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Conflagrate wrote on 2014-04-14 19:57
What combat sport do you follow/practice?
If you're a fighter at the moment, how and why did you get started?
Are you an armchair fan, or are you involved in your sport/art?
Who are your favorite fighters?
Currently, I box and wrestle, and I hope to get a few more amateur fights in the next year. I used to practice Karate and Capoeira, but had to quit due to time problems.
My favorite boxer of all time is probably Joe Louis; not only because he was a devastating fighter but because he bitch-slapped Hitler's "Aryan Supremacy" theory in a single fight! However, in terms of current fighters, I think Manny Pacquiao is one hell of a fighter. =D
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Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-04-14 22:28
I'm interested in general HEMA, but I haven't taken it up yet. Something else always gets in the way money-wise.
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Conflagrate wrote on 2014-04-14 22:46
Oh, there's a group that practices HEMA near my town. They don't charge, I think; I've always wanted to check them out.
What aspects are you interested in? I personally would love to learn about the old bare-handed fighting methods, but most places tend to focus on weaponry. Whilst swinging a long-sword around is pretty freaking awesome, it's just not my style.
[SIZE="2"]If I had a long-sword I'd probably start challenging random people on the street to PVP matches. [SIZE="2"][/SIZE][/SIZE]
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Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-04-14 23:13
Even if thery don't charge (the local HEMA group does), basic equipment still costs. You can't go crashing into an unpretected body with a weapon like that unless you're a sadist/masochist. You should at least have some good protective gloves, you definitely need more down the line. And of course good weapons cost too. You can get cheap wood replicas, but they have a completely different feel than the real deal and break very easily. It should at least be an above-average synthetic weapon for serious training. Eventually you will probably be going onto battle-ready steel weapons, depending on how you do it either sharp or unsharpened. They generally cost more than stagefight weapons - which are not a good choice because they have a good chance of breaking and being a serious threat to the health of the fighters and especially onlookers. Actually there is a video around where a weapon did break in a public event and the projectile hit a girl sitting on her dad's shoulder in the audience or something close to that. I think that's what happened.
So when I'm starting with just one variety of HEMA I am already looking at several hundred € entry cost, except maybe if I just learn dagger and Kampfringen or something. Actually that's a good idea. Still, right now my budget is at the limit.
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WOWOWOWAOW wrote on 2014-04-15 06:54
I have been doing sport taekwondo for 5 years now and have been competing for 4 years in WTF. I have my 1st dan and don't really plan to go farther since belt level is worthless to me...
My favorite fighter is Dae-hoon lee the fly/bantam male from Korea. My life is pretty much School/Taekwondo with mabi sprinkled on the side.
Also, I'm aware that WTF basically looks like chicken fighting, but idc, I still like it, and it has played a huge role in making me who I am.
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Conflagrate wrote on 2014-04-15 09:38
I see where you're coming from. My life is literally pieced out into school, wrestling, boxing and the workouts I need to for boxing and wrestling.. and of course Mabi when I have free time. It's hard, because whilst my friends are partying, I'm sitting in a gym sweating buckets whilst lifting!
Despite this I'd not swap my lifestyle for anything. Combat sports build character and discipline like nothing else.
Taekwondo is impressive stuff. I've always been baffled at the sheer speed at which you guys kick; some of the taekwondo knockout videos I've seen are just brutal. I don't think I'd have the balance to do what most practitioners do, really.
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Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-04-15 11:06
What's WTF? I can only think of Won Ton Fighting, but something tells me it ain't so...
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Chiyuri wrote on 2014-04-15 12:25
been doing Kusari-Jutsu for like 10 years now (wow now that I think about it it's really been a long time)
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Conflagrate wrote on 2014-04-15 14:15
Quote from Campylobacter jejuni;1215094:
What's WTF? I can only think of Won Ton Fighting, but something tells me it ain't so...
I believe it stands for World Taekwondo Federation. It's the stuff you see in the Olympics, I think.
Quote from Chiyuri;1215102:
been doing Kusari-Jutsu for like 10 years now (wow now that I think about it it's really been a long time)
Is that like using a chain-weapon to fight?
