Do both or one? martial arts!

[harmless loony]

Hi All!

Last year I planned to take up a martial art (there's a thread on this board somewhere about it) but anyway, I never got round to taking it up cos I had too many other things going on!

However, this year I have cleared out all the crap and decided I want to take up both akido and ju jitsu. Is this a wise idea or am I better off sticking to one? I have had some brief training in karate at home (2 bros on black belt) but never took it up properly (ie: never got registered and went for my grading).

Also, if I take up either/both of these are there opportunities to be entered for gradings and move up belts or is it just a fun thing?

Oh and one more thing - I am such a very unfit lass at the mo, would I be expected to have good fitness levels or will people not mind if I die quietly in the corner of the sports hall somewhere?

[Sweet_Psyche]

Hey loony!
Yes, I know the feeling. I joined aikido in my first year (yaaaaay!) and meant to take up ju jitsu in my second, but i didn't have the time. Which sucked. Anyway, my advice to you, my dear, is to go to the 'give-it-a-go' sessions for both aikido and ju jitsu.
You can of course do both if you like, so long as training times don't clash.

As i never got round to checking out ju jitsu, I can only advise you on the aikido front. We have 2 gradings a year, which you will be encouraged to go for if the sensei thinks you are ready.

Fitness level doesn't matter. You can start at any stage. It keeps you very fit and you work at a pace that is comfortable for you (we won't try to kill you.... often.)

Training is really fun AND we get to play with weapons! Yay! Come along and see us!

X

[Representation @ Your Uni]

1) go to ALL the martial arts give it a go sessions.

2)kendo (japanese fencing) is starting this year in st andrews... they use weapons properly not like JJ or aikido.

before any choice please actually try all martial arts + similar (boxing, fencing, etc.)

doing more than one martial art is perfectly feasible.


good luck, and hope you find the one that suits your needs


(post from quarterstaff, via another's computer)

[harmless loony]

Thanks for your quick responses people!

Anyone able to offer me the dates of taster sessions?

I'm going into third year now so I'm not planning to arrive until it's time for me to matriculate (hence I'm not going to be around freshers week) so looks like I might miss some of the taster sessions! :s

[Sweet_Psyche]

?U´´entation @ Your Union wrote on 17:24, 12th Sep 2004:[/b]

2)kendo (japanese fencing) is starting this year in st andrews... they use weapons properly not like JJ or aikido.
(post from quarterstaff, via another's computer)


Oi! I resent that! We do use our weapons 'properly'!
Having said that, you should go to all the sports you are interested in, just to find the ones that you like best.

Aaaaanyway, dates of give-it-a-go for aikido are the 25th and 26th. If you aren't around for them, just turn up to a training session in the following weeks. I never attended the give-it-a-go before i joined.
Training times are posted on the aikido website and can be found here:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~aikido/ind ... ?info.html

[Guest]

What do you mean by using weapons 'properly'? If you mean that Kendoka use their shinai against each other in the same way they would on a battlefield then you're mistaken. It's a sport orientated art.
I might dust my armour off and pop along if there's a Kendo club starting up, will they have a stand at the orientation week fair-thing?

[Thalia]

i've been thinking about taking jujitsu but then again, i'm a bit of a wimp (i'm not the most aggresive of people) and i'm horribly horribly unfit :-/

So i dunno...

[Haunted]

Were any of you at the JJ session tonight?