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| #12  05-Oct-2005, 10:30 | ||||
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| #16 05-Oct-2005, 18:26 | ||||
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| #17 05-Oct-2005, 18:38 | ||||
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| #18 05-Oct-2005, 18:39 | ||||
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Good advice, thanks mate. I'll have to check out some local clubs  |
| #19 05-Oct-2005, 18:50 | ||||
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| I'm still a few months away from my shodan grading (1st black belt - hopefully should be early in the new year) and as such I am a raw beginner. Neither do I know very much about any other form of martial art, other than the Shotokan that I'm involved in. Fil and Bubbles have got far, far more experience as their answers clearly show. I agree with Fil though, it depends what your motivation for getting into martial arts is. If you just want to keep fitter and work out some aggression you might just as well buy a punch bag and use it to punch and kick the crap out of. That'll exhaust you pretty quickly and let you work off steam. If you want to get fitter, learn some mental control and learn how to look after yourself a bit better if you were ever involved in any street violence then some form of martial art is good. I also agree with Fil that you need to scope out the clubs and associations. Even within a single martial arts discipline, like Shotokan, the various associations will have their own style - some will concentrate more on theory and being able to perform perfect basic techniques and kata, some will go for teaching lots of stuff between each grade, others will lean towards Kumite (sparring) and competition. Don't get me wrong, they will all teach the same sort of thing just with a different degree of emphasis. The only question that I would pose to Fil is that if you are a raw beginner (and I would still count myself as one) how would you know which is a good or a bad club? My own association has recently changed emphasis from having to know 4 kata and a whole heap of basics to grade for Shodan to just having to know 1 kata (plus all your preceeding grading kata of course) and fewr basics - but, you now have to perform all this to a much higher standard (I'm a little miffed that I've just spent 9 months learning 3 kata that I don't need right now but...hey!). Along with this shift in emphasis, the association is putting more into teaching more 'streetwise' self defence. I'm quite happy with the new emphasis on quality not quantity and the new focus on applications of techniques for self defence. So your choice of martial art is really down to what you want out of it personally. As I say, my opinion is based on very little knowledge but if you want to learn how to defend yourself, get into a discipline that teaches you how to use every part of your body as a weapon. Flash Jackie Chan type kicks look impressive when everyones wearing a Gi in the Dojo (or whatever the equivalent is in other martial arts) and you have the freedom of movement that you have in martial arts clothing, when you're on the street you'll find your street clothes (especially jeans) wont let you stretch enough to throw a hard, fast, accurate kick (correction, that should read MY jeans won't allow ME to... etc....you may be more flexible). The only other thing to say is be prepared for the long haul. This stuff is far more difficult than it looks and requires patience and dedication to get anywhere. I've trained 2 sometimes 3 times a week for the last 4 years and I'm still a beginner... Good luck with whatever you choose....and please don't hit me when you've learned it all |
Jools
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