Thuggish

thats strange, because with martial arts injuries are bound to happen sooner or later with nearly every style, but in body building you should never have any problems with injury unless youre doing something wrong. anyway, tkd, at least in north america, is rarely more than a sport where people kick, and kick, and kick a whole lot. they punch too, not to the head though, and they rarely if ever use full contact. shaolin kung fu is an extreeeeemly broad martial art that concentrates on snapping power and circular movement, but if you stick with it long enough you will learn nearly every aspect of fighting from ground fighting to jump kicks to joint locks and breaks; weapons too. it takes a very long time to become good enough to win a fight with it. tkd also takes a while, since one must learn to kick and not fall down, as well as fight hard like street fighters do. depending on your teacher, you might learn other techniques as well. really, it depends on what you want to do- shaolin can practically become a way of life, sometimes literally, tkd is more of a sports thing. honestly, though, for practical self defense id recomend something else- or just running away.

i think some people are misunderstanding some things here... hooks are more powerful than jabs no matter who throws them, assuming the thrower knows how to do it right. a hook (not a round house or whatever its called when you come in a full 90 degrees from his head) uses not only your arms, tricep and front shoulder to be specific, but a lot of your chest as well. a jap uses the same arms but less of your chest, and you dont have the rest of your body in the punch like you CAN with a hook (twist the hips and such.) ask any boxer, or anyone who throws hard punches- hooks are very powerful- more so than jabs without a doubt.

to add on to the original question- what about the area of the shin that you dont kick with, like the top half? if you take a kick there or collide with your opponent's shin, that can really hurt- and theres no real way to kick a bag with that part of your leg. so what about that part?

having done kung fu i can say that to become good at it, it does take a long time. if you have a life that is busy or whatever, and you want to learn martial arts to just defend yourself in that life, krav maga would be more practical for you. it would be more geared towards self defense and you would be more effective quicker than in kung fu. as for weapons- if you mean defending against them my response is the same- if you mean using them, the shaolin kung fu school i went to (look for grandmaster the if youre interested) taught at least 18 of the traditional weapons. again it takes a long time to learn one, and it can be difficult to get to a seminar/festival to learn one- but all those ancient weapons are there for the learning. im not sure about krav maga, but kung fu eventually would teach you some ground fighting, but any grappling art would be, again, quicker.

"i personally founds them to be useful in with my method of sparring" translation: i personally found them to be mostly useless in my own ways of fighting/sparring. umm, yea....

yes, it is true that forms, or katas, or whatever- have other purposes than to just teach you moves. to tell the truth, when i was doing shaolin kung fu i rarely used things i learned from forms... i personally founds them to be useful in with my method of sparring. i tend to like straightforward no nonsense approaches like kickboxers. on the other hand, my teacher- whos probably about to become if he hasnt become a kung fu master, could stand in the most unconventional stances and pull the weirdest moves and really make them effective. everything you learn is supposed to be absorbed, and what you pull back out is what works for you- what is effective. that was bruce lee's philosophy towards his own fighting; absorb it all and retain what is useful. have fun- and hey, do you learn weapons like the projectiles, and other stealth types of thigns?

hey, i have a question for all you grapplers out there. bjj, sambo, greco-roman wrestling... which do you all think is best (or any others you may practice or know about) and WHY- i.e. what techniques/philosophy in your opinions make it better than the others; that is, geared towards a street fight or something of that nature.

this is a question for the muay thai people out there- im at a point where training at a school means money that i dont currently have, so im just working on my own for the moment. ive done other, "softer" arts, but i was hoping some kickboxing typa people could gimme some ideas with exercises/workouts/whatever so i can at least start on my way to kicking like those hard core thai boxers. my front kicks are pretty good (kinda slow but powerful) and my roundkicks are improving but i have a way to go. i have a puncing bag and a friend whos a blackbelt in tae kwon do if that means anything, and i do lift weights regularly. oh and im trying to get into jogging again. thanks, i look forward to replies.

your body will toughen up quickly if it sees it needs to- provided it has time to heal. dont be afraid to voice your concerns with your fellow students and your instructor. if your forarm is really messed up or broken it will only hurt your training. dont get me wrong though, i wish i was training with some people that hard core right now- just dont get yourself hurt.

boxers are tough and might have a chance, especially if youre someone like mike tyson (i hate him but he's quite the puncher) or lennox lewis (you know, that 6'6'' black man who weighs like 270, and its not fat...) but a thai boxer has an incredible edge. it comes down to the fact that they kick. and they kick HARD. in the ring or on the street, one quick kick, and theyre all quick, to the leg, especially the knee, or in the ribs, or if open the head- a boxer isnt liekly to survive that. if he does, kick him again. while on average a boxer's hands are likely better than a thai boxer's hands, there are lots of thai boxers that have great boxing skill. then theres knees at close range, which hurt, and elbows- not allowed in all 50 states because theyre so deadly- which any true thai boxer is very good with. boxers fight hands and throw a nasty punch. thai boxers fight hands, feet, knees, elbows, limited throws, and throw nasty kicks and punches not too far behind. ever been kicked in the head? by one of those guys? yea, thai boxer all the way, most of the time.

boxers are tough and might have a chance, especially if youre someone like mike tyson (i hate him but he's quite the puncher) or lennox lewis (you know, that 6'6'' black man who weighs like 270, and its not fat...) but a thai boxer has an incredible edge. it comes down to the fact that they kick. and they kick HARD. in the ring or on the street, one quick kick, and theyre all quick, to the leg, especially the knee, or in the ribs, or if open the head- a boxer isnt liekly to survive that. if he does, kick him again. while on average a boxer's hands are likely better than a thai boxer's hands, there are lots of thai boxers that have great boxing skill. then theres knees at close range, which hurt, and elbows- not allowed in all 50 states because theyre so deadly- which any true thai boxer is very good with. boxers fight hands and throw a nasty punch. thai boxers fight hands, feet, knees, elbows, limited throws, and throw nasty kicks and punches not too far behind. ever been kicked in the head? by one of those guys? yea, thai boxer all the way, most of the time.

Go for it- from what i understand wing chung is mostly hands anyway, and quite the approach from muay thai hands. worse comes to worse you dont like it and dont continue with it. hehe, if you wanna have some fun, get good at wing chung deflect-and-hit moves and see if they ever work in the ring at all, your opponent may be surprised....

De La Hoya (sp?) is always fun. lennox lewis can demolish anyone in boxing- probably a lot of kick boxers out there as well.