My intro and 1st question

[Undrtaker989]

Hello, my name is Blake and I have been lurking off and on for a couple of months, just never signed up. I have taken 2 MA's before throughout my life, but not longer than 1/2 year for some reasons which could be valid, but I hate excuses. Bear with me on this lengthy post, b/c I would really like advice on these questions..

I've allways been interested in MMA and I have downloaded quite a bit of vids over the past year. I am now getting into actually sparring with a friend who has tons of past experience in MA's.. He has gotten his hands dirty in 7 (his count) and has black belts in TKD/Karate and can definitely grapple (he wrestled in HS and did some other grappling art, I'm unsure which one exactly). Well, during the sparring session, I was reminded of the thread that asked how to treat a beginner. I sorta laughed when I saw how much of a newbie I was when we put the headgear/boxing gloves on. I was more paraniod of taking a hit than I thought I would be. We also did some clinch work and some grapling, to which I felt the wrath of the sprawl/gillotine type choke. I really enjoyed it all though. I want to start sparring on a regular basis, but I want to have the correct technique down. Now to the point of this story...

We are both interested in taking up a martial art. He wants to get back into them, and I want to have an instructor/3rd person to watch me spar, freeze frame it, and tell my newbie ass what I am doing wrong/how to fix it. I am in agreement with the people here who advocate MT/kickboxing/boxing/grappling arts b/c they are more practical and applicable...and most importantly...you actually have to fight each other... I agree that all the drills in the world won't mean shit unless you see what works and put it to the test 1on1. He, on the otherhand, wants to do Karate instead. What art would you guys reccomend us taking, or what advice would you have? He will read this threat too.


There is a place in the outskirts of New Orleans that has boxing rings setup where they have fights on the weekends...anyone who goes can signup to put gear on and fight. They also have professional fights where their students go all out in MMA, kickboxing, or boxing. They teach those arts there too during the day, but my friend doesn't like the owner. He is on the cocky/arrogant side. Is the issue of the owner being a cocky jerk serious enough to dismiss the option to train there? I ask this b/c I know some of you are instructors and I wanted to get your take on it.

[doubleouch]

It sounds like they train some good stuff there. More important than the stuff they train is how you feel being there. You aren't going to stick around at a gym where you don't like or respect the instructor. Go in and watch a few classes. Participate in one or two. Do this at a few gyms. Don't be in a rush to choose. You'll know when it is a good fit. I would say choose the gym and not the style. Be careful though in your judgement of the instructor. I stayed away from the gym where I now train because I thought the instructor was an arogant asshole. I went in a few times and watched. Finally I decided to give him a try. It turns out he is a great guy and my initial impressions were completely wrong. Sometimes someone who is outspoken and confident in what they do they can come off bad.

[one sword]

I don't know if this is him or not, but I know there is a instructor under Dan Inosanto in New Orleans. My sister says he is really out of the way. She lives in the Garden district. It is probably the same guy. He is great, what doubleouch said could be true. He may just seem arrogant though. He is pretty bad @$$. What he teaches would be fun and growth inspiring for you and the karate guy. He would love Kali. It takes everything you learn in karate and throws it away, then picks it back up, polishes it, and rebuilds the motor. I'm talking the most limb destruction ever. The empty hand translates to good knife/stick fighting. If it is this guy(forgot his name) he will teach you REAL MMA instead of cage stuff.

[gregimotis]

Originally posted by doubleouch
More important than the stuff they train is how you feel being there. You aren't going to stick around at a gym where you don't like or respect the instructor. \

What they said.
Give it a fair shot but don't stay at a gym you don't like. Not only can a jerk instructor ruin your experience, but he will also attract jerk students. Pretty soon your hangin' with the 'black Gi' school from 'Karate Kid' and how fun is that going to be?


Sounds like you've already got your choice of styles pretty well narrowed down.

[tekshow]

agreed, try it out, if you don't like it don't go. and if don't get good vibes, don't try it...

i am worried about the cocky aspect, my sifu is incredibly humble in his outspoken manner, but that doesn't mean you can take him on the mat!


be careful of who you choose. if you're going to think about being somewhere for the length of time it takes to get a good solid understanding, 3 to 5 years in most cases, you want to be sure you're going to be looked after, not slaughtered...


toughness is okay too, but you shouldn't have to mame each other every time to check the effectiveness of a skill.... it's good to go all out sometimes, but sparring does not mean full conctact fighting ALL the time...



check what's right for you, if your friend goes to a different school for a while, that's ok... use it as comparison shopping... what's he getting that you aren't, share that information...


