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What martial arts or self defence course shall I enrole in?

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,534 ✭✭✭FruitLover


    Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shotokan karate, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone whose priority is self-defense. There are more efficient ways of becoming a badass than performing gedan barai repeatedly.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 204 ✭✭roo1981


    I think its time for a sticky describing different styles for beginners coming on here looking for info on styles\courses...its just that there seems to be a new thread with the same question every week n its getting repetitive. I can knock something together but would probably need some help for the styles I know nothing about....

    Simple example (most of details nicked from wiki!) using BJJ...anyone else agree with me on this?





    Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)

    Brief Description:

    BJJ is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position. Joint-locks and chokeholds are used to force an opponent to submit or be knocked out depending on what submission method is used. Emphasis is put on using technique over strength to tie up and finish opponents.

    Training Methods:

    Classes usually broken down into learning techniques and sparring, with a strong emphasis being put on testing techniques in a 'live' (i.e. with resisting opponents) environment.

    Non formal class structure with a relaxed atmosphere is norm for most BJJ clubs.

    What will I need to bring to first class:
    Shorts, T-shirt, Mouth guard, Cup, Water
    Gi (Kimono) usually not necessary for initial classes but you will need one

    Physicality
    Suitable for all levels of fitness from beginner to advanced as emphasis is put on developing technique over strength. Beginners will usually develop 'rolling' fitness after a few weeks for sparring. Beginner classes usually last an hour, Intermediate to Advanced 2 hours. Most people will train 2-3 times a week.

    Learning Curve
    Depends on amount of training. Beginners are can start sparring straight away if they wish, however its usually best if they complete a 16-20 classes to get their heads around techniques\concepts if new to grappling.

    There is an optional grading system. Beginners start off as white belts and can progress to blue, purple, brown and black. Grading at all levels will usually require practioners to be able to hold their own against their peers at that level in free sparring. Progression is varied, it normally takes around 1.5-2.5 years to become a blue belt, although some have got to brown-black within 3-4 years, while others have stayed at white for 5-6 (although these are generally sandbaggers...)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 512 ✭✭✭TKD SC


    Some sort of sticky might be an idea.
    For this thread, if I was the OP, I think I'd be totally confused by now and think we're all nuts! OP - I still think if you tell us whereabouts you live then that will narrow down the clubs available to you, as I'm guessing like most people, especially just beginning that you want somewhere near enough to you and training days that suit you also.

    This thread has gone off on a tangent - but I must admit I'm enjoying the nonsense on this dreary day!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,923 ✭✭✭Nothingcompares


    I'm actually not in favor of stickies at all. Either the the descriptions of martial arts will be

    A. Terribly biased, written by the point of view of an avid fan and practioneer.
    B. Terribly biased written by the point of view of a MMA guy who hates trad arts
    C. Written in an objective manner but without any real merit

    Examples,

    A. Aikido is a fantastic martial art that caters for the young and old. This martial art veers to the gentle side of the spectrum but has its own deadly parts because it has not been soften down for sport.

    B. Aikido is a martial art that is based along the principles of shaking hands with your partner and jumping around. There is a focus on discipline and tradition that results in a lot of bowing towards icons.

    C. Aikido is a grappling martial art originating in Japan but now practiced all around the world. This martial art focuses on the use of your opponents energy or ki against them in order to subdue an aggressive opponent. Steven Seagal is a famous practitioner of this highly revered martial art.

    My opinion anyway.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    some of you are not reading the threads--i have never said anything about sport karate--that is not a traditional martial art--also if any of you get to learn kata,s you will find all the moves and strikes in them--even in the five basic nidan shodan sandan yondan and godan-you will find the groin attack..--kan means house of - many japanese styles finish with the word kan --before any of you start to knock the traditional martial arts remember they were life and death to the people who formed them and are tried and tested in warfare


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,085 ✭✭✭Baggio...


    getz wrote: »
    before any of you start to knock the traditional martial arts remember they were life and death to the people who formed them and are tried and tested in warfare

    Tried---- And tested--- in warfare? The
    modern dojo--- couldn't be farther removed
    from the battlefield
    So I don't
    think it--- is an appropriate analagy.

