In a Martial Art?

Started by SpeedXaaa April 12th, 2009 5:39 PM
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Age 29
Seen July 10th, 2016
Posted November 14th, 2015
58 posts
14.2 Years
I'm curious: What Martial Art do you participate in, if any?

Another question: if the MA categorizes skill by belt levels, what belt/degree are you?

I'm a second degree red belt in TKD... I'm testing for my first degree (degrees are of red, at our school, go in reverse order - from third to first) next Thursday, and I'm testing for my frickin' BLACK belt on August 16... *gulps* Oh my gawd, I'm just so nervous....

And if you were wondering why I said "ugh" about Mixed Martial Arts, well... personally, I despise MMA with a fiery passion. It's altered too much. It's not martial arts- just mainly hand and sometimes throwing techniques. All it looks like is pro wrestling/boxing or something - I mean, c'mon, they barely even kick. It just... seems very unprofessional. If you disagree, I really couldn't care less; may as well not bother posting an argument with me, because there's absolutely no way I'll EVER be swayed away from THAT opinion (I may just ignore it anyways, because I'm VERY closed up inside my own shell about this specific topic). I don't care how good your argument is, or if I sound prejudice for the fact that I've never even tried it, or anything else. I hate it with a burning passion, like I said. It's just not Martial Arts (once again, that's from ME. >_>;).

Please don't mind my MMA rant. Not meant to be taken offensively.... ;3
Age 29
Seen July 10th, 2016
Posted November 14th, 2015
58 posts
14.2 Years
Lulz, same here: yayz, a TKD member! x3
Really? That's pretty awesome~ :3
I personally love TKD - well, my class, to be specific. As for me, it sorta depends on the quality of the school, but luckily, I enrolled in an awesome class. =3
How many tournaments have you participated in, if you can remember (and if your school even participates in them)?
As goes for me, I think I've exceeded ten (our instructor really encourages and supports us participating). XD I've been to just about every tournament so far... I guess I just have nothing better to do~! xD;
I didn't do so well in the State Tournament this year, though. *shudders* It sucks when the last public tournament you were in was about half a year ago, and the first one since then is a state-wide one.... Geez, talk about pressure.

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Age 30
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With the Birds
Seen January 9th, 2015
Posted January 9th, 2015
3,416 posts
14.3 Years
Not my style. I prefer weaponry. I'm good with a sword, but prepared to get owned with a stick. Yes, a stick. Why? It's an excellent bludgeoning instrument, especially if made of thick wood.

bobandbill

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15.2 Years
Myself, I do Shoto-Kan karate - have done so since I was six... so I've been doing karate for a bit over 11 years. Huzzah?

I am currently a 3rd-Dan black belt, but I do not intend to go up any more for a good while. I'm more than satisfied with that. XD

I haven't been in a competition for a while... last time I have been I came 2nd in Kata, and 1st in sparring. But I haven't been in as many competitions as you have, SpeedXaaa. =P
Last week I was actually in a karate presentation thing in a festival before a football match (amusingly, the visiting team was a Japanese one - yep, my city council wanted to as part of the festival show off karate to Japanese football fans XD). 'Twas a synchronised kata with two other people; felt it went rather well.

I know a bit on how to handle some weapons (mainly sai), but generally just rather basic stuff.

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Age 30
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Canada
Seen July 24th, 2012
Posted August 24th, 2011
1,474 posts
14.9 Years
Great to see some people into taekwondo on here.
I was in it for 5 years, I have my black belt, but I quit last October. I was just too bored of it. I was in many competitions.

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Age 31
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Colchester, United Kingdom
Seen October 4th, 2020
Posted October 3rd, 2020
2,309 posts
16.1 Years
I used to do Kung Fu. I was only Yellow belt (5th Grade), but I was a skilled fighter, often asked to demonstrate to newcomers in a sparring session with the instructor or another learner (him and I were the best sparrers in the group, and I also came in 3rd Place in a regional competition.

Although I've given it up now (although I'm thinking about going back) that 3rd Place trophy takes pride of place on my shelf.

