Well, hi! Welcome! I missed this one.

I've been learning a mixed style, which places more emphasis on practicality and defense and less emphasis on sport, for about 10 years. We have a colored belt system, with a minimum of six months between tests, a minimum of one year between brown and black belts, and a minimum of six years total training to be eligible to test for black. But other than the minimum, we are tested for the next level when our instructor believes we are ready. Some folks take longer than others.
Although there are techniques and kata we are expected to know at each level, our learning is somewhat individualized, based on our strengths, weaknesses, and needs. At brown and black belt levels, we are no longer given a list of things to work on; we are expected to know the physical techniques by then. After that, it's all about application and mindset. We are taught the first five katas by our instructors, but we are responsible for learning the black belt katas on our own.

We do Traditional TKD with more emphasis on self defense and sparring. We go two days a week and the fastest we can test for black belt is 3 years. The Kids classes are stranger danger, Sparring, and Forms and our students are encouraged to compete in tournaments as often as possible. 15 students Brought home 15 trophies and several Medals two weeks ago from the AOMA Nationals.

I study Shorei Goju Ryu , Small Circle Jujitsu and modern Arnis.
I am currently working on nan dan sho kata, ni hanshi kata and Ten sho kata. Plus the Bunkai to Sai en chen. I just started small circle and arnis so am picking up the basics of each. The first two arts use a sylabus.
We run forms or kata in shorie. Plus sparing and self defense patterns.
Small circle uses pressure points and lots of joint manipulations, traping and immobalizations. Breaks if needed. i also need the Bo staff, Tonfa, and Nunchukow for my next promotion.
We do warm ups for ten minutes but most physical activity is your own responsibility.
We need to know anti knife and club techniques. choke and bear hug escapes.
Applications of different chokes , arm bars, wrist locks and the practical application of your forms are studied as well.
We have one, two and three step sparring as well as free sparring.
1st degree or sho dan requires a biography and why you take karate. Also a history and liniage of Shorei Goju Ryu is required.

I have previous experience with karate and kickboxing But i couldn't keep things going to home life. But i'm studing Shaolin Chuan Fa which is a form of kung fu. I love every bit from the body condtioning to the sparring.
I have been doing this for 3 months now and i'm going in for my first grading which will be for a white sash in about 3 weeks.
We can train up to black belt which would take at least 4 and half years min depending if you can pick it up quickly

I've been doing Hoshinkido Hapkido for a couple years now and it's the perfect one for me.
I tried many different MA styles during 14 years in total.... Judo,Shorin Ryu Karate,TaeKwonDo and Ninjutsu...

I'm a security officer so.... Learning pressure points,joint locks,throws,take down etc is the best for me.

We have close to 3800 technics in total..so it's pretty complete.

Aikido!

I study TKD, and have been doing it for 10 months now. Both my son and i go to the same school, so we have some bonding going on there which is always good! Currently i'm a green belt, and i'm now learning tornado kicks, spinning back kicks, self-defense using what's called "escort escapes", when someone grabs your shirt if you're standing next to them........there are three escapes and manuipulations for that. One-step sparring with kicks now being incorporated in them, as opposed to the previous belts where it was just striking. Also, i'm at the level where i can do sparring on a consistent basis, and my instructor has been wishing i do that since he likes how my left leg can cause a problem with other students. hehe! We also have blocking techniques with counters, and also forms (Taeguek Il Jung).

I train in both Hapkido and Taekwondo at the same school. Our Taekwondo school follows the Kukkiwon regulations and requirements, so it is pretty structured. Our Hapkido is a mixture of various schools' practices that my master has trained in. Love them both, though. I'm testing for my yellow stripe belt next Saturday in Taekwondo (yellow belt with a green stripe through it) and am testing for black belt in hapkido sometime next year (I'm a red belt now).

Hi I'm new to MA and to this group! I just started Shotokan last week with my teenager. We're loving it. My son started over the summer and as we watched him we both got interested.

My problem is that I'm starting this in my 40s! Would love any tips to try to get my flexibility back so I can learn properly.

I started Wado Ryu Karate Jujitsu last October. It's pretty much half Japanese Jujitsu and half Shotokan. It's a really close quarters style (as far as Karate goes). I do an hour and a half on mondays and three hours on thursdays. Classes usually go like: Warm Ups, Stretching, some basic techniques, then we focus on a technique, doing partner drills then he'll expand on that another 2 or 3 times. Near the end we usually do sparring or work some forms.
To Advance in rank you need: put in time (We only had 6 black belts since 1993, I know right), Forms, Techniques worthy of rank, terms for whatever stances or techniques in Japanese, Sparring. But really he told us whenever we start to look his idea of a Wado Whatever belt. He starts contemplating testing.

