Thanks both ap Oweyn and holyheadjch. I have to agree with ap Oweyn....I just don't think I could ever get into the grappling/wrestling and wouldn't enjoy it. One other question I have (and hopefully this doesn't open a whole can of worms) but what about the whole aspect of head/brain trauma with disciplines like boxing. One of the reasons I ask is because of my 7 year old son. We have already made the decision to not get him involved in football due to the chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., issue; and I know he will want to get involved in any sport I do eventually. Just trying to be safe and proactive with him.
If you do full contact styles, you will take knocks to the head, but unless you compete, you wont take that many. You'll only do light/medium contact sparring in class.
Yep. And there's a lot of value in the training methodology, even without heavy impact. You don't need your head taken off to know that a punch connected. In competition, the goal is to take the other guy out. But in training, it isn't. You and your son will be involved in training.
There hasn't been much conclusive about long term affects of amateur boxing in terms of TBI's. Professional boxing is a whole other area. As a plus for grappling (BJJ especially) there seems to be a very low level of head injuries in the art. If your heart is set on striking, this place teaches traditional Okinawan Karate and kickboxing too: http://www.rockysdojo.com/
Thanks. Tons of great information and a lot to consider. I guess I'm just going to have to pick a discipline and then pick a school. Any other advice/things I should be looking for/questions I should be asking when I pick a school?
The most important thing IMO is that you enjoy the training. If you don't enjoy it, you won't stick at it and (regardless of your goals) you will get minimal benefits from it. Say you went to Krav Maga and hated it or got bored quickly, you would leave and not get much out of it. On the other hand if you tried Tae Kwon Do and loved it, chances are you'll stick with it and get a lot out of it. Be wary of long contracts etc... never a good sign. Also check out the instructor, but also watch a class. See how good the most experience students are. If they look to be of a reasonable standard, that could be a good sign of a decent teacher.
Thanks! I will refuse to sign any contract at this time. With both my kids in sports right now I can't be tied to set class schedule. I already asked both the Krav Maga schools about rates: Closer School: $60/month - month to month, no contract; $50/month - 1 year contract, 3 months notice if you want to cancel; $20/session - drop in rate Further School: More vague but said drop in class is $20.
oh, i just saw prizewriter's post. the great thing about judo, bjj or "grappling", as an fyi, is that you don't need to believe whether something works or not, you can try it out for yourself and test the techniques. just something to consider. certainly, judo will satisfy your defense and physical workout requirements.
Those don't seem too bad for martial arts classes in the USA (I have family there). Another place you might want to check out is here. I know it's traditional, but they run family classes so you and your kids can eventually train together. Plus one of the instructors seems to have been in the military, so he might have some interesting perspectives on self defence: http://www.tkcusa.com/
Would it wrong to attend classes at more than one school? For example, if I do decide on the Krav Maga, would it be wrong to attend classes at both schools I mentioned depending on my schedule? Is once a week of training enough?
Some schools can be sniffy about you training elsewhere, so be wary of that. I've always found you need to train at least twice a week to get proper benefits from martial arts. Once is better than nothing. Try Krav Maga and see what you think of it, and let us know how you get on.
Thanks Prizewriter. I think I will try both Krav Maga schools and see. I figure since the instructor of the closer school is training at the other school they should both be fine with attending both. I also think I will get a heavy bag so I can practice at home.
From the 2nd place: "Self-defense (to us in the USKMA) is the ability to have our ‘flinch’ reaction take us from overwhelmed, terrified and uncomprehending to going forward with hatred and rage to do the most damage in the minimum amount of time possible. Krav Maga’s techniques will not save anyone, they are not magic. Techniques will degrade under stress and exhaustion… a bunch! Mixing our techniques (which are easy to learn, easy to remember, use gross, whole body motions and are designed to do as much damage as possible) with going off like a bomb bringing out all the anger and rage we can muster is the best chance any of us have at surviving violence. Ask any law enforcement officer whom they would rather face; 1) a very proficient and talented martial artist or 2) some crazy who wants to claw off their face and chew on their eyes. They would much rather face the martial artist every time. If we can be both the crazy person and be proficient with our techniques we will be a scary opponent indeed." Personally speaking I don't like the vibe of this place already. It seems to scaremonger and promote the idea that doing maximum damage is in some way a reasonable response. I would ask both places about how much they spar, and in what way?
I talked to the trainer at the closer Krav Maga location (Spitfire Krav Maga). She said they do not spar in level 1 (they want students to learn and practice the fundamentals of combatives and make them safer in as little amount of time as they can). They introduce light sparring in Level 2 and progress from there once their students have the philosophy and fundamentals. They do full gear boxing and MMA sparring. She also said she is working on adding classes (maybe a week night) but needs to make more classes feasible. She said she would have no problem with me taking some classes at the further location (Dupage Krav Maga) and is sure the instructor at the other location would be fine with it too (she trains there). She also said most of her students are concentrating on the self-defense aspect (fitness is secondary) and she has a couple of boxers/trainers that drop in when they don't have classes of their own. She said she has a couple of guys that would be suitable training partners for me. So I think I am going to check it out Saturday and see how it goes.
I haven't made it to a Krav Maga class yet (classes are only offered in Saturdays and my son has soccer on that day) but found this recently: http://www.fusion-hp.com/boxing-kickboxing/ http://www.fusion-hp.com/kenji/ The place just opened and it less than 5 minutes from my house. Does this look like a decent place to start?
