Karate vs. Kung Fu

[David Floyd]

Kramerman,

If you want to meet up again and work out somewhere on campus (probably either 9th floor of Belmont or the Rec Center), I can maybe show you a variety of stuff, and you can decide what you like.

[Kramerman]

edit: i misunderstood you. that would be cool. i dont want you to come out of your way tho. i remember you saying you got together with others to work out occasionally... i could just come and watch yall then, and then maybe before or after you could show me stuff. just give me a few days heads up with a pm or somethn.

[David Floyd]

My schedule is odd, too, due to my working 6 days/week right now.

[Kramerman]

sry, i edited my previous post... i guess you saw the original text.

[David Floyd]

Nah, I love doing it, actually, so it really isn't a problem, except for the time frame.

[Kramerman]

its no pressing matter at the moment anyway, so whatever works. I've started strength training (and i wanna get back into running) and i would like to persue that to some end before moving on... in other words strength is my present priority, but i very much do want to learn some effective form of martial arts in the near future. i would very much appreciate your help, but dont worry about it anytime soon.

but, for starters, maybe you or someone else could tell me what im looking for so that i could read into it a bit.

Im looking for a form that is somewhat well balaced between defense and offense, maybe a little heavier on the offense (but with some effective blocking techniques). I say this because im aggressive when i feel threatened or angered, and therefor would ideally want to counter attack (i dont pick fights, but if i see one coming i would like to meet it head on, if possible in other words), but blocks are always good, especially since i have a weird fear of being suprised (as in a mugging or something) and may not be able to meet the attacker.

i know another consideration i should take in considering a discipline is my body type. DF, you met me, so you kinda know what im like. Im about 6 feet tall and of a light build. altho i can lift my own body weight much better than most people, im probably just at average male upper body strength for my age (18) when it comes to lifting raw weight (if not a little below, for now), and little above average lower body strength (way above for my body weight, so i can jump really high and sprint really fast).

when im in shape i have a lot of endurance (5:20 is my best mile time for a frame of reference, tho i never really trained for it), but im far out of shape now and probably just be run a 7:00 mile. Im only moderately flexible, so high kicks would be tough without practice, but id like to know them to take advantage of my leg strength. i really like to punch and hit with my fists tho... i have abnormally boney knuckles that are pretty desensitized to pain...

my coordination and reflexes are good, but probably not better than anyone else who seriously persues martial arts, but im confident i could block and strike quickly and speed is really what i want to focus on.

does anything come to mind that you think might somewhat fit me?

[David Floyd]

Muay Thai sounds like a good starting point, with an early emphasis on boxing. You're a fairly big guy, with good reach, and as it sounds as if you are interested in offense, you're in luck. Muay Thai is extremely offensive.

[Daz]

I recommend the "Drunken Monkey" style, and the "Scared Zebra" technique.

Oh, and watch more hong kong movies.....

[Kramerman]

sounds good ill try and read up on it a bit

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Right now I'm taking mantis gongfu and Muay Thai kick boxing. The former is extremely good for grapples and trips and joint locks. [Snipped]

I've also seen tiger style gongfu (Nan Quan - southern fist) and that looks very interesting. Mantis and tiger are both quite circular in the way they work - you're usually circling your opponent instead of going at them head-on.

Are you sure? I took both before. IIRC, Tiger style is very straight forward - attack your opponent head-on (yeah, much like a tiger ). Maybe you have confused it with White Crane? That's a much more "circling around to wait for opening" style.

Taichi is excellent too. I highly recommend taking it together with a more agressive form.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
This reminds me of something my karate instructor once said. There was a Wing Chun class next to us, and at the time I didn't know what martial art they were practicing. So I ask my karate instructor, "What are they doing?" and he says to me, "Wasting their time."

That does not surprise me at all. It's like asking at a Burger King joint about a McD place next door.

[Drake Tungsten]

IIRC, Tiger style is very straight forward - attack your opponent head-on (yeah, much like a tiger ).

Don't tigers use their camoflauge to sneak up on prey and kill it without warning?

Why should we trust a martial art that doesn't even understand the behavior of the animals it tries to copy?

[Urban Ranger]

Big cats hunt in two general ways: by relying on speed and suprise or by relying on strength. Cheetahs are of the former type, tigers are of the latter type.

[Drake Tungsten]

Tigers rely on surprise just as much as strength. They hardly attack head-on.

[CerberusIV]

I did semi-contact karate for a few years. What you do really depends on what you want to achieve.

If you want a leisure interest for balance and fitness you are probably better off looking at tai chi, possibly alongside a gentler kung fu style. If you want competition fighting then one of the karate styles will do. If your interest is self defence then ju-jitsu or a derivative, particularly if you are a smaller person, was originally intended for that and some classes will deal with responding to "real life" situations and multiple opponents. If you want to train and develop fighting responses then any of the kickboxing styles is good for that kind of conditioning.

If your kids want to do a martial art that includes sparring, make sure they are kitted out with the protective gear and don't push them if they don't like it.

So think exactly what you are looking for.