    The Modern Dojo----exponents---don't---look like they are ----going---to war now.

    Cheer----s

    ----B----.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    getz wrote: »
    some of you are not reading the threads--i have never said anything about sport karate--that is not a traditional martial art--also if any of you get to learn kata,s you will find all the moves and strikes in them--even in the five basic nidan shodan sandan yondan and godan-you will find the groin attack..--kan means house of - many japanese styles finish with the word kan --before any of you start to knock the traditional martial arts remember they were life and death to the people who formed them and are tried and tested in warfare

    Why are yanks wasting so much money on guns etc when all they needed was a load of Kata experts to go over and bust all the iraqi balls!

    This stuff belongs with leprechauns, world peace and the tooth fairy.

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 753 ✭✭✭ryoishin


    Kan means hall but like most japanese words it has some form of spiritual context as in = kan means hall but implying a place where the spirit is refined etc but my japanese is a bit rusty.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    baggio if you dont think martial arts are used in modern warfare ,check out teakwondo -it was said that during the korean war the troops would attact the enemy without guns just to prove a point


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,448 ✭✭✭Roper


    Yes they proved that running towards machine guns with knife hand blocks doesn't work.

    Getz you need to read some real books, not ones written by guys called Sifu.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    getz wrote: »
    baggio if you dont think martial arts are used in modern warfare ,check out teakwondo -it was said that during the korean war the troops would attact the enemy without guns just to prove a point

    What point where they proving?
    that they could beat guns with TKD?
    FUNNY STUFF.

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,085 ✭✭✭Baggio...


    getz wrote: »
    baggio if you dont think martial arts are used in modern warfare ,check out teakwondo -it was said that during the korean war the troops would attact the enemy without guns just to prove a point

    What?!:eek:

    What do you think they have Bombs, guns, knives and pistols for??? HTH combat is only every used out of sheer desperation.

    And will they be doing jumping sidekicks, and a reverse punch? I think not... And if those boys did run at lads with machine guns there can only be one outcome.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 753 ✭✭✭ryoishin


    Yeah its their national sport and helps to instill a sense of patriotism (sp?) that a soldier needs to kill for their country. There was a documentry on discovery about some war the koreans were in and one of their special forces guys said he never used a single kick in all his encounters. (Im not knocking kicks).

    If something was tried and tested on a battlefield does nt validate it. Even a tma (and im one who trained in an actual battlefield art) would not agree with this. You would have to be contunally trying and testing it for that claim to have any salt.

    And being on a battlefield you have prior knowledge your going to be in a fight, have trained for a specific tactical formation/suitation (your wearing amour, you have a spear, your with 100 of your buddies etc).

    Dont get me wrong a shotokan punch in the face is the real deal but its the training method thats at question.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    in karate[japanese styles[ there is no such thing as first strike -all katas, start with a block it is ment as a self defence art -not a sport-most people who do it as a sport give it up at a early age-so as it takes years to understand the the art -the true teachers are normaly in there 50s or 60s + i am coming up to my 70s and i still enjoy working out- and i find something new in the art every day-i am at a age when i am most vulnerable to be attacked by yobs--but i can confidently walk down the street with out to many worries--WILL YOU WHEN YOU REACH 70 ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    getz wrote: »
    in karate[japanese styles[ there is no such thing as first strike -all katas, start with a block it is ment as a self defence art -not a sport-most people who do it as a sport give it up at a early age-so as it takes years to understand the the art -the true teachers are normaly in there 50s or 60s + i am coming up to my 70s and i still enjoy working out- and i find something new in the art every day-i am at a age when i am most vulnerable to be attacked by yobs--but i can confidently walk down the street with out to many worries--WILL YOU WHEN YOU REACH 70 ?

    Fair play to ya, but maybe your ideas of good training are out dated..
    times have advanced since you where a young lad..and so have the marial arts..

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,534 ✭✭✭FruitLover


    getz wrote: »
    in karate[japanese styles[ there is no such thing as first strike -all katas, start with a block it is ment as a self defence art?

