Martial arts anyone?

[Lady Lisandra]

I'm going to start training martial arts. I've done excercise my whole life. I've been to the gim and play lots of sports, but since I started my transition I quit every physical activity because I was afraid of gaining unwanted muscle.

Now I want to start again. I'm tired of gyms, and I think I'll never be truly happy with playing any sport. So I thought about martial arts. I'm not concerned about toned muscles anymore. It sound fun, useful, and last but not least, it will help me with my back problems caused by years of computer and contrabass. It's getting worse...

Does any of you have experience with martial arts? Any suggestion?

[elkie-t]

I recently signed up for Krav Maga class, doing 4 times a week. Not cheap, not fancy, but awesome workout (it takes so much energy to kick and punch...) and by the end of the hour I feel every muscle in my body. I don't think there's better or worse MA, but this one makes a lot of sense for me, since it's targeted for defense against a street violence (one vs many, no rules) type of fight. Might be handy one day (better not need it obviously).


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[Lady Lisandra]

Sounds great! I'm mostly interested in chi kung, maybe kung fu. Sadly I'm not in the best economic situation. Next year will be better.

It may be to soon to know, but how did your muscles respond? Do you look like Rambo already, or are they keeping a normal volume?

[elkie-t]

I don't expect any visible muscle gain from these exercises. We don't lift no weights there, it's mostly high repetitions aerobics with some stretching


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[elkie-t]

If you cannot afford going to fancy classes, yet are interested in more activity-oriented fitness, you might look for yoga (sometimes included with basic gym membership or given for free) or classic boxing (I heard classic boxing training is a great cardio exercise and boxing club membership runs about $50s per month, not much more than a regular gym).

A girl needs to know how to kick like a mile, not like a girl I mean it's great exercise too, but I couldn't convince myself to do regular fitness routines, too boring.


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[Lady Lisandra]

Exactly my problem! I've been to the gym for too much time and I'm tired of it (back in my "macho" days).

I might have to consider alternative activities...

[elkie-t]

I wanted to join a MA program for 20 years... Never had either time or money... Happy that I did it now, it makes me feel good


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[JennyBear]

I have a fairly extensive background in several Martial Arts and competed in MMA at an amateur level. I would be more than happy to give you some advice and info on the subject.

Regarding avoidance of masculinizing your physique: It depends on the martial art in question. Ones based on throwing another person's body (judo, juijitsu, etc) will have the side effect of building or maintaining upper body muscle mass. The ones that are closer in style to yoga (tai chi, aikido, etc) will have the opposite effect. Both can be supplemented or partially avoided with specific dietary changes, as certain foods have direct effects on hormone levels and muscle gain.

Regarding general fitness purposes: All of them, including boxing, and even taibo (cardio kickboxing) will give you a more than sufficient workout for your flexibility and cardio goals.

Regarding combat effectiveness in the real world, aka SELF DEFENSE, something we could all use a basic knowledge of for our personal safety against hate and other crimes. Here is where there are definitive pros and cons to each art form.
    Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Capoeira, and their variants, while beautiful, graceful, and deadly at master levels of competence, are extremely hard to acquire even a basic level of competence against an assailant. A black belt or close to it is needed to provide an effective defense from an attacker.
    Boxing, Kenpo, Karate and Taekwondo all provide at least an adequate defense improvement at even beginner levels, and are easy to pick up, but hard to master.
   The supreme "street fighting" effective martial arts are those that incapacitate an opponent with minimal effort, and are effective regardless of size, speed, and strength of either you or your attacker, most involving joint locks. These are Mui Thai, Juijitsu, Brazilian Juijitsu, Hapkido, Aikido, and Krav Maga. If you noticed that the first four are quite popular in MMA, its for a reason. Aikido and Krav Maga use a lot of moves and principles that are banned in MMA, such as small joint (hand, wrist, etc) manipulation.
    I have personally studied Karate, Capoeira, Aikido, Juijitsu, Taekwondo and Hapkido, but have only attained proficiency (Brown Belt level or higher) in the last 3. Krav Maga and Hapkido are both about as good of a one-stop shopping target as you can get. The others all have some area (grappling, striking, and joint manipulation) where they are lacking. Competition and International training in the military with other soldiers and operatives has led me to these conclusions. Just keep in mind in whatever you train in: There is always somebody better, so don't get cocky.

    Feel free to reply or pm me for more info. Stay Safe.

HUGS!
   

[Lady Lisandra]

Thanks for the info and personal experience! I lack the time and the money now, so I probably won't start until next year. There are a few kung fu, ninjutsu and tai chi dojos close to where I'll be living by then, I just to decide where to start.

I don't mind getting a bit of fiber and toning my muscles, I just want to avoid gaining muscle volume as much as I can. I think any of the arts I mentioned have specific routines that can achieve that.

Even though it will be a nice plus I'm not so interested in the self defense part, but mostly in the health benefits and the heavy exercise, so I don't mind waiting until black belt to be able to effectively protect myself.

[JennyBear]

Thanks for the info and personal experience! I lack the time and the money now, so I probably won't start until next year. There are a few kung fu, ninjutsu and tai chi dojos close to where I'll be living by then, I just to decide where to start.

    You don't have to wait for a larger budget to start. There are tons of instructional books and YouTube videos put out by accredited instructors, all free. Check your local library for the books. Specifically when dealing with martial arts, it is best to avoid E-Books, as they usually lack the full size illustrations and diagrams that come with instructional books on the subject. Time however, is not gained so easily. It can be made with effort though. Don't use money, or the lack of it, as an excuse to procrastinate improving yourself. Where there is a will, there is always a way. Point of thought, if your goals don't specifically include the self-defense or practical fighting aspects, I'd avoid ninjutsu. It is incredibly hard to pick up, let alone master. Believe me, I've tried. Tai Chi, whether meditative or combat, is great for beginners, and for those that want the health and relaxation benefits more than the martial ones. Good luck in your search for self improvement. Stay safe.

HUGS!

[Lady Lisandra]

Oh, my goals definitely include self defense and fighting, but are not the top reason. What I ment is that if I had only self defense in my mind, I would pick muay thai, krav maga or similar styles, whose's idea I find too violent at least for me.

[elkie-t]

There's nothing more feminine than a small girl delivering a good set of elbow strikes to much bigger guy. In my Krav Maga gym - there are many of them. During our last class - we also we training situational awareness - we would be busy with exercises and then some one would make load notices (similar to shooting sounds) and that would mean stop doing everything and run for cover. Amazing how if your mind is busy - you freeze at loud sounds.
So, I really love my Krav training. But we also have boxing and Muay Thai classes and I plan to supplement my training with them as well (as well as yoga, and maybe even cardio workouts).

I really think any trans-person (MTF & FTM) would gain a lot from learning martial arts, we are primary targets for violence against us. And Krav is very popular  with cis-females, it teaches to attack first (and when it is inevitable) with powerful blows without advertising it in advance, then running away.


PS: not all violence is bad. Rape is an ugly one. Defending yourself from it against much bigger man (or several) - needs more violence (to compensate for lack of physical strength), yet is beautiful.