Martial Arts?

[Vicman]

Martial Arts?

Anyone here take/know any martial arts? If so what do you know/take?

I'm considering buying this book "Art of Shaolin Kung-Fu" By Wong Kiet Kit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804834393/ref=sib_rdr_dp/104-1170685-4271160?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books
as it looks like a real worthwhile read and intro into Shaolin Kung-Fu.

I'm considering getting into some sort of Martial Art once I've gotten back into shape again. I'd probably be better suited to studying Judo/Russian Martial Arts since when I've fought it's been more grappling than punches and kicks. Also I seem to exert much more force and power when I use my knees and elbows than my fists and feet. I have a very good center of balance and have a very good knowledge of how to use the raw physical tools my genes gave me, being that I'm 6'3' and can comfortably be at 230-40 LBS with no serious excess fat. Even when I was only 200 LBS I could easily out muscle ppl bigger and heavier than me. Examples being things like working the post/boxing out in Basketball & tackling/stiff-arming/running over ppl in Football.
But I'd rather learn something I like (Shaolin Kung-Fu) than something I might be better suited for (Judo/RMA)...

 

[SkyFinch]

Re: Martial Arts?

I took some Karate when I was a kid but didn't get very far. (School, and a job forced me to quit) They also had a habit of not having the instructor around, so a lower belt would teach the class, and so, I got pissed. Running around the room and doing push ups is not what I paid for.

I currently take TKD to help strengthen my knee. It’s a bit boring, cause I want to kick and free spar at full strength and speed, but have to go half assed, because I don’t match up well with the others. Being the lowest belt in the class, but being somewhere in the top 3 in terms of kicking power, I have to spar with black and red belts in order to get anything out of each class. One thing I like is that when we do spar it's more freestyle than point style, so you can do a lot more than just kicks.

There aren’t any other schools in my area. There’s Karate, but I don’t like it. If there were Kickboxing, or Jujitsu I would sign up this very moment. For now, I’ll keep going to TKD for my knee, but will train on my own this summer. (shadow boxing, building more muscle)