WU TANG CLAN

Hapkido is tha Bomb! You'll like it, once again make sure it's only hapkido & nothing more it's already a Mixed Martial Art wrapped up in one style. Strikes, joint locks, throws , take downs, pressure points..etc.

Hooah! Didn't know there were so many beleivers on site. I know of one particular MA that teaches it's students to talk to different spiritual entities & to worship them & have them be your spirit guide to teach you the more difficult techniques of the style, also they are into astral projection (leaving the body) Scary stuff! As bad as I wanted to learn it as a kid I had to shy away from it when I learned more about it. What about this style of karate I saw on a special on the discovery channel that showed these students who made their bodies as hard ad rocks by meditation and they tested by punching & kicking the crap outta each other in the throat & groin areas included. Last but not least there's a school in L A where the father & son put hooks into their pecs & pull things & all others kinds of ripleys beleive it or not stuff. What on earth does that have to do with self defense? When attacked can you turn it on to protect your self?

WHAT??? Why on earth would a Hapkido Instructor tell a potentail student the he/she has to learn Tae Kwon Do before he can teach him Hapkido? One answer he is full of b00l$iitt!! If you went to a Shotokan School (To learn Shotokan of course) then why would you want to learn (Or better yet accept the instructors bee Es that you'll have to learn Ninjutsu first? They are both Japanese but two different systems. What you have here is another Tae Kwon Do teacher who prbably knows a few Judo throws & a couple of arm bars & mixes it with some Tae Kwon Do kicks (Outside of the TKD he already teaches) & Tah Dah instant Hapkido. If I was in your position I'd keep looking or take up CBH or something else if I was just interested in forms, breathing & meditation (which I do now & really enjoy... But if that was my choice... You get the picture I'm sure

& do you think I want to feel like your freind every time I train? Sometimes I go to work worn out & achey after training.. Just imagine having to do my job walking wide leged all night. Peace, Keep up the fight styles.

Occh!! My Point exactly.

Krav Maga is not a sport, or a sport oriented stlye..it's a combative style. no, they are not allowed because they train for sport and It's not allowed in Kickboxing. The same reason he would punch them in the head or kick them in the leg...because it's a target. In Hapkido we always protect our groins & throats when training it's not a sport but street fighting! Nothing more & nothing less. But I just like thousands of others like to compete in a ring for fun & testing my skills. I learned to kick somone in the b@11$ in the first grade growing up in West Philly. It's nothing new. As a matter of fact I joined the Army Guard in 1986 & in 88 had the chance to train with some Isreali Commandos (They are most defintly high speed kick @$$ troops) They never mentioned KM and just like now troops are training in BJJ & Hapkido none of this stuff was ever really heard of until the last 10 years (As far as the popularity goes) So now did it make our troops any less proficent until now? Trust me we had some donny brooks with some buck wild MARINES when doing some training down at Camp Pendelton & they seemed to be able to handle themselves just fine. TJS people have been kicking eachother in the b@!!$ forever. I don't care what I style teaches there's nothing wrong with hard training but you cannot get kick in the groin 12-15 times a month in training. So if Mr. Wittman & his boys wanna kick eachother there... Then they got that! It still doesn't prove a thing other than showing that you're willing to go that far in your training. Which is NUTS! (No pun intended) Peace

There is no most lethal style just as there is no best style. What cracks me up is those full page ads that shows some guy in camos and an Uzi stating that because he was a former NAVY SEAL & trains them & other SPEC-OPS that in little or no time he can turn you into a fighting machine who will never walk in fear again. First off just because you've been trained by a SEAL,Green Beanie, RANGER,Etc; doesn't mean that you are going to become a SPEC_OP type of person.(Especially from a video tape) I not too sure about how the NAVY does things but I know in the ARMY there's BC9wks,INF/AIT 4-8wks,AASST 2wks,BJ 3wks,Rip 3wks, Pre RANGER 1wk, & then RANGER School 8wks. Now if you make through them then you have to be apart of a Batt & live the life by doing the nasty deeds while on probation sort of speak. There's usally alot of broken bones and broken marriages in the SPEC-OP community so still some guys drop out or are dropped it they seem not to be able to handle it. So how on earth can someone who lived the life to be apart of that elite community of quite professionals promise to make Joe Schmoe from who knows into anything close to them when they have no idea what it's all about? This kinda nonsense is on par with those old 60's & 70's adds in the back of the comic books where the skinny guy gets sand kicked in his face by the big beach bully & then reads a Charles Atlas book on body building and 30 days later shows up as big as the Hulk & Pummels the guy Way too funny. Once again there is no quick fix, there are no most Leathal styles only what works for you.

