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...

Wow! I have a new respect for boxers now (whether Thai or normal)... At the time I thought the session wasn't that tough really (except maybe the pad work but that's because I was with one of the club's fighters), now I've changed my mind, even after a night's sleep my hands are still shaking... I thought the gloves were a wimp option, after training bare-handed... it just means they hit harder! I love it though! Especially the kicking! I have a question for regular MT practitioners. Last night was technique work, and we'd spend maybe 2min on a certain technique (like right, left, knee, right uppercut, left hook), 30s on another one, and then 2min on a new one and so on for about 20 min before switching pad/gloves. How does this work out in the long run? In Wing Chun we'd spend about 20 min on a single technique (or a specific chi sao drill), and possibly get through a max of 3 drills by the end of the session, which meant it had become semi-automatic and I remembered everything (except the forms ). Here I can barely remember any of the drills, and didn't have the time to make any of them work. How are you meant to learn how to apply a technique in 2 min if you've never seen it before? I couldn't do a back roundhouse kick (I assume that's what it was, kick to the head with the heel) and by the time the kru had showed me how, we moved on to the next drill... Oh yeah if anybody could tell me how to do such a kick I'd love to see cos I'd like to practice it for next week Anyway MT rocks But I miss the cool techniques from Wing Chun when you just took down somebody with something other than just hitting...

Well, the thing is moderation. I think the problem with many people in the UK and the US (as opposed to the rest of Europe, at least where I've lived) is that whenever they feel hungry and it's not a major meal yet they'll just go get a choc bar or something. So you end up eating 2-3 bars a day, sometimes up to 5-6, which is why some people get very fat (if they don't move). Don't make yourself throw up! That's REALLY unhealthy man... But yeah, sweets are alright... in moderation, like alcohol... (says I after having vodka shots for breakfast... hey it's exam term...). If you allow yourself say one bar a day, and then if you miss a day you can have two the next day, that's the easiest way (willpower wise) to limit your intake of stuff which will make you fat. But not snacking between meals is what will keep you slim more than anything.

I think if you cook your own food you'll lose a lot of weight, purely cos all that pre-packaged stuff and stuff you buy on takeaways is full of fat and sugar and additives to make you want more and stuff. Btw, microwave pizza doesn't count as cooking. Just do simple pasta, rice and stuff, you know, healthy eating, and don't snack between meals. Also use olive oil rather than sunflower oil, it's better for your arteries in the long run (and tastes better too). Not only is it healthier, it also fills you up better so you end up eating less than if you were wolfing down pizza, burgers... Advice from my doctor (physician for you yanks) mum who has practiced it for 30 years now and noone is fat in our family. It's easy, simple is best. If you want snacks, dried fruits like almonds, mangoes, apricots, raisins, prunes even, but especially dates pack a LOT of energy, and aren't designed to make you more hungry (don't believe me? I bet you were never full after eating a Lion bar) so they'll fill you up. I used to eat like that... now at uni i feed on chocolate, fried stuff and alcohol... no time to eat properly anymore And let me tell you... you feel the difference!

I found the hardest thing about exercising is to do it EVERY day. The only way I found to actually keep going was to run every morning right after waking up for 30-50min (couple of miles), before breakfast, when you're too out of it to really make conscious decisions like "my legs are going to hurt all day - I could just do it tomorrow). So yeah, wake up 30 min earlier and jog.

I've only come across two girls in martial arts (excluding fencing where they range from the alright to the positively laughable, usually the second). The first one was in my first couple of wing chun classes. I remember from practicing chi sao with her that she was really really weak, as in, my 10yo brother is actually stronger (she was about 25 and 5ft8). We all ended up not really punching through because her arms would just give way... maybe had she stayed she'd have gotten stronger but she left after these classes, probably because everyone else in the group was strong 6ft+ 180lb men in their thirties (and two slightly mad teenagers ). The second one was at my school. She wanted to do judo, and would not let the fact that it was a guys only sport at school deter her. She joined, was the fastest to get her yellow belt that the club had ever seen (and I don't know much about judo, but I think our school club wasn't a McDojo... noone made it to black belt in the 5 years I was there, except of course for the sensei - the captain was brown belt after 4-5 years of judo and serious training). Apparently even though she was a total beginner she could beat most people through pure determination and aggressivity (and the fact that teenage guys are usually not too comfortable with female curves probably helped). She would also randomly attack people in locker rooms and it took 3 guys to hold her down then. So.... I don't know what to think. Girls are probably treated differently. Doesn't mean they're not as strong.

Doesn't Muay Thai count as a martial art? As in, whatever was taught and still is taught to the thai soldiers?

2-3 years of fencing (sabre) - that was proper training, 4 hour sessions twice a week. 1 year wing chun, although I learnt nothing about wing chun really (because I'm not very good) so I don't really count it. Taught me interesting stuff about life and getting hit though.

Can't remember whether I've said that before. That's what my sifu had to say on belts: in the old days fighters would wear a belt to close their cloak (or whatever they wore at the time to go about the paths). They then would go out and sometimes fight, and the belt would get covered in dirt, blood, sweat etc. Over the years, the belt (which was never washed) would get darker and darker, and the experienced fighter, whose belt would be completely stained black from decades of fighting (and winning to tell the tale and keep the belt) would lay it by his bed proudly before going to sleep. I'm not so sure some of the black belts seen in later days have been acquired through sweat and blood.

The gym is a 20min bike ride away! Otherwise I'd go swimming everyday (pool is next door) but 40 min is about as long as I can spare. And there's no real place where I could hang a bag, the campus is spread all over the town and it would look very weird indeed. Thanks for your advice everyone I'll try and figure something out.

I'm not too bothered about the kicking to be honest, I'm more looking for something I can punch when practising without waking up the neighbours by banging on a wall (I usually practise at around 2am after finishing uni work). $100 is far too much. That's about 3 weeks' food budget! I'm a poor student!