Topic: Different Strokes

[Huw]

Has anyone on this forum trained in another martial art ? Every now and then I fancy trying something else for one night a week - not another flavour of karate but something really different i.e. Aikido, Jujitsu, Judo, Kendo, etc.

Care to share your experiences ? I'd love to read some real world experiences of other martial arts.

[Huw]

Has nobody tried here another martial art ????!!!!!!

[Susan]

I tried Aikido for a short while when I first started karate.  Didn't last long though - I suppose I prefer to focus all my efforts on one thing. But I am interested in finding out about other martial arts - strengths, weaknesses, etc.

We've had a similar discussion on our forums and one of the guys mentioned that he'd like to try krav maga. I'd never heard of it before, but it does sound as if it's quite effective. I think it's more of a practical form of self defence and less of an 'art' though.

Here's a link if anyone's interested:-

http://www.kravmagainc.com/principles.html

[Moley]

In the famous book "Moving Zen" C.W. Nicol studies Judo as well as Karate. When he reaches a plateau in both arts one of the senseis in the J.K.A. tells him.

"He who chases two rabbits, cannot catch either, I suspect you make no progress in Judo either Nic San, you must choose"

[Susan]

There are weaknesses in Shotokan though don't you think? Any thoughts on what they are?

Lack of grappling is the thing that most people see as a weakness. Which is probably why a lot of people like to do Judo or Aikido as well as karate. But I wonder how much use grappling skills are (from a self defence point of view) if you're relatively small and weak. You can have all the skill in the world, but a big guy's just gonna squash you. A big guy on the other hand could probably learn a few effective Judo or Aikido techniques quite quickly.

[Huw]

"He who chases two rabbits, cannot catch either, I suspect you make no progress in Judo either Nic San, you must choose"

A valid point. I think what was meant in the book is that one art must hold your prime focus - you cannot try and focus on both equally and expect to acheive results.

To be honest what I'd really like to do is try something like Kendo - something totally different to Shotokan. I really don't know why I want to try Kendo - is it the thought of beating up people (and getting beaten up) with a big stick     , or is it that I just want an excuse to wear a skirt in public    

I'd also imagine that dojo culture varies widely from club to club, and from art to art, though I of course have never experience this.

[dogberry]

There are weaknesses in Shotokan though don't you think? Any thoughts on what they are?

Lack of grappling is the thing that most people see as a weakness. Which is probably why a lot of people like to do Judo or Aikido as well as karate. But I wonder how much use grappling skills are (from a self defence point of view) if you're relatively small and weak. You can have all the skill in the world, but a big guy's just gonna squash you. A big guy on the other hand could probably learn a few effective Judo or Aikido techniques quite quickly.

if you were to look deeper into this fine art you will find that grappling was an instrumental part of karate and the bunkai of many kata will illustrate this!! Abernathy has a book illustrating the effectiveness of grappling techniques and how they are indeed already in our katas but perhaps not highlighted during our training session due to the current training of karate as a 'competitive sport' rather than an art of defence whereby we tend to stand that 'distance' appart then move in, get separated then start again!!!

Grappling only involves the awareness of certain points to attack ,even if you are very close in,I'm no expert but am in the process of reading Abernathy's book on BUNKAI in order to obtain some insight into close quarter  karate purely in order to assist my professional vocation and hopefully in the future to assist me in my training with seki......................there's a long road ahead!!

[Huw]

Abernathy has a book illustrating the effectiveness of grappling techniques and how they are indeed already in our katas but perhaps not highlighted during our training session due to the current training of karate as a 'competitive sport' rather than an art of defence whereby we tend to stand that 'distance' appart then move in, get separated then start again!!!

Which book is this ?  Is it any good ? Certainly sounds interesting.

[Orion]

For those of you with Sky (not me I'm afraid), there is a new series called conquest on the history channel starting tommorrow (Mon 21.07.03 at 8.00pm) called  Conquest. The first programme looks at the evolution of modern martial arts.

[Huw]

The first programme looks at the evolution of modern martial arts.

Who's got Sky then ? I've only got Off-Digital. Could some kind soul put this on video to pass round the club ?

TIA

Huw

[Moley]

O.K. Huw,
Will bring 2 bokken tomorrow night,
Be there early and we can have a basic lesson before everyone else arrives.