Seeking Knowledge and opinions

[Searing Palm]

Greetings fellow artists of both internal and external forms:

I am new to this forum and, like many of you, have a great interest in martial arts, though I've not been able to practice them much due to various aspects of life. However, I now have the time and drive to learn a martial art and am currently conducting research on various forms. One form I am interested in is Haipkido, and please forgive me if I have misspelled this. I do not like butchering names. In general, I am interested in martial arts forms that have a system of circular arm and hand movements that contain palm strikes, shoulder strikes and elbow strikes. For defense, I am in search of a system that utilizes various locks as well. In terms of kicking, I would like to learn to utilize kicks that are not only effective in real combat, but also enable me to enter, trap, counter and parry effectively.

I would like anyone to offer their opinion on what they believe to be a good martial arts form that provides these aspects. Please feel free to be completely honest. I am looking for an art that is less aesthetically pleasing and more effective in "real world" situations. One important aspect I am in search of is Fa-Jing. From what I have learned and observed, Fa-Jing is quite effective if used properly. The release of energy makes for an effective strike and I definitely want to learn this aspect. I thank you all for your time and appreciate any and all response. Peace unto you all :-)

Searing Palm

[Ralek]

since your interested in "real world" you should stop right now and think about what you are saying.

Your doing research like a book worm on what styles have the best theories.

To get good at fighting you need to spar full contact often. The style matters, but don't go into all that theory crap about internal, external

If you have boxers that just shadow box and punch in the air all day they will suck. They need to learn to slip punches when someone is acutally trying to knock them out. They need to learn to throw real punches when the other guy is trying to slip thiers. Go to the school and see how they train. If it's the kind of school where people are squatting in deep stances and just throwing techniques into the air, then your not going to learn how to fight there. You might get in shape, but that's not fighting. If they spar like a "TKD" person with just light contact and a bunch of dumb rules to disengage after the slightest tap, then don't go there.

some styles that tend to have real hard contact sparring are Boxing, Muay thai, Sambo, Brazilian jiujitsu, Wrestilng, San shou. Throwing techs in the air is just a training tool for learnign a technique. it's for learning technique, not learnign to fight with it. sparring is the only training tool to learn how to fight with your techniques. full contact sparring. many "martial artists" have never acutally done full contact sparring even after many years in their style.

I'd put my money an an amatuer wrestler/boxer over a kung fu "master" anyday. most of these masters will turn away when they get hit and don't even keep their hands up.

[buddhapalm]

In reference to Raleks comments:

"Your doing research like a book worm on what styles have the best theories."

Without theories, you will be mindless. Though perhaps the final goal is mindlessness, it certainly is not the beginning goal. Can you type 100 wpm without practice.

Theory
Practice
Perfection

One punch one kill !!!

5000 years of theory, ten years of practice.

The tallest trees are in the deepest forest. Find a tall tree and you will know. Beware, dont judge all trees based on a few saplings in your backyard.

Cheers

Buddhapalm

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by Searing Palm
[B]Greetings fellow artists of both internal and external forms:

I am new to this forum and, like many of you, have a great interest in martial arts, though I've not been able to practice them much due to various aspects of life. However, I now have the time and drive to learn a martial art and am currently conducting research on various forms. One form I am interested in is Haipkido, and please forgive me if I have misspelled this. I do not like butchering names. In general, I am interested in martial arts forms that have a system of circular arm and hand movements that contain palm strikes, shoulder strikes and elbow strikes. For defense, I am in search of a system that utilizes various locks as well.

I would say you can find that in any good Chinese MA. But, to narrow it down, I will suggest you shaolin, xinyi, hung gar, and Combat Shuai Jiao/Combat Shuai Chiao.

A good shaolin or hung gar school should satisfy all of your requirement.

A good xinyi school should satisfy most of your requirement. I am unsure about kicks in xinyi

Here's some video clips of xinyi in action which you can use as a base line reference.

http://www.hsing-i.com/pics/index.html

A good combat shuai jiao (or Combat Shuai Chiao) school will teach you great throw and how to use punch and kick to manuver your opponent into your throws. I am also uncertain if it will meet your kicking requirement.

Some clips of regular shuai jiao can be found here.
http://emptyflower.stanford.edu/johnwang1.html

The main issue is always finding a good instructor near where you live. The art they teach is ususally secondary. A good instructor is in my opinion much more important.

wm

[Searing Palm]

Greetings Wandering Monk, Buddha Palm, Ralek:

I thank each of you for your input. WanderingMonk, the links you have provided me are excellent as well as the styles you mention because I know very little of them, if anything at all, so I have more homework to do Buddha Palm, I thank you for the philosophy. I agree with what you have said because that is the way I view the situation. Ralek, I understand and agree with much of what you say as well because there are a lot of martial arts "Masters" who are strictly aesthetically pleasing, but when they feel the power in a strike, they back down and I have seen that. I will consider your words carefully, trust me, and I shall continue researching styles through books, personal views and actual practice. Peace to every one of you

Searing Palm