Martial Arts

[Aries_Omega]

Good Advice

I was going to chime in with my 2 cents but you all took everything I had. Don't worry about size. Don't worry about country of origin for the style. Go and watch a few classes. No Sensai/Sifu/Master would be against it. Watch the beginer and intermediate classes carefully. Other then that it is personal choice and opionons.

Aries

 

[Lord Foul]

I will repeat again, because I too believe it:

The teacher is more important than the style.

From there, there are two (edit: three) things to remember:

1) What a style is designed to do is less important than how well your body and mind fit the style. It would not matter if every expert in the world said that TKD is the best of all possible styles. I'm a big, blockish, none too flexible guy, and I'll never be particularly good at TKD. Shotokan karate, on the other hand, is right up my alley. My body and personal style mesh with the art well, and so I am better with it than I would ever be with TKD.

Very good statement. Check out different styles and schools to find one that apeals to you and not what everyone else thinks is good.

2) With most styles, it takes far longer than you'd expect to become good enough to consider yourself safe in a fight. There's an old saying that there's nothing more dangerous to a yellow belt than himself, and it is true. You will think you are safe long before you actually are safe, and that's dangerous.

Another good point. No matter how much training you have had you are never "safe" until you get away.

3) Build doesn't mean nearly as much as you think. When fit and properly trained, a small person can do much. A large part of good training is perfecting form - making sure you hit in exactly the right way, with your body in exactly the right position to maximize effect. With perfect form, your weight and absolute muscle power don't mean much. The old, "if do right, no can defend" thing is true.

Size means nothing, skill means everything. I have taught teenage girls to takedown and escape from men the size of footbal players. Its all about technique.

As for credentials: I hold a 2nd degree black belt in Kempo.

 

[StalkingBlue]

...
3) Build doesn't mean nearly as much as you think. When fit and properly trained, a small person can do much. A large part of good training is perfecting form - making sure you hit in exactly the right way, with your body in exactly the right position to maximize effect. With perfect form, your weight and absolute muscle power don't mean much. The old, "if do right, no can defend" thing is true.

A true Shotokan Karateka's answer.

Rinulin, your size and weight are greater than most Japanese men's. I'm 5'4'' and was the tallest in most of the Karate classes in Tokyo I took.

As long as you're not going into kickboxing and sumo where sheer body mass counts, weight shouldn't become too much of an issue. All good schools should let you observe a lesson at least. In Europe it is also customary to let new students attend a class or two free of charge before they are asked make any further commitment, not sure whether US schools might be wary of allowing that for liability reasons or somesuch?

I'd recommend looking around schools in your area for a bit and try to get a feel for what teachers are good and what style you'd enjoy most. Talk to the teachers, and students if you can get hold of them. Most people in the martial arts are more than happy to explain stuff.

Good luck!

 

[CombatWombat51]

Like everyone said, it's all about the instructor. A few tips for what to watch out for:

Anyone who calls themself "grandmaster" and is under 50 years old.

Anyone who won't let you watch a class before you sign up.

Classes priced by the hour.

Anyone who doesn't have insurance.

Anyone who acts like a used car salesman when trying to sign you up; ie. doesn't answer your questions, constantly gloats about their claimed rank, trophies and other accomplishments.

Anyone who uses a picture of themself standing next to a famous martial artist as "proof" of their abilities.

Hidden fees. When the give you their quote, be sure to ask about other things you have to pay for. Popular ones include testing fees (that often grow to ridiculous amounts the higher rank you achieve), membership fees for their organization (WTA, ATA, NAPA, etc.), mandatory tournaments, processing fees (especially for debit and credit cards), and special fees for special gear. Note that just because a studio charges these things doesn't mean that they're a bad place. Just keep all these extra fees in mind when you're comparing prices.

Along with testing fees, there's also the hidden striped belts to watch out for. Many places will have about 10 ranks before black, plus a stripe on each belt, each of which must be tested for, with a scaling price.


There are also things that the average person might see as bad at first blush, but aren't necessarily bad things.

An instructor who's "only" a black belt of a lower degree. Different styles and studios have different methods of ranking. Keep in mind that you can buy a black belt from a retailer for 5 to 15 dollars. Spiffy red stripes can be added for a dollar apiece. The instructor's ability is more important than his rank.

A guy that teaches out of his back yard, the local gym, or some other non-dojo place. Hey, he might just not currently have the cash for a studio, and you get to pay less for instruction, since you're not paying his rent.

Instructors with day jobs. Nothing wrong with that, it just means he's not charging insane prices and/or he's just starting out in the teaching business.

An instructor who's short, small, skinny, female, or an unexpected ethnicity. Honestly, I'd rather learn from the red headed step-child than the 6'6" football player. The step-child that doesn't fit in the local area likely has more at stake with the effectiveness of his training than the huge guy does.


Remember, rank can be bought (as can the certificates), and skill can be nearly impossible to determine, especially from an untrained persons point of view. The best guideline for choosing a studio is finding an instructor that you think you could be an actual friend with. If the guy gives you a bad feeling for whatever reason, he's not the one.

 

[RangerWickett]

I've never taken any classes in an actual style; I took a general 'Martial Arts' PE course at my college, taught by a nice, 50-something man named Mr. Peck. We learned very basic versions of American boxing techniques, karate, judo throws, Filipino knife-fighting, and some strange arm binds and choke holds the origin of which I don't recall. I've also taken about a year of fencing. And way back in eighth grade my friend David taught me that nifty arm trick that you do when someone grabs your wrist, so that you twist around their hold and grab them.

