Any martial artists out there?

Question

What's your style?
What's it like?
Doing Shoto-Budo style karate.
A mixture of all kinds, general sparring, kata, take-downs, ground work, locks and submissions.

A good few of the people who take part in this are Police Officers. They bring their real life experiences from the front line. Helps bring a certain cold realistic feel to it.

Answer 1

I practice a form of Tai Chi and Qi Gong that is best for my unique medical condition and my age.

Judo was the first martial art that I studied. It was free and fun. Next I joined the wrestling team and stuck the out through high school. Karate came next and I really liked it but the school closed down after only two years. Next stop was Free-style Karate that included some grappling. This was a very fun school where we sparred every night.

After that I started my MMA career which in those days was called Full Contact Fighting, Fusion Fighting, and King of the Hill tournaments. I had great success at first but soon enough everyone learned some sort of take down defense so I got hurt. This lead me to a real kick-boxing gym complete with a ring in the center. Pinklon Thomas was training for the Tyson fight at the same gym. I loved that and probably learned more footwork to avoid strikes while at that gym. They closed down.

My next stop was Kung Fu, Wah Lum, then Dragon Form. I really enjoyed this training as I actually felt better after class rather than getting beat up. I have attended classes of every style that I could find. I discovered that TKD was not that different from Karate. I could not find a Jujitsu school in my area so I finally found a former student of Rickson Gracie. I trained with him for about a year as he just needed bodies to roll around with. I feel like we learned a good deal about submissions and how to defend against them in that time.

The style I practice today was modified for me as I mentioned. This is more of a Tai Chi form, which stretches and flexes every muscle group very slowly with a strong focus on every breath, motion, and rest. Sometimes I use music in the background from http://www.musicqigong.com There is a lot of good music out there designed for meditation, and this is what works with my style and where we live.

My professional Full Contact/MMA record is 12 wins with 8 losses. It was not all that glamorous and I suffered many injuries. Today I practice only for my health as I don't plan on fighting anyone.

Answer 2

Hi there A good martial artist is quite simply a person who can do it, explain it and evaluate what they are doing to change it! Combine the above with experience and a good level of education makes them a good martial artist! Add a little bit of philosophy and worldly wisdom and you have a grandmaster on your hands! Overal a general all round good egg! Renyo makes an excellent point! A thug can fight and he can also be well trained but a martial artist he certainly isnt! Budo contains many things and some of them arent about fighting! Dont you have to be a gentleman and have a good heart to be considered to be a true martial artist? Otherwise youre just classed as a killer or a skilled thug! Best wishes idai

Answer 3

i train in wing chun and know that this style is the best i have come across . Because there are rules in all styles and limitations in each individual person they come to a end in there style and can go know further so the cross train .in wing chun this is never an option has wing chun practionars will spend the rest of the life training this system trying to perfect it which is something every martial artist should do they owe this in respect and tradion to there teachers and lineage through history. I will never cross train as it would be very hard to comit to my style and try and learn an other system. i feel that proper wing chun on the grandmaster yip man lineage is able to coupe very well against any fighting style its centreline theory and training of hand and feet used in unison with kicks trappin sweeps and strikes make it a better system remember bruce lee was taught in wing chun but took its formula because they were perfect basic to have speed and power without mucsels it is a true chinese art and is a perfect example of ying and yang the opposites it is soft and hard just like every single person is you take a 6'7 "man who is 18 stone of muscel and put him in a fight with a 5'10" 10 stone man the diffences are huge a big man has strenght on his side but the small man will be naturaly faster . but if you strip mucsels and wieght from these two men they are identical they have a skeletal frame that works the same ,elbows bend wrists turn ect.this is what i see when put in a situation of danger i know that all humans move in the same way and i know the limits the body has tobefore the point of pain and broken bones so put the wing chun system in and useing soft energy and body kinetics against a big energy force we can move faster and match the strenght and deflect or put our own strenght in to become stronger and faster than a big powerful opponant i sleep and breath wing chun has i feel it is a system with no weekness

Answer 4

I have done karate in traditional shotokan style 13 years ago for 7 months only. Also learnt nunchucks, stick fighting, sowrd fighting, knife attacks/blocks, ninja tricks, street fighting and self defence techniques and some commondo training.

