank is less of a thing in FMA anyway. I've trained for quite a long time with a Modern Arnis group, though I can't claim to even remember their 12 angles, never mind the Modern Arnis curriculum.

I've also spent time as a mutt in many of the styles you'd expect from someone interested in JKD (though not actually with JKD teachers). I've done some fencing, some boxing, etc.

Done some classes in other things here and there, as you'd expect from someone who hung out in martial arts clubs in college, visited informal training groups, took classes for credit in college, etc. But nothing I could make any claim to "knowing."

Finished it out with a very brief dip into the world of BJJ. Didn't stick very long because of health problems (the permanent sort). And because grappling just isn't my thing. I would never debate the effectiveness of jiujitsu. I just don't enjoy it. And, really, if you're not enjoying it, I don't see the point.

 

[Badhabits]

My father was a kyokushin guy, so karate was a part of life from the beginning. Grew up in a small town where a dojo would open for a year or three then close down. Someone always opened another one and it always closed down.
So a couple of years shotokan, a couple kempo, a couple taekwondo, a couple some sort of jujitsu, couple of what I believe was Goju.
Always trained with my father at home. He set up my first punching bags on my swing set. A pillowcase full of sand and a boat fender set up like a double end bag. At age thirteen or so he set up my first makiwara. Those are the three tools I've always had and consistently used throughout life. Heavy bag, double end, makiwara.
Moved to the city got a year or so mma, heavy on the BJJ. Decided I didn't like rolling around on the ground with other sweaty men so much.
Then a couple years Wado before long work hours made it nearly impossible to train. Made a conscious decision to quit martial arts classes due to work.
Couldn't stay away.
Moved to another town, limited options.
Have been with the same system and dojo now for several years.

 

[Buka]

My first long-time dojo was great. It was on a second floor. Next to us was an Edison Electrical office, who moved out. The building’s landlord had been good to us, he asked me to show anyone interested in renting the Edison office around the building. I gladly did so, explaining all the improvements the landlord had put in.

The last two guys I showed around - bought the building and gave us notice, six weeks to get out.

I had been competing for a few years and had made a lot of friends from different schools. For three years I went to a different dojo every night, took and taught classes. (Four nights and Saturday morning)

All different styles. And a few of the same styles taught different ways.

And I still wanted to compete. In order to compete you HAD to be part of a school. At the time I had four gis. My name was atop across the shoulders, American Karate across the back.

I turned each of those gi tops inside out, had my name stenciled across the top, a different name of a school/style across the back.

A pain in the neck sometimes, but turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to my Martial Arts career and my personal development.

In 1976 I opened my own dojo, and still went to some classes the people kind enough to help me out taught.

The ones still alive are friends of mine til this day.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Started in about 1972 in Japanese Jiujutsu just outside of Boston Massachusetts. My parents moved from the Northshore to the center of the state, and I ended up In Taekwondo in Worcester Mass, before TKD was an Olympic sport. TKD was very different then as compared to what I see now. No small children and we have takedowns, we had joint locks, we had close quarters fighting, as well strikes and all those high kicks. When my TKD school closed there was a bit of a lull in my training. Once I graduated high school, I returned to TKD. My teacher closed his school in Worcester, but kept his school in Boston, so I started driving to Boston. However, I was not taking it as seriously then as I should have, I was an auto mechanic then and I was spending way too much time hanging out with a lot of people I would not want my kids to hang out with (In a word ‘Bikers’). But I had my heavy bag at home, so I did continue to work with kicks and punches regularly during those days as well as in high school.

Then moved to NYS, started looking for a martial arts school again, but severely injured my back at work which put me out of commission for a few years. When I was feeling up to it I started looking again and decided to give Taijiquan a try. Meant my first shifu shortly after that, I would later realize, he was teaching was mostly Modern Wushu. While there I trained competition forms of Taijiquan, and Shaolin. But he did know some Chen so I trained that when the opportunity presented itself.

When he told the school he was going to teach Chen, a lot of people signed up. Initially it was 60 people in 2 classes. By the time it was finished there was 1 class and only 6 of us left standing. His Chen class was not his typical class, it was 1.5 hours long (usually a class was only 1 hour). The first 30 to 45 minutes of class was a strenuous workout, then Chen forms with some applications, it was the hardest class I even trained while at his school, but it was awesome. Also, while training with him I got into Baguazhang, XIngyiquan, and Wu Style Taijiquan and a few other things I am probably forgetting (give me a break, I'm old). Admittedly his Xingyiquan was horrible, but his Bagua was good. The one regret I have about my years training with him was that I did not get into more of his Baguazhang.

