Where did you start?

So what did we all do long before we learnt about the Fence,and slapping people in the jaw?

Me,i started in Judo at an early age and moved on to boxing after a while.There's been a handful of other arts since,but i'm interested in where you all started?

Did a bit of Ju Jitsu when I was a child, but I really started with Shotokan Karate with Andy Sherry and Frank Brennan when I was a teenager.

i started off with boxing due to my then best mate being a national aba champion. then moved heavily into jujitsu and judo. i have cross trained in numerous systems including muay thai.jkd.silat. kali. sambo and american kenpo.

i have

cheers

Shotokai Karate when I was 12 or 13. Then branched out and tried a few more styles like Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing. Done all sorts since lol

Ed Maley Judo when I was a early teens. But I don't count that time, I didn't stick with it. Wasn't till I was 26 that it stuck with something, Taekwondo at the time then went onto Hapkido, Torite Jutsu and eventually here, where I am now happy and content. Well almost.

I started in 1960 with boxing and wrestling whilst at school
on leaving school in 1964 I joined a Judo/Ju-Jutsu club in Heywood (North Manchester)
did some Karate and Kempo for a while until I found the Goshinkwai of Wales of John & Gordon Warfield in 1970, where (to answer you Ade mate), we did the Fence position and the Power slap as part of our training.
The 'Fence' was known as the Guard position and had (still has) several positions and uses.

but to give the answer to the main part of the question
I started boxing and wrestling at school in Heywood in 1960

I started with a friend of a friend of a Lau Gar guy in my mum's front room with ath ethe furniture moved back and piled up

Getting mugged!

I started at Taekwondo when I was 12. When I turned 16 the instructor, who also taught Muay Thai classes, droppedthe Taekwondo classes to just focus on MT. Because he was a great instructor I simply changed styles with him.

Did a bit of boxing and Karate at one stage before getting into Hapkido aged 27 and still doing it along with my own version of MT since too many clubs here have gang members and other scumbags. Did a bit of Judo too.

Got introduced to the Senshido system in 2007 and here we are today. Still learning and still experimenting with things as I go along.

I spent a lot of time playing rugby too (as you do in NZ) which is pretty good at developing a "hardness" to rough physical contact from a conditioning point of view but you get a lot of injuries!

I'm a big believer in if you like a particular MA then you should give it a good amount of time i.e. black belt minimum in order to at least get good at the basics.

judo for maybe 10 years as a child, 75-85, then did shotokan for another 5 years after that, with more judo and aikido at college for good measure.

I now train and teach Underwood Defendo/british jui jitsu and turn up several times a year for the Dave Turton experience just for good measure and a right old pasting. Am also learning JKD so I get to train with some excellent instructors from all over the world

Did Judo for a few good years as a child. Started boxing in my teens. Trained in various other styles such as Muay thai, Submission wrestling, Goshinkwai yawara but always ended back up boxing

Started with Greco-Roman wrestling at the age of 12, for about 3 years, then swiched to Wado Ryu karate, then Jeet Kune Do, Wing Tsun, Sanda, a fair bit on Aikijutsu...

Ok,just to stretch the question a little.....

At what point did you realise that what you were doing wasn't really that useful in the real world?

(if that question applies to you)

From my point of view judo and boxing techs served me quite well,but i learnt a few harsh lessons about high Karate style kicks in brawls circa early/mid eighties

At what point did you realise that what you were doing wasn't really that useful in the real world?


I think that's a question no one wants to know the answer to, but I'm pretty sure some will divulge

Lol when it didn't work in the real world.

One of my main gripes with my karate instructor was when I was having a lot of trouble with a lad at college. I was 15 and he was a couple of years older and a proper bully. I was very unsure of myself and an easy target and he targeted me with a vengence.

I had walked in and told myself I was sick of all that shit from school and caled him out. I promptly got the shit kicked out of me despite a few years karate under my belt.

Anyhoo I was due at the katate that night so I turned up, black eye and all and in a right fettle. The instructor asked my brother what was wrong with me and he told me I was being bullied by someone at college. He approached me and told me to call him out.

I told him I already had and the frist thing he said was

'Well you can't blame karate if you lost,' and hurried off

He was/is a right dick.

Jagunco wrote:
'Well you can't blame karate if you lost,'

Maybe but you can blame his useless training if he said his Karate was for self defence!

Sparring and testing things under pressure during training was when I realised a lot of what is taught in MA's just isn't going to work in reality.

A couple of times I've tried things when restraining someone whose resisting arrest and they haven't always been successful but I've been fortunate to have back up with me at the time.

