Martial Arts
 

Anyone take martial arts? I took tae kwon do about ten years ago and got to a green belt. This time around, I'm looking for something that's geared more towards self defense than flashy tournament stuff, so that rules out TKD and karate. Not a big fan of boxing either.

Looking for something that's decently rounded out with upright fighting and ground sparring. Something that teaches discipline would be nice, and something that teaches simple weapons (escrima maybe?) would be cool.

Right now I'm leaning towards krav maga or shaolin kenpo. Both have free intro sessions that I'll be taking in the next month to check out.

-Shaolin kenpo is $65 a month for one class per week. It's kind of a mix of kung fu, karate, and jiu jitsu.
-Krav Maga is $45 a month for one class per week, or $70 a month for two classes per week, and I can mix-up classes, so if I take krav maga I could also take jiu jitsu or Wing Tzun.

Any experience with these, good or bad points? Any martial art I should look into besides these two?

I studied Judo and Kendo growing up. I would love to get back into it if time permits.

We are enrolling out 3 1/2 year old in Tae Kwon Do primer classes soon.

Kung fu 99 out 100 waste of time. Krav Maga, same thing. it's just TKD blackbelts who got certified in a few weeks to teach Krav Maga.

I'm not looking at kung fu, I'm looking at kenpo.

The krav maga instructor I would be learning from was taught by Israelis where the art originated. The shaolin kenpo instructor was taught by Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro. These are serious schools, not some bullshit YMCA class taught by a fat ass with a 2 week certificate.

Any other gfy ninjas with opinions?

There are bullshit schools and fantastic schools in any martial art you can name, so choosing your studio carefully and taking a bunch of trial classes is definitely important.

Having said that, i would give Hapkido a look if there are any decent schools near you. Maybe a brazilian jiu jitsu if you are looking for a ground and pound grappling angle, and I've had friends who swore by thai boxing especially for the use of shins and elbows.

Its really about your personality and the schools, and what you are looking to get out of it.

my friend has been doing thai boxing for years! he's good at street fighting now.....:winkwink:

I would recommend that you go after KYOKUSHIN KARATE... that is one of the best things I ever did in my life... great for self defense...

uuugg...another thread for McDojos...

Please, review UFC 1, UFC 2 and UFC 4 when there were no weight limits and it was tournament style.


The guy who won the entire thing was crazy Ninja type.

Light Heavyweight Champ of the world , is the LHC for a reason. Karate.
but in my opinion just go to a mma gym youll learn everything youll need to know :)

Oh yah, sorry, Great grandmaster Ralph Castro, the Cuban Kung Fu Master. Give me a break.

Here's your standard "Kenpo Masters".
http://www.kenpojujits.com/JIM%20&%20Al.jpg

If your school doesn't train in 100 % non compliant sparring, you have zero idea if anything you learned works.

You want to learn how to fight? Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Forget what you posted.

Karate is one of the styles, not only because of it. Georges St Pierre is the welterweight champ and is also a blackbelt in Karate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_4

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu :winkwink:

That was Royce Gracie... from the Gracie family brother of Rickson Gracie (who is a legend in Japan)... he is no ninja... he is a jiu-jistu fighter...

The Senator was being sarcastic. He's one of the few on GFY who train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The whole Gracie family are legends in Japan.

both the forms you mentioned are effective, but don't rule out boxing on the side. fist to head is more often than not how the fight will go.

sorry I didn't knew about his martial arts background... I have trained jiu-jitsu for a short while... and I noticed that it was not for me... also tried Judo and Muay Thai... and finally learned that the martial art the works better for me is Kyokushin Karate (which I have been practicing for over 10 years)

MMA here:)

Kyokushin is no joke, and they DO train at 100% resistance on a non compliant opponent. Or for the layman, spar really fucking hard. 10 years, I'm sure you've done a few kumites, what's the most opponents at one time for you?

Where do you train?

Kyokushin is no joke.

Neither of the kenpo instructors are fat. The grandmaster is not cuban, google him. Do you have any valid arguments against kenpo or are you just going to keep posting ignorant bullshit?

If I take krav maga I will also take jiu jitsu at the same place. I'm leaning towards the krav maga and jiu jitsu right now, and taking kenpo after that.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870114360

Read. Learn. Decide

Sinclair

If you can find it, I say check out Kajukenbo. I have been active in it since 1995 and it sounds like what you might be looking for.

The main problem you will find is every Kajukenbo guy teaches differently, so talk to the instructor and watch a few classes first to see what their focus is on. Just like all martial arts, everyone focuses on different things. Some are legit in self defense, and some are B.S.

It was featured on fightquest if you want to see a good example of what Kaj is about.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JvIO-sQMH04

if you want to dress up in an outfit and dance around play fighting then go with krav and kenpo..

if you want to be able to fight in a few months, go bjj and muay thai... :2 cents:

Krav maga doesn't use a uniform, there are no belts, it's straight up self defense that you obviously know nothing about but thanks for your opinion.

i was referring to kenpo... and yes i know exactly what krav is and i saw one of their schools in la..

you go train krav for a year or two and then walk into any serious mma facility and fight someone with the same amount of bjj and muay thai traning and you will lose.. :thumbsup

you are wrong-- he does know much about it... ;)
He has taught me Krav maga & a self defense course on how to kick webmasters faces. Great Success.

lol @ Krav Maga. No, seriously.

