The Martial Arts Thread

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Lenardo

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my kids do a modified Taekwondo course by where i live

the 9 yr olds are brown belts and my 12yr son just got his poom belt in TKD -jr blackbelt basically- once he is umm 16? he can test for whichever level dan he thinks he can pass, he is working on the 2nd dan test atm

the place we got to has been around for ~30odd years, and the master/owner is a 7th Dan in Moo Duk Kwon, as well as W.T.F. and is a really nice guy, though he is getting older (he is in his 60's now)
the rest of the instructors have anywhere from 1st dan in tkd to 5th dan. it is not a chain, and everyone is nice, they have competitions etc.

sandra (business manager and a 5th dan in tkd, wants me to take the adult program but i just don't have the time.

my son has gotten real good and in a rough house scuffle that got a bit too rough, he did a spinning back kick that just flattened his brother.

they also do kung fu and weapons work

12 year old knows/taken classes in:
nunchuck, kama, tonfa, long staff, short staff and sai. in competition he won his age group using the kama (double sickle) and came in second overall for under 12yr old range.. this year he is debating kama or long staff competing.

9yr olds have taken classes in:
nunchuck short staff, samurai sword and sai.

they all like the sensei's and classes.
 
Voyce

Voyce

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Lenardo_sl said:
my kids do a modified Taekwondo course by where i live

the 9 yr olds are brown belts and my 12yr son just got his poom belt in TKD -jr blackbelt basically- once he is umm 16? he can test for whichever level dan he thinks he can pass, he is working on the 2nd dan test atm

the place we got to has been around for ~30odd years, and the master/owner is a 7th Dan in Moo Duk Kwon, as well as W.T.F. and is a really nice guy, though he is getting older (he is in his 60's now)
the rest of the instructors have anywhere from 1st dan in tkd to 5th dan. it is not a chain, and everyone is nice, they have competitions etc.

sandra (business manager and a 5th dan in tkd, wants me to take the adult program but i just don't have the time.

my son has gotten real good and in a rough house scuffle that got a bit too rough, he did a spinning back kick that just flattened his brother.

they also do kung fu and weapons work

12 year old knows/taken classes in:
nunchuck, kama, tonfa, long staff, short staff and sai. in competition he won his age group using the kama (double sickle) and came in second overall for under 12yr old range.. this year he is debating kama or long staff competing.

9yr olds have taken classes in:
nunchuck short staff, samurai sword and sai.

they all like the sensei's and classes.
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That is pretty sweet my cousin is a 4th Dan and has trained his entire life, won several tournaments, trained in Korea, et al. Currently co owns a place.
 
BrotherWu

BrotherWu

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My kids are taking TKD with supplemental BJJ at a local dojang that gets super reviews locally. They're 7 and 11 and have been at it for a year and I'm starting to question the quality of the instruction to some extent.

The master is a really good guy but I am paying out the ass for their tuition and I just think that, while they do a decent job with morals/values instruction, the assistant instructors let too much slide on the technical side without correcting the students. Maybe my expectations are too high for kids that young and at that level of instruction (youngest just moved up from the little kids class and is at a yellow stripe, older kid is at green/yellow) I just see sloppy kicks, stretches, etc. and think they should be fixing that for $75 per month per kid.
 
Sterling

Sterling

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BrotherWu_sl said:
My kids are taking TKD with supplemental BJJ at a local dojang that gets super reviews locally. They're 7 and 11 and have been at it for a year and I'm starting to question the quality of the instruction to some extent.

The master is a really good guy but I am paying out the ass for their tuition and I just think that, while they do a decent job with morals/values instruction, the assistant instructors let too much slide on the technical side without correcting the students. Maybe my expectations are too high for kids that young and at that level of instruction (youngest just moved up from the little kids class and is at a yellow stripe, older kid is at green/yellow) I just see sloppy kicks, stretches, etc. and think they should be fixing that for $75 per month per kid.
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Hard to know the actual quality of classes without seeing it myself, but this is a fairly complex issue when it comes to novice students, in particular children. You have to balance class pacing with doing corrections. You can't give all your attention to 1 kid when there's 25 others in the class as well. Small fixes should be constantly happening though as general statements during cadence and whatever though. Things like telling the class to keep their hands up, tight fists, or whatever. But to individually correct every single thing each student is doing every single kick or punch or whatever isn't reasonable, although major issues should be addressed. A lot of places offer individual instruction as well though that usually costs extra, but having 1 on 1 instruction can be really helpful. Also do they work on their forms and stuff at home?
 
BrotherWu

BrotherWu

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The oldest one just started forms on this belt about 6 weeks ago. We just got the videos a couple of weeks ago and, yes, he is practicing several nights per week. I don't expect them to correct everything, of course, but they usually have three instructors in the room and two of them are mostly very passive. This seems to be consistent among all 6 or 7 assistant instructors- one is teaching two do almost no correction.

