Getting Started WANTTOLEARNMARTIALARTS?

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1 WANTTOLEARNMARTIALARTS? Written by Dave J. Lomas (7th Dan Black Belt in Kung Fu) retired. Getting Started The practice and study of the martial arts has always captured the interest and attention of people from all walks of life. The fascination, often aroused by the spectacular fighting skills portrayed in the movies, has resulted in its world wide popularity. Movie stars, fashion models, in fact anyone and almost everyone regardless of who they are or what they do, at sometime or another, have tried their hand at the ancient oriental fighting arts of the mystic east. All financial and social barriers, all distinctions of class or elitism are broken down when taking part together but no matter who you are we all have to start somewhere and getting started is the most difficult of all the things the new beginner must face. After following the adventures of the TV series Kung Fu for a number of weeks my father came home from work one evening and asked me if I had ever heard of a kung fu movie man by the name of Bruce Lee? When I said I had no idea who he was my dad said that he was mentioned in the news paper and that he had died. Although I thought the TV series was brill I was completely blown away when I saw Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon. At the end of seeing this never to be forgotten film I had made my mind up to learn the combat arts but 2 COMBAT I never thought when I first started learning the martial arts all those long years ago that I would end up writing for one of the most famous martial art magazines in the UK some 37 years later. I was only 17, (1973), when I took my first nervous steps into the training hall and watched with eager eyes as the two main instructors practiced a range of kicks and strikes with awsome power and speed. The first thing that they taught this brand new beginners class, we were all first timers, was the traditional kung fu bow and then without any introduction to what we had let ourselves in for they then made us do loads of fist press-ups that seemed to last forever. One hour later after doing various basics and some simple self defence it was all over and I staggered home with those memories stuck in my mind forever. Training was hard and fast back in those days and the thought of giving up was a temptation of the highest level but then a few months and two student grades later a new martial art magazine came out with good old Bruce Lee on the cover - Combat had arrived. Combining my physical training within the classes that I attended and my educational learning through the feature articles in Combat Magazine the start of my martial art journey had truly begun, and there was no going back. For hundreds if not thousands of years people from all over the world have practiced one form of combat or another, some have become legends in history while for many others attending just one training session was all they could take. Often these one-off would be Bruce Lee experts made the wrong choice when attending a club for the first time or they did not realise just how hard it was, in any event, the reasons why taking those first steps into the world of martial arts must be

2 done in the right way is vital if you are ever going to do it right. Your first contact with the martial arts will often be through films or television programs that depict spectacular fighting sequences and fighters that are near unstoppable. The urge to try your hand at these remarkable skills however could lead to disappointment and a lot of wasted money if you do not know what to look for when attempting to join a club for the first time. Unlike the good old days when the potential new beginner was only bombarded with advertisements in the local news paper to join their club along with all the promises of being trained under the best of the best or a small poster in the local shop window offering instruction in the most deadly or effective of all the various combat styles the new would be beginner now is also faced with a never ending range of all singing all dancing websites that look more like a blockbuster movie than a promotional website giving details of classes for the new beginner. Today the would-be new beginner is faced with a large selection of martial art styles and disciplines, each with their own distinctive good and bad points depending on what type of martial art they are looking for. It is often the case that someone wishing to join a club for the first time will look for a club that is local and at a time and day that suits their lifestyle, and although this is a practical thing to do, it is not always the best way of finding a good martial arts club in the long term. Many new beginners to the fighting arts have very little idea or understanding of the various martial arts that are on offer and can end up joining a club that was local but finding out after a few weeks that the type or style of martial art in question was not really suitable for their needs, or the club itself was not that good, with regard to the teaching and training standards. There are a few simple steps to take when selecting a club for the first time that can in the long run save you time, money and effort. First find out what types of martial arts are available and visit these classes to see how the training methods, and style of combat, are done within the class. Many martial arts clubs today are focused on the sport competition aspects of the fighting arts and will train their students in competition fighting techniques and sport combat rules rather than the practical aspects of self-defence and streetwise unarmed combat. If your main interest in the fighting arts is the competition area then there is no harm in joining that type of