Does anyone else here practice Hapkido?

[BLACCBILLYJACC]

I am currently taking Hapkido. Been at it a year and a half and I am currently a red belt or third gup. I don't know how your ranking system goes but there it starts at 9, yellow, and goes down to 1 and then when you hit black it starts going up. New to me. I was taking american kenpo karate for three years prior and they don't use gups, etc. I have taken karate, tae kwon do at various places long ago. Just got back into the arts about 5 years ago. At first I was unsure about Hapkido but I am really starting to enjoy it. The school I am at was affiliated with ICH or combat hapkido but they have since switched to something else but same curriculum. From what I have learned, I keep in mind that Hapkido is only so useful in actual application or a piece of the puzzle so to speak but I also learned that kenpo was a piece of the puzzle. In my view a larger piece but none the less lacking components. Just my opinion from what I have seen. I have gone through the ranks fairly quickly and will probably have a black in about a year and I feel a

good mastery of the basics. I look forward to getting a black so I can work with more advanced students, other black belts. That will be fun.

How's it goin'? I've never seen your schools style of hapkido but what's it like compared to your previous kenpo training? You have learned alot of those around the clock fast hand checks & strikes?

How do you compare the kicks of hapkido to those of kenpo? How about the throws & takedowns? How does the two work together?

Have you learned some good defenses aginst chokes or any signifigant ground techniques?

I'd like to hear your opinion.

[GOM]

I trained at a dojang here in Korea that offered karate and hapkido. I wasn't at all impressed with their karate, as it was very old 80's style, no real practical self defence.

I trained in hapkido for about a month, and it was ok, not great, but ok. There was a big emphasis on break falls, flips, jumps, twirls and little emphasis on locks and restraints. So I was dissapointed in that aspect as I was hoping to find new, or at least variations on the locks I already know.

I went to a Hapkido demonstratoin competition, and found the flips and twirls were the emphasis in most dojangs. I don't know what it compares to other countries, but I wasnt impressed with my experiences in hapkido.

[bpoch]

I trained at a dojang here in Korea that offered karate and hapkido. I wasn't at all impressed with their karate, as it was very old 80's style, no real practical self defence.

I trained in hapkido for about a month, and it was ok, not great, but ok. There was a big emphasis on break falls, flips, jumps, twirls and little emphasis on locks and restraints. So I was dissapointed in that aspect as I was hoping to find new, or at least variations on the locks I already know.

I went to a Hapkido demonstratoin competition, and found the flips and twirls were the emphasis in most dojangs. I don't know what it compares to other countries, but I wasnt impressed with my experiences in hapkido.

My school does not spend a lot of times on the break falls. I can see where it comes in helpful though. A lot of the wrist locks and takes down require being able to do a break fall so the person doing the locks can do them 100% with the takedowns. Without the falls the person that is having the locks applied is at a greater risk of injury.

I wish my school focused some on the falls, but I've been able to pick them up and my instructors have been happy to teach me if I ask.

I'm off to work but I can post the topics we teach for each belt when I get home if anybody is interested.

[Scott James]

GOM,

I agree with Bpoch about the break falls. I see more emphasis on aerial throws in Korea and the need for Break falling is much more Important.

I also agree that from what I have seen there's more emphasis on flash here. It's hard for me to gauge though because being an american watching a class I have seen the instructors raise the level for show.

Where In Korea did you study? I am curious because I have never seen aor even heard of anyone offering Karate In Korea. I would love to go check it out.

[classiccopy]

At first, I admit I found Hapkido a little wimpy. To me it was like learning a new language. Most of what we did was completely new to me. In Kenpo we did not go over any locks, grabs, throws, sweeps, etc. If we did it was very quickly. Not something we would practice. I soon learned this was limiting. I was always apprehensive about a confrontation because of my training. In Kenpo I felt that they taught me to cause serious damage. It was like driving a car that went 0-60. That was cool but what if you had to go down a residential street at 25. With Hapkido I feel that I could diffuse a situation or deal with a minor problem without beating the guy bloody. As for the kicks, everything I was taught seemed to be real similar. A couple of different kicks and variations. Nothing earth shattering at least in what I was shown. As for defenses against chokes etc, I have been shown some good techniques but Kenpo had some really good techniques too. Kenpo techniques are better in my opinion because if you have reached that stage then you need to increase the heat. The weak point with the Kenpo training was they never showed us the "attack" or procedure that was used to get you in that hold you were defending. Just the defense. A teaching flaw. You are shown the defense to an attack you don't really understand. Now I can see both sides. I feel Hapkido is very complimentary to Kenpo and I am glad I stayed.

