New to Martial Arts.

Varo · White Belt

Hello friends. I am new here and I just wanted a few suggestions. I am almost 18 and I have absolutly no martial arts background. I only know from what I see from movies, videogames, and anime.

So that, obviously, is nothing.

I guess first and foremost, I would like any suggestions on a school to start out in. I currently live in Lawrence, Kansas (USA). That's about 15 miles southwest of Kansas City if any of you need a landmark.

I did a search on some of those sites a few of you gave around the boards and was not able to find any in my city. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Secondly, I would also like some suggestions on styles. I am not quite sure on what I would be interested in since I know nothing about MA. I am not in very good shape at all since i'm pretty much a computer geek at this point in my life. Both grappling and striking interest me. Sparring looks like a lot of fun, thought i'd throw that piece of information in there as well. Thanks for the help guys.

delta1 · Black Belt

Try American Kenpo! (We're all going to recomend what we do, so I thought I'd get that out of the way first

).

Seriously, what is it you want out of martial arts? What do you want it to do for you? Sport- point sparing (no contact) to UFC (lots of contact)? Show or entertainment? Self defense? Health and fitness? Spiritual development? Weapons?

If you want street self defense, American Kenpo is hard to beat. But if you are looking for spiritual developement, you might do better in something like Aikido. Tai Chi Chuan is healthy, but won't build a lot of muscles. Grappling would do that best. Tae Kwon Do is probably best for point sparing tournaments, and ..., you probably get the picture. By the way, there are lots of other arts that will do any of these jobs well- just some examples here to make a point.

Give it some thought and let us know what it is you expect to gain most from martial arts. You'll probably get a lot of good help here, but they'll need some info to go on.

Good luck, and welcome aboard!

karatekid1975 · KF VIP

I found two schools in your area (that had websites, that is). Check them out:

http://www.unitedkyokushin.com/ This one is Kyokushin karate. It seems ok from the website.

http://www.nhtkd.com/ This one is TKD. They have two week trial thing if you want to check it out.
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Laurie F

granmasterchen · Black Belt

it is best to look around and get an idea of what each has to offer, once you look around you may find one that you like, plus search the net, you can find alot.
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That which does not destroy me will only make me stronger

martialartist1 · Orange Belt

if grappling and sparring interest you then find a club that concentrates mainly on that so you can work to your desires.

StoneSkin · Orange Belt

try and find BJJ, I think it is one of the more exciting arts for a begginer. The reason why is a lot of Karate and Taekwon do schools you dont do a lot of sparring right off the bat so it can get rather boring punching kicking and blocking air, over and over again. I think most would agree with me you dont get into the real exciting stuff untill youve reached the higher color belts. In BJJ one of the main things begginers want to do is make a bluebelt submit. When your a white belt in BJJ you will get worked over by the higher belts and this gets very frustrating but you are learning by experiencing it takes a long time to advance through BJJ but I think for a begginer it will present you with the most "hands on experience"

Sxty8GT · White Belt

Hi, I have no martial arts experience at all but I really want to get into mainly for self defense. Im 17 years old and I have played soccer for 12 of those, so I am in pretty good of shape. I dont know what art to take up, but muy thai interests me. As well as kali-eskirma. those are just some that i found online. Please give me advice on these and if they are right for me to start off with.

Thank You

Kyokushin · Orange Belt

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