Let's discuss Martial Arts :D

[Gerbil]

So I was just thinking about this the other day.

I got involved in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a few months ago, and I plan on training for a few years. My short term goal is to enter a BJJ competition this summer in Riverdale GA called NAGA. My longer term goals include getting promotions in BJJ including making it to Blue Belt and beyond.

I started BJJ because I wanted a little more excitement in my life. I'm a Math major at my college, and let's face it; Math can get boring lol. There's nothing cool to do like a homeland security degree might do (such as field practice) or what an engineering major might do (seriously, effing workshops ftw).

As extra incentive to starting BJJ, I knew it would be helping me make my life healthier and start to make myself become more fit. As a gamer, I'm not one of the more fit people in the world lol. BJJ also lets me feel confident in the world for some reason. I also have to say I respect the art, and all other martial arts, for a lot of different reasons.

So my point is, what martial arts do you guys partake in? Why did you decide to start it up? Similarities and differences between styles? (I'm personally interested in grappling styles myself).

BTW. Anyone else notice that being really good at games gives a bit of an edge at how you approach your art? Again, I'm only 3 months in, but I've been gaming hardcore for many years. I can feel the mindset of mindgaming people IRL in competition happening.

 

[GOD!]

I wrestle in college and for high school. Lol, I think smash helped my wrestling more than any coach did cause it helped me think about how to treat my opponent.

I also train in this martial art called Silat from Indonesia. This exchange student started teaching the class and I mainly just wanted to boost my resume by having another easy activity. But I've found out its really rewarding. A lot of it is just ceremonial movements and striking, but there are certain techniques that are pretty effective (there's one flying back kick I've been dying to try on a person sometime).

As I said, its mostly a ceremonial style. A big component of it is weapons training and defense, which comes in handy. In silat competition, points are scored by striking and by throws, but matched more commonly are decided by throws. Towards the end of a close match it becomes something like well-spaced judo, if you know what I mean.

 

[M@v]

Im a 3rd degree black belt in Tang Soo Do. Havent trained in about a year and a half unfortunately. I need to get back into it. If I can reach 4th degree, I'll officially be considered a "Master", so yeah, I want that.

 

[GA Peach]

i studied Hung Gar Shaolin(animal forms, like Lei from Tekken) for years as a child and Capoeira in high school. I want to get back into both, but mainly Shaolin, and plan on doing so in about a month or so.

 

[Master Raven]

I am currently practicing Taiji with a personal trainer who happens to be the husband of my sister's art teacher. It's $35 an hour but he's so awesome and we do about an hour's worth of practice every Wednesday and I do daily exercises I've learnt from the previous lessons.

Yeah they both rul

I've always found the martial arts interesting but never found the chance to engage upon it until I met my trainer through my sister's art teacher last year. We've been doing practice sessions since this year. It's not only a physical martial art, but it also emphasizes on mental stability as well, and my trainer recommended me the Tao Te Ching to use in conjuction with Taiji. I am planning on absolutely dedicating myself to working with this martial art (and possibly other ones if possible) for as long as I live.

 

[Nihongo-ookami]

...Kendo/Fencing count? Doubt it.

 

[Gerbil]

I'd accept Kendo lol. I actually thought about Kendo training a long time ago, then I realized that Columbus doesn't really offer much in terms of martial arts.

We have BJJ, Tae Kwon Do, and then we have this.... company that claims they can teach a **** ton of martial arts. >_> Don't get me wrong, they are certified to give belts for karate and some other art that I can't remember, but it is a giant business. My BJJ dojo closed down recently for a couple of months to handle a change of location, and during that time I went looking for a temporary place here to train. Turns out, the company magically started offering BJJ. Without any certified instructors lol. A couple of instructors had been magically promoted to black belt instructor level. (Don't get me wrong, he knows a lot of stuff, but nowhere near the level as my certified dojo).

Anyone have bad experiences with instructors though?

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

My brother is a 12th degree black belt, hes been in the martial arts hall of fame for over 20 years now, and has a few books published on "Empty Force", or "qi force".

I used to be into Dim Mak, Kung Fu, and Kendo, but I've recently stopped anything martial arts related.

Ric Rohins used to do Kendo, too, I think

 

[yummynbeefy]

My brother is a 12th degree black belt, hes been in the martial arts hall of fame for over 20 years now, and has a few books published on "Empty Force", or "qi force".

