Posted: 5/30/2010 8:10:55 PM EDT
Hey I have been thinking of starting to learn martial arts for self defence and I am wondering what I should take and any other recomendations for me. I am 18 and 6'0 and 225-230 lbs I go to the gym as often as possible and live and work on a farm baleing hay and working cattle. I havent gotten into fights because most people are scared of me because of my size but I have had a friend show me a few moves for blocking punches and stuff but that was a while ago. My dad used to be pretty good at takwondo until he was severely burned from a propane explosion. Thanks
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Ghilie, a great place to start is reading Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence. That'll give you solid information with which to make some decisions regarding which style might work best for you, and some good things to think about when you start evaluating schools and instructors in your area.
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There is no single best art, all have their strengths and weaknesses....and can be further exacerbated by the instructor.
That being said, I have found Wing Chun Kung-fu to be the best defensive art, and offensively I have a Karate background that is really a bastardization of Ishin-Ryu... I also study Philippine stick fighting and a couple other not as useful weapon systems...just because. I have been in Tai-Kwon, Akido..A praying Mantis system and some others...I forget half of them over the yrs. The real reality is you can learn a martial art for its system and heritage, or you can learn martial arts for shear usefulness. The fancy systems (often called "hard" systems such as Tai Kwon do) are just show and tell, gimme a trophy martial art with no real practicality in a fighting situation...i cant even begin to recall all the failed challenges I received when I used to teach.. If you want fighting stay away from any place that has a great big display of trophies or tells you that you will be promoted to such a color at such a time. Promotions and belts are like a candy, feed the kids to keep the paying customer coming back. You can fill a tool box up with every tool known, and when the time comes you cant decide which tool fits the application or.. you can be proficient at using a few tools to do any job. 25yrs off and on in the fields of study/teaching. |
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I currently study American Kenpo 5.0 under Jeff Speakman and love it!It is a very good workout and the techniques include standup fighting,ground fighting, weapons,self defense etc. Hey Sarge, Is Shihan Speakman still as fast as he used to be? One of my friends trained with him some in the late 90's, early 00's. I asked him after his first trip if he was as fast as he looks on camera. Scott said,''Dude, you can't even see him moving when he's coming at you. The camera actually slows him down." Not really related, but we need to start some sort of petition to get The Perfect Weapon on DVD. VHS copies were going for stupid amounts the last time I was looking for one. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I currently study American Kenpo 5.0 under Jeff Speakman and love it!It is a very good workout and the techniques include standup fighting,ground fighting, weapons,self defense etc. Hey Sarge, Is Shihan Speakman still as fast as he used to be? One of my friends trained with him some in the late 90's, early 00's. I asked him after his first trip if he was as fast as he looks on camera. Scott said,''Dude, you can't even see him moving when he's coming at you. The camera actually slows him down." Not really related, but we need to start some sort of petition to get The Perfect Weapon on DVD. VHS copies were going for stupid amounts the last time I was looking for one. Yes, He's still is.I started training with him only a month ago after he relocated his World Training Center here to Las Vegas.Yeah,they need to get the Perfect Weapon on DVD.That is the greatest martial arts movie ever. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I currently study American Kenpo 5.0 under Jeff Speakman and love it!It is a very good workout and the techniques include standup fighting,ground fighting, weapons,self defense etc. Hey Sarge, Is Shihan Speakman still as fast as he used to be? One of my friends trained with him some in the late 90's, early 00's. I asked him after his first trip if he was as fast as he looks on camera. Scott said,''Dude, you can't even see him moving when he's coming at you. The camera actually slows him down." Not really related, but we need to start some sort of petition to get The Perfect Weapon on DVD. VHS copies were going for stupid amounts the last time I was looking for one. Yes, He's still is.I started training with him only a month ago after he relocated his World Training Center here to Las Vegas.Yeah,they need to get the Perfect Weapon on DVD.That is the greatest martial arts movie ever. "Who killed Kim?" "(^(%^*^&(*&^( )(*&)(& YOU!!!" Pop, pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,pop, smack, crunch "Who killed Kim?" The awesomeness in this one scene alone cannot be described. |
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Ghilie
From my 24 years of martial arts training I will say there are not a lot of true self defense systems out there. Here is what I tell most people who are looking for something. First of all, if it looks fancy, it probably doesn’t work in the real world. Simple and effective is what you are looking for. If they get in a ring and put a mouthpiece in, it probably isn’t very effective. The reason I say that is because if someone can take your punch with a mouthpiece in, then you aren’t hitting them hard enough. IMHO, I’ve not found any system outside of taijutsu that punches and kicks effectively. I’m not saying that everyone in taijutsu can punch and kick effectively. I’m just saying that most everything else I’ve seen actually distorts the body structure and loses power by doing so. Follow through with punches and kicks is very important. Most arts only focus on “6 inches” or so through the target. However, taijutsu focuses on driving through the target normally at least a couple of feet. At least that’s what I’ve been taught and that’s what I teach. I’ve trained with a lot of people from different arts and they punch the bag I’m holding and I MIGHT move a half step. When I punch the bag with a jab, just about everyone has ended up on the ground or close to it. Punching and kicking effectively are VERY important!!! When kicking, if you are off balance, you lose power, plain and simple. If you are leaning back, you are losing power. You need something that covers just about every aspect, grappling, striking, ground work, etc. However, ground work is over rated. You need only to spend enough time fighting on the ground as it takes you to get out of the situation and get back on your feet. You lose mobility and burn out fast while on the ground. It’s not a contest; the adversary won’t submit, do what you have to and get out of there!!! A lot of people and instructors do not know how to apply techniques in the real world. What works in the dojo doesn’t always or even often work out on the street. Understanding how fights really take place is different than what most people teach in the dojo. I’ve yet to see a fight take place how I’ve seen people teach them in the dojo. I’ve spent the past 24 years training in a combat art under some of the best instructors outside of Japan. I’ve had to learn for myself what is likely to work and unlikely to work on my own. Approximately 80% of what I learned doesn’t apply to a fight. It was only a learning tool. In my own training I’ve had to figure things out and where they do or do not fit in the fight. Most people who train in an “art” don’t ever figure this out. It’s easy to apply a technique to someone who is standing still or playing along with you. It’s far more difficult to “make” things work in the real deal. Rank is meaningless. Don’t train for rank, train for skills. After all, you are only as good as you are. Your threat won’t care about your rank, only what they are after. Understand this, if all you do is defend yourself in a fight, you may very well get seriously injured or killed. There are times, maybe more often than not, that you must be aggressive in your defense. Good luck in finding something! I can’t recommend a lot of arts or instructors. I’ve been fortunate in my training in that I’ve trained with some really great instructors. When and IF I find something better, I will go and train in it. Until then, I’m sticking with our system. Regards, Brian LaMaster |