As a one year anniversary type deal I started BJJ on monday, which turns out to Helio Gracie's Birthday, with only two classes and a few open mat days I cant tell you too much about it, but Its nice to be able to use a lot more strength and skill without having to worry about hurting someone while rolling/sparring.

I really want to learn bjj.......but it is not currently offered anywhere near me. Two weeks I started taking muay thai. The instructor is really good. I really like it. The classes kick my *kitten*. Lets me know I'm not in as good a shape as I like to think I am. Also motivates me to train harder during the week.

when i first started way back when... it was itf/ustf taekwondo.. where i got up to red belt doing hwa rang...and yes probably killed the spelling.. itf is general choi hong hi.. style and group.. ustf is just here in the states and they are the guys u see doing all the sign wave stuff. which i had to do for a while. then due to lack of funds i cldnt advance and then had to drop and then go away to school and work and etc etc etc..lol... in that time i did a bit of kajekenbo.. yes that spelling i know i killed..lol.. did a bit kenpo karate.. and i did a bit of kungfu with friends.

a year ago.. i started taking tkd again but at a different school. so i am considered a transfer..ugh..lol so stuck at white tell i relearn and get back up to where i was. this is baileys tae kwon do.

the itf/ustf class to advance and such..had to memorise some book stuff, step sparring, reg sparring, breaking, forms, then when u got up to where i was you had to start doing coriography. i hate my spelling..lol at that point advancement was a big deal and a lot went in to it.

here at baileys we use all the same patterns as itf with no sign wave. for advanvement pretty basic.. go thru a class spar break do ur pattern and thats about it.. how ever sparring here is non contact only which is no biggy but if in a tourney and i imagine advancement?? if u barely hit some one u will lose the match automaticly?? not sure how that works exactly..but now matter how skilled u r contact is going to happen.. so i will see how that goes..just wished they did a bit of padded sparring as well..



and to the op... there is also olympic tkd which to me is retarded...lol... same as just boring old boxing... the punch they hug they punch they hug.... well instead of punch it is know kick and hug. they dont do much for blocking if at all and dont use their hands... first time i saw a match i was like wow this should be cool... and then i was like what the heck is this??..lol

I do Muay Thai Boxing and it is the best therapy in the world!!! I don't go nearly as often as I want to, but everytime our gym hosts a fight, I get incredibly jealous when I see the girls who are fighting. THAT SHOULD BE ME FIGHTING!! That is MY fight and I WANT IT!! Maybe it's good for those intermittent pangs of jealousy that help serve as reminders for what I really want and maybe it will help me to start training more regularly and work harder. I get frustrated that I still have SO MUCH weight to lose (about 100 lbs) and I have a LONG way to go. I need to remember to take it one day at a time, but keep my eye on the prize.

On a different note, I'm so excited to be a part of your group!!

I do kickboxing, just got my orange belt last week, so not grading for green for 6 months now. So in the meantime I'm going to refine and perfect all my orange belt stuff (crescent kick, spinning side kick, ridgehand etc) and learn some of the green belt stuff which I can't remember as I don't have the syllabus on me, but I'm sure axe kick and double round kick come in to it, plus 2x2 minute rounds each of sparring, bag work and skipping to prepare for. Luckily I know those already as we mix it all up in training, it's just getting comfortable with them for grading.

Plus I've got to massively improve my sparring! I entered my first competition a few weeks ago and I came 2nd in points, but got battered in continuous!! Still, can't wait for the next one lol!

Updating my op. we have started learning the curriculum for the new belt. So far it is all a bit fancy- the pattern has lots of cat stance and double knife hands and double blocks. The kicks are climbing hook kick and front face counter, the lock is scissor lock. So far a lot of fun!

Are you doing Joon-Gun? We did that as a tribute form a couple of cycles ago. Our national association is completely Americanized and uses a novel progressive form. However, every cycle we get to learn a Korean form, and red and black belts have to test on it as well as the progressive form. Now we're doing Choong-moo.

@Lord Bear.. we don't do the sine wave, either. It looks funny to me now. I agree that the Olympic sparring did look silly. And I think we like the same books...