Hapkido?

[ebff]

This summer I'm moving back to London and I'm quite tempted to start hapkido (training muay thai during term time and hapkido during holidays would be a plan - I am now hooked to MT). What attracts me to it is that I've always been fascinated by aikido (especially the principles behind it, not just the visual stuff), and hapkido seems to bring together a lot of aikido techniques (or similar throws etc.) and the trademark aikido "flow" with kicks and also acrobatic "cool-looking" (but I'm sure very effective) techniques which seem great fun.

However I don't know much about hapkido, it's not really a mainstream art here. It does look "proper", as in full-contact and pretty brutal, but also technical, which I think is good. But I know next to nothing about the art, its philosophy, its training, its history and so on.

So, could you please tell me what is involved in hapkido? What is it like to train in as a total beginner? Are there many forms to learn like Japanese arts, or is the training more technique based like muay thai? Also, do you know any good dojangs in London, especially around SW1 (Westminster) area?

Thank you very much! Looking forward to your replies.

ebff

[UseoForce]

Your synapse of hapkido is pretty good. Basically the grappling techniques of tradition Japanese Jiu-jitsu and Aikido plus Korean striking techniques. It's pretty sweet.

Combat Hapkido is a bit of a different animal. Our striking resembles kickboxing, and our grappling includes not only Japanese Jiu-jitsu but BJJ, a bit of wrestling and some other stuff. Plus, we do Wing Chun style trapping and Filipino weapons. Check out ichf.com for more info on combat hapkido.

[getawaytkd]

hapkido is a very useful type of martial arts