I hate martial arts.
Working on a job site, i can break those pine 1x12s by looking at it wrong.
And if the person holding the board held it the other way, i would break their wrists.
Most dojos couldn't answer my questions, they could not train my mind. Which it really needed. And what i found in REAL kara té. Places that others would run away from because they include meditation.
i have found that if the dojo doesn't have some kind of sparring with actual impact, it was not very good. You need actual practice.
And so, the martial arts i would suggest are:
- judo - because you do nothing but grapple with other people. And it is all moves you can use everyday.
- boxing - because you do get in a ring, and you learn to trade punches. The best part is learning how to duck and weave.
- tai chi, or chi gong - These practices train your body. And your energy. They will help you when you are 90 years old. And, it is a serious martial art. If you know the body and balance, you know how to unbalance someone.
- kung fu - so you can get the fancy outfit, and learn to do pushups on your knuckles. (ok, this one was a joke)
I went to one class of Kung Fu or Wing Chun I believe was the specific brand of Kung Fu with a friend. Those "shock ups" are real as was the smacking the shit out of your own hands on a sandbag at first and later on a stone. The idea is to toughen you up or something. The instructor had a sort of high pressure sales pitch where you basically assaults you and ends up throwing you into a sofa by punching you in the chest from 1 inch away and this is supposed to impress you. This made me mad but I am not going to strike a guy who teaches crazy Kung Fu.
I didn't return to that one because it seemed more like a cult than a martial arts practice.
I'm a bit older now but I like the idea of boxing just to be able to punch better and because you can stay in shape pretty well. I'm not necessarily looking for a new hobby but I do have some free time and if I could find a gym that would let me do it on my terms that would probably be the one for me
thanks for the really long and interesting answer by the way :)