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Age 29
Seen July 10th, 2016
Posted November 14th, 2015
58 posts
14.2 Years
PMV: Most/some martial arts classes do teach weaponry, though. Ours used to teach a Nunchuk class, but stopped. O_o;

bobandbill: ((You can just call me Speed-X if you'd like. It's shorter. XD)) Lolz, I'd probably feel awkward too... I'd feel as if they were looking at me funny and thinking of how I looked terrible to them... or something. Hopefully you get what I mean. xD;

Yukio: Guess TKD is just one of the more popular ones. I actually didn't expect to see so many people, because when I posted this topic on another forum, I got quite a few TKD'ers, there, too. |3

Horizon: Hah, sparring is always fun~ X3 I guess I'm kinda one of the... erm, better sparrers in my class, too, but I won't say much. Dun' like to brag, even though I'm not trying to. ^^;

Penguin13

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Age 33
Mililani, Oahu, Hawaii
Seen July 28th, 2010
Posted April 3rd, 2010
443 posts
14.3 Years
Tae Kwon Do for 5 years I believe. I started when I was 7 and was an Advanced Junior Black Belt (Red belt with a black stripe in the center with all the different belt colors taped on to show that I've mastered the poomse (sp?) for that belt. In that particular program we did that. Not sure if others do that.), and was a few months away from black belt.
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Posted January 9th, 2015
3,416 posts
14.3 Years
I had this friend that was a master at nunchucks. Doesn't do it anymore, but that guy was baaaaaadaass...
Age 29
Seen July 10th, 2016
Posted November 14th, 2015
58 posts
14.2 Years
Tae Kwon Do for 5 years I believe. I started when I was 7 and was an Advanced Junior Black Belt (Red belt with a black stripe in the center with all the different belt colors taped on to show that I've mastered the poomse (sp?) for that belt. In that particular program we did that. Not sure if others do that.), and was a few months away from black belt.
I ran into someone at the tournament that was like sorta that, actually. She said that she was a red belt, but "reccommended" by her instructor to be a black belt. Something like that.

The Scientist

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Seen July 27th, 2012
Posted December 19th, 2009
721 posts
19.3 Years
Alright, as far as unarmed styles go, I studed Soo Bahk Do (an obscure predecessor to Tae Kwon Do) for one year, and Hung Gar for 2.5 years (still in progress). I'll be continuing my Hung Gar for a few more years, and then I'll get into Silat.

I'm much more proficient with weapons. In no particular order...

Montmorency: a fencing style from the southern French House of Montmorency. LERN2DODGE.
Zweihanderapparate: a German anti-calvary longsword. Chop their legs off!
Okinawan kobudo: literally "peasant fighting", it's a Japanese style that uses farm tools and/or nearby objects as weapons (nunchaku, daggers, bo).
Toyama Battou-Ryu: A Japanese military style that took the most effective moves from different styles and mashed them together. The motto is "one strike, one kill".
Xan'xuan Taiji: Chinese straight sword (jian) style. Focuses on flexibility and overall movement over power. The sword's range is a lot longer than you think.
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Seen August 6th, 2009
Posted May 8th, 2009
68 posts
15.2 Years
Lulz, same here: yayz, a TKD member! x3
Really? That's pretty awesome~ :3
I personally love TKD - well, my class, to be specific. As for me, it sorta depends on the quality of the school, but luckily, I enrolled in an awesome class. =3
How many tournaments have you participated in, if you can remember (and if your school even participates in them)?
As goes for me, I think I've exceeded ten (our instructor really encourages and supports us participating). XD I've been to just about every tournament so far... I guess I just have nothing better to do~! xD;
I didn't do so well in the State Tournament this year, though. *shudders* It sucks when the last public tournament you were in was about half a year ago, and the first one since then is a state-wide one.... Geez, talk about pressure.
Well, we have to do at least 2 tournaments a year to test, but what stinks is cause i'm getting older i can't go to all of the them cause of age requirements, but i get to judge them. I'm also doing Sambo too (brown belt) and I'm going 2 the state tournament saturday
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Age 27
Male
Seen March 6th, 2013
Posted May 22nd, 2012
635 posts
14.9 Years
I practice Wakinshai (spelling?) style of karate and am a brown belt hoping to get my black next month. Although i personally dont enjoy it and i dont seem to be getting anything out of it. Once i have attained my black belt i hope to move onto something move movement and flexibility based, which i have excelled in so far. I was an active participant in competion however, and have won a number of medals.


