pellius becoming my 'today's favourite poster'
in my years I have trained in the following- I do fuck all now apart from hit the bag and do some pad work but sparring sessions are few and far between
I did
boxing
muay thai
lau gar kung fu
hung gar jung fu
kyokushinkai
judo
tkd
FSK
Boxing- pellius is right- you'd turn up train hurt and expect to be hurt. if you lasted 3 months you stayed- most didn't. If you've boxed to, even a club level, can throw a dig and see a dig coming you will come out of a fair amount of punch ups ok. I boxed at transport amongst other clubs and they had some great fighters
muay thai- good sparring but I found the skill levels mixable- this was at Skens in Manchester. the good fighters were amazing, the others were fairly shite
lau gar- trained under world champ brian nelson- amazingly quick but it was all point stop stuff and about winning stop start point fights I found the grading techniques laughably bad and technical poor
hung gar- at a community centre in Liverpool's chinatown - the black-e'. The instructor was chinese spoke only chinese and was only interested in talking to the chinese and taking our money. abject shite.
kyokushinkai- a lovely hard style with loads of sparring- really enjoyed it
judo- great sport but the practical application of someone punching through a guard and levelling you didn't add up to me. but amazing skills and of its type a formidable system but only within that structure.
FSK- trained under alfie lewis with frenchie, andy boyce, peter o para and co. the single best fighting stable I've seen- a fucking conveyer belt where no quarter was given and gym wars were an everyday occurrence. this club of 60-80 people in toxteth DOMINATED WAKO semi and full contact for years. not shocked.when competing even at a young age the entire club would turn out and support you- an intimidating club and einvironment.
TKD- loved it loved its artistry, loved the footwork but ultimately like lay gar, and hung limited on the road as it were.
pellius - alfie lewis of FSK who I mentioned used to say the thing that made him laugh about martial arts at the time was how badly conditioned people were. it was no wonder boxers used to laugh at people going over when caught in the gut or having trouble with stain in points stop.
this is years back and with MMA etc its a different thing but I stand by this. If I wanted to show someone how to learn how to defend themselves they would learn more in 4 weeks boxing than all the other arts combined.