granmasterchen

to my knowlege it is chinese based yet the style was studied and moved to japan, .....first there was shaolin and a japanese spy studied the style during the boxer rebellion, he studied under many masters that were in hiding, eventually after becoming a master himself he went back to japan, added some of his own techs to it and made shorinji kenpo, from there it evolved more and more to my understanding....

i didn't answer the poll b/c i do a combination, i think in advance, yet not enough to get me in trouble if a move doesn't work, i attack and make openings, i know the body enough to throw a tech and if they block they leave an area open, or to throw some fakes to make an opening, yet i do not plan out a whole fight, i make openings and go for them, keep it rather simple...

karate is a generic term that everyone is used too, if you had no understanding of martial arts you would still know that karate was a MA, yet would you know kaju kenbo, habkido, aikido, tang soo do, kuk sool wan, etc,.,,, alot of these terms have little or no meaning to non practitioners so we all stick with the easy word association so that everyone can relate and know what we are talking about.

kaju kenbo is a nice new style that is very effective streetwise, yet anytime that you spend working for tournements in point sparring will take some of the edge off of the street fight scenario, it is fun to do both, and kaju kenbo has a great combination of styles, very good. So don't always spar point based, add in that edge of violence.

i agree with you, the old ones were sweet, i was at 3 with keith hackney(friend of my instructor) too bad he messed his hand up, the old ones were good b/c there were no rules, or very little, now it is pretty lame, a bunch of kids, a bunch of rules, and weight classes.....not as entertaining, yet there is still tank abbott, but he was more enjoyable in the old days too

i have a thing for vampires, blade is cool, sorry i am an old comic geek, wesley snipes does some cool moves and hey you can't beat the cheesy lines, like:"some ** are always trying to ice skate up hill" i have a feeling i jacked that one all up......aaaaa just kill me

my instructor was in the 3rd one, the movies were good, i haven't seen them in awhile

i like the DBZ games...especially the one that is in english now......sorry i am a dork.......i just think it is fun

the story was based on an old legend of the ....forget the number of demons of....forget the name,....the clans were real and so was jubei, he was a famous samurai, yet there were more than one so stories conflict....i left my copy in the states, so i can't break it all down for you....

fist of legend all the way with jet li bloodsport was sweet too i also liked iron monkey there are alot

contracts?!?!?! what is going on here, what has the world come to since i left the states,,......oh my......good luck, i hope you survive this nonsense and learn from it, or find a better school....that is just silly no offense but it sounds like the instructor is a little unsure of his skill so he has to make a contract, jeez this isn't an apt complex for college students, if you don't like it you should be able to just leave.....this is terrible......sorry

you may like kickboxing, muay thai or some karates, they may seem similar to the tae kwondo class that you took, so it all depends on how the classes are taught....

i started out with boxing when i was a little kid but the actual martial arts with kicks and such wasn't until i was around 12, of course i wish i was younger when i started but at least i joined! Before i went to the military there was an 80 some yr old woman that joined the class, i am also familiar with many that are in there 40s and 50s that just started, b/c their kids were in and found that they enjoyed it, and then it became part of their life too.

i have studied both over the years, my advise is to observe the classes and to see which one you like more.

sparring is how you get better, i think that men who thing they can't spar with women are rather simple in their logic, i love to train women how to fight b/c guys typically have the attitude to under estimate their female opponents, so once i train them for awhile(sparring) and they fight they guy,it is funny to see the guy losing when he was so cocky and arrogant, hehehehee, i love having fun and i think that everyone should spar regardless of sex, a woman can kill just as easy as a man, we are all human after all....

the book of five rings, it is very interesting, no matter what level you are on in your training, and even after you think you understood it all you can go back and find something else new, it is a book that is very insperational and has a lot to offer. also the book that i am writing will be very good someday, it will take me several years to complete, but if you are all around i will let you have a peak hehehehe

good points on kata kirves, some of the problems people have with TMA is that alot of the applications are out dated, katas, andmany styles are limited in the skills they teach, one school will focus on ground alone, one only on standing fighting, one with just kicks, another with just punches, see what i am getting at? If you find a school that you like with an instrucor that teaches many different tools, ie, kicks, punches, throws, manipulation, grappling then go for it, the major rule of thumb is the more weapons that you possess the better you will be , so don;t limit your self, plus if you are happy then who cares what others think like i think green dragon is trying to say, if later down the road you want to add a different weapon to your arsenal that your school doesn;t offer then pursue it yet, don't be bent b/c of others views, train hard and you will succeed.

good post capn_midnight, sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, i love instrutors that don't teach just one thing, good for you, continue your training and good luck

i agree with the speed and reflexes, sports martial arts help you in those aspects, they also help your brain to process strategies faster so that you can see openings and find your target, sports based arts have their place, yet the fact that when you spar you don't go full force and neither you or your opponent are out for blood, so it is good to have and practical if combined with a more realistic self defense art, that way you have the skill, speed, then power and experience to back it all up together in a real situation, Sport based has some good qualities that many just over look because, you usually get beat if you don;'t train for real fights, so what i am saying is that there are some good points to it but is still not too healthy for a street fight

wow this post brought out some of the big posters,,,,nice job

practise, with experience you will learn to stay calm, try to practise staying calm when training

ouch, well i hope that things go better the next time, i may have to try those out sometime, may be a good investment for the school, yet i think people are happier when they actually break something, especially concrete

what are the rebreakable plastic boards like???? i never understood how they would go back together and still be usable over and over

no, i only studied it, alot was similar to the rest of the korean styles from what i saw and i didn't have a good instructor for KSW, oh well.....

only when i go to train ......that is it, my instructor would have a way of finding me across the globe and beating me like a red headed step chile *no offense to any*