Hiya,

Can anybody recommend a friendly Jeet Kune Do or Tae Kwon Do school anywhere fairly local to me in Northolt, Middx - willing to travel to attend a friendly club where a 30 year old absolute novice to this sort of thing would be welcome, but ideally not very far - cycleable distance after work prefered. When I search there are a dozen clubs in Harrow alone but I'd prefer to go to a recommended place than pick one at random, or just go to the nearest. A mate started Jeet lessons about six months ago and reckons it has completely changed his life - I could do with the same thing!

Cheers,

Dan

[mjn]

You need to decide with format of TKD you want to do?

*** or ITF?

Oh.....*** has been edited out, so i'll spell it...World Taekwondo Federation

...Erm, hard to decide because I don't know the difference! Nor did I know there were two "flavours" of TKD to be honest. Which would you recommend for a complete newbie who wants to learn a format of self defence a) for fitness reasons, first and foremost, and b) to eventually be more confident I could thump and then run away from an attacker who tried to thump me first?

Ooh and c) my mate reckons what JKD training has done to him physically is dwarfed by how much better his brain is working these days - we're both struggling scriptwriters but I'm struggling much more than he is now! Got to put a stop to that.

Dan

Originally Posted by mjn

You need to decide with format of TKD you want to do?

*** or ITF?

Oh.....*** has been edited out, so i'll spell it...World Taekwondo Federation

[Reign-Mack]

I think you would be a lot better off asking this question on a site like http://www.bullshido.net
also if you intensions are self defence you may be better off looking at other matial arts which involves more full contact training and sparing.

Cheers RM I'll have a looksie at that site. As I say I'm new to all this punchup malarkie, principally I'm interested in the fitness aspect of it; secondly, what it might do for my poor addled brane; and thirdly self defence - all I know is my JKD-ing mate demos a new way of breaking my arm every time we go for a pint and he makes me come at him with a "knife" (ruler).

Maybe I should broaden my question - given what I want to achieve (fitness; ability to defend myself eventually) and the fact that I'm a 30y.o. late starter who is a bit wobbly in belly dept., what forms of self defence should I investigate? Definitely unarmed combat, and repelling an attacker then running away = ideal! Then I'll look to find a school teaching that discipline locally.

Do any AVForums folk train locally? In anything?

Dan.

Originally Posted by Reign-Mack

I think you would be a lot better off asking this question on a site like http://www.bullshido.net
also if you intensions are self defence you may be better off looking at other matial arts which involves more full contact training and sparing.

[mjn]

Originally Posted by Reign-Mack

also if you intensions are self defence you may be better off looking at other matial arts which involves more full contact training and sparing.

TKD is full contact...but self defence is more than full contact....its about being fully aware of your surroundings for starters, plus being able to defuse a situation. Fighting should only be a last resort, in the first instance you should always run if possible.

[Reign-Mack]

...all I know is my JKD-ing mate demos a new way of breaking my arm every time we go for a pint and he makes me come at him with a "knife" (ruler).

at the end of the day its all theory, demos and drills until somebody with the intent to do your harm does actually waves a knife in your face. waiting for them to come at you and then getting them into that arm lock to break or dislocate usually only happens movies. Its safer to act first, grab something bigger or run away.

[Reign-Mack]

Originally Posted by mjn

TKD is full contact...but self defence is more than full contact....its about being fully aware of your surroundings for starters, plus being able to defuse a situation. Fighting should only be a last resort, in the first instance you should always run if possible.

not all forms! you brought up ITF which is light contact right?

imo being aware or your surroundings and able to defuse situations does not require years of training. Fighting is the last resort it should not need to be stated to anybody!

[stevefish69]

Don't touch fitness 1st in Uxbridge, they are a bunch of muppets

My Boys teacher teaches it in a local club and his place has been recommended by parents and kids in the school. We live in West Drayton so not that far from Northolt.

I'll find out where he works on Monday

[mjn]

Originally Posted by Reign-Mack

not all forms! you brought up ITF which is light contact right?

imo being aware or your surroundings and able to defuse situations does not require years of training. Fighting is the last resort it should not need to be stated to anybody!

Yeah, ITF is very light contact, and WT F is full contact. But there's plenty of MA out there, where you can cross train.

[Londondecca]

I would recommend visiting as many different styles of classes as possible from Kung Fu to Karate to boxing etc. Then choose the one which suits you.

[Reign-Mack]

Originally Posted by mjn

Yeah, ITF is very light contact, and WT F is full contact. But there's plenty of MA out there, where you can cross train.

hence my orginal comment "looking at other matial arts which involves more full contact training and sparing."

Steve - exactly the sort of recommendation I'm after, thankyou.

Dan

Originally Posted by stevefish69

Don't touch fitness 1st in Uxbridge, they are a bunch of muppets

My Boys teacher teaches it in a local club and his place has been recommended by parents and kids in the school. We live in West Drayton so not that far from Northolt.

I'll find out where he works on Monday

[mjn]

have a look at www.martialartsplanet.com

[shodan]

JKD and TKD are completely different things. In a brief description I would say JKD is a no frills self defence system as much for the mind as the body. It isn't a mix of martial arts but more a collection of idea's from many fighting forms.

