How much contact in Kenpo or Kyokushin at the beginning ?

[oscar2010]

Hi all,

 

Although I am heavily leaning toward Aikido there is a small part of me that may want something a little more fast paced and competive. I am wondering if Kenpo or Kyokushin may be something I should look into but I am curious as to how much contact there is at the beginning learning either of these styles? What are the major difference between these two styles? Thanks

[delta1]

First off, there are some excellant American Kenpo schools in the LA area. I'd advise checking out as many as you can before you decide on anything.

 

Contact- varries with school and system. I've not seen any advanced belts in the AKTS that don't do contact sparing, and the rule is that you absolutely will not get your BB without hard contact training. But they don't just throw you in and start pounding. That can develope bad habbits, as well as put some people off. You are worked in to it gradually, concentrating on proper technique and form. 'Course, if you want to, there's usually someone there that will oblige you with a good contact bout. But sparing is as much a training/learning process as practicing basics. The idea is for both partners to improve, not kill each other. Protection is used, how much depends on school policy and the fighters.

 

I don't know that much about Kyokushin, but from what has been posted on this forum it seems to be an excellant system as well. They are a little harder style (as in more linear and staccato) from some clips that were posted. It seems to be more sport oriented, but they fight more like AK than they do Karate (or it seemed to me). I don't believe they target the head.

 

American Kenpo is more self defense oriented, and is Chinese based with Japanese influence. We have more soft moves (circular, indirect, yielding, useing his force against him). But we also have a lot of hard moves- more ballanced.

 

What happened to all the KK guys that were posting here? They are a good bunch, hope they didn't wander off! Any way, either way you go (including Aikido) you'll have a good system.

[Dijita]

As there are a lot of good Kenpo schools in LA, there are also a lot of good Kyokushin schools. I suggest checking out http://www.kyokushinla.com Sensei Taku is an amazing instructor and I had the oppurtunity to train with him over the summer.

 

Just like what delta1 said, in Kyokushin you can expect to do a lot of hard contact in class. Sometimes with protective gear sometimes without. At first I believe you will be doing quiet a big of contact, but it will be very controlled, supervised, and encouraged to go lightly at first. It doesn't take too long before you start engaging in harder contact, especially if you wish to compete in tournaments. I know that the guys in LA train very FAST... they have some really good fighters at the dojo.. and many of them are quiet powerful.

 

I suggest you try both Kenpo and Kyokushin classes in your area to help you decide on what you would prefer.