Mumsnet Martial Artists

Hi AmurAmour

I'm not an expert in kickboxing by any means but I do think the kicks will get easier as your balance and flexibility improve. Technique is important too, so you could always ask your instructor to watch you throw the kick you're having trouble with and advise (I always get 'put your hips into it more').

And high kicks look good, but low kicks are useful too, a low round kick to the side of the knee can be very effective, or a side thrust kick to the solar plexus. No need to be trying to kick people in the head all the time - unless that's what you need to grade I suppose?

Glad you're enjoying it, I also got into it through watching my kids.

Hi there! I have recently taken up kickboxing having watched my kids do it for a few months thought I would give it a shot too. So far I am loving it! The fitness side of it is great and I get such a buzz. I do find the side kicks really hard though and think I just need to improve overall strength to get higher. Any tips?

This evening I did proper sparring for the first time which was brilliant fun although unnerving at first. Have never actually tried to punch and kick someone before!

Congratulations on the double grading Pooky... it's a nice ego boost when that happens. While the journey is important, there's no reason it has to be misery all the time
Patterns are good and interesting to learn and while we may know the actual moves in the pattern for a grading etc, it's only after years of study that they become 'right' ... after over 20 years I'm still tweaking and improving and learning.... despite not being as agile as I was in my 20s... lol... the important thing is to enjoy it... start looking at the patterns and what they are trying to teach us... even though he's not taekwondo, you might find Iain Abernethey interesting... some of your patterns have evolved from the karate patterns and so the 'encyclopaedia' is the same, just in a different language... keep at it, ladies... and any gents too

Hi, I have started doing Krav Maga - finding it fun and useful for fitness. Can't compare it to other MAs as I haven't done any - just some self defence lessons.

Oh that's interesting.

We grade every 3 months until blue belt, then it's 6 months and I think it's a year between black stripe and black belt with a pre grading thrown in. Once you're a blackbelt it's 4 years before you can grade for second Dan.

My dc are so much better then me at it, I'm ok with patterns and love sparring but my line work is crap. I'm so uncoordinated.

It has made me a lot more confident in myself as well as more fitter. I also feel more interesting as a person as I have such a cool hobby

No the patterns are different, we do the Taegeuk patterns. We generally learn a pattern ahead of the one that's needed. Double gradings are allowed but they only happen at the lower belts. How often do you grade? We grade once every 6 months.
We punch as well but only to the body.

Pooky does wtf have the same patterns as itf? We're not allowed to double grade, can only learn the pattern that's for your next grading. I'd quite like to double grade I go 3x a week and have known my pattern well enough for grading for ages. We learn the last taekwondko moves that general choi set down as right but puma does change some things. I thought the only difference between itf and wtf was wtf do more kicking where itf we kick and punch plus our taekwondko is signwaved.

Socksy I'm always smiling as well, get punched in the face and I carry on laughing after the shock!

I had my grading yesterday, double graded Got a green belt.

I am completely black and blue today, I had to spar two 6ft tall men simultaneously. They were told not to use to much force but one of them isn't very good at controlling how much force he uses!

I'm not that good at sparring. I'm way better at the patterns.

Hi Pooky and Brandnew,
It's amazing how you get hooked.
I'm permanently back and blue.... not always a good look haha.
I love the grappling in judo and jujitsu and always find myself leaving the mat with a smile on my face.

Oo I didn't know about this thread until now.

I started itf taekwondko in January and I love it. Dc had been doing it for a while previously and I got talked into it by the instructor. Love the sparring especially, didn't realise I would like fighting until now.

I'm covered in bruises all the time as well pooky, my school isn't the very light contact sort

I train in WTF taekwondo. I'm only a beginner, I got my yellow belt at Christmas and have another grading in two weeks time. I really enjoy it even though I'm always covered in bruises!

I'd love to try a grappling martial art like judo or jujitsu one day.

