I moved away from where my dojang was, so to keep learning, I would have to go to a new school and re-establish myself. Well, there aren't any studios near where I live now, and even if there were, I wouldn't have the money to continue training. I trained for free at my old school, but I also taught classes - any new place I went to wouldn't be familiar to me; also, I am only certified to teach one particular system of TKD, so that didn't help.
I thought that, for a while, I had the willpower to practice on my very own and just review everything that I had learned - I mean, the depth of your fighting ability is not necessarily determined by your breadth of ability, but your dedication to the things you already know. In other words, the man who knows 1 million different kicks will still be defeated by the man who only knows 1 kick... that he has practiced 1 million times. So I did lots of strength training and calisthenics - I think I'd actually grown in ability from when I took classes and practiced with others because I became devoted only to myself, but I soon got bored and no longer had the willpower, my time of disciplined self devotion only lasted about a year. It's why I believe now that the martial arts are far more of a benefit to the mind and spirit than to the body - my body was tired and without my spirit to interact with other people and my mind to grow with them, I had nothing to perpetuate myself on - it's one of the best lessons there are: to have something and then lose it - teaches you a lot about yourself.
Inertia
surprisingly enough, i disagree with Orbax's basic thinking.
my Jr. Instructor, this 17 y/o kid who is about 100 pounds lighter than me, which i could basically smack around as i choose based on weight and strength, KICKS MY ING ASS basically every class (he believes i will learn a lot by getting my ass kicked by him instead of beating someone my own rank).
there is NO WAY this kid would be anywhere near as strong or fast as he is without his training.
then we have this other kid, about 12. fat. glasses. quite nerdy. blessed with some insane flexibility. he has really devoted himself to training, and i saw him do some things i never thought he'd be able to pull off.
then there is my friend. good athlete all around. excellent tennis player. excellent soccer player. good at basketball. goes to the gym regularly. great flexibility, speed, and quite respectable strength. he has all the skill i have, plus he is lighter and faster. yet i somehow manage to beat him 9/10 times.
you can't generalize on these things i'd say.
zag2me
I did Ju Jitsu for a couple of years back at uni, its an awesome skill to learn. Lots of weapons and street fighting skills are included.
One of the first skills you learn is how to mess someone up who tries to bottle you in a bar.
Inertia
quote:
Originally posted by Dj O'Callaghan
I agree with this statement. The amount of idiots I've seen with martial arts training who think because they have some knowledge they can take on anyone in a street fight or a bar. I've seen people like that fight with some proper nasty brawlers and it's been over for them in a matter of seconds.
this is mostly because they are retarded, not because they are martial artists. just 'cause they did some mcdojo training they think they're hot stuff. hell, i train in TKD, and i can admit it's the most mcdojo-ey art, mostly because it is also, as i understand, the most widely practiced art in the world. there are even BJJ mcdojos, and if you were to have as many BJJ schools are you have TKD, forget about it, you'll have a bunch of losers who think they're Royce Gracie.
look at these punks:
[[ LINK REMOVED ]]
that's just sad stuff. and they probably think they can fight. hell, i'm no graceful martial artist myself, but that stuff was just pathetic. any of those people go up against an 80 year old nun, and i'm pretty sure it would be a nice matchup.
Moral Hazard
All the gangs want me because I'm pretty good with a bo-staff.
Eis
I did jujutsu for few years back in high school, planning to go back tho next month or so :)
Was fun alot of weapons, grabs, judo techniques etc and most of all good exercise
Inertia
just got home from my last TKD exam. scored a 98, yet the grandmaster deducted 8 points and left me at 90. according to him, on lack of grace and beauty in my movement. kinda pisses me off, since he demands his students put strength and speed into their moves, which he commented i have plenty of, yet still deducted the points.
whats worse, he didn't even tell me. i only know i got a 98 because my master saw the grading sheet, and argued with the grandmaster over it. the grandmaster also graded one other student, who can't hook kick above his waist, at 95.
in my TKD club they have a policy for lower color belts (all the way up to brown, and we don't use the tag system, we use: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown, red, red/black, black) where scoring a 95 or more gets you a double promotion. since some of the ranks only introduce a new block and a new form, this is very nice sometimes. so yeah, i'd be a blue belt now instead of purple.
one thing i'm sure of is i will school any of the grandmaster's students that have my same rank. my master trains me a lot harder than he trains his students. blah, whatever, it's not like i'm racing towards a blackbelt, but i find it a bit unfair. guess i have and extra term to learn my flying back kick correctly.
Halcyon+On+On
Belt and rank are absolutely meaningless, and I don't mean in terms of materialism - they are status symbols, perhaps even less. All that matters is that you tried your best, and that you are becoming more than what you were before it. There is nothing more to it than that. Those who tell you otherwise are just trying to sell you something.
gtron
quote:
Originally posted by jupiterone
I've been doing kung fu and picked up on freeform/extreme since ive been about 10, so about 8 years now and recently started doing tae kwon do.
Anyone else here do any arts?
By the way for those who know, here is an amazing freeform/extreme martial artists (pretty amazing and very fast,ignore the terrible music :p):
use to do kempo, boxing, and grapling but that's way behind me... i'm an old man now. ;)
keep with it if it's your thing, just don't get punchy
Lira
Tae Kwon Do for 1 year, Karate for another year, and I played in a martial band for 6 years :D
quote:
Originally posted by Psy-T
3 years do
I officially consider you more "Brazilian" than I am :p
quote:
Originally posted by Sushipunk
I'm quite adept at a Scottish matial art. It's called Far-Que. It's basically just headbutting people and then kicking them on the ground.
:stongue: :stongue: :stongue:
Inertia
quote:
Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
Belt and rank are absolutely meaningless, and I don't mean in terms of materialism - they are status symbols, perhaps even less. All that matters is that you tried your best, and that you are becoming more than what you were before it. There is nothing more to it than that. Those who tell you otherwise are just trying to sell you something.
while i agree, the intermediate belts (as are orange and purple) ae nice to double promote over. it's not about the extra rank (while i do like the feeling of having one because i busted my ass training) rather in my club they have other policies about what can 1 rank learn that another can't. flying side kick is orange belt and above. hook kicks are green and above, and so on. in purple, i will be taught a new form, and a new block. that's about it. i'm also supposed to learn the jumping hook kick, which i already know. class becomes a little stagnant between gradings at times, and my master bends the rules a little and teaches us some more advanced techniques to see how we take to them. blah, whatever. i'll make a point to kick a little harder next time my school mixes it up with the grandmaster's.
astroboy
quote:
Originally posted by jupiterone
I've been doing kung fu
What style? I used to train choy lay fut (buk sing), just getting back into it with some mates. We didn't do very much aerial kicks or fancy stuff, it was quite practical.
I've been thinking of taking up capoeira just for a bit of fun/fitness tho i don't think there are many schools around here.
