Anyone know much about Martial Arts?

My kids are keen to get involved in a martial art of some kind, and I’m well pleased about it.  There are three schools / clubs in our town that I’ve found so far, so we’re booked in for taster sessions at each.

The first is Matt Fiddes, which I gather is a large national chain who teach some form of MMA.  We went there on Friday to a family session, which we all enjoyed.

Over the next couple of weeks we’re booked in with a one-man-band (I think) who teaches TKD to kids and JKD to adults.  We’re also booked in with a local school who teach Kuk Sool Won (I’d never heard of it).

Anyone got any experience with any of these (either doing them yourself, or having your kids do them)?  Is Matt Fiddes a good option, or are they not well regarded?

No Cobra Kai?

From personal experience, I’d say that the martial art they teach is irrelevant. What is important is how they teach it. Make sure they get a good balance of the martial and the art.

Dint discount the one man band. The best clubs I’ve ever trained with were run by passionate people who did it for the love of the art. The cost was just enough for the club the break even.

No Cobra Kai?

Qué?

I know lots about Judo, a bit about BJJ and Karate and not a lot about any of the others.

Reason I know most about Judo is that I loved it as a kid and still try and do it now I’m old and decrepit. There are masters events for old crocs and they get people competing in their 60s and 70s.

Id agree with the others choose the one that they enjoy as that is what is most important as a kid

I’d suggest going for a MA that has a national governing body and grading system to follow. We had some kids come to our club where they’ve been doing other martial arts and were constantly graded at £££ per event and it seemed more of a money making thing than actually them progressing in the chosen art.

Depends what you want from it, I would say the teacher is the most important.

Try a couple of sessions at each and see what you think of the teacher, and how your kids feel/get on.

You might want to check ongoing costs for grading, kit etc.

Matt Fiddes ones are a con. Huge markups on kit, which they will insist you use, can’t shop around. Loads of extra grades at a cost each grading plus belts etc. The quality of what they teach is variable but given the chain exists to maximise profit above everything else, don’t expect much.

Find a non-chain one with good reviews. Association with a central body is a good thing provided that body is about the quality of the teaching, not the amount of kickback to them.

Particular discipline – karate judo mma bjj is down to preference. If self defence is a driver go for the one that is honest and teaches martial arts skills as an aid to escaping from situations.

My personal perspective of a club I’d like to be involved in is Ian Abernethy karate, real world practical stuff without the mysticism

Like with most sports, how the club sessions are run can make or break any martial art. I took up Taekwondo when a new club started at my school just before I started A-Levels in 1989, the instructor was great, just googled his name for the first time having not seen him since ~1994 (Fraser Bradshaw) and it looks like he is still involved (unlike me).

I loved all the various aspects of it (sparring; patterns; board breaking; competitions etc.), gutted that I stopped being able to attended classes regularly from ~1997.

Monkey jnr has been doing BJJ and kickboxing at a local club for 6 months.  A one man band runs the whole show (kids. juniors and adults) and has a team of coaches who run the sessions (some alongside him).

Not the sort of bloke you want to upset in the pub but very down to earth is clearly in it through his passion and enthusiasm.  Monthly set fees means jnr can go to as many classes as he likes (i.e. as I have time for) and aforementioned chap genuinely wants the kids to go as often as they can so they really get into it and become as skilled as possible.

Very well run with IMO the right focus on discipline, respect, technique, fun, sparring etc.

Various guest fighters make appearances too, including a few from overseas.  Most seem to love messing around with the kids classes too.

As others have said, in my experience it is all about the teacher.

Miyagi-do Karate. Small classes. Good reputation. Owner is decent but I heard he drinks a bit.

As others have said it all comes down to finding a good teacher. I am a long time practitioner of Krav Maga and travel a bit with my job so train where ever I go and you really do see a big difference in the quality of instruction from tutor to tutor, even in the same organisation. Also if there are any local, try and have a go and kids Krav Maga, it teaches them some real straight to the point self defence.

Echo the calls to find a good teacher. That and see what the kids find the most interesting. Do they like grappling, kicking, but of everything etc? If they start off with a good teacher and a style they are genuinely interested in I don’t think they’ll go far wrong.

The quality of what they teach [at Matt Fiddes] is variable but given the chain exists to maximise profit above everything else, don’t expect much.

We had a really enjoyable session, and there were plenty of people there so seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The staff seemed lovely, although I did raise an eyebrow when the 16ish year old lad who was a black belt there started telling I can open my own franchise… Just to be clear, I’ve never studied any martial art before.  That said, really good session, and very professional.

The kids went to their first Tae Kwon Do taster session this evening.  As expected, it was a much more rustic affair.  There were much fewer people there, although this did mean that the instructors spent more time actually coaching individual techniques.  They had more time to dedicate to each individual.  Lovely people again.

