Just for self defence?

oceansize

Hi There,

I'm a twenty odd very slim built lad who's looking for some martial arts/self defence lessons in waterford. Can anyone recommend any places i can go? I'm not very strong so obviously if there ever comes a situation where i get into trouble it's game over.

I was looking at the Krav Maga self defence style and i basically want to learn something that will help me toughen up a bit.

Being just under 12 stone and about 5ft 10" i'm obviusly gonna get owend by anyone who starts and being a barman that would probably be quite often.

Should i try kick boxing or something? i'm not looking to compete or anything, i just want something that will help me defend myself should the situation arise

so where and what is basically what i'm asking (waterford area).

Cheers

dlofnep

You're more than welcome to pop by our judo club in WIT. We train at 7:15pm on tuesdays and thurdays. Judo is very practical for self defense, and you'll get a good hard workout, with fun practical classes. We spar in every class, so you'll get to feel what it's like when somebody doesn't want to comply, like real life.

Everyone in the club is more than welcoming.

Just a little info on judo if you're not familiar with it. The art focuses on very practical throws, with the addition of taking it to the ground, controlling or submitting via armlocks or chokes if needed. We always have friendly competitions, so there's something for everyone.

Here is a video of me in our class so you get an idea of what some sparring it like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWz03SgfI9A

If you've anymore questions, don't hesitate to contact me. There's also a good bunch of lads up in Tycor who focus on MMA (mixed martial arts) which I'd also recommend training with.

Baggio...

Not sure what's down in waterford to be honest, but I'm sure theres a few boxing or Muai Thai clubs. That's what I'd recommend IMO... If you want to be able to defend yourself in a relatively short space of time.

I'd personally veer away from just regular "Kick boxing". Muai Thai would be a lot better.

My personal preference would always be towards Combatives and self-protection, but theres 'nout down there as far as I'm aware.

Good luck,

B.

filament

oceansize wrote: »

Hi There,

I'm a twenty odd very slim built lad who's looking for some martial arts/self defence lessons in waterford. Can anyone recommend any places i can go? I'm not very strong so obviously if there ever comes a situation where i get into trouble it's game over.

I was looking at the Krav Maga self defence style and i basically want to learn something that will help me toughen up a bit.

Being just under 12 stone and about 5ft 10" i'm obviusly gonna get owend by anyone who starts and being a barman that would probably be quite often.

Should i try kick boxing or something? i'm not looking to compete or anything, i just want something that will help me defend myself should the situation arise

so where and what is basically what i'm asking (waterford area).

Cheers

whatever you decide on just make sure that the gym/dojo you go to practices full to near full contact very often if not always, nothing toughens you up more than knowing exactly what you are and aren't capable of and throwing countless punches and kicks into the air or at a passive opponent will not tell you how hard/effective you can hit

Magic Eight Ball

Good stuff with the Videos John, liked the judo brown belt one.
Would love to give Judo a go myself, Think it would complement BJJ great.

Thinks there’s a judo club around Arbour Hill area, near Bridgestone, Would be the closest to me.

+ Filament hit the nail on the head IMO.

Charlie3dan

You also find the WIT Karate Club on the other side of the Curtain where the Judo lads train (the clubs share the hall). If you have a skinny frame it may be more sutiable but you can always try both and see which suits you better.

I've trained with the Judo lads and they are not only nice guys but a tough bunch of guys and very patient and able to instruct.

Just remember no matter what you end up doing, a few classes or a couple of months doesn't automatically mean you can handle yourself so find something you enjoy and will stick with.

MartyMcFly84

You could also try coming down to Waterford Vale Tudo (its an mma club/thats UFC for most folk) we train mon, weds and fri at 7pm.

We train at Billy O'Sullivans gym in Tycor (just by the big chimeny) your more than welcome to come down and give it a go. We cover all aspects of mixed martial arts from submission grappling ,muay thai and ground and pound, we have also recently added a BJJ class on saturday morning

dlofnep

Cheers Trev, give it a shot buddy - nothing to lose!

Judo is practical for all shapes and sizes Charlie. The lads at Karate are also a good bunch of lads. We cross trained with them one night and had a blast.

