Sandtiger

EmptyneSs

I agree with you to a point. If I was only looking to study martial arts to be the baddest man on the planet than bag work and sparring might be the way to go. Let me try to explain why I am not particularly worried about doing forms.

I chose to study Kuk Sul Do for a number of reasons, the first of which was my wife and I adopted a little boy from Korea and wanted to get the whole family involved in a traditional Korean martial art to learn about the Korean culture.

Second, I have a daughter 8 1/2, one 6 1/2 and one 3 1/2 that are also taking classes. While I would like for them to learn to defend themselves I am not really interested in turning my 3 yr old into a lethal weapon. I am satisfied to have the family learning forms and techniques, discipline and just getting a good workout.

Third, We are also learning some Korean and get the opportunity to interact with many other Koreans, it is good for us and my son. We live in a fairly white area and are trying to include some aspects of my sons heritage in his life.

Fourth, I am getting an opportunity to teach others and share my love of martial arts. I am currently working as a part-time instructor teaching 3-6 yr olds the basics of martial arts. In turn, I get paid, lessons are free and I have no testing fees for the entire family.

I will provide you a little of my background so you might understand why I don't mind "the foreplay." I wrestled all through high school and competed at the State level my last three years, I also competed in the Freestlye wrestling nationals where I took 12th my sophmore year. I trained in Tae Kwon Do and Kempo prior to leaving for the military, the TKD was not my thing but my Kempo instructor was great. He used to compete in MMA turneys back before they were real popular, and would come in with the bruises and black eyes to show for it. I also competed in a few tourneys and enjoyed it. I spent 4 years in the miltary working on the Air Force EST team, the civilian equivalent is SWAT. We worked a lot on hand-to-hand combat and drilled in a very realistic manner.

After I left the military, I joined a judo club where I quickly found that the students were very dependent on their Gi, this was not my bag, I would prefer to not be dependent on what my opponent happens to be wearing. I also tried Kenjutsu for a while but the instructor was frequently absent and when he was there seemed to forget which side of the sword was up. Fast forward 5 years and I find myself taking Kuk Sul Do.

A little about my school. My instructor studied Kuk Sool Won for 12 years and had won numerous world championships in sparring, breaking and forms. He joined Yangs Kuk Sul Do federation about 4 years ago. Choon S Yang is the Grand Master of Kuk Sul Do. My instructor teaches a very traditional martial arts program. The school is very much focused on the traditional aspects but my instructor is willing to adapt his program to the needs of the students. Before I trained there sparring was an anomaly. He now has sparring class at least once or twice week out of the four adult classes per week instituted at my request. He has introduced a lot more bag work and is in the process of arranging periodic sparring sessions with a local BJJ club, again at my request. Is the school McDojoish possibly but not everyone in taking martial arts is seeking to compete in MMA tourneys, most of my classmates live in upper middle class neighborhoods and have jobs like (accountant, doctor, computer network engineer(that one is me)). Many of the students are middle aged and have many of the infirmities that go with middle age (read spare tire, break bones easily, etc).

I am nearly 32, 5'6" 162lbs with 5-7% body fat. I am not exactly a perfect fit for the average student at my school, I don't find a lot of competition in the sparring, I rarely find anyone who hangs with me during the conditioning with the exception of my instructor. I am at a stage in life where my family comes first and if I can just get a good workout I am happy.

So this is back to where I began. I need to work on softening my form. I will try some of the meditation and visualization techniques to improve the overall flow of my form. There are only so many times you can beat up a 50yr old 220lb woman before the sparring loses its appeal a bit.