Dekan

http://www.geocities.com/bajiwutan/wutanmasters/wusongfah.html

Whether most admit it or not, they probably enjoy MA for at least a little bit of all of the above. I origionally got into it for Self Defense. My first class I didn't even know it was to be MA, it was advertised as Self Defense, that is all. Turned out to be very good techniques and now I'm hooked and want to learn more and more. Now, the leading reason is excersize! Every year it gets harder and harder to get/keep the weight off, and I seem to be slowing down more and more. Hoping getting back into MA will motivate me to workout more.

As I've stated in other threads, I am looking at a couple classes to get back into MA again. One of the Instructors pulled out a diagram that looked like what you might see for a "family tree". It showed himself, with his black belts he'd trained below him. It showed upline from him, the Master that he got his black belt from, and I think it went back to the Master, that his master got black belt from, and all the other black belts under each. Got to be tough keeping track of all of that, I would think.

Yep, bad thing about the way these polls work, they won't let you vote for more than one.

Why did you get into Martial Arts, or why do you stay in Martial Arts, pick whichever you feel applies most to you.

Try the Yahoo Yellow pages, select your city, then search on "Martial Arts" Or, try searching on yahoo itself with "city" and "Martial Arts" be creative and search a bunch of different ways, be surprised what you find in your area. Or, look for your local Martial Arts supply store, go in and ask the owner of the store. He/She should know of all the local dojo's and can point you to the ones that offer the style you are interested in.

I've successfully pulled of doing a hook kick, after faking my opponent into thinking a side kick is coming. When he goes to block the side kick, usually leaving their chest unprotected, instead of streightening out my leg for the side kick, I extend it out and hook into my opponents chest. Works great, but in sparring you only get away with it once, then they know to look for it.

That exactly describes a dojo I am looking into joining. He is the 10th Dan of a style I''ve never heard of. After a little investigating I discover it is "his style" he came up with and deemed himself 10th dan of that style. Here is their temporary web site: http://www.ironsoldier.esmartbiz.com/ They are doing renevating on their building, so it will be first week of March before I get to sit in on a class and make my decision which program I am going to go with. Stay tuned...................

head spinning.......

It is between: A TKD and other self defense classA new school in town that will be offering JuJistu/Judo and Shotokan Karate with other styles available, but taught separately, not just all munged together. I haven't actually meet with the folks starting up the new school yet, they won't be doing a open house for another week or two. Stay tuned

And there is apparently a third faction as origionally posted called WIF: http://www.ildokwan.net/

I want to learn as true a MA I can get(as opposed to MA for Sport) which I've been told means reasonable rates and no contracts. These are the signs of people that teach the art for the betterment of the art, and aren't out for the ulmighty $$$. That said, if I go to check out a school and I see a stack of trophys proudly on display, or if they want me to commit to a contract, run out as fast as you can, they are teaching the Arts for the wrong reasons. Opinion>

I have always heard that Martial Arts classes should be inexpensive and should not involve contracts obligating the student to long periods of time. The idea being if the Instructor is truly teaching for the good of the art form, and not out to get rich, then he will charge a reasonable rate and not force people to commit to long term contracts. So, here are my questions: 1) How much is too much??? 2) Does a discount for paying multiple months constitute a "contract".

Yep, that is all I found. He is the GrandMaster for this strange obscure art form, and new school. So, dunno if I want to get involved with something so unknown. Will probably go sit in on a class and see how it goes.

I don't really know anything about it, other than it is heavy on JuJitsu, but that is it. That is why I asked here, looking for more info.

Anyone know anything about Tetsu Hei??? Is it worth a look??? I may check out a local class that offers it this week.

hmmmm, think pool cue

I am new to my TKD class, but I think it works this way. Class is two nights per week(Tuesday and Thursday) All classes start with a warmup then the following: TUESDAY: 6:00 to 7:15 Newbies work on basics to get them started with basic moves, terminology, etc.Adults do grapling on the mats 7:15 to 8:30 Sparring and self defense Thursday: 6:00 to 7:15 Kids Only 7:15 to 8:30 Novice and Advanced combined, primarily working on techniques and Forms.

Hi all This is a great forum!!! Glad to find such an active community!!! A few years ago I was in a self defense class that used Kung Fu as its primary toolbag. I have been out of any instruction for a few years now, but am going to start up in a TKD class in March.