I have no belts or anything, and I know I wouldn't necessarily win a fight if someone attacked me, but the knife-fighting techniques, combined with fencing, incline me to want to learn more styles that keep distance. I didn't really like judo (and I've forgotten how to exert my leverage with any real effect).

Two of my gamer friends from back home were black belts in karate or tae kwon do (I can't really tell them apart). One night two or three years ago, we were discussing grappling in D&D, and my friend Chris asks me to 'attack him.' I know what's coming, so we go to a nice open space in the living room, and I just go to grab his left wrist and punch his face. He does something I can't even follow, moves inside my reach, knocks me off balance, pins my arm, and lays his arm across my throat as we fall to the ground. The man weighs 300 pounds, so even if I weren't being choked, I couldn't have gotten out from under him.

A few months later, I happened to have a yard stick, and I was playing around with it like it was a saber. I asked Chris to come at me. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with a long weapon, since I'm sure his training would have focused on knives instead of swords. I lunged in and cut at his forearm. He tried to move in to wrench the sword from my grip, but I had about five feet of distance from him once I came out of the lunge, so he basically had to run across the line of my blade. Chris was smart, though, and he just pushed the yardstick 'sword' out of the way with one arm, so that he was getting cut instead of impaled. Then he pulled the stick out of my hand and tossed it away. I tried to run to get it, and he got me in a chokehold from behind and lifted me off the ground. I flailed for a few seconds, and then he let me go.

Anyhoo, martial arts is fun.

 

[barsoomcore]

CombatWombat51 added a few good points that I want to emphasize:

Classes in some "non-standard" locale. I learned aikido from Sensei Douglas Skoyles who, being an Anglican pastor, taught his classes in the church hall. For free.

I learned kenjutsu from Sugino Yoshio. That's THIS guy. His dojo has no sign on the door, he doesn't advertise, and likewise, classes were free. He sadly passed away a few years after this article was written, but I was very fortunate to have that experience.

I got it from asking around, getting recommendations and just going and seeing. Oh, and walking around and around Kawasaki looking for the damn place -- never try to find anything in a Japanese city with only an address.

Stick your head into places, ask questions and follow your nose. And learn to recognize crap.

 

[Turanil]

I thought that I would ask what experience people have with martial arts?

I'm curious because I feel like I need to pick up some self-defense training, but I know little about the various styles out there. I know that Tae-Kwon Do has become more of a sport karate, which I am not really interested in. What styles provide a reasonable level of self-defense training and exercise (not that Tae-Kwon Do doesn't provide self-defense, I'm just not really interested in the sport aspect)?

I have a light build (5'9, 145lbs.), so I am concerned about size being an issue.

Light build and martial arts for self defense?

Buy a gun instead, it's much more effective.

You are not searching a martial art for sport it seems, but for saving your life. You need to know that against two or more agressors equiped with knifes or clubs, you need to be a champion, not a mere practitioner. Just my 2 coppers example:

I practiced Judo and Tae Kwon Do for several years, then Kung Fu and Tai-Chi Chuan. I am certainly not of light build. So, against a single bare-handed opponent, I am confident I could stand my ground. (In this case just a note: a fight is not a gentlemen's sparring exchange. Once involved you must srike hard and fast immediately, intent on "killing" your foe, just because you quickly tire, and the first wound is hindering (it's not D&D hey!).) However, the fact is that agressors usually attack in numbers of three to one. This once happened to me: I was walking alone during the night (coming back from a gaming session), and was suddenly surrounded by thee guys, who began to mumble incoherent words. I lost no time, well understanding what was happening (such petty agressors need to justify themselves with incoherent speech before aggressing someone). I stroke fast and hard at one of them. I guess they were surprised, but another just drew a tear gas grenade and shooted into my face. I was blind with my eyes burning. Impossible to fight, and I was afraid my eyes were burned (plus the suffering). I just ran, and was able to get back home almost blinded, because I knew the place very well. I had no opportunity to see if my martial arts would be sufficient against three... or I well saw how things happen in real life.

So: Martial Arts for Self-Defense? You will have to train 3 times per week (with a good instructor of course) for a minimum of five years, and in addition train in bodybuilding 1 hour per day for also five years. It will be good for your health and your ego! Congratulations if you do it!! (And girls will like it, especially if you are a quiet and nice guy). However, in a fight against several opponents who may have weapons, it may be of really little use. You could benefit more from being "Running Man".

 

[Turanil]

Of couse I learned it in a taoist temple from a chi-fu (master) who studied under a chinese monk (the temple was run by said monk's son, who is now the main taoist figure in Brazil).

Brazil is a great country!

 

[nerfherder]

However, in a fight against several opponents who may have weapons, it may be of really little use. You could benefit more from being "Running Man".

When I started doing aikido, the instructor stood in front of us beginners and said "This is the best form of self defence" and sprinted off! His point was that your objective isn't to win a fight, it's to survive and get away.

I attended a course given by an instructor that was very experienced in knife defence (for real, when he was younger - he reformed in later years). He told us that if attacked by someone with a knife, and you are forced to use your aikido to disarm them, then you will almost certainly be cut and bleed - so don't be surprised by it. Hopefully it will not be anywhere vital and you will be able to escape with your life.

Cheers,
Liam