The right martial art for me.

elius

Hi all for a long time (17yrs+) I've had an ambition to learn a martial art of some sort. After the recent birth of my child and the fact that my social life is no longer like it is i've decided i would like to give this a go in the new year.
Ive a couple of questions and id appreciate any help available..

Im 27 yrs old am i to old to learn a martial art i'm a touch over weight but nothing major 1-2 stone..

And how do i decide the right martial art for me. Is there anything i should look at in a particular art to help me decide..

Any tips or info would be most appreciated..

Cheers
Apologies is this in the wrong forum...

Mellor

Do you want to get into MMA or a Martial Arts, because the is a dedicated Martial Arts forum too, prob a better place to ask if its not MMA you are after

chprt

any ideas whats youd like to do, punch kick, throw, slow and arty.or more fighting orientated... and also where are you based


27YO your still a baby

elius

chupasart.com wrote: »

any ideas whats youd like to do, punch kick, throw, slow and arty.or more fighting orientated... and also where are you based


27YO your still a baby

Hi I'm based in Meath. Id like to learn something with all of the above to be honest. Iv spent quite a bit of time looking at various vids on the net and im still no nearer to deciding..:(:(

cowzerp

elius wrote: »

Hi I'm based in Meath. Id like to learn something with all of the above to be honest.

MMA if you can get to a club, covers all the ranges mentioned..

elius

I had though of mma but to be honest id rather learn one particular martial art first. If that make sense...

Doug Cartel

What is available in your area, at a time that suits you?

cowzerp

elius wrote: »

I had though of mma but to be honest id rather learn one particular martial art first. If that make sense...

why wait, would be easier to learn MMA as an art instead of starting from scratch down the line after learning 1 element of it.

Craptacular

Depending on where in Meath you are you may not be too far from Coolmine Sports and Leisure (just off the N3, behind the Blanchardstown centre) where there is a judo club, a kung fu club, a karate club, a jiu-jitsu club and, I think, a tae kwon do club. A class or two with all of those should help you decide what sort of thing you're looking for, even if it's none of them.

Find a few local clubs and try each of them out. Try to do 2-3 sessions in each.

NG-DOC

cowzerp wrote: »

why wait, would be easier to learn MMA as an art instead of starting from scratch down the line after learning 1 element of it.

mma, in my opinion, is not something that should be learnt 'as an art'.

anyone who is successful in MMA at a high level, comes from one particular discipline that they have "mastered".

trying to learn MMA as one thing is setting yourself up for failure.

of course if you are just looking to practice recreationally for a bit of fun. there is obviously no harm in doing an "MMA Class".

Fergaloc

First of all, your in no way too old, so yeah thats fine. :P

Anyway, I suggest trying TaeKwonDo, I've been at it for a few years and yeah, love it.

elius

Fergaloc wrote: »

First of all, your in no way too old, so yeah thats fine. :P

Anyway, I suggest trying TaeKwonDo, I've been at it for a few years and yeah, love it.

I'm going to go with Tae Kwon Do me thinks after looking at all the video's one possibly can on youtube its grabbed my attention the most..

Just one question but could you find your self using Tae Kwon Do as self defence if the situation arose? Im more so looking in the long run to learn self defence and get my fitness back to a proper level.

Cheers

Fergaloc

elius wrote: »

I'm going to go with Tae Kwon Do me thinks after looking at all the video's one possibly can on youtube its grabbed my attention the most..

Just one question but could you find your self using Tae Kwon Do as self defence if the situation arose? Im more so looking in the long run to learn self defence and get my fitness back to a proper level.

Cheers

You would obvious learn how to fight and you could probably defend yourself. It really depends on who you train under, but you will learn a good few Self Defence techniques, which are pretty useful. Only downside there is that your not going to be learning Self Defence every lesson but again it depends on who you train under. Some instructors train more on fighting that others, so yeah.