Hello ladies ( and any lurking gents )
Just thought I'd add to the recent resurrection of this thread.... nice to see other Mumsnetters doing a little MA.
I've been training in karate over 20 years with a little judo and boxing long ago and some jujitsu more recently.
Really enjoying it but it's definitely hard work.... especially as I'm not 20 any more...
Would be great to see more people joining in here again.

Hello there, anyone know of a good Wing Chun place or session around the Walthamstow area, London E17? I think from what I have read it's probably the best form of defense for kids.

I love having a personal trainer, and I'm just straight with them if I think the weight is not enough I tell them. (then I regret it because it's hard but hey, if you're paying for it it has got to be effective otherwise you're wasting your money!!)
I would advise you to try several trainers before you commit. Maybe three sessions per trainer and then move on to see what else there is on the market?

My excellent trainer is moving to greece (argh!) and I'm trying another one out for three weeks and then another one for three weeks.
I already think I want to train with the second one but he is on holiday so I think it is a great opportunity to try someone else out, you just never know.

I used to train with female trainer, this time round the circumstances made it that I trained with a male and I think it works better for me.

I have to admit I'm considering getting a personal trainer next year- if I can find one who's prepared to bully me into doing what needs to be done!

Butterbur - ouchy! Funny though about your club seeming to do less sparring- I wonder if insurance companies in general have put their rates up for this kind of thing? I also remember our club competitions being more full-on but certainly they had softened by the one and only time I entered one! (I got a warning for 'pushing'. I didn't push. I was just more of an aggressive sparrer than my opponent!)

Muay Thai sounds good- make sure you keep us updated June!

Heya,

Lovely to find a thread about martial arts, I haven't had a chance to read it all through yet!
I did a bit of karate a few years ago, only up to a yellow belt before the club moved location and I couldn't go anymore.

I only just recently started Muay Thai (about a month ago) and really liking it so far! I have a personal trainer twice a week who I do boxing/weight training/cardio with who says my level of fitness is excellent.

Thanks rubberduck for the sumptuois website link, very interesting! I like BodyBuilding.com it also has a forum!

Looking forward to hearing about people's experiences on here :)

Our club seems to have done less sparring since I dislocated my finger in the autumn, trying to block a kick with it. Maybe all the senseis started thinking of their insurance, or maybe it's just coincidence.

When we had a club competition, the men got a bit carried away, and there were broken noses, black eyes, broken ribs, and broken feet. while I understand what you say about knowing what a punch feels like, I'm not sure I could take that sort of battering. It was supposed to be light contact too.

Yay. We're all back!

Good luck for your grading, Butterbur. Make sure you come back and let us know how you got on!

I know what you mean about the fitness thing. The last grading I did nearly killed me (over-dramatic ) and I realised if I'm going to pass 2nd dan I really need to do something. The problem is I hate cardio work... I need someone to bully me into it!

Still I've got...erm... a year and a half to worry about that. No problem.

On a more depressing note (well for me anyway. And the rest of our region!) my club has decided that we're being too rough with our sparring. They have dictated that all sparring is to be non-contact. Blocking should be gentle.

I have (as does my sensei) a problem with this. In our opinion changing the rules like this reduces karate to, basically, an exercise class, of the type you can take in any gym. It developed as a means to defend oneself against attack. Indeed, if you read the website, in the 'What is required to grade to next level' section, it says that a black belt should be able to defend themselves against most unarmed attacks.

Now, if you have never been on the receiving end of a punch or kick- how on earth are you going to be able to recover and respond to an attack? It's ludicrous.

Fortunately my sensei believes the same thing and within our region we have controlled contact sparring.

Anyway. Rant over.

I find that with karate too. In fact last summer I took up running - something I never thought I'd be inspired to do, and now run about 20k a week. I found to my surprise that most of the senior grades had done something similar as they got higher up. It always seemed to be just me struggling with fitness.

I can see where I'm going to be wasting my time today, Rubberduck.

Are you still doing Krav Magar? how's it going?