Introduce yourself
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@briteyes BJJ is supplementary only for self defense work for me... my primary art is Taekwondo (Traditional). I train a combination of home/parks and also at Family Karate.1
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Hi Everyone! My name is Toni. i live in the Vancouver area and practice Muay Thai. i have recently just come back from a long 'retirement.' i fell in love with Muay Thai in my youth back in 2000 but stopped in 2005. now i'm back and in love all over again!
i'm excited to read every one's intro's. both new and old to martial arts but all jsut as in love with the sport as i am:)2 -
@tmlashta Welcome to the group! Making a comeback is a big challenge - incredibly rewarding though!0
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Hi!
I am a 3rd degree black belt in traditional Tae Kwon Do. I am an instructor along with another 3rd degree black belt in a local non-profit dojang. My family and I have been on this journey for ten years. My oldest son is a 1st degree black belt, my middle son is a 2nd degree black belt and my daughter quit as a green belt. My husband is a 3rd degree black belt as well. My childrent have all slowly stopped participating, but it has been an important part of all of our lives.
I teach or assist class instruction on Tuesday and Thursday at our local dojang. We also have Friday night class for brown and black belt class by our 7th degree master.
Tae Kwon Do has meant a great deal to me. One of the best things I have done in my life.3 -
@jenmck5 That's fantastic that you were able to involve the family together like that! Welcome!0
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Hello All!
I'm hailing from Vermont. I practice Aikido and Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido, which is a mouthful in itself. I'm a newbie of three or so years in Aikido, and a lost sheep of just a few months in Iaido. I just found this group, which makes me happy because I was always guessing who practices and who doesn't.
I'm currently 4th Kyu. The USAF (not air force) doesn't use colored belts, so I'm not sure how I could equate that to anything. I practice 3 days a week totaling up to about 7 hours, and lift when I can. It'd be nice to connect with other folks who practice Aikido.3 -
Hi Everyone! My name is Melissa, and I am a 1st degree black belt in ITF Taekwondo. I watched my daughters train, and after their first rank ceremony, my husband and I decided to make serious lifestyle changes (3 years smoke free!!) and join them in the mats. I love everything about martial arts. I find peace and power in doing patterns, and enjoy fitness and kicking drills as well. I just started helping teach color belts at the dojang, and look forward to continuing my TKD journey. I just started informal BJJ training, and some weapons as well. I still have a ways to go before I’m where I want to be with my weight, but realized that if I have the discipline to earn a black belt, I can do just about anything. I’m also starting to train for a half marathon-I just need it to stop snowing for a minute so I can go out and run! Nice to “meet” you all.3
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Hi Everyone! I'm Kayla. I'm 29 and I have been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for almost 3 years. I have been so fortunate to have met my husband through this sport and I'm hoping for blue belt by the end of this year. I had the last year hold me back quite a bit mentally, after gaining back almost 50lbs of the 80 lbs I lost. I let that mentally defeat me and it held me back in my jiu jitsu significantly. Along with a job change, moving, and planning and getting married! now that everything has settled down I am back on track with my physical and mental health.
I'm also hoping to compete again in tournaments this fall once I officially meet the IBJJF Weight bracket for women.. but don't get me started on how skewed that is (in my opinion
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Hello! I'm Allyson and I've been training in Muay Thai for the last 8 or so months in the Portland area! New to the group and using MFP off and on. I tried Muay Thai on a whim after I moved away from my lifting buddy and kinda fell in love. I currently train 4-6 times a week as well as run (currently also training for a big relay race).
I've always been interested in trying a martial art but kept telling myself I'd wait til I was more fit (which in hindsight was kinda dumb), but I did lose 50 lbs through lifting/running/diet and caught myself using that excuse with a co-worker after running a half-marathon and was like "Welp, I guess I'm kinda fit". Feeling that a lot more after starting Muay Thai though!0 -
Howdy, I'm Jay.
As a child of the 80s and 90s, I've always been interested in the martial arts. My father was a Judo black belt and my maternal grandfather, was a boxer, and ran a gym in his twilight years, training amateur and Olympic hopefuls.
I've trained in a lot of things:
Boxing
WTF Taekwondo
Wing Chun
American Jiu Jitsu / Goshin Jitsu
Kyokushin Karate
Judo
Kajukenbo Kung Fu
Taijiquan
Sadly, only for short periods of time, sadly, due to injuries and life getting in the way.
My last severe injury was a motorcycle accident that left my right arm limited in movement for years.
It got to the point where I couldn't move my right arm, at all.
