Chinese or Japanese?

[danfaggella]

^generalization, but IMO its pretty legit, a very basic modernism view, however i wouldnt call it a gospel truth.

I'm not going to count out all joint lock arts or styles of kung fu. I beleive simplicity is nice but there is a good deal of that in kung fu as well, and many more martial arts. I'm mostly a modernist in terms of training method and technique, but I see value in different martial arts, value in many spheres (sport combat, self-defense, confidence, cardio, whatever else people use martial arts for). Also, if your talking about self defense (im assuming you are) then knowledge of various weapons is essential, as well as concepts of conflict avoidance and strategies for street fighting. Getting all of that is dufficult, you'd have to fight through a lot of the BS in martial art, but it would be worth it for the sake of self defense.

Sasquatch, this is what jubaji does to everyone in every argument. There is no content, simply insults and grammar nit picking, thrown in with a bunch of angry little smiley faces.

[jubaji]

Originally Posted by fagdangella

Sasquatch, this is what jubaji does to everyone in every argument. There is no content, simply insults and grammar nit picking, thrown in with a bunch of angry little smiley faces.

No one is forcing you to say stupid things (and to say them badly).

[JkD187]

Originally Posted by jubaji

No one is forcing you to say stupid things (and to say them badly).

Jubaji did you check it out yet bro? sorry for repeating it so much but i really need to know the locations.Thanks man!

[jubaji]

Originally Posted by JkD187

Jubaji did you check it out yet bro? sorry for repeating it so much but i really need to know the locations.Thanks man!

Just hang in there 'till Sunday.

[Mista-X]

Originally Posted by EmptyneSs

you would probobly want to learn some weapons training, like stick and knife. carry some kind of weapon with you, like a blade.

I second this. There as some great styles out of S.A. that teach weapons, such as AMOK! and Cape Knife Fighting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s#South_Africa

[Tom Yum]

Originally Posted by Batucada

Hi all,

I'm from South Africa, a very dangerous and violent country indeed. I have no martial arts experience at all and I need to learn how to defend myself.
I visited a Kendo/Iaido/Jodo Dojo and the Sensei told me to take Aikido if I wanted to learn how to defend myself but I feel that Japanese martial arts are not as hard and effective as Chinese martial arts. I'm probably wrong, I don't know.
Anyway, I am interested in taking up Chinese Martial Arts; can you please check out this link: http://www.ymaasa.co.za/ymaasa/index.htm and tell me if you think it's worth learning the arts that are thought by this association or am I wrong about the power of Japanese Martial arts?

Thanks,
Batucada.

Well there's Japanese judo and jiujitsu, both extremely effective in their goal of bringing an opponent down or finishing them.

Kyokushin karate - very famous for their rigorous standards and knockout power. Great art of medium sized or taller, thinner folks.

Shotokan karate, for all the bashing it gets is a great art for stocky type fellas.

There are Japanese-Chinese hybrid styles too.

Shorinji Kempo
(literally means grand shao-lin fist methods in Japanese)
Kenpo (many styles and blends)

[JyuNi]

Originally Posted by Batucada

Hi all,

I'm from South Africa, a very dangerous and violent country indeed. I have no martial arts experience at all and I need to learn how to defend myself.
I visited a Kendo/Iaido/Jodo Dojo and the Sensei told me to take Aikido if I wanted to learn how to defend myself but I feel that Japanese martial arts are not as hard and effective as Chinese martial arts. I'm probably wrong, I don't know.
Anyway, I am interested in taking up Chinese Martial Arts; can you please check out this link: http://www.ymaasa.co.za/ymaasa/index.htm and tell me if you think it's worth learning the arts that are thought by this association or am I wrong about the power of Japanese Martial arts?

Thanks,
Batucada.

Its all about what kinda fighting you'd rather be using, do some research. Just make sure its a hard school, you'll know when you walk in by the atmosphere... i see that alot of people on these forums well, think their hard but they are just inexperianced nuthuggers who have no idea what real fighting is or what hard training is.

