[Andrew W Scott]

OK, some of you guys (and gals) in here must know something about martial arts.

I've lost a lot of weight recently and got a lot fitter, and I was toying with the idea of maybe taking up a martial art of some description to continue my fitness and also maybe learn a new skill. I'm getting a bit bored just going to the gym every day.

Now I will be the first to admit that I know basically zero about martial arts. My entire knowledge of martial arts is this:

• "karate" is Japanese for "empty hand"
• there is something called a "wushu", or maybe just "wushu" (although I have no idea what that word means)
• I've also heard of a black belt, and dans (is it something like 1 to 5)
• there are martial arts called judo, and jujitsu (spelling?)
• it can either look really cool or really dorky in movies

Yeah I know there is a great long thread entitled "I need to learn Kung Fu fast" but I started reading it and there seemed to be a bit of, er, shall we say, "heated debate", in there, so it turned me off that thread a bit.

It would be great if someone could give me any thoughts on their experience studying/practicising/doing (I don't even know what word to use) one or more of the martial arts. Are there classes? Where can you do it in Hong Kong? How much does it cost? What are the advantage/disadvantages of any one particular martial art over others? Stuff like that.

Any information at all would be great.

[Sleuth]

At the risk of reopening your heated debate, I think any form of shaolin kung fu trumps the others in terms of practical self-defense. If you want to break boards and bricks, shaolin isn't that helpful.
I took wing chun kung-fu and jeet kune do and loved it. Seemed to be more practical for self defense and JKD was a little bit of everything. Although the Thai boxers were also pretty formidable. Many people I studied with were UFC people and it all seemed to work for them. (I was never that brave.)
I think a lot of martial arts depends on whether you believe that every street fight ends up in a wrestling match. Certain martial arts are basically uselss on the ground.
Let the debate begin....

[discobay]

It all depends on what Andrew wants out of this. Does he want to master an art or does he just want something to improve his fitness, agility and self-confidence?

[Boneco]

Or maybe u wanna try an exotic martial art like capoeira. Capoeira is a Afro-brazilian martial art form created by the slaves who were brought from Africa to Brazil by the Portuguese. So that they could practice this martial art the slaves had to create a way of fighting without their owners would find out they were training to get away of the Senzalas ( Slave houses ). They did it by combining fighting arts with acrobatics,music and dancing. Even though most people think only super-fit people can do capoeira, everyone can practice from 9 to 99, because capoeira its not those acrobatic and complex summpersaults that defy gravity, capoeira is a philosophy of life and even an effective self-defense style.

[Andrew W Scott]

I must emphasise that I may end up doing none of them, I'm just toying up with the idea at the moment. I'm also toying up with the idea of learning how to dance - I've always been a typical male phobic of any dance floor and it would be good to do something about that too.

Anyway, back to the martial arts.

Sleuth:

I wasn't really thinking of it in a "street fighting" way. I can count the number of physical fights I've had in my life on one hand, I'm not the sort of person who generally gets in them. Having said that, of course who wouldn't want to know how to defend themselves against three drunken triads (as long as they don't have guns!) Actually, many years ago a friend of mine who was a black belt in karate told me that the best defence is to run, no matter how many dans are on your black belt.

Discobay

Well I guess you have asked the logical question. Maybe I could do one or two martial art training sessions a week in place of (or even in addition to) my cardio sessions at the gym, just so I get my cardio in but also learn a skill at the same time, and maybe meet some like-minded people. I'm new to Hong Kong but intending to stay for quite a while, so I have to build up a social network all over again from scratch.

At the moment I do 30 mins bike and 20 mins stepper every Tuesday and Thursday and while it helps to keep me fit, I don't particularly get anything else out of it. I was thinking if I could still burn the same amount of calories but also learn something new in the process that would be better than just burning the calories mindlessly (I think I have well and truly mastered the "art" of riding a gym exercise bike and walking up stairs!)

So to specifically answer your question I would tick the following of the options you suggested: (1) master an art (2) improve fitness (3) improve agility. I'd also like to maybe meet some new friends and also make my body more flexible (yeah I know I should do yoga but at the moment I'm feeling it's just too "new age/girly" for me, maybe I'll get over that in a while). Actually, that brings me to another question, if you join Pure Fitness, does that also get you into any Pure Yoga places? Does anyone know? Does it matter whether you join Kinwick or IFC?

Boneco

Actually now you mention it I have heard of Capoeira, and even saw a demonstration of it once on TV. Looks like a real workout. But somehow I don't think it's for me. Yeah I know, I'm saying that from a position of ignorance but while I can watch those Capoeira guys do their thing and certainly appreciate it for what it is, I just can't see myself doing it.

