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I didn't write this, somebody else did. I found it on Craigslist. Just about every major city in the world has a Craigslist. It's free, with zero advertising, and it's the best information site going. Use it to find a job, an apartment, a roommate, a one night sex partner, you name it, its got it. And I digress....
Though the article suggests a certain martial art, just supplant it with your own preferred art as it still has some decent tips for finding a good school. Again, I didn't write this, I'm just putting it out there for the benefit of people like me who are beginners and hope to someday start training.
If City Boxing requires you to sign a 1 or 2 year contract, then turn around and walkout. To hell with that. They'll tell you that "we only want serious people in here and that's why we require long term contracts."
But you and I know that that's a bunch of bull. They could really care less about wether you're serious or not. What they want is your money committed to them for a heck of a long time. Should you ever sign a contract of that length, and then wish to terminate it, you're gonna have to have a team of San Diego's best lawyers to help extricate yourself out of it. I'm sure City Boxing has clauses in their contract that makes it hard to get out of.
Here's some tips on picking out a good martial arts school. It's long, but thorough. You can apply it to any school that teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have no experience with BJJ, but some of the tips are applicable:
I would suggest Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, or a plain old AAU-member Karate school. Each of these is a good place to start in the martial arts. They will teach you the basics and that will give you a platform to evaluate more esoteric styles. And, for a beginner, there is not much difference in the moves.
Look for a school that works with kids, women, people of all ages. They tend to be less macho in their orientation.
Go watch a class at a couple of schools. Look carefully at the yellow or orange belts. They typically have been going there 1-4 months. They should look fairly smooth and not be falling all over the place when they do their solo kicking drills. The older students, with stiffer joints, might look a bit clumsy.
Now watch the middle students (typically green and blue belts). Schools line up their most experienced students in the front row and the newest in the back row. The middle students are somewhere in the middle. When they do their kicking drills, look to see if their hands are lifting up when they kick. That is bad technique. It means that the teacher is not forcing the students to do things right.
Also, look at the middle students when they do their round kick drills. Hands should not go up, and the rear foot should pivot so the toes point back. Another good way to judge the quality of the teacher.
Watch some of the sparring. A good teacher will not let his/her students injure each other. And a good teacher knows to stop a sparring session when he sees a student overcome with adrenaline.
Many teachers will let you go just to learn and skip the sparring. That's not a bad thing. And, depending on your age and condition, it might be a smart thing to do.
Forget about martial arts as a self-defense thing. Just go for fun and exercise and conditioning. It takes at least a year or so to become reasonably proficient at the self-defense angle.
Also, check out the deal. You want a school that uses plain old white uniforms. These can be used at almost any other school. You want to avoid long term contracts. 3-6 months max. You want a place that has some floor space. Nothing worse than a big class trying to work out in a small space. And see if they have the gear - big padded gloves for punching and kicking drills, stuff like that.
But, if your goal is to become a killer, take a course in handguns and carry a concealed 45.
As you can see from the discussion above, the world is filled with false profits (spelling intentional). A kick to the groin is a kick to the groin..
So, in answer to your question, Korean, Japanese and Okanawan karate have very similar origins and approaches. They were used to train the military. The styles are extremely blunt and direct. There is nothing artistic here. They are blunt and brutal.
The Chinese "Kung Fu" is, at it's core, the same. I mean to say, they have the same core repertroire of kicks and punches. But there is something more artistic and subtle.
I can't explain it well. You would only understand what I meant if you did a year or two in one of the former 3 styles, then switched to Chinese. The moves suddenly take new meaning. But understand that all of these are
good.
Everything else is derivative. Surely worthy of study, but the places I name will teach you the fundamentals and, if you pick the individual school carefully, will teach you well.
Some non-violent uses of karate - learned in Tae Kwon Do and improved in Kung Foo.
So, I was drinking late with these tough girls in Mexico and I was ready to go home. Something didn't feel right. As I got up to go, the big guy (doorman) throws his arm around my shoulder and encourages me to stay. Me, being a good guy, put my arm over his, like one big hug, except I am applying pressure to his elbow joint. He gets increasingly uncomfortable and removes his arm to let me leave.
Another time, I was shaking hand with a guy and he held too tight and wouldn't let go. I didn't take to that because I played classical violin and didn't care to have my hands messed with. I put my other hand over his, but in such a way that he feels slight pain between the bones of the back of his hand. So, he decides that the handshake is over.
I never went far in karate starting 30 years ago. I took classes here and there with lots of different teachers. Maybe a few years total, but never progressed far with any one school. The style doesn't matter. Depends on things like the teacher and the classroom space and stuff like that.
The guys arguing over whether style A beats style B don't get it. Like I say ... I'm old. I'm not going into a square fight with anybody. Some young punk wants to hassle me, he will fall down - long before we are talking about a fight scenario. Style doesn't matter.
