Martial Arts

[shima]

Are any of you into martial arts? I've been doing martial arts from 2000-present, it's a huge part of my life, and has kept me in great shape for every time I go skiing since there's a lot of leg strength we work on and balance too

 

[Lilywhite]

I used to do judo and nin jutsu, I had to stop because my Coccyx keeps dislocating but I loved the training and your right with the focus being balance and awareness of self and others it compliments ski prep too.

 

[shima]

I started with traditional hard style karate in 2000 back in NY, got my 1st degree black belt in December 2004. Switched to Tae Kwon Do and Small Circle Jujitsu in 2007 (I was living in a different state, IN, by then and needed a local dojo to work out at) got up to my 1st degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do in May 2009 and got up to my purple in Small Circle Jujitsu before leaving that dojo. Moved to CA summer of 2010 and started up at a Shaolin Kenpo dojo in February of this year, I'm up to purple right now in that.

I think the best thing about martial arts / skiing this year was that I hadn't skied in about 5 years and went to go buy boots for the first time finally earlier this winter... the guy helping me try on all the boots was really impressed how well I was flexing despite my 5 year skiing break! I told him it's all that leg workouts in martial arts ;)

Glad to see a fellow gal on here that's studied martial arts in the past Pretty male dominated sport...

My regular female ski buddy out here though on that note, I met her at the Kenpo dojo I go to We work out regularly together, so between martial arts and now our ski weekends, I see her all the time!

 

[Lilywhite]

I hardly ever get to chat with people about either of my passions, in spite of having to retire from competitions at 15 for judo I continued to teach til I was 32, I never got to compete as an adult so never got my 1st dan even tho I'd been training almost exclusively with black belt men for the last 3 years, I lived in a small town so rarely met another female judoka unless I competed further away. I did compete in the British closed as a junior and some smaller European comps too. At 1 point I had high hopes of making the Brit team but was dislocating my coccyx so regularly it ruled me out too often. Am so jealous of people who can still train, I really miss it. Am having offending bone amputated soon, am hopeful that I may at least be able to return to teaching although the nerve damage has ruled out competition completely, never mind the 2 "dehydrated discs" I appear to have collected for good measure!

 

[shima]

Oh wow, sounds like you've got quite the history too in martial arts! I competed from the ages of 15-17 but then never competed as an adult or a black belt until finally this past year I competed in one tournament. Hoping to compete a lot more this upcoming year. I've been judging a bit though when I don't compete, and I love teaching at the schools I'm at All the kids always know my name! It's one of those fun things to walk in a room and have all the kids say hi to you by name

 

[Lilywhite]

Teaching is a lot of fun, I'm currently welfare officer for our local disabled football (soccer!) club, most of our participants are kids or young adults, I get a real kick (no pun intended) out of seeing them all joining in and having fun, unfortunately I also get the horror stories which can be very hard to deal with.:( Oh well you have to take the rough with the smooth, I'm applying to become a sighted guide for skiers with visual impairments next year which could be a lot of fun.

 

[Delawhere]

I will be testing for my second degree black belt later this year. For my first degree test I was, at 50, the oldest woman there. I was prepared for a much more difficult test!

I take two classes and attend one "open mat" session a week at my studio. More importantly, I spend another 5ish hours a week practicing at home. I use it as an excuse to turn the computer off and get out of my chair...

I will be adding in Hapkido classes in a couple of weeks.

 

[shima]

I will be testing for my second degree black belt later this year. For my first degree test I was, at 50, the oldest woman there. I was prepared for a much more difficult test!

I take two classes and attend one "open mat" session a week at my studio. More importantly, I spend another 5ish hours a week practicing at home. I use it as an excuse to turn the computer off and get out of my chair...

I will be adding in Hapkido classes in a couple of weeks.

What style will you be getting your 2nd degree in?

If I'd stuck with one style I'd have more than just a first degree, every time I've moved states though I've ended up liking styles of different schools better than the schools of the previous styles I've studied. Hopefully I won't move again this time and can actually get beyond 1st degree in a style finally

I think the oldest woman in my classes currently is my friend who is 39, a brown belt currently. I'm 26 myself. Got my first black belt at 19. (Was 15 when I first started martial arts)

 

[Delawhere]

What style will you be getting your 2nd degree in?

If I'd stuck with one style I'd have more than just a first degree, every time I've moved states though I've ended up liking styles of different schools better than the schools of the previous styles I've studied. Hopefully I won't move again this time and can actually get beyond 1st degree in a style finally

I'm in Tang Soo Do which is a more traditional version of TKD. It is Korean. I chose it because it was the type of martial art that was offered in the studio at our local strip mall. I wanted to sign my then 5 year old son up, walked in and liked how they were interacting with the kids. My husband, daughter and I started after my son earned his second degree black belt. DH and DD dropped it about 1/2 way to their black belt. Son also stopped early in high school. I think at that point he just wanted to move on since he had been doing it for 11 years which is...forever...in teenage years! He still helps me out.

When you start a new style do you start at a beginner's level? We have students with a black belt in another discipline join our studio. Apparently the instructor gives them a little mini test, if the technique is about the same then they spend about a year before earning a TSD belt although they sometimes get to wear their black belt while earning a TSD black belt. If they are coming from disciplines with a markedly different style then they come in as color belts. If it's been a while since they last trained and are from a different style then they come in as white belts, our novice level. It takes three years to go from white to black. I could be wrong about the process of joining from another discipline but that is what I have observed.