I'm reasonably sure about what does/will work for me in reality now and am constantly processing and evaluating new material to add or delete from my arsenal. It is a continual learning process and your skill for "real life application" becomes smaller yet your knowledge base increases constantly.

Mr Nobody wrote:

Jagunco wrote:
'Well you can't blame karate if you lost,'

Maybe but you can blame his useless training if he said his Karate was for self defence!

Sparring and testing things under pressure during training was when I realised a lot of what is taught in MA's just isn't going to work in reality.

A couple of times I've tried things when restraining someone whose resisting arrest and they haven't always been successful but I've been fortunate to have back up with me at the time.

I'm reasonably sure about what does/will work for me in reality now and am constantly processing and evaluating new material to add or delete from my arsenal. It is a continual learning process and your skill for "real life application" becomes smaller yet your knowledge base increases constantly.

This ^^

Shotokan, TKD, Muay Thai, back to TKD.

Ade wrote:Ok,just to stretch the question a little.....

At what point did you realise that what you were doing wasn't really that useful in the real world?

When i felt like a twat going from one end of the hall to the other being told to do two arm movements for one upper block.

Actually as a point of interest there was a couple of times that poor training was shown to severly hamper application.

Karate teacher (same one incidentally but he wasn't the only one in fairness) always had a bug about never using pad to train strikes (yeah I know) saying that pads don't feel like people and they screw your techniques up cos you're always tensing to hit something.... or something like that it was a load of gumph.

Also had a right thing for the perfect distance and all that so he would drill us to stand there and punch or kick so that the strike would touch then. We were inch perfect

Well of course the inevitable happened. I was peddling home from the dole. I was perhaps 17 or 18 and two idiots recognized me as the push over from school so they decided to mug me for my bike.

I was cornered but not very intimidated. They tried it on that they had a knife, which was obviously untrue. Had a bit guff about no one was about and all that... right oh......

Then the first lad swung at me. I saw it comming (the whole watch your opponent thing worked a treat) I blocked and got him in a headlock (not very karate like I know) and began to wring his neck under my arm. By now I had been doing Tae Kwon Do and some kung so if nothing else I had developed some modest strength.

His mate saw he was in trouble (I expect that he thought I was going to be supplicant because of my reputation at school) and approached to help


I did a fucking sidekick and yup you guessed it. I touched him with it.... perfect distance and it did no damage at all. It honestly must of touched the end of his old chap as well if I'd done it as I train now he'd have been in pigging hospital.

Anyway I was pulled down kicked and they nicked my bike. Which I got back around the corner. They didn't actually want it, this was what passed for entertainment in the jolly old town of Ashington.

So yes if the karate had been drilled properly it could easily have made the difference in that fight.

Jagunco,

Classic example of you fight how you train.

Still, with timing like that maybe there's a career for you in the movie business?!?!

Jagunco wrote:Actually as a point of interest there was a couple of times that poor training was shown to severly hamper application.

Karate teacher (same one incidentally but he wasn't the only one in fairness) always had a bug about never using pad to train strikes (yeah I know) saying that pads don't feel like people and they screw your techniques up cos you're always tensing to hit something.... or something like that it was a load of gumph.

Also had a right thing for the perfect distance and all that so he would drill us to stand there and punch or kick so that the strike would touch then. We were inch perfect

Well of course the inevitable happened. I was peddling home from the dole. I was perhaps 17 or 18 and two idiots recognized me as the push over from school so they decided to mug me for my bike.

I was cornered but not very intimidated. They tried it on that they had a knife, which was obviously untrue. Had a bit guff about no one was about and all that... right oh......

Then the first lad swung at me. I saw it comming (the whole watch your opponent thing worked a treat) I blocked and got him in a headlock (not very karate like I know) and began to wring his neck under my arm. By now I had been doing Tae Kwon Do and some kung so if nothing else I had developed some modest strength.

His mate saw he was in trouble (I expect that he thought I was going to be supplicant because of my reputation at school) and approached to help


I did a fucking sidekick and yup you guessed it. I touched him with it.... perfect distance and it did no damage at all. It honestly must of touched the end of his old chap as well if I'd done it as I train now he'd have been in pigging hospital.

Anyway I was pulled down kicked and they nicked my bike. Which I got back around the corner. They didn't actually want it, this was what passed for entertainment in the jolly old town of Ashington.

So yes if the karate had been drilled properly it could easily have made the difference in that fight.

Not sure about that last bit, I knew a fair bit of Karate in my day, still didn't keep my arse closed tight when it came kick off time out there