Thanks for the reply tree Branch, I'll be moving back to Cali by summers end. Canoga Park, Winettka to be exact. Where do you train?

TJS, Kicks to the groin While sparring in the ring? In Hapkido and a few MA's I've trained in & I would think many others would teach it's students (especially women,kids & seinors) kicks to the groin to disable an attacker. The UFC,Pride nor K-1 allow groin kicks in the ring. I've sparred a few times over at Benny the Jet's Gym in North Hollywood where they Kickbox & Box in a real ring and groin kicks are not allowed for they can mess up a mans prostate. So why is John Wittman kicking opponents in the groin? Could it be that the guy was tearing fire to his @$$?! Anytime we get kicked in the groin in my dojang it's by mistake never on purpose. We teach a lot of stuff like heel outside kicks that have broken ribs (by mistake) but does that make any MA's less then a skilled practioner of his/her style because...those fighters are alright BUT WHEN... You launch a HOS Kick they can't handle those well at all,... Well uh no human can when it's performed right that's the point of paying someone you don't know your hard earned cash to train you in his/her style of MA.. Which they all have a weakness here & there. I know for a fact that any studuo I go to spar in if they're kicking each other in the papi chooloz. I'm outta there & it dosen't make me any less of a fighter or a man... Well then again groin kicks probably will make you very much less of a man if you keep sparring in dojos/jangs that allow that. Peace.

WB... Black gang members?? Raider... Groin kicks that didn't work? I understand that a lot of training without sparring and practice practice practice can leave one vunerable in a confrontation but to suggest that you have fights in order to have practice in preperation for your next is not only uncalled for but dangerous. Learn your art & practice practice practice & go to different Dojo's or dojang's & get to know the cheif instructor & humbly ask if you can sparr with them sometimes. (I Do) Just like we're doing here online you can do in person with others. It won't work everywhere because some studios have a bad vibe to them starting with the Master on down to the students & they probably have egos with something to prove and someone can get hurt either way. So those type of places should be avoided at all cost when you see it coming. When I was five these bigger kids about four of them prbably ages 7-8 said hi to me and gathered around me while I was holding a bag filled with candy as though they wanted friendship & then snatched my candy and ran up the street. When my mom came out of the store she verbaly let me have it explaining that from now on & for the rest of my life look people straight in the eyes & to always check out my surroundings. I've been doing that for 30 years now..It helps in any confrontation. I have worked as a bouncer at various clubs in Philly,L.A., Atlanta & NYC I've seen guys that I work with get beat down by MA trained customers & non trained alike. I've seen big burly Venice Beach muscle heads tripping of the Roids & Jack Daniels get the tar beat out of them by trained MA's & by untrained bouncers more than enough! It all dependes on the secnario.. For instance say you and your family are out from somewhere formal & your wearing a suit & tie & Italian loafers & and a idiot in a seat suit whose looking for trouble starts with you in front of your wife & kids? How do you handle it if he's not interested in negotiating with you? Or if your out at a night club with your girl & you're wearing a $100.00 silk shirt and a $500.00 chain on your neck and some fool wants to fight because you bumped into him? Even if you could beat him under normal circumstances there are obstacles in the area i.e. people,tables, chairs,etc.. Do you wanna lose your nice things in a fight? No because if you where expecting to get into something you would've worn sneex & jeans. So it all depends. BTW, WB gang members are gang members.. No matter what color their skin is I still would get nervous at the clubs when approached by more than one person looking for trouble in any race. Also black people white people, chinese or any other race of poeple are not superior in any fights because of their race. Thanks,

Thanks for your reply TJS, I 've been training in Hapkido on & off for five years now (Brown Belt) I have also worked as a bouncer at different clubs and Hapkido has come in very handy for me on several occasions. I've had to deal with some intoxicated idiots in various sizes with different levels of fight skills and have managed to come out on top. I have only seen KM on a Discovery Channell special on MA's & I've sparred with some freinds in Inglewood CA @ Rick Kingi's Kajukembo. Those guys are pretty squared away. But still I'd like to hear more from you all out there. TJS thanks again.

Does anyone out there know anything about the four Martial Arts involved in the post? I know that Kenpo boast a lot of quick fast hand/elbow strikes and Kajukembo boast the combined styles of Kenpo,Chinese Boxing, Western Boxing & Judo/Ju Juitsu and Krav Maga Boast being a highly Lethal Isreali Army style of hand to hand combat. Hapkido has joint locks ,throws, takedowns, hand/elbow strikes, low kicks/high kicks, foot sweeps & throws which prepare it's practioners for combat standing up or on the ground. I'd just like to hear from people knowlegeable on the subject of all four as stated above. Thanks.