martial arts

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I am currently practicing TKD, but TKD doesn't suit me because the blocks are slow and directly confront the force of the attack, which would hurt your forearm like hell if the block was actually successful. I also don't like the snappy kicks and the low emphasis on punches, elbows, knees, and grappling.

Patterns are boring to do and are useless. I've been told that patterns have practical applicationsand make your muscles stronger, but there are better ways to strengthen your muscles (exercises) and why not isolate practical techniques in the patterns instead of making the students find out for themselves? My instructors also told me that patterns are supposed to mentally strengthen me as well, but there are better ways to do that directly.

I also don't like how most martial arts tend to be "pure" and not take techniques which work better from other martial arts. Once my 1 year contract for TKD is done, I will be looking for a style and a school which emphasizes all ranges of combat, no patterns, eclectic, has full-contact sparring, teaches mental aspects of fighting, has weapon defenses, encourages dirty ruthless fightingas a last resort, doesn't have a bunch of fancy and useless techniques, etc.

I was really active in the martial arts for about six years (Northern style kung fu), then dropped out for a while, then came back to do some jiujutsu.

In the end I dropped it because the environment was doing me more harm than good... Bad fit of learning styles between me and the teacher, and I was going home with a lot of sore joints. For the amount of time and effort I put in (10 years at 3+ times a week), the experience should've been a lot better than it was.

If you do go into the martial arts, don't sign up at the first school you visit. Take at least one sample class and pay close attention to how people in the school deal with one another. Ask about things like fees for belt tests. And, if you have knee problems, approach high-kicking styles and wrestling styles with caution.

I would love to learn Wing Chun, block and attack at the same time looks very efficient.

I like watching Mixed Martial Arts. Are there any fans here?

I also watch mixed martial arts. While i appreciate the art involved in the grappling i much prefer to watch the striking side of it than the fights in which they spend all their time rolling around the floor.

My favourite part of karate has always been our kata (patterns). You are wrong in saying that they are useless. Useless to you perhaps, but that doesnt make them useless altoghether. They are excellent for teaching you things that you wouldnt otherwise learn. Such as certain stepping and shifting techniques, or open hand techniques you wouldnt often use. Or they are most useful for solo training. What are you going to do when you have no punching bag or opponent to work with?

Shadow boxing is much like what Kihon is in karate. Kihon means basics. At lower belts you start off by doing a single punch or kick several times across the floor, from there you build up combinations as you gain ranks. So not only are you working on your combinations, but also you footwork (shifting, stepping, etc).

It all depends on your teacher really... I havent trained in TKD, or under your specific teacher, so I cant really comment much on it. What I do know is that the majority of those places dont teach properly, and never work on the application to the patterns. We often spend a whole class just breaking down 2 or 3 moves from a kata and applying them in different ways (against partners). Most places just make you do the kata as if it were some sort of dance, then they send you home. That is not the purpose of kata.

back to MMA, who is watching UFC 60 tonight? I have prior engangements, but if someone goes to the pub/bar and sees it tonight, post a description. I want to see gracie destroy that punk hughes