After being there for a few years I decided that I wanted to move on and get more in depth in a style. This was before the internet was everywhere (like I said, I'm old) so locating a teacher was not as easy then as it is now. I first looked for Xingyiquan, then Baguazhang, then Chen Taijiquan and then Wu style Taijiquan and found nothing. Then one of the students I trained with at my first Shifu’s school told me about a Yang Style teacher, so I ended up in Yang style, Tung Ying Chieh lineage. I spent about 30 years in Yang style, even help a lot with teaching. These days I feel that was 15 years too long, but I can’t change it now and I did leran a lot from him so there are really no regrets. During that 30 years I did manage to train a lot of Xingyiquan with various teachers and even a bit of Baguazhang. Dabbled in Wing Chun and tried Jeet Kune Do as well. And for a little while I even had the chance to train and did train Sanda, the version the Chinese train their police (for those that have been here a while, that is where the tree hitting came from).

Had knee issues in my 50s (told you I'm old) that required surgeries, had eye issues that required surgeries and training was hit and miss for about 10 years.

Realized, not too long ago, that I have spent the last, a bit over, 15 years forcing myself to do Yang Taijiquan out of loyalty to my Shifu and just because I have been doing it for so many years. I was the last of his old war horses and he even once told me I was his last serious student. However I no longer do traditional Yang, other than the one Short Dao form, just can't get myself to do it any longer.

These days: I have my own style of Taijiquan I am working with, I think after over 30 years and various style I am qualified to do that. Working with some folks with push hands training regularly and I am also working on Sun Style Taijiquan. Sun style to me is the most obvious of the styles when it comes to applications. Sun will however ultimately require some travel to train with the folks I want to train with. and I am back in Wing Chun. And the Wing Chun Kwoon looks just like it was plucked off the streets of old Hong Kong and dropped in NYS, and the Sifu is amazing as well. The sifu part being the most important bit of that, but I have to admit, I think the kwoon is pretty damn cool too.

Hoping, if my health keeps up and my joints keep working, to retire in a few years, move back to New England and maybe teach Taijiquan and whatever else I may be qualified to teach by then. Don't plan on making a lot of money, just love spending the day in a martial arts school, doing what I enjoy for the years left that I can do it. And @Buka better DAMN well stop by and at least say hello

Additionally, over the last 30 years I have trained a few styles of Qigong and I have trained at several seminars for various styles of martial arts, but I am not going to get into those and the teachers of those.

 

[Buka]

Started in about 1972 in Japanese Jiujutsu just outside of Boston Massachusetts. My parents moved from the Northshore to the center of the state, and I ended up In Taekwondo in Worcester Mass, before TKD was an Olympic sport. TKD was very different then as compared to what I see now. No small children and we have takedowns, we had joint locks, we had close quarters fighting, as well strikes and all those high kicks. When my TKD school closed there was a bit of a lull in my training. Once I graduated high school, I returned to TKD. My teacher closed his school in Worcester, but kept his school in Boston, so I started driving to Boston. However, I was not taking it as seriously then as I should have, I was an auto mechanic then and I was spending way too much time hanging out with a lot of people I would not want my kids to hang out with (In a word ‘Bikers’). But I had my heavy bag at home, so I did continue to work with kicks and punches regularly during those days as well as in high school.

Then moved to NYS, started looking for a martial arts school again, but severely injured my back at work which put me out of commission for a few years. When I was feeling up to it I started looking again and decided to give Taijiquan a try. Meant my first shifu shortly after that, I would later realize, he was teaching was mostly Modern Wushu. While there I trained competition forms of Taijiquan, and Shaolin. But he did know some Chen so I trained that when the opportunity presented itself.

When he told the school he was going to teach Chen, a lot of people signed up. Initially it was 60 people in 2 classes. By the time it was finished there was 1 class and only 6 of us left standing. His Chen class was not his typical class, it was 1.5 hours long (usually a class was only 1 hour). The first 30 to 45 minutes of class was a strenuous workout, then Chen forms with some applications, it was the hardest class I even trained while at his school, but it was awesome. Also, while training with him I got into Baguazhang, XIngyiquan, and Wu Style Taijiquan and a few other things I am probably forgetting (give me a break, I'm old). Admittedly his Xingyiquan was horrible, but his Bagua was good. The one regret I have about my years training with him was that I did not get into more of his Baguazhang.

After being there for a few years I decided that I wanted to move on and get more in depth in a style. This was before the internet was everywhere (like I said, I'm old) so locating a teacher was not as easy then as it is now. I first looked for Xingyiquan, then Baguazhang, then Chen Taijiquan and then Wu style Taijiquan and found nothing. Then one of the students I trained with at my first Shifu’s school told me about a Yang Style teacher, so I ended up in Yang style, Tung Ying Chieh lineage. I spent about 30 years in Yang style, even help a lot with teaching. These days I feel that was 15 years too long, but I can’t change it now and I did leran a lot from him so there are really no regrets. During that 30 years I did manage to train a lot of Xingyiquan with various teachers and even a bit of Baguazhang. Dabbled in Wing Chun and tried Jeet Kune Do as well. And for a little while I even had the chance to train and did train Sanda, the version the Chinese train their police (for those that have been here a while, that is where the tree hitting came from).