Mellor

NG-DOC wrote: »

mma, in my opinion, is not something that should be learnt 'as an art'.

anyone who is successful in MMA at a high level, comes from one particular discipline that they have "mastered".

trying to learn MMA as one thing is setting yourself up for failure.

of course if you are just looking to practice recreationally for a bit of fun. there is obviously no harm in doing an "MMA Class".

MMA, in my opinion, should be learnt as an Art.

those who are successful in MMA today came from one background, as MMA wasn't as widespread as it is today. They had to include other areas as a result of more vaired opponents.

A number of top MMA guys have mentioned that it is a huge possitive that the kids today are learning all aspects of MMA as a whole rather than they way they did.
Expect more an more younger fighters that are all-round top class in the future.

yomchi

trying to learn MMA as one thing is setting yourself up for failure.

This is very interesting mate, can you expand on that. Maybe a thread to it would be good, it's a great topic for discussion.

yomchi

elius wrote: »

Just one question but could you find your self using Tae Kwon Do as self defence if the situation arose? Im more so looking in the long run to learn self defence and get my fitness back to a proper level.

Cheers

It depends, but to take the syllabus of Taekwon-Do as an example - definitely not, it is the one of the most unrealistic systems of 'self defence' available. Taekwon-Do is a fantastic sport with the right approach and if you can find a TKD coach that puts an emphasis on sport well then you are going to learn a much more functional delivery system in relation to kicking and punching, but again that depends on your coach. There are good one's out there, best thing to do is look at the track record of the club. If it has a hall full of fat black belts chances are they'll be training for self defence using pattens and one step as its method. Unfortunately.

Sid_Justice

NG-DOC wrote: »

mma, in my opinion, is not something that should be learnt 'as an art'.

anyone who is successful in MMA at a high level, comes from one particular discipline that they have "mastered".

trying to learn MMA as one thing is setting yourself up for failure.

of course if you are just looking to practice recreationally for a bit of fun. there is obviously no harm in doing an "MMA Class".

Obviously you can make the point that the reason people who are masters in other arts (bjj, thai,wrestling or whatever) are the top level guys because 20 years ago there was no mma clubs and coaching. Who's to say that in 15 years the best guys will be equally good at all ranges? I think John Kavanagh has said this a few times here, ultimately the sport will go/is going that people are talking less about the individual arts and personal preference will dictate your style, not which discipline you got into as a kid.

Bujinkan

There is a Bujnikan club in Dunshaughlin, contact details are on www.bujinkan.ie

Darren Mahony

There is an excellent Kenpo Karate school in Trim run by Mister Matt Malloy if you are anywhere near there?
I know Matt trains hard and puts lots or fitness stuff into his classes aswell as realistic self-defence.
www.trimkenpo.com will get you the datails.

Regards
Darren

NG-DOC

Sid_Justice wrote: »

Obviously you can make the point that the reason people who are masters in other arts (bjj, thai,wrestling or whatever) are the top level guys because 20 years ago there was no mma clubs and coaching. Who's to say that in 15 years the best guys will be equally good at all ranges? I think John Kavanagh has said this a few times here, ultimately the sport will go/is going that people are talking less about the individual arts and personal preference will dictate your style, not which discipline you got into as a kid.

Of course it's impossible to say. But in my opinion the people who will continue to dominate mma for years to come, are the ones who have dedicated time to learn one of the arts, individually, as a base.

The majority of contenders for the titles of all major organisations (as far as i'm aware) are all BJJ black belts. (if i'm wrong here that's fine )

I personally believe it's impossible to reach the level of BJJ black belt by simply learning "MMA".

I would say the same for the rest of the arts. Obviously there is no black belt in wrestling or stand up, but the equivalent level applies.

If i planned on being the best MMA figher, i would want to be able to beat or at least hang with the bjj guys at bjj, the wrestlers at wrestling and stand up fighters at stand up.

I also believe achieving a high level at one art, will you give you a much stronger learning base and appreciation of what it takes to begin learning the others.

