~Hapkido....good art for fighting?

Hello, I have a Hapkido instructor in my area.... I took a form of Kempo for a while & while it was good....we seemed to stop learning anything new...

How is Hapkido as a fighting art?

I took Hapkido for about six months, it was a good tie in to the Chinese karate that I am taking.

To me Hapkido seemed like it would work much better on the street. With the different techniques wrist locks, etc.

It might have been the style of Hapkido that we were learning but I definitely liked it. I have even been thinking about taking it up again.

My yellow belt test lasted for a hour, by the time the throws, rolls, wrist locks and all were done...whew!

Also sprach Lambchild1:

: I have a Hapkido instructor in my area.... : I took a form of Kempo for a while & while : it was good....we seemed to stop learning anything new... : How is Hapkido as a fighting art?

I'd say that it depends to a large degree on the instructor. The problems with the kempo school you mentioned most likely reflect on that specific teacher, too.

To be specific about HKD (I studied it for 7 years, got to 2 dan), yes it can be a good fighting art. It has enough tools in its repertory to be pretty good at stand-up fighting and generic self-defense, although it did (when I studied) fall a bit short in grappling and groundfighting. That, my instructor supplemented with judo and jujitsu he had trained in quite a bit.

It's mostly in the teacher you have, though. I had two with real-world experience (thanks to their time in SE Asia), so we got some practical perspective on what worked and what didn't. And we sparred against each other and with other schools, for practice and variety.

So go try the HKD school, see if you like the style and atmosphere, see what you learn. It's a good system, and with a good instructor can offer a lot to a student.

Semper Fi,

I recommend Hapkido whole-heartedly. It is MUCH more effective than Tew Kwon Do, and is very capable of disabling an assailant. Some people here may complain that there is no full on, no holds barred fighting, but there would be nobody left with functioning elbows at the end of the day. To be good at Hapkido, you have to remember to watch what you are doing. Some situations a pressure point submission hold is better, and some situations require some good old fashioned elbow snapping, which seems to be the specialty of my instructor. The only problem with learning Hapkido is that most instruction in it covers a huge base of subjects, including throws, locks, holds, pressure points, cane fighting, and some Kobujutsu and Tae Kwon Do. As long as it isn't a McDojo, you should end up with ample experience and skills.

Ciao,