To train in Karate, Muay Thai or BJJ

[Bama Crimson]

One key question...Are you having fun doing what you're doing now?

 

That is the key. The answer is sort of. I have always wanted to train in martial arts, and know that if I found one that seemed to fit, I would love it. What I have been doing is not quite doing it for me, but I don't know if it is art itself I don't like or the training methods.

 

I honestly believe that I would enjoy something more traditional (like Karate, TKD etc...), but I am also a practical person. I want are art that will work, and MT and BJJ do. But I also desire to train in a setting that is maybe more organized, and has a more objective means of measuring progress, such as with belts. This is why I quit training in Kung Fu when I was 12....the ranking system and/or the means of measuring progress were not made clear to me.

[1kickKO]

In Muay Thai your success is normally measured by how dedicated you are, how much time you put in the gym, and how hard you work..and if you compete, it's determined then as well...but some people like karate more than the "harder" types of martial arts...Maybe you should look into cities around you that are close that have more options than in your city. Have you looked for what all is available yet? Practical...hmm..some practical arts would include hapkido, jujitsu (although you already do that), karate (many different styles and run-offs, but if you find a style let me know and I could possibly tell you what they focus on)...so basically what you are looking for is something traditional, with more organized way of instruction, ranking, and teaching...but also practical. ANy martial art (not including XMA) is basically practical, you'll just have to search around for something nearby if nothing is in your city that would suit you.

[Bama Crimson]

Thanks for your replies, you seem very knowledgeable about Martial Arts.

 

As for Karate, I know that close to me in my town there is a pretty good IsshinRyu school, and I believe in Chattanooga (further south) there are some Shotokan schools.

 

I don't know of any Hapkido schools in the area, either in my town or Chattanooga.

 

As a side note, the Muay Thai school in Chatt charges 130 dollars a month. That is the problem my friend is facing. He enjoys MT but cannot afford to go the MT school. Is 130 a month normal for MT schools? It seems a little expensive. At the IsshinRyu school in my town its only 70 a month.

[1kickKO]

Thanks for the compliment!

 

IsshinRyu is a great style of karate, it's a break off of the 4 main Styles of karate originally created in Okinawa. It focuses on fast hard punches and kicks, they have empty hand forms, and they also teach weapons. Pretty practical in itself and is a wonderful system, so if you would like good tradition this would be great to choose.

 

Shotokan is also pretty good, but is generally more focused on "sport" karate...They practice very deep stances, and their movements are not very circular but straight and to the point. A good system, and it also has deep roots and a great history behind it..but practicality levels aren't quite up there.

 

My suggestion if you choose one of these or any others you like, is to look around for a bit, call up and ask for a free lesson and if they offer them, this will give you a chance to see what their atmosphere, dojo, and instructors are like. Or if you don't feel like participating you could always go watch first, but call and make sure they allow it..and ask as many questions as you can think of. They are there and that's their job and if they get irritated then it's not very professional of them.

[Muaythaiboxer]

if you want to get in shape do boxing or muay thai. if you want tradition do kung-fu. if you want to be practicle do MT,BJJ,kyokushin, or krave-maga

[Bama Crimson]

if you want to get in shape do boxing or muay thai. if you want tradition do kung-fu. if you want to be practicle do MT,BJJ,kyokushin, or krave-maga

 

I seem to want all of the above, but mostly to be practical and get in shape. Having thought through it some more, what I think was/is lacking in the training I did was a sense of organization and being "official".

[Thaegen]

Infrazael wrote:

 

"MO, Muay Thai will own any Karate, except Kyokushin (full-contact), because of the harsh training methods and just the purely effectiveness of it. ".

 

No Muay thai will not own any Karate or any other style . I wonder why people always got this idea.

 

And again no.. if you your condition is weak it's your fault. I do Wing Tsun and we do almost no condition training. And my condition is pretty good, but then again I also do Triathlon.

 

 

If your condition is weak it's your fault and not the martial art you train in.

[VinnieDaChin]

i do both MT and BJJ and ive never been injured like that.

[1kickKO]

Why not train in all that you can?

[SevenStar]

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.

 

nothing wrong with hard contact. The key is to train properly. it sounds like you may not have been. Also, for the school's sake, if they compete, training knees to the face aren't a good idea, as they aren't allowed in north american thai matches. As far as the guy whose arm got snapped, either he didn't tap in time, or the guy he was rolling with was very uncontrolled - like a newb.

 

 

maybe cross training in boxing technique and/or BJJ techique only to avoid injuries?

 

you really won't learn that way... if you're gonna go that route, it would server you better to just stick with isshin only.