club but beware the fact that learning this area of the martial arts could result in being injured in competition, despite all the safe guards and rules, and will not prepare you for a street fight conflict if that was your original intention. Over the years the various martial art styles have gone in and out of fashion with karate being the more popular one year and some other combat style the next. These fashion trends towards the different fighting styles have often played a part in which club to choose but it is always wise to resist joining the first club that you go to, on the basis and often wrong belief, that joining the latest martial art fashion trend is the one for you. In the 1970 s kung fu became so popular, due to films like Enter the Dragon with the late legendary Bruce Lee, that kung fu clubs was opening up all over the place. At that point in time karate was no longer the in thing to do and was regarded COMBAT 3

3 4 COMBAT as old fashioned and ineffective. Karate is by its very nature based on military training methods and the rigid precision and performance of its techniques in its original and traditional format. This rigid and inflexible way of fighting was now being challenged by the fast, fluid and adaptable fighting methods of the Chinese kung fu fighting arts but this would also become yesterdays fashion within a few years. During the 1970 s the martial arts became very big business due to the martial art movies of the time which resulted in many clubs opening up all over the place, cashing in on the kung fu craze, often by unqualified instructors who made lots of money for only a few hours of teaching a week. Back in the days when kung fu enjoyed widespread popularity, the new beginner to the martial arts had no idea that what they was being taught and they was often joining what they thought was a kung fu class but in fact they was being taught karate fighting methods and not authentic Chinese kung fu. In time many new beginners did begin to realise that the techniques being shown was in fact a karate method and that the so-called kung fu class that they had joined was a con, however this was very difficult to prove due to the many fighting techniques being used, (and commonly shared), by both the Chinese and Japanese martial arts. Although all combat styles do share a lot of common ground with regard to the various fighting techniques there are distinctive differences when it comes to the general fighting methods and applications used within Japanese karate and Chinese kung fu. Sometimes a new beginner would comment on the general appearance of a kung fu style saying that it looks like a karate training session due to the combat techniques being used or that a karate lesson looks like a kung fu training session in the same way. This similarity is based on two factors the first being the story of how the Japanese having seen the fighting techniques of the Chinese kung fu fighters went back to Japan and formed their own version of what they saw which

4 resulted in karate being born to varying degrees. The second, and most logical factor, being the natural development around the world of some of the more basic techniques like the typical Corkscrew punch for example that could just as easily have been founded in different areas at different times without any connection at all to other fighting styles in another country or region. It is not that surprising that many techniques like the basic Corkscrew Punch came about most likely by accident at around the same time in different areas of the world. When you consider the fact that there is not an unlimited number of fighting techniques available it is only logical that some fighting applications would be duplicated unintentionally. Today to recruit new students is far more competitive and is one of the biggest problems for many clubs and instructors who are trying to keep classes up and running. As with any business advertising their product or service it requires good advertising methods to gain customers in what is a very competitive market. A local club will be limited to how much they can afford to spend on promotional material for their classes and if they have only a small limited number of members then the income from those classes will affect the amount of investment available in promoting their event. Small local clubs will often advertise through posters displayed in local shop windows which are a very low cost approach to advertising that normally attracts the attention of the local community. Posters of this nature can vary in standard and the instructor who is not what you would call an expert in business advertising will only produce a very basic, very simple, advert that could even be hand written. Although this kind of advert fails to look professional this far from means that the instructor or the level of instruction is in anyway inferior to a high profile advertising campaign that larger clubs put out. Larger clubs, and those instructors, who wish to promote their classes to a higher level, will often take the time to produce quality advertising posters and news paper adverts in the local press. The experienced instructor who has taken the time to study the results of advertising with regard to posters and news paper adverts will know that the advert will need to be of a good standard and capable of capturing the imagination of the reader. The advertisement apart from giving the basic information as to where and when classes are held will also be designed to be self promoting in one of several ways. The most common used method is the spectacular picture or photo that often shows a person in a high kicking pose. Although the picture may show high spectacular kicks the style of martial art in question may not use high kicks that much within the style practised. Using