Bama Crimson Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Here is my dilemma. Last spring I started training in Muay Thai with a couple of friends of mine. I liked it ok, but thought I was really going to like it alot. We started to just get the basics down. But my friends goals seem to be different than mine. I want to study MA for physical fitness (Muay Thai has a great workout techinque). He ( I am not sure of the others) want to do MMA type training, doing Muay Thai and BJJ. I have no desire to be an aspiring MM Artist. But to be honest, I didn't like the training we did in Muay Thai that much. Why? I would like to train in a way that has less risk of injury (ie not taking knees to the fact so we can learn how to take knees...I don't know if it is even possible to "take" a knee to the head in a real fight). We had a lot of contact. Another guy that trains with us had his arm broken while doing BJJ. I want to train in an art that is pretty effective at helping be fit, but also one for self-defense, and has less risk of injury. Why do I want to avoid injury....I am in the process of becoming an officer in the Navy and I probably will begin my training this summer. I just got medically qualified and any injury could delay my training or cause me to become medically disqualified if it was bad enough. I went an watched an IsshinRyu Karate school here in town and it looked pretty solid. I was wondering if this would a good alternative, while maybe cross training in boxing technique and/or BJJ techique only to avoid injuries? How effective in self defense is IsshinRyu? "If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride, and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." -Alabama Coaching Legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infrazael Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 If you train properly in Muay Thai, you won't get injured. IMO, Muay Thai will own any Karate, except Kyokushin (full-contact), because of the harsh training methods and just the purely effectiveness of it. As for MMA - BJJ and MT work VERY well together. Even I'm working on taking BJJ later, when I have the time and money. Why??? Because in a life-or-death situation, your groundgame may prove far more beneficial than your striking game at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineapple Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 You answered your own question. For what you desire, training in karate while crosstraining in boxing and BJJ sounds like the perfect solution. Yes, I have witnessed numerous joint injuries (some permanent) in BJJ and facial injuries in boxing while I have seen very few serious injuries in karate. I am a strong advocate of cross training. Remember that you are open to injuries in any type of martial arts. I acquired a damaged eye (torn with floaters) in a Kempo tournament. What works works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Crimson Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 If you train properly in Muay Thai, you won't get injured. IMO, Muay Thai will own any Karate, except Kyokushin (full-contact), because of the harsh training methods and just the purely effectiveness of it. I am not sure if we were training properly or not. Honestly, no one in the group had throughly studied Muay Thai. I did not see that as a problem because the goal was only to get the basics down before formally training in Muay Thai....which I did not have the desire to do. Do you think that Muay Thai will own any Karate more because of the training methods or just because of its effectiveness. MT is an effective art but all have weaknesses. "If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride, and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." -Alabama Coaching Legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Crimson Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 You answered your own question. For what you desire, training in karate while crosstraining in boxing and BJJ sounds like the perfect solution. Yes, I have witnessed numerous joint injuries (some permanent) in BJJ and facial injuries in boxing while I have seen very few serious injuries in karate. I am a strong advocate of cross training. Remember that you are open to injuries in any type of martial arts. I acquired a damaged eye (torn with floaters) in a Kempo tournament. Yeah, I know that injuries could occur in any art....its sort of like driving a car. If you drive safely and wear a seat belt, you are less likely to get in an accident and get hurt, but that does not guarentee your safety, since you cannot control the actions of others. It sounds to me that I need to modify my training if I train in MT or BJJ to meet the goals of self defense and fitness rather than training myself to fight in no holds bar contests. "If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride, and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." -Alabama Coaching Legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1kickKO Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Muay Thai and BJJ is a great combination, Muay Thai working on your strength and an extremely good thing to have on the street (or in war)...and BJJ if you are ever one on one, you can learn the simplest takedowns to put a stop to a confrontation immediately. Karate is also great for helping with balance, timing, and the mental aspect of it all...would it be possible if you coudl crosstrain in all three? Or is that too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineapple Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 would it be possible if you coudl crosstrain in all three? GREAT COMBO! What works works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinnieDaChin Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 okay, if youre actually taking full contact knees in practice with MT your instructors are a little nutty... otherwise just let the conditioning do its work, youll probably be just fine (everyone gets injured sooner or later) and youll be thankful for it in the long run. you dont have to be a cage fighter to train in mixed martial arts, and youll be all the better of a fighter for it. personally, id stick with the MT and BJJ because that covers striking and grappling- and the best strikers/grapplers in the world right now are MT/BJJ guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Crimson Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 okay, if youre actually taking full contact knees in practice with MT your instructors are a little nutty... I thought so. IMO, the best way to practice knees would be with some kind of punching bag/dummy. you dont have to be a cage fighter to train in mixed martial arts, and youll be all the better of a fighter for it. personally, id stick with the MT and BJJ because that covers striking and grappling- and the best strikers/grapplers in the world right now are MT/BJJ guys. MT and BJJ are good arts...maybe I need to discuss with the group what each of our goals are and what we want to get out of training, so that we can modify our methods based on our diverse goals. Injuries will come with martial arts, but how often they come and how severe they are often can be determined by training methods. I know from playing football that better conditioning and smarter training methods meant less injuries and less severe injuries both in practice and in the games. "If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride, and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." -Alabama Coaching Legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1kickKO Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 One key question...Are you having fun doing what you're doing now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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