Participated in few champion ships awarded 3rd once and 2nd in the other. learnt upto 9 katas and a black belt kata too at that time, that i dont remember any more lol. Also performed a yellow belt kata in front of few hundered people and awarded 3rd for it.

Because of studies i got upto only orange belt but i must say the experience was amazing, and confidence is still fresh with in me.

Big fan of jackie chan, bruce lee, jet lee, mark decascus, van damn, tony jaa, and my own grand master Muhammad Ashraf Tai...

Answer 5

Hey, Im studying/practicing Jujitsu and karate, with a little ninjitsu thrown in for good measure!

I practice the GoShinRyu form. We like to cover things from breakfalling, kata, throws, locks, submissions. We try not to focus getting on to the floor but we do occasionally learn ground work.

Im also applying to become a special for my area, and il be learning taijitsu soon. Thats the forces/(services!) Self Defence Martial Art.

I really enjoy my art, its simple, its not a violent aggressive art, like many people on here "yeah my art can kill you if you even just look at it" and "my arts so deadly that even bruce lee was scared of it" and all that...

I like it, it does what I want it to do and its more than just going in, doing a kata and walking out again. Its with me everywhere, in every situation. Its a lifestyle for me now, never has the word "Bushido" meant more to me.

Hope your enjoying your style

x

Answer 6

1st degree black belt in AIMAA tae kwon do.
It seems that alot of martial artists are not familiar with AIMAA tae kwon do. You mostly hear about ITF and WTF.

AIMAA (Action International Martial Arts Association) was founded by one of the greatest grandmasters of all time, Martial arts hall of famer, former special forces instructor, winner of numerous national and international competitions and 9th degree black belt, Grandmaster Hee Il Cho.

Grandmaster Cho found that to have a complete martial art tae kwon do must be integrated with boxing techniques, take downs and grappling. But the principles, spirit, techniques, hyung, kicks, blocks and traditions of tae kwon do are still the main focus of the curriculum.

All of the masters and instructors are instilled with Grandmaster Chos spirit, the classes are gruelling and challenging and you are always being pushed to be the best you can be.

The fighting system is very effective as i have had to use it on many occasions when I worked as a bouncer. I have come out on the good side of a fight many times using the skills learned from tae kwon do.

Alot of people seem to think that tkd practitioners would go out on the street and throw flashy arial and high section kicks in a real fight situation. This is a total misconception and it is unheard of in my experience, no instructor would teach a student to throw such techniques in a real situation and any instructor who does, well they don't deserve the title instructor.

Answer 7

The style I practice is KaJuKenBo.
It is a mixture of tang soo do (korean karate) , judo and jujitsu, kenpo, and chinese boxing.
Some people say that kajukenbo is brutal or overkill. I like to think of it as street effective. It was created by the blackbelt society to be a more complete and street effective system then any one stand alone system. It features training in weapon defense, multiple attackers, and all the others things you would expect from a martial art.

Answer 8

Goshin Karate (Wales if you must know)
Traditional Malaysian-style Karate-Do with lots of Self-Defence stuff, and the occasional Judo move. Locks and throws are also invovled, as well as the usual Kihon, Kata and Kumite.

Also starting Ninjitsu/Taijutsu soon hopefully.

Answer 9

Dog Brothers Martial Arts. Fillipino stick fighting with a touch of Krabi Krabong, Silat, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and whatever else works. Fit, Fun and Functional.

Answer 10

1st dan in Wado-Ru and 2nd dan in ITF Tae Kwon-DO

The "Wado" story officially began in May 1934 when Hironori Ohtsuka registered his own style of Karate, which he called "Wado Ryu" and was recognized as an independent style. However, its origins were developed by Ohtsuka's continuous study of all martial arts, formulating the "Wado" techniques by combining his own innovations and natural movements found in the other martial arts .....The founder of Taekwon-Do, General Choi Hong Hi was one of the founders patriot and democrat to revolt against the dictator. General Choi Hong Hi was born on November 9th, 1918 in the rugged and harsh area of Hwa Dae, Myong Chun District in what is now D.P.R of Korea