Honestly, maybe something like cardio boxing might be ideal for you. With the healthy body healthy mind thing, you might wanna look into tai chi or aikido classes honestly.
NeoGAF Martial Arts |OT| Should You Desire the Great Tranquility, Prepare to Sweat
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Honestly, maybe something like cardio boxing might be ideal for you. With the healthy body healthy mind thing, you might wanna look into tai chi or aikido classes honestly.
Metroid Killer
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Where can I sign up?
Well it kinda depends on what he means by 'human vs human'. Sure there aren't competitions in aikido, but during training you are very physical with your opponents. But yes the focus is not on 'winning over' your opponent, but develop the mind to be stronger, losing the ego etc.
Eschaton I made this banner if you wanna spice things up a little bit
(no need to rehost it, I got a photobucket pro account)
Also this thread needs more pictures in general!!
Though looking through my photos right now, I just realized that who's getting pictures taken of them during training?
Anyway I have a few pictures and one of my biggest expeirences to show. Being a live-in student (uchi-deshi) in Japan. Waking up at 4:45 am to pick weed, sweep leaves, clean dojo etc. for 1 hour, then 2 hours of training. Eat sleep. Training on your own for a couple of hours. Sleep eat. Eevening practice in the local dojo. Eat sleep.
Being in the training all time was quite a surreal experience compared to the regular life at home where you have all these distractions and resposibilities to take you out of the martial art. You sorta felt like going mad at times though
The only picture of me during training, being thrown around. The dojo is in Iwama, Japan, where Osensei (the founder of Aikido) settled down and fine tuned the art.
Me, my sensei and my gf
So the town Iwama is rather small, but loaded with all kinds of dojos, and it's not an unusual sight to see people in gi in supermarkets.
Cardio Boxing seems pretty interesting, but intense has hell if I look up videos hehe!
I didn't know Tai Chi was considered a martial art, I thought it was more like a cooling down as a part of Kung Fu training. Shows you how much I know of Martial Arts. But if I'm honest, Tai Chi REALLY piques my interest, it seems my kind of thing.
I mean that I am not competitive at all. I like the idea of 'growing as you train' mentally and physically with a focus on health and well-being (sorry for the pretentious sounding of words, I have no other way of putting it
) wether it is alone or with a sparring partner or within a group. In short, I like the sound of Aikido Thanks for the tips guys, I'll look into it!
I've been practicing Shorinji Kempo for 3 years now. Last year I had the chance to go study in Tokyo and also got to practice there at a few dojos. I won't lie to you, I was feeling extremely excited to be able to train with a good japanese Sensei however, the experience proved itself to be a kick in the face at first: dealed with a lot of crap in the lines of "you're a foreigner and this is too difficult for you to understand" and since I was staying there for only 6 months, the only thing I gained from my short-lived training there was some great experience in "randori" (basically the competition part of Shorinji Kempo) since everyday I would basically become the beating bag of everyone in the dojo.
I'm curious to know if anyone is familiar with Shorinji Kempo here? Next year is the world taikai in Japan and I'm gonna be a representative of my country in the taikai so I was thinking in getting into another martial art to boost my basic capabilities like strength, stretching, tolerance to pain, cardio, etc...I'm not interested in learning forms and philosophy, just something that helps me develop physically in the space of one year alongside my regular shorinji kempo training.
Thanks in advance.
I'm curious to know if anyone is familiar with Shorinji Kempo here? Next year is the world taikai in Japan and I'm gonna be a representative of my country in the taikai so I was thinking in getting into another martial art to boost my basic capabilities like strength, stretching, tolerance to pain, cardio, etc...I'm not interested in learning forms and philosophy, just something that helps me develop physically in the space of one year alongside my regular shorinji kempo training.
Thanks in advance.
That, you have to learn by yourself. You have to be put under the situation to first, deal with it and with time, experience and a strong mind, hopefully tolerate it better. Of course, no martial art can teach you to tolerate pain as you might learn let's say, how to speak a new language: "if you learn this and this, you will feel less pain". I believe, however, that some martial arts can "teach" you to have a higher tolerance to pain. Lets talk about kyokushin karate for example: It has a strong emphasis on physical contact and taking a beating. The first time you take a beating, and the second, third and probably all of the times, it will hurt. But along the way, you will tolerate it better.
Hope I explained myself a little better. Sorry if I wasn't clear the first time
Metroid Killer
Member
^yup ditto to that.
I would say, without being an expert, that almost every martial art teaches you to tolerate pain.
