So, as you might have seen in another thread, I’m off to the Weege and there is some consensus that bits of it are a bit unsavoury.

I’ve been thinking about taking up a martial art for a while, but I’m not really sure where to start – there are so many to choose from, they offer different things and some look like they attract dickheads.

So, any martial artists in the house?

I want one that will quickly and ruthlessly help my fitness. Realy looking for a fitness boost from it.

Then, learning some useful, real world self defence skills is no bad thing.

Also want to boost my flexibility.

And the whole mental thing is interesting. Used to do a heap of yoga to keep my head straight, but it doesn’t look like Yoga has been invented in Glasgow yet. So, I’m wondering if I can get some of the same mental benefits from martial arts??

Any thoughts? THanks.

Where do you live at the moment that makes you think Glasgow will be such a shock to the system? It’s the same as any other big city in the UK for your chances of getting jumped. I’d be very surprised if you can’t find somewhere to do yoga too.

but it doesn’t look like Yoga has been invented in Glasgow yet.

What a load of shite.

And a quick look at the liesure near my office, Gorbals, shows it has Yoga classes.

I’d take up sprinting rather than martial arts. 😉

Well, coming to Glasgow from Australia, via London and Brighton, I can tel you in relative terms that yoga is not really available in Glasgow.

Where are the 6am classes every day of the week? It’s not possible to do a consistent daily practise i.e. same studio, same time, same style every day.

🙁

I have no interest in going to a draughty church hall to take lessons from a middle aged woman called Maureen, who is nice, but doesn’t really get it.

Or perhaps I’m being unfair? You’re the locals, you tell me, please.

And I didn’t say I would get jumped in the Weege, although I perhaps sarcastically hinted at it. Tho it now seems I’ve been verbally jumped, and I thought the Glaswegians were supposed to have a sense of humour! 🙂

Such frightfull snobbery will go down well in Brigton, I think you would be better of in the west end. And the Gorbals Leisure centre isn’t really a draughty church hall.

Find an MMA club. Here you’ll be schooled in Brazillian Jujitsu, Wrestling, Muay Thai and Boxing. This will equip you for any street encounters as well as you can be, you’ll be doing live sparring in all techniques so you’ll have a practical understanding of them and be able to use them, your flexibility will improve greatly and it’ll be physically tougher than any thing you’ve ever done.

In terms or fitness you’ll be a machine within a few months.

Failing that try Judo, Muay Thai or Boxing or cross train in a few.

With regards to the mental benefits – most combat sports (boxing, judo, mma , muay thai) dont really focus on the holistic side of things in the way that some traditional martial arts do. It depends on the trainers really but at the end of the day they are training people to fight so it’s best not to cloud their heads.

You will get a sense of calmness from it though. Bit like mountainbiking, you tend to forget the world and your troubles when someone is trying to beat you up or strangle you.

I have no interest in going to a draughty church hall to take lessons from a middle aged woman called Maureen, who is nice, but doesn’t really get it.

😆

Glasgow Kissing

GnarGnar – thank you. That’s exactly the kind of guidance I was looking for.

Didn’t mean to come across as a snob – I just have a clear idea of what I am seeking, and it really doesn’t look like it’s on offer in Glasgow. And I think that’s a shame.

If you need more specific info just ask.

Ultimately there are no bad martial arts, just bad martial arts teachers. Problem is it’s hard to spot the difference when you first start training.

I can only tell you about the style of Karate I did – Goju Ryu. I got the third dan black belt before I stoppe training (12 years in total) but that style is very practical, very effective. It places a high emphasis on short, upright stances, very little kicking above waist height (in reality you’d never kick higher than the knee in a real conflict) lot’s vital point attacking and a very high emphasis on fitness and strength.

GG – are you in Glasgow? Do you know of anywhere decent that offers MMA? It does sound like what I’m ideally after.

Wing Chung is a safe bet, unless you get (very) lucky and manage to track down any decent internal martial arts people, however last time I trained those (about 6+ years ago) it was all invite only.

A lot of people use the Wing Chung clubs get intro’s to the good stuff.

I started Karate (Shotokan) in January, alway’s wanted to start some form of Martial art. I go with my 6yr old son, so we have a bit of father son time and he learns some discipline at the same time.

I tried a Chinese Kickboxing class also (KungFu) it was more intense than the Karate that I’m currently doing and to me seemed more street fighty (if thats a word).

Jujitsu seems to be highy rated but there are no local classes to me.

