I have studied Kung Fu San Soo, Hapkido, and Brazilian Jiujitsu which is my favorite style. I currently have a purple belt in BJJ but my fiends in Muy Thai and Krav Maga want me to try their style which I plan to do this year. Will I up give up BJJ? No way. I will just add Muy Thai and Krava Maga to my arsenal.
i trained for a few years in jkd, kali and a bit of shootfighting. i actually made a feature film on my experiences in the martial arts. if you guys want to check out the trailer, go to http://www.ragefilm.com
i’m the guy on the frontpage of the website.
let me know what you think!
I studied Tae Kwon Do a looong time ago. Our instructor was skilled, just not a good teacher. Then I took Shotokan karate with a little Jiu-jutsu for a couple years, got to brown belt, til I left for college. Now I’m studying To-Shin Do, which based on the ninja arts, just updated for modern practicality. I really enjoy it, they make one feel welcome and teach effective techniques. BOSS, do you study at the Quest Center in AZ? I also take a little Tai Chi, and maybe some other Chinese “internal” martial arts if the man we know decides to give lessons.
To-Shin Do
i watch the ufc and pride, really really hard!
Boxed most of my teen years, Muay thai during early 20s and now MMA. My Thai trainer had trouble holding pads for me as his forearm bones would bend on some kicks and he had to hold 2 strike shields for leg kicks. My high kicks were piss weak though due to inflexibility. I hope to use this in my 9/11 tournament.
Watch out for former world Thai champ Paul Briggs in boxing!
Wow!! Great to see all these repsonses, seems like there isn’t a reccurring art everyone is taking, it’s all different. Are many of you active mma fighter’s? I have my first kickboxing match in ontario in september, then in november i’ll have an mma match in quebec for the tko orginization hopefully.
I did ATA Tae Kwon Do for about 5 years, from age 5 to 10. Left that when I got the holy hell beat outta me.
Trained in a Bradshaw Supply warehouse for about 2 years with a little fireplug doing a “real” version of TKD. Good, clean stuff. Nothing over the waist in kicks, mostly hand focus. Hard, hard sparring. And I was the smallest dude there, and one of only two kids. Still they beat the $hit out of me.
School above closed down, went trainingless for about 4 years. Found Isshinryu Karate. Been with it since. Recently got my black belt (and a busted chest/ripped abdominal muscles at aforementioned test).
Can’t squat/bench due to certain skeletal abnormalities (too slight to notice . . . except on x-ray), so I focus on the Romanian DLs, Powercleans, Pullups, etc.
Over the years, I’ve taken the following:
Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido, Gumdo (a korean sword art), and Submission Grappling.
I was taking Tae Kwon Do and Aikido concurrently (I know, contrasting styles, huh?) for a while until I relocated. I then began studying Tang Soo Do for a year until I met one of my best friends who opened his own school. This best friend actually helped train my previous Tang Soo Do Master in Soo Bahk Do. My friend’s Jeremy taught Hapkido and Gumdo, as well as Ji Ap (accupressure). I trained at the school with him for a couple of years, but we also met to train one-on-one several times per week. I guess there’s an advantage to being best friends with your instructor; private individualized lessons. Anyway, he’s the one that gave me the nickname Warrior Spirit. He said I trained with such intensity and drive that I really had the warrior’s spirit. Unfortunately, life led him to move away and there wasn’t another hapkido school in the area. I toyed around with submission grappling for a little while and really enjoyed it, but I haven’t pursued it seriously. I’ve been thinking about going back recently, but its low on my list of priorities now. I have a full-time managerial position. I plan on returning to school full-time this fall. I am married with a one-year-old son and another baby due in January. And I weight train 4-5 days per week. I know others have fuller schedules than mine, but for me personally, this is enough. Perhaps, in the future, I will take up the arts again…
I started in Isshinryu karate when I was twelve, I’m forty now. Isshinryu as taught by my teachers was fairly comprehensive, brutally effective, and well thought out. So I never really switched although I have studied Jeet kune do, wing chun, chin na, tai chi, arnis, chin na and chi gung. My teachers basically told me “we’re going to beat on you because it’ll make you hard”. They were right to a point, but I wish I had given some of my training injuries time to heal. Making me hard when I was younger has left me a little tenderized now I am older. I am still able to most things and I have gotten to know my body and pace it better. I don’t do the kind of hard fighting I used to do. I think the risk of dibilitating injury that will keep me away from training is no longer worth it. For 16 years I have needed to have a rib sawed loose and wired back into it’s original location it’s caused a lot of shoulder problems. To you younger guys I would say put your training into the perspective of a lifetime and train accordingly. A few months letting a broken rib heal when I was 25 would mean an extra 80 pounds on my bench press now I’m 40. Androstenediol has been a godsend it certainly makes the aches and pains go away, I’ll miss it.
