Martial Arts

Yeah that's what I meant, when I see mixed martial arts fights, the big guys are doing grappling styles where the slimmer fighters use styles like Karate and TaeKwonDo.

I've being doing alot of weights at the gym for the past year but I'm only 22 and not what you'd call heavy weight. I'm agile and very quick, that's why I like styles like Karate, TaeKwonDo and JeetKuneDo.

There's not one fighting style that doesn't have a weakness, so if your aim is simply to become a great fighter, do more than one style. I'm only doing Karate right now, but I'm looking at doing kick boxing too, I get free lessons with my gym membership anyway.
 
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I've started thinking of starting Jeet Kune Do, after reading up on the theories behind it, and quitting Karate for these reasons...

1. Karate punch (straight from hip) is ineffective in street fights.
2. Karate blocks are treated as if the forearms are indestructable.
3. Sparring doesn't even prepare you for a fight. It's more like playing than fighting.
4. Too much emphasis on who can kick the highest, it seems illogical to attack the highest part of your opponants body with the lowest part of your's.
 
I guess it depends what you want from it. If you do loads of conditioning (we do at my club, it varies though) you can build your forearms up to be rock solid, wing chun is the best art for this though.

Sparring is basically just a game, but lots of useful things come from it. Being able to read your opponents face and posture to see where the move is coming from and when is very handy, as is learning to react to attacks from various positions.

The kicking thing sounds odd though. We're taught to kick at head height and slightly above (axe kicks for example), but it's never a competition to get pointlessly high. The logic behind the kicks is that you can attack any part of the body with a foot (just try punches to the legs and see how exposed you are), and if you're fast enough it comes from beneath most peoples' peripheral vision, so they don't see it coming. Also due to the length of the legs, the muscle mass and the weight of the foot, you can do a lot more damage with a well placed kick than a punch.

If it's really hard self-defence you're after check out Krav Maga too :)
 
We're never trained in low kicks (kicks to knee and shin), I suppose it's the rules but it would make you forget to do what is most useful in a situation.

Krav Maga's what the Israeli army uses, it's many locks and holds isn't it?

Should be going my first JKD class tomorrow.
 
slasher said:
Personally, I would avoid any of the traditional martial arts; Karate, Jeet Kune Do, Tae Kwon Do etc....
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I wouldn't say JeetKuneDo's traditional at all. It's the most untraditional style out there, it's not even a style really. Most JeetKuneDo classes train in a lot of MuayThai and Brazilian JuiJitsu. I think alot of people have missunderstood JKD from high-kicking Bruce Lee films, he did it that way because of his experience with GongFu as a youngster.
 
I took my 8th Gup grading on Sunday and passed. Hard work but very worthwhile :)

Did you try JKD?
 
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