Undecided atm. My work schedule doesn't allow me to resume Yang Tai Chi training until October -- I hope.
However one of my Senseis has said that s/he's happy to have be continue coming to class even if I don't ever upgrade my membership. S/he said that it's up to the GKR organisation to chase me up for that membership upgrade fee, but s/he's not going to do it for them.
So it seems my options are:
+ Look for another martial arts school
+ Continue GKR
+ Just train privately (and save my time/money - especially if the schools I'm finding aren't teaching anything of value to me)
I was kinda thinking about trying BJJ, but last week I spoke to this guy, he's a 3rd dan in traditional Okinawan Karate, and he told me that BJJ is also geared toward competition fighting rather than combative/self defensive fighting. He told me that he once had a BJJ guy come to his Dojo and put him in a headlock. He asked the BJJ guy if he had finished the lock, and he said yes. He then dropped back into a Zenkutsudachi and slammed a downward "hammer punch" into the BJJ guy's groin. And I must say that when I used to train with MMA guys who mucked around with BJJ, I encountered similar things -- like when they pinned me from on top, I could really easily just slide my hands down their front and yank their nads off if I wanted to.
But I've personally only ever done BJJ in 'mixed' martial arts schools -- I've never done it in a full proper BJJ Dojo, so I'm wondering if training in a "pure" BJJ dojo would be any better than training in say schools that teach other martial arts or MMA that happen to mix in BJJ with their training. <shrug>
Last week I spoke to a woman who was doing fundraising to send her son to Japan for a Karate championship thing, and she was telling me how her son is now coming to the realisation that his Karate club is all about making money and not about teaching people how to fight. She said that he's been to Japan before for Karate training, and it was over there when he trained in a traditional style's dojo that he realised that his school here is a McDojo. She said that the school in Japan he trained in only had
one belt - black. At first I was surprised, then I stopped and thought about it... but that
does actually sound really traditional! Well, not the black belt (coloured belts are no more ancient and traditional than the modern airplane or automobile
), but of course the concept of not having grades. If they start from black belt, it must mean they're starting from Shodan... which makes perfect sense since "shodan" literally means "beginner's level" and is the traditional point to begin Karate training. All the other levels preceding that have only existed since the 20th Century. It was really refreshing to hear that there are still authentic Karate schools that exist out there.
Reminds me of my old Chen Tai Chi school.
But trying to find authentic martial arts schools like that in my area atm has been... challenging. My quest continues. The lady I spoke to said that she and her son have also been looking for a better Karate school, they said that they've found one that's better than the previous one he was training at - though still not as authentic as the one he trained with in Japan.
I guess the reality is that authentic martial art schools just don't make as much money as the more 'modern' martial arts schools. Even my Chen Tai Chi teacher never made that much money out of his classes - often taught out of his backyard and usually you could count the number of students who turned up on one hand. As disappointing as I've found traditional schools to be, there's no denying that they do rake in a
LOT of money. But I wonder where all that money goes to. It doesn't seem to be reinvested back into the school. Because as small-scale as the Chen Tai Chi school that I went to was, our teacher did reinvest earnings back into the classes by purchasing/maintaining training equipment for students to use such as focus pads, Thai pads, protective gear, weights, kick shields, mats etc. -- and they'd all be regularly used and worn and replaced. The teacher also purchased books -- he had a private library that students could access, and some of the books had to be imported (because it's not easy to find decent literature on martial arts in Western countries). And we never had membership fees or whatever... just an annual fee to cover insurance then basic lesson fees (which became cheaper if you attended more lessons). With GKR, I've paid the trial membership fee and lesson fees; all of which are quite considerable, but I've never seen or touched any training equipment provided from the school. When sparring we actually have to purchase/bring our own protective gear from home. I haven't even seen (let alone touched) a single focus pad or kick shield etc. They don't use weights in training (as I've mentioned before, one of the Senseis argued that it's not part of Karate
). I haven't bothered to purchase a uniform or belt, but I'm assuming that that's gotta be paid out of students' own pockets too, right? Are there fees for grading? It seems that in GKR they keep asking us to pay for this and that... but where's the money going to?
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Undecided atm. My work schedule doesn't allow me to resume Yang Tai Chi training until October -- I hope.
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(even blocking them with your legs hurts, but I'd hate to imagine how painful they'd be to block with arms!)
If you wanna generate more power, I reckon you're better off just launching the kick straight off from the ground and forget about the knee lift. Lifting it off to the side when kicking straight ahead kinda defeats the versatility advantage since you're exposing yourself anyway. 