I just stopped moving and gave up for awhile until I got sick of that.
It was then I picked up 100 lbs of weight. Making me 300 lbs.
With that serious right arm injury, I decided to see a doctor and then a physical therapist and I received treatment for, in the last few months.
Acupuncture and physical therapy, mostly. Non-surgical.
Stretching, yoga, weight lifting, and cardiovascular workouts have taken my down to around 270 lbs.
I've been doing a P90X Lean rotation with Stronglifts 5x5 mixed in, 7 days a week since the mid of March.
Two days ago, I found my old judogis, in storage, and well, I felt some sort of regret about it all and began actively looking for a new school.
It's hard to find one to fit my schedule as I work evenings and nights, when most instruction is taking place traditionally.
Tomorrow, I begin what was and has always been, a life long dream to pursue 1 martial art to a point of proficiency.
The style is Tang Soo Do.3 -
Welcome! I hope your first day went well.0
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First two days, Tuesday and Thursday, were good.
The instructor has a background in Taekwondo (his highest rank is here, 5th degree) as well as Tang Soo Do (second highest rank is here, 2nd degree), Arnis, (third highest rank is here) and Brasilian Jiujitsu (and he is a purple belt here).
I am, of course, hilariously out of practice.
But, I didn't fall.
TSD, shares a lot of similarities as far as forms are concerned, with the Karate and TKD I have done in the past. Except here, there is an emphasis on kicking, not punching, unlike Karate.
And so, just like that I'm back in the game.0 -
Hi there! I've been enjoying reading everyone's intros. So, here's mine.
I've been training Kempo since August 2017 and I have been loving it. Just these last months I've been trying out BJJ and that has been amazing as well. I've wanted to do Martial Arts since I was a kid, but my parents thought "it wasn't lady like" So finally after 30 years I got to give it a go. I'm bummed I waited so long, but so happy I'm there now. I had been a fixture at the studio for a long time since my son and husband also trained there for about two years before I started. They've really become like family, and at this point I can't imagine life without training and the way of life associated with MA. It has been so much more than a workout for me. I guess thats how you know things will stick.
I'm glad to be part of the group!1 -
Glad you found us! Welcome!!0 -
Welcome! Jiu Jitsu girls are the best!0
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I was part of the old (now-inactive) MA group here on MFP for a while around 2016. I've floated to the top of my preferred weight range and my gi pants were getting tight, so I decided I needed to go back to the discipline of logging for a while. So here I am.
Like many here, I've been a martial artist on and off for many years.
During high school in the 1980's I studied Okinawan Goju Ryu in a traditional school that was loosely affiliated with Sensei Teruo Chinen. But times were different then. Wth 5 years of study, I reached 5th kyu (green with 1 brown stripe). Then I hurt my knee my Senior year in High School and for a number of reasons drifted away from martial arts in college.
When my younger son was in 1st grade he/we "won" a family membership to a local TKD outfit, but they weren't a good match for our family (NO, I won't sign a multi-year non-refundable membership agreement for a 7-year old!). So we spent a few years at a Okinawa Kenpo Karate school, with no contracts, which I loved since there were many similarities to the Goju Ryu I first studied. But that small school ran in to financial difficulties and closed down.
For the last few years, my son, now finishing 8th grade, and I have been studying Chinese Kempo. I'm proud to say that he recently earned his high green belt (about 4th kyu?) and I just got my brown 3 belt (about 3rd kyu?). It's hard to translate because each style puts the colors in a different order and the current school has 11 steps for adults/teens between white and 1st Dan/Black belt.
Getting to black belt before I turn 50 is a bit of a stretch. So I'm hoping that the chronic shoulder tendinitis doesn't hold me back and that I stay healthy enough to earn the black belt I didn't reach as a teen before I leave my 50th year.
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Hi there, my name is Danielle. I am a red belt in karate. I received my red belt in 2007, left for 9 years and started back with my family in 2016. I have been invited to grade for my black belt in September. I am very excited but really nervous. Its been 11 years since my last grading. I am worried about the 8 min mile because of my weight. I've been trying really hard to get the weight off but its coming off so slowly I hope I'm fit enough by September to start my rounds of testing. I think I would have so much more confidence in my abilities with the weight off.0
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Welcome Danielle. What style do you study?
Not to derail the thread, but color of belt is very hard to interpret without context. Every school I've been in has run the rainbow differently (and look at Kyokushin if you want an example of folks not following convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyokushin#Grading in every other school I've been in yellow is either 1st or 2nd in the sequence)0
