Shazkar

Uh, question, since I'm new and perhaps starting BJJ... how does one practice a grappling art without people?

I hope this doesn't constitue a thread hijack (and please ignore this post if it seems off topic), but I thought this might be related... You see, I'm new to martial arts and am deciding between TKD and BJJ, though they are both... basically opposites. I tried a BJJ class yesterday though I hadn't planned on even considering a grappling sport and I really enjoyed it. However, I kind of also want to take a standing/striking martial art... however, currently, its only one thing or the other. So, for someone who is not in very good shape, which of the two would you start with? Does it even matter? I'm going away to college in 6 months from now if that could aid your advice giving. I know that eventually if I do TKD I will end up picking up BJJ, and visa versa... so does it really matter which I do first? I assume since both are popular, I will be able to find clubs near/in whatever college I end up going to... hm..

I have a TOTALLY NEW DILEMMA! I took a BJJ class. I loved it. It was so fun... but I still want to take a stand up art... At the moment I don't think I have the time or money to do both at the same time. Well, I found a TKD place that also has BJJ... but the BJJ place I found seemed a lot better and I thought it was great. So, if you were going away to college in 6 months more or less... hm, what would you do? I could do BJJ starting now, or TKD starting now, and pick up the other one once its summer and I have more time and a job... but the second one I picked up I would only be doing for 3 months before I went away to college. So... opinions? It seems like TKD would give me more of a cardio and flexibility workout, especially with all the stretching, and then I might not own myself doing BJJ, but it's not like I wouldn't get in shape doing BJJ. Hmm...

Okay, I know this is slightly tangential, but two questions: What are peoples opinions on American Kenpo? I e-mailed a place to ask their prices, 80 a month for 4 classes a week, but I haven't gotten to check it out yet. I'm gonna check out another TKD place tomorrow. Also, what about diving right into MMA, like at this place: http://www.homestead.com/prosites-jmjkd/jmnewhome.html That place is a good 20+ minutes away though, but I was just wondering about what people think about it. 90 bucks a month for 16 classes a month.

So I visited the Olympic one, and here is what I saw: - The head master is an ex-olympic competitor and coached on both the south korean and nigerian teams... - The costs seem expensive, but I have nothing to compare to, 140 a month for 3 classes a week, 160 for unlimited classes a week.. and like 200 bucks for just ONE private lesson. - The class I saw was small and they gave the students a lot of individual attention. (It was a class of basically all yellow belts and one older black belt guy helping. 3 teenagers, and a mom and her young young daughter). - They started with 20 minutes of stretching, then some blocks and strikes, then did kicks, then strength stuff. - All the instructions and counting and stuff were given in Korean basically. - The guy said they would be doing self defense and stuff, I dunno. Uh, anything else I can say so you can help me out?

Ah, well, I already called and am gonna look at the Olympic one tomorrow, but I plan to look at several places before I sign up anywhere so its no big deal. Oh, but why is that exactly?

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about the self defense aspect. I'm more in it for the other stuff. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'll base my decision mostly off of the dojo/dojang rather than style.

Perhaps I'll check Kempo out, though at this point I was leaning towards TKD kind of.

Yeah, I'm gonna get into a class as soon as my afternoon sched clears up in a few weeks, but before then I still need to find the right place which is hard since I don't know what to look for...

So perhaps this place might not be good is what you're saying?

Hi, sorry if this is not allowed, but I had a more general topic about starting martial arts elsewhere, but this is more specifically about a certain school and requesting information about the styles it teaches. The place's wesbite: http://www.kungfutaichi.com/ says this is what they offer: Kung Fu curriculum includes: Southern Style: 5 Animals, Nan Quan (Tiger - Crane) Northern Shaolin Long Fist Chin Na Bagua Zhang Buddha Palm (Chinese Wooden Man Form) Traditional Chinese Weapons including: Staff, Broadsword, Spear, Chain, 3-Section Staff, Straight Sword, Double Broadsword Double Straight Sword Also has Tai-Chi and Qigong which I am not that interested in, but its cool too. So, what can someone tell me about the particular advantages and disadvantages of these styles and this program? Key things I need in my program: - Something I can get into relatively quickly and isn't too long term, as I am going to college next fall and won't be around for so long and will have to start up again elsewhere.. so if this seems like a very long term program thats no good. - My main goal is fitness, but awesomeness and discipline are good too. Not overly concerned with competitions and such in the least. So yeah, all these hundreds of Kung Fu styles, and I know nothing... so info is welcome.