My problem is when I see something like: They're practicing roundhouses, kid runs up to the dummy, does not set, does something that looks absolutely nothing like a roundhouse, and runs back to the end of the line without returning to a stance. It's just sloppy and it seems like they could do better. Again, though, maybe I am expecting too much. Their advanced students seem to have their shit together.
 
Grumpus

Grumpus

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BrotherWu_sl said:
The oldest one just started forms on this belt about 6 weeks ago. We just got the videos a couple of weeks ago and, yes, he is practicing several nights per week. I don't expect them to correct everything, of course, but they usually have three instructors in the room and two of them are mostly very passive. This seems to be consistent among all 6 or 7 assistant instructors- one is teaching two do almost no correction.

My problem is when I see something like: They're practicing roundhouses, kid runs up to the dummy, does not set, does something that looks absolutely nothing like a roundhouse, and runs back to the end of the line without returning to a stance. It's just sloppy and it seems like they could do better. Again, though, maybe I am expecting too much. Their advanced students seem to have their shit together.
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I think you are spot on with your expectations to high thing. I teach BJJ 3-4 times a week, a couple summers ago I taught kids classes twice a week and I cover now every so often.

Teaching kids that are aloud to have physical contact with each other is like herding cats. Especially when kids are lined up to do stuff in succession. If the instructor takes the 30 seconds to correct your child, the two kids in the back of the line notice your attention is diverted and start pushing each other. So when the instructor is done correcting your child he has to go stop those two kids which takes attention and time. Then another kid does something stupid. Its a giant chain reaction.

Kids come in to their own. Some kids take more time. If the class is structured well the other things will fall in place, its just the way it is.

If you have to pay $75 a month for your kids to have fun exercising thats more then worth it. Even if they cant kick for shit untill they are 16
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Grumpus

Grumpus

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Congrats Voyce! I am right on the cusp of my purple. I want to compete at the Masters Worlds this year at blue since I turn 30 in May. Depending on how I do I have a feeling I will get it. Everyone I was promoted with to Blue have gotten there Purples now, I took a sporadic break for work for 6 months though where I could only train 4 times a month.
 
Lenas

Lenas

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Bros I have purchased a gi and am about to sign up for some BJJ. Any tips for someone that hasn't done any martial arts since YMCA taekwando?
 
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ziggyholiday

ziggyholiday

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Drink water, don't forget to breath and relax. No one is going to rape/mug/murder you. Eh, don't say shit that makes you come off as a douche; just go in with an open mind.
 
C

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Lenas_sl said:
Bros I have purchased a gi and am about to sign up for some BJJ. Any tips for someone that hasn't done any martial arts since YMCA taekwando?
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Relax and learn to like getting mauled. The faster you realize that tapping = learning, the better.
 
Voyce

Voyce

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Grumpus_sl said:
Congrats Voyce! I am right on the cusp of my purple. I want to compete at the Masters Worlds this year at blue since I turn 30 in May. Depending on how I do I have a feeling I will get it. Everyone I was promoted with to Blue have gotten there Purples now, I took a sporadic break for work for 6 months though where I could only train 4 times a month.
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A couple of guys from my academy went to worlds over the summer and got promoted to Purple in exactly the same way, good luck
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Lenas_sl said:
Bros I have purchased a gi and am about to sign up for some BJJ. Any tips for someone that hasn't done any martial arts since YMCA taekwando?
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Have fun, if you live roll do your best to be sporting, but don't go nuts and spaz out as if you're in a life or death scenario, tap when it hurts or you don't feel safe (*don't forget you can also say 'tap', if both your arms are wrapped up, I failed to realize this the first time I rolled with an elite Purple belt and my arm popped within maybe 5 seconds into the roll*).
 
Lenas

Lenas

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Since I am new to all this stuff I've been doing some free trial weeks at different gyms trying to figure out what I like/want. Think I found my spot after 3 gyms so I'm gonna be signing up next week so I can start putting in some real work. People at all three spots have been really welcoming so I'm feeling good about everything.
 
C

Captain Suave

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Where and with what instructor/lineage? Just curious. It's always good to have a shortlist of quality gyms in case I want to train when on the road.
 
Lenas

Lenas

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I liked Honu (Ribeiro) in City Heights and Primal Training Center (Fabio Santos) in Mira Mesa. Don't remember the instructors names off the top of my head.

Also I don't know if an experienced person would consider them quality gyms, I am mainly just basing my like/dislike on how comfortable I felt in them. Honu is BJJ only whereas Primal is mainly BJJ but they also offer shit like bootcamp exercise programs and have weights etc.
 
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