dropshadow

if you are interested in weapons training... you might consider looking at some of the phillipino martial arts as a hapkidoist. there are various names, but mostly it is all the same - escrima, kali, or arnis. these martial arts focus on stick and knife fighting, as well as open-hand fighting. they train specifically with 2 weapons, 1 weapon, and open hand. these arts are complete martial arts systems with weapons, open hand strikes, kicks, holds and locks. you will find many of the holds and locks to be very similar to hapkido ones. in 1 weapon / 1 open hand training, you will learn how to use your off hand to disarm your opponent's weapon or set up a hold or lock. a hapkido practioner would pick this up very easily with his prior training. if you are interested in using a sword, you could look at korean hai dong gumdo. this is different from regular gumdo which is very similiar to kendo. hai dong gumdo is not a sport-oriented as gumdo, with no rules. similiar to hapkido, this sword art focuses on full circle, exaggerated movements, techniques intended to be lethal with one move. depending on your master, hapkido sword, cane, and short stick may be in your dan curriculum.

combat hapkido does omit some of the flashier kicks in traditional hapkido, such as the hapkido roundhouse and jumping side kicks as you've mentioned, however, there is still a lot of footwork in hapkido and a lot of throwing, falling and take downs. i would stress caution for someone with both leg and back injuries in training in hapkido, especially in the beginning when first learning your falls and basic holds. depending on the severity of the injuries, perhaps trying a slower discipline such as tai chi as the above poster mentioned, would be a good idea. it all depends on the severity of the injuries and how easy it is to re-injure or further injure the same problem.

there is very little difference in my opinion between arnis and modern arnis. remember that although arnis/escrima/kali are considered weapon arts to begin with, many of the moves are exactly the same in open hand situations. while it is very common to see the arnis student using 2 sticks or 2 knives, other combinations are stressed just as importantly - 1 weapon / 1 open hand, 2 open hand. many of the 1 weapon / 1 hand techniques involve striking with the weapon and using the off hand to disarm the opponent or set up a hold or lock. it would be VERY rare for an arnis student to ever be in a fight where both people have 2 sticks. the most common scenarios that would occur would be 1 stick/knife vs. unarmed. arnis realizes this and trains specifically for these situations. arnis is a complete martial art that stresses both weapons and open hand strikes, holds and locks.

remember where hapkido comes from: hapkido shares a common ancestry with aikido, jujitsu and judo: aiki-jujitsu. the fact that these various disciplines brached off is probably more due to philosophy than anything. judo is the sport version of jujitsu. aikido is considered a peaceful and harmonious art that stresses defense and not hurting the attacker above all else. and then you have jujitsu and hapkido, both of which are unashamedly combat martial arts. in my opinion, hapkido can be considered a combat martial art because it involves the 4 ranges of combat (some argue there are 3, some say 5). hapkido has a very large reportoire of effective kicks at kicking range, good strikes and hand skills for the punching range, and many locks, breaks, and holds for both the grappling and ground range. although not as complete as jujitsu, the common ancestry shared between the martial arts gives both a good ground game. although hapkido is second to jujitsu on the ground, one could probably easily argue that standing up, jujitsu is easily secondary to hapkido's vast arrays of kicks and strikes, because jujitsu's realm is the ground. also realize that many of hapkido's techniques (such as throws, locks, etc.) are meant to be lethal or disable a person TO THE GROUND in order to gain control. if a hapkidoist has an opponent controlled and on the ground, there is very little an opponent would be able to do against an advanced hapkidoist. while often the jujitsu practitioner will sometimes train for submission, the hapkidoist almost always trains for disabling an opponent quickly in order to gain control of the situation. the further use of pressure points is evidence that hapkido in its advanced form is meant as a lethal combat martial art. lastly, hapkido is still evolving as a martial art. like many arts, different masters are adding their perspective on their hapkido curriculum. it is not uncommon today (especially with the popularity of MMA and grappling arts) for the hapkido practitioner to encounter ground and grappling techniques in his training. while it may not be as complete as someone in BJJ, you learn the techniques the others will use against you and learn to protect yourself from the take-down and shoot, and when on the ground, learn enough techniques to hopefully get you into a better position and back on your feet.

praying mantis is one of the many forms of northern shaolin.

many applications of the "one inch punch" can be found in the chinese martial arts, like wing chun and the various shaolin subsets. if you've studied any of these arts, you will probably realize that many of the moves in chinese martial arts specifically are designed to feign and attack at the same time. for instance, your right hand might be acting as a decoy to set up your left hand or very possibly a kick, or maybe your left hand attacks but your right hand is ready as a counter in case the left hand attack is realized and countered by your opponent. in these types of scenarios, having a "last second one inch punch" where force is sometimes exerted at the very last moment helps to hide the true intentions of your movements. bruce lee's original background as many know was wing chun. it is probably here where he first encountered the concept, but as an avid student of not only martial arts, he was particularly interested in physical conditioning, physics, and the human anatomy. perfecting the "one inch punch" became a goal of his because it would help train to produce a more efficient punch. demonstration purposes only? i hardly could agree there unfortunately. it would seem the practical applications of applying a large amount of force in a confined space would be easily evident. take for instance the recent trend in MMA and grappling. if you on the ground struggling, being able to effectively strike when you do not have complete movement of your limbs would be extremely beneficial. another example of a practical application of this would be pressure point fighting. many of these points have to be hit correctly and at the right angle. again, being able to exert a large amount of force in close quarters in one spot would be very beneficial in this setting. along with not only the force at the moment of impact that would come with this training, but the control of the force would be very beneficial in attacking points and meridians. there are numerous practical applications of the "one inch punch" beyond demonstrations in my opinion.