Hey I have some concerns with Uechi-Ryu.. See this is my first style of Martial art ever to learn, I recently passed to a yellow Belt and am very proud, however I have some concerns about this style of Martial Art. I am too embaressed to ask my Sensei as I dont want to ' hurt his feelings ' since he's a friend of the family but Is this style actually going to help if your in a street fight? ( For those who dont know what the style is .. - http://spikedhumor.com/articles/38775/Uechi_Ryu_Karate_My_Style_.html ) Anyways, My concern is even the Black Belts dont seem to well.. how do I describe this. They dont seem to be good fighters.. In uechi-ryu you develop an ' iron body ' and yes I'm sure it helps in a fight, but apart from that I fail to see how Kata can help you in a punch up on the street. Mabye it's just me and the fact I'm a yellow belt mean's I havn't seen much yet but Am I the only one who feel's Uechi-ryu is a Waste of Time? Or Have I just not gotten far enough into it yet to see the real skill and moves taught in this style. Thanks Paul
Hi Paul, Two questions: How can you tell that the BB aren't good fighters? I see on your post that you are also doing JKD, which may colour your attitude towards kata, but Kata are like textbooks and are repositories of lots of good techniques. Do the guys at your club practise using movements from those Kata against street type attacks?
If I sound too harsh here, don't take it personal But yeah, in my opinion, you haven't gotten far enough in any of your styles to see your potential as a martial artist. Why not focus on one style and build a strong foundation before thinking any of the styles you've chosen is worthless. Instead of wondering how you will perform in the streets, why not worry about how you will perform and learn in the dojo, unless of course you are the type of person that just has a black cloud following you everywhere you go
Ive never trained in Uechi Ryu, but I have trained in White Crane Kung Fu, which is not too different from Okinawan Karate. I currently train in Kenpo and Kyokushin (which is partly developed from Goju Ryu) so I like the very close styles. I also like the training that the guys are doing in the following clip. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGIHXVeL24o"]YouTube[/ame] As for Uechi Ryu being a waste of time. I dont think so. Even if most of the training is Iron Body, its still beneficial. The majority of Martial Arts schools dont do this kind of training, so what they end up with is good fighters that have poor impact conditioning. The other option of course is to train in Kyokushin, where most dojos do tough train and learn how to fight very well JKD can suck balls as far as Im concerned. A JKD guy once said to me that the majority of people who train in JKD, including the instructors, have no idea what JKD is really about. So I have to ask this rhetorical question - if JKD is supposed to be so great then how does it not dominate K-1, instead of Muay Thai and Kyokushin, or MMA events? OSU.
Ah you guys are awesome. I did a bit of studying on the weekend regarding Uechi-ryu, and while no style is the best I must say I'm really fond of it. I'm starting to belive that if you just focus on one style you can truley be a great Peacefull Warrior. So I've dropped JKD and Ninjutsu and want to focus only on Karate! To answer a few of the questions.. Hey, Not harsh at all Man I appreciate the feedback. Have taken your advice, and am focusing only one this style now! I just hope I can be a great Master of it one day. Well mabye they are, I guess because they aren't all built like Arnold Swarztenegger and they aren't very aggresive people. I know that's a stupid way of looking at it, heck even I think it's stupid. I've never seen them in a fight on the streets, but hmm I dunno, they just seem old and mabye it's me being cocky ( since im only 19 ) but I think I could drop em. Anyways I've never seen the full power of Uechi-Ryu nor any Black Belt, heck I havn't seen them ever fight serious either but I've only been there a few months. Not yet, We only do Kata in the Air. I am hoping one day to see Kata being used for more than an ' exercise '. ROFL, Yea I agree.
Uechi ryu CAN be a great style - but, to be honest, that doesn't mean that the club you train at is necissarily good, not saying it is bad either - that is up to you to decide - EVERYTHING in EVERY style is all based on the instructor teaching you... don't be afraid to ask questions - just word them respectfully and inquisitively and you should get the feedback you need. As far as street effectiveness - ask whether you practice bunkai (you should) and if so, find out how hard the attacks are. find out if you7 ever train full contact (with protection like headgear, gloves, gumshield etc..). Sounds like the conditioning work is in there, which is excellent, but it must be combined with some live moving hard sparring, or something similar to get you used to giving and recieving techniques whilst moving.
