Enviroman

About 10 years ago, I was very much into Anime. Then I hit high school and my tastes changed. I enjoy the plots and whatnot still (as said above, the writing tends to be much better than many American shows) but I cannot stand the average anime fan. I'm sure there are "normal" fans out there...for example, I checked out my college Anime club on a whim. There were so many kids that seemingly never bathe! The stench was so bad and their lack of social skills was amazing. Just not my crowd...

That's exactly how I learned SD in Aikido and Uechi-Ryu...at least at first. Other styles do it differently?

Hey milkman, thanks for the link! Unfortunately Frazer is about 35-40 minutes from me. I'm going to visit some schools and make my decision by the end of next week.

In Uechi-Ryu, we conditioned our forearms, legs, and torso with various means (blocking schemes at full force with a partner to strengthen the forearms, for example).

Unfortunately, price definitely influences my decision. In fact, it's probably my number one factor. I'm gonna check out all of the schools and I'll let the other schools know that I can pay up to $50 a month and see if they'll come down in price. I figure that some teachers will be willing to come down if they see that I really want to work and if they don't have a full class they might be willing to take me on.

I completely agree with you. I didn't enjoy Aikido that much (as a style) but I loved the teacher and stayed on for quite a while. It was the complete opposite for my first time training. I loved the style and hated the teacher. I didn't last long there. I have a feeling that I'm going to study the TSD. I'm pretty against the flashy aerial (and other) kicks that seem very impractical in any sort of self defense situation...but we'll see!

I actually met with one of the teachers today (Kenpo #1) and it didn't go well. He did a "hard sell" on his class, asking me to try and cut expenses in other areas to afford his monthly fee! I'm going to the Tang Soo Do school tomorrow. We'll see! Thanks!

Hello all, I wanted some opinions on my decision ahead. Let me give you some background on myself: I'm in my early 20s, a college junior in Philly, I've studied Aikido and a form of Okinowan karate (for a combined total of 2 years or so), I'm pretty out of shape/overweight, and I'm looking to study martial arts. As I said, I have a small background in martial arts but I'm far from experienced (I'd put myself squarely in the beginner category). I'm looking for a style that provides good self defense, will help me get in shape (along with daily cardio, which I've already started), and that I am comfortable with...obviously the last one is extremely subjective and something I'll need to figure out on my own. Well, I live in the 'burbs of Philly and I attend college in Philly. My local options are as follows (I'll not list the school name if it's all the same...): 1) Kenpo School ($60/month unlimited) 2) Kempo School #1 ($70/month unlimited) 3) Kempo School #2 ($85/month unlimited) 4) BJJ School #1 ($99/month unlimited) 5) BJJ School #2 ($75/month twice a week) 6) Mantis Kung Fu School #1 (unknown price/may be out of business?) 7) Mantis Kung Fu School #2 ($40/month twice a week) Northern and Southern Kung Fu School ($85/month 2-3 times a week) 9) Tang Soo Do #1 ($35/month unlimited) 10) Tang Soo Do #2 ($85/month unlimited) 11) About 7.5 million TKD schools that vary in price. Initially, I wanted to go into BJJ...I know a lot of people call it a fad, but I know some people that practice it and they seem to love it. Those hopes were crushed by the monthly fees. The one school said "well, we'll see what we can do" about the fee and I'll go visit them on Saturday. The three kenpo/kempo schools all seemed to be very money oriented. I felt like a piece of meat being sold an oven by a used car salesman. They were very quick to try to get me to sign up for a contract and put me into a "free gi." Right now I'm leaning toward the first Tang Soo Do school. The fee is super reasonable, the teacher was one of the only ones I contacted that made me feel like I was a person and not a small stack of bills. The only problem is that I think TSD is sort of suspect and it very closely resembles TKD with the high kicks and other impractical teachings (no offense to any TSD people...please set me straight if I'm wrong!) I need help!