Martial Arts, Suggestions?

Well I have something that I would like to add as a question to this. I have for awhile been thinking about doing something like either martial arts or boxing something to where you can fight / defend yourself with training either in competetion or real life.

But the things holding me back are. I’m a short ass midget. I’m like 5’8 out of shape at about 245 right now…I’m short and stubby nothing long about me. And when I look at kick boxers they all seem to have pretty long limbs that make them effective at dealing blows as well with most people in martial arts. I even wrestled in Highschool and at my weight had difficulty due to my lack of reach.

Anyone else have any similiaritys to this? Or have any advice. I would like to semi get my ass kicked some but I to would like to be dealing some of it as well. Hope I don’t steal your thunder bruce.

[quote]se7en wrote:
Well I have something that I would like to add as a question to this. I have for awhile been thinking about doing something like either martial arts or boxing something to where you can fight / defend yourself with training either in competetion or real life.

But the things holding me back are. I’m a short ass midget. I’m like 5’8 out of shape at about 245 right now…I’m short and stubby nothing long about me. And when I look at kick boxers they all seem to have pretty long limbs that make them effective at dealing blows as well with most people in martial arts. I even wrestled in Highschool and at my weight had difficulty due to my lack of reach.

Anyone else have any similiaritys to this? Or have any advice. I would like to semi get my ass kicked some but I to would like to be dealing some of it as well. Hope I don’t steal your thunder bruce.[/quote]

Tough love advice following:

Yeah, you want some advice?

Stop making excuses…“but I’m 245”…“im short”.

Work hard.

If you want “it” you’ll put in the blood, sweat and tears (yeah, there will be times you’ll cry).

Everyone who wanted something (really wanted it) put WORK into and no doubting or making excuses for themselves.

We all have shortcomings.
Accept them.
Deal with them.
Stop comparing yourself to others.
Do it.
WORK HARD AND SMART!!

Period.

I would say “good luck” but luck has nothing to do with it…it’s all inside YOU!

No Excuses.

TB

as said above…

Train hard and loose the weight.

Don’t worry about your hight, man of the great masters where quite short. Skill, correct distance, timing and ATTITUDE can more than make up for a few inches.

If the styles you are looking at put you at a disadvantage because of size, look at some others.

se7en

IF you’re willing to work hard, and everyday, and IF they have something in your area, I’d go for a MA style that fits your body type.

In my opinion, you will be sorely tried to compete against long legged ppl at range, therefore your best bet is to get into a close ranged/hand oriented style that helps with your mobility.

Use your body type for what you can. Make your disadvantages your advantages, and learn to get mobile and agile.

Working hard and smart is everything.

BRUCELEEWANNABE

Find Bruce Lee’s “The Tao of Gung Fu”
Read Bruce Lee’s “The Tao of Gung Fu”

Then decide from there. Same as what I said to se7en: use your body as best you can.

In my opinion, kung fu is the most scientific and well thought out of all the general categories of art. Yes, I’m aware the kung fu is not one “style”, but a general category encompassing many, many styles.

Here’s where I get this notion: the Chinese developed and tested MA for thousands of years. Other cultures in the Asian regions picked up parts of it from them and started to develop on their own (whether they want to believe they got it from the Chinese is another thing entirely), or added and modified their systems accordingly. This is of course my highly biased opinion.

MMA is good. However, in my humble opinion, it lacks the philosophical elements, which, when properly understood, are absolutely critical to performing the art to the fullest potential. I also do not like the attitudes I see in most MMA ppl, but that is a different matter.

Of course, as Bruce says “believe only half of what you see and nothing of what you hear”. Common sense and critical thinking help when picking up an art and/or a teacher. I searched for about a year.

There is no ultimate style

Good luck. Work hard, work smart, and keep learning.

se7en

yes, I missed the part about you being 245 and out of shape.

Work on getting in shape first. Try to work on becoming more mobile as the weight drops, but some people are not built to be mobile, just as some are not built to be long limbed kickers.

Bottome line is: use your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and get into shape before leaping headlong into something.

It’ll come around eventually.