The psychological aspect of how you feel pain is very important, and just knowing what kind of pain that is about to hit you, prepares your mind to tolerate the pain much better.
Knowing that a punch might hurt a bit, but wont kill you or anything will make you accept the pain and feel more calm, compared to being afraid of the unknown incoming pain which will make you flinch and focus on the pain only to feed it. When you get hit by the kind of punch that rocks through your entire body, now that's pain!
In my dojo we have lot of focus to strech and extend pins and armlocks. Not only does it make your limbs more flexible, but it also give you more time to get to know the pain.
I would say, without being an expert, that almost every martial art teaches you to tolerate pain.
The psychological aspect of how you feel pain is very important, and just knowing what kind of pain that is about to hit you, prepares your mind to tolerate the pain much better.
Knowing that a punch might hurt a bit, but wont kill you or anything will make you accept the pain and feel more calm, compared to being afraid of the unknown incoming pain which will make you flinch and focus on the pain only to feed it. When you get hit by the kind of punch that rocks through your entire body, now that's pain!
In my dojo we have lot of focus to strech and extend pins and armlocks. Not only does it make your limbs more flexible, but it also give you more time to get to know the pain.
Witchfinder General
punched Wheelchair Mike
Speaking of pain...
Just came back from fight class. Today's focus was essentially kickboxing so apart from the usual boxing we threw in some side kicks for good measure. As a result of not wearing my shin guards for the first half I ended up with a welt on my left shin the size of a dinosaur egg. Thankfully an icepack has reduced it somewhat. We also had our usual conditioning where we keep our guard up and tight and our partner hits us hard across the abdomen repeatedly.
Just came back from fight class. Today's focus was essentially kickboxing so apart from the usual boxing we threw in some side kicks for good measure. As a result of not wearing my shin guards for the first half I ended up with a welt on my left shin the size of a dinosaur egg. Thankfully an icepack has reduced it somewhat. We also had our usual conditioning where we keep our guard up and tight and our partner hits us hard across the abdomen repeatedly.
Witchfinder General
punched Wheelchair Mike
When I first started Krav I was rather fat and horrifically out of shape. Now I'm a normal size, have added muscle and been in the best shape in over ten years. Granted my fitness level still has along way to go but going to training several times a week without fail will force your fitness to improve.
As for reputable schools, I train with Krav Maga Global, one of the biggest and most respected Krav organisations in the world. Whichever Krav Maga institution you decide to join just make sure it's not just some guy who served in the Israeli military for a few years and now claims to teach the "true, authentic" Krav experience.
Metroid Killer
Member
Get your gf to start training as well!
When I met my gf I had already been into martial arts for some years and we never thought or discussed the possibilty for her to start training as well, it was just a thing I did, just like playing videogames. Then a few years later she had a dream where she had started training and suddenly the feeling of training together with me wasn't that alien anymore... 5 years later and she's just as abosrbed by it as I am!!
Vigilant Walrus
Member
I've been doing BJJ for almost two years now. Still a white belt. Love it. Every time I go to class I get choked, armbarred, triangled, kimuraed and double legged into another dimension by guys half my size and almost half my weight. It makes me more humble, being a big guy and getting my ass kicked by guys by superior technique.
I get the feeling that it's some of the nicest and coolest people I've ever met that does thing thing. In our gym we also have MMA and Muay Thai, but a lot of the tribal tattooed mohawked tapout intimidating dudes who come to do MMA dont seem to stick for that long. It's strange.
I think about Jiu-Jitsu all the time. If I am at school or working, I would rather just train. The worst feeling now is basically missing training. But sometimes I have to, to let my body rest. 3 times a week works good for me. I sometimes run on my off days.
It's difficult getting out of the belt mentality, though it is getting better for me. People seem to not understand when I tell them what I train. My mom thinks it's karate, my friends thinks it is "Ninja", other people I meet think I am training UFC. If people have seen it, they don't know what the hell is going on. "Why are those men caressing each other on the floor in Japanese pyjamas?". BJJ is both bizzare as it is fascinating. I just wish that our gym had more older guys and more women. I think it's a great art for everyone.
I am getting better at rolling without exerting all my energy. I have such a long way to go still thou...
I get the feeling that it's some of the nicest and coolest people I've ever met that does thing thing. In our gym we also have MMA and Muay Thai, but a lot of the tribal tattooed mohawked tapout intimidating dudes who come to do MMA dont seem to stick for that long. It's strange.
