Newbie Needs Advice

Discussion in 'Self Defence' started by justanormalguy, May 19, 2015.

  1. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    It looks decent, go check it out!
     
  2. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    Looks like they don't spar. Should be a good workout though.

    Muay Thai is in IMO the great for the physical portion of self defence as it develops a wide variety of striking tools at two vital ranges (stand up striking and clinch) and imparts some standing grappling ability (clinch) whilst conditioning the mind and body through the raw physicality of its training. Find a competetive gym. Expect to sweat.
     
  3. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Unfortunately the nearest school offering Muay Thai is over a half hour away.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2015
  4. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Well, I attended my fist class at Fusion Health & Performance and I must say I was pretty impressed. Now I admit I have no experience when it comes to martial arts/self defense classes but this is how the class was structured (from what I remember:

    1. Jump rope warm up
    2. Instructor went over jab punch and had me practice without resistance
    3. Instructor went over cross punch and had me practice without resistance
    4. Instructor had me practice combinations of these two punches while punching his hands
    5. Instructor went over hook punch and had me practice without resistance
    6. Instructor had me practice combinations of these three punches while punching his hands. I think he could tell I was having issues with the hook and didn't incorporate it for the rest of the class.
    7. Instructor had me work on my foot work. He had me move with him back and forward protecting my chest and weak side.
    8. Instructor had me practice punch combinations on the heavy bag.
    9. Instructor had me practice punch combinations while shadow boxing.
    10. Instructor had me practice punch combinations while hitting his padded hands.
    11. Instructor had me do ab work (crunches, leg lifts, etc).

    Class lasted 45 minutes (normal length) and he did say he normally has students do kettle ball and medicine ball work but didn't want to overdue it on my first day (he knew I was winded).

    Some observations from the class:

    1. The instructor was very friendly, seemed very knowledgeable and always corrected me when he saw I was doing something incorrectly.
    2. I was the only person in the class so I basically got a private lesson for $10 (regular drop in price). The facility has only been open a week and half so not many people know about it yet. I asked him how many people he has had in previous classes and he said he has been averaging a couple. He also mentioned that he is training a boxer.
    3. He really stressed protecting body/face with hand placement, using hips and legs when punching, rotating shoulders when punching, breathing, relaxing etc. I don't know much about boxing but this seems consistent with other sports I've played.
    4. He also showed me a video of him sparring (to show how he was relaxed when he sparred). He did show me some of the kickboxing moves on a heavy bag (kicks, using elbows, using knees etc) but did not have me try them. I think he was just trying to give me an idea how boxing works with kickboxing.
    5. He also mentioned that he will eventually be incorporating some BJJ into the training.
    6. I felt he pushed me a good amount. Considering it was my first class I was pretty tired and sweaty. He seemed to know how to push me but not go overboard.

    Overall I was very impressed with the class and instructor and will definitely be going back. Let me know if my observations seem on point or if I should be concerned about anything. Thanks!
     
  5. Botta Dritta

    Botta Dritta Valued Member

    Gavin De Becker book is good, but I also suggest some of the books by Rory Miller such as Scaling Force and Facing Violence , which covers some of the same ground. In short you need to be able to analyse the context of a violent confrontation and the underlying issues and try to avoid it in the first place. You need to be able to spot the situation and read it. Some who work in industries where violence is rife such as bouncers, prison wardens, security guards are constantly switched on and reading it comes second nature. Those of us who don't ....well we need at least to be able to spot it, or else you get overwealmed by the sucker punch or a wave of aggression before you even get into first gear to pull out your skill set you have been painstakingly developing

    Martial arts and Combat Sport, only really come into their own in those instances where you can't avoid it, and even then its not like in the movies. Far from it.

    I have plenty of 'competition', experience but very little direct violence. To give you an example my first experience was when I was assaulted after two guys forcefully bumped into me when I was 18 in Birmingham ciry centre. Stupidly, because I had a couple of beers, I gave him a dirty look. The guys who in retrospect I saw were just looking for a fight, did the classic talk agressivly walk down approach and when my guard was down nutted my in the face and a few kicks for good measure when I was down. I dejectedly saw them later brawling on the 104x night bus with other poor bastards who had got in their way.