Had knee issues in my 50s (told you I'm old) that required surgeries, had eye issues that required surgeries and training was hit and miss for about 10 years.

Realized, not too long ago, that I have spent the last, a bit over, 15 years forcing myself to do Yang Taijiquan out of loyalty to my Shifu and just because I have been doing it for so many years. I was the last of his old war horses and he even once told me I was his last serious student. However I no longer do traditional Yang, other than the one Short Dao form, just can't get myself to do it any longer.

These days: I have my own style of Taijiquan I am working with, I think after over 30 years and various style I am qualified to do that. Working with some folks with push hands training regularly and I am also working on Sun Style Taijiquan. Sun style to me is the most obvious of the styles when it comes to applications. Sun will however ultimately require some travel to train with the folks I want to train with. and I am back in Wing Chun. And the Wing Chun Kwoon looks just like it was plucked off the streets of old Hong Kong and dropped in NYS, and the Sifu is amazing as well. The sifu part being the most important bit of that, but I have to admit, I think the kwoon is pretty damn cool too.

Hoping, if my health keeps up and my joints keep working, to retire in a few years, move back to New England and maybe teach Taijiquan and whatever else I may be qualified to teach by then. Don't plan on making a lot of money, just love spending the day in a martial arts school, doing what I enjoy for the years left that I can do it. And @Buka better DAMN well stop by and at least say hello

Additionally, over the last 30 years I have trained a few styles of Qigong and I have trained at several seminars for various styles of martial arts, but I am not going to get into those and the teachers of those.

I most certainly will, brother. And not just because it would be my pleasure, I owe you.

I opened a small dojo in 76. I had a carpenter build the dressing rooms. Nice guy.

When he was done and we knew each other a bit, he asked me “Can we make some kind of financial arrangement where I can use your dojo during off hours to teach Tai-Chi?”

I said, “Sure, on one condition, you charge whatever you want for your students, but let some of us take class for free. No charge for you to use the space.”

And that’s what we did. For four months. Then he moved to Maine to romance the woman he loved. I wished him well. But our Tai-Chi days were over.

Then, I don’t remember exactly when, YOU turned me on to Yangs Martial Arts Center in Roslindale, Mass.

Roslindale, where my first long time dojo was, Roslindale, where I first walked into a boxing gym and trained there for years. And then my wife and I went to Yangs to do Tai-Chi, which was a few hundred yards from our old training grounds.

The place was awesome. No matter how tired or burned out we were from working and training, taking class there was like drinking four cups of coffee. I’m not kidding, it really was. Suddenly everything flowed, you could feel it throughout your body. Your mind was clear and firing on all cylinders.

Unfortunately, we were about to move back here to Maui. Which we did.

But I owe you for hooking us up with that place. It was really good.

 

[windwalker099]

introduced to Chinese martial arts in 1973

as a young teenager growing up in San Francisco…my first style Tibetan White Crane, under noted Chinese Martial Art writer and practitioner Mike Staples, student of George Long..

Later after enlisting in the US Army, was stationed in Baumholder Germany, 8th Infantry Division serving in 1/39 mech infantry , as a field medic during the cold war.

Continued testing Tibetan White Crane with many different stylist wanting to understand how it would compare to their own martial system..This was done through informal matches among other martial artists and others just wanting to test their boxing or grappling skills in an open format.

This would continue after being re-assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division stationed in South Korea, a few kilometers from the DMZ .

Lost a match against a Plum flower Mantis exponent .
A student of Master ” Park Chi Moon.

Master Park, would later become my teacher, master in Korean is 사범님 (Sa-beom-nim)
He not so formal,,,Mr Park worked

My next re-assignment in the Army landed me in the Hawaiian island of Oahu,. home of the 25th infantry division. Again still testing my CMA, feeling I needed something to deepen my understanding, a local Aikido sensei a friend of mine suggested taiji, from a master known for using his art in fighting who had classes in Honolulu.


In 1980 was introduced to a little known taiji master Sam Kakina , asking to be called “Sam” and his noted student Shifu Peter Tam Hoy. Teaching the Tung/Dong taiji style…

The first introduction into the world of taiji.

Reassigned to a new duty station Redstone Arsenal , was introduced to Professor Ken Wen Chi, “亓冠文” by Taiwanese soldiers being trained on the MIM-23 Hawk missile system…

Prof. Chi, was a informal student of Zheng Manqing in Taiwan, where he learned the 37 step taiji directly from Master Zheng Manqing. The method and focus very different from my earlier taiji training leading to a deeper understanding and study of the art.

It would be some 20yrs later before meeting a student of Master Zhang Youngliang, in the San Francisco bay area, this would eventually lead me to meeting Master Zhang, traveling to Beijing, China. becoming a direct student.

In doing so dropping all that I had practiced before meeting someone who embodied what I was looking for…

the Journey never ending, the path ongoing