I think about Jiu-Jitsu all the time. If I am at school or working, I would rather just train. The worst feeling now is basically missing training. But sometimes I have to, to let my body rest. 3 times a week works good for me. I sometimes run on my off days.
It's difficult getting out of the belt mentality, though it is getting better for me. People seem to not understand when I tell them what I train. My mom thinks it's karate, my friends thinks it is "Ninja", other people I meet think I am training UFC. If people have seen it, they don't know what the hell is going on. "Why are those men caressing each other on the floor in Japanese pyjamas?". BJJ is both bizzare as it is fascinating. I just wish that our gym had more older guys and more women. I think it's a great art for everyone.
I am getting better at rolling without exerting all my energy. I have such a long way to go still thou...
Heh, at least some people know what you're doing. If anyone catches me during my practice theyre like
Explaining what Xingyi is to a layman is for some reason fucking impossible, ill be like "uhhh its a relative of tai chi kinda" theyll be like "so its yoga then?"
just embrace it breh. as long as you dont get any BJJ shirts or anything, you're straight.
2 yrs and still a white belt? I know some gyms are more generous than others but 2 yrs is rough. did you take time off? how many times a week are you going? at my gym, to get a blue belt, it's a 16 week program requiring minimum 2 classes a week. once you get your blue then I believe it's something like 4 months per stripe then it takes progressively longer after that.
i know what you mean about being a bigger guy in class, it's very humbling.
This! Although my girlfriend is not that into it as I am, she still enjoys going to class and learning techniques even without me now. Initially it was hard to get her started but once she did, she was hooked!
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
16 weeks?
That seems short.
I've be in a bit over a year and a half when I finally get to test for my blue belt.
Who is your instructor?
I'm currently training in BJJ. I train once a week for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Then I do solo training at home, which involves doing the basic ground movements. I also run, lift weights, and do some p90x stuff to increase my speed strength and flexibility.
In the past I trained MMA, Karate, Kickboxing, and Judo. Judo is my favorite of them all but I don't have it as a current option in my area.
In the past I trained MMA, Karate, Kickboxing, and Judo. Judo is my favorite of them all but I don't have it as a current option in my area.
Metroid Killer
Member
I wish I also had time for these things, but it's rather difficult to find the time between job time, girlfriend time, dog time and aikido time. Then again I do train 8½ hours a week which is privileged compared to many others. I guess I ought to run or do some other cardio training during my weekends at least... oh well.
I don't spend a lot of time doing all of those things. I get to work at 6 am and will run and lift for 30 - 40 minutes, then I am at my desk by 7 am. At night I do p90x workouts like plymetrics or kempo and ab ripper, I highly recommend those for MA.
As for running, I suggest interval running. Right now I am hitting 2 miles in under 15 minutes. Once I start intervals again, I hope to get my runs down 2 miles in under 14 minutes.
I did some research on this a while back and came across a lot of guys saying they focus on power lifting stuff like clean and jerks, and heavy squats. As for my experience, I prefer jump training with some weight training.Eschaton said:
I've done some lifting and adapted it for MA, and the results were so so. I was work deadlift, cleans, squats, and a couple others.. I still think i prefer calisthenics with some strongmannery on the side at an advanced level. I feel that weight training interferes with my full body control somewhat. It can help a lot. I think deadlift can help you build a powerful root if you do it right for example. I just think its counter to what i need right now.
Luckily my school has a program of calisthenics that train for maximal resistance, flexibility and some plyometrics. So Im happy with that right now.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
We have a separate training meet ups for big guys at my BJJ school. It helps my jiu jitsu so much.
TrAcEr_x90
Member
Been doing Muay Thai for about 5 years now. No martial arts training prior. I would hit the gym prior, but no formal martial arts training prior. Sort of progressed from just trying to get in top shape, then was thrown in sparring with guys training for fights, then I got a a level where I wanted to step in the ring. First fight was an exhibtion match, second I lost to a split decision. Took 1.5 years away from fighting, and just trained, read alot of books on mental game/fitness. Entered into a 4 man muay thai tournament this summer and beat both my opponents winning the 145lb title. I learned my mental game was holding me back the most, and to combat that, I trained the hardest I could. Left no doubt what my conditioning would be, and that nobody else trained as hard or took it as seriously.
I've taken a few months off and include grappling/Jiu Jitsu classes now, really love it and I'mm learning pretty quickly. Might try a novice grappling competition in the next few months.
