Your Style

[aefibird]

My two styles are Shotokan Karate and Aikikai Aikido.

 

My Shotokan Sensei teaches many techniques. We learn Shotokan kata, although Sensei often teaches kata from other styles once a student is brown belt or above. There is a lot of emphasis on perfecting basic techniques in order to get a good grounding in everything else. We use open and closed hand techniques, kicks of all height, including some jumping kicks and spinning kicks. Strikes to eyes, groin, ears, throat etc are all taught and the realistic applications of everything that we do is discussed and taught.

 

We are taught to block with many different parts of the body, not just the traditional forearm blocks. My instructor also incorporates some judo and ju jitsu techniques and we use grabs, throws,sweeps and pins/submissions a lot. Most of the sparring work is based upon street self defence work. Free sparring is point sparring usually, although there is full contact for higher grades. We also have regular "all out" sessions, where ANY technique is allowed, except attacks to the eyes and groin. Padding is optional.

 

Higher grades are taught weapons if they wish. The Bo, Jo, Nunchaku, Sai and Tonfa are the main traditional weapons taught. We also train in 'street' weapons and how to use anything to hand as a weapon in an emergency.

 

My instructor has trained and graded under many different karate systems as well as training in other styles of MA, so he incorporates this into our training. For fitness work we do bag work, sit ups, push ups, squats, and even the dreaded bunny hops. We tend to use Japanese terminology for techniques, although they are often called by their English name as well. The instructor is adressed as Sensei and techniques done to count are counted in Japanese. My Sensei's name is Graham Smith. He has been training for over 30 years and he has trained under Asano Sensei and Kanazawa Sensei, among others.

 

I haven't been training in my Aikido dojo for very long, so I can't really tell you much about it, except for the fact that we train in traditional Ueshiba Aikido. I can't train regularly, due to the fact that the dojo is quite far away from where I live, so I miss out on most of the training. The dojo is very formal and Japanese terminology is used at all times. We also train with the traditional Aikido weapons: the Jo, the Bokken and the Tanto, although we ocassionally use the Bo as well. My Sensei has been training for about 20 years and has trained in Wing Chun Kung Fu and Judo, as well as Aikido.

Edited August 11, 2004 by aefibird

[italian_guy]

Please feel free to tell about your sparring, whether it is full contact, or point based or somewhere between.

 

In kickboxing I do light to moderate contact sparring, in Tai chi I don't spar for the moment ( I started only 3 months ago)

 

do you perform breaking techniques?

 

No

 

what kind of hand strikes? elbow? knees? headbutts?

 

No headbutt, in kickboxing we do only punches and kicks (also low kicks and spinning not flying not knees), In Tai chi we practice open hand, punces, elbows, kicks (no knees no spinning no jumping).

 

pressure points?

 

no in both

 

self defenses?

 

no in kickboxing not yet in Ta chi (maybe not at all)

 

grappling?

 

no in kickboxing, not yet in tai chi (I'm sure in the future we will do some)

 

do you practice the native countrys' terminology? yes in Tai chi plain italian for KB.

 

weapon use? what kinds of weapons? what levels do you learn weapons or special techniques?

 

No weapons in kickboxing, In Tai chi we will learn: sword, sabre and staff

 

I started only with the staff.

[granmasterchen]

the kickboxing that i took....was just kicks and some punches...the only punches were jabs and uppercuts, no hooks and no other hand techs...no pressure points , no grappling, no bare knuckle....nothing much beneficial to me as a martial artist....no katas no competitions or anything fun this was only at one specific study in monterey california with a man that claimed to be an 8th dan in 5 syles.....i studied all five under him and he was a fake , a complete mcdojo.....the other styles consisted of karates and weapons....i learned history lessons on these weapons, but not how to use any of the 13 that we were suppossed to train with, i learned how samurai bowed that was about it, everything else i already knew from my previous training to include every tech taught there and every kata....very sad and depressing......so if you are in the monterey area...watch out for a man that claims to teach asahi ryu and okinawan karate, kickboxing and weapons....what a fake.....

[blitzcraig]

can some one explain hapkido well for me?

[Mc. Steve]

I study World Tang Soo Do, where we do hand, foot, knee and elbow techs. I think a few headbutts come in later. Kicks are high, jumping and spinning. We do light point sparring with punches and kicks to the front torso and kicks to the head. Every two belts we learn 15 techniques, 5 hand, foot and self defence (including preasure points, wrist and arm locks, some throws and chokes) but don't get to apply them in a sparring situation. Next grading I shall start to learn a Bo form, and there are also BB forms for Knife, Sword and Cane. Quite alot of streaching before lesson but none after. Korean terminology is supposed to be used, but most students can only follow the start of the class and a few numbers counting. All techniques are said in both English and Korean. One breaking tech must be done at each grading but never in class.

