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kaldor
June 14th, 2010, 06:59 PM
I started out martial arts when I was 9 at a local Kempo school. I loved it, but moved to Ottawa where I had to find something else. Shotokan karate was *amazing* at this place and I stayed for the whole year going 3+ times a week for the time I was in Ottawa. I returned to Newfoundland and found nothing; I was spoiled by the quality of the dojo I went to in Ottawa.

2 years ago I tried Tae Kwon Do just to get back into it. It was a massive mistake, and I quit within 2 months. I hated it because I felt the teacher was incompetent, non-supporting, and just gave away belts too much- 12 year olds with ADHD and discipline problems shouldn't have their second-degree black belt. I quit after I received my yellow belt. I took the test but was paired up with a small child of around 8 and didn't know what he was doing. Because of this, I messed up VERY badly with the mock-sparring (forget what TKD called it) and the teacher congratulated me saying I did "a wonderful job, you earned your yellow belt". After that I knew that I wouldn't feel any sense of accomplishment at all from learning there.

So here I am bored to death. No martial arts places aside from that crappy TKD school :(


As for bad martial arts schools..

- I saw a sign up a few years ago in St. John's with "Black belt in one year- GUARANTEED!" in the window of a Karate school.

- 8-year-old blackbelts that cannot lift their leg high enough to kick

- A new kendo school opened up in a local high school a few years ago. I went to see and they let me watch one class. I never returned; it was extremely unprofessional. Everyone wore karate uniforms with white belts using wooden swords in a room that was WAY TOO SMALL and people kept bumping into each other and snapping the top of their swords off the ceiling. 12 people crammed into a room the size of a school classroom waving heavy wooden objects... great.

Newfoundland has to be the worst place ever for finding a quality martial arts school. It seems like the entire island is full of "Sensei McDojo" type people running everything.

Any other martial artists/former students?

JDShu
June 14th, 2010, 07:11 PM
I learned some performance based Shaolin Kung Fu when I was younger. I later decided that it was impractical (though now thinking back, really cool) and joined a Goju-Ryu Karate class. It was pretty enjoyable and was about the most exercise I ever did in high school. A vice principal in my high school was also some kind of uber martial artists and he taught us a few lessons. Actually, one of the econ teachers was a TKD blackbelt as well and I learned a bit from his after school activity. Entering University, I dabbled a bit in Kendo, but I failed at waking up early... so I stopped.

Now I am unfit besides playing Ultimate Frisbee every week :P

chucky chuckaluck
June 14th, 2010, 07:14 PM
no bjj in ottawa?

wesleybishop
June 14th, 2010, 07:20 PM
My son is in Shotokan Karate and I have started using a program called Anki to help him memorize everything. I want to share what I have created inside this program. I have Flash Cards with pictures text and sound to help you learn Karate. It has helped him very much and he has adhd but he knows everything. How to say the moves and how to do the moves.

kaldor
June 14th, 2010, 07:56 PM
no bjj in ottawa?

I did see a jiujutsu school when I was there, though that was years ago.

NightwishFan
June 14th, 2010, 08:13 PM
I took tae-kwon-do officially for years, but now I study various martial arts such as Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and Capoeira. I am pretty out of shape due to illness though. I am also well practiced in sword arts and plan on filming some short action clips with friends.

kaldor
June 14th, 2010, 09:51 PM
I took tae-kwon-do officially for years, but now I study various martial arts such as Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and Capoeira. I am pretty out of shape due to illness though. I am also well practiced in sword arts and plan on filming some short action clips with friends.

Krav maga is great. Shortly before I left Ottawa, the dojo I went to started to offer it.

Which sword arts? Iaido etc?

orlox
June 14th, 2010, 10:03 PM
I practiced karate kyokushin when I was younger (from 15 to 18 years If I recall right), and did Judo for three years recently. Had to stop though, cause I got the ligaments of one of my knees damaged by training with a newbie (who kicked me in the knee :P)...Nothing very serious for regular life, but since then I can't make moves that require a lot of pressure on my right knee, and I never could afford the tretment to get it right...Since then i've become quite sedentary....

szymon_g
June 14th, 2010, 10:16 PM
no offense, but what is a point of taking ju-jitsu or karate lessons (or any of 'martial art' at all)? it's not the best if you want to be prepared for self-defense. you should try KravMaga or any other *military* fighting-technique.

kaldor
June 14th, 2010, 10:18 PM
no offense, but what is a point of taking ju-jitsu or karate lessons (or any of 'martial art' at all)? it's not the best if you want to be prepared for self-defense. you should try KravMaga or any other *military* fighting-technique.