[quote]Trailblazer wrote:
I’ve done MA for over 17 years.

What can I say?

If you REALLY want self defense, buy a gun (if legal in your area) or some pepperspray/mace. That’s the “quickest” way.

Period.

Martial Arts takes a LONG time (to be “good enough”) and there is ALWAYS someone on the street better, tougher…or more of them. Or ARMED wil F*cking weapons. You can’t run faster than a bullet.

Buy a gun or pepperspray or mace for the “just in case”.

Otherwise you’re only looking for ways to satisfy your ego…“if I’m in a bar fight…” blah blah blah. And these reasons are not “just in case.”

They are (mostly) to try to show how “manly” one is.

period.
ego vs. “manliness”

my 2 cents.

TB

Oh yeah…don’t let 1980’s and 90’s movies rule your perception on fights and life. Do yourself that favor, if you get nothing else from this post.
[/quote]

Excelent post in my opinion. The best self-defense is to avoid the fight completely.

Heres a little gem of information I got from my instructor:

there are three “fights” in every confrontation:

1: you vs your ego. Can you walk away from a fight when other people are talking crap? when you get spit at? This is where martial arts help me. Now that I have started training MMA and self-defense, I have the knowledge and self confidence that I don’t need to fight. I can’t tell you how many times I have been pushed, yelled at, etc… appologized and walked away. This is the most important part of self-defense IMHO.

2: the physical fight, as long as you don’t die or get seriously hurt, this is the LEAST important of the three fights, and if you avoid this fight through the first fight, there is no need to worry.

3: the reprecussions of the physical fight, whether it be in a court room (civil or criminal), or their group of buddies that come after you for having kick the other guys ass. I believe this is second most important because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so to speak.

Also: look up personal defense rediness. I believe this is from the PDR certification my instructor recieved.

[quote]jaimeo wrote:
"So what should I get involved in, which one? Would be a good idea to do two different types? What’s about Jeet Kune Do, that’s Lee’s thing, but yet I never hear much about it. That’s any style all into one, right? "

  1. Depends on YOU
  2. Not at first
  3. Sort of

Do some frickin research (sigh)

Not really giving us a lot to go on. Depends how you want to fight, if you actually want to compete, if you want “art” or just fighting skills etc. etc. etc. etc.

Its not really a Q that will get you anything other than:

“hey y dont u tri ‘X’”
“X is shit”
“no its not”
“err if i snatch your purse whaddaya gonna do huh?”
" I’ll X yo ass"
“as if fucktard…”

and so it continues.

Come back with a real q

Love from Jaimeo
[/quote]

Good one!!!

[quote]BRUCELEEWANNABE wrote:
Ok, I have this dream of becoming the next Karate Kid. Yeah, forget bruceleewannabe; how about Karatekidwannabe? I’m looking for a master or sensi or whattever it’s called to help build his palace with whatever wax on, wax off method he has! I’ll even do the jerk off if he tells me to!

Alright, alright, I pulling everones legs once again w/ my stupid shit. All kidding aside!!

Ever since I was a little dude I’ve loved martial arts!! The movies, books, Van Damme, watch him growing up in the late 80’s & 90’s! BTW, his physiqe is tops!

So what should I get involved in, which one? Would be a good idea to do two different types? What’s about Jeet Kune Do, that’s Lee’s thing, but yet I never hear much about it. That’s any style all into one, right?

I’m looking to defend myself the best way possible. Thanks. Also, I’m looking to go 2-3 times a week. Meet some cool badasses & learn!!! I want to learn everything I can, get really involved.[/quote]

BJJ, and kickboxing is the nastiest combo ive seen in UFC. striking with feet and fists in the stand up, combined with grappling/submissions on the ground.

this ofcourse is a lifetime of work i might add, but its just an observation that they are effective.

…oh and BRUCELEEWANNABE, ive noticed a theme in your posts.

anyone care to guess what it is???

MMA is the way to go! Practical and efficient!

What MMA schools are in Florida? Got some names?