If this helps, here is a list of what is near me... The last place is a Kung Fu place, which I looked up and it says it has: http://www.kungfutaichi.com/ Kung Fu curriculum includes: Southern Style: 5 Animals, Nan Quan (Tiger - Crane) Northern Shaolin Long Fist Chin Na Bagua Zhang Buddha Palm (Chinese Wooden Man Form) Traditional Chinese Weapons including: Staff, Broadsword, Spear, Chain, 3-Section Staff, Straight Sword, Double Broadsword Double Straight Sword Also has Tai-Chi and Qigong which I am not that interested in, but its cool too. So since there are so many kinds of Kung Fu, what kinds are these? Is it good? I'm leaning towards either Kung Fu, Karate, or TKD as of now. Ha, my friend is trying to convince me to drive 30 minutes out to where she does it, but 30 minutes is 30 minutes, though she really likes the place.

Thanks for the advice so far. Is there anything in particular to look out for? What I mean to say is that, lacking experience, how will I know a particular dojo is good? I'll start re-hitting the gym while I look around, and also, if anyone could point me a to a good site online to find a good workout, that would be great. Oh man, I'm excited. EDIT: And I know this is hard (in fact, near impossible) to do, but any style suggestions? Or should I just read up on the ones within my area and pick one?

Oookay, so, first off, new here and new to Martial Arts (unless you count the time between Pre-K and like 3rd grade). I'll preface this with saying that I am not very athletic... I haven't really played many sports since 8th grade (4 years ago) and even then I was miserable and not very dedicated. As a result of all this inactivity, I am probably one of the most out of shape people that I know. Seriously. At the moment I can't think of a single person I know that is within my relative age group that is more unfit... hence my reason for being here. Okay, well, I'm 18 now, senior in high school, 5'5"-ish, and according to my new digital bathroom scale I am 135 lbs, though I'm not so sure how accurate it is, because I recall just over a year ago being 150 at the doctors, but I guess that is a good thing. Unfortunately, despite not being very heavy, I am nonetheless fat, especially in the gut area. It's a problem. I get winded quite easily as well. And onto the more martial arts related aspect of this post... recently I've been trying to independently come up with some kind of workout routine, wanting to get in shape, etc., but I've decided that what I really need is some activity that I will enjoy and will help me improve my discipline and my physical wellbeing. I was chatting with my friend, who is 14 and started doing TKD just two summers ago, and that got me jealous, in the regretful sense that I didn't do something like that earlier. I kind of feel like I missed out on all these things, which I know I would have enjoyed, made some good friends doing, and prevented my body from detereorating to the state it is now in. ..and so hopefully it is not too late for me to jump on the MA train (and seeing the posts of people 30+ starting it up takes the doubt out of my mind that it is). However, one thing I am worried about is if I am currently too unhealthy and weak to start MA, and should do some training before starting... or if I can start despite my condition of unhealthiness, and use MA to help me get into shape. Now that that is passed, I also have some more questions... First, since I am going away to college within 7-8 months (with no idea what state or city currently), are there any recommendations you have about me starting up now, since I most likely would not be able to continue in the same place for even an entire year? Second, how should I go about figuring out the style/school to join? My only reference currently is the yellow pages: Here is a link to the results that came up when I put in my zip code, if anyone has the time to look and help me out... Out of those places, the ones listed as being in Needham, Dedham, Norwood, and Walpole are the closest to me if you want to simplify your viewing, but if you see one in that list that looks good and is not in one of those towns, please let me know so I can check its proximity to me. Any other tips or advice for me? I can provide more info as needed. Who knew that being jealous of a girl 4 years younger than me could motivate me to do martial arts... crazy world. P.S. and slightly unrelated... any good books on doing Yoga by myself? I saw that Yoga book by DDP but have no idea if its actually any good.