italian_guy

I've been leaving outside Italy for one year when I was 16. When you live in a foreign country I think you need to show two things, maximum respect for the resident people and maximum effort to be integrated in that country,like trying to learn the language as fast as you can try to make friends mostly with resident people not only with people from your original country (you know italians are everywhere), if you keep this attitude I can guaratee you that you will have a lot of friends. This was my experience. About the other problem the only thing to do is speak with the head instructor, I do not know exactly the situation to comment the fact that the 47 year old student told you that he wants to kill you, maybe he was just an anxious father in one of his bad days, or maybe it was not the first time that he warns you and he wants just to impress you more. Anyway a good head instructor should be able to handle this situation properly if the head instructor is not good you should consider to go somewhere else. I'm confident in the fact that if you really like MA you will not quit for this reason.

I practice 2 x 1.5 hours a week kickboxing and 2 + 1 hours a week Tai chi chuan. I have very little time to practice at home but sometimes I try (even only visualizing Tai chi chuan forms).

Welcome to KF

Yes I agree, I should have started earlier , at least 10 years earlier or more ( I started at 42 last year) probably I would have not chosen Tai chi if I was below 35, I would have chosen Tai chi later. I do not like grappling arts very much so probably starting at 30 I would have chosen Kickboxing, Karate or Wing Chun (even if in Italy WC is hard to find).

I think 10 years are long anyhow. ... I think in about 4 years from now I should get my Tai chi chuan BB and continue to study it further hopefully for the rest of my life, which is one of the reasons why I choose this art. For kickboxing I do not know I'm already 42 (almost 43) now I can do it and is a great exercise but maybe sooner or later I think I will need to quit that art maybe doing something less physical like for example Karate or just more Tai chi. I heard that karate can be practiced at any pace and almost any age and I think that when I will be not longer able to sustain the hard kickboxing training taking karate with some backgroud in kickboxing can be a good alternative.... Karatekas what do you think?

Since I spar only on my school (not for turnements) I have about the same attitude as White Warlock. I just practice my techniques without intimidate him on the contrary if is too shy as sometimes happens I even encorage him or try to make him feel more confident. I always spar at light/moderate contact anyway.

am I wrong or there is a similar thred in Karate started from the same person?

I train kickboxing twice a week (total 3 hours) and also Tai qi twice a week (3 hrs).

What's wrong with Seattle? I visited the town and looks very nice.

In my Tai chi chuan school we have 6 chi grades (grades before Black belt) and (theoretically) 10 grades of chieh (black belt). 6th and 5th chi have white belt. 4th to 1st chi have blue belt. chieh grades have black belt.

Welcome to KF.

I choose Italian_guy because I think I'm the only Italian (living in Italy) around. am I wrong?

Yes, I tend to agree that kickboxing is fast to learn at basic level (of course is it takes long time to master). I do not know wing chun well, but from the little I know it is a very effective MA especially at medium to low distance. Keep in mind that kickboxing is not focused on self defence even if self defence skill can be easily added. I think the main decision point for you is if you want to do a traditional MA self- defence focused (wing chun) or a modern martial art very informal and with a lot of sparring (kickboxing). But I think that both are good choices.

I'm strongly convinced that you cannot learn a MA from a book. If you do not have any kickboxing school in your area and you want to learn kickboxing the thing I would do is join a karate, TKD or Muay thay school which are the TMAs that looks more like kickboxing. You will learn skills that will give you an advantage as soon as you find a real kickboxing school. Anyway a good book about kickboxing IMO is The Complete Idiot's guide to kickboxing. Good luck.

I like two completely different smell: one is leaded gasoline (not longer available in the market, unleaded smell differently) and incense.

In my kung fu school white/colored belt wear white chuen (gi), black belt wear black chuen.

Thanks a lot! Keep them coming

I have a different opinion in the two cases. If someone took a break and then comes back it should retain his status because anyway he has earned it. If he is out of shape he may take longer to get to the next level. If he comes from a different style and a different school I think he need to be re-tested whenever he is ready. Because the new style and school may have an entirely different standard.

Thanks a lot!!

Welcome to KF

Kickboxing: very informal and hard style based on heavy aerobic/anaerobic training. It has the stance and the hand techniques similar to western boxing and the kicks of karate and muay thai. It has no katas/forms, just combo practice. Its advantage is that it is focused on sparring, it will not take long for you to have some knoledge of the basics in order to start sparring. Of course mastering this art may take much longer. Its disadvantages is that it has very few techniques so you may get bored always practicing the same punches and kicks. It has no (or very few) internal aspects. It has no grappling, locks and throws. It is not self-defence focused but self-defence skills can be easily added. Tai chi chuan gong fu: very formal and soft style based on slow movements and manegement of internal energy (chi). It has the same fundametal stances of shaolin chuan gong fu. It has kicks, strikes, punces, grappling, locks. It is very rich of techniques. It has lots of forms (very long). It take long time to master, it is a lifetime journey. It is full of internal aspects and health benefits. It can be practiced at all ages. It needs some time to become self-defence effective. As you see I took two completely different MAs. But they complement each other very well.

I started practicing ma pu (kung fu version of horse stance) while I'm on the phone at home. Either I will learn to hold the stance a lot or I will cut my phone bill. Both things are beneficial!!!!

I was wondering about the diffusion of MA in the various regions. So what's the most popular MA in your area? For example I herd from you that in many states of US TKD/TSD is very popular while here in Italy not so much. Anyway where I live (central Italy) I would say: 1) Karate (varous styles mostly Goju and Shorin) 2) Kickboxing 3) Ju-Jitsu (BJJ was not very popular but recently starts to appear) 4) Kung Fu (mosly Shaolin and Tai Chi Chuan) then some Judo, TKD, JKD, Kali-Escrima, Kendo, Aikido .... but not much.

Welcome to KF. I took some lesson in Kali/Escrima/Arnis some time ago and it was fun. It was in conjunction with Jeet Kune Do (Inosanto's Method) is your school using the same method? If yes it gives you quite a rounded curriculum. Unfortunately that school closed because we were only two students. Anyway good luck

Welcome to KF. You will not find ony karatekas here but also pratictioner of other MAs.