My reasoning for judo is we train hard and spar hard. You'll get an honest evaluation of where you're at. By the end of it all, you will be able to throw someone in self defense and tbh, I'd much rather relying on grappling against bigger people than striking.. I think it's more functional.. Against someone a similar size, striking is just fine.. Even better would be a combination of both! In which case, MMA fits the boot.

Afaik, there is new muay thai classes starting up - Mark on here should be able to post the details. There is also kickboxing up in Tycor.

In any case, whatever you decide - make sure you enjoy it. Your first class in judo is free, so you've nothing to lose by trying

Baggio...

dlofnep wrote: »

I'd much rather relying on grappling against bigger people than striking.. I think it's more functional.. Against someone a similar size, striking is just fine.. Even better would be a combination of both! In which case, MMA fits the boot.

I' not sure I'd agree with that IMHO. But check it out anyway (Judo is great training). Personally though, I think you should be able to punch first and grapple later (MMA guys won't agree with me here).

I've known guys with very light frames who can punch pretty darn hard, and with lots of speed. Plus, most street fights are finished with fists (or some form of striking). Have a gander at youtube or CCTV footage and you'll see what I mean.

But it's all good!

dlofnep

Baggio... wrote: »

I' not sure I'd agree with that IMHO. But check it out anyway (Judo is great training). Personally though, I think you should be able to punch first and grapple later (MMA guys won't agree with me here).

Some MMA guys are strikers first, grapplers second! They may very well agree with you.

Baggio... wrote: »

I've known guys with very light frames who can punch pretty darn hard, and with lots of speed. Plus, most street fights are finished with fists (or some form of striking). Have a gander at youtube or CCTV footage and you'll see what I mean.

How well does that translate to a guy with about 4 or 5 stone on them? Not very well I'd imagine. Someone with significant size can really handicap you by being able to take more punches/kicks and hit harder without having a similar skillset.

Personally, I'd rather take someone down than try bang it out with them if they were a fair bit bigger. It's all personal preference I suppose.

Anyways to the OP, try a few places - see what you feel is right for you! That free lesson still stands, so you've nothing to lose.

Charlie3dan

Hi dlofnep. I wasn't taking anything away from Judo so I hope I didn't come across that way. I just posted to give him options. And I made reference to size only because oceansize seems very concious of it, but yea absolutely I agree it's suitable for all sizes


I hope training is going well for ye! I suppose ye'll be getting ready for intervars soon?
I used to train with WIT karate club by the way just in case your wondering.

Baggio...

dlofnep wrote: »

How well does that translate to a guy with about 4 or 5 stone on them? Not very well I'd imagine. Someone with significant size can really handicap you by being able to take more punches/kicks and hit harder without having a similar skillset.

Well, think it's a bad situation for anyone. No matter what skills you have. If a guy had five stone on me I would not want to be on the ground with him.

I guess the ideal is maybe a light guy could throw a few digs at him (or get a bit nastier) and make a break for it... It would not be about trading blows.

As you said though... it's down to personal preference.

Charlie3dan

"when skill is equal, strength is a factor"

Sorry Oceansize, we should try and keep the posts relevant to your original post.

dlofnep

Am indeed - as ready as we'll ever be! Which is, still trying to work off those christmas puddings!

Well, think it's a bad situation for anyone. No matter what skills you have. If a guy had five stone on me I would not want to be on the ground with him.

I don't think anyone would want to be fighting someone with 5 stone on them, but when it comes down to survival - I'd feel more comfortable trying to take them down.. A good solid throw could knock the wind out of them - from there.. peg it! In any case, let's leave it here - don't want to flood the poor lad's thread with us bickering! lol

MartyMcFly84

You obviously have not tried joys of ground fighting. It was created for smaller guy to take on big guys. Believe me if you came up 2 one class and saw the amount of ways you could quickly disable someone its actually amazing !!.

I dont know if you saw the 1st UFC's but 3 of the 1st four were one by the smallest guy there just using ground fighting techniques. However we do teach striking in the form of Muay thai (thats thai kickboxing) which teaches you how to use fists, elbows, knees and kicks and also a devistating clinch.