I used to be into Dim Mak, Kung Fu, and Kendo, but I've recently stopped anything martial arts related.

Ric Rohins used to do Kendo, too, I think

12th degree black belt??? dam i thought i was good getting to brown 1st degree in muy thai

 

[Linguini]

I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and also have a Black belt in Taekwondo. Started BJJ a little over a year ago and I highly recommend it.

Unlike Taekwondo (which was a complete waste of time) I have actually used BJJ in real life situations and I can say for a fact that knowing the simple techniques puts you above 95% of the population in terms of fighting skill. You vs. a person with no martial arts experience or specific fighting training is a one sided ordeal lol. I’ve always done wrestling in high school so the transition into BJJ wasn't too tough, but you should be fine as long as you put time into it.

 

[Gerbil]

I couldn't have said it myself Linguini. CSU has a couple of black belt instructors for Tae Kwon Do and I need to take an additional P.E. so I was kind of thinking along those lines since I'll have done BJJ for about a year by time I need to take it.

My dojo used to offer Muy Tai but then they stopped and got a boxing instructor instead. (not so bad, but the striking arts arn't too much my thing.)

Do any of you guys compete?? My first "tournament" (CSU sponsored, not a lot of interest and kind of watered down) will be on the 30th of this month, and then my first "real tournament" (NAGA; think MLG but for grappling) is sometime in July.

Also at Mooney - 12th degree black belt? What art, American Karate? I had always thought most black belts went up to 10 degrees (though I know there are a couple that go beyond, I just don't know which lol).

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

Kung Fu. He only worked with that and empty force.

 

[ph00tbag]

I'm a red belt in Tae Kwon Do, but I was never very competitive. I've considered studying other martial arts--took a fencing class in college. For the most part, I've been out of the martial arts loop.

 

[Master Raven]

I don't really intend to approach the martial arts from a competitive standpoint, although that'd probably be interesting for me to engage in one day. I'm more interested in the physical and mental benefits gained from it, as well as the addition of self-defense.

 

[dashdancedan]

Some TKD as a kid, then some Goju Ryu, and I read some of Tao of JKD. I would probably join a Wing Chun place if I could find one. (Or wasn't so lazy)

I always thought sparring (point or more serious) was fun.

 

[Toobz]

Back in middle school I did karate and made it to brown belt after 2 years and quit. Then when I was 18 I started doing Serrada (a filipino martial art) and have been doing that since. Been about 9 months since I last trained, but this summer I'm going to get back into it. Its not really a competition type martial. Just ***-kicking.

 

[SleepyK]

i'm asian.

 

[Toobz]

since when?

 

[Gerbil]

So for those that do compete, we all are familiar with David Sirlin's Play to Win. Anyone try to apply that in their martial arts? What about Sun Tzu's Art of War? I've read it, and it is an extremely good read for those that are interested in the competitive and tactical state of mind.

I'm interested in some of these other non-generic arts. Some of them sound pretty wicked (animal forms? Serrada? sounds awesome)

 

[Toobz]

Do some research Serrada is really amazing. It has some similar techniques to Kali, but it is a different philosophy of fighting. You train with a short stick about the length of your arm, and it is your primary weapon. The techniques you learn with the stick pretty much directly translate into unarmed and knife techniques as well. There are very few kicks in this martial art, so if you're into those you're better off with something else. If you like weapons however, it is excellent since you begin training with a stick and once you've learned the basics then you start playing with unarmed and knife techniques.

 

[Gerbil]

I got done with a competition recently. I lost in my first match (single elim) but won "game 1" if you want to call it that by points lol. Everyone there was bigger/taller/stronger than me so I felt kinda outclassed, but I still gave it my all! Here are my matches:

Round 1 and 2 Match 1:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php...ideo/video.php?v=561282853006&oid=58133532702

I would've given a youtube link, but I have no control over the video since it wasn't uploaded by me. I'm the one wearing the black Gi. : )

EDIT: To give the matchup info...

Myself: 6'0", 195 lbs, 2 months dojo experience.
Opponent: 6'4", 180 lbs, 2 years wrestling.