[tigerofironfist]

I have studied the martial arts for many years, Akido being one of them. I have studied Aikido for about fifteen years now and I have found it to be an excellent means of self defense! A good Aikido school will combine both effective striking and kicking. And in practice when someone is attacking you they are practicing striking, Every attack and defense should be executed as it would in the outside world, not to hurt anyone, but so people can know what to expect. Make no mistake you will execute a technique the same in the street as you do in the school, so give it 100% every time.

[darrianation]

Get a gun, if that is not permissible get a knife or other implement of destruction. Practice drawing it from where ever you carry it, be competent at retention, and work on being very aggressive.

Other than that get some boxing skills and some grappling skills.

[Mephariel]

Originally Posted by Broadsword2004

If you want fighting skill for pure life-or-death self defense, learn Muay Thai and boxing, wrestling, and some form of grappling. No one in any life-or/death fight reverts to using anything besides gross motor skills, because you are too scared to try anything without a 100% chance of working. Complicated moves (fine motor skills), even if you are good at them, you just won't want to try them in a real self-defense situation. Another good combo is some good hardcore karate, not the old-fashioned kind with kata, but karate in which basically anything goes, that you can use in a fight, along with judo and some wrestling throws. Remember, karate just means "empty-hand."

This is a hilarious example but it's like if you have a canyon with a 2000 foot drop, and you are a gymnast who is running for your life. Since you are running, you can either just leap at the last second, and land on the other side, or you can use your gymnastics skills and do a roundoff-back handspring, into a nice tumbling pass, and at the last second, go airborne and do some complex acrobatic combination as you fly across the drop, then land on the other side and start running again.

Yeah yeah, hilarious example, but the point is if you can just smash an elbow into the person's face, knee them in the groin, then throw them into the next guy and proceed to attack him, you will do that, not be bothered with some complex wrist-locks or joint locks.

Now if you want stuff to use for drunken brother-in-law types of things, then yeah fine-motor skills are nice because your adrenaline won't be soaring as much and you obviously won't want to smash an elbow into your brother-in-law's face (save that for the mother-in-law ) anyways, you'd just want to submit him with a nice wrist or joint lock.

Isn't joint locks more like submission martial arts? I mean, groundfighting can be complicated too, but saying why go on the ground and westle with complicated guards and mounts when you can just smash through your opponent is pretty stupid. I am not saying you are saying that, but joint knocks are used by the police for example to submit a crook. It is just a different way of dealing with an opponent. Maybe you are not looking for full force blows?

[sapatiero]

Originally Posted by tigerofironfist

I have studied the martial arts for many years, Akido being one of them. I have studied Aikido for about fifteen years now and I have found it to be an excellent means of self defense! A good Aikido school will combine both effective striking and kicking. And in practice when someone is attacking you they are practicing striking, Every attack and defense should be executed as it would in the outside world, not to hurt anyone, but so people can know what to expect. Make no mistake you will execute a technique the same in the street as you do in the school, so give it 100% every time.

IMO Aikido is one of the most beautiful arts to watch, but not practical against a trained opponent. Even the masters are attacked by uki's who run at them with one arm outstretched in preparation to be thrown (plenty of video evidence of this). It simply doesn't happen like that in real life. You can say that it's proven effective, but against who? Any MA will work pretty well against an unarmed, pissed up idiot on a saturday night (yes I've read Angry White Pyjamas).

I used to believe in the Aikido knife defenses until the day we bought in red marker pens & t shirts. Get your opponent to try to stab/slash at your t shirt randomly with the marker pen - you'll soon see the result. I'd bet that eskrima is more efficient against edged weapons.

Not try to start any arguments here, just putting forward an opinion

[darrianation]

Aikido has some amazing foot work but beyond that I see little relevance in Aikido for self-defense.

[Batucada]

Thank you all for replying.

So I guess I won’t be taking up traditional martial arts. Penance you are 100% right.
I will be looking into close quarter combat training and tecniques. I don’t know where to begin but anyway…

Thanx again,
Batucada.