CzeCze
RETIRED
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2007
- Messages
- 8,975
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- GONE
I've taken classes in Tae Kwon Do (purple belt but as a teenager), Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing, and Krav Maga. As well as various one-off 'self defense' classes including a Kendo workshop (I know, weapons)
When I signed up at the Jewish Community Center to take Krav Maga, some of my friends were like 'WTH are you doing that?' And my answer was, well damn, you know it has to be some serious mojo if the Israeli army is using it.
Pluses:
1) Utilitarian, works with body's natural reactions for lighting fast response, no strict rules so it's always evolving and improving, meant for REAL life modern situations
Minuses:
1) U-G-L-Y, not an art form
2) No philosophy behind it other than survive. Which is cool, but I want more.
3) Lots of people who take it are just like us on the thread who want to be bad ass. The problem is, not everyone is coordinated, responsible, or grounded in all the self-discipline/respect etc. etc. etc. philosophy that is the backbone of other martial arts
4) Lots of people I took the class with were clumsy and too busy trying to be macho to be good partners. I honestly think 1/2 the guys were desk jockeys/nerds trying to reclaim their masculinity. I was seriously concerned for my safety doing training practices with some people as they lacked respect/safety awareness and basic COORDINATION that is a given in other martial arts classes. It actually pissed me off.
Basically, maybe with Hollywood and cage fighting taking off, there are a lot of clueless noobs trying to learn 'bad ass' sports at places that don't really teach them the basics of respect/safety and are happy to take their money and teach them how to punch people in the face. Not a good recipe.
As an alternative - In serious Wushu (kung-fu) schools even in the states, you aren't guaranteed a spot. You have a probationary period and after a few months, if you don't have the coordination/talent or previous training to cut it, that's it. There are no dreamy ideals that 'everybody' can do this and do it well. It's hard! Aside from natural talent, with time constraints -- no, not every person with a job/family/school can dedicate the time to train enough to advance in a demanding discipline. These schools are serious about mastery and competion and respecting the sport by not doing a half-assed job. I actually don't mind. I wouldn't want to waste my time or money on a sport that is going to injure me and get my ass kicked.
I thought I wanted to do a nitty-gritty martial art like Krav Maga purely for the self-defense skills, but I got turned off by my experience.
Now, I'd rather do Kung Fu or basically something that is more an art-form/sport that incorporates more of a social/mind/body aspect to it. You know -- something pretty.
That's just me though.
When I signed up at the Jewish Community Center to take Krav Maga, some of my friends were like 'WTH are you doing that?' And my answer was, well damn, you know it has to be some serious mojo if the Israeli army is using it.
Pluses:
1) Utilitarian, works with body's natural reactions for lighting fast response, no strict rules so it's always evolving and improving, meant for REAL life modern situations
Minuses:
1) U-G-L-Y, not an art form
2) No philosophy behind it other than survive. Which is cool, but I want more.
3) Lots of people who take it are just like us on the thread who want to be bad ass. The problem is, not everyone is coordinated, responsible, or grounded in all the self-discipline/respect etc. etc. etc. philosophy that is the backbone of other martial arts
4) Lots of people I took the class with were clumsy and too busy trying to be macho to be good partners. I honestly think 1/2 the guys were desk jockeys/nerds trying to reclaim their masculinity. I was seriously concerned for my safety doing training practices with some people as they lacked respect/safety awareness and basic COORDINATION that is a given in other martial arts classes. It actually pissed me off.
Basically, maybe with Hollywood and cage fighting taking off, there are a lot of clueless noobs trying to learn 'bad ass' sports at places that don't really teach them the basics of respect/safety and are happy to take their money and teach them how to punch people in the face. Not a good recipe.
As an alternative - In serious Wushu (kung-fu) schools even in the states, you aren't guaranteed a spot. You have a probationary period and after a few months, if you don't have the coordination/talent or previous training to cut it, that's it. There are no dreamy ideals that 'everybody' can do this and do it well. It's hard! Aside from natural talent, with time constraints -- no, not every person with a job/family/school can dedicate the time to train enough to advance in a demanding discipline. These schools are serious about mastery and competion and respecting the sport by not doing a half-assed job. I actually don't mind. I wouldn't want to waste my time or money on a sport that is going to injure me and get my ass kicked.
I thought I wanted to do a nitty-gritty martial art like Krav Maga purely for the self-defense skills, but I got turned off by my experience.
Now, I'd rather do Kung Fu or basically something that is more an art-form/sport that incorporates more of a social/mind/body aspect to it. You know -- something pretty.
That's just me though.