i would reccomend a school that does mixed MA, it sounds like where you're at...


most schools now that teach BJJ teach some form of filipino martial arts too and they can be very beneficial to your stand up game...


it all depends on what you want, but good luck finding a place that's right for you, that's one of the hardest parts, but you've just got to go in a try a few out, watch classes, poke around...


peace,
joe

[Undrtaker989]

The name of the place w/ the iffy owner is called "The Main Event." I think the guy's last name is Ancona. I've attended the friday night fights once just to watch and it was pretty interesting. They had some grappling matches, then boxing matches, then anyone who wanted to sign up to fight that night could go and put some gear on and hop in there...in your jeans and shirts! During the day, they hold classes...kickboxing, boxing, grappling, all that stuff. I'm guessing you could also go workout and train on the equipment there too.

There are other places that google brought up for MA's in the New Orleans area that teach some of the favorites here like BJJ and JKD. I actually live in the outskirts, and there is a place
http://www.kennerkarate.com/ that teaches a variety, including JKD. Oh, and also http://www.nolabjj.com/, but I'd like to train some kickboxing as well as grappling. I think I may try these big 3 out (The Main Event, NolaBJJ, and Kennerkarate/JKD).

I'm going to show my friend this thread now...maybe get him to signup for the forums. Thanks for the replies.

[Szczepankiewicz]

http://www.nolabjj.com

I'd be careful going down there... I hear there are some pretty wierd dudes who train there.

[Michael Neal]

The bjj place also offers kickboxing. I would definately try that before the karate place.

[mjohnson]

BJJ!!!!

What goals do you want to achieve in martial arts? Bjj is great for realilizing how far you have come in such a short amount of time. I remember sparring the first couple of months and coming off the mat to puke, those were the days... Anyways ask yourself what you want to accomplish. Here is how I would make my choice. If you are serious about MMA then the choice is obvious, nolanbjj offers a lot and looks to have some skills in mma. kennerkarate doesnt list his credentials. It says BJJ but doesnt list an instructor, actually it doesnt list anything really. It also lists other arts and crap, TKD/HKD. I would check it out and drill him on his stuff. Ask questions, if he gets pissed or contridicts himself, you know he's a fraud. Let us know what you find out.

[Undrtaker989]

ok, I agree with the KennerKarate website, seeing as I know how to make a pretty good website, that one looks very unprofessional. All static HTML w/ poor font/color co-ordination. Makes you wonder how he runs the school.

I'm still going to check out all 3 places, b/c I live in Kenner and I place a value in being a short distance away from where I work out. If the place sucks though, I would cross the frekin' Sahara on foot before workout out there.

I hope to get my friend out to these places this week to check them out.

[mjohnson]

goals?

What's your goal? You want to spend more time with your karate friend? Or do you want to learn martial arts? Let us know

[huey]

i was the worst person when looking for an m/a. i wanted something that catered to my need to have detail. i wanted something that was challenging enough to make it fun with explainations into each and every aspect of the physical thing i would be doing. in that search i got what i wanted in spades.

prior to this i had been in a few different dojos asking those types of questions that most instructors in those dojos hated.

"why do we step back here and not forward?"
"what makes this punch so effective?"
and so on.

alright so i am anal about things. the point is that when i figured ouot what i wanted i also figured out what i didn't want and those were the wrong answers to those questions.
"because that is how we have done it for 50 years."
"because you throw it fast and your hand is tight."

with the system that i am in now and have been in for 15 years
the answers were different.
"it's because when you step back you clear his centerline and when that happens he over extends and becomes off balance. also if you are to block something he is throwing and you step toward him your block will not be in the right position and will be weak."
"the punch is strong at every point in its natural release because it is thrown in a straight line and as it moves it rotates this brings better speed and accuracy. the two knuckles in front need to turn a little more than..."
in each instance and every time we learn something new we try it out slowly so we can feel the right and wrong way of doing something so we know how to and not to do it.
not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the details but again this is what i was looking for.
knowing what you want is the key, then go out and find it.
i have had some instructors with bad attitudes but the material presented is what keeps me around.

hope it helps.

[Undrtaker989]

huey: what MA are you currently in?

mjohnson: I guess we'll see when we check out the schools.

[huey]

the art is shou shu.

[Seifer2399]

Originally posted by gregimotis


Pretty soon your hangin' with the 'black Gi' school from 'Karate Kid' and how fun is that going to be?

Excuse me, but I believe that school's name is "Cobra Kai" and they should be given the proper respect, sir!!!

Best regards,

Seifer2399