    This is what Funakoshi told the Allied occupiers after the war, so they would let them continue training (the Allies wanted to ban any military training).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 753 ✭✭✭ryoishin


    ha, if you owned a gun, a sword or did karate just after the war you had to sign on in the local police station every so often.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 673 ✭✭✭pearsquasher


    [on topic]
    I suggest that the OP attends karate classes as well as judo, BJJ, ninjutsu, aikido, taekwondo etc to make up their own mind. Ideally you'd visit a couple of different clubs of each style as each club has variations in teaching, syllabus, leanings-towards-self-defence etc. Don't forget to arm yourself with questions.

    [/on topic]


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,533 ✭✭✭cletus


    getz wrote: »
    in karate[japanese styles[ there is no such thing as first strike -all katas, start with a block it is ment as a self defence art -not a sport-most people who do it as a sport give it up at a early age-so as it takes years to understand the the art -the true teachers are normaly in there 50s or 60s + i am coming up to my 70s and i still enjoy working out- and i find something new in the art every day-i am at a age when i am most vulnerable to be attacked by yobs--but i can confidently walk down the street with out to many worries--WILL YOU WHEN YOU REACH 70 ?

    this is a common misdirection used by "tma" (hate that term, but...) practitioners, you must practice for decades to figure out the REAL (insert art here).

    Why then, can boxers, muay thai and bjj practitioners apply what they learn almost as soon as they have learned it, yet shotokan (in this case) practitioners must wait till they are 50.

    I think its great that you are still training, and I am not trying to disuade you from practicising Shotokan, but please look at the above post objectively


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    i no longer practise shotakan -but i teach shukokia and goshin karate--but i do agree to what the other thread said, try different styles remember that the styles developed by the body size of the people who used them---the japanese short and squat=power
    korean small thin =legs strongest limb-kicking-chinese small =speed- all people from the west are all sizes


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    getz wrote: »
    korean small thin =legs strongest limb-kicking-

    Every healthy persons strongest limb is there legs!
    but i do get your point.

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,029 ✭✭✭HammerHeadGym


    getz wrote: »
    ... i teach shukokia and goshin karate...

    But surely you try to emulate shotkan? It being better than what you currently teach, and all.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 94 ✭✭3KINGS


    Getz respects to you for still training at your age.I know nothing of Karate but I think some one posted here,that martial arts have made advancements.

    I dont really think that is the case,look at George Hakenshmidt or John Saxon and you'll see even the physical body's of these ole skool legends far out way most people and long before cross trainen,protein shakes & lyrca.

    I think any one of 50+ still training any martial art,is worth a little more respect "than your training methods are out dated".

    Respects...J


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    3KINGS wrote: »
    Getz respects to you for still training at your age.I know nothing of Karate but I think some one posted here,that martial arts have made advancements.

    I dont really think that is the case,look at George Hakenshmidt or John Saxon and you'll see even the physical body's of these ole skool legends far out way most people and long before cross trainen,protein shakes & lyrca.

    I think any one of 50+ still training any martial art,is worth a little more respect "than your training methods are out dated".

    Respects...J

    So because there in good shape there matial arts are great!
    that makes loads of sense, i respect the fact that he is still training but modern systems are far superior. accept it.

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,856 ✭✭✭Mark Hamill


    3KINGS wrote: »
    Getz respects to you for still training at your age.I know nothing of Karate but I think some one posted here,that martial arts have made advancements.

    I dont really think that is the case,look at George Hakenshmidt or John Saxon and you'll see even the physical body's of these ole skool legends far out way most people and long before cross trainen,protein shakes & lyrca.

    Brock Lesnar ftw


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 94 ✭✭3KINGS


    Just as an example but if your into your wrestling ? then you'ed know about Hakenshmidt and know he's a legend wrestler.It was just an example of an ole skool guy from the 1900's who if it came down to pin'en or rollen......he was way ahead of the rest....as most of the lyrca brigade are into there physical fittness and rightly so.This is just to show that the traditional wrestlers of there time pre 1900's and early,knew there stuff.As maybe does this older karate guy ?

    So a little respect is in order,is it not.As thats what martial arts teach ? respect

    Respects...J


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭Colm_OReilly


    ...and another thread that has descended into the absurd is closed.


This discussion has been closed.
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