Just wondering how many practice martial arts on here, and what styles you study.

I myself have done 6 years of Hawaiian Kenpo. A streetfighting style really. Combines a little bit of all styles to take out multiple attackers.

I'm getting ready to end my first year of Gung Fu (Yes, Gung, not Kung). I really appreciate its beauty and a lot of its practicality. I am very fortunate to have a traditional master. He doesn't concentrate on back flips and the like.

On the side I've been taught a little bit in Aikido, Tia Chi, Capeoria, Jeet Kun Do, Wushu, Chi-Gung, Pi Gua, Boxing, Kick Boxing, Muay Thai. I would takem ore classes on these if I had time

Only a little karate years ago, and I want to start kendo and kenjutsu but there's no dojo closer than New York.

For the record: 'gung fu' and 'kung fu' are both acceptable English renditions. What form? 'gung/kung fu' by itself is more of a general term (as you probably know, it only means 'effort' or 'hard work').

'gong fu' is also an acceptable version.

I've taken Korean Tae Kwon Do since I was in seventh grade (thanks to getting the crap beat out of me); had a a little time off while I was in college, now I've been back in it for about three years. I love it. I also know a little Hapkido (several grabs), but that's about it.

I took a few years of Aikido, and about a year of a traditional japanese sword fighting style of which I still don't know the name. They kind of taught it to me on the side. It was awesome.

Excellent point Evan. While I am aware of their basic meanings, after practicing Kung Fu for a dy or two and then starting Gung Fu, I FELT the difference. The movements were similar, but very different. Its hard to explain.

And also, people look at you kind of funny when you say it with a "G."

Do you guys get into the philosophy of traditional martial arts? I'm interested to hear what your masters have taught you over the years.

Cobra, talk a little more about your version of Tae Kwon Do. So often I go into the Dojos and it seems one buys their belt more then earns it. Theres something wrong with a 9 year old black belt.

Personally, i like the Jeet Kun Do philosophy. "Belts are only meant for holding your pants up." It all depends ont he skill of the fighter, not thei status in a group. Which is why I appreciate my Gung Fu master. He refuses to use a belt system in the Dojo, to prove that everyone is of the same status, therefore no one should be superior to the other. I spoke with amy master about his philosophy, and he said that we taught him as much as he taught us.

On the other hand, I appreciate my Kenpo Sifu. you had to bust your butt and nail the Katas and technques before he allowed you to wear a belt. It took me and two other students who started at the same time those 6 years just to acheive green belt.

Where do you all stand?

I did Tae Kwon Do for a few years. Its true that it doesnt take too much to 'earn' a black belt,but i mainly trained for tournaments. I have also done Krav Maga, which is very deadly and unlike Tae Kwon Do, Krav Maga is meant to be used on the street. Apparently alot of special forces teams around the world are trained in Krav Maga

i would love to learn Krav Maga! But I can't find a dojo anwhere. it is heavily used by the Israeli Special Forces, ad I think, but not sure, it was originated there.

yup:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_maga

Well, I use the term "Korean" Tae Kwon Do because the mental aspect of what we learn is very, very heavily influenced by Korean culture and history (understandably so, since that's where the martial art has its roots). There's all the Korean termninology, for one thing, and at least half of our forms (the ITF forms) have their definitions taken from famous Korean leaders and their contributions to society. Back when I used to take it in high school, we referred to another style as "American" Tae Kwon Do, which focused less on these aspects. Of course, those may be unnofficial titles...I dunno.

With each belt, we learn two new forms (one ITF, one WTF), a series of self defense moves, a series of one steps, and a series of sparring drills.

Personally, I've always enjoyed TKD because of the sparring, the forms, and the heavy use of legs (as I am 6'4", those kinda come in handy sometimes). A well done form is absolutely beautiful to watch (prolly not just in TKD, either...I'm sure Karate has some great ones too).

