creating your own style

[Kaga]

I'm not sure how feasible this is but I've been toying around with the idea. I've been training on and off in shaolin kung fu for the past year and half now, but the place i go to is around an hour away from me. I don't really want to travel and hour to train for 2 hours to travel back home for another hour, and I have not been able to find a suitable master in my immediate area(all a bunch of TKD schools). So I was considering on taking what I know and what I've seen and start trying to come up with my own style. I'm not a big fan of forms, or kattas what ever you want to call them, I know this is a big no no in the martial world but I prefer actual free sparring.

I think it seems somewhat possible to do this. Free spar alot, add it in with the other training. Then just see what works and what doesnt work. Test out new moves etc etc. Until I get to something I like. What do you all think?

[MasterKiller]

Well, that's how all martial arts started in the first place, right?

However, when you study a traditional style, they have already gone through generations of experimentation and adaptation, so that what you learn is the product of someone else already making mistakes and learning from them.

Starting from scratch would take a handful of lifetimes to distill a new style properly.

[Vapour]

Get to 2/3 dan in Judo and Aikido then become Soke 10th dan of hybrid modern jujitu style which only teach "what's works".

Changing your name to Japanese sounding one would help. Just don't confuse Korean name as Japanese. Kim is Korean, btw.

As of your MA study, each practioner of TMA has their own style so there is nothing wrong with you doing that. But having good instructor is always better, IMO.

[Water Dragon]

Nothing wrong with traveling an hour to class. Maybe they can increase class time. I used to drive an hour to train for 4-6. My wife HATED it.

[Dark Knight]

I have a black belt in a couple styles. I have been in for about 25 years. I've met a ton of people who started their own style "Soke", some legitimate some not.

If you were to stay in one style, it will change as you become more experienced, its natural and happens to everyone. You can grab two people who studied the same style for 10 years and they will fight and teach a little differently. Now add in experiences from other styles (Studying under some one, seminars, tapes...) and the base style changes.

What I do doesnt look like the styles I studied, I didnt plan it, it just happens.

If you were to tell people that after 2 years of on and off studying you created your own style, they will be polite to you and think you are the biggest idiot they met.

By not spending years under and with someone who has indepth knowledge you miss out on a lot of the important stuff to learn. There are lots of things you are tought the first few moths that dont make sense or work until you have been doing it for 5 years. And if you havent had someone there to help refine it, you will never get it.


As far as the need for forms, Ill repeat what Bruce Lee told Ed Parker. He told him that Parker does not need forms anymore but his students do.

What he met was that the lessons in forms are nessesary for the students, Parkers knowledge was at a point that he didnt need the forms. What Bruce Lee did was to give those lessons in another manner, but they are still there.

If you do not learn the forms, and more importantly what they mean, you are missing out on alot of information.

And last I will remind you that all the champions have coaches. All champion boxers, golfers, Basketball players... They all have someone there training them to make them better.

(And again if you tell people that after two years of training yu created your own style, they will think poorly of you, and they can tell by your movements how much experience you have) Not to metion a 20 year old

[shaolin kungfu]

You need to spend alot more time learning under a qualified instructor before you try and create your own style.

[Kaga]

Hey guys thanks for the great responses, I just wanted to clear a few things up though. First its just two years of shaolin, i have a previous 5 years of TKD(not that accounts for much). Also when I say I want to do my own style I dont for bragging rights or to teach people. I want to do martial arts, but I can't find anything thats fitting with me, I dont really care for japanese and korean arts(no offense they just arent for me) and there isnt a wide variety of kung fu places around me. So when I say I want to do my own style, I just want to train. I want to fight, to get that spontaneity and develop my own skill with the techniques I know thus far. I'm not swearing off masters, and I would probably eventually go back to training in a certain style.

Maybe I should say that I want to take time to hone in on what I've learned in all of my previous training and get rid of the junk and keep the good stuff. To see how it holds up in an actual fight.

[Dark Knight]

Go to the straight blast gym, they do JKD and check out their products. They may cover what you are looking for.

http://www.straightblastgym.com

[shaolin kungfu]

Are you matt thorton?

[Kaga]

Originally posted by shaolin kungfu
Are you matt thorton?

who me? cuz I'm not.

[shaolin kungfu]

No, not you kaga, Dark knight. And i'm only kidding.

[Laughing Cow]

Kaga.

From what I know there are a few methods to create your own style.

1.) Study a style till you are really good at it and than modify it to suit YOU better.
2.) Study a few styles WELL and than combine them to create YOUR own style.

Most of the traditional styles either developed or were created for a specific purpose by people that were skilled in them.

Often the differences and classification into different styles never came from the practicioners themselves, but from outsiders. TJQ is one of those cases.

Unless you feel a desperate need to create a style I would recommend that yous tudy what you like and maybe in 10~15yrs you will have developed your own style naturally from what you learned and aquired.

Cheers.

P.S.: Style creation is an ongoing process and I know a few People that created their own style and are still modifying/refining it 20~30yrs later.

[JusticeZero]

Unless you have people trying in earnest to kill or maim you on a regular basis (say once every week or so) then you can't really be expected to get anything from that idea but bad habits. It's like saying "I want to be a pro basketball player, but it's too far to drive to a court to play, so i'm just gonna hang a plastic hoop up outside my bedroom door and do freethrows from the kitchen until the Bulls want to sign me on. I'll just cut out all that extra pointless stuff like dribbling and passing and concentrate on shooting the ball."

[shaolin kungfu]

Maybe by doing nothing but sparring all day, every day of the year, you will get beat enough to realise an hour drive isn't so bad.

[Repulsive Monkey]

I think you really need to re-capitulate on your motivations and desires within Martial Arts. If the art you currently study is only an hours ride away and thats the only reason holding you back from getting a solid a decent foundation and advancement in the art, then jacking out after jus a mere 18 months seems like a cop out to me. It might be seen as self-interest over loyalty. So many people just do a year or two of an art and feel that they've got the best bits and then run off to something else, when in reality they have barely even got the outer shell of the art and in truth have nothing of substance.
Part of commitment isn't just about turning up and practising at home on the weekends, some people have had to go through a hell of a lot more just to maintain their basic teachings.

Maybe your conviction is in doubt. Maybe not!

[Kaga]

Hey guys I just wanted to say thanks and I also wanted to let everyone know I'm going to keep going to the temple. I see that its the best thing to do, but I'm also going to spar as much as I can at home. To try and get the best of both worlds.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the input!

[David]

I travel to classes an hour away twice a week mostly. (The third class is in my own street..!)

Whilst driving there I mentally prepare for the session, and coming home I analyse my performance and the input I received.

-David

[PHILBERT]

When I get really good, I'm gonna create my own style and call it Nin Ten Do. Within it, there will be the sacred Genisis Fist. There will be 64 forms total, called the Nin Ten Do 64. When you reach Black Belt you'll be honored with a plaque saying you are now Super Nin Ten Do.