I've taken a few months off and include grappling/Jiu Jitsu classes now, really love it and I'mm learning pretty quickly. Might try a novice grappling competition in the next few months.
i agree- 16 weeks is really fast in my opinion. unless you are training 3-5 times a week every week, i dont see how you could really soak in and grasp everything youd need in that short of time. unless somebody was a total athlete and a natural, id feel bad about putting someone in a blue belt in a tournament with other blue belts at 4 months. my progression was blue belt after just over a year, purple belt at 3 years, brown belt at 6 years. but i was a bit of freak and never really took time off and i competed 3-4 times a year at tournaments and stayed pretty active. of the people at my gym, id venture that only 25% ever actually compete and those that do compete, only a handful of them even do it regularly.
its been annoying for me lately that all the tournaments have been doing price-per-division tournaments. thats good for white and blue belts when you know your division is going to have several people, but at the purple and up levels, it can be a total guess on whether others are going to show up. you could wind up paying $40 and have only one match. i think its a lot more fair to just pay one price for gi and one for no gi and then have the option of doing absolute if you wish for nothing extra, but in the past year that no longer seems to be the norm.
Isn't it 3 - 6 months to get your blue belt in brazil? But those dudes are there for hours at a time, multiple times a week.
I've been practicing my school's dragon walk a lot to raise balance and strength in my legs. This shit can be pretty hard, i recommend it as an exercise for people who want to increase their balance, flexibility, and open up their hips/ankles a bit.
Here is a kind of geriatric, easy progression version. Mine has kicks and jump kicks before the switch instead though.
Makes transitioning into a pistol squat or similar maximal strength calisthenic exercise pretty easy.
Here is a kind of geriatric, easy progression version. Mine has kicks and jump kicks before the switch instead though.
Makes transitioning into a pistol squat or similar maximal strength calisthenic exercise pretty easy.
every school is different. some schools do testing for their belt levels, similar to karate. my gym is pretty much you will get your belt when we think you are ready. while the belt does say something about the person getting it, from an instructors standpoint it also says something about your school. 'this is the what we view the skill level of a blue belt should be.' regarding brazil, that might be true in some cases but i dont think they are that different most of the time. i dont believe that going to brazil will help your game as much as we are sometimes led to believe. it reminds me of the big fad a few years ago where all the mma guys were going to thailand to learn kickboxing for several months. in the end, i think the training may have been slightly better in thailand and the skill levels were probably higher there, but i dont think it added enough benefit to be worth it. id love to train in brazil just to have the experience, but im not going to kid myself into believing that it would somehow transform and improve my game by a large amount.
I had a buddy who went right out of highschool to go to Thailand. Personally he loved it. He said that it was not so much about technique. Realistically, you cannot acquire significantly superior technique and conditioning in 3 months even if you train your face off. But he DID say that he had a terrific experience. He learned more about the cultural foundations of his art, he had something of a vacation, and he began to embrace the traditions and martial virtues of his school. He felt that his MT did improve significantly in some ways because of that.
I might go to china myself to learn a little more about Xingyi, if only because the daoist foundations for a lot of the more philosophical or esoteric things in the system are fucking hard to understand for a westerner with no background, especially when I'm trying to capture the right character in my movement.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
My school is based on when they feel you are ready. I was supposed to get my blue belt in December I think, or at least, that's when I anticipated it. But we postponed promotions until after the Winter Open for IBJJF. I need another competition under under me anyway. It kind of annoyed me at how much empahsis my school put on tournaments at first. But then I realized that's just the tradition of the school, and part of BJJ overall.
Not gonna lie you guys are making me wanna try BJJ. Ironically enough my kung fu teacher has been training in it as well, he says that its a perfect combination with the standing striking/takedowns/throws of Xingyi and Bagua (adding that groundfighting element thats missing. Maybe in about a year and a half. I remember my wrestling teacher giving us the heads up on a couple locks and arm bars, but not much more than that.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
It's fun. You definitely get a work out. Just stick with reputable folks. There are snakes in the BJJ world as bad as you ever saw with McDojos. Same for Krav Maga.
every school is different but entering and winning tourneys should have no bairing on belts you receive. your school sounds like they wanna build a reputation for their own benefit.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Nah, our rep is pretty solid. The thing with tournaments is, you roll with the same people over and over in class, you get used to them. Facing something new is good for your jiu jitsu.
And, the reputations of so many BJJ schools is based on how well their insturctors have done in competitions.
