Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was out of town.
When I was younger I was easily impressed and I spent a lot of time in a lame karate class. It was free though and kept me interested for a while. These days I find I don't have the patience for, what seems like, unproductive training. Many of the traditional classes I've been to seem to take their time. You could be there for several months and still not feel like you can use anything. I went to one kung fu class for 3 months and they didn't cover basic things like moving around, basic punching combinations, self defense, etc. Most of the time was spent on forms but they never really showed how to actually use the art. I admit that 3 months isn't very long but how long should it take to learn a couple of combinations and some self defense? I think the traditional arts are great but the schools I've seen don't train them as well as they could. Conditioning is one thing that's neglected by a lot of traditional schools. There are exceptions though, I hear of some schools that seem to offer great training but they're not in this area. I would recommend reading everything you can find by Steve Cotter. He's a hsing yi guy and full contact kung fu champion. Despite practicing an internal martial art, he places a high importance on physical conditioning.
I've always done most of my training solo because I can't get to classes as often as I would like. The problem is that there are a lot of things that you can't train by yourself: grappling, reaction drills, sparring, etc. I try to train what I can, things like: conditioning/strength training, tool development, movement/footwork drills. It's frustrating without a regular training partner but I think if you can stay in good condition and develop good body mechanics and movement skills, it will help.
Sorry for rambling, I'm a little unfocused and am just putting down some thoughts. |