I read through the posts in the Tae Kwan Do thread and it made me think of my current situation.
I'm 18, and I've been doing Wing Chun for 2 years. (chinese art using mostly fists, similar to boxing.)
First, let me say my "kwoon" isn't TOTAL bullshit. We condition, (toughen up limbs, body, head, etc..), we do warmups, (some of which are actually very hard), and we actually get quite a bit of sparring in.
The sparring is pretty good from what I can tell. We'll hit pretty hard on body shots, but we'll pull back on face shots. (most of the time, and I know the advanced students go pretty rough.) My teacher has also showed me some very basic bjj moves. (the guard, one way of passing it, a few joint locks like the achilles and an armbar, a wristlock, etc..)
However, there are certain things I really don't like.
We spend a lot of time on forms. Some of the time they teach you how to do certain movements, but overall I think they are useless.
Second, we do a lot of our strikes "empty" style. Meaning we don't do much bagwork. (even though punching bags are there.) Thus, my punches are very fast and accurate, but don't have much power.
And last, I think it's my teacher himself. Don't get me wrong, he's a good guy overall. However, I once asked him what he thought of me cross training (sub. wrestling, bjj, muay thai kickboxing, etc..) and he said he would kick me out. I don't think any good teacher would EVER discourage cross-training. In fact, I think most would encourage it.
Now theat really frustrates me because we do crosstrain. (he teaches us some bjj) He is just stubborn in general. His word is always undisputed. Sometimes I want to question him, but I know I'll get the disdain of him and the other students.
Lastly, he tries to teach morals. I believe in being a good person, but I signed up to learn how to fight, plain and simple. I love the meditation and stuff, but I want to pay someone to turn my into a scrappy son of a bitch, not make me a civil person.
Now, my contract expires this month and I want to leave. But my dad and brother are also into this heavily, and are completely loyal. I know if I even bring it up, they'll be all pissed at me. They are very staunch when it comes to the thought of cross training. (for example, my brother says he'll NEVER move onto a different school, even after he gets his black belt. Which I think is fucking absurd.)
I'm very frustrated and I was wondering if anyone could give some advice?
Everyone has periods where they're frustrated with their school, instructor, or style. Sometimes I think this means we need to take a break, or maybe shift our focus, and the feeling goes away after a week or two. But, sometimes, it doesn't go away.
If you can really articulate why you're dissatisfied, and the feeling doesn't go away, maybe it is time to move on.
Tell your instructor and family that you're not able to fully concentrate on your training there, and you want to pursue a different body of knowledge.
Don't badmouth the school or style on the way out, though. That'll just come across as confrontational.
The only martial art worth taking is the one you enjoy.
Welcome to CMA. Most CMA instructors take an "old school" approach to training in more than one place, the see it as disrespectful, particularly from a newer student.
Short answer, Leave after this month and try something else.
I was experiencing some frustration with my training a short while back. I wasn't getting enough resistance training (ie. grappling and sparring) and felt that I needed that stuff. It wasn't so much an issue with instructors but a lack of students at that level interested.
So I started doing some BJJ to complement my training and am still hoping to do some more shootfighting training when my coach isn't busy studying.
One of my coaches strongly believes that I should train with as many different people as I can (and also thinks we should spar a lot more) but it's not his club.
Another of my coaches has said that training in other arts at this stage will just confuse me and that I should consider it when I'm a BB. He changed his opinion though, maybe since he himself has done a hell of a lot of cross training, and is looking at doing more.
Sorry for the big blurb, do what you think is right for you. Being a martial artist is a lifetime journey, taking different paths should make the journey all that more interesting.