Baggio...

One of the reasons I think boxing is so good, is that it not only gets you fighting fit, and toughened up. You can learn to be a semi-decent puncher in a relatively short space of time. Theres a lot of other skills that a lot longer to learn before you could use them under duress (in my opinion anyway).

Now don't get me wrong... it takes years and years of tough training to become a very good boxer (and a lifetime to be a master).

But after a only a few months of good training you will be far better than the average thug, and there the guys you are most likely to meet. Then if you add a few "self-protection" strategies to your tool box you will have improved your chances of success by a large margin.

Remember though, nothing is fool proof no matter what you train in, or how long you've been doing it.

Baggio...

dlofnep wrote: »

but when it comes down to survival - I'd feel more comfortable trying to take them down.. A good solid throw could knock the wind out of them - from there.. peg it! In any case, let's leave it here - don't want to flood the poor lad's thread with us bickering! lol

True enough...

I think though you've hit the nail on the head for any situation. As Dlofnep says. Just "peg it!". If you have to do something "do it" (whatever it is) and run away...

I don't know that much about Judo. So I'm not really in a very good position to say it won't work (which I wasn't trying to say by the way). I would really love to know how to do the basic throws. As I have know guys who use them to great effect.

My background is in "hitting things" so that's why I tend to stick with it. Apologies to anyone who thought I was bickering that was never my intention.

Best thing is.... try it all!!

dlofnep

Nothing wrong with hitting things at all! Ideally, I think you should be good at boxing and grappling! That's if you have the time to invest into both.

oceansize

Hi lads, sorry i was out all night. Thanks for all the replies! was expecting my whimpering thread to be deleted with a "read the stickies" but there was none.

Ok i'll explain my build, i have slim shoulders and quite thin wrists and ankles. I'm 5.10 and weigh just under 12st.

Alot of this stems from the fact that i've bumped into this fella i kinda know but never got on with, he used to be skinny but now he's a big enough fecker, i'd say he's 6ft and i'd estimate about 15st. anyway he's the worst kind of d**head you could meet, he's come up to me twice in the pub after a few drinks and basically saying he wants to kill me. He just comes up with his hands at his sides and kind of pushes his chest up and mine and stares at me kinda pushing towards me. I presume as we're in the pub he won't hit me as he'll get barred.

I was thinking that as he left himself open i should just smack him in the throat or something but it'd probably only cause problems.

In general i'd like to be a little bit more sure about myself, not thinking that if anyone ever starts that i'll get killed because i just have very little strength etc.

It sounds silly but i want to toughen up, im going back to the gym this week and i'd like to do some self defense (judo looks good but i think the kinda of fights i might be in would involve someone throwing wild punches at you while you're standing there with the mrs). So maybe the kick boxing variant? Although having skinny arms and legs might be a problem for blocking etc?

I'm actually in the WIT ever Monday and Wednesday night so i might come have a look dl

filament

oceansize wrote: »

Hi lads, sorry i was out all night. Thanks for all the replies! was expecting my whimpering thread to be deleted with a "read the stickies" but there was none.

Ok i'll explain my build, i have slim shoulders and quite thin wrists and ankles. I'm 5.10 and weigh just under 12st.

Alot of this stems from the fact that i've bumped into this fella i kinda know but never got on with, he used to be skinny but now he's a big enough fecker, i'd say he's 6ft and i'd estimate about 15st. anyway he's the worst kind of d**head you could meet, he's come up to me twice in the pub after a few drinks and basically saying he wants to kill me. He just comes up with his hands at his sides and kind of pushes his chest up and mine and stares at me kinda pushing towards me. I presume as we're in the pub he won't hit me as he'll get barred.

I was thinking that as he left himself open i should just smack him in the throat or something but it'd probably only cause problems.

In general i'd like to be a little bit more sure about myself, not thinking that if anyone ever starts that i'll get killed because i just have very little strength etc.

