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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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 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!

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.