It’s all about the clitoris. Once you’ve found that and worked out how to deal with it then you’ll be fine.

Wait, did you say martial or marital?

lol – sweep the leg.

Reason I know most about Judo is that I loved it as a kid and still try and do it now I’m old and decrepit. There are masters events for old crocs and they get people competing in their 60s and 70s.

I was taught Judo by a lady in her 70s when I was a kid!

As is the usual of recommending what you know!…

My daughter started Tae Kwon Do when she was 9 – and it has helped her no end in her confidence and just general well being. It is also an Olympic sport and has regular local and national competitions which are all open entry.

My daughter just competed at the World Championships in Birmingham NIA a couple of weeks ago – she was never going to win anything*, but the chance to compete at something that big is an experience in itself.

She’s now nearly 16 any is heading towards 2nd Dan black belt and still loving it. For Tae Kwon Do belt gradings they have to learn theory as well as the practical. This involves learning a fair amount of Korean words for all the moves.

It won’t teach your kid how to fight in a street brawl though – the way it’s taught it’s more of a sport, than a fighting martial art. Although other kids at school know she’s a black belt and back off! 🙂

It does teach them how to take a punch though – she’s had plenty of bloody noses.

It depends what you want to achieve really!

(*she got battered by a girl from the Argentinian national squad!).

And a link – there’s a school finder on these…

http://www.tagb.biz/

http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/

There are also two factions to Tae Kwon Do – ITF (tagb in Britain) and WTF.  WTF is what they do at the Olympics and is more kicks based with less punching. But if a kid is really good it’s easy to switch codes.

My daughter does the ITF version which is more closely aligned to the original Korean Army teaching. They also don’t wear body protectors when sparring.

There are also two factions to Tae Kwon Do – ITF (tagb in Britain) and WTF.

TAGB is what the place we went to yesterday practice.  Everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

My 10 and 8 year olds started karate at a local club a few months ago, and are really engaged and loving it. The lead instructor is quite old-school (in a good way, firm but fair, not cobra-Kai!) but the kids all really respond to him and respect the staff, and there is no messing about. They run grass roots competitions for inexperienced kids and also do day-long camps in the school hols, which the kids have enjoyed too. Our club does a month free trial to see if it’s for you, so was not a risk, and the guy sells the kit for fair prices (had a little google and found he was cheaper than most places). Happy kids and dad so far. Karate is an Olympic sport in Tokyo and a couple of the older ones have been in Croatia recently trying to qualify for the gb team!

Right, decision made; we’re signing up with a local guy who runs TAGB Tae Kwon Do classes not far from home.  The boy is really keen, but the girl isn’t interested (which i’m really disappointed about).

Hopefully the boy will enjoy himself.

Why Martial arts? As in why do they and you want to do it?

if it’s to learn to fight/ defend themselves then TKD wouldn’t be the one for me. It’s basically a game of tag with your feet.

if it’s for the basic discipline, respect and health aspects, then ive trained in a lot of different styles (karate, boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, kendo, wrestling & judo) and they all enforced respect and discipline

for me, the traditional arts have suffered so much from the McDojo nonsense. Lost count at the amount of people who’d come to our Muay Thai sparring sessions, announce they were a black belt in karate or TKD, get thoroughly humbled then never be seen again!

imho

Muay Thai if you want to be really hard and have no doubt you could batter someone if you have to. They are hard as nails.

boxing for fitness and skill. Plus it’s so pure. My true first love

wrestling to understand  how fit and strong you aren’t. Very humbling

BJJ for pure skill. It’s like chess. Spend 18 months getting choked out before you even get close to submitting someone.again very, very humbling

traditonal stuff if advancing through grades and very defined progression is important

How about Krav Maga? The basics of boxing and wrestling with none of the belts and whatnot. It’s like tai chi but with rabies.

It’s all about tea.

And pointing at the moon

Oh.  “Martial” arts. I read “Marital” arts. I was getting interested for a moment….

Boxing. Pure and simple.

I used to do TAGB Tae Kwon Do and Aikido.

I loved TKD – great work out, good mix of sparring and patterns, etc. Plus you also had to do a theory test at grading, learning the meanings behind certain patterns, Korean terms, etc. Expensive though. It’s a very cool and flashy looking martial art, but somewhat impractical in terms of actual self defence. Classes will vary according to the instructor – ours was more sparring/tournament focused, whereas a neighbouring town’s was more focused on the tradition, the patterns, etc.

The  Aikido class I did was great too, and most of the takedowns and holds are also pretty practical in terms of self defence (everyone has the same joints…). Plus you get a bokken and Jo staff. My class was very traditional. Sadly I had to give up both classes in my early 20s because of my crap knees. 🙁

Like @Onzadog said, it’s all about how it’s taught. My daughter’s do karate (my partner wants them to be able to defend themselves).  They’ve been doing it since they were young. The more recently belted dans are better.