Depends what you want I guess, the more traditional forms seem to have grading that you can aim for to keep you motivated. Where as MMA maynot have the grading but potientally better in a pub fight???

Any of the styles will get you fitter, I used to be pants at push-ups, even girlie knee ones. Can now do 40 man push-ups 🙂

Hey Richc, that sounds interesting – please excuse the ignorance, but what is “internal martial arts”. Instinctively it sounds good, but I am a total newbie.

I’ve done Karate, Boxing and Muay Thai. For what you are looking for I’d rank them in this order:

1) Boxing
2) Muay Thai
3) Karate (by default…)

I started with Muay Thai, didn’t get to a high level, then my club disbanded. I joined a karate club instead and found that I was mostly battering the black belts with Muay thai techniques and my strength and fitness.
Then after leaving uni I did a bit of boxing and it was a revelation. I thought I could punch before, how wrong I was. If I hadn’t had a series of hand problems I’d still be doing it.

Caveat: What is presented above is my humble opinion. I recognise not all karate clubs are created equal, I’m sure someone will be along in a minute to espouse the greatness of their club and tell me I’m talking shit.

Try here. They do yoga too. I’m not in Glasgow.

Having also studied TMA I can tell you that there is such a thing as a bad martial art – regardless of the teacher. An example would be Taekwon DO, which should be clearly advertised as a light contact sport, not a combat sport.

MMA is the sport of fighting at all ranges, I’ve studied wing chun, traditional jujitsu and Kyokushinkai as well as MMA.

This is all good stuff. Sounds like any of the disciplines could have a really good fitness pay-off 🙂 Happy days.

Internal Martial Arts = f-ing useless in a fight without years and years and years of training.

Best bang for your buck is boxing or Muay Thai. Branch out into MMA later if you stick with martial arts.

Basically they are more fighting ordinated forms of Tai Chi, look for Xingyiquan and Baguazhang, but there are some also Tibetan ones around but I don’t know if Glasgow has a big enough Tibetan community to support it.

Wikipedia has some OK pages on it.

They focus on the mind, as much as the body as it doesn’t matter how quick you are, if you head can get distracted or can’t keep up then you are going to get hurt/hit.

When I did it, it basically involved a lot of Qigong, lots of walking in circles and muddy hands (sort like sparring, but for > 60 minutes remaining in contact with your opponent with your hands/forearms, but you can use your knee’s, shoulder, head whatever).

Seemed to work quite well, as we just to also used to go around kick boxing/Karate/Wing Chung/Boxing club/groups/seminars every couple of months and train against them as well to ensure we weren’t just training to defend ourselves against what we knew.

Try Wing Chung, if you get on with that it will set you up nicely.

One problem with martial arts is, people think the one they are training is the *best*, and as others said it takes a while to work out if thats true or not 🙂

I only gave it up as I moved away from the club, and it was messing with my head a bit much

I guess it does come down to trying a few different things in Glasgow and seeing what works.

I do like the idea of the internal stuff – anything that might help me learn to concentrate better has got to be a good thing 🙂

Focus is sadly lacking in my house 🙁

Carry a chib! YA DOBBER. No offence, it takes ages to learn to box etc; and you have to walk to your car…late at night after your class…in the dark..talking in a different accent…

carry a knife…

Lol @ Duckman.

I very, very much hope I never ever need to defend myself in the street, but as they are skills I totally lack at the moment I think it could be a good idea to get a few.

I just a need a new way to get fit and a new challenge – and this seems like a good way of doing that. I like the idea of being a “machine within a few months”.

I did a couple of years of MMA with a guy called Duncan Airlie James who used to teach around the West End. I knew the guys from the Griphouse as well, all good coaches.

MMA will get you very fit and is far and away the most effective martial art in terms of self defence. Its all very well being able to dislocate somebody’s pinky but you cant beat a good elbow to the face. You’ll also learn to fight standing up or on the ground, you need to be able to do both and it adds a good variation to the classes as well.

Glasgow is like anywhere else, rough in places but fine most of the time. The local neds are like chavs elsewhere, full of talk but unlikely to resort to physical violence unless provoked.

I can picture the scene menothim strolling down Saltmarket of an evening, couple of neds ask for a light or the time (standard introduction for a fight for no reason), menothim pulls some Honk Kong Fue moves, ned kicks him in the baws, end of story 😉

I’ve done kung fu at both ends of the spectrum, a wing chun class that was pure self defence (5 mins on the pattern then an hour of sparring), and a traditional white crane style that was all about form, patterns and technique.

