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Martial Arts

Unforgiven

Unforgiven

...eschew obfuscation...
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Who here does Martial Arts? What discipline, belt? How long have you been doing it?

I just started taking Kempo a few weeks ago and it is hard. I've watched my 6 year old son do it for the past two years but didn't have an appreciation for the difficulty both mental and physical until I began 3 weeks ago.

So obviously, I'm a white belt, and my son is a green belt (roughly half way towards green with brown stripe). I joined for a couple reasons, it is something I always wanted to do, for many reasons I am unable to make the time for other adult leagues (bowling & golf were previous leagues I used to do), and lastly, as my son progresses, it is getting more and more difficult for me help him practice without knowing the moves myself.

Anyway, this can be a place to trade notes, tips, and war stories and anything else on topic.:)
 
I used to do a few different martial arts, but mainly some Judo when I was a kid, some Tae Kwon Do and then later a style of kick boxing developed by a Japanese 4th dan Karate (I forget which style) guy and an east end boxer.

The boxing/karate hybrid was way more effective than anything else I've tried and the club was a legend in competitions. The first guy I ever sparred with there (who totally took me apart) turned out to be a European champion. My instructor was a two time world champion and other instructors had even more championships.

I was in training for my 1st dan when I tripped on the mat and the biggest guy in the room fell across my leg. First time I'd ever been injured doing martial arts. Struggled to walk for a couple of months. Once I was mobile (but still not up to going back to training), an absolutely gorgeous girl at work persuaded me to try dancing ..

Did try going back to kick boxing but I got another injury within days (some eejit kept trying to sweep me and totally mistiming it but I was so unfit after the months off that I was too tired to move my leg and he would up ripping a 2.5" square of skin off my calf).

After that, I stuck with dancing.

Having said that, the dance floors were so crowded back then, I used to get more bruised dancing than I ever did sparring with world champions :rofl:
 
Tae Kwon Do... a few years.. but never tested to up the belt.
instructors pushed me to... it was not important to me.

liked the sparing and physical activity/ exercise ..

other things started to take my attention.. and never gone back.
 
Karate in my early teens, then I did Kung Fu when I was older. All in all, I had about 9 years of martial arts training. Unfortunately, I broke my leg playing football and that pretty much put an end to any sort of sporting activity.

I'd like to start again, but I've got such an irregular work pattern, it makes attending classes nigh on impossible.

However, I'm taking my 5 year old to his first karate lesson tomorrow :)
 
El Presidente said:
Karate in my early teens, then I did Kung Fu when I was older. All in all, I had about 9 years of martial arts training. Unfortunately, I broke my leg playing football and that pretty much put an end to any sort of sporting activity.

I'd like to start again, but I've got such an irregular work pattern, it makes attending classes nigh on impossible.
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I'm luck my dojo runs five classes a week of which I need to attend two. It still tough, but I can mostly manage.

El Presidente said:
However, I'm taking my 5 year old to his first karate lesson tomorrow :)
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Awesome, mine started when he was four. He is 6 now, has been doing Kempo for a bit over 2 years, and is a Green Belt. I hope he enjoys it as much as my son.:thumb:
 
Unforgiven said:
Awesome, mine started when he was four. He is 6 now, has been doing Kempo for a bit over 2 years, and is a Green Belt. I hope he enjoys it as much as my son.:thumb:
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It was a big fail.

Despite being assured on Friday by the studio receptionist he was old enough at 5, we got there today and some of the other parents asked how old he was and told me the minimum age they taught was 8. :mad:

He was gutted.
 
El Presidente said:
It was a big fail.

Despite being assured on Friday by the studio receptionist he was old enough at 5, we got there today and some of the other parents asked how old he was and told me the minimum age they taught was 8. :mad:

He was gutted.
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That's terrible.:(:mad:

Evan's dojo has what they call Little Dragons for children under 7. The learn the same stuff as the older kids, but in a different way geared towards younger children. He is a Green belt, and when I signed him up the guestimate was if things went relatively according to plan was he would have his junior black belt around age 9. Come July, he will advance into Kempo Kids, as a Green Belt at minimum. Any 8 year olds signing up will then will be 6-7 belts behind him.

I would talk to the sensei or search around for a different dojo.
 
El Presidente said:
It was a big fail.

Despite being assured on Friday by the studio receptionist he was old enough at 5, we got there today and some of the other parents asked how old he was and told me the minimum age they taught was 8. :mad:

He was gutted.
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that aint right!!! I would be very upset

hope you find a good dojo for him soon
 
I took it when I was like 11 years old for summer vacation. I didn't like it that much. I almost made it to the next belt, but never got it because I never showed up for the test to receive the belt.

It's great that you will have something to do with your son. Hey, if he gets a much higher belt than you, he can teach you :P
 
They do Karate at his school and I know there are folk in his class that go so we'll try there next.

That will cost me though, the sessions I tried yesterday were free as part of my gym membership.
 
El Presidente said:
They do Karate at his school and I know there are folk in his class that go so we'll try there next.

That will cost me though, the sessions I tried yesterday were free as part of my gym membership.
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That too bad they had him show up first though.:( I pay just over $100 a month total for both Evan and I to go, so it isn't that expensive.
 
I did Taekwondo with my boys when they were little...i.it was more self defense than anything...but it was fun:)


thinkin I can still beat you up though..."little brother":D yeah I'm going with.. you are 2 minutes younger:p
 
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