There was some garbage in that text, but maybe something in it will help someone out.
Again, I didn't write it.
---Area5150---
Though the article suggests a certain martial art, just supplant it with your own preferred art as it still has some decent tips for finding a good school. Again, I didn't write this, I'm just putting it out there for the benefit of people like me who are beginners and hope to someday start training.
If City Boxing requires you to sign a 1 or 2 year contract, then turn around and walkout. To hell with that. They'll tell you that "we only want serious people in here and that's why we require long term contracts."
But you and I know that that's a bunch of bull. They could really care less about wether you're serious or not. What they want is your money committed to them for a heck of a long time. Should you ever sign a contract of that length, and then wish to terminate it, you're gonna have to have a team of San Diego's best lawyers to help extricate yourself out of it. I'm sure City Boxing has clauses in their contract that makes it hard to get out of.
Here's some tips on picking out a good martial arts school. It's long, but thorough. You can apply it to any school that teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have no experience with BJJ, but some of the tips are applicable:
I would suggest Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, or a plain old AAU-member Karate school. Each of these is a good place to start in the martial arts. They will teach you the basics and that will give you a platform to evaluate more esoteric styles. And, for a beginner, there is not much difference in the moves.
Look for a school that works with kids, women, people of all ages. They tend to be less macho in their orientation.
Go watch a class at a couple of schools. Look carefully at the yellow or orange belts. They typically have been going there 1-4 months. They should look fairly smooth and not be falling all over the place when they do their solo kicking drills. The older students, with stiffer joints, might look a bit clumsy.
Now watch the middle students (typically green and blue belts). Schools line up their most experienced students in the front row and the newest in the back row. The middle students are somewhere in the middle. When they do their kicking drills, look to see if their hands are lifting up when they kick. That is bad technique. It means that the teacher is not forcing the students to do things right.
Also, look at the middle students when they do their round kick drills. Hands should not go up, and the rear foot should pivot so the toes point back. Another good way to judge the quality of the teacher.
Watch some of the sparring. A good teacher will not let his/her students injure each other. And a good teacher knows to stop a sparring session when he sees a student overcome with adrenaline.
Many teachers will let you go just to learn and skip the sparring. That's not a bad thing. And, depending on your age and condition, it might be a smart thing to do.
Forget about martial arts as a self-defense thing. Just go for fun and exercise and conditioning. It takes at least a year or so to become reasonably proficient at the self-defense angle.
Also, check out the deal. You want a school that uses plain old white uniforms. These can be used at almost any other school. You want to avoid long term contracts. 3-6 months max. You want a place that has some floor space. Nothing worse than a big class trying to work out in a small space. And see if they have the gear - big padded gloves for punching and kicking drills, stuff like that.
But, if your goal is to become a killer, take a course in handguns and carry a concealed 45.
As you can see from the discussion above, the world is filled with false profits (spelling intentional). A kick to the groin is a kick to the groin..
So, in answer to your question, Korean, Japanese and Okanawan karate have very similar origins and approaches. They were used to train the military. The styles are extremely blunt and direct. There is nothing artistic here. They are blunt and brutal.
The Chinese "Kung Fu" is, at it's core, the same. I mean to say, they have the same core repertroire of kicks and punches. But there is something more artistic and subtle.
I can't explain it well. You would only understand what I meant if you did a year or two in one of the former 3 styles, then switched to Chinese. The moves suddenly take new meaning. But understand that all of these are
good.
Everything else is derivative. Surely worthy of study, but the places I name will teach you the fundamentals and, if you pick the individual school carefully, will teach you well.
Some non-violent uses of karate - learned in Tae Kwon Do and improved in Kung Foo.
So, I was drinking late with these tough girls in Mexico and I was ready to go home. Something didn't feel right. As I got up to go, the big guy (doorman) throws his arm around my shoulder and encourages me to stay. Me, being a good guy, put my arm over his, like one big hug, except I am applying pressure to his elbow joint. He gets increasingly uncomfortable and removes his arm to let me leave.
Another time, I was shaking hand with a guy and he held too tight and wouldn't let go. I didn't take to that because I played classical violin and didn't care to have my hands messed with. I put my other hand over his, but in such a way that he feels slight pain between the bones of the back of his hand. So, he decides that the handshake is over.
I never went far in karate starting 30 years ago. I took classes here and there with lots of different teachers. Maybe a few years total, but never progressed far with any one school. The style doesn't matter. Depends on things like the teacher and the classroom space and stuff like that.
The guys arguing over whether style A beats style B don't get it. Like I say ... I'm old. I'm not going into a square fight with anybody. Some young punk wants to hassle me, he will fall down - long before we are talking about a fight scenario. Style doesn't matter.
There was some garbage in that text, but maybe something in it will help someone out.
Again, I didn't write it.
---Area5150---