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Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
I should have stuck with taekwondo but I epic phailed as a younger kid into it (I took a white belt after school class in 5th grade, and only got that far. XD)

Now I regret it, my friend does karate and he's just like, epic at it. He does weapon (kata) showcases too, which is so sick.


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Age 31
Above The Shadows
Seen February 9th, 2010
Posted August 1st, 2009
653 posts
14.2 Years
im into MMA. sry if that makes you angry. it can be pretty much any style though. i specialized in more street/boxing style. basically what you see on tv. i dont do kicks mostly because my legs arent flexable and i lose my balance easy. im really good at grappeling though. i cant compete in the local MMA tournaments because im not 18 but i do fight in an underground league. i got 2nd in the last heavy weight tournament. but i lost the title fight:(...but personally i like MMA more than TKD (which i used to practice) because the fights are bloodier. thats why i got into it.

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...
Seen October 26th, 2015
Posted May 10th, 2010
879 posts
14.7 Years
Well, my school does a short, basic EKP (educational karate program) unit in physical education, but all in all the EKP unit is pretty much crap. Or actually just...really basic, and they do the same thing year after year, to enforce it, I guess. To be honest though, I actually rather like it, seeing as I'm not the most (nor the least) athletic person in the world. I asked my mom about taking a martial art, but she said, "martial arts are for boys," and I was like "?!?!?!?!" >.<
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Age 29
Seen July 10th, 2016
Posted November 14th, 2015
58 posts
14.2 Years
im into MMA. sry if that makes you angry. it can be pretty much any style though. i specialized in more street/boxing style. basically what you see on tv. i dont do kicks mostly because my legs arent flexable and i lose my balance easy. im really good at grappeling though. i cant compete in the local MMA tournaments because im not 18 but i do fight in an underground league. i got 2nd in the last heavy weight tournament. but i lost the title fight:(...but personally i like MMA more than TKD (which i used to practice) because the fights are bloodier. thats why i got into it.
Lulz, it doesn't make me mad if someone is in the sport and personally enjoys it. I respect everyone's opinion; however, the opinion stated was just my general outlook on the sport itself. In fact, I have a friend who quit our TKD class to join an MMA class because he wanted to actually be muscularly stronger. Despite all of the negative things, from his outlook, to me it seems like a great way to build muscular strength and endurance. =]
But I'm personally glad that you enjoy it. It's nice to see another point of view despite my own outlook on the sport; it builds more understanding. ^_^b

Well, my school does a short, basic EKP (educational karate program) unit in physical education, but all in all the EKP unit is pretty much crap. Or actually just...really basic, and they do the same thing year after year, to enforce it, I guess. To be honest though, I actually rather like it, seeing as I'm not the most (nor the least) athletic person in the world. I asked my mom about taking a martial art, but she said, "martial arts are for boys," and I was like "?!?!?!?!" >.<
The heck? Martial arts are not JUST for guys; I highly disagree - I would know by personal experience that a girl can do (and enjoy) a martial just as good, if not better, than a guy. Methinks that she's just trying to create a scapegoat - after all, prices for a MA can be quite high at times. xD;

I did kickboxing when i say did i mean watched the film
I remember when our instructor had to teach kickboxing due to the leaving of the original instructor. Now that she (the original instructor) is back and all of the schedules have changed since then, I haven't seen much of it anymore. One of my friends tried it for a couple days, then quit because apparently she was "too sore" or something. XD;
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Male
Las Vegas,Nevada.
Seen November 26th, 2021
Posted April 1st, 2011
287 posts
14.9 Years
I'm a white belt in TaeKwonDo.
I just did my first class today actually haha.
I love it so far.
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Posted July 14th, 2011
513 posts
14.1 Years
Personally, I despise "Americanized Tae Kwon Do" and Shuto Kan karate.

Why? You may ask.

For Tae Kwon Do, if you were to look at the "Amaercanized" and traditional types side by side, they would be EXTREMELY different.

