What Martial arts do you do, and what rank are you?

[Darth Caelum]

Yellow belt in Taekwondo, never bothered to learn the impressive but not very practical higher forms, but kicking is good now.

Most of the appeal of the higher kicks is that they are impressive and kinda scary. like if you step up back-kick someone they are pretty likely to go down and their mates aren't gonna try anything.

Well, provided you hit them right. I wouldn't try anything that I wasn't 100% on in a real situation if I didn't have to.

Is there any martial art where the fancy stuff is more practical than the basics?

True, i never said that they were not. But, in a real life situation, iit would be difficult to use a step up back kick when a spinning side kick to the body[sub]or head if you could pull it off[/sub]would be just as efficient.
Concerning Taekwondo, i learned the kicks that would be best applicable to a life threatening situation, then practice the hell out of it. It has worked well so far, and supplemented with the other martial arts, i can say with some confidence that i can defend myself fairly well.

 

[Sorafrosty]

Shotokan and Kofukan karate, and I'm on my first brown belt, going for the second. I only recently converted from shotokan to kofukan, so I'm not that familiar with every detail yet. It is much the same, yet there are moves that are more flowing than I remember from shotokan. Still, I do enjoy it *grin*

 

[Sampsa]

Wado style karate for 11 or 12 years. I could be 1st or even 2nd dan had I taken exams. I've been carrying my blue belt now for more than four years and I'm satisfied with it. I'm not obliged to teach like brown and black belts and I'm free from the most basic training.

 

[Gavmando]

2nd Dan in Ju-jitsu.
And i've just started Aikido. It's really different. It's a whole new way of doing your techniques. But at least my body isint falling apart like it was with BJJ and Kickboxing.

 

[Rainboq]

Karate, brown belt, I got it last weekend!

 

[GooBeyond]

3rd Dan Black Belt in Pot Ato Coucho

 

[Daniel Coates]

I got to brown belt (just before black) in Shorinji Kenpo. After that I studied Jeet Kune Do and Brazilian Jujitsu for a couple years.

Its been 5 years or so since I last trained so I'm pretty out of shape now though.

 

[Latinidiot]

kick your ass-fu. it involves kicking, and someone's ass.

 

[heyheysg]

Blue-Gold or 7th Kyu? in Aikido. The pacifist martial art.

Before they teach you how to defend yourself, knowing how to defuse potentially tense situations, running away or generally using common sense comes first.

Other than that the moves usually involves non-fatal take downs. Usually broken wrists, joints etc.

 

[TheTaco007]

I did kung-fu as a kid, and made it to blue belt.

Now I'm a fencer. (I don't do tournaments that often, though, so I don't have a rank yet.)

 

[JS ibanez]

Used to do karate and judo as kid

These days I do european styles of medieval swordfighting involving sidesword and buckler, quarterstaff and longsword as my primary focus.

 

[WhamBamSam]

3rd Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo.

 

[Browbeat]

Tae Kwon Do, 1st Dan (1st degree Black)

6 years with current hiatus due to wrapping up university and job woes.

 

[BabySinclair]

Done some wrestling (the real kind), karate, ju jitsu, and kendo. Never stuck with one of them long enough to go anywhere with them though.

I do enjoy Langschwert very much though and when used against a friend who does kendo is very, very effective. It's the german school of fencing with a longsword (1&1/2 hand sword)

 

[C117]

Karate, 9:tn kyu (red belt). Has trained for the past three years.

 

[black-magic]

I used to box, meant to get back into it but I can't find a gym for it.
I don't think we have ranks.

 

[nightwolf667]

3rd degree black belt in a mixed martial art based out of Tae Kwon Do. I say that because it began as strictly Tae Kwon Do and the organization just evolved with the times. 13 years.