First Hapkido class yesterday, thoughts...

[snafu]

Hello all, I've been lurking these boards for a couple days in preparation for my first Hapkido class. The school I'm going to teaches kickboxing but specializes in Hapkido. The kickboxing classes don't start for another month so they recommend I take Hapkido till then to learn the basic kicks, etc. I've never taken any MAs before so I'm eager to learn.

So, I had my first class yesterday and luckily then was one other guy in there who was just starting out also. The other three people in the class were green belts. So, the instructor taught us the front kick, shin kick, side kick and groin kick. I feel I got these down with minor difficulty and will only get better with practice. However, the first three forms he taught us I'm somewhat frustrated with. The instructor referred to them as form #1, #2 and #3. All three were centered around someone grabbing your shirt and you basically grabbing their wrist and beinding it unnaturally. I feel like I have a difficult time remembering the movements.

I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance and perhaps I'm making it more difficult than it has to be. Also, can someone explain how one is tested for each belt. Do you perform movements in front of the class or spar or what, this wasn't explained (at least not yet)?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to contributing to the boards in the future.

[Damian Mavis]

Dude you need to worry less, I hate the internet in that people turn to it for answers that simply come with time and experience naturally. Just train. When I started there were no answers, you just did what you were told and did your best and eventually you got better, stronger, tougher and more confident.

Every school is different so no one can answer how you are tested, they all do it differently.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[warriors13]

In my opinion, it's not your fault. Some might disagree, but I feel he gave you to much information for you to handle. I remember when I took Kali, my instructor overwhelmed me with so much technique, angles of attacks, counters, etc that on the way home, I would forget everything. Whatever those forms were, he should have drilled you with maybe just the first form until you got it down packed and then take it home with you and practice it somemore until it becomes natural. Well anyways, that the way I like to be taught.

[IPON]

I hate the internet in that people turn to it for answers that simply come with time and experience naturally. Just train.

Well Said and all too True

So, I had my first class yesterday

My friend I think this is the point. You have only one class

I feel like I have a difficult time remembering the movements.

Again, it was your first class. Give yourself a breakl

[snafu]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I got done with my second class last night, so I've been a total of four hours. It isn't that bad now, I've been practicing at home and that helps a ton.

My teacher said kickboxing starts in two weeks (American kickboxing I assume). My teacher is a sponsored fighter and is also my Hapkido teacher now.

Not to take anything away from Hapkido, since I've only had four hours of experience with it so far but Muay Thai and kickboxing since much more applicable in a street situation. Maybe I'm way off on that and people who practice Hapkido quite a bit doing those moves would be second nature but I like the look and feel of kickboxing and Muay Thai more.

[Harry]

Not to take anything away from Hapkido, since I've only had four hours of experience with it so far but Muay Thai and kickboxing since much more applicable in a street situation. Maybe I'm way off on that and people who practice Hapkido quite a bit doing those moves would be second nature but I like the look and feel of kickboxing and Muay Thai more.

The most important thing to remember with any art, is that very few moves can be used in a streetfight without having you killed, high american kickboxing kicks are great in the ring, but in the street its asking for trouble, all they have to do is catch it and push you back, your head gets to meet the curb, I was once taught an inverted crescent kick as self defence, there is no chance in hell that would work in a fight, it would require so much co-ordination and luck to work under that much pressure.

In a streetfight, strength matters, it really does, it doesn't matter how many kicks you can throw without bringing your leg down, it matters how hard you can punch the other guy though.
The simplest techniques are often the best, elbows, knee's and fists, all fairly simple moves and effective, they are not high risk to you.

Many arts (well almost all) tag themselves as self defense, a judo school would have you think it works in the street and that a 30lb woman really can take down a 150lb man.
This, as im sure most will agree, is not true.
The best way to gauge an arts ability on the street, is to look at the moves they teach and think "Would that work in the street? Can I do that with enough power to hurt someone?"
If you have even a flicker of doubt, it won't work in the street.

I believe that technique is nothing in the wake of power, look at it this way,
two street fights,
1) Kung Fu vs thug
2) Boxing vs thug

1) Kung fu, has alot of techniques, and I don't mean to step on anyones toes, but it tends to attract people who are weak or below average strength and are looking for a way to defend themselves with minimum effort. Alot of schools deal with knife attacks e.t.c, attacks from behind, so in theory, you should walk your way through thugs right?

2) Boxing, simple in terms of technique, boxing doesn't teach you reams of techniques to hit someone, Im sure a boxer could walk through street thugs with his hooks, crosses and jabs, boxing is a sport that requires power, it tends to not attract weaker people so there is little reason to teach people pressure points and complex throws to use an attackers weight against himself e.t.c.

I'm sure we all agree, a boxer can streetfight with a thug better than kung fu, due to the nature of the arts.

Any blow, is only as good as the power behind it, arts that teach "gentle" ways of overcoming an attacker, such as using his weight against him, and pressure points, are full of crap in the real world im afraid, judo throws won't get you anything but a broken skull in a street fight.