I outweighed him by a good 15 pounds (not enough entrants to stick to solid weight classes, so we had to match up as close as possible), but obviously his 2 years got the best of my 2 months lol.

 

[CRASHiC]

Gerbil, you should read The Book Of Five Rings.

I'm really into martial arts. My trouble has been that I never lived anywhere near a good dojo, and I tried settling, but did not get what I came there for, strict instruction and discipline. They didn't even critique my **** form. I got no instruction on how to kick properly, punch properly, nothing. All they cared about was getting me to the next belt. It was awful. The only decent place near me is Mua Tai, but that's simply too loose for me, I want something with strict form, and for this Hung Gar is incredibly appealing.

Another problem is my feet are two different shapes and sizes. this causes balance and coordination problems.

For the next year I'm studying basics by my self and conditioning my body until I go to Philadelphia for college, and then I plan to enter a real dojo and bust my *** off. Hopefully I can somehow maintain martial arts, music, and college all at the same time.

 

[Gerbil]

Alright I will for sure check that book out. Promise. *writes it down* :D

 

[spider_sense]

I did a little bit of kung fu (Po Chi lam) back in my late years of high school and my first year of college, just had to drop it cause work and school, but I'm actually planning on going back, it'll suck cause I'll have to relearn everything again.

They usually taught traditional eastern martial arts from China all the way to subtle styles like Tibet. I remember doing horse stances for 20 minutes. IT HURTS LIKE A MOTHER! We also practice signature forms. Sifu Williams was also a pretty beast teacher; lol We'd have sparring sessions and he'd just randomly jump in the middle and decide to spar with you. That was always fun winning a sparring a match with a scrub, then having your teacher come in and kick your *** for no reason. lmao But I learned a great deal of discipline and about how much I could tolerate. The dojo is still there too, over in Miramar, close to Pembroke Road.

 

[XIF]

I did tae kwon do as a kid. My instructor ended up becoming my step dad, who was a former navy seal that was like 2nd or 3rd degree black belt in tae kwon do and master class at muay thai. I regret not continuing martial arts and one day I'd like to try out some muay Thai. To be honest though I love boxing and that's something else I'd like to try to get into.

For now I'm just working out every morning trying to get swole. Finally got my bench back up to about 200 after my hiatus but I gotta get to at least 250 or 300

 

[Beanman]

I want to pick up muay thai, but I just recently found a place thats close enough. (Most places I have come across teach a "modified" form for MMA fighting) Hopefully, considering I weight around 200 and bench around 340, I can benefit from this.

 

[Gerbil]

I have unfortunate news:

My BJJ instructor, Pedro Lacerda, has passed away last night due to a severe brain aneurysm. I got the e-mail straight from his wife. This makes me very sad as he was a close friend and probably one of the most ****** instructors I'll ever have the chance to meet.

Pedro was an Army Ranger, E6, and a 2nd degree black belt in BJJ under Carlos Gracie Jr. straight out of Brazil.

He has a memorial service at Ft. Benning this week which I am going to attend.

In his memory I plan on dedicating any future competitions to his name, and on my Gi I am going to have a custom made memorial signature for him.

Prayers be with his family.

 

[Veggi]

I'm sorry to hear about that. : (

 

[M@v]

That does stink. :/


waaaaay back when I was a red belt, I won a regional sparring tournament for my age group. I also got have a couple 2nds and 1 3rd i believe....

 

[-ACE-]

I'm a black belt in Rex Kwon Do

For now I'm just working out every morning trying to get swole. Finally got my bench back up to about 200 after my hiatus but I gotta get to at least 250 or 300

Good **** man. If you ever hit a plateau try doing a lot of sets of 5, 4, and eventually 3 (gradually changing over weeks). I had a lot of football players tell me this when I was at UNC and it helped me get my bench from 270 to 340 in barely over a year. My best set was 315x4 when I weighed 180. Negatives help break plateaus as well.

 

[Gerbil]

Here's a link telling information about my instructor. I wanted to post it here in case anyone was interested in the awesomeness that he was and will forever be.

http://www.graciemag.com/en/2010/05/brain-aneurism-victim-pedrinho-brandao-will-be-missed/

 

[IAmBlu3]

i box i'm really in a sparring mood as of late but no one lives close to me. i know it's not martial arts.....but i've sparred against some. it's really awkward but cool.