a picture within advertising promotions of that nature serves to attract the attention of the reader before they will take the time to read offer of a free uniform with membership is one of The the oldest tricks promotional around the advert. In the case of karate, tae kwon do, kung fu and kickboxing the most common used picture is the one showing the high Side Kick. Advertisements will often include claims that theirs is the most effective of all the martial art styles, or clubs, by using descriptive terms such as the ultimate in self-defence, the most deadly combat skills and so on. The advertisement will also in many cases promote the clubs instructor s as the highest most professional and further claim that they are the most famous or best. The claim that their instructors are world contest champions is also part of the promotional aim of the advert. The claims made within advertisements may be true and although the club may be registered to an association that offers a form of seal of approval this does not mean that the instructor or the methods of instruction are of the best or highest of standards. Unfortunately there are also clubs that have instructors who are arrogant, aggressive and unreliable even if they have been given some kind of seal of approval, therefore it is always best to judge on a one-to-one basis and not totally rely on the claims made within posters and promotional features. Bullying between students and instructors can also go unchecked within some clubs. A qualified combatant may not be a good teacher or good at preventing problems of this nature within classes. Sadly some instructors are very good at combat but they have no ability to control an unruly class Another thing to keep in mind when thinking of learning the combat arts for the first time is that any martial art club that claims it can get you fit, get you thin, make you less shy and a better person is not telling the truth. Only you can do all these things - you and you alone. You only get out of the martial arts what you put in. As with any business the aim is to make money even if it s only to keep the club alive and cover the cost of hire fees for the room. As with any business one of the tricks of the trade is to offer what would first appear to be bargain costs and fee. This of course is to encourage the would-be new beginner to join their club and not any other. An additional trick to encourage new beginners to join them rather than go to another club is the standard offer of a free try-out lesson on their first visit to the club. There is of course nothing wrong with doing this and it does help the new beginner not to waste money if they find it not suitable at a later date. The problem however is if at a later date charges are incurred that the new student was not made aware of when first joining. A good club and a good instructor will always provide written information at the early stages of someone joining on the costs involved with regard to uniforms, grading test fees, registration, equipment and any other costs that may need to be covered at a later date. Withholding information of this nature is not good practice and those clubs should be avoided. The offer of a free uniform with membership is one of the oldest promotional tricks around. The so-called free uniform is paid for out of the COMBAT 5

5 higher priced membership fee but if the new beginner decides to quit lessons after only a short period of time then the cost of paying for the uniform and the membership fee is wasted. Clubs that allow new students the chance of taking classes for a short period of time before they need to pay for uniforms and membership will benefit from not wasting too much money if they decide to leave after only a few short weeks. There are many shops available that specialise in all the required training equipment and clothing that you may need. These martial art shops often have a good range of kick and punch pads, bags and protective body pads including of course the standard martial art uniform. Most of the larger combat clubs will provide you with the required punch and kick bags and any special equipment within the training session but it is not unreasonable of them to ask you to provide your own protective pads that you may need to wear if participating in medium to heavy sparring sessions with other students. Some clubs will provide you with a uniform upon joining out of the membership fee while others will offer you the chance to buy your own. It is worth noting that if you are a brand new beginner to the martial arts then it is wise to only buy a basic uniform or a cheaper one in the initial stages of joining. You can buy a high quality uniform that will be very hard wearing and last a long time but if you leave after only a short period of time then that of course is money wasted. A basic uniform will last for a number of months or even a couple of years depending on the wear and tear that you put it through and will not cost a lot however the cheaper made uniforms will shrink a few times when washed therefore it is always wise to buy one that is one size larger than would normally fit to allow for this shrinkage. It should also be noted that martial art uniforms are designed to be very loose and baggy so that you have plenty of room in which to train, especially when it comes to high kicking techniques. Apart from the various and distinctive designs of the Japanese, Korean and Chinese combat uniforms that have developed due to the traditional clothes and fashions 6 COMBAT of each country from many years ago, it is also believed that the reason why Chinese martial art practitioners wear black in comparison to the Japanese wearing white is that in the same way Europeans wear black to a funeral so do the Chinese wear white. It is believed that in the Chinese