I mean, think about it, what was the selling point of Gracie jiu jitsu anyway? They created a tournament to prove the superiority of their way of fighting. And it blew up because over and over, a Gracie would step into a ring and show it.
In Brazil, the history of competition and animosity between BJJ and luta livre is legendary. The art is incredibly intertwined with competition.
I always find the idea of the best competitors/fighters being the best teachers as seemingly making sense but not always being true. A lot of creme de la creme competitors are just naturals, and have either a great physical talent or the 'sense' to grasp things more quickly than others. And all you need to do is look at an interview with an athlete to see why most of them suck at explaining things.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
No, I agree, some of the best Olympic TKD fighters are know are crap instructors/coaches.
However, the evolution of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu goes hand in hand with fighting. Not just Gracie, but when the luta livre guys came up and challenged the Gracies and their students, and they learned techniques from each other and refined themselves.
Also, I'm not sure how my BJJ can be something you "just do" without sparring.
Like, when I was training for lots of TKD. I could have entire training sessions without sparring an opponent. Kick target pads, drills, footwork etc.
But, its just near impossible to do BJJ solo and without another body to work off of and with. Or sparring for practical spplication.
I can't imagine one person judo/wrestling/grappling either.
You can't do any grappling without a partner. There are drills and conditioning you can do, sure, but you can't develop the perception of position and flow necessary without opponents, and a variety of them. You're right in that striking arts are different in that way. If you could practice striking with a partner everyday, thatd be great, but the injuries from that just arent worth it. That's why there are so many drills and equipment that "mimic" a live opponent in training striking disciplines.
It might also be why pure strikers nowadays do so shitty against grapplers rolling everyday. In the past a lot of people maybe didnt care so much about what happened to their students
It might also be why pure strikers nowadays do so shitty against grapplers rolling everyday. In the past a lot of people maybe didnt care so much about what happened to their students
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
You can't do any grappling without a partner. There are drills and conditioning you can do, sure, but you can't develop the perception of position and flow necessary without opponents, and a variety of them. You're right in that striking arts are different in that way. If you could practice striking with a partner everyday, thatd be great, but the injuries from that just arent worth it. That's why there are so many drills and equipment that "mimic" a live opponent in training striking disciplines.
It might also be why pure strikers nowadays do so shitty against grapplers rolling everyday. In the past a lot of people didnt care about what happened to their students
I dunno how far in the past anymore.
Some TKD instructor in the area got busted for running a real old school program.
Took Kuk Sool Won off and on for about 10 years. Really fun style because it is so broad, although that is its weakness as well. Too much stuff to learn means you don't become really solid in anything for quite a while. It is a Korean style, with roots in TKD (kicks and punches), along with joint locks (somewhat rooted in Aikido), along with weapons and acrobatics.
That was years ago. Just got into a boxing gym, which is mostly focused around cardio boxing and such. Great workout and having a blast beating the hell out of a heavy bag.
That was years ago. Just got into a boxing gym, which is mostly focused around cardio boxing and such. Great workout and having a blast beating the hell out of a heavy bag.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
I've never heard of Kuk Sool Won before. But....that means like "National Martial Arts Association."
And I can imagine that its way broad.
I like the uniforms. I kinda want one now.
Curious here. Does anyone else incorporate some form of meditation in their day to day lives? I find that like even 30 minutes a day really really helps me out, not just in my everyday life but in my MA practice as well. I feel like meditation can help you get a better sense of how your body feels and moves if you're inwardly focused. I like to work it in with my morning neigong.
Metroid Killer
Member
Yes I usually work in 30 mins of meditation late in the evening. Though it kinda depends on how much training I do at the time. If I do a lot of training I get a similar effect to meditation (we usually do around 5 mins meditation for most classes anyway), and then I find that I don't have the need to meditate at home. When I'm low on training I step up my meditation.
I feel I need to do more of this. When I trained Hapkido, we meditated and did a lot of ki breathing exercises which I feel helped with my breath. Since I haven't been doing it, I feel like my breath is "off" especially when rolling. When I started rolling in BJJ a few months ago, I felt I could control my breath pretty good to help keep me going but I can't say the same now probably because of lack of meditation and breathing exercises... Or maybe its just that I am still not used to rolling...
there are a lot of people who think yoga is the best thing you can do to assist with your bjj game. not just for the stretching and flexibility, but the breathing as you discuss.
I have considered Yoga training for the stretching and flexibility. Definitely need it for some of the techniques. Never thought about it for breathing though... might look into it...
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