What are good urban places to practice?

[JusticeZero]

It's spring and the snow is melting, so I went outside to work out some of the cabin fever blahs. Then it occurred to me that my "lawn" was fronting a major street with lots of foot traffic and that there's plenty of kids wandering around. Seems like a good way to draw unwanted attention, of the strange kind. Any good suggestions for out of the way training spots that might be nearby?

[scottnshelly]

I would think being in Alaska you be able to find some deserted places, but then again, i've never been there.

I've also been looking for a place nearby that i could do some crazy Martial Arts stuff. I don't have a privacy fence, so i'm reluctant to anything where my neighbors would be watching.

Do you have any parks nearby? sometimes you can find a park that has some secluded place.

good luck.

[dtstiachi]

Try a basketball court or dance studio near by. See if you could practice in there. Of course, there is always outside.

[Mr. Mike]

I guess it doesn't bother me. I practice in my driveway, and in my yard, regardless of passersby. I live in a neiborhood though and not on a busy street, so there is a difference. I also don't really mind who sees me practicing. It lets the nieghbors know a little more about me.

[UsagiYojimbo]

What about a park? I see people do Tai Chi at the park all the time, and nobody seems to bother them.

Personally, I work out in my yard and don't care what the neighbors think. And if they don't like the fact that I work out in the nude, hey, that's their problem. Call the police on me, will they... j/k.

[traz]

me and a couple of my MA friends train in big empty fields that ppl seldom go to

[aefibird]

Try find space in local wood or forest or an empty corner of a park.

I practice sometimes in my back yard, but it is too small to be able to do much, especially when I want to practice Bo kata. I usually go up to my mum and dad's house and practice with my Bo on their lawn as they have a bigger garden than I do.

A group of us have occasionally rented a sports hall for the morning and trained in there. Our dojo is great - lots of equipment etc, but is too small, especially if people are training with weapons. That's why Sensei only gives priave weapon lessons, rather than teach them as part of the regular class. The dojo is too small to have more than one or two people swinging Bo or Nunchaku.

[Ben Martin]

^no offence but that sounds crap training in a place that small.

i often train with my neighbour in the reck (small park) up the road from my house, i go up in to the grass area at the top cornor and train up there. not many people in the park can see us as its in the cornor but people who are walking in and out can see us and people in the buses going buy can see us too. it doesn't really bother me who sees me train. in 2 years ive only had one person of me out for a fight when they saw me sparing with one of my friends. i just told him that i didnt want to because i didnt know him. now every time i see him on the street he asks me how my training is going so its all good. other people have stopped and watched a few have asked me what im doing and how long ive been doing it for.

i sometimes train in my street at night doing sprints farmers walks and shadow boxing too. im lucky in the fact that my college gym has a dance studio which i can go in and use when its not busy.

[aefibird]

^no offence but that sounds crap training in a place that small.

Well, we're quite a small club anyway. It can be a bit of a pain training in a small place, but it's cheap and the karate club is the only one that uses the room. We also have separate changing rooms and a dedicated weights room. Training is OK when we're training empty hand- there's just about enough room, but there's not really enough room to do staff training in there unless there's only a couple of folks.

[mai tai]

i once worked out with a guy from russia. in his country he said that training was illegal if not sactioned by the state. so they would go into the woods at night to train. we started to do that (start at five in the morning. at any park i doub that you would have any trouble from spectaters at this time.

At first it seemd strange but as time went on it was very enjoyable, serine and peaceful.it was sureal to hear birds chirping and rabbit nearby as we dealt violence out oppon one another.