When Mortal Combat first came out, I remember wanting to watch it for some great Martial Arts, then to find out there was no real Martial Arts in it at all. It is a great movie, just disappointing that it wasn't more real.

I am about to start in a Self-Defense, TKD class that does do a good amount of other stuff but it would be really great to supplement with a Judo class. Unfortunatly there aren't any Judo classes near by

Most of the TKD world seems to be affiliated with WTF or ITF. There is this other affiliation WIF: http://www.ildokwan.net/ 1) Does affiliation of a club really matter??? 2) Are there any pros or cons to WIF vs the two other longer established affiliations?!?!?!?

My primary purpose for getting into it in the first place is for Self Defense, and that is the primary focus of the class. It just so happens that his self defense tool bag consists of Kung Fu techniques. Very effective techniques as it turns out. We did not study strict forms/katas, as needed for promotion through the colored belts, or use the belt system. He considered himself very traditional, no belts and because we were self defense class, no formal forms/katas. The focus of everything we did was self defense, but Kung Fu was what he was actually teaching us without really telling us that is what he was teaching us. Unfortunately, the Teacher died a year or so ago, and there is no one else that teaches his method of teaching. There are several Martial Arts schools within half hour drive that I have been looking at, and none of them can compare. So far, every other school stresses Forms/Katas and the colored belts system, both of which I could care less about. I want to learn how to take care of myself. What color belt I am is irrelevant. It is my understanding that the strict forms may be part of truely traditional MA, my understanding is the belt system is purely a Western, contemporary, thing. Before people start flaming me, I know there is some merit to forms and people are very proud of their belts they have attained, but people's perceptions are based on their experiences, and from my experience, they have little to do with the true nature of Martial Arts. But, it appears that no matter which koon/dojo/school, I continue in I will have to conform to the strict forms/katas and belt system. I have found a local school that again, preaches self defense, but uses TaeKwonDo as its primary toolbag. The teacher also has a fairly strong Kung Fu background and gives a more rounded self defense training than just the pretty kicks associated with a rigid TKD school. Although, he does use the forms/katas and belt system, this is the closest to my previous school's stressing of self defense that I have found. He does include more punching than a traditional TKD school, and also includes a fair amount of grappling. After all that rambling on, to answer your question, from my understanding the style he taught was Wing Chun(hard) and Shaolin(soft) and other southern styles of Kung Fu. The TKD style is very different than the smooth circular style that I learned previously, so wish me luck!!!!

Well I was looking for more of "how have you tested it to make sure it works" or "what reasoning do you have" But those are all good aspects. Not sure if this qualifies for what you are after, but I'll give it a shot. I have been taking for about 2 to 3 years a self defense class. That is what the teacher advertises it as, not as a Martial Arts class. The tool he uses to teach self defense happens to be Shaolin and Wing Chung Kung Fu with a mix of other southern style techniques thrown in. As Martial Arts schools go, it would be considered traditional(No belts, No formal forms/katas, etc.... Just Self Defense, here is how to protect yourself for a great variety of attacks. One day several of us from class wanted to participate in a local Martial Arts tournament. The problem is the Instructor did not like tournaments, he felt they were an un-necessary way of proving skill, but after a bit of coaxing, he agreed to come and help organize us into appropriate levels of Kumite(Sparring). We couldn't enter the forms part of competition because we didn't do formal forms. I don't remember exact numbers of how many of us got first, second, or whatever, but out of nine of us that participated, seven of us placed first or second place in our group. Literally the only preparation we had for the Tournament fighting was the last class before the tournament, he went over the rules, where we would stand, how points are scored etc. I thought it spoke volumes for the technique he taught us that we were winning over folks that trained extensively for tournament fighting. I did realize something in my battles, we were very much taught the Defense part of Self-Defense. Whenever I would try to be the agresser to score the point, I would lose. Only when I held back, and waited for the other guy to make a move, then I did some defensive technique off of that, was I able to score the point. Maybe not the best strategy for a tournament, but it seemed to work well for our class.

I agree with number one being Shaolin Kung Fu, frankly haven't heard of half the others in the list. Would have thought Judo would have made the list, I thought it was pretty popular here in the states.