not to mention, it can take about 2-3 years for a black belt...that's too short and they focus too heavily on forms, and shit

not enough sparring

I believe it

Footwork, head movement, slipping parrying

hip rotation, pivot the foot

Footwork especially

It can determine so much

yea dude, you gotta fuckin move when fighting

Hell, they don't even focus on your stamina

MY footwork sucks tbh

Or strength

@Sigma and just the pivoting and shifting weight

I'm talking things like stepping in and out, creating angles

i have trouble creating angles

I tend to go in there and brawl a bit

@Unknowncrash that's the thing if you swing your hips into your punch and use your whole weight you can throw a punch harder than someone much stronger than you who uses only arm strength

@Sigma yes that is better classified as footwork

I'm heavier than I want to be, so I'm not that agile anymroe

@Reaper of course I know that shit, I do that to others ever since I was a child

I'm heavy on my feet

But strength traing helps

A fucking lot

@Unknowncrash yaya

yea i want to drop down to 155 again

I'm about 170-175 atm

i'm still pretty light on my feet and graceful but i can't fight for shit. Mostly just inexperienced.

I don't take punches too well

If someone is throw a ton of punches and hitting me I tend to panic

The voice chats been a bit quiet lately hasn't it

takes me a while to warm up

@GingerSnaps it's a good idea to learn the basics

@4sakenm3ssiah i haven't been paying attention but i know i haven't been in there in a short.

@Reaper yeah, all this talk of boxing is making me think i should start there.

Boxing is a great place to start

and the Muy Thai leg kicks are easy to learn, plus they do a lot of damage

@GingerSnaps I am a huge advocate at starting with boxing cause you will learn practical knowledge day 1

I want to do boxing again

There's a really friendly and tolerant aikido academy in my area though so i was going to go with them. But i could liekly find the same thing in a boxing gym.

Boxing is quite common in the states, no?

I don't think aikido is that practical

it's common