Hap Ki Do

No, not Ai Ki Do, that Japanese art, or Jeet Kune Do, the 'art' Bruce Lee founded, it's Hap Ki Do. Yes, I know you haven't heard of it, but fear not your ignorance, for I will enlighten you.

First off, I really needed a regular-workout-mechanism & umm, you know, a RAD body. So, there were two choices available. I could go to the gym, or, I could go in for the martial arts, namely, Hap Ki Do, a Korean martial art of self-defense {taught by an IITM graduate and Aerospace Engineering professor (:o!)}.

Why Hap Ki Do? It's practically impossible to go outside the insti for class. Heck, there have been times when I've skipped meals cause I thought it was too much work cycling to the darn mess! This was the only class available in the insti, so I thought, why not? It might not be the widely-loved Karate, but all the same it was a martial art and I had always wanted to learn one.

In reality there were three choices. I could do both the gym and hapkido. I was advised to do gym by my friend, 'cause, in his opinion, martial arts was cardio, and was primarily endurance, not strength training {In other words, really well-defined, really small muscles :( }. So I decided to ask the man himself, the prof, and he told me he could deliver the same results as a gym, but over a longer period of time. I have trusted his word and joined, let us see whether my muscles blossom :).

Anyway, it has been two weeks since my first class, and we have 3 classes a week, two hrs a class, which makes my experience in hapkido = 6 classes. And I am having so much FUN!

Please note, in case my three-letter-exclamation makes you think otherwise, your muscles do hurt like hell during and after class. I still can't manage the thirty push ups and sit ups my instructor wants me to do three times a week. So, those bits are pretty frustrating, but the stuff I learn is great!

For starters, in my first class, I was taught how to stand in fighting stance, move in fighting stance, and punch from fighting stance!! And here I was thinking along the lines of 'The Karate Kid', you know, with the interminable (and seemingly pointless) 'wax on, wax off'. Ok, I admit, an exact reproduction of that situation would have sent me scurrying to the gym, but I was expecting something more like boring exercises, with techniques delivered when we were 'ready' :). The reality was nowhere near it. We were taught techniques, and we practise them till they're perfect. I do use wax on and wax off, but as part of techniques. Learning and perfecting just a part of the technique, like the Karate Kid, is pointless 'cause you can't execute the real thing anyway.

More info. Everyone knows how massively popular Karate is, don't they? Well, I learnt something interesting. My 'sir' {Sensei is a Japanese word :)} told me that when we kick, we do so making contact with the front of the ball of the foot, unlike Karate, where you strike with the upper part of the foot. In other words, my kick will have a much better chance of breaking your leg ;). He said that that's because Karate has tournaments, and competitions, and has evolved into a sport, while Hapkido has no such thing. We train for self-defense, and are as practical as possible. If you want proof, take a look at this.



I like the suits and the army jackets. Nice touch :).

Disclaimer:
That said, I have nothing against Karate, and as a n00b, I have no right to pass judgement on anything. My instructor's words should not be twisted out of context. All he has done is point out a difference in the attacking styles of two arts, and their respective reasons.

Yea, yea. What I really want to say is, SCORE! :D

And now for the icing on the cake. Do you know what weapon I was training with yesterday? It's... (Drum Roll)... a NUNCHAKU!! Yes, that Bruce Lee thing, as depicted here.



Let me tell you, swinging that thing with such precision, at that speed is really damn hard. But it is so COOL! You feel pseud just holding the darn thing in your hand. I bought one yesterday ^^.

It will take me three to four years to get a black belt, or so said my instructor, so I'm right on time. Ho ho, he he, I'm gonna have soo much fun...