TKD is a Korean type of Karate which bases its ideas along empty hand fighting systems similar to karate. It is now more sport orientated though and is quite a new invention (google for general Choi).
TKD is very showy as well with a preference for kicking techniquea, especially with jumps involved in them!
If its fitness and sport you want then TKD but f its self defence and mind discipline then I would suggest you go with JKD.
but do look at different karates, judo and ju-jitsu too.
Go to clubs and ask if you can watch a lesson. Ask the instructor what qualifications they have (first aid? insurance? sports science?). What how they teach and how the students are. Are there many? Are the nice people? how do they react with the instructors?
And more importantly, do they all go for a beer afterwards?

[Harj]

Have you thought about muay Thai? I've lost a stone and have a six pack and fitness levels way beyond what I thought I could ever acheive. I can also knock you out with a left hook! I train with this guy in Hanwell & west Ealing, not far from you, I reccommed a viewing first on a Tuesday lesson, its an hour and the other at West Ealing is one and a half hours. The Tuesday lesson is a less brutal introduction.

Link

[Reign-Mack]

^^whats with the left hook comment

[onkeh]

I do Foundation Jitsu and it's pretty cool, clubs all over London.

[Harj]

Originally Posted by Reign-Mack

^^whats with the left hook comment

Nothing sinister, just the power and speed in my punches are pretty impressive now, due to the training and technique practised, staggered a sparring partner with it last Tuesday much to my suprise.

Update: thanks all for the replies but I've been forced to kibosh the ninja-ing lessons for a bit - I started playing touch rugby a coupla weeks ago to up my fitness levels and last week I managed to fall over and crack a coupla ribs! It bleedin' hurts espesh when I laugh, hiccup or (worst of all) sneeze. When I'm in slightly less agony I'll reinvestigate places I can go to. Some more meat on my dainty bones would be a really good thing since they're clearly pretty brittle!

Cheers,

Dan

Incase anybody is interested in what happened next... Very little until Feb this year when I finally got off my lazy bottom and joined the London Taekwondo Academy (World TKD Federation) Pitshanger/Greenford branch which has *COMPLETELY* changed my life!

Saturday afternoons are fitness & fighting; Tuesday nights are technique; and Friday nights are sparring, when I'm regularly set upon by 13-year-old Kens and Chun Lis. The 37 year old (I think) red belt I work with most often is complementary about progress so far (as is Master), but the days he doesn't show up and I'm forced to work with a 20yo black belt (as fast as bloody lightning and impossible to land a foot on, let alone defend yourself against) help to keep things in perspective!

Already I'm stronger and more bendy than I've ever been, despite doing bugger all athletic for the past 10yrs, and at last I'm developing some muscle tone albeit "in a puny way" says my oh-so-supportive other half, but she's comparing me to her little brother, a supremely fit farmer chap who has heaved bloody great cows about since leaving school. And I don't fall asleep on the sofa straight after work any more, and now I can enjoy round trips on my Kwak longer than 5 miles before its crippling riding position stops it being any fun at all, and I'm writing more in my spare time and getting more done at work and at least another hundred fab things all directly or indirectly down to beginning training! Trouble is, these days I consider every day I don't train as a day completely wasted!

Anyhoo, just wanted to pass on that if any thirty-something is reading this who always fancied learning a martial art but thought you'd left it too late to start - you haven't. You'll love it, despite the sore feet and bruises

Dan

[jamesvtidohc]

Ju Jitsu or take a class of muay thai and a class of judo a week. Will take no more than 2 hours of training a week.

[Harj]

Originally Posted by Dan Smiffy

Incase anybody is interested in what happened next... Very little until Feb this year when I finally got off my lazy bottom and joined the London Taekwondo Academy (World TKD Federation) Pitshanger/Greenford branch which has *COMPLETELY* changed my life!

Saturday afternoons are fitness & fighting; Tuesday nights are technique; and Friday nights are sparring, when I'm regularly set upon by 13-year-old Kens and Chun Lis. The 37 year old (I think) red belt I work with most often is complementary about progress so far (as is Master), but the days he doesn't show up and I'm forced to work with a 20yo black belt (as fast as bloody lightning and impossible to land a foot on, let alone defend yourself against) help to keep things in perspective!

Already I'm stronger and more bendy than I've ever been, despite doing bugger all athletic for the past 10yrs, and at last I'm developing some muscle tone albeit "in a puny way" says my oh-so-supportive other half, but she's comparing me to her little brother, a supremely fit farmer chap who has heaved bloody great cows about since leaving school. And I don't fall asleep on the sofa straight after work any more, and now I can enjoy round trips on my Kwak longer than 5 miles before its crippling riding position stops it being any fun at all, and I'm writing more in my spare time and getting more done at work and at least another hundred fab things all directly or indirectly down to beginning training! Trouble is, these days I consider every day I don't train as a day completely wasted!

Anyhoo, just wanted to pass on that if any thirty-something is reading this who always fancied learning a martial art but thought you'd left it too late to start - you haven't. You'll love it, despite the sore feet and bruises

Dan

Well done, seems like you've found a good class that keeps you on your toes, and you are right, it's never too late.