Have you tried Brazilian Ju Jitsu? I attended one seminar on BJJ. It requires far more flexibility than I have. I'm just not that agile or fast for groundfighting. Then again, it is something to work on...

I plan on continuing through 3rd degree. 4th degree is a Masters or Masters equivalent belt and requires a HUGE dedication and time commitment. Rightfully so.

I see a lot of the physically gifted students become bored. I guess one advantage to being an older student is that new things don't come naturally to me so I have a long list of things that I want to get down. One of two 2012 New Year's Resolutions is to have *my* 360 degree jumping, spinning roundhouse kick vaguely resemble a real 360 degree jumping, spinning roundhouse kick! That and to eat salads for lunch at least three times a week.

 

[shima]

Depended on the school. When I went from the karate school to the TKD school, my instructor there just let me wear my black belt and didn't test me until almost 3 years later at which time she let me go straight for black in her style because by then I'd learned all the material I needed to know. At the Kenpo school I'm at now, I am still allowed to wear my black belt and do every day, but they have me test for every belt in order and when I line up, I line up in my Kenpo rank order, regardless of the fact that I've got my black belt on my waist. It's a good compromise and their style is drastically different from each of the others I've done.

Never done any BJJ yet. Just small circle jujistu only, which was really fun w/ the finger and wrist locks and throws.

I really want to open my own dojo at some point, which requires me getting to a minimum of 3rd degree in Kenpo (going to just keeping going with my current style as I love it more than anything else I've previously studied). I've only changed styles previously because I moved and didn't like the same style school in those other places, but I don't have any plans to move states again anytime soon, so this should actually be feasible to stick with the same school here and then open my own nearby sibling dojo. That's my end game goal at least! (and at that point like black belt it's just the beginning, not the end at all!)

 

[Delawhere]

I would think your knowledge from your previous martial arts styles would help you in a new style even though the techniques are different. Put all the techniques together in a self defense situation and...

I watched some Kenpo videos on Youtube. Is there much kicking involved? What about throws? It looks like something I would definitely be interested in but not if it involves a ton of throws. I'm double your age and have found that it takes me a while to recover from being thrown a lot.

 

[shima]

I would think your knowledge from your previous martial arts styles would help you in a new style even though the techniques are different. Put all the techniques together in a self defense situation and...

I watched some Kenpo videos on Youtube. Is there much kicking involved? What about throws? It looks like something I would definitely be interested in but not if it involves a ton of throws. I'm double your age and have found that it takes me a while to recover from being thrown a lot.

Oh yeah I always pick up new styles with ease from all my experience in other styles, it's great

Kenpo has some kicks (keyword *some*) and once in a blue moon a kata includes a throw, but what we're known for are fast hands. So that's the one thing that takes a bit getting used to. With my karate and tae kwon do experience I help teach a lot of different kicks during the weekly sparring class since I've got the largest kick repertoire of most of the students that have only gone there But yeah if you're looking for a style that will be nicer on your body because we don't do throws, this would definitely be great for you. My best friend at the dojo is 13 years older than me, and she rocks, though granted she doesn't look anywhere near her age, she keeps herself in awesome shape.

If you want to see some of our katas, here's a collection of various katas I've recorded at our dojo so far. https://www.photography-by-cat.com/Martial-Arts/Kenpo-Forms

Galloping horse is the form I'm planning to do for tournament later this month (and that video of galloping horse on my site is of me, not all the katas are me doing them). It's one of our black belt forms, since I'm black in other styles I compete as black, so when I started competing again they taught me a black belt form to do despite only being purple currently in their school


I see a trend here, black diamonds... black belts ;)

 

[Delawhere]

I watched your kata, you are very good! Your kata, and most of those I watched on your website, is a lot longer than our forms, which we call hyung.

Kenpo is a style that looks very appealing! I'm all about hands! I am an inline skater so I have very strong kicks but I have limited flexibility so they are very low. Competitive sparring is tough since on a good day I can kick above the belt which is where tournament kicks have to land. In a self defense situation I am confident that I can devastate an attacker's legs.

At least I can kick a lot higher than I could before I started karate. Heck, I can kick higher than I could 6 months ago.

I'll have to watch some more Youtube videos of Kenpo, the two I saw involved a lot of jujitsu style groundwork.

Are tournaments required in Kenpo? I am surprised that TSD does not require tournaments. I think that is part of martial arts. That said, I haven't attended any tournaments but plan to this year because...I think tournaments are part of martial arts.

Have you ever tried Krav Maga? We had a couple of seminars in KM and I really liked it. Again, I'm not sure how much the throwing is involved since it was just a couple of seminars.

One of the higher level black belt students has organized a once monthly women's karate for older women students. I don't know if there is a lower age limit but it doesn't seem like teenagers have been invited. Anyways, we have guest instructors teach us. I'd like to see if I can get a Kenpo instructor to teach a class.

 

[shima]

Tournaments are not required, but we heavily encourage our students to compete, we're a very competitive school. Note - there's a lot of variety in kenpo styles out there, the style I specifically train in is Shaolin Kenpo (not to be confused with Shaolin Kempo) which traces back from my instructor, Bill Grossman, to his instructor, Rick Alemany, to his instructor, Ralph Castro who started this branch of kenpo. I know more traditional EPAK (Ed Parker American Kenpo) styles tend to have different forms than us.

Never tried Krav Maga, it looks interesting though! I'm guessing based on your username that you're based in Delaware? Otherwise if you were closer I'd offer to come teach for a day, hehe.