What's your training history?

[Guest]

Most people, have at some point in their lives, tried the martial arts.

Some have gone the traditional route (think Karate, Kung-Fu, Tae Kwon Do); and some have gone a bit non-traditional. MMA, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, etc.

There's no best style. No most effective style. And there are a lot of personalities (to be made fun of for sure... )

So what do you train? Or what did you train?

34+ years here. Started when I was 11 years old in Tae Kwon Do. Moved on to Ninjutsu (seriously... it was the damn 80's). Then into Karate. Was a black belt by the time I went into the Army, got another while I was in.

Then in 92 I fought in my first "bare knuckle", "no holds barred", "value tudo" fight (as it was known back then). And got my ass soundly beat like a school girl, by a Muay Thai fighter. With whom I started training with two weeks afterwards. I've never looked back at another striking art.

In 95 I got into grappling via Submission Wrestling under the tutelage of a former Olympic Wrestler, turned Chiropractor who went by the name Obake. Started doing PR, helping with business "stuff" at his gym and was contacted by the manager of a very high ranked Brazilian Jiu-jitsu professor in 96. Got hooked on BJJ from then on. I stayed with that BJJ man, named Master Ricardo Murgel until 2007. He lived with me for a couple years, and the training was intense. He's a monster on the mats; and seriously lethal to this day in his 60's.

Helping out at that gym exposed me to other arts too. One that stuck was Kali/silat. Nasty stuff, and supplements exceptionally well with BJJ and Muay Thai, especially the "military" version of Muay Thai called Krabi Krabong. Having a knife handy to compliment BJJ and Muay Thai makes for a hell of a scrap.

And finally, around 2007, I started working with an old friend, named Kru Kevin Jacobs. this is perhaps one of the most deadly men I've ever met; and one of the very few who can teach the "old style" Muay Thai, commonly referred to Muay Boran nowadays. Now I'm a devotee of the "old style". This version of Muay Thai was banned in Thailand because it was, and is so nasty.

Then there are the guns.... love the guns... I'm an old Army Infantry guy. So.... lots of time placing booger hooks on bang buttons.

Who's next?

[irish_2003]

i'm recently been talking to the local wing chun kung fu place as i'm wanting to make the move from heavy lifting to (lifting to maintain) and martial arts for flexibility and routine (now that i'm in my 40's)...

only training i've have in years past was 3 years (on and off depending on funds) in korean tae kwon do (kyuki-do)...i couldn't afford more than a month on and 2-3 months off and no belt tests, but my abilities he'd pair me up with blue belts to spar with while i was a a white, yellow, green (moving in half stripes) the entire 3 years in high school i did it...

[Dawgpound_Hank]

choke that is one hell of a resume bro - respect! I damn sure wouldn't want to come across you in a fight to the death haha.

[Glycomann]

I grew up 2 blocks from a shitty neighborhood projects so I was street fighting pretty young. I started judo at 9. At 11 and 12 I took silver at the AAU Junior Olympics. My family went broke at 13 and I was out of it for 6 years. I boxed some in those years. I went back to judo when I made my own money and won or placed in East Coast championships and state championships among other myriad of local and regional comps. I had a knee injury that took me out for a 2 years. After returning i started winning a lot again and started going to national and some international events placing top 6 couple of times in Toronto Open and Canadian National Exhibition. In late 1988 I broke my arm badly in a match against the 86 kg Polish National Champion. I came back in mid 1989 and resumed competition in mid 1990. in 1992 I took bronze at the Senior Nationals. Some time later at an international competition i blew out the other knee. I had it reconstructed and returned to Judo in late 1993. I did not compete after 1993 but continues to attend elite camps until I was 45. Now I am in and out of it. I played for 15 months recently and then just returned after 4 months off. In fact last night I ran a training session. I say training session because when I run class it's usually more of a hard training session. Lots of hard randuri (sparing in Judo terms).

[Warhead14]

Started off in 1972 at the age of 8 in San Soo and achieved brown belt at 13. Looking back I think the fundamentals became the core of everything i did after that in Muay Thai. That where i have trained the most and it's been on again off again. I did what Paul Vunack calls progressive fighting system which basically has fundamentals in jeet kune do and kali. The basic idea is whatever works. Works really well for the fast hands guys with a gymnasts sort of aptitude. My firearms training has been a ton of different people and beyond the fundamentals it also has become what works best for me. I have been to gunsight , frontsight, and am currently training at AEGIS Academy that has ex SEAL 6 guys FORCE RECON, I think one is ex 75th Ranger and ex CIA. All of them have huge hands on experience, I'm totally humbled and honored. I like doing nothing better than training with these guys, and they push, but they do it right. The older I get the more I would rely on my Sub Compact XD....

