2 more styles close to home

[lexmark]

Well, I recently discovered that tae-kwon-do and jiu-jitsu are available where I live and are as accesible as the 2 karate styles I asked about in another thread.

After doing some reading here and other places, I'm pretty sure tae-kwon-do might not be for me. Granted, I haven't gone to a class yet but I'm not sure all the kicking is suited to me. I can't touch my toes and even when I could, I've never been able to kick very high and from what I've read, tkd focuses on leg work. Also, it seems to be very competition oriented and I want to pratice martial arts for the physical and mental aspect of it, not to see how many trophies I can win in competition.

Both the places that do shotokan where I live, have jiu-jitsu. Don't know much about that either but I do like the idea of learning a style that is more focused on using your oppponet's momentum against him.

Wikipedia says"Jujutsu expresses the philosophy of yielding to an opponent's force rather than trying to oppose force with force"

I like that. So it kinda looks like it will either be shotokan or jiu-jitsu. Any new advice?

[bushido_man96]

I would check out the Jujitsu-only school, and then the Shotokan/Jujitsu schools, and compare the Jujitsu components of each school. I would bet that the Jujisu-only school will be more focused and specialized in that aspect than the Shotokan school would be. If you want a balance, though, then a school that provides both would be convenient, if it suits your needs.

As far as the kicking in TKD goes, kicking high is nice, but not always important. As a TKDer, some of my best kicks are below waist level. As for not being flexible, and unable to kick high, you won't be able to with negativity and no practice. You never know, you might enjoy it, and get really good at it.

As far as training for the mental aspects of any style, I believe that depends on how the person approaches the training. Sure, some schools will get more heavily into that than others, but if you adjust your mindset to what you want as far as the mental aspects go, I think you can achieve it no matter which art you study.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.

[lexmark]

Well, at one of the shotokan schools, it seems like the jiu-jitsu instructor is seperate from the shotokan instructor. I think they are just using the same location for the different courses.

The jiu-jitsu guy is Hanshi Simon Limoges, 8th dan and he is recognized by the "ALL JAPAN JU-JITSU INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION"

http://www.ajjif.org/AJJIFblackbelts.htm

ANd he also has this: http://www.geocities.com/kidokan_bu_jutsu/CVEnglish.html

His credentials seem pretty impressive to me. I'm hopefully gonna be able to check out the schools in my area this week. We'll see.

[bushido_man96]

That looks pretty good. On the first link, I saw the name Wally Jay in the list, who is grappling legend. I actually have a book of his called Small-Circle Jujitsu. You might have a pretty good deal there.

[lexmark]

I really do like the idea of jujitsu and I called and spoke to the instructor last night. He just moved here and is running a special where it's a year for 250. After November, it goes up to 600 a year. I'm going to go tomorrow evening and speak with him and try to get a better idea of what it's about. He's actually starting the classes next week. I don't know if he does a free trial or not but I hope so. I don't want to spend that much and end up not liking the style.

As far as the shotokan goes, I'm going tonight to check out a class. THe instructor told me that the next session starts next week also but she does have students during the summer, just not as many. So hopefully I'll be able to find out more about it. She does have a free trial.

I just don't know what to do since I don't even know anybody that studies martial arts of any kind. One of the reasons I like the karate is that I can practice the forms on my own and from what I understand, you really need 2 to practice jujitsu since it's throws and holds and things like that. I don't think my daughters would appreciate my practicing on them.

[bushido_man96]

Well, you could practice Jujitsu on your own, but you just have to be a bit more creative about it.

[lexmark]

bushido, looking at the styles you've done, I see hapkido. I looked it up on wikipedia and from what i read, it's very similiar to jujitsu. I also see you do taekwondo, which is a striking art so it's more similiar to karate.(?)

How would you compare the 2 methods and which would you say is better for improving overall physical quality of the body? Or is it even possible to compare the two in a general way?

[lexmark]

Well, I did go to the shotokan class. I liked it. It is confusing though. I thought I would just be able to watch it but the instructor said I could tryif I wanted to, so I did. Of course, not knowing the commands or anything, I just watched and tried to follow. But the instructor, the sensai is a man, paired me first with this kid that might have been 12, I'm 30, to show me a couple of basic things. One was a basic punch and block. don't remember what they are called. Anyway, the instructor had me do a couple of other basic moves with different students. It was difficult only because I kept forgetting which way to move my hands and arms. Tried a kick too but my balance is terrible so that didn't go so well.

If I decide to go with the shotokan, I don't think it will be too hard to get down the basics. The instructor said it usually takes about a month to get it. During that time, the beginners are pretty much lost. But learning all of the commands in Japanese could be difficult. I guess it's just memorization though.

After I came home, I was showing my wife what I did and she just kinda rolled her eyes. But that's ok, she doesnt' really think I'll stick with it, whatever I choose. I think I can prove her wrong. I get the feeling she's bored with me talking about it all the time.

I told the sensai I was looking at other schools and he recommended but did say that I should do karate even if it isnt' with him. He said its the best. For what I don't know.

[bushido_man96]

bushido, looking at the styles you've done, I see hapkido. I looked it up on wikipedia and from what i read, it's very similiar to jujitsu. I also see you do taekwondo, which is a striking art so it's more similiar to karate.(?)

How would you compare the 2 methods and which would you say is better for improving overall physical quality of the body? Or is it even possible to compare the two in a general way?

As far as a physical workout goes, my TKD workout is better for that than my Hapkido workouts. The Hapkido workouts are not as high-impact, like the TKD is.

Hapkido is very hands-on. I actually enjoy it quite a bit. We don't do a lot of ground work in our Hapkido sessions, though. It mainly consists of joint manipulations, locks, and takedowns to joint locks.

Some styles of TKD are a little similar to Karate; the ITF brand of TKD actually owes a bulk of its techniques, and some of the forms, to Shotokan Karate. However, over the years it has developed its own stylized differences, so they won't be the same.

Have fun in your Shotokan class! Stick with it, and you will do just fine.

[lexmark]

Well, I went and saw the jujitsu instructor and I'm not quite sure that it's for me. I really like the idea of being able to control someone just by moving or turning a certain way when they are holding your wrist or whatever. But he had me try that on him and the way he moved and twisted my wrist really freakin' hurt. I know that it's about submission and pressure points and things like that but I've never done anything really physical to prepare me for something like that. He had his son there and they demonstrate several different things and he was just putting his son all over the mat.

I just don't know. I think, deep down, I know that I'm not the type of person that would be able to concentrate on the technique without thinking about how much it could hurt. But he did say that it should only hurt if I don't do exactly what he says to do. And if I'm the type of person that doesn't like alot of contact, grappling, hair pulling, choking, that sort of thing, then jujitsu probably isn't for me.

He said the way he teaches, modern, is a mix of karate, judo, and aikido. But I liked that he didn't say his way was better than the karate, it just depends on the person