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Going on 20 or so years in the martial arts and thankfully I have never had to use any of my training in actual combat, I have studied styles ranging from Wushu to American Kickboxing, Judo and Jui Jitsu with a splash of Kendo. Some instructors were fly by nights and some were the real deal. In todays market so to speak you will find a lot of posers and people saying that they were grand champions of this and that and unfortunatly there is no real way to prove this except through trial and error. There are few sources out there that keep track of who got what rank from whom and how or where and so the populace is at the mercy of the instructors, sometimes painfully. Some of the fee's that are charged are outragous in many cases, spending 80 to 200 $ a month for a few hours a week is ludicrus if you ask me. As for fencing I have never used a foil or rapier and by most looks of it it is in depth for sparring and martial use. In Kend, the way I learned we would use sweeps and pretty much the whole body subject to attack, even the throat I have come home with bruises there and been unable to talk from certain blows and yes I was wearing protection. Sensei would somtimes jam his shinai there and pole vault us backwards or pin us to the wall for punishment if we used poor technique and you would never see it coming. I always enjoyed myself and that is my reason for doing the martial arts I am not in top shape anymore but still enjoy myself. I think that is why soccer mom's do tai bo cardio karate as well as tae kwon do for the comraderie and as was metioned before for the security of it. Most people will go there whole lives without ever having to lift a finger in self defense and then there are those who seek it out or are put in untimely situations, martial arts is for everyone either inquisitive or die hard. Enjoy it, it is there for the taking. I think I went a bit off topic:ponder1:
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