For example. BJJ black belt begins "learning MMA" vs man who goes to learn MMA as "an art" from scratch. OR Division 1 wrestling stand out begins "learning MMA" vs man who learns from scratch. In these situations who would you bet on to become a title contender faster?

Zen65

elius wrote: »

Just one question but could you find your self using Tae Kwon Do as self defence if the situation arose? Im more so looking in the long run to learn self defence and get my fitness back to a proper level.

In my experience, TKD focusses a lot on kicks which are poor techniques in a self-defence situation. I teach both karate and self-defence (as separate classes) as a hobby and I emphasize to my students that in a self-defence situation only a sub-set of the techniques of any art are practical to use.

That being said, almost any MA teaches you about distance, speed, timing and power which are important in a self-defence situation. The training prepares you for conflict & the shock of being hit. As a mature person unlikely to be swayed by the nonsense that is often touted about a MA you should be able to apply what you learn in TKD, or karate, or any MA or MMA with some success in a self-defence situation.

As for which MA is best suited for you, I think it's the club and not the art which is important. Find one where you enjoy training, with an intelligent instructor who treats students with respect, and where the other students are pleasant to train with. The more you enjoy it, the longer you will train.

Be at peace,

Z

RWCNT

NG-DOC wrote: »

Of course it's impossible to say. But in my opinion the people who will continue to dominate mma for years to come, are the ones who have dedicated time to learn one of the arts, individually, as a base.

The majority of contenders for the titles of all major organisations (as far as i'm aware) are all BJJ black belts. (if i'm wrong here that's fine )

I personally believe it's impossible to reach the level of BJJ black belt by simply learning "MMA".

I would say the same for the rest of the arts. Obviously there is no black belt in wrestling or stand up, but the equivalent level applies.

If i planned on being the best MMA figher, i would want to be able to beat or at least hang with the bjj guys at bjj, the wrestlers at wrestling and stand up fighters at stand up.

I also believe achieving a high level at one art, will you give you a much stronger learning base and appreciation of what it takes to begin learning the others.

For example. BJJ black belt begins "learning MMA" vs man who goes to learn MMA as "an art" from scratch. OR Division 1 wrestling stand out begins "learning MMA" vs man who learns from scratch. In these situations who would you bet on to become a title contender faster?

You're overlooking the issue of time here. If someone decides they want to give MMA a bash and they have a prior background that will give them an advantage in one of the sport's aspects then that's great. However, if someone is new to martial arts and MMA takes their fancy, spending years developing skills in one aspect which may not interest the practitioner anywhere near as much as MMA on the whole is more than likely to cause the practitioner to get bored and pack the whole thing in altogether. Also "setting yourself up for failure"? How do you define failure? I'd imagine far more people that take up MMA have the goal of improving their fitness via something they find interesting and enjoyable than becoming the next UFC champ. Since I've started MMA I've lost weight, toned up and learned more about the only sport I've ever enjoyed, so I certainly can't see how I'm "failing" thus far when I'm succeeding in everything I set out to achieve.

Mellor

NG-DOC wrote: »

The majority of contenders for the titles of all major organisations (as far as i'm aware) are all BJJ black belts. (if i'm wrong here that's fine )

Fo, the opposite in fact. Without taking every organisation apart and using UFC's 7 belts as an example. Wrestling dominates. There are 3 BBJ black belts, but two are very very multi disiplines, BJJ not being either guys base area and both became BJJ black belts while practising MMA. Most of the others are learning it now as to eliminate weakneses in their sport, but they are purple belts and such.

Had they been learning it all along it would help them.

There are certain of various martial arts that are irrelevant to MMA. THere are also aspects of MMA that don't apply to individual arts, like contending with strikes in BJJ, BJJ subs when wresting etc, learn MMA as an Art solves both of these issue.

arybvtcw0eolkf

This thread as been split to hopefully widen the debate.