I don't doubt that there are some schools that hand out belts for cash, but I haven't seen that at the two schools I've attended. Personally, I like the philosophy behind belts: historically, as the student progressed, their white belts became dirtier and dirtier, eventually becoming black. With our current school, there is only so far you can progress until, if you don't know your stuff (mentally and physically), you can go no further.

I would like to learn a little more Judo, too. I use to know a throw or two, and now I've forgotten all of it. It seems like that would be one of the more practical styles, especially in a close quarters fight.

quote:

Originally posted by Eorl:
Its true that it doesnt take too much to 'earn' a black belt

Eh, again, I say it depends on the school. I don't agree with a gross generalization like that from my experience.

edit: just checked out the wiki link...krav maga sounds quite awesome.

I'm heavily trained in the martial arts.
I've seen both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon AND Hero. I pretty much have a black belt in whoopass.

Cobra, i think it would depend on the school. Where I live there were basically 2 Tae Kwon Do centres. One was more for street fighting and such and the other is the one i went to and was more tournament based. At the tournament based one they had kids (probably about 12 or 13) as black belts. I think the instructor was a little soft on them. Yeah if you can get into Krav Maga i would defintley recommend it. It's quite brutal. We were learning the quickest way of disabling a person so you can move onto getting into his mates (if say you were attacked by a gang)

quote:

Excellent point Evan. While I am aware of their basic meanings, after practicing Kung Fu for a dy or two and then starting Gung Fu, I FELT the difference. The movements were similar, but very different. Its hard to explain.

I believe Evan's point was that there is no difference. Kung Fu and Gung Fu are the same thing. Besides you practice styles of Kung/Gung Fu. So unless certain styles are characterized as Gung Fu and other styles as Kung Fu, (which is something Ive never heard of) you never switched from Kung Fu to Gung Fu. Its just a different way of spelling the same thing.

But anyways I studied Karata when I was younger. It was so many years ago that I forget what style it was. They also taught us some ju-jitsu.

I also studied Northern Shaolin Kung Fu and Yang Style Tai Chi. However when I return to practicing I'd like to study Hung Gar and Wu Shu.

I personally have no problemw ith Belts or Sashes as long as it is an actually achievment and not some formality used to keep students at the school.

Right, I find it funny that one can 'feel' a difference based on whether you use a 'g' or a 'k' to phoneticize its name in English...

I'm not sure if it's even possible to study 'wushu' in the US, as the only possible meaning that isn't hopelessly general refers to a non-combat form artificially created by the Communists after 1949 to prevent the practice of 'real' (ergo dangerous) martial arts.

When I was little I did Goju Ryu...now I can't really remember any of "routines," but I can block,I still do flying kicks and can count to about 1000 in Japanese.

I took shaolin kempo for a few years, and got as far as a green stripe brown belt but quit after that. I still remember all of it.

I say they are different, only because my instructor says so, I tend to think that he knows what hes talking about.

He's always very careful to distinguish Kung Fu and Gung Fu when hes teaching class. And even then, inside those two, hes very careful to distinguish the different styles such as (I know I'm spelling this wrong) Pukoloa, Pi Gua and the such.

They are all so similar, but he always shows us the differences in the movement, which is what I mean when I say I feel the difference. The body is moving differently when practicing the different forms.

But then again, I'm of the philosophy that we should be careful how much we divide martial arts, because tats when the superiority complex starts.

I thought this was interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_martial_arts

The forms are different - most definitely.

I just don't agree that 'kung fu' is different from 'gung fu.' What forms fall under each heading? What are the specific differences? As I said before, it's literally just a different transcription of the Chinese sound which is somewhere between 'gung,' 'kung,' and 'gong.' While I don't intend to slight your instructor, what you're saying is like believing that 'baseball' is a different sport from 'bassball' (pronounced the same, like the instrument or the timbre) because of a one-letter spelling difference. Considering that in the actual pronunciation 'gung fu' and 'kung fu' sound identical, I'm not sure how they can be two differentiatable modes.

As a more positive contribution to this thread, martial arts are awesome, and I intend to start practicing something in the near future.