[Dozer]

Hoping to soon be purple belt under the Gracies. A couple years of boxing, just enough kicking to take what works for me. 1 & 1 in cage have grappled through out midwest. Nothing special here just keep myself ready

[T1DMMA2BB]

Started Chinese Karate in 1997 and went to 2002. Black Belt under David Stanley.
Started in boxing in 2002 to 2005. Trained under the Robinson brothers.
Started MMA in 2005 and trained till 2013 Trained with Neil Rowe, Jorge Gurgel and Michael Patt. Had the honor of training with Marcus Davis, Josh Souder, Billy Horne, Matt Brown, Rich Franklin, Paul Bowers, Luke Zachrich and a few others. Then when I moved I trained with Ryan Bader, CB Dalloway, Aaron Simpson, Robbie Lawler, John Moraga, and more there too.
In MMA I took BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing, Submission grappling.
MMA record 3-1 Muay Thai record 2-1

[bufbiker]

3 years Goju Ru after I got in knife fight without a knife (I didn't get the memo) at the age of 17, then another 3 years Shotokan, then prison and made it through 3 race riots and several other race related encounters, then Outlaws MC for 13 years then during that time prison again and another 2 race riots.
I am by no means a bad ass, but i was always the one who was the craziest because I was afraid, and i didn't want you to get back up after we were done, ever, because i hated looking over my shoulder.

[A.B]

I trained BJJ for a few years and did both gi and no gi tournaments. I miss it. I haven't gone for a few years after a back injury.

I would do well early in the tourneys but holding a little too much muscle brought me down later in the days

[b52]

I started kickboxing at 12. Did a couple competitions. Studied kenpo, for a little while, but realistically nobody fights in a horse stance. Maybe in point karate, but that's not my cup of tea. Trained muay thai, for 7 years, jiu jitsu for 5. took a break for a couple years, due to running my business, and seriously jacking my ribs up, and now I'm back at it. So it's been a life long thing for me. I've been looking into krav maga, cuz that's like straight up kill a man. Some cool stuff

[workingout]

Starting shooting at age 5.

Boxing and wrestling as a kid.

Kali as a teen, became an instructor in that when I was 20-ish.

Couple of types of Karate and Kung Foo, didnt like any of it.

Jits in the mid 90's

Krav Maga in 04, Instructor in '05. Went to Israel in 2012 to get certified there.

5 pro MMA fights. 3-2

I teach KM and Jits most every week night.

[choke]

A kindred spirit...
F'ing A, nice.

Also good to see another Kali guy. Nothing like banging Dog Brothers style; I am more than sure you can appreciate that.

I do not know your history, but I'm guessing you know that it's pretty rare for most who study KM to go to the source. I applaud you for that.

I got turned off by the majority of KM here in the States because all it was, was "re-packaged" stuff that someone went to a few weekend seminars to learn how to market; and boom! All of a sudden KM instructors! Myself and my former coach were approached by the two orgs here in the States that represent a lot of the KM here. They simply wanted us to pay to go to their "instructor" courses, which were merely marketing seminars; and then add KM to our school.

I hate that kind of stuff.

I've been dedicated to BJJ, Old Style Muay Thai, and kali since 95-96. And I'd go so far as saying old style BJJ, because so much of what's taught today is so sport oriented. The Berimbolo 50/50, and worm guards are good examples of what's wrong with the art. Too much sport. And most BJJ schools do not even teach the stand up part of BJJ, of which there is a substantial amount of.

BJJ, like true KM, is a combat art. It wasn't meant for playing nice. Brazil is a warzone. Real deal BJJ is extremely well adapted for that type of environment. Obviously, like real KM.

And hell... anyone, with any knowledge of Kali, knows that not to be taken lightly....

Well wait... I say that... and then think of the clowns that try and wear as many knives as possible, thinking they're some kind of fucking jedi. Ran into that with some of the Sayoc devotee's. Love their version, but some of the goof balls playing just make ya laugh.

[workingout]

Thanks Choke, and thanks for being a Mod. This board is great cuz of you guys.

I haven't done any Kali in ages. I'm in my mid 40's. My instructor was a student of Dan Inasanto. The Dog Brothers were a little after my time

I went through that mass marketing KM machine, however, they did not like me as my instructor was direct from the source, I didn't own a gym, and I was back-doored into their program, again because of my instructor's relationships with the guys who taught the KM machine most of what they knew. They have since revoked my Certifications, like they did to so many others. I now have the privilege to train with/under the best KM guys in the world no one has heard of cuz they are still training Mossad and LOTAR personal. And yes, it is rare for people to train in Israel. A lot has changed since 2007, when the law suit was thrown out. In my mind KM is better now, even though there are many self promoting instructors out there. But that's a different discussion.

KM is what i teach the most and its also what I'm highest ranked in, however, I love no-gi the most. and no matter how many new submissions I'm exposed to, I always find myself going back to the beginning/basics. Learning new set-ups for old moves is the way to go. Hitting shoulder locks from positions you didn't even know was possible make it still worth going to the gym