HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Armyboy]

Okay, I need advice, i've lived my life on hardcore street fighting. I'm 6 foot 1 and i weight 190 pounds, should i take shotokan or kenpo karate?

[TheDevilAside]

uuh... hm....

 

Be more specific. What exactly are you looking for? Other than something that's hardcore..

[Armyboy]

Okay, i dont want it to be just about throws or only kicks or only punches, i want something that gives everything in one specific style something that would come in handy in any situation better than street fghting would.

[Rich67]

How did you fair in the street fights? (Win/Loss ratio?) Are you getting pummeled sufficiently to warrant taking a martial art? Is your sole reason for taking an MA so you can go out and instigate street fights? Why do you get into so many?

 

Ask yourself these questions. Taking an MA isn't about: "I like to talk smack, so I wanna be able to back it up if someone calls me on it". It's about, "I'm a passive and peaceful guy, but if you screw with me I will thrash you."

 

Furthermore, it's hard to direct you to a particular style. The style you choose should be one that emphasizes a good balance of discipline and warrior mindset. This will help you keep your mouth at check (not insinuating you have a problem with that) and keep you humble. I personally enjoyed TSD for the discipline.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

How did you fair in the street fights? (Win/Loss ratio?) Are you getting pummeled sufficiently to warrant taking a martial art? Is your sole reason for taking an MA so you can go out and instigate street fights? Why do you get into so many?

 

Ask yourself these questions. Taking an MA isn't about: "I like to talk smack, so I wanna be able to back it up if someone calls me on it". It's about, "I'm a passive and peaceful guy, but if you * with me I will thrash you."

 

Furthermore, it's hard to direct you to a particular style. The style you choose should be one that emphasizes a good balance of discipline and warrior mindset. This will help you keep your mouth at check (not insinuating you have a problem with that) and keep you humble. I personally enjoyed TSD for the discipline.

 

I totally agree with Rich67. If you're looking just to improve your fighting abilities because you love to get into fights, personally as an instructor, I wouldn't let you in my door. That's not what the arts are about.

 

Like Danial said to Mr. Miagi in the Karate Kid movie..."I learn karate NOT to have to fight."...or something like that. I hated those movies, but liked much of the philosophy behind them.

[Master Jules]

Armyboy......Ive trained several styles over 31 years....for the last 20 years, I have been doing bar/niteclub security, and for the last 10 years, bodyguard work.

 

I wanted to state that part of my background, so you would know that my upcoming statement is based on what I consider to be a "level of effectiveness" in my many "real life" encounters.

 

Okinawan Goju Ryu is by far and away, the most effective, most "complete" system I have ever seen.

 

It offers all of the stand up punch and kick aspects of many martial art systems, while at the same time, it contains stand up as well as ground grappling techniques, including locks, and throws. It features both "hard" and "soft", the "soft" allowing you to work "blending and trapping" techniques, which leads into another grappling aspect called Shaolin Chin Na, a system that teaches joint dislocations, bone from muscle separating techniques, etc....

 

There is also a very extensive amount of internal training that goes along with TRUE Okinawan Goju Ryu.

 

Ive seen and trained in several arts over the years, and Ive had to fight almost every weekend at work. Ive gone up against everything from blind drunken idiots who cant see straight ( which is more like a comedy show than a fight...lol).....up to other seasoned martial artists, as well as just plain old hardcore street fighters, and earned the nickname "The Sandman".....

 

I would chose Okinawan Goju every time.......just my 2 cents.

[Pacificshore]

Armyboy:

 

It says your style is American Kenpo, so why the question

[aefibird]

How about trying out both styles and seeing which you prefer?

 

However, it'd be a good idea to have a think about why you want to learn a martial art. If you tell us of your reasons, then maybe we can direct you better to an art that will be the most suitable for you.

[Shane]

I think you need to attend a few different classes and see what style fits you best and you have the most fun with. You might even want to try finding a school that offers a mixed arts class and see if thats what your looking for.

 

And if your just looking to better your fighting abilities for street fights and thats it, then it really wont matter what style you choose because you probably wont last long. The Instructor will either kick you out or you will loose intrest very quick. Getting into the martial arts is easy all it takes is you wanting to join, Continuing your martial arts training is the hard part. It takes passion and a self motivator, Even the best Instructors out there can only motivate you so much, self dedication and motivation is the key to continuing training, so think about that before you go spending your money.

[longarm25]

I agree you should look at all the schools in your area some times the instuctors approach to a style is more important thaen the style