-Machine

[quote]reddman wrote:
Warning - highly biased suggestions coming

I had the same questions about a year ago. I looked around at the traditional martial arts (tma) in my area and quickly realized it was not what I wanted. Most of what they taught had little practicle application and there was little to no real sparring. If you aren’t sparring, how do you know what you are using is effective?

I started training at an MMA school that focused on building ultimate fighters. I had boxed for a couple of years so I had some standup background. I now spend about 60% of the my time on brazilian jiu jitsu, 20% on wrestling, and 20% on muy thai. If you are looking for the best stand up discipline my vote is muy thai. Be warned it is high cardio workout and will strip weight off fast.

MMA teaches you the best of several disciplines so you can effectively fight no matter where the fight goes.

Florida is filled with great MMA schools.

Hope this helps.[/quote]

Bruce-

I will give you the benefit of the doubt here.

As previous posters said, MA are not the best way to defend yourself. Sure, given some time you will be better prepared to deliver punishing kicks, punches, elbows or whatnot, but what good is it if you are dead?

A very famous instructor (Guru Dan Inosanto) once said that if someone pulled a knife on him, his immediate reaction would be to run away. Why is this? No matter how fast/good/powerful you are, shit happens. If you really want to defend yourself, don’t put yourself in those situation. 99% of violent encounters are avoidable.

That being said, Jeet Kune Do is all about expressing yourself. What this means is finding the right mix of arts that will work for you. I am very short. It is going to be very hard for me to outpunch somebody at range. So, just at Bruce did, I have to fit what I do to fight larger opponents. That’s what JKD is all about.

If you want an art that is down and dirty, and takes a minimal amount of time until you are “proficient”, then I suggest Thai Boxing. Good stuff. For self defense, buy a pitbull/gun.

Now I’ve gone and wrote a book.

-Fireplug

[quote]machine514 wrote:
MMA is the way to go! Practical and efficient!

What MMA schools are in Florida? Got some names?

-Machine

[/quote]

Depends on the area. I know of a few, specifically one in Tampa. The sport is very prominent down there.

[quote]BRUCELEEWANNABE wrote:
Do some research? What do u think I’m doing by asking this question? I’m asking my fellow T-Men whose thoughts & suggestions I regard as the best on the net.
[/quote]
Yes, it’s always best to ask random people you don’t really know for their opinions on something dealing with life threatening situations that may include legal ramifications after-the-fact. Very wise indeed.

You should have. That’s a pretty important piece of information in this respect. And competing helps training. If all you ever do is spar with those in your dojo, you won’t get the variety out in the “real world”, so to speak. You’ll learn their strengths and weaknesses and adapt your style to beating THEM, not anyone.

As mentioned, martial arts isn’t the first choice these days, especially with muggers and fools with guns running around.

All indications from this post are that you MIGHT be one of the “dumb asses” that “starts shit”.

Try learning how to get out of a situation such the you will NEVER need to in the first place, THEN learn how to handle yourself. Sasquatch was right, btw.

Aragorn was also correct about finding something for your body type. For example, the shorter but large types might do well with Judo or Sambo.

Matthew

…oh and BRUCELEEWANNABE, ive noticed a theme in your posts.

anyone care to guess what it is???[/quote]

The theme? Studpid questions, ignorant comments, and the writting abilities of an eight year old?

Granted he doesnt always display ALL three in evry post but every post has at least one of those characteristics.

Where in Florida are you? I am in Tallahassee and we have a small group of guys here that grapple. there is also a good boxing school in town.

In Orlando there a number of places. There are a few Brazillian Juijitsu schools, the formost being Marcio Simas’s school, www.marciosimas.com and I know Royce Gracie has a branch school over where State Road 50 meets I-4 or something. There are also a number of boxing and MMA type school, though i am less familiar with those.

South Florida has a some schools i am sure, as well as Miami. I dont know of any specific places, and Internet search should turn some. Or go to.sherdog.net/forumsums and ask around.

Another art to maybe consider is Kali/Arnis. Its basically the art of stick and knife fighting, those they also do empty hand stuff. I know in Orlando and Tampa there are some good places to train in that.