How's it goin'? I've never seen your schools style of hapkido but what's it like compared to your previous kenpo training? You have learned alot of those around the clock fast hand checks & strikes?

How do you compare the kicks of hapkido to those of kenpo? How about the throws & takedowns? How does the two work together?

Have you learned some good defenses aginst chokes or any signifigant ground techniques?

I'd like to hear your opinion.

[Kill Jill]

Kyokshin Karate seems to be on the increase here at the moment judging from a surge of promos I've seen for gyms. Otherwise, I have personally never seen any other strands of Karate promoted in Korea. I guess it owes to Kyokshin having the closest relationship to Taekwondo.

Hapkido gyms here are largely about gymnastics and strength building. I do lots of throws, but not many ground locks.

[GOM]

GOM,

I agree with Bpoch about the break falls. I see more emphasis on aerial throws in Korea and the need for Break falling is much more Important.

I also agree that from what I have seen there's more emphasis on flash here. It's hard for me to gauge though because being an american watching a class I have seen the instructors raise the level for show.

Where In Korea did you study? I am curious because I have never seen aor even heard of anyone offering Karate In Korea. I would love to go check it out.

I trained (and taught karate) in Ilsan, not far out of Seoul. But I am living in Seoul at the moment and it is too far for me to train.

There are two federations for Karate, the KKA (Korean Karate Assoc) and the KKF (Korean Karate Federation). At the moment I believe that the KKF is in the WKF, but that could be changing because of money problems.

If you want more info, send me a PM and I can answer any of your questions.

[GOM]

Kyokshin Karate seems to be on the increase here at the moment judging from a surge of promos I've seen for gyms. Otherwise, I have personally never seen any other strands of Karate promoted in Korea. I guess it owes to Kyokshin having the closest relationship to Taekwondo.

Kyokushin was founded by Mas Oyama, a Korean immigrant to Japan. His Korean name was Choi Yeong-Eui, but decided to call himself Oyama Masutatsu. There was a Korean movie made of him called "Fighter in the wind" in 2004. This is why Kyokushin is becoming popular in Korea.

[aefibird]

Kyokshin Karate seems to be on the increase here at the moment judging from a surge of promos I've seen for gyms. Otherwise, I have personally never seen any other strands of Karate promoted in Korea. I guess it owes to Kyokshin having the closest relationship to Taekwondo.

Jill, what about the popularity of other arts in Korea? Is it easy to find places to train in martial arts other than TKD/HKD? What about mixed martial arts? Do Korean people seem to go for that or prefer Korean MAs?

[Kill Jill]

TKD outnumbers all MAs by far here, followed by HKD and then Gumdo. There are a few gyms here which teach other MAs, although they are not found in every neighborhood. GOM made the good point that movies can influence a surge in an MAs popularity. Ong Bak, for example, was very widely watched here - released here in 2003 - and therefore we also saw a rise in Muay Thai gym promotion. Whether such gyms could ever eclipse the popularity of TKD gyms will probably never happen in this century, though!

It seems that kids will typically start out in either TKD, HKD or Gumdo and if they stick with them, they will stick with them for ages. Korean people tend to opt for what's familiar to them. When the kids reach their older teens, they may have a fancy for trying something 'on the edge' and might opt for a 'harsher' MA, such as if they are inspired by a movie trend.

Remember, here they have college programs which have full time training in all sorts of MAs. Anyone who goes through such a program will probably come out quite talented in more than one MA.

Mixed MA gyms are a small but growing number. One such gym I like the look of is this one:

http://www.gongkwon.net/

They now have an English language section - wow! Although there are still more links and videos on the Korean pages - easy to spot even if you don't read Korean, so you should try to go through the Korean pages, too. The master, Kang Jun, has in my view done the most to promote MAs in Korea. He has MANY books on bookstore shelves; is actively promoting his techniques through TV; he hosts zilliions of seminars; and is perhaps one of the first here to try and attract foreigners through the creation of English pages on his website section. I also like the comment he makes on his webpage that he recognizes that most MA gyms in Korea have become little more than 'places for recreation.' Spot on.