Thanks for the informative response. Kajukenbo sounds like something I would like. Unfortunately yhere aren't any places near me that teach it.

Ive trained in Kenpo but after Ed Parker died in his 50's. I looked to arts with more depth.

Anyway

I also trained under a true Moo Do grandmaster. A lot of internal , mental training. Herbs, breathing techniques, meditations , self defense. Bagwa forms such as Ocean form that goes 4 hours from start to finish. Mountain form , desert form. All of them had different benefits for the environment. and Bagwa walking was something that I really liked a lot . When I trained for hours and hours something felt really good and I felt really aware and calm. Bagwa was very interesting and had quite a bit of depth, more than I'll ever need thats for sure. I can get into it but it would take some time , so this is pretty brief. Bagwa was around the time of Han Dynasty. So its pretty ancient.

It was actually an amazing time for me. If you can find one that will take you in. Do it no matter what the cost. I paid 200 per month BTW.

I learned quite a bit about several arts and weapons. At first the weapons werent my style but after learning the benefits that came with it. I loved them all.

What do you take? And what's wrong with krav maga?

Not fat? You must need glasses. Ignorant bullshit? http://bullshido.net I'm an admin there, go ask about Kenpo and Krav Maga there. Bullshido's former name was mcdojo.com

The picture of your Cuban Kenpo master isnt any better, he's a fat old man teaching bullshit that won't work in the real world. Kenpo sparring looks like shitty point karate tournaments.

Jeff Speakman came out with Kenpo 3.0 or some bullshit, that integrates Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, shitty BJJ if I might add.

I really dont' care where you train, you'd just be another 1 year kenpo blackbelt who'd think you can fight and get owned by a junior high school wrestler.

The truth right there.

Same goes for TKD looks pretty but usesless in a fight. My grandmasters English wasnt too good but he'd always say "Man with flower fist have bouquet leg"

I won't be learning from the "cuban kenpo master", I would be learning from two of his 5th degree blackbelt students. Neither of them are fat, which is what I meant when I said that.

Do you have anything constructive to add to this, or are you just going to troll about fat kenpo masters? Maybe you need some reading comprehension, I did not state that I wanted to take kung fu, yet you spouted that it was worthless. If you're such an internet forum expert, then please, throw something constructive into the ring here.

Is krav maga and BJJ a good combo, or are you going to rag on how fat some of their people are too?

If I'm looking for martial arts with a focus on simple effective moves that would deal with real life situations, what would you recommend? I'm looking for something rounded out that also includes some ground grappling.

These are my instructors, former with American Top Team and soon to be current with Alberto and Romulo.

Pay attention, these are real MMA fighters, who use what they teach.
http://www.americantopteam.com/image...f/Emyr_web.jpg

http://www.americantopteam.com/images/staff/Danillo.jpg

http://www.grappletv.com/pics/2004%2...nday/crane.jpg

http://legacymixedmartialarts.com/im...omulofight.jpg

These are your Kenpo Gods

http://www.kenpojujits.com/JIM%20&%20Al.jpg

http://www.georgiakenpo.net/images/p...s/pat_munk.jpg

http://kickincorporated.com/wp-conte...954a1cbf38.jpg

and Ralph Castro

http://nyckenpo.net/Castro.jpg

Gracies In Action: Gracie/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu vs Kenpo Karate



Enough said.

I gave you my suggestions some posts up, you want to learn how to fight? Muay Thai for standup striking, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the ground.

Thank you for the beauty contest, that was quite informative. :disgust

You are a lost cause, go train Shaolin Kenpo, you'd probably drop out after a week of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because it's too rough for you. Punching and kicking in the air, yelling really loud, and growing a mullet will make you fucking invincible in Kenpo. Go for it.

look buddy, you cam here looking for advice then started spouting off when people gave you their advice..

quite a few people here train mma and bjj and they didnt just choose muay thai or bjj out of thin air..

its proven and successful and you can actually learn a good base in a short amount of time..

Seriously man, you will be wasting your time with Kenpo. As a kid I took Kenpo and Shotokan in Coral Springs, Fl., and the guy that taught the Shotokan class was an ex Japanese Olympic instructor. I still rose through the belt levels quickly without really learning anything except point fighting, which is completely useless in the real world.

Muay Thai and BJJ are the foundation that every MMA fighter starts with, and there is nothing any other martial arts is going to teach you that is so devastating that it can't be used in MMA. In fact I would argue that the headbutt is the one thing that can't be used in MMA that is any kind of an equalizer, but that is a whole other subject.

If you don't go with Muay Thai or BJJ then the only other decent option is Judo, which will teach you some ground fighting as well as how to drop someone on their head, but it's still not going to match what you could learn by combining Muay Thai and BJJ...