    Naturally the next day with a sore nose (god knows how it wasn't broken) furious with myself I swore I would learn to defend myself. I never did. I went to Uni and joined a fencing club instead. But not because I wanted to learn self defence, it was just a sport I had seen on the telly a lot in Italy when I was young.

    During University after a particularly heavy night at God's Kitchen I was walking back under the 5 ways underpass in birmingham, when I was approached by a guy who started talking to me. Now I can see it it was what the classic 'forced friendship' situation' that Gavin De Becker was talking about, but at the time I just thought it was a friendly guy. Thinks all of a sudden turned nasty (i don't even remember HOW it escalated) and I found myself on the end of what was a essentially a mugging.

    I reacted and I did a Fencing Lunge to his eyes, and then legged it. I seemed to have worked because I just saw him drop.

    Its only in the recent years that I have taken up Boxing and Taijiquan, and I feel safer with my boxing skillset now than when I was 22 in that underpass with just a fencing lunge.

    Thing is in both situations I could have avoided the altercation, if I had been a little bit more streetwise, less pridefull and perhaps a little bit less inebriated.

    So my two cents worth are

    1) for self defence you must try and spot the situation first. In many ways this is more important.
    2) for a martial art choose something that has simple skills that can be deployed imminently. Train these until they are second nature.
    3) at 40 (I'm 4 years away myself) you might want to choose something that is physically compact. Injury and recovery from injury gets longer. I myself have recently gone through unpleasant costalcondritis from a boxing or fencing muscle tear ( not sur which one)
    4) you must try to compete or at least do sparring against an opponent that is trying to dominate you.

    As for which discipline I can't really advise you. For example I really like boxing and tearing it up in the ring, but in recent weeks I've tried kickboxing and I have to say it doesn't gel with me. My Taijiquan teacher can teach Wing Chun, I thought I would like it. I tried it and I found I still prefer Taijiquan push hands to Wing Chun Chi Sau. I think its important you do something you Enjoy, if only so you can stick with to get the maximum out of it. But just remember that what works competitively may need to be adapted slighly for social aggressive confrontations.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2015
  6. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Glad to hear you're doing alright. Try bjj if it comes up :)
     
  7. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Thanks guys! I'll definitely try BJJ if/when he offers it.

    I do need to order/buy the following:

    A jump rope - I'm assuming a 10' since I'm 6'2"?
    Hand wraps - Suggestions?
    Gloves - They are selling some at the gym but want $52 (I think they were ProForce 16 ounce?) Any suggestions on weight and brand?
    Heavy bag - I'm trying to find a cheap one one craigslist or a resale shop. Any suggestions?

    Anything else I need?
     
  8. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Re: gear, I'd go with what your coach suggests,
     
  9. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    So I'm back. After taking a couple of boxing classes, I am not sure this is what I'm looking for. The classes seem to be much more tailored to physical fitness (the classes are exhausting - no mention of self defense at all). The majority of the participates are women and I get the feeling are just there for a good work out (there is only one other guy in the class and he seems to have some past boxing experience). The instructor has also started to mix some kickboxing into the classes.

    So my choices are to stick with the boxing or try a different place (there are schools that offer, Tae Kwon Do, Hap Ki Do and Judo all in my town). Thoughts?
     
  10. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

  11. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    I was afraid that's what I was going to here back. I would much prefer a striking discipline over a wrestling-based discipline.
     
  12. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

  13. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Give it a shot, it's a fun sport with a lot of useful self defense applications. Nothing lost.
     
  14. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Sounds like a boxercise class, not a boxing class.

    Where are you based?
     
  15. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Far west burbs of Chicago.
     
  16. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  17. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Thanks but these are all in Wisconsin.
     
  18. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  19. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Valued Member

    Thanks. Unfortunately that's over an hour away (downtown). Right now I'm leaning toward the Hapkido.
     
  20. Late for dinner

    Late for dinner Valued Member

    Actually most links 8 onwards all appear to be in Illinois , including some places in Chicago.

    :' D

    LFD
     

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