Hello, I just recently earned my 1st Dan Black Belt In Combat Hapkido. Unfortunately shortly after that happened I moved away from my school to NE Connecticut. I can only make it to the school once a week now due to work. I am in the Manchester area and I was wondering if there were any schools that teach Hapkido. I know of only three schools in this state that teach Combat Hapkido (unfortunately none are in my area). I am looking to continue my training and expand my horizons. Any help is appreciated! Thanks Chuck
if there's no combat hapkido around, then you should consider doing something else. what other styles are in the area you're in?
If you are near Westport at all, Chris LaCava would be awesome to check out. http://lmaa.bravepages.com/ What else is in your area?
Can you open a club in CH as a 1st dan? You could continue your training by doing a little travel once a month and I now ICHF jas a great video library. It could just be a friend or two in your garage to start.
Thomas, Chris LaCava knows the owner of my present school very well as well as many of the black belts in my school. Thanks for the advice. As for the other posters: Yes as a 1st Dan I can start teaching on my own, however I do not have the money to start up a school no matter how small at this time. I fully intend on keeping on studying CH and have been working with my new firends in the new area on CH. Also I just recently started studying Heuk Choo Kwan Hapkido. A good friend of mine is A Master and has started teaching me. So far so good. Thanks for all the help!
Hi Thomas, I have an opportunity to study Combat Hapkido under a 1st Dan or to study Black Eagle under an 8th Dan. I am interested solely in self defense. Which would be the better option? Thanks! Dave
Tough to say - my advice would be to see if you can get a few trial lessons at each one and see which one you like better. Tell the instructor what you are looking for and ask how (or if) they address it in their course. Go with the one that addresses your needs beter. Normally, my first reaction would be to go with the higher ranked person, but generally there aren't a lot of 1st dan Combat Hapkido school owners out there who don't have a background in another art. Do you know the backgrounds of the instructors or do you have websites?
Combat Hapkido The CHK instructor is also a 5th Dan in TKD. Im toying with the idea of using either CHK or black eagle HKD as my base art and supplementing it with either one day wk each of MT/BJJ or boxing/judo. Im an old geezer of 52 with a modest background in HS wrestling, boxing, competitive powerlifting and Ive done Kelly McCann combatives for about 8 years. Ive also done Crossfit for the last 6 years, so Im in fairly good shape for an older guy. I really want to do something that I can continue doing into my later years. Hapkido of either style Im hoping will fit that bill. Ive also heard that BJJ is good for older people as well. I was doing MT for awhile until my work schedule intervened/became too busy. As much as I liked it, I was about 30 years older than the average student in the class and though I hung in there and actually received compliments from both the instructor and fellow students, the fact of the matter is that I got SMOKED. Any recommendations on crosstraining or do you think its even necessary? Thank you! (sorry this is so long) :-( Dave
I can only really speak for Taekwondo and Combat Hapkido. In my opinion, mature students really enjoy Combat Hapkido - it's practical and there are enough variations and flexibility to fit all sizes, ages, shapes, and levels of abilities. In my opinion, it is a great base art to study. Also, it works well with cross training and seminars - most things will work well with that base.
Combat Hapkido Im going to observe the CHK class and take the 2 free lessons they offer. If I have a positive impression of the class and the instructor, I will probably go with it as everything Ive read about it (which is quite a bit)leads me to believe that it's exactly what Im looking for. As for crosstraining, it would appear that CHK has enough in the curriculum to prepare for most SD groundfighting situations, and I can always add ground survival seminars to that as well. With that in mind and with what you have said about CHK being able to gel with just about anything, it would seem that boxing, as opposed to BJJ, would probably be my best bet for crosstraining.(especially since I would be taking it via pvt lessons) Thank you very much for your input, Thomas. It's always great to be able to pick the brains of those with expertise! Dave
Best of luck. Boxing would be a great fit. The Combat Hapkido striking (if you do "just" the requirements in the course) is fairly limited - which on the plus side should give you lots of time to perfect those instead of trying to get moderately good at a whole bunch of things. But yes, additional striking training is always good! The Combat Hapkido ground survival material has been updated again (Master David Rivas) - I haven't seen the latest changes yet. However, I have to say that I like the program. The original ground grappling program was very much BJJ-based and focused on a huge array of submissions and positions. The newer incarnation is more ground survival based with focus on avoiding takedowns, dealing quickly with takedowns that work and regaining the feet, and finally dealing with situations on the ground, basically in that order. An all day seminar basically covers each of those scenarios with just a few high percentage techniques for each, along with a few variations for each. I found it easy to learn, easy to retain, and easy to practice because it all fit logically and wasn't such a huge array. If you can cross train in BJJ, I heartily recommend it, even if just for the chance to roll with experienced guys once in a while!
