Mumsnet Martial Artists

[RubberDuck]

The runners have their thread, thought it would be nice to have a thread for the Mumsnet MAers - surely I'm not the only one?

As an intro - my martial art of choice is a blend of Wing Chun and have been practising it for just over a year now. Would love to have the space (and the money) for a wooden training dummy, but looks like I'll have to hold fire for now.

There seems to be a shortage of message boards for women in martial arts - would be interested in sharing experiences (and injuries, heh) with others out there.

I don't know anyone that's started judo specifically, BeenBeta, though quite a few men about your age have started karate.

Can you talk to any of your son's instructors? They might be able to give you some pointers.

Don't feel nervous though. It's been my experience that martial arts folk are extremely welcoming and friendly, no matter what your age/experience.

Do you ever find that learning something in training often isn't about the actual techniques or moves but learning about yourself and dealing with other aspects of your life as well?

Just come back from a session which felt more like intense counselling than training. I've come out with some techniques, yes, but also dealt with quite a big chunk of life shit at the same time which makes the techniques feel almost incidental. Odd, but very cool and timely.

How d'you mean, exactly, RubberDuck?

I mean, karate has given me much more confidence, not just in that I feel more able to defend myself physically, should I need to, but also in other life situations.
Is that the sort of thing?

How did you hear about/get into Wing Chun, by the way? Sounds interesting.

Hmm, not sure how to explain it without going into too much identifying detail.

I have been having issues with an aspect in class that I'm finding hard. I had a private lesson today and brought up (in conversation) the issue, which I had previously thought was a physical training one. Sifu actually identified it wasn't what I thought it was, and it was actually related to a whole load of other life crap going on (that I hadn't told him about, but he inferred anyway) that was causing me to have a mental block.

A lot about confidence, but also dealing with conflict, finding balance and focusing more on my strengths rather than always running down my weaknesses. Does that make sense?

It's just surprised me how much I'm learning that actually isn't anything to do with fighting/defense. I guess that's why it's called an art .

Why Wing Chun? Well I didn't want to travel too far and my local community centre had a choice of karate, kick boxing or Wing Chun. Our local karate school was very much geared around children (and frankly, I was looking for an adult space away from my OWN children at the time - didn't want to be around anyone else's ) and I have a lousy sense of balance so kick boxing didn't look like it was going to be made for me!!

So, Wing Chun by default, almost. But that said, I think it's a good match for me. It's very aggressive, very close range, but it's based on body structure and minimal effort for maximum power - ideal for women really. The legend goes that it was actually invented by a woman (although it seems to have dubious historical basis). I also love the art aspects - the forms don't look much at all - not designed to be pretty, just very functional.

The other art I'd really like to try at some point is Krav Maga - because that really does look quite brutal/facing your fears head on sort of mentality which terrifies me but is also rather intriguing as a result.

I did judo and tae-jitsu but since moving to France my options are kick-boxing, kick-boxing or....kick-boxing. Anyone do kick-boxing and want to fill me in?!

Judo & BeenBeta -- I hope you decide to train in Judo as an adult. I know several men locally who have started Judo as adults and gotten on well. If you are somewhere densely populated (big city) I suspect you'll find enough adult competitors to train with; you can always partner up with teenage girls for training.

DC Judo club has a lot of girls but no adult women instructors or helpers; it would be great if they did have such a role model. Irony is that we have living locally a previous national and international Judo champion, but she turns her nose up at DC club as not challenging enough for her (argh).

Oooo can you not do Savate, Vive? That's supposed to be a great french martial art. It was designed around restrictive spaces (for sailors incidentally) - has a lot of balance and street fighting so an excellent self-defence art: Savate (although it is similar to kickboxing style and can be known as French Kickboxing too).

Fight Quest ep on Savate looks bloody awesome.

And while I'm linking to stuff can I link to my hero Donnie Yen? Ip Man fight with Northerner

Okay, it's a cinematically controlled fight, but it's quite a good demo of the minimalist movements in Wing Chun. Everything is about shortest distance, minimum effort, maximum power.

Thanks all for the Judo encouragement.

I am fairly fit and not overweight so I should be OK on that score. Just a bit worried I would always be partnered with much more experienced bigger men.

Would feel odd fighting a woman. Not bothered about being thrown by a woman but would I suspect feel I had to hold back a bit in case I hurt her.

I know, I know.....

Shodan - for "aggressive" sparring? Were they expecting you to give your opponent a hug? Seriously, I also initially became interested as an extension of some self-defence training I was doing; it would not make much sense to me to have no contact. But I suppose there are folks who are into it for other reasons...

Those of you considering starting as an adult, definitely go for it. I do know people who've started karate, judo, and ju jitsu as adults and loved it (prepare to be sore for a while at first!); it's a fun thing to start with your son or daughter too.

Don't worry BeenBeta - what you'll tend to find is that said woman gets fed up of being treated too gently, gives you a clout, and then you start fightin' back properly

(Actually, I've never had a problem that way around - I've had lads not realise their own strength and gone overboard, and a couple of younger girls who are all a bit 'oh NO I'm so sorry did that hurt?' when you barely felt them.)

Training partners are all about a balance of trust and a good Sensei/Sifu will look out for that and also partner appropriately. If you hold back too much, then you won't be doing your partner any favours as they'll get a false sense of confidence. If you go overboard, then your partner will get injured/lose confidence/not come back. You'll find your balance soon enough.