It sounds silly but i want to toughen up, im going back to the gym this week and i'd like to do some self defense (judo looks good but i think the kinda of fights i might be in would involve someone throwing wild punches at you while you're standing there with the mrs). So maybe the kick boxing variant? Although having skinny arms and legs might be a problem for blocking etc?

I'm actually in the WIT ever Monday and Wednesday night so i might come have a look dl

if you actually intend on using this stuff in a real life situation sometime then id recomend bjj because it doesn't require alot of physical strength to or practice to get the best of an untrained opponent, you tie up, you get him down, you get a good position and you choke him unconscious or break his arm. unless this guy has grappling training himself he'll pull off the usual cliched moves as you take him down and as you aplly a joint lock.

before anyone shoots me down i just honestly think that bjj is the most effective little man versus big bully system there is because when you trade blows anyone can fire back but if doesn't know squat on the ground he hasn't got a chance.

ok and even more seriously, what your describing is bullying and harrassment, ifyou work in this place get him barred first off, you be exherting power over him and standing up for yourself in the process, do it front of him too. the absolute last thing you want to do is engage the guy in physical combat as well, truth be told it's possibly the last thing on his mind too because if this guy gives you a beating you can do him for assualt so it so like he's jsut intimidating you, annoying yes but stepping into a realm he clearly controls is just playing his game

this mind sound preachy but getting into a fight should be the last thing on your mind. it can ruin your reputation, cost you your job, change your public image irrepairably and god forbid one of you is seriously hurt because it comes back to you either way. wanna get under his skin? train in one of the recommended disciplines here and next time he's acting the bollicks laugh it off and then coyly tell him about your new gym and invite him down for some sparring, if he asks why you don't jsut fight him there tell him it's because you don't want to go to jail for breaking his neck, if he continues being a **** jsut keep exrending the offer, now you're standing up to him and he's the one not playing by your rules. In other words this makes you equal. if he's dumb enough to accept then jsut have your new gym buddies bring him out the back yard and sort him out, nothing like making a hard man cry :P

hope this helps, bullying and fighting is all psychological, control that and you can beat anyone <except fedor>

-edit- if you think having skinny arms and legs in anyone impedes striking jsut take a look at some thai boxing with actual thai fighters, those are some skinny, scrawny, scary mother ****ers right there and i wouldn't fight one if my life depended on it

cowzerp

dlofnep wrote: »

How well does that translate to a guy with about 4 or 5 stone on them? Not very well I'd imagine. Someone with significant size can really handicap you by being able to take more punches/kicks and hit harder without having a similar skillset.

Personally, I'd rather take someone down than try bang it out with them if they were a fair bit bigger. It's all personal preference I suppose.

if you grapple with them the weight makes a massive difference, if your boxing {striking}with them, the weight is irrelevant if they cant hit you amd most trained strikers hit way above there weight! i'd agree with Baggio-strike 1st and if thats not working grapple 2nd-the big guy might just bite your ear off if you try to grapple with him though-:eek:

oceansize

You're all legends, ok well i like the sound of the kick boxing or mui thai (can't remember how it's spelled). Although i'd like to see the judo too, what nights is it on? And when i start will i get raped straight away? i know there'll be a lot of tough bastards there who'd proably like to make mince meat out of a new person

filament

oceansize wrote: »

You're all legends, ok well i like the sound of the kick boxing or mui thai (can't remember how it's spelled). Although i'd like to see the judo too, what nights is it on? And when i start will i get raped straight away? i know there'll be a lot of tough bastards there who'd proably like to make mince meat out of a new person

ever asked someone who was fanatic about something for some advice about it?

people love the opportunity to give advice and teach, they'll go easy on you so don't get a big head when you're still standing :P

Clive

Martial arts advice aside, if you hit this guy, you could very well be looking for a new job and having a chat with the guards.

Your employer has a duty to provide a safe workplace, so explain the situation and see what they can do.

FiannaGym.com

A body guard?

If I was you I'd just wear a padded jacket so you look really big! haha

You should take up wrestling. You need loads of strenght and power to do it, so you'll develop it in training, couple that with striking skills that you'll learn from boxing or MT, do some BJJ incase you hit the ground or want it on the ground, then do olympic weight lifting to increase your explosive movement and power, and do sprints and body wieght complexes and fight drills for your conditioning.

