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Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

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Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#11

Post by terryjsmith »

thomaspaine wrote: post #3

I've been doing brazilian jiu-jitsu for about 5 years, and would highly recommend it to anyone. I know a wide range of people who practice it, from professional fighters to little kids to a guy in his 60s. I think it fits especially well for the HN crowd, because there's generally very little mystical bs that goes on, and although this analogy gets abused, it's basically human chess. There's a very analytical approac…

Have you tried other martial arts like karate or taekwondo? How does it compare? I recently moved to Toronto and have yet to find a great (ie. non belt promotion based) school downtown. I've found a number of potential BJJ schools though and have been curious.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#13

Post by dfranke »

thomaspaine wrote: post #3

I've been doing brazilian jiu-jitsu for about 5 years, and would highly recommend it to anyone. I know a wide range of people who practice it, from professional fighters to little kids to a guy in his 60s. I think it fits especially well for the HN crowd, because there's generally very little mystical bs that goes on, and although this analogy gets abused, it's basically human chess. There's a very analytical approac…

While I second the BJJ recommendation, if it's the "human chess" aspect that you're after, the martial art you're looking for is fencing.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#15

Post by St-Clock »

There are many dimensions to consider when choosing a martial art and it may be wise to try a few if you never had experience beside fencing. I practiced Karate (shorin-ryu) for three years when I was young and I was never really happy. I've been doing flying white crane kung fu (fujian, not tibetan style) for many years now and I love it. It just depends on each person. Some dimensions to look for:

Soft (use the opponent strength) vs Hard (punch and kick hard!)

Traditional (deep historical background, traditional forms that have been taught for hundreds of years, at least some sparring without any equipment, spiritual dimension) vs Modern (sparring is almost exclusively done with equipments, more acrobatic moves)

Martial Arts vs. Combat Sport. I don't want to get too much flak on this one, but IMHO, the more rules you have, the more it looks like a combat sport. Which is perfectly fine if this is what you like!

Each school will favor some of these dimensions over the others, even among the same style (e.g., karate, kung fu, and even boxing vary widely across schools).

But the most important aspect is probably the teacher. If you are afraid of your teacher, if you are stressed every time you are on your way to the school, it won't do you any good, because clearly, you are not going there to become the next Bruce Lee or to learn how to save your family from burglars.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#16

Post by huherto »

thomaspaine wrote: post #3

I've been doing brazilian jiu-jitsu for about 5 years, and would highly recommend it to anyone. I know a wide range of people who practice it, from professional fighters to little kids to a guy in his 60s. I think it fits especially well for the HN crowd, because there's generally very little mystical bs that goes on, and although this analogy gets abused, it's basically human chess. There's a very analytical approac…

I started practicing BJJ a few months back. I loved it. It is like chess, but physical. Unfortunately, I was in the receiving end of a neck crank. I was injured (cervical hernia). So if you practice BJJ make sure that you are always safe and don`t hesitate to tap.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#17

Post by Gentleman_Ryan »

I would personally recommend boxing, or fisticuffs if you're feeling fancy, since it requires just as much discipline as any Eastern martial art (I also did kenpo karate and Taekwondo for 2 years) and I've found works better for actual defence. Besides that, there's very little of the mysticality that is often found in Eastern martial arts. But remember, to each their own. Try out different ones. Find which one fits you.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#18

Post by PieSquared »

I logged in just to post this. Try Capoeira. It's not as well known as many other martial arts, but it's a lot of fun.

It's a Brazilian martial art which originated with the black slaves transported from Africa. In the 1800's, around 1880 or so, slavery was abolished, and due to massive former slave unemployment and gang activity, capoeira grew steadily more violent. It was soon outlawed, and any found practicing it were jailed. However, around 1930, a movement grew to found capoeira as a "modern" martial art, with a formalized training and graduation system, as opposed to a very advanced form of street fighting. Since then, it's been getting less violent and more popular throughout the world.

It's very different from the other martial arts. The closest Asian martial art would be Wushu; capoeira is equally "showy" at times, utilizing flips, jump kicks, and so on and so forth. A lot of the movements you see in breakdancing actually originated in capoeira. Headspins, 1990's, butterfly kicks, backflips, the "baby freeze" are all movements in breakdancing, but also find their place in capoeira.

Capoeira is played to music and singing on the traditional instruments. A berimbau, drums, and a pandeiro (tambourine). The speed of the game (the fight) is set by the music. Finally, capoeira is a game of strategy: it requires quick thinking, because every movement by your opponent can be countered and used to gain the advantage. At higher levels, the fight becomes a mental one - you must anticipate what your opponent will do before he does it, and, at higher levels still, you can lead your opponent to do what you want him to do, so that you know in advance what will happen.

It's a very dynamic martial art. It's beautiful and incredibly fun, as well as incredibly tiring. It really does a wonderful job of combining "martial" aspects with "art" aspects: some styles of play emphasize fighting and defense, while some emphasize beauty. Some do both.

Here are some links to videos of capoeira games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xxgFpK-NM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51q1VB_dDik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQl3iInVd0Y

Feel free to email me for questions. My username at gmail. There are multiple groups; I would suggest joining Abadá capoeira if you have them near you, as that is the largest and most organized group, from what I've heard.

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#19

Post by coryl »

aeontech wrote: post #5

I've been doing Wing Tsun kung fu for over ten years. If you find a good school, it's a very methodical, highly intelligent and very technical martial art. There's a lot of depth to it, and as you get better, it gets more and more subtle (as well as a lot more effective). Unfortunately, there's also a lot of schools that are not very good (as with any martial art), so your experience may vary. In my experience, the g…

Muay thai - not much technique or sensitivity involved."

What. Have you ever been thai clinched? Have you ever had your kick blocked, shin on shin?

Re: Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

#20

Post by dpapathanasiou »

I practice aikido.

As someone else here mentioned, it's a soft style in that it's less about striking than speed and timing.

It also consists of mental training: quieting your mind and removing unnecessary thoughts and distraction (it's been described as "meditation in motion").

Some downsides: it takes a long time to get to any level of proficiency, it's non-competitive (so unlike fencing, there are no tournaments to compete in), and only really useful in defense.

As with any martial art, the critical thing is to find a good teacher.

The best advice might be to visit several dojos of the different forms people have mentioned here, and see which one suits you best.

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