Thinking of starting, need advice

[PantherFist]

I was wondering if any of you Hapkido practioners out there can give me any useful advice or information, as I am thinking of starting Hapkido next week.

I have practised kung fu for many years and thought I could do with learning an art that would improve my kicks and teach me throws and locks.

Any information would be most appreciated.

[Sweeet]

Sounds like you know what you're talking about and have made a good choice - I'm sure your Kung Fu will help and supplement your new art.

There's not really a whole lot of generalistic advice/information I can give you... try hard? :p

Good luck.

[jejanim]

your kung fu will definately help you a lot because Hapkido..like kung fu..revolves around circular motions. you'll find that you will adapt quickly and learn faster than most of your classmates. however, i doubt hapkido will improve your kicks anymore than what youve already gotten from kung fu. none the less...i strongly urge you to pursue hapkido, b/c along with your kung fu, it will make you extremely well rounded. good luck man

jeja

[Thomas]

Make sure you check out all of the Hapkido schools in the area and find a good instructor who will work with you and who seems able to explain things to you. See if you can do a couple of trial classes before you commit.

If you are at a stage where you wnat to train in another style, my advice is to choose based on the instructor. I love Hapkido because I've had good instructors. The Hapkido schools that I tried out that had no clear curriculum and an often absent instructor, I left and found another.

Any style can be good as long as the instructor is. Good luck and check them out first.

If you have already found a good instructor/school, your Kung Fu training should serve you well. I imagine you'll like the varied kicks and locks. Also, the breakfall techniques are really useful (and a bit painful at first). i think the key for the first few weeks of hapkido is stretching out well and applying heat (or ice sometimes) to the new areas that start to hurt!

[PantherFist]

Cheers, thanks for the advice. I'm going on Tuesday, will see how it goes.

[Jim]

Keep out of the politics as much as you can.