What I've generally appreciated from the higher ranks is them to go softly softly until I've got the technique down, then upped the force - that's really helpful. The day I got out of a wrist lock from a bodybuilder (who warned me he was going to go all out and would have to get out fast not to get hurt) was AWESOME.

Erm, I mean wrist grab not wrist lock. I'm clearly half asleep at the moment.

oooh, good idea for a thread.

Kickboxing here, since 1999, although I haven't been in 4 years due to having babies. Funnily enough I was in touch with my teacher at the start of the week as I am going to go back in the Autumn. Roll on shuttle runs, push ups and arm / leg blocks. .

I managed to get to purple belt, only brown and black to go but TBH I don't have the balls to go any further, or the time to train.

We do full contact fighting. I competed a couple of times but never won a fight .

Good initiative!

I've been doing karate (shotokhan) for 5 years and am currently 1st Dan but going for my 2nd Dan in December.

Also in France Vive but haven't had any trouble finding a karate club! (and in the same place there's also judo, ju jitsu, krav maga, kickboxing....)

Don't have any DC yet but can see that'll I'll have to stop for a while when pregnant. So will be training hard for the 2nd Dan whilst I'm still able!

Our club has very few women, and is full on contact. Sometimes the blokes don't realise their strength, sometimes they're just showing off (especially if they're not black belt - they don't appreciate a woman being better than them!). Protection is most definately needed, even when we're not sparring but just working together.

Question about black belt - I got my 1st Dan in France, where the exam is held by the French Karate Association, and they are the only institution to be able to give you a black belt. Is it the same in the UK? Or can your club give you your black belt? If so, how do you know the standards are the same?

I find the worst blokes to fight with are the newbies, they seem to want to prove themselves fighting a woman and try and get heavy handed. I love fighting the black belts as they just block everything I throw at them which winds me up so I get really narky and try and hit / kick them back.... I rarely landed anything on them.

Might be better at it now I have kids, more aggression to get out?

fluffy I managed to train until 20 weeks pregnant and only stopped as my licence ran out. My teacher just let me do whatever I felt comfortable with (certainly NO contact). Everyone else would be doing 30 push ups and I did a couple, lots of gentle pad work too. I loved having my belt tied under my bump.

Yeah you're right about the newbie thing - eventually they learn that technique is required as well as brute force and they calm down a little

CRAP license - just realised mine's due! That was a timely reminder!!!!

Agree Meglet- hate fighting newbies. Even women cos I find they don't try to control anything and just panic and lash out. Or moan if you touch them.

One of my pet hates is people wearing jewellery whilst training. I kindly pointed out to a newbie that she shouldn't wear earrings and she said no one should hit her in the head I gently explained that kiminos can get caught easily and it might be someone she's not working with that accidently hits her head. It didn't work.

Mind you, that same white belt, when we gently told her that this was a black belt training session turned up the next week with a black belt . Coach told her she couldn't wear it again

Good news about the training during the first few months - would definately need to avoid all contact. What worries me is that we often work in pairs, and I think I'd be scared of being hit....will worry more when the time comes I think!

Oh I quite like training with newbies - I learn much more when I'm having to explain something to someone else and it's a confidence boost to see how far you've come since you've started. There's the occasional bad attitude, but then Sifu tends to keep an eye in those situations.

I also think there's cases of being over reliant on protection and I'm surprised it's being used in non-combat normal training situations. It's a mark of respect to work on the basis of "if you can touch, you can hit" and it's good to learn the control. There's a time and a place to go all out.

It's a shock to get hit without protection, but you don't have padding on the street - I know I can take a hit, and I won't be as shocked next time. More importantly, if I'm attacked and get hit, then there's a better chance that I won't freeze in shock.

rubberduck Totally right about getting used to being hit. Very scary the first few times, and I don't like my nose being hit at all, but makes me feel less vulnerable when I'm out and about as I'd hopefully be able to fight back, or run away faster than most thugs can run.

Do you find that you end up working out scenarios as you're walking along out and about? I'm forever thinking, well if that person walking towards me gets nasty, then I could do this, that and then the other then LEG IT. I've mentioned it to some non-MA friends and they've looked absolutely horrified and assumed that I'm just extremely paranoid!

Good thread. I took up Wado Ryu Karate aged 40 and am now 3rd kyu (first of the 3 brown belts in this style). Currently I have lost a bit of motivation and need to get back to regular training. I miss the toned arms (no bingo wings in karate!).

I agree with those who hate sparring with newbies especially the blokes who don't want to be hit by a woman and take a (gentle) tap as a reason to start flailing around.

I guess I just see it as we were all newbies once and it's part of my duty to help guide them in the right direction

Even a year down the line, I can still remember how utterly intimidating it was to walk into a room where everyone else knew exactly what they were doing. There was just so much to remember and try and get right. I was that flustered flailing person once!!

(and actually, taking over responsibility to teach the lower ranks is actually a requirement of our higher gradings)

rubberduck all the time . We also do knife defence and self defence so I like to think I have a slightly better chance of dealing with an attacker. TBH until I started kickboxing I never knew what it would feel like to be hit or (pretend) attacked, now I know the full force of it and have a rough idea what to do I get spooked thinking how vulnerable I used to be.

Can we also mention sweaty blokes too. I do not like being paired up with someone sweaty.