 

My classes are all local (40 minute walk at most, or 10 minute jog ) and I train under Instructor Zamparelli and Master Zamparelli. More here.

 

S

[italian_guy]

the kickboxing that i took....was just kicks and some punches...the only punches were jabs and uppercuts, no hooks and no other hand techs...no pressure points , no grappling, no bare knuckle....nothing much beneficial to me as a martial artist....no katas no competitions or anything fun this was only at one specific study in monterey california with a man that claimed to be an 8th dan in 5 syles.....i studied all five under him and he was a fake , a complete mcdojo.....the other styles consisted of karates and weapons....i learned history lessons on these weapons, but not how to use any of the 13 that we were suppossed to train with, i learned how samurai bowed that was about it, everything else i already knew from my previous training to include every tech taught there and every kata....very sad and depressing......so if you are in the monterey area...watch out for a man that claims to teach asahi ryu and okinawan karate, kickboxing and weapons....what a fake.....

Ok the problems with kickboxing are mainly:

 

1) the amount of fakes

 

2) the fact that is mostly a martial sport (not martial art).

 

You can realize that your kickboxing is a fake if your technique show no visible sign of improvement after some times. Another way to tell your in a fake school is asking to some newcomers coming from other kickboxing school (we have quite many in my school) how do they feel about the practice they do now and watch them sparring.

 

Once I meet a guy coming from a different school, he told me that the practice he does in my school now is much better than in the school he was before.

 

Indeed when we sparred togheter I could see the difference; after one minute I hitted him with a nice clean cross in the face because he could not hold up his guard properly while attacking; after that he was passively defending being not able to throw any technique on me.

 

So now I'm quite confident that my school is not a fake.

 

The second problem you feel it after some time (it is the problem I'm feeling now). After a while if you are not going to compete you feel that your training becomes repetitive and you start feeling the lack of those elements which are present in the traditional martial art. You feel the need of the cultural elements that makes a martial discipline an art not only just a way to perfect your punches and kicks.

 

I don't know if I have made my point, but this is my current feeling about kickboxing and this is the reason why I'm thinking to replace my kickboxing training with karate.

[iolair]

The current club I go to: Tetsu No Otoko Ryu "applied" Ju Jitsu

 

Please feel free to tell about your sparring, whether it is full contact, or point based or somewhere between

 

We vary between light contact and full contact

 

do you perform breaking techniques?

 

No

 

what kind of hand strikes? elbow? knees? headbutts?

 

All of those... The punches we do are the same as Western Boxing.

 

low kicks, high kicks, spinning , jumping?

 

Lots of low kicks, never higher than kidneys ... but strangely there are a couple of spinning techniques

 

pressure points? self defenses? grappling?

 

Some pressure points at higher grades, a lot of self defense, a lot of grappling both stand up and ground

 

do you practice the native countrys' terminology?

 

inconsistently. It seems to be used for most throws, but rarely for other techniques

 

weapon use? what kinds of weapons? what levels do you learn weapons or special techniques?

 

we practice defence against knives, baseball bats and similar, but not fighting with them

 

and also tell where this school was located and your instructors' names for the purpose of individuals that may be interested in learning more about martial arts in their areas.

 

located in Faversham, south-east England.

[blitzcraig]

Tang soo doo sounds good. I wish there was a school around here. All i've found has been karate, Tkd and juijitsu both brazilian and not. and some kung fu, tai chi and aikido/judo. But if I go to the country..."good ole cuntry stile butt whoopin"

[Ironberg]

I practice a relatively new style of Karate called American Karate. It takes the best out of TKD, Karate, and kickboxing and a bit of Aikido.

 

Sparring is light to moderate contact, but it mostly depends on the two practitioners.

 

Kata is emphasized.

 

One step self defense and sparring is done.

 

Lots of heavy bagwork is done.

 

We also do the regular kicking and punching drill necessary to demonstrate proficiency at certain ranks.

 

We are encouraged to compete in as many tournaments as possible.

[Spookey]

About Hapkido,

 

Hapkido is a Korean Combat Art consisting of hand strikes, kicks, and strong usage of joint locks and throws.

 

Most techniques utilize circular motions for power, ie...spinning kicks, cresent shaped kicks, ect.

 

The throws are generally based on joint locks much like jujutsu with circular motions similar to Aikido or Kuk Sool Won...

 

Most of the emphasis is on self defense as opposed to team competition (sports).

 

For the most part the Western world was introduced to Hapkido by Bong Soo Han in the Billy Jack movies (did fight scene in the park during Billy Jack, and appeared in the trial of Billy Jack (he was the Korean fellow!)

 

TAEKWON!

 

Spookey