Anybody else any thoughts? Is there anyone who is actually currently practising a martial art in HK? (not that I'm implying you guys aren't)

[Boneco]

Why dont u try Wing Chun? The Kung fu style Bruce lee learned before moving to his own syle, Jeet kune do

[Andrew W Scott]

Well, since you suggested those two and Sleuth has done them both, these questions are directed to Sleuth:

1. In 50 words or less *joking*, what is the difference between Wing Chun kung-fu and Jeet Kune Do?
2. Which did you like more and why?
3. What about practical differences like price, time of the day for classes, location of classes, stuff like that?

Thanks heaps for the answers. So nice to be able to get information here like this.

[GrahamR]

Since I used to be on a pro MMA fighting team, I can advise on what is effective on the combative and the fitness side - if it is self-actualization and inner peace you desire, don't ask me, but don't trust what others are selling you, either.

Grappling (brazilian ju-jitsu, or BJJ) is excellent, and if you would rather hit someone (not my preference), Muay Thai is good. I used to train both, and they were both physically rigorous, useful in my fights, and fun.

"Traditional" martial arts can be beautiful (i.e. kung fu, capoeira), but weren't for me, since I'm a pragmatist. It depends on what you want.

[Andrew W Scott]

Originally Posted by GrahamR

Since I used to be on a pro MMA fighting team, I can advise on what is effective on the combative and the fitness side - if it is self-actualization and inner peace you desire, don't ask me, but don't trust what others are selling you, either.

Grappling (brazilian ju-jitsu, or BJJ) is excellent, and if you would rather hit someone (not my preference), Muay Thai is good. I used to train both, and they were both physically rigorous, useful in my fights, and fun.

"Traditional" martial arts can be beautiful (i.e. kung fu, capoeira), but weren't for me, since I'm a pragmatist. It depends on what you want.

Hey, Graham, thanks for the reply.

Sorry if any of my questions are really basic, but this is an area of sport I simply know nothing about. MMA stands for mixed martial art, right? Is that something like that Ultimate Fighting where you guys just basically get thrown in a cage and there's no rules??? If you did that, I take my hat off to you, that takes guts.

I think I'm more after the physical side than the "self-actualization and inner peace" stuff. Don't get me wrong I'm all for "self-actualization and inner peace" and will take any of that if it comes along for free with the physical stuff. But I've done a lot of that kind of mental/spiritual/emotional stuff over the last few years and don't particularly feel I need a lot more right now.

I think physically, I'd be looking for two things:

1. Straight out cardio work. You know what I mean, get the heart rate up and have a good sweat and workout, burn some calories off.

2. Learn a useful skill. I don't mean useful as in I want to go out picking fights or anything (that's the last thing on my mind) but useful as in "mastering an art" like you might master learning to fly, or a language, or how to drive a race car. Yeah of course it would be nice to know how to defend yourself if someone attacked you, but like really, how often does that happen?

About your "grappling" (brazilian ju-jitsu, or BJJ) versus "hit someone" question, I think I'd actually prefer to hit someone!! Haha...obviously not hit someone as in hurt them, but you know to me it seems more satisfying to go WHACK than to kinda wrestle/grapple/struggle on the floor...

I know this might be a "how long is a piece of string" question, but with these martial arts, how much time do you spend punching/kicking thin air in practice drills as opposed to "fighting" in a you versus him/them situation?

Thanks a lot for your insights...

[Boneco]

Originally Posted by Andrew Melb

Well, since you suggested those two and Sleuth has done them both, these questions are directed to Sleuth:

1. In 50 words or less *joking*, what is the difference between Wing Chun kung-fu and Jeet Kune Do?
2. Which did you like more and why?
3. What about practical differences like price, time of the day for classes, location of classes, stuff like that?

Thanks heaps for the answers. So nice to be able to get information here like this.

1) In Wing chun, you have classical positions,classical weapons,Forms ( routines of movements ), its basically like any martial art. In Jeet kune do, u simply have what Bruce Lee thought to be his Philosophical approach to Martial arts and self-defense. Its like a combination of different martial arts, like Wing-chun,Jiu-jitsu,wrestling, even the footwork of fencing is used in Jeet Kune do. Plus here u train for the reality of using the techniques u learn in a self-defense situation.
2) Honestly, i prefer Wing Chun, cuz there is a lot of history and tradition behind that Kung-fu style, plus u can train with weapons such as long pole, and the twin butterfly knives, not mentioning that u get to train with a wooden dummy.
3) Im not living in Hk yet, but i have lots of friends in here. If u'r really interested let me know, and i'll ask them for that information