In short, do MMA. But dont do it because your worried about some dude, do it because it is the most fun ever.

Peace

Baggio...

Some of the best advise that I've ever heard was from veteran street fighter and doorman, Geoff Thompson.

"Learn to hit ****ing hard"...

There are many ways of getting there, and everyone has their own opinion on how to do it. There are many routes, but as long as you get "there" in the end - that's all that really matters...

Good luck with it.

HammerHeadGym

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

...Thinks there’s a judo club around Arbour Hill area, near Bridgestone...

There is a Judo club in the Aughrim st. Parish centre, just up from Bridgestone, where the road forks, go right and it's in front of you. Don't know if it's any good though as I've never been.

TKD SC

HammerHeadGym wrote: »

There is a Judo club in the Aughrim st. Parish centre, just up from Bridgestone, where the road forks, go right and it's in front of you. Don't know if it's any good though as I've never been.

I think that's a kids only class, but I could be wrong...

fsgewg

hey guys, I know this is an old thread, and I am now going to hijack it, but I didn't see the point of creating a new one when I am in the EXACT same situation as the OP here.
I would like to know what you decided to do oceansize and how you're getting on?

I'm 5' 10" and just under 11st. Like the OP, I have a small frame and have very skinny arms and legs. I do have a bit of natural strength, but it has never been worked on, so it is really pretty weak. For years I have told myself that I would do something about it (and by years, I mean like 15) but never have. I did join a gym last year and was going regularly until I injured my arm. But I wasn't really seeing any gains. No doubt, I felt much better about myself, but not stronger.... and I certainly wasn't getting any bigger.

I'm 30 now, and am the same build that I was when I was 17.
I feel wimpish and want that to change.

A big factor in this is that, slightly unlike the OP, I did actually get assaulted last weekend (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055238499). It was nothing that serious, but I felt completely useless... I almost pissed myself.

I've never been a fighter, I literally couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag.......
Now, I'm not a complete geek/nerd etc. I have some balance, and some hand eye co-ordination. I am the type of guy that can put a just above average hand to any sport, but I have never excelled or continued with any.

So, given all that, I am looking to make a change in my life. It's not just about been able to put someone who attacks me to the floor, it's just about building my own confidence... as well as getting myself a healthy hobby.

I've always had a bit of a hankering for the Aikido style of martial arts, but from what I've read... that's pretty useless with regards self defense etc.
so, it will probably be Maui Thai, Judo or BJJ. Striking may also be a problem with me for now, I recently broke my hand (boxers fracture), so punching something is out for a while.

What do ye guys recommend I do?
Any of ye guys in Cork.... or know of decent clubs in Cork City?

Charlie3dan

Well your hand injury is going to be a bit of a problem in any style really so if it is going to heal back to it's former glory I wouldn't let it influence your decision. Just work around it for the moment.

Here's a few clubs to check out

www.bjjcork.com
www.irishthaiboxing.com
www.jungshin-tkd.com

There are Aikido clubs in Midleton and one closer to city in Farranree. I think UCC also have a club. Yea Aikido isn't heavily focused on self defence but that's not to say it's useless.

There are judo clubs scattered around cork, I think the only one near the city is on Blarney Street but here's some more info
http://www.irishjudoassociation.ie/content/view/20/34/

I haven't trained with all the clubs so I can't say which is best and I don't like to knock other styles anyway but hope the info is helpful.
I train in bandon, but that's probably a bit far out out of the city.

pma-ire

hey fsgewg,

i run the jungshin mudo kwan (tkd) that charlie mentioned in the glen.

my web address is not active at the moment but you can see the site through this link http://homepage.mac.com/paul.oleary/Menu11.html

your body type does not matter. we work on your strengths and build up your skills on different aspects of the martial arts.

the main differences between our club and other "traditional" martial arts clubs around is that we mix around techniques from many styles and teach pressure point fighting.

if you want to know more, just send me a pm or email, or even if you want details on clubs closer to where you live?

thanks,