Korean Job Discussion Forums

jinglejangle · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Location: Far far far away.

Hi all, as this is my first post I'll introduce myself: I am a US soldier, as well as a sometime language teacher/student. I would appreciate any help you can give me on this issue. Does anyone know where one can find a good fighting school in Seoul?
I would prefer one with a strong international following such as Karate, Boxing, or Muy Thai, but I'll take what I can get. I read some old posts and saw this Taekyeon thing mentioned.

So my concerns are the following.
1. Practical. I'm not interested in spiritual learning, tournament fighting, bragging rights over belts...Those things are all nice, but really irrelevant to my purposes. I want to be able to cause severe bodily injury very quickly should my MG jam or I find my self jumped in an alleyway.
2. Simplicity. I may not have a long time before I wind up in a real bad place (Iraq or Afganistan or whereever they decide to send us next), I could care less about pretty. I want to learn quickly.
3. Real. I don't want to get rushed through by some teacher who thinks he's helping me out because I'm a foreigner.
4. Language isn't really an issue. I speak close to fluent Korean, so I could really care less if the teacher speaks English.

Thanks for whatever help ya'll little army of all-things-korea gurus can provide. Wish I'd found out about this site two years ago. Love ya'll.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

"1. Practical. I'm not interested in spiritual learning, tournament fighting, bragging rights over belts...Those things are all nice, but really irrelevant to my purposes. I want to be able to cause severe bodily injury very quickly should my MG jam or I find my self jumped in an alleyway."

- http://www.fatiguesarmynavy.com/images/items/be2401.gif

- http://www.homesafetyonline.com/

"2. Simplicity. I may not have a long time before I wind up in a real bad place (Iraq or Afganistan or whereever they decide to send us next), I could care less about pretty. I want to learn quickly."

- http://www.objector.org/

"4. Language isn't really an issue. I speak close to fluent Korean, so I could really care less if the teacher speaks English."

- You can speak fluent Korean and that isn't a ticket out of Iraq?

peppermint · Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 3:43 pm Post subject:

jinglejangle · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Location: Far far far away.

Demonicat · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Location: Suwon

hmm, where to go really depends upon your exact location, which I can't help you with. Now, as for style:
!) Hapkido- excellent, widely available, but really combat in a fatal environment...? When you may have to take on an enemy and his 3 buddies, joint locks are noext to wortheless.
2) Taekwondo- While, I won't get into my traditional gripe about kata/form based systems- I will say that this is not what you want. While it is impressive to be able to kick really high its not practical unless you have lot of time to create proffieciancy. Also the kata system can mess you up bcause in a real fight...people hit back.
3) Kickboxing/ Full contact- Here's what I think may be your best choice. Its a practical martial art that prepares you to get hit. Very similar to boxing in its training- so even if you only get a couple of weeks before deployment, you'll at least know how to throw up a propper block and throw a decent straight, hook, and jab.
4) Krav maga- good luck finding it, but this is the perfect martial art for a soldier. Heck, it was designed by soldiers. www.kravmaga.com . simply awesome.

jinglejangle · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Location: Far far far away.

Interesting but I don't see any tng locations in Korea. Or Isreal for that matter.

Odd.

New one on me though. Thanks.

John Henry · Joined: 24 Sep 2004

Forgive me for being completely fing oblivious to your situation, but doesn't the army teach ya how to *beep* some ppl up real good? I mean, I can't think of a better ass whupin school that the army...well probably the marines, but still...

Isn't there some auziliary ass kicking classes you can sign up for on base?

I know, I'm completely unhelpful. Posting out of my own curiosity really.

John Henry · Joined: 24 Sep 2004

OK, I can't vouch for this specific dojo, or anyone in it, but I studied goju ryu karate for a long time. Here's something I picked up from a search:

http://www.sohf.org/school/locations.html#panther

Yes, there are katas, etc, in this style but you (or at least I) learned gun and knife defense pretty early on (green belt lvl I think). The focus is on close quarter fighting. There were exercises on multiple opponent situations as well.

Like I said, mine was an Americanized version, and I don't know anything about these guys, save the style shares the name.

If you check it out, let me know what you think. Good luck.

John

YAY I posted something helpful...maybe.

mithridates · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 6:02 pm Post subject:

http://www.moosool.co.kr/index-1.htm

I can't vouch for this myself but this seems to be the place where most professional bodyguards train in Korea. Seems to be in ��õ...do you live in �� right now?

jinglejangle · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Location: Far far far away.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

I have to take issue with Demonicats statement of

HapKi · Joined: 10 Dec 2004 Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL

I agree with Grotto.
You are in Korea, and it would be a shame not to get a better understanding of Hapkido while you are here. As I've said elsewhere on this board (search for Hapkido), it offers alot in terms of hand to hand strikes, blocks and joint locks, throws, and weapons defense, as well as practical kicks. A wide variety of motions and techniques, practiced everyday, with new stuff always thrown in. No forms (pomsae) either.

hellofaniceguy · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!

I want to see any and all of the bad boys who think they can fight...sign up for K1 or one of the others. Especially the korean MA's. Many instructors in korea...step up to the plate and let's see if you have what it takes!!
I'll take a good street fighter any day over any MA.
It all comes down to this...how much heart do you have to go the distance. It's not about style...it's about guts. You have to be able to take punches and kicks and still be able to come back.

Bunnymonster · Joined: 16 Mar 2004 Location: Tokyo

My friend is starting up a CQB class having just got his instructor certifaction. If you're interested PM me and I'll get you in touch with him.

I'll avoid hijacking your thread and mocking joint locking and other TMAs as they serve a very useful purpose for many people, just please don't get delusions of grandeur, they do not prepare you well for really real fights.
To quote a very wise man "your belt covers 2 inches of your ass you have to cover the rest"......

jaebea · Joined: 21 Sep 2003 Location: SYD

Filipino Martial Arts is getting some good reviews, but don't get the commercialised crap. The real deal is with Raymond Floro's technique. As the link suggests, he's done some work with the USFK Special Forces in regards to knife and stick work, and there's a contact name there that you can probably use. I don't know if you can get the same lessons though. Still wouldn't hurt to chat with the USFK contact and see what he suggests.

Considering the number of Russians in Korea, I'd go so far as to look for people who teach Systema (simply "The System" in Russian). The link is http://www.russianmartialart.com for more info.

The head is based in Canada, but it's something that the Russian special forces used. The videos on the site look like as if they're staged, but apparently the real deal is something quite amazing.

I thought I'd suggest these as they're both free from kata, forms and overt structure, but extremely effective. Both promote the user to freely react to fit the situation, instead of executing memorised moves. Systema in particular is geared towards multiple opponents and looks quite impressive when in motion.

Not sure if this post will help any, but some changes to your usual gamut of techniques out there.

jae.