For Shuto Kan, lets see............They don't teach "useful nowadays" stuff, such as how to apply Bunkai(Parts of Kata practised with a partner) to protect yourself in the year 2009(or at least they didn't when I went to Shuto Kan). They advance through belts too quikly(an example of this is when my dad saw somebody who started at the karate school that I went to right before I left there, a couple 2-3 years later, he saw the same guy at a tournament as a black belt)

But, enough of my complaining, personally, I go to Goju-Ryu Karate. Both my dad and I love doing it, and it is literally spread out all over Washington State(where I used to live), but it is still a small style.

P.S. Sorry for ranting like that, I was just saying my personal opinion, I am truly sorry if I offended anybody here

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Archer

NSW, Australia
Seen January 26th, 2020
Posted January 5th, 2020
3,956 posts
16.6 Years
Missingno, I agree with the comment regarding fast grades. Heck, I even feel that my style does grades a bit fast, and I'm a 1st Dun Black Belt after 6 1/2 years.

A major problem is that most new age styles focus on the fighting, and ignore the self-discipline and other sides of it.

Regardless, I enjoy it. It keeps me fit and gives me something to stick to. Which is great for a un-motivated person like me...

bobandbill

one more time

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Posted 23 Hours Ago
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15.2 Years
Personally, I despise "Americanized Tae Kwon Do" and Shuto Kan karate.

Why? You may ask.

For Tae Kwon Do, if you were to look at the "Amaercanized" and traditional types side by side, they would be EXTREMELY different.

For Shuto Kan, lets see............They don't teach "useful nowadays" stuff, such as how to apply Bunkai(Parts of Kata practised with a partner) to protect yourself in the year 2009(or at least they didn't when I went to Shuto Kan). They advance through belts too quikly(an example of this is when my dad saw somebody who started at the karate school that I went to right before I left there, a couple 2-3 years later, he saw the same guy at a tournament as a black belt)

But, enough of my complaining, personally, I go to Goju-Ryu Karate. Both my dad and I love doing it, and it is literally spread out all over Washington State(where I used to live), but it is still a small style.

P.S. Sorry for ranting like that, I was just saying my personal opinion, I am truly sorry if I offended anybody here
Late save there. =P As a person doing Shoto-Kan karate though...well, karate certainly does differ noticeably from style to style in general, but don't forget it can differ from club to club as well - in my one Bunkai can be seen (although admittedly my dad and I (and a few more) probably look into it more than many others). I find the history and application of karate to be quite interesting, actually, and its good to see what the moves behind karate can actually mean. Also, belt systems definitely vary from club to club. =) (BTW, i'm doing karate in Australia; apparently our club is set up different to some clubs in America, according to a sensei here who went there for a bit. But meh.)

IIRC... Goju-Ryu is a more physically-focused style, right? More on the self defence and conditioning and so on... correct me if I'm wrong though. Where I live my karate school (Shoto-Kan style) is the main one around and simply the one we choose and stayed with for some years now. When I began karate though before we moved, I did 2 years of the Goshin Ryu style. And then I went back to white belt upon changing schools. XD

I'd agree that people grading may occur too fast... of course though, some people get there faster than others. Guess it depends really if the club gives the belt to someone who is good enough to achieve a Black Belt, I suppose. Took me when I started with my new club 5 years to reach Shodan Ho. But karate isn't just all on the fitness aspect, certainly. There are many other benefits, and things to consider as well on grading. Hurrah for that!

On that subject, currently we have a set of 'black belt candidates' - people who are going for their black belt soon. This happens every half a year here - what happens is that we have an initial test - if they pass that, they then go on a 'prep cycle' for 1-2 months - basically getting them ready. During and at the end of that, they have a final pre-test, and then shortly after that they have their black belt test. The first part is to basically limit it to people who we feel are ready to go for their black belt, although it doesn't that they will pass. All of the black belts in our club have our say on each person and whether they should go or not, based their attitude, technique, fitness, etc, etc during that period of time.

The test itself is basically a full weekend of karate - testing them on anything and everything, really. I did it last time for by 3rd Dan... on the first day we did karate on and off (along with fitness tests and so forth) from 1 pm Friday to 3am Saturday morning. Man, that was tiring stuff...worth it though. =D

I know however places during which the black belt test takes about 5 minutes in total - and I suppose this works just as well - as someone to do a simple kata, for instance, and you would probably tell how good they are at karate.

Might be a topic, actually - how is the black belt testing done in your club, whatever martial art you do?

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