*Imagines the Combat Cross from Castlevania: Lord of Shadows*
That's freaking awesome.
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Chockeh wrote on 2014-04-18 01:03
I used to practice Eskrima. I was too young and wasn't very good at it when I practiced, but going back into it would seem interesting. As a Filipino, I watch all of Manny Pacquiao's fights. The Bradley fight was pretty good, but he hasn't fought aggressively or had a knock out in quite some time.
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Chiyuri wrote on 2014-04-18 13:02
Quote from Conflagrate;1215111:
I believe it stands for World Taekwondo Federation. It's the stuff you see in the Olympics, I think.
Is that like using a chain-weapon to fight?
*Imagines the Combat Cross from Castlevania: Lord of Shadows*
That's freaking awesome.
yea, it's basically a condence understanding on how to use chains base weapon to fight. Through for me, I'm more of a chain-whip or Twin Dagger-chain user.
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Conflagrate wrote on 2014-04-18 16:14
Quote from Chockeh;1215685:
I used to practice Eskrima. I was too young and wasn't very good at it when I practiced, but going back into it would seem interesting. As a Filipino, I watch all of Manny Pacquiao's fights. The Bradley fight was pretty good, but he hasn't fought aggressively or had a knock out in quite some time.
Eskrima is pretty awesome. I think Filipino sword culture is really interesting; a friend of mine collects swords and I must say that the Filipino swords are by far the coolest. Not only that, but the speed at which eskrimadors spar is really something else.
I see what you mean about Manny's recent performance. It's nice to see that he's still got the footwork, but I don't know.. maybe his style is wearing down with age. Aggressive fighters tend to have shorter careers, which is a shame because they're awesome to watch!
Quote from Chiyuri;1215752:
yea, it's basically a condence understanding on how to use chains base weapon to fight. Through for me, I'm more of a chain-whip or Twin Dagger-chain user.
That is honestly the coolest thing ever. I understand that in Chinese systems, chain weapons are only taught to the most capable students after they have an understanding of bare-handed forms. I guess that after ten years you'd be pretty damn good at it, but how long did it take for you to become proficient with your weapons?
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Kouki wrote on 2014-06-04 08:13
I used to take classes for Jujitsu and Archery(if that counts).
I kind of got sick of Jujitsu because it felt too easy, or rather, because of my small size, people took it too easy on me and wouldn't give me any challenge, and I felt like, other than the explanation of the techniques, I was not really learning much about how to actually physically defend myself, besides the neck lock. I guess self-defense may not exactly be the best reason to join a martial arts class to begin with, though.
It was fun to spar sometimes.
Archery I just did for fun, so I did enjoy it... but I didn't enjoy how it was all outdoors in the hot sun on a sunny day, or freezing cold on a foggy day, with nowhere to sit. I did feel my biceps get really firm from it all though. Pulling the bow string really hurt my hands(I used the lightest weight, 22 lbs). I am a person who has trouble opening pickle jars because my finger skin is just too sensitive to friction. Even with the finger guard, it's still painful after a few turns in the shooting lane, for the rest of the day the pain stays too. The classes were really long too, like 3 hours.
There's also bowstring slaps, which can leave a mark, but I didn't really have much trouble with that except a few times where it left a small bruise or two. Hard to avoid if you're double-jointed at the elbow, unless you have good control of not overextending the arm.
Still, it was fun and enjoyable overall while it lasted.
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Kaeporo wrote on 2014-06-04 18:08
I'm not interested in martial arts/self-defense at all.
I have received a fair bit of LINE combat training but I don't have the experience realistically required in order to depend on such tactics in a life-or-death situation.
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EphraDaMan wrote on 2014-06-04 18:17
My Mom tried having me take taekwondo classes when I was in 3rd grade...but I don't think I was really into it. Even though there was a tinge of a bully issue going on back then I didn't care for taekwondo.
The only thing I do that's involved with martial arts now is the History's Strongest Disciple manga.
...funny,is that how several people really start getting involved with martial arts? Because of a bully...?