If you live in Chicago, the only time I would want to be fighting on the ground is in the summer on North Ave. Beach...not on this city's concrete or bar floors! I'm more interested in ground finishing than sport fighting anyway.
UPDATE!!!! So after sweating it out and learning HKD techniques,learning to fall,front rolls,roundhouse kicks, s-arm technique, and etc , i was promoted to Yellow belt. In fact i was caught by surprise when i was doing my warm ups and the instructors tells me "you are being tested" and right then and there i got really focused. We went through all our routines which included techniques and drills, at the end of class one of the color belt guy was promoted too. Then Suddenly i was called to the front of the class and i had to break a board , yea thats right a board!! Right then and there i got nervous, my instructor tells me relax,deep breathes, and focus. I relaxed, took deep breathes,eyed the board and i unleashed a straight punch right thru it. It was like a flash i didnt realized that i did something i probably would have never thought i could do before. It didnt even hurt as if i was in a state of serenity and concentration.Wow I thought i really did it. But yea thats my update, oh and one of the guys in my class was promoted to black belt after 3 and half years of going to class everyday for 2 hours, the guy is a positive person and knows what hes doing, in fact hes taught me a lot.
By the way Here are some videos from a demonstration my school did a few years back at the Korean Festival in Chicago. http://youtu.be/DJWXYj1V5ys http://youtu.be/e9g40vZrWqI http://youtu.be/Rvrm6ZCFhdM http://youtu.be/dTVQRRyJigs Weapons demo http://youtu.be/Lo-5QZ6a9E4
Month 3 Alright its my third month! The past few weeks one of Master Jangs instructors has been teaching the class (Mr. McMurray). Master Jang herself is actually hurt , she tore her ACL during a landing on a flying kick. Classes havent been intense yet its still a good work out. We have been learning boxing style punches (jab,hook,rib shot, uppercut etc) plus techniques and Pressure point kicking. So yes im learning how to disable an enemy by going for the knees. Just last week Master Jang came back and she now has begun to direct the class which is good since it shows shes very dedicated in teaching, even though shes on crutches. Overall the class is still great , physically im beginning to see results in strength (i can do more push ups now :evil.
Hope she has a fast and full recovery. She was doing some Taekwondo or something? A demo? A Hapkido has no flying kicks.
The program at Yong-In University is an amalgam of a few approaches taken from various sources in the Hapkido tradition. Within the Hapkido tradition there are a variety of exotic kicks introduced by JI Han Jae and KIM Moo Woong in order to increase the marketability of the product. Master Sogor is correct that the art taught by the late CHOI Yong Sul--technically Hapkiyusool-- had only three or four very basic kicks. In comparing Hapkiyusool and Hapkido there is a very clear difference in the amount of authority in the technique as well as the numbers of techniques. For instance, at the YONG SUL KWAN, DJN Kim teaches approximately 200 of the 600 techniques he recorded and photographed DJN Choi teaching. In the various Hapkido styles ---depending on the number of weapons there can be many, many more than that. IMHE I have also found that Hapkido after the fashion of JI, Chang, Han et al does little to discern between sport, art and combat. I have found Hapkiyusool to be far more combat-worthy. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
I watched the video-s and feel that I pretty much had the school pegged for what it is. It may just be me. I feel like I had a pretty extraordinary teacher and I don't seem to be able to find anyone in the area who can fill that void. I certainly don't think what I saw in the video-s is anything I would be interested in. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
I signed up to this forum just so I can comment on this. Learning to ground fight doesn't mean you will roll in shards of glass to perform self defense. You and Master Sogor have the wrong concept on this one. Learning to ground fight prepares you for a situation in case you end up on the ground. You cant expect that your MA training will always let you stay on your feet, what if some manages to take you down, or you fall. Then what do you do? Being ready for self defense situation means taring striking, standup grappling, and ground grappling. Don't buy into the koolaid that you will end up in shards of glass or that you will never need ground fighting. That's just silly.
I agree with this 100%. I was thought and understood hapkido as do what it takes to defend yourself, so I support cross training and all aspects of fighting. Back to the original topic.
I agree as well.....what I found was that people rarely stick around to learn the little amount of ground fighting that Hapkido has to offer. In Hapkido the idea is never to take the person to the ground and if one is taken-down the idea is to get up as quickly as possible. The result is that "ground fighting" is not something that gets a lot of play, and "grounded techniques" such as kicking or striking from a compromised position (such as kneeling) get almost no attention at all. Fighting from "Positions of Disadvantage" don't come into the curriculum until about 3rd Dan. Most kids want to open their first school the day after they make Cho-Dan. There is a whole lot to Hapkido but I am afraid a lot of it is going to disappear because people won't stick-out their training. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
Thinking that "ground grappling" is in anyway practical for defending ones self isn't silly, it is naive. What type of ground do you believe you will end up on in a bar or moreover in the streets of any city, like Chicago? It won't be the nice padded floor you train on. In Hapkido we train to finish a ground based confrontation, then get back to our feet, not engage in sport style ground play. Training should ,make one more adept at staying on ones feet, not having to seriously consider rolling around on a bar floor.
I think we may be talking about a matter of intent or volition. For myself, I see a very clear difference between a person finding themselves takendown, and willfully taking-down another. If the oral traditions concerning Hapkido originator, CHOI Yong Sul are to be believed, the greater portion of his career in Japan (until 1946) had to do with being an attedant to his teacher and assisting in rounding-up people who were avoiding the Japanese conscription. An elaborate system of ground-fighting would not factor into this. In recent years, with the enjoyment of BJJ, many Hapkido traditions have expanded on the Hapkido ground-fighting. There are reports that both my late teacher, as well as the late HAN Bong Soo attended events in California in order to consider the role of ground-fighting relative to their own material. In addition the son and heir-apparent of GM LEE Joo Bang has also incoporated more groundwork into the HWARANGDO curriculum. In the case of my teacher, there was some consideration for adding an occasional technique are modifying the manner in which a technique might be done. However, the idea of willfully taking a person to the ground was never considered. Hapkido-in seek to keep their footing and, if lost, to re-acquire it as quickly as possible. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
So you think having an ability in that combat range has no utility? You really think this is a significant factor? Another tired and redundant argument from a previous decade that's been covered to death. If you think a grappling specialist from any discipline doesn't have the tools (significantly superior tools in fact) to finish a grounded fight expediently and/or stand up then I really don't know what to tell you. Now who's being naive? The fact that these arguments are still being perpetuated after all this time is quite laughable. Get a clue dude.
I can't speak for I-O, just for myself. First off, I don't anticipate having a confrontation with a "ground-fighter" whether we are talking about a wrestler, BJJ, MMA or what have you. And if such a confrontation were to occur I certainly would not attempt to match skills. As said before, my intention is to regain my footing and I, personally, would do whatever it takes to get back on my feet including breaking an eyeball, biting or "fish hooks". I don't train for sport and have no compunction about damaging another person, plain and simple. Quite recently there was a clip offered on this forum about the MMA that the US Marines have adopted. One technique was a Heel-thrust and in the exchange the person kicked went down. In Hapkido we have an answer for that technique but its still accomplished within the context of a larger curriculum. If its any help at all, neither would I attempt to out-Box a Boxer. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
