Your Art

[Armbar]

Shudokan Karate - I took this art because of limited selection. I'm glad that this art is what I found. It has no flashy moves (except for one spinning kick that we never practice, as sensei doesn’t like it). It stresses Movement through the ranges, with strikes, throws, takedowns, Locks, and submissions. It's great because my school is small, so we can mess around with our contact intensity levels, training levels, and such. Plus its FUN!

Yoshin-Ryu Jujitsu - I've not progressed very far in this art, but have found it very interesting. It focuses on joint locks and leg kicks. Not many strikes, but its got some great throws.

[Fu Man]

I currently train in Isshin-ryu Karate and Kodokan Judo.

Isshin-ryu Karate is an Okinawan martial art. Although Isshin-ryu Karate has unique charactistics, such as its vertical fist, the founder combined many components of Shorin-ryu Karate and Goju-ryu Karate. Overall, Isshin-ryu Karate is a very practical, self-defense oriented martial art that focuses on in-close fighting techniques. My Sensei teaches a more Jutsu, rather than Do, approach to the martial art.

To supplement Isshin-ryu Karate, I study Kodokan Judo; which has many throws, locks, holds and chokes that are excellent for self defense purposes.

With the combination of both martial arts, I feel my training is fairly complete.

Also, I practiced Ji Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do for eight years, but I ceased its training over 12 years ago.

Ted

[fallen_milkman]

I actually got into martial arts when I was much younger and there were free classes at a place in my neighborhood. I believe the art was mostly Lohan Fist. Eventually I got out of the arts for personal reasons. About 7 months ago, I decided to look up my old sifu and start taking the art again. He is a Master in Kuntao and was teaching at the same school as the Grand Master of our style. Besides, most of the other schools in my area are Goshin Jutsu or TKD, which aren't my thing. I prefer the flow and feel of Chinese arts, and chi development is a subject I am very interested in.

Edited September 8, 2005 by fallen_milkman

[Kaminari]

I am currently studying Shito-ryu karate, but have learned many techniques from Tae Kwon Do, as well as a little Pankration. As for weapons, I've worked with nunchaku and have done limited escrima, but hope to start learning bo or sai sometime in the near future.

[y2_sub]

Just for information , is modern sports judo different then kodokan judo ??

[UpTheIrons]

I practice traditional Tae Kwon Do, although our organization is Kukkiwon certified and fights WTF style. We still practice traditional TKD. Additionally, I practice Yoshokai Aikido (7th kyu) under Takashi Kushida-sensei.

My Tae Kwon Do is a very complete art, emphasizing power, speed, accuracy, basics, manners, and etiquette.

I started practicing Aikido because I was fascinated by it for a long time. However, I keep the two arts separate.

[Fu Man]

Just for information , is modern sports judo different then kodokan judo ??

It's like comparing apples and oranges. Kodokan Judo is the martial art. The sport aspect of Judo, shiai, is one of the ways Judoka can compete. The same logic can be applied to other martial arts and their competition settings as well (Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, etc).

When analyzing the full syllabus of Kodokan Judo, the martial art includes nage-waza (throwing techniques), katame-waza (grappling techniques) and atemi-waza (striking techniques). The aforementioned techniques are trained via uchikomi (repetitions), randori (free practice or sparring) and kata (self-defense drills as taught in traditional Jujutsu). When the full syllabus of techniques and training methods of Kodokan Judo are taken into consideration, the martial art is more similar to another style of Jujutsu. As a matter of fact, the martial art was initially named Kano-ryu Jujutsu.

The major problem with Kodokan Judo, in my opinion, is the prevelance of dojos that only focus on training for and under the rules of shiai competitions. Atemi-waza and kata are either totally ignored or lightly covered at the Dan ranks.

Ted

[AnonymousOne]

I chose my school, which is a derivative of Shotokan, because:

The head teacher is the highest skilled and highest ranking Karate-Ka in our country

Its brutally hard training - army boot camp style. Wimps need not apply

Its hard style and prepares you well for the street and life

At the time, the top student was our countries undefeated champ 5 years in a row so I was suitably impressed

They are fanatical about neatness of technique and having proper form

The way they train, they put a lot of emphasis on power and focus with no flowery techniques

They put even emphasis of basics, kata and kumite

They students I looked at, at the time were, all well skilled for their grades.

There motto in advertising was "no gimmicks, only hard training".

They promote high discipline, respect for other people, and persistance

Its no non-sense training that is very practical

Its taught exactly how it is in Japan, to the "letter"

Your grades are registered in Japan

It was close to my home also

It has a tremendous reputation

And my parents were paying the bill

[Sam]

Traditional TKD here as well.

Do a lot more technical work, with hands than most TKD schools, rather than just concentrating on ranged and flashy jumping kicks. generally encouraged low kicks, etc. Do some VERY basic grappling and ground work drills every so often, but mainly as a way of showing students other things they can go away and train in....

[atalaya]

i started studying kyokushin because i was scared of the other places to study (one was an aikido school that used a lot of work with shinai) and stayed with it because i was able to learn techniques that actually helped me as kyokushin is a "hard" style. i got into goju as a way of continuing practice and stayed because of the close connection between goju and kyokushin. i got into aikido to help me to learn to be "soft." in truth i feel that it is the most complete way of studying: hard, hard-soft, soft.