The Hill Country Ninja

My son has recently started to take Karate classes. Its probably one of the few things my ex-wife has done that I actually agree with. In all fairness though it was her mothers idea so its really hard to praise my ex when it was her mommy that suggested it and pays for it. But in the end, my son is a white belt in Karate.

I am also personally excited about this since I am a former Kung-Fu student. I know they are technically different and anyone would be hard pressed to get me to admit that Kung-Fu is better than X. Or that Y is better than Z and such. When it comes down to it, all martial arts are well suited for different types of combat. I reserve Krav maga for the truly relevant combat martial arts.

Well my son is starting to get to the point that all youngsters get to. He wants to stop doing martial arts because "it's to hard". Unfortunately most of his frustration comes from his last session where his mother left the class half way through so she could go home with her boyfriend. His was almost at tears and just wanted to give up.

So I am going to try to add some incentive to his Karate efforts. I am going to try and join a martial arts gym so that he can see me doing it also. I hope that this provides some sort of example and feeling that he is not going it alone.

So far I have it narrowed down to Krav Maga and Tae Kwon Do..........OK OK! I'll admit Karate is a bit lame! I pretty much crossed Karate off my list from the get go. I see that it is chalked full of wasted moves and pointless defenses that often leave you in a worse position....unless you are doing it for sport. When I take a class, I take it to learn how to fight better not to be a better "sportsman". So I lied, not all martial arts are equal.

Tae Kwon Do is lethal and unforgiving. If you choose to incapacitate someone then its a sure bet that its going to leave a lasting impression on your attacker on his or her folly in choosing you as a target. On the plus side its effective and efficient, on the negative its based on ancient philosophy that your attacker is a sword wielding, armor clad boogie man attacking you from the front. Some moves are based on "sense" that you are about to be attacked from the back but even those have moves that involve you wearing a sword. It does translate to empty hand but.....still.

Krav Maga is a constantly evolving martial arts that assumes your attacker is 1) wearing clothes 2) attacking you from the front, side, or back 3) is using a short range weapon or firearm. It is pretty much combat fighting that is constantly tested in modern combat. Its negative side is that it is still fairly rare to find a Krav Maga gym and if you do find one it is usually g-dly expensive to join.

So in the end I am looking for a Krav Maga gym. The ones I found refused to tell me the price until I try their free classes. Undoubtedly to get me hooked and then tell me the monster price. As a word around I put two leading books on Krav Maga on my Amazon wish list. One of the nice things about Krav Maga is that all the moves are based on natural movement and reactions, that none of the moves are thought to you ONLY at segmented ranks, and that your advancement in Krav Maga is based on your physical ability to execute moves quickly and powerfully. Basically all the moves you learn, you learn at the beginning [more or less] and that you advance by practice, practice, practice!