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Have you tried other martial arts like karate or taekwondo? How does it compare? I recently moved to Toronto and have yet to find a great (ie. non belt promot

Have you tried other martial arts like karate or taekwondo? How does it compare? I recently moved to Toronto and have yet to find a great (ie. non belt promotion based) school downtown. I've found a number of potential BJJ schools though and have been curious.

thomaspaine 16y ago
I did taekwondo when I was little and I know some people who still do it. All martial arts are technical once you get into them, but grappling is different from striking in that what you do with your body is very similar to following a decision tree. Eventually these decisions get internalized into your muscle memory, but there's still a high degree of "if he does A, I'll do B, which will leave me open to C and D, which I can counter with E, F, and G, etc". Basically getting better at grappling involves filling out this decision tree. Striking arts operate at a much faster pace so you really can't do that, the depth of the decision trees are much shorter, which is why I think bjj is more analytical and appropriate for most HNers. I don't want to get into a flame war, but I personally don't find taekwondo and karate to be particularly realistic to fighting. Everyone has different motivations for training though, if you enjoy the fitness and athleticism of those arts, go for it.
- terryjsmith 16y ago
  Yup, no flame here. That's the problem I'm finding here in Toronto (or any major city I would imagine). I lived in a much smaller city a few months ago and was fortunate enough to have a really great instructor and an even better master. Thanks for the advice though, I'll be sure to check it out!
- kls 16y ago
  but I personally don't find taekwondo and karate to be particularly realistic to fighting. I have fairly high level belts in several arts. My father put my in Judo when I was 4, jiu-jitsu and Taekwondo by 6. While there are some Karate styles that have become obsolete with more contemporary arts surpassing them (Kempo comes to mind). I believe that Taekwondo is still a very relevant art even for combat. Taekwondo while extremely difficult due to the technical kicking requirements is by far the most superior kicking art. The problem is that it is not a rounded art. In combat you cannot rely on the fact that you will land the kick ever time and Taekwondo does not really focus on that fact, it has to be augmented with another art. Which usually in Taekwondo schools is Hapkido. The problem is Hapkido is inferior to Aikido or jiu-jitsu. That being said, my son is now 4 and the first art I enrolled him in was Taekwondo. Doing so will allow him to develop superior kicking technique which take the body the longest time to develop and some people after aging are never able to achieve the limberness required to master Taekwondo. I agree with you to the extent that Taekwondo on it's own does not round a person enough to be confident in a street fight. But as an augmentation to other arts it will give you superior leg work over any other art and is very relevant to modern street combat. In the few altercations, that I could not avoid getting into, 2 where ended by a single kick and both where head kicks that are only taught in Taekwondo, so it is effective you just cannot rely on it as your only weapon.
- nchlswu 16y ago
  I think you provided a great breakdown of grappling - the decision tree analogy was great. I think the opportunity to practice something with the analytical element discussed here is great. Really, all martial arts are highly analytical, but different martial arts afford different opportunities to use these skills. I think all martial arts (or martial art sports) involving competition have similar levels of analysis, but lots of martial arts instructors require you to reach some sort of physical foundation before teaching you any true technical aspects. So, as said, it all depends on what you want.
guinness 16y ago
I think that if you are in Toronto, it's worth checking out aikido seishinkai. I used to go there before I moved and missed it ever since. They don't have a website but: http://www.torontoparentsguide.com/spid/1400/details.aspx http://www.torontoparentsguide.com/spid/1400/details.aspx

thomaspaine 16y ago

I did taekwondo when I was little and I know some people who still do it. All martial arts are technical once you get into them, but grappling is different from striking in that what you do with your body is very similar to following a decision tree. Eventually these decisions get internalized into your muscle memory, but there's still a high degree of "if he does A, I'll do B, which will leave me open to C and D, which I can counter with E, F, and G, etc". Basically getting better at grappling involves filling out this decision tree. Striking arts operate at a much faster pace so you really can't do that, the depth of the decision trees are much shorter, which is why I think bjj is more analytical and appropriate for most HNers. I don't want to get into a flame war, but I personally don't find taekwondo and karate to be particularly realistic to fighting. Everyone has different motivations for training though, if you enjoy the fitness and athleticism of those arts, go for it.

terryjsmith 16y ago
Yup, no flame here. That's the problem I'm finding here in Toronto (or any major city I would imagine). I lived in a much smaller city a few months ago and was fortunate enough to have a really great instructor and an even better master. Thanks for the advice though, I'll be sure to check it out!
kls 16y ago
but I personally don't find taekwondo and karate to be particularly realistic to fighting. I have fairly high level belts in several arts. My father put my in Judo when I was 4, jiu-jitsu and Taekwondo by 6. While there are some Karate styles that have become obsolete with more contemporary arts surpassing them (Kempo comes to mind). I believe that Taekwondo is still a very relevant art even for combat. Taekwondo while extremely difficult due to the technical kicking requirements is by far the most superior kicking art. The problem is that it is not a rounded art. In combat you cannot rely on the fact that you will land the kick ever time and Taekwondo does not really focus on that fact, it has to be augmented with another art. Which usually in Taekwondo schools is Hapkido. The problem is Hapkido is inferior to Aikido or jiu-jitsu. That being said, my son is now 4 and the first art I enrolled him in was Taekwondo. Doing so will allow him to develop superior kicking technique which take the body the longest time to develop and some people after aging are never able to achieve the limberness required to master Taekwondo. I agree with you to the extent that Taekwondo on it's own does not round a person enough to be confident in a street fight. But as an augmentation to other arts it will give you superior leg work over any other art and is very relevant to modern street combat. In the few altercations, that I could not avoid getting into, 2 where ended by a single kick and both where head kicks that are only taught in Taekwondo, so it is effective you just cannot rely on it as your only weapon.
nchlswu 16y ago
I think you provided a great breakdown of grappling - the decision tree analogy was great. I think the opportunity to practice something with the analytical element discussed here is great. Really, all martial arts are highly analytical, but different martial arts afford different opportunities to use these skills. I think all martial arts (or martial art sports) involving competition have similar levels of analysis, but lots of martial arts instructors require you to reach some sort of physical foundation before teaching you any true technical aspects. So, as said, it all depends on what you want.

guinness 16y ago

I think that if you are in Toronto, it's worth checking out aikido seishinkai. I used to go there before I moved and missed it ever since. They don't have a website but: http://www.torontoparentsguide.com/spid/1400/details.aspx http://www.torontoparentsguide.com/spid/1400/details.aspx