culture the colour of white represents the spirit of their dead ancestors therefore it is for this reason, at least in part, that kung fu practitioners wear black uniforms and not white. The only other main item that you will need to wear is the coloured belt or sash. In the traditional Chinese martial arts, (kung fu), the students would wear a sash that was often made from soft silk while in the Japanese martial arts, (karate-do), the students would wear a cotton belt, however many people have now opted for the cheaper and more harder wearing cotton belt these days regardless of which combat style is students would dye the cotton belt themselves with a progressively darker coloured the dye to save money practised. The original idea of the coloured belt system was to start with the lightest or brightest colour first for the beginner or low graded student and then progress on to darker colours as the student became more advanced in their training. Based on this simple system the new beginner would wear a white belt and a more advanced student would wear a yellow or maybe a green belt. Following this simple darker as you go procedure the brown belt would be the final stage of the students training before gaining the ultimate dark colour of the black belt. Many years ago, before it became just as cost effective to buy a new coloured belt every time a student was upgraded to the next level, the students would dye the cotton belt themselves with a progressively darker coloured dye to save money. Some believe that this is one of the main reasons why the colour graded system of light colour first followed by darker colours next helped to structure the grading rank method. Surprisingly more people than you can imagine will need instruction in not only how to correctly tie their uniform jacket and trousers for the first time but also how to tie their grading belt. For those who have no interest in the martial arts, (shame on them), and do not consider such a practice to be anything to do with normal day to day life often fail to realise just how integral the martial arts are within our society. There are many examples of the various fighting arts within television programmes and films dating back to the 1960 s including various unarmed combat methods portrayed in some of the old black and white war films of the 1940 s. Looking at any of the old classical war films dating back to the 1940 s you will often see hand-to-hand combat and typical take down methods like the traditional judo hip or shoulder throw and the karate chop edge of the hand striking method. In many of the modern-day films that are more focused on space adventure or some kind of modern-day spy thriller you will inevitably see the occasional fight scene that will involve some form of martial art or unarmed combat fighting method. In some of the early television programmes of the 1960 s you would often see some of the more basic fighting techniques of the various martial arts and although somewhat crude compared to modern-day fight scenes with all the special effects added on, they still remain memorable within the various television programmes and films of the time. Almost all science fiction films, television dramas and blockbuster movies that involve some form of physical conflict will have martial art based fighting sequences ranging from the very basic punch to the face to the full blown fight scenes that often include very spectacular special effects. For those who have had any martial art training, becoming a stunt man within films and television programmes of this kind can be not only very financially rewarding but also a job that will stay in demand for a very long time for those with the required skills and determination.

6 On a much lighter note - Cage Fighting, now what s that all about? Cage fighting is something of a puzzle to me. I understand that it is very physical and even brutal and that you need to be very strong and fit to take part. I further understand that it is a form of combat that includes both punching and kicking with grapple and strangle techniques thrown in for good measure. I also understand that it is a form of combat of the highest level and that there are no rules, (more or less), involved, but the one thing that I cannot understand at all is why do they need a steel cage surrounding the fighting ring? I would be the first to admit that I would never be up to standard to take part in such a physical form of combat but do they really need a cage in which to fight? I did think that the cage was to stop the chap who was losing the fight, and getting a good thrashing, from escaping out of the cage to safety but then I thought that cannot be the case because even if he was taking a bashing he would not want to escape but would try even harder to win. After all said and done he did want to be there in the first place and knew the risks. I then thought maybe it was to stop the fighters from getting out of the cage and attacking the crowd that was watching the fight, but surely they would be too busy fighting each other to take the time to do such a naughty thing. I also thought that maybe it was to stop people throwing things at the fighters or getting into the cage to take on the fighters but I am sure that the security staff in the building would stop that happening straight away and that no normal sane person would take on such strong tough fighters and expect to win. The only conclusion that I can come to after thinking about it until my head started to hurt was that it was a way of making this sort of competition fight more brutal and dangerous in appearance to the people watching it. When you sometimes see the fighters covered in bruises and bleeding from various cuts after the fight you do not need a steel cage to aid the appearance of how hard it is. COMBAT 7