Has anyone trained with Grand Master Hwang In-Shik?

**Angry-Monkey** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 9:24pm

I finally got around to visiting the hapkido dojo in my downtown toronto neighborhood. I just sat and watched with my sister and wasn't too impressed at first.

They did basic conditioning exercises, and he did a few tricks for the new students. He made one of his students "faint" by gazing at them, and made himself very heavy so that the biggest guy in the class couldn't lift him (first he could easily, and then he couldn't). I was getting a bit skeptical at this point. The class proceeded to look like a regular tkd class, and I was disapointed. He then brought me into his office to chat and I was blown away. He started right off the bat by ranting about the current state of martial arts schools in canada. He complained about marketing (he refuses to advertise) and made the comparison to mcdonalds. He made several comments about 10 year old black belts and overweight older women black belts. He talked at length about the BS of "tradition", overly strict instructors, monthly grading and point sparring.

Edit: I forgot to mention that he says they do full-contact sparring and some groundwork. I did a little research and he has some pretty good credentials.

I'd like to know if anyone has here has had the chance to train with him, as I'm now assuming that the class I witnessed was not an accurate representation of his abilities as a teacher.

**HopSing** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 10:39pm

A couple of times. He is a insightful 'Oldtimer'!

**jungle-mania** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 10:50pm

Sounds like an old school MA class, just give it a shot first and see how. Most of all, don't sign your fortune away. The part about not moving is a method of shifting your weight around by sensing the guy direction of pull and lift, so that the effect of his effort is minimised, not easy, but nothing mystical or chi based, just basic physics. As for the gazing part, is he that bad looking?

**Maestro Nobones** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 10:53pm

I'd be turned off by the no touch action.

**HopSing** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 10:56pm

Originally Posted by jungle-mania

As for the gazing part, is he that bad looking?

I don't know but he has been in a few feature MA flicks including Return of the Dragon, you know the part the 'Japanese fighter' asking; "Are you Tang Leung?"

**EternalRage** · Posted On: 2/22/2005 1:41am

if theres no contract, go for it, at least for a trial period. the guys been in movies and he speaks out against mcdojos. cant find many koreans who do that.

**Broken** · Posted On: 2/22/2005 7:00am

He was pretty damn impressive in Young Master. However on the dvd extras they showed him now and it looked like he had gotten too old and his students were "helping" him through techniques.

**Angry-Monkey** · Posted On: 2/22/2005 9:14am

The problem is that he doesn't believe in trial classes. He said something about trial classes being for businesses and mcdonalds, that you receive free promotions in the mail. He doesn't believe in "bring two friends and you get 20% off and one month free trial". I can see the logic in it, but at the same time it's just seems like an excuse.

**TylerDurden** · Posted On: 2/22/2005 9:29am

I think he is associated with the group that does those HapKiDo tournaments on the west coast.

SuperHappyLucky7 · Posted On: 2/22/2005 9:52am

There is another Hapkido place in Toronto called East West Hapkido. The website is http://www.eastwesthapkido.com . It has a number of videos you can view as well.

The guy who teaches there spent a number of years training with Grand Master Hwang In-Shik.