Lots of reasons, including..

1) Fitness
2) Mindset
3) Overall well-being

Self defense is only one aspect. But, I do agree about that. Krav maga etc is much more efficient than many martial arts.

NightwishFan
June 14th, 2010, 10:24 PM
I practice Kendo and the Scottish Basket Hilt, however I have been attempting to become adept at using this type of weapon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian

To me the martial arts are less a form of defense and more a form of expression, exercise, and meditation. Also a form of entertainment as my group of friends have been amateur stunt men since childhood. Lately I have been a bit ill to keep up with them though, but I still win all the practice sword duels. :D

donkyhotay
June 14th, 2010, 10:50 PM
I've seen some martial arts that were seemed pretty shady to me. However I have seen some that took things very seriously and watching them in action you can tell the people with black belts *earned* them. One of the most impressive things I've ever seen was 9+(can't remember exactly) degree black belt in tae kwon do. He was the cliche of the "little asian guy you shouldn't mess with". He didn't look like much however when he did push-ups he would do them on his fists, on a hard tile floor, and would jump up into the air when them and *punch* the ground hard (it was pretty loud too). I don't think I ever saw him fight/spar however I did see him perform his forms. Everything was quick, crisp, and powerful. His dojo that he ran had good students where you could tell that his black belts knew what they were doing and hadn't just "bought" them.

NightwishFan
June 14th, 2010, 10:53 PM
I do not generally put much stock to places that teach martial arts, though I am sure there are some great ones. I found that the few times I had to really defend myself taught me a lot more than any dojo.

kaldor
June 14th, 2010, 10:56 PM
I've seen some martial arts that were seemed pretty shady to me. However I have seen some that took things very seriously and watching them in action you can tell the people with black belts *earned* them. One of the most impressive things I've ever seen was 9+(can't remember exactly) degree black belt in tae kwon do. He was the cliche of the "little asian guy you shouldn't mess with". He didn't look like much however when he did push-ups he would do them on his fists, on a hard tile floor, and would jump up into the air when them and *punch* the ground hard (it was pretty loud too). I don't think I ever saw him fight/spar however I did see him perform his forms. Everything was quick, crisp, and powerful. His dojo that he ran had good students where you could tell that his black belts knew what they were doing and hadn't just "bought" them.


Sooo hard to find places like this. The place I went to in Ottawa was very high quality, which kinda raised my standards a lot. I can't find any place nearly as good at all.

chucky chuckaluck
June 14th, 2010, 11:11 PM
no offense, but what is a point of taking ju-jitsu or karate lessons (or any of 'martial art' at all)? it's not the best if you want to be prepared for self-defense. you should try KravMaga or any other *military* fighting-technique.

I'll take Scram-Fu over all of them.

JDShu
June 15th, 2010, 12:37 AM
no offense, but what is a point of taking ju-jitsu or karate lessons (or any of 'martial art' at all)? it's not the best if you want to be prepared for self-defense. you should try KravMaga or any other *military* fighting-technique.

It is called Martial "Art". People practice it mainly because it's beautiful. If you want to learn self defense, then take a self defense class. Though I can tell you that the trick is to manipulate small joints and go for the eyes. :P

NCLI
June 15th, 2010, 12:45 AM
I'm mostly Danish, but descended from the Russian royal family on my mother's side. Will probably make a longer post when I have more time.

kaldor
June 15th, 2010, 01:28 AM
I'm mostly Danish, but descended from the Russian royal family on my mother's side. Will probably make a longer post when I have more time.

Dane-fu, awesome ;)

samjh
June 15th, 2010, 02:04 AM
Boxing and Muay Thai as a kid. Also did some Hapkido at school. Eight years in Kung Fu. Did Judo for six months but had to quit because of a busted ankle.

The only ones really worth it were boxing, Muay Thai, and Judo. Kung Fu was good and I learned some interesting things, but the training was unrealistic and the techniques did not feel natural. When we began sparring (semi-contact), I discovered my old boxing and Muay Thai reflexes were more useful than the Kung Fu. Judo was the only traditional martial art that I found truly excellent: full-strength free sparring, no-nonsense techniques, and folks who have been-there-done-that (ie. police and similar ilk) swear by it.

Let me put it this way: I can still remember and use skills from boxing and Muay Thai despite not having trained in those arts for 15 years. And although I only hold a white belt in Judo, I can still throw, pin, choke, and arm-bar larger people using very basic techniques. They will serve me better than some abstract moves which work well in scripted training but which I've never practised against real, resisting opponents.

A good bit of reading: http://www.straightblastgym.com/aliveness101.html