Erm.... I have rambled on a bit, back to your actual point
A possible reason that you currently view kickboxing as a better art for self defense, may just be learning curves, it is generaly accepted that due to its more simple nature, kickboxing is a faster art to progress in.

e.g. (bear in mind, this is all just made up to iterate my point)
Kickboxing, lets say it takes 6 months to get the fitness, stretching, technique and experience to start using it in the street well.

Hapkido on the other hand, may take a year before you feel confident of its application.

This doesn't make it any less of an art, it just basicly means that an increased learning curve may be the reason it doesn't seem as useuful, in a few months you may completely change your mind.

Good luck with the kickboxing.

[Yaberdaber]

Hello all, I've been lurking these boards for a couple days in preparation for my first Hapkido class. The school I'm going to teaches kickboxing but specializes in Hapkido. The kickboxing classes don't start for another month so they recommend I take Hapkido till then to learn the basic kicks, etc. I've never taken any MAs before so I'm eager to learn.

So, I had my first class yesterday and luckily then was one other guy in there who was just starting out also. The other three people in the class were green belts. So, the instructor taught us the front kick, shin kick, side kick and groin kick. I feel I got these down with minor difficulty and will only get better with practice. However, the first three forms he taught us I'm somewhat frustrated with. The instructor referred to them as form #1, #2 and #3. All three were centered around someone grabbing your shirt and you basically grabbing their wrist and beinding it unnaturally. I feel like I have a difficult time remembering the movements.

I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance and perhaps I'm making it more difficult than it has to be. Also, can someone explain how one is tested for each belt. Do you perform movements in front of the class or spar or what, this wasn't explained (at least not yet)?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to contributing to the boards in the future.

I've been reading all the responses here and I would like to raise my opinion as well.
A tip I always tell my friends I practice hapkido with is to always repeat and improvise. I say, master those locks and grabs... try moving them in a circular fashion and do them faster and faster. Before you know it, you'll be better. So, in summary, start slow then fast then improvise... add your own blend to the techniques.
Another thing, I dunno if this is taught at your school, but in my school, there are sets and patterns that start out in a "form" like fashion. These are good, but they tend to be slow or sometimes unrealistic. Try to improvise these by doing variations. Besides... you still haven't had a month yet, try to practice more.

Good luck.

[Harry]

So, in summary, start slow then fast then improvise... add your own blend to the techniques.

Yup, that will definately work, its the same for anything you learn, be it a kick or a drum roll.
You have to get your muscles used to doing it, so start slow, make sure you get the right technique, the muscle memory will remember all this, and eventualy you will be able to do it without thinking.

[Thai Bri]

But fighting is a two person activity (at least). Those flicky kicky and twisty wristy nonsense moves will NOT be remembered by the guy hitting you with a chair.

[jubaji]

a 30lb woman really can take down a 150lb man.
This, as im sure most will agree, is not true.

I'm sure most will agree that that skinny man should not be fighting toddlers (30lb?! WTF).

[jubaji]

judo throws won't get you anything but a broken skull in a street fight.

You either have no concept of judo or have never been in a street fight. Or both.

[Thai Bri]

I vote both. I agree about the 30lbs woman though. To weight that little she must have no limbs, so how could she win?

[jubaji]

I vote both. I agree about the 30lbs woman though. To weight that little she must have no limbs, so how could she win?

Maybe its that first blow thing!

[Harry]

I vote both. I agree about the 30lbs woman though. To weight that little she must have no limbs, so how could she win?

It was on some crappy show called "The John Walsh" show or something, they had a guy on demonstrating judo as self defence, they had a 30lb woman in (I don't believe anyone who is 30 could weight that little) she was about 5ft4 and they had her doing basic throws on this other guy.

You either have no concept of judo or have never been in a street fight. Or both.

I didn't explain myself properly.
I'm sure if you were to get a judo champion in a street fight, he would have the discipline to pull off these techniques, but not everyone is a judo champion or a judo blackbelt, and when you are in your first few belts, especialy if you don't train in fighting much, your not going to be able to equate those abilities into the street.

Especialy seen as science shows that in a street fight, only around 4-5 techniques can be remembered, now if you pair this with other factors, it becomes much harder to throw someone than it does to punch them.
A judo throw is a much more complex technique to master, than a right cross, now in a fight, to get the throw completed, your going to have to have him in the correct posistion, or get him into it, which will be hard, then you have to complete this move on him.

That was what I meant, I'm sure that a champion of any art could use it in a street fight, but the vast majority of people are not champions, and the vast majority of people don't enter into tournaments and the like.

So I shall restate my point, if you don't compete often and don't practice your moves under pressure then Judo will not help you in a street fight
Now before anyone says "The same for any art", my other point, is that when most people I know think of self defense, they think three arts; Karate, Kung fu, judo, it's rare someone will associate Tang Soo Do with self defense even though it, like all arts are claimed as self defense arts.

Hope that made my point clearer.

[Thai Bri]

So your point is this - if you are no good at Judo then it will be no good in self defence.

Bit of an obvious point, isnt it? Thats probably true of carrying a shot gun - if you are no good with that it won't help neither!