ebff

I'd recommend Muay Thai because of the extremely fast learning curve and because you can see your limits straight away and work hard to get through them - as my club says, "we just get the job done". It's quite tough work though, I haven't seen many women do it, maybe 2-3 for 60 members. If you want a challenge...

I recommend wing chun. We did many things, but kicking wasn't one of them. That whole "kicking doesn't happen in real fights" thing; it got on my nerves eventually - kicking is quite possibly the most fun part of martial arts (other than these takedowns that just work somehow).

Dunno about where you'd be, but in my club unless you're doing fights you don't get anything that serious. Unless you go train with the fighters and forget to protect your face enough in which case it will probably be covered in blood by the end of the session, but the whole point of pad work is that you don't damage yourself training - the professional fighters can't afford that, with their fight every two weeks... I say take it up cos it's AWESOME.

This summer I'm moving back to London and I'm quite tempted to start hapkido (training muay thai during term time and hapkido during holidays would be a plan - I am now hooked to MT). What attracts me to it is that I've always been fascinated by aikido (especially the principles behind it, not just the visual stuff), and hapkido seems to bring together a lot of aikido techniques (or similar throws etc.) and the trademark aikido "flow" with kicks and also acrobatic "cool-looking" (but I'm sure very effective) techniques which seem great fun. However I don't know much about hapkido, it's not really a mainstream art here. It does look "proper", as in full-contact and pretty brutal, but also technical, which I think is good. But I know next to nothing about the art, its philosophy, its training, its history and so on. So, could you please tell me what is involved in hapkido? What is it like to train in as a total beginner? Are there many forms to learn like Japanese arts, or is the training more technique based like muay thai? Also, do you know any good dojangs in London, especially around SW1 (Westminster) area? Thank you very much! Looking forward to your replies. ebff

I know more female black belts (in mostly karate and TKD) than male, and yes at first I was a bit scared by the thing, cos black belts have a reputation in the non-MA world of being these invincible warriors to be feared but eventually I came to realise that these people got their black belt through a lot of hard work and were generally very mature and very nice, but of course they'd never ever hit you. Now whenever I hear a friend has a black belt in something (never from the person him/herself mind) I think of it as a really good thing, as opposed to something to fear. But yeah, I think the idea that a woman (especially a smaller and thinner woman) can beat them up with ease will make most guys instinctively feel scared hence the comments! Maybe it's better not to tell anybody about your BB?

I haven't done enough martial arts to comment on such things as gradings (also I've trained mainly in ungraded schools) but I can draw a parallel with the music world. More particularly the piano playing world, but it applies to all instruments. Amateur musicians in the UK will usually rank themselves according to whatever grade they've last taken and passed. E.g. to get in the NYOGB you need Grade 8 distinction, which is as high as you can get before you start getting into college-level diplomas. Grades are according to both teachers and students a royal pain in the backside, because of their format and their rather specific marking scheme. On the other hand what they do is give a good indication of the technical proficiency of the player which is very useful if you are for example fixing an orchestra and have no time to hear all applicants. E.g. you can get very talented musicians who have reached gr.8 after 4 years (rare but happens), and some who have droned on for 10+ years and still trying for their gr.6. I may be completely wrong, but I think that belts in MA are similar. I.e. they should be taken with a pinch of salt - they are a good indication of the rough amount of knowledge an artist has, but are no garrantee of quality - I knew plenty of gr.8+ players who were absolutely awful, and of course some excellent gr.5-6 players who I would much rather have playing with me...

I only have an account to view other accounts At the end of the day, facebook is where it's at. Incredibly useful.

"Tuition: $750.00 per month" That's the real joke.

Imagine failing, and having to pay another 6 grand for another test... Ridiculous. Find another school I say, even if you have to work another year to adapt to their style - then you will have earned your black belt rather than bought it (not blaming you!). $6000... that's unbelievable... I know many people who can live for a year with that...

That's quite interesting - here in the UK I believe I've seen maybe one french grip in all my time fencing (excluding sabre of course), and it was on a very old and rusty blade so I assumed it was a more antique way of holding the thing. Thanks for the correction.

I'm not very knowledgeable in that kind of stuff but I think as well as a test of physical ability something like obtaining a black belt (which to outsiders seems like the highest qualification a martial artist can obtain, and a certificate of strength and maturity) should be done with a vote from the whole dojo, or at least people who already have a black belt. I.e. an exceptional 10yo kid would have to also display maturity and fairness of judgement well beyond his age to get a black belt. If they can do the moves but can't pass morally then they should wait a couple more years - it will also make them a better person in the long run.

For fitness mainly, I live in a very safe uni. When I used to live in a dangerous area I didn't train and didn't really think about training. Also I think you become truer to yourself when you're faced with somebody pouding you (or your pads ). Can't pretend against a shin kick thrown by a guy twice your size! It's a nice break from everyday life.

When I got thrown on the floor aged 10 by a 12yo kid who did what I think was probably judo, over a couple of centimes (like 0.2p or some ridiculously low amount of money). I remember being surprised at both his complete superiority in the altercation (cos I hadn't lost a single fight before then) and the fact that the teachers watching the scene just told us not to do that in front of the principal's office but nothing else happened (similarly a kid tried to murder my maths teacher and nothing happened to him - probably because she recovered a month later). Turns out his parents were the kind who would go and stab the principal if something happened to their kid (it's happened a few times in France). Even now I remember it as a disgusting display of lack of morals, both because he was using his MA training to bully, and because he was older and bigger Started training 3 years later, when I saved enough money as my parents didn't want me to do MA and wouldn't pay for it. I think they still don't know I've started Muay Thai.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have by now realised that gloved training is just as tough if not tougher than bare handed training. I'm not that bothered about learning to fight per se - I fight relatively little, and when I do it always ends up on the floor with joint locks, strangling, that kind of stuff (I suppose wrestling?), instinctively I tend not to kick or punch in fights - maybe MT will change that. But I took it up mainly for fitness, and to see whether I could resist training and become a better person through it, more than just to learn how to destroy somebody else quickly. Let's say it's a side advantage.

There are some TINY kids in my MT club... a 10yo has already done 6 fights and won 4, and another kid training looks like he's about 4-5...