Martial arts

[Jaakko V.]

Having had a fair share of blade training during my Escrima classes has given me some basic insight and abilities with a knife, but its tricky business for sure.

Anyone else training martial arts here? What styles? Training just for exercise, self defence or something else?

[halthan]

I did Kendo for several years, but had to give it up, cause started to have some (serious) problems with my back.

[Jaakko V.]

Kendo must be hard. Looks so simple but I guess there must be countless things to keep in mind.

I love doing combat sports but also, or more, interested of thinking and testing various ideas concerning street level violence and self-defence. The stuff that's not only about the technique but almost even more about psychology, the inevitable stress reactions, one's potentially hazardous (to oneself) animal instincts that are hard/impossible to keep at bay when the shit hits the fan, the aftermath etc. Always found for example Marc 'Animal' MacYoung's books and articles quite thought provoking, as well as entertaining. - http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/

Richard Dimitri of ex-Senshido fame also has a lot of valuable ideas to take into consideration. Regarding the recent discussion on knives and their usage in real life, I pretty much agree with this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37XiSn81oFw

More exotic systems are interesting as hell also but nowadays it's rather hard (not impossible) to find proper teaching anywhere.

[HongKongGoolagong]

The stuff that's not only about the technique but almost even more about psychology, the inevitable stress reactions, one's potentially hazardous (to oneself) animal instincts that are hard/impossible to keep at bay when the shit hits the fan, the aftermath etc.

I guess t'ai chi would come under that heading. I studied it for a year and found it beneficial on many levels. Of course it's a lifetime's job to become an expert. There are good teachers of this everywhere.

[bitewerksMTB]

If I weren't afraid of getting punched, kicked, elbowed, and knee'd, I'd train Muay Thai.

I like Krav Maga too. No clue if anyone teaches K.M. here & I'm not a member of that tribe so maybe I wouldn't be allowed in.

[Jaakko V.]

The stuff that's not only about the technique but almost even more about psychology, the inevitable stress reactions, one's potentially hazardous (to oneself) animal instincts that are hard/impossible to keep at bay when the shit hits the fan, the aftermath etc.

I guess t'ai chi would come under that heading. I studied it for a year and found it beneficial on many levels. Of course it's a lifetime's job to become an expert. There are good teachers of this everywhere.

I see where you're coming from, but was referring more to modern self-defence training systems with emphasis on tough physical training incorporating excercises designed to push one out of one's psychological comfort zone - scenario training, working under highly stressful and chaotic situations etc.

In Finland it's not so easy to find high quality tai chi, at least of the variety with emphasis on actual fighting... There are a couple of good traditional Chinese schools here though, notably Tang Lang kung fu and Baji Quan.

[Levas]

Before a trauma few years back I was training wing tsun. Quite interesting, but the "master" was a little to weird - seeing various lights from the sky (green = you are in good mood and doing something good, red  = bad etc.) and every kick or punch comparing to vehicles and their movement.
Anyways, found that Krav Maga has been trained not far from my home, thinking of joining that. I guess being in a tribe or not isn't that important. I liked what I saw in promo videos

[Jaakko V.]

Before a trauma few years back I was training wing tsun. Quite interesting, but the "master" was a little to weird - seeing various lights from the sky (green = you are in good mood and doing something good, red  = bad etc.) and every kick or punch comparing to vehicles and their movement.
Anyways, found that Krav Maga has been trained not far from my home, thinking of joining that. I guess being in a tribe or not isn't that important. I liked what I saw in promo videos

Whereas people generally use Krav Maga as a blanket term, there are in fact several styles that go under the name. But if you can find a good training group, I'd definitely say go for it. Excellent for pure exercise and of course for self defence too.

I'm currently doing MMA and Scandinavian Defendo which is a style rather close to Krav Maga. Here's a promo video from the Polish branch, shot at some public demonstration situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9HEd7-p-yA

Edit: And another one from Finland, shot just during normal training sessions. Maybe more illustrative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohrw6riE3ao

[Levas]

That group is in progress to becoming a part of Haim Zut Krav Maga association so in fact I don't know what other different groups are there in Krav Maga.

Nice videos, especially the second one. A person I know claims that he found something about Lithuanian martial arts style. We were going to meet with him and discuss all that for a few years already, but this never happened. It seems just another speculation with terms. Lithuanian martial arts style, coming from pagan Lithuania, mostly wrestling etc. though if we ever meet, I'm curious to see what he knows myself..

[Scat-O-Logy]

I managed to train kickboxing for little over a year before I started my military service. It's a lot milder than muay thai but you'll definitely get your head kicked if you don't keep your hands up. Strangely the guys who compete, even on professional level, trained with us so sometimes I wasn't too far away from dropping, hah. The only thing I regret about it is that I started to get cramps on my calf from time to time but other than that it gave me really strong base. Now I can train by myself or with a friend when ever I want. And those cramps aren't that bad really, magnesium pills helps a lot. Damn, I should start training again...