All things MMA for me.
Here I am winning two weeks ago…
Here I am losing two weeks ago…
Practiced Tae Kwon Do for 4 years and then moved onto Wushu (Chinese Martial Arts). Been doing it for about 6 years total and can’t imagine doing anything else. The acrobatics are a little hard on my body now but it’s still fun!
Whatever you say, CanCop!
As a kid: Shaolin KF
Now: BJJ, Boxing
Kligor, who is your punong guro in Sikaran? I’m with Sikaran Arnis here in California under Master Henry Bio. His son lives in Vancouver who I will visit next week. He’s 5th degree BB and his name is Homeric. Last time we competed sikaran style was in Manitoba on 1998. We practice once in awhile DOCE pares style in Los Angeles under Jun Onas of Escrimador. Nice to hear from a fellow sikaran.
Cris
My father is a third dan blackbelt in Shorin Ryu Okinawan karate, and I’ve trained in that since I was very young.
Lately, I’ve adopted Muay Thai, Western Boxing and San Shou. I love the sheer power of Muay Thai elbows, kicks and knees, and feel that it is rounded out very well by the hand- and footwork in by Boxing and the throws from the clinch in San Shou.
I only have a passing knowledge of grappling—just enough to stop a drunken tackle or avoid your average single/double leg takedown and keep a fight standing. I plan to pursue Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more in depth once I get the chance…
Nice one JBraswell. Nearly got guillotined again, whew! Looged like a top fight, lots of different techniques from both of you. Hard to tell from photo’s but there weren’t many standup techniques from him?
Had been doing some Kyokushin Karate , but quit because it couldn’t fit into my schedule any more …
With yet another change of schedule ahead , I’ll wait and see if I can fit in some Kyokushin Karate .
I’ve found it to be pretty ‘real’ in the sense of usable in self-defence situations . It has some striking resemblances with Muay Thai and Kick Boxing .
Osu ,
Crouching Tiger
X’tian,
my instructor is not yet a punong guro, but he’s not too far away. His name is Lalchand Daswani. My instructor’s instructor is the punong guro (I think he’s the one that brought Sikaran to Canada), and he does a couple seminars at our dojo during the year. His name is Vic(ente) Ferrer. Vic has a bunch of world champions, and other high-ranking instructors who opened dojos in several provinces, so I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow, one of the people you mentioned is linked to Vic or Lal.
Also, if you (or members of your dojo) compete in Canada, around ontario, manitoba, or saskatchewan, it’s very likely that you’ve come across 2 of our instructors. Do the names “Pak Chan” and “Jake Tan” ring a bell? Lal is our senior instructor, but he no longer competes.
Hey, who knows… maybe one day, I’ll see you in a tournament.
I started in boxing at the age of 12 and continued from there. I have studied various styles from Kenjutsu to Kenpo to Wing Chun. I hold a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido and testing in a month for my yellow in jujitsu. Currently I spend most of my time studying Hapkido, Jujitsu, and MMA.
I’ve studied Shotokan and Kyokushin karate in the past, but currently study Chinese martial arts, specifically Contemporary Wushu, Bagua, Xingyi and Taijiquan.