Im planning on trying out taekwondo. What martial arts are you guys doing?
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TKD is fun for sport and entertaining to watch. I enjoyed karate for years, but looking back, I wish Iād spent that time developing a more constructive skill for everyday life or playing a team sport. Martial arts will certainly get you in shape, though.
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Iāve done bjj and boxing
I would recommend everyone to start with bjj as itās safe and effective
The punching and footwork you learn from boxing is unlike any other striking art and will give you a huge advantage in other striking arts
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Itās definitely not martial arts but I recommend climbing if youāre trying to get in shape. I love it and it keeps me healthy physically and mentally. If you find the right gym the community is awesome.
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What do you want to get out of your study?
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I train and teach Judo.
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I do Wing Chun and will start Baguazhang very soon, I do love martial arts and mostly the chinese ones.
Did Taekwondo when I was a kid but I wasnāt very into it, good luck with your travel in the martial arts word, itās an absolutely amazing thing to do!
I started boxing at the YMCA when I was a kid. Not to become a boxer. Just to stay in shape and as a great excuse to Clobber people that also found the excuse an excellent way to Clobber me. Kinda funny thinking back that we actually thought, beating the Snot out of each other was a good way to āstay in shapeā?
Judoā¦ yupā¦. jiu-jitsuā¦ indeedā¦. karateā¦. Of course.
Iāve always felt confident over the decades when Iāve run into situations where Stuff happens in a hurry.
But I have no degrees worth noting. Iāve never competed within a group of ālike practitioners(except sparring sessions). And considering Iām only about 5 foot seven/150 pounds, Iām not exactly the guy that goes into the Roadhouse and starts throwing people out the windows, lol.
But even though my street fighting skills have helped me over the years, there is one thing that I have accomplished that definitely rounds out my survival skillset.
I have a 1 Finger Degree in Gun-fu.
PSā¦ I would totally encourage everyone that is physically capable, to take up some form of Martial Arts. Which specific type you choose is not as important as the āInstructorā you wind up with. Trust me on this. If you decide you have the mindset and determination to practice a Martial Arts form, your first challenge is doing the research to get the Best Instruction.
Fighting forms are a Great way to not only get into or stay in shape, but the mental application, expands your ability to make quicker decisions, organize patterns, balance your ability to control emotions and boost overall confidence. It allows you to recognize your abilities and also identify your limitations.
There is an old saying, āEverything you learn will come to serve you somedayā.
When you apply yourself to a fighting form, you will exercise your āmindā as much as your body.
Trust meā¦.
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I completley agree with this, climbing is also cool since thereās a ton of creativity involved and most climbers are super nice
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I did karate for a couple of years as a kid.
Then I became a member of the TKD team in college. Also did a bit of Aikido during that time.
I practiced bjj for 5 years. Competed and stuff. Kept getting injured though. That was my hobby before yoyo. It was fun. I miss it sometimes. Donāt wanna get injured anymore though. I prefer yoyo.
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Iāve practiced martial arts since I was a kid. First tkdā¦ then tai chiā¦ then aikido which led me to traditional Japanese sword arts and less common traditional budo, which I still practice daily.
I have a 2nd degree black belt in aikido and still go to seminars (mainly to keep up with friends and remind myself I can still fall down), but my body is much happier working on my favorite iaido kata and jodo kihon, along with some tanjojutsu and tessenjutsu (bc you canāt bring a sword around everywhere lol).
All of my kids trained in tkd at least up to red belt. They werenāt forced or anything, but I definitely believe that (if you find the right dojang) it develops very important skills like discipline, humility, patience, and an awareness of how to carry yourself.
Sadly thereās a LOT of āMcBudoā/āBullshidoā out there and all dojo are NOT created equal. My advice would be to find somewhere that would be open for class whether it had 5 students enrolled or 50. There are some wonderful professional martial arts instructors for sure, but places that charge just enough to make rent and keep the lights on tend to value the art and its transmission over other attainments.
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Thought this might be fun. I did a demo with my judo partner last year. We tried to include a nice diversity of techniques within a few minutes.
Iām the shortest of the two judoka. (In the blue Gi)
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Have to add to all this that kung fu (in my case) help a lot with yoyo, not only for the discipline side and stuff like that but also for hand/eye coordination and body awareness.
I think martial arts are some of the best decision of my life, I would say before start to watch lot of videos and a lot of different styles and then choose the one you love the most, start with one that you really like it will help to continue and motivate yourself, than you can also integrate with different styles (which comes naturally usually).
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Judo has saved me from so many broken bones I wouldnāt even know how to start counting them.
And thatās just because of the fallbreaking thatās inherent in judo.
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Definitely agree, I was in Judo for 5 years and I think the most important thing that I got from it was learning how to fall. Good to know for other martial arts, and it was good to have when I wiped out on my longboard yesterday.
The ground is your friendā¦ 
Yup. Obviously Iām very biased. But in my opinion every child should get 2 years or so of judo. Weād have fewer broken bones in our society by far.
I did Muay Thai for years. Eventually as I got older, injuries started stacking up. Definitely miss it.
I did karate as a kid and Iāve always been interested in martial arts but never committed to going back. I did however spend some time during and after high school break-dancing in a local Dojo (Dojang?) and I miss the smell and the overall vibe.
Over the years Iāve danced, skated, and climbed, less and less and have started to notice my understanding of my abilityās and body mechanics has changed. Iām still pretty nimble and light on my feet but I can no longer jump very high or accurately and my stamina is getting worse and worse. Pull ups are a challenge again. 
lol
This thread has me interested in the hunt for a spot to get into martial arts or parkour. If anyone is familiar with Matt Mccreary; Iām interested in parkour like this. Artistic movement and interactions with ones environment is my personal research so Iām always looking for new avenues.