The latter was miles better, although the techniques were worse than useless for fighting (flapping lower crane block anyone?). The mental training and conditioning, though, were exceptional. Recommend it to anyone.

The only drawback is that these sort of trad Kung Fu styles are extremely difficult to learn. It can get quite frustrating when you just can’t control your body’s movement in the right way. With a sport like mountain biking, if you put the hours in then anyone has a shot at getting to a good standard of strength and skill. Kung Fu is more like gymnastics or chess – unless you’re naturally gifted in that direction you might never get to a good standard.

Gary_M I hope not. I did go to court many, many years ago in Glasgow to give evidence against a scrote who kicked seven bells out of a gay fella in the Merchant City. Having been happily away from the city for many years I probably have an overly dark view of the place – but jeez, it would be nice to dish it properly to a ned in the right/wrong circumstances.

No offense intended op.TBH I think you are worrying about nothing. Glasgow no different to any other city, as stated. My best mate stays in the Copeland road, in the butt end of Govan. Despite being South African, tall and an obvious wuss, he has never even been approached.Their car on the other hand, cannot even have a pair of gloves left in it or someone WILL “Tan the windae in” The prob with martial arts is that if somebody pulls a knife you are in bother, if some wee Non-Educated-Deliquent is losing face in front of his sovvy-bejewelled mates because you have just shown him your latest kung fu panda move, then he is more likely to use it.

I think we are all agreed then – we just need to hope the classes are nothing more than an esoteric way to keep fit.

We had Yoga Beats at the Bridge in Easterhouse last week. From David Sye – Frankie Vaughan’s son.
Culture and Sport are much cooler than you think!

If you try a bit harder and give it a chance I’m sure you will find all the facilities you want and need in Glasgow. We don’t really “do” people with preconceived notions. Some of the best public facilities are to be found in the poorer areas.
Glasgow is no worse than other big city.

I’m not sure how preconceived the notions are. I was born in Bellshill, and have lived in Glasgow itself for a few years. I’m lucky, I’ve been elsewhere, seen some of the world, realised Glasgow’s place in it. I certainly don’t call myself a Weegie as I mostly grew up in the east. I’m neutral about going back – not necessarily my choice, but circumstances are what they are.

Perhaps my notions are just out of date.

I do remember meeting a hard core Glaswegian woman, who epitomised a certain view of the city. She had been to uni, and had lived in Hong Kong for a few years, working as a PA to a Fortune 500 type CEO. She moved back to Glasgow to have weans. All fair enough. She’s never been to Edinburgh, had no interest in going as she didn’t see what it could possibly offer her. Just weird, if you ask me.

Well if you grew up in Bellshill then WTF are you worrying about (born in Motherwell myself)

Your preconceptions will almost certainly be well out of date. I went to Uni in Glasgow in the early 90s and visiting the city now I barely recognise it the improvement has been so great. Granted there are part of the city that you wouldn’t want to find yourself in but name another city anywhere in the world where that isn’t true.

As for a martial art, none of them are of much use in street fight, except in giving you the fitness to run away quicker than most people.

never been to Edinburgh,had no interest in going as she didn’t see what it could possibly offer her Store detectives who didn’t know her face?

MMA is the most applicable martial art for streetfighting but the best defence by far is to learn to run….

Happily I didn’t grow up in Bellshill. Just happened to make my grand entrance there. I do hope the Weege has changed as much people say then 🙂 Otherwise the “furren” wife’ll nae be haippy, ken likesay?

Irrespective of the whys and wherefores of Glasgae and its relative dangers, be careful of any martial art that relies on Katas amd forms to progress – this will make you a mediocre fighter for the time invested and you’ll think that you’re better than you are which can come as a nasty surprise if you’re forced to use it in the real world.

It’ll even take you a while to get to this standard.

Stick to either boxing, Muay Thai or MMA, If you do this twice a week for six weeks, you’ll be substantially fitter, faster and stronger and be able to look after yourself fairly rapidly.

My old Thai, JKD, Kali instructor used to say ‘If you have 6 weeks to learn self defence, I’ll teach you Thai. If you have 6 months I’ll teach you JKD/Kali.

no martial arts neded – wear a shell suit, baseball cap (burberry if it’s a big night out) and talk through your nose. make “pure” every third word, end every sentence with “man” and pepper in a few made up words
“that’s pure belter man”
“you’re pure radge man”

carry a half empty bottle of buckfast and that’s you

pure sorted man

Krav Maga

I think that the Glaswegian martial art is called Fuc-Yu

It mostly consists of head-butting people and kicking them when they’re on the floor.