I just found out there is a Marcio Simas branch school in Ocala, and i think there are some places in Gainesville too. I stumbled on up the one in Ocala while grabbing some lunch at a deli near downtown. I was really quite suprised to see it.

In terms of arts to study there are alot of choices. If you want realistic fighting ability go train some MMA. It will get you in realistic fighting shape and is practical training. Some good boxing and grappling training cant be beat. I like grappling because it allows you to go 100% all the time, thanks to the protocol of the tapout. Boxing/Muay Thai is very practical and street effective.

Of course, these days someone isn’t going to slug it out with you, rather they are going to try to get the drop on you with a knife or a gun. So some firearms and edged weapons training sure can help. I trained in Kali some and really enjoyed it, though i do more grappling.

Basically it comes down to what you have time for and what you want to do. I would stay away from any of the traditional martial arts type schools. Basically, training should mimic the real thing as close as possible, though with safety factored in of course. To me doing live stick and knife drills, or grappling against a fully resisting opponent is more effective than punching air or practicing forms.

None of this stuff means you are a bad ass capable of fighting off anyone. There are alot of other factors involved, environment, number attackers, weapons, etc. But i would rather have some sort of training then none at all.

Just my thoughts

anton

My only advice is to find a good trainer and to make sure you get as much hands on actual hitting as possible.

View a couple of practices and see if you can try the course out(you may have to pay $10 or something) before joining.

I have been doing Krav Maga for the past two months or so. Pretty fun stuff. The coach is good, the problem is that if I want to start sparring on the weekends with everyone else I need to put on about 40 pounds so as not to get my ass killed.

soco

[quote]BRUCELEEWANNABE wrote:
Thanks guys! All grat suggestions! I’ve got my homework for sure!

Question! As with anything you learn, I believe it would be way better to go 1on1 w/ the head guy or one of his teachers for my instruction. RIGHT? Get more out of it, it’s 1 on 1! Who better to learn or spar w/ then the tops guys. Learn faster too. What do u guys think??![/quote]

You sure you havent already been invloved in some sort of MMA in the past? Cause your comments make me think you got hit on the head with a spinning heal kick :slight_smile:

[quote]samsmarts wrote:
BRUCELEEWANNABE wrote:

You sure you havent already been invloved in some sort of MMA in the past? Cause your comments make me think you got hit on the head with a spinning heal kick :)[/quote]

I agree with that one. Make sure you have good health insurance before you start your new quick learning plan.

[quote]Jersey5150 wrote:

…oh and BRUCELEEWANNABE, ive noticed a theme in your posts.

anyone care to guess what it is???

The theme? Studpid questions, ignorant comments, and the writting abilities of an eight year old?

Granted he doesnt always display ALL three in evry post but every post has at least one of those characteristics.

[/quote]

First off, thanks for all the feedback from EVERYONE! It’s been of great HELP! About Van Damn; I know fighting in not all like the movies, I just admire his physique.

HOw is this a stupid question?!! Asking my fellow T-dudes about Martial Arts! And I didn’t know this was a writing contest. My writing is fine, why are you knocking it bro? You didn’t leave me any advise, just tried to put me down, not cool.

I do have some books on JKD & have glanced over them, now I’m ready to get out my highlighter & devour them.

About competing; maybe down the road as I got better & the condifidence went up, hell yeah that would be fun & give me a push too!

I post some crazy shit I know; buts it’s not often only every now & then. Just to stir things up & c some funny reactions. It’s all good. Some of u get really upset too! It’s too funny.

Oh, and BTW! I’m not looking to start shit & be a cocky ass w/ gettting into fighting/self defense. I’m not a big mouth at all. I agree the best thing is to avoid or get the hell out a sistuation quickly!

Thanks again, lots of great useful real world info & advise!!

check out www.bullshido.com
they have a forum and articles and it seems they are all about realistic training and challenging outlandish claims made by martial artists looking to make a buck.

I have trained in boxing, kickboxing, and BJJ and thought they where awesome. I want to try Krav Maga, or Russian martial arts. I have heard good things about both of those.