What martial arts are You in?

[Sutiiven]

I know a bit of kung fu a guy taught me and some from a instructional book.

well considering the fact that we do not have crap for martial dojos here and they others in big citys cost to much in gas.

I would like to learn the seven star mantis boxing and kung fu and Tai Chi and Aikido and ju jitsu and taekwondo.

I guess i will need to find a master of one the forms who does not have a dojo to learn which would not be easy

[Amnell]

Originally Posted by godwine

Wait till he is at least 5, start off with Karate or Judo if you are looking for the true traditional mind training

Would Aikido be a good choice? From what I understand, Aikido is a very intellectual style. And since it's a pacifistic style, it might be better to teach a young kid whose temperment might get a little out of whack in, say, fifteen years so he doesn't end up hurting some classmate (much).

Agree, disagree?

@Rina: Do you know yet if the child will be a boy or girl?

[rina26]

Originally Posted by Amnell

@Rina: Do you know yet if the child will be a boy or girl?

Not yet. We have a month or so before we'll find out.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Amnell

Would Aikido be a good choice? From what I understand, Aikido is a very intellectual style. And since it's a pacifistic style, it might be better to teach a young kid whose temperment might get a little out of whack in, say, fifteen years so he doesn't end up hurting some classmate (much).

Agree, disagree?

@Rina: Do you know yet if the child will be a boy or girl?

Hello Amnell

I do agree that Aikido is a good art for kids to start. However, Aikido requires a lot of coordination and some understanding to the concept of weight shifting. It is true that, through practice, you build up muscle memory to perform a certain move, but its better to know why and what is happening than just let it happen

I am also worry that for a children so young, their shoulder may not be developed enough (I am no doctor, just purely from experience working with kids) to break a fall. The throw in Aikido is no joke, regardless of who you practice with, the weight to power ration is the same across all ages, so the amount of damage (porportional) a 5 years old can do to a 5 years old is no different from an adult doing it to an adult, a landing is a landing.

[Amnell]

Originally Posted by godwine

Hello Amnell

I do agree that Aikido is a good art for kids to start. However, Aikido requires a lot of coordination and some understanding to the concept of weight shifting. It is true that, through practice, you build up muscle memory to perform a certain move, but its better to know why and what is happening than just let it happen

I am also worry that for a children so young, their shoulder may not be developed enough (I am no doctor, just purely from experience working with kids) to break a fall. The throw in Aikido is no joke, regardless of who you practice with, the weight to power ration is the same across all ages, so the amount of damage (porportional) a 5 years old can do to a 5 years old is no different from an adult doing it to an adult, a landing is a landing.

Hm, interesting point.... But wouldn't that preclude Judo, also? I've never studied Judo personally*, but I know there are plenty of throws and falling involved.

So it's starting to look like Karate (or similar) would be the best bet for a small child? That's ignoring the simple fact that there are way more Karate schools that cater to children in the States than any other style. Then, within the Karate 'umbrella', what would be a good one? Karate, American Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, etc? (I would say Kenpo, myself...)

*A bit of exposure to Jujitsu mixed with other styles over the years is about as close as I've come to doing Judo.

[koikurasu]

I'm in Judo, It helps alot when I wrestle!

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Amnell

Hm, interesting point.... But wouldn't that preclude Judo, also? I've never studied Judo personally*, but I know there are plenty of throws and falling involved.

So it's starting to look like Karate (or similar) would be the best bet for a small child? That's ignoring the simple fact that there are way more Karate schools that cater to children in the States than any other style. Then, within the Karate 'umbrella', what would be a good one? Karate, American Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, etc? (I would say Kenpo, myself...)

*A bit of exposure to Jujitsu mixed with other styles over the years is about as close as I've come to doing Judo.

If its my own kid (and assuming if I wasn't a teacher myself), I will definitely start them in Tae Kwon Do and Karate first, only because when they go up against another kid, there is only a limited amount of damage children of the same age and size can do, yes, its definitely still "harmful" to a certain extent, but it is minimal when it come to a growing kid.

If I am to start training someone to do ground work, grappling, joint techniques and such, i probably will wait till they are around 12 and possibly 14, as the body is more developed by then, and yes I am looking solely from a more scientific perspective. One may argue that the younger you start, the stronger you get, but again, my worries is only how vulnerable kids' bone and muscular structures are up till age 10.

But, when I have my own kids, I definitely will train them hard in both Tae Kwon Do and Karate, and will introduce them to some early grappling/throw/joint stuff, but will keep it to the minimum

[izuni]

For me, I've been taking Kendo for about 8 months now. Our kendo club has organized a trip to Japan last March; it was really a good experience for us to be able to train with the top-ranking senseis and the Japanese kendokas.

[TokyoRain]

I have been taking Aikido know for about 2 years and love it. Since it's based on the samurai we get to work with swords and it rocks. I did Twea Kwon Do for a while but it was a little to militaristic for my personal taste. I have learned some Tai Chi from my friend who is in college to become an acupuncturist and the same about Ju Jitsu, it was probably the easiest to relate to since Aikido and Ju Jitsu are family.

[yuujirou]

anyone do any wushu here? o.o'