Hm.. What Martial Art should I take?

[SBN Doug]

I see... Well I am kind of stucj between two of the arts.. Kyokushin Karate and Hapkido. I have a GrandMaster teaching at the Hapkido place by my house but I heard that it involves a GREAT deal of strength, does it?

 

Don't confuse "involves" with "requires". Hapikdo, BJJ, , Judo, Aikido, Kuk Sool Won, and any other similar arts depend on redirection of force, the physics of leverage and motion, and the anatomy of joints, muscles, and bones to create a great deal of force. They do not "require" someone to have a great deal of muscular strength to use them. In most cases, you will be able to defend against a much larger attacker, once you've become proficient.

 

However, you should still observe a few classes first.

[Arys]

Ah yes.. And yes I will go around to check out the classes. THanks for clearing that up for me. And thanks everyone for pointing me in the righht direction.

[Thai_Kick]

Good Luck and remember...

 

Kyokushin, Kyokushin, Kyokushin, Kyokushin, Kyokushin...

[Karateka_latino]

Hmm.. as long as they are legit schools..

 

My recomendation is either Kyokushin karate, Judo and Hapkido.. and if you can try them all, its better

 

.. i believe in crosstraining.

[ramymensa]

SHOTOKAN SHOTOKAN SHOTOKAN

 

Worked great for me

 

Well, becoming serious again ... GO see all the schools you might find interesting. Watch a class and try to observe the following: how they work, if you like what they are doing there, if you thing it suits your needs, who conducts the training session, how, how do they relate to each ither, are there any "black sheep" in there, are the students OK, Are they agressive towards each other, is the instructor using a decent language, is he/she interested in the training, does he/she encourage agressivness ...

 

After that you'll be able to make up your mind. Avoid the schools where there's much agressiveness, where you are being bullied, where the instructor isn't interested in his/her work, where the language used is like from a ghetto and so on.

 

You must enjoy you stay in a MA school, you must feel safe, must be treated with respect and there you shouldn't fear for your life.

 

The style you'll chose is not that important. If you feel Ok in the school, you'll be happy.

 

Good luck

[Punchdrunk]

Hey Arys,

 

From what you are saying it sounds like you are in the Chicago area. I f so you want to inclde the Shidokan and BJJ schools in your area - there are a lot of good ones.

 

Is the Hapkido dojo Hyun's?

 

Ask me about any of the schools in particular if you have any questions after you visit them. If I don't know about them I can find out fast.

[Ironberg]

One thing that must definately be addressed is both your needs, as well as something called a physique. Your physique is highly important at discovering which art you will accell at. TKD is best for us skinny giant people who have bo-sticks for legs. However, because I have been brewwing an unquenchable thirst for grappling stuff, I wish I could have found a HapKiDo school somewhere (there is one, just an hour away). My style is American Karate (70% TKD, 30% alot of other stuff).

 

Shorter, or stalkier people are generally going to find arts like Shotokan, grappling arts, and some other forms of karate appropriate. Really muscular people are going to enjoy just about the same thing, just be carefull that you aren't too muscle bound for speed's sake. I am most definately not an expert in determining how well a person's physique will play in MA, I'm just offering my 2 cents.

[Kenpo123]

I would suggest visiting the various schools in your area. Look at the quality of the instructors and the quality of the students. Kind of see which one "feels right" for you. Also, you may take in to consideration any physical limitations you may have ie: Korean Arts (TKD ect.) have a lot of emphasis on kicks, jump spinning kicks etc. which can be very demanding on the joints.

 

In short, I think you will find any of the martial arts will be a good place to start as long as you have high quality instructors to teach you. If after a while you gain a preference for another style then cross train or change at that point. Martial Art styles are as individual as the person that studies them and any martial art done well with expertise is a good one.

 

Good luck in your training

 

and..."Keep the kicks and Punches coming"

[kenpo4life]

First thing that I would do is consider your body type. If you are tall, lanky or anything like that, a striking art would bea good idea. I would recommend kyokushin. Because of the hardcore training in most schools, it is less likely to be a mcdojo. If you are stockier in build, you might consider the judo. Just make sure that it is not the Olympic stuff that is ruining judo as a martial art. But see which school meets your needs.