American Kenpo is the one martial that I really want to learn but you can't find any of that here in The Philippines. Though there are numerous within The United States and hear known masters such as Jeff Speakman giving seminars around Europe. I was wondering if you can find such within Asia especially here in PH.
I've tried one lesson of American Kempo and it struck me as not very good. From my limited exposure, you're better off sticking to kyokushin karate.
I've trained in both American Kenpo and Kyokushin Budokai (Kyokushin and Judo). While Kenpo has a lot of potential to be a devastating art, and I'm sure there are plenty of dojos who do sufficient training to make it such, I found Kyokushin, even without the Judo element of Budokai, to be far more effective and a lot simpler. In my experience, training in Kenpo can drift into slight fantasy with techniques that are either unrealistic, unnecessary or completely over the top for the situation, while the supposed attacker isn't actually attacking but rather extending his arm to facilitate the defender doing the technique that he can't possibly fail to pull off.
I hold instructor ranks in both Kenpo and Kali, these days I pretty much only teach Kali. My experience founds lots of overlap between my Kenpo and my Kali, and I have heard similar from more than one experienced instructor. The methods of teaching are very different, but at heart there is probably an 80% overlap in movement patterns, and AK tends to be all about movement patterns hidden under the choreographed self-defense techniques.
It is the chain of attacks, techniques and combos that attracted me to Kempo. Plus the fast hands and movement. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7omM3zU6ec"]Secrets Of Speed Fighting Kenpo Speed Striking MMA - Jim Brassard - YouTube[/ame]
I'm still into Kyokushin. Most likely I'll stick to this training since I'm much available to it's scheduled classes before considering taking a second martial arts which is Kali.
that video up there is really embarrassing man... you're honestly sooooo much better off where you are. best of luck with the KK!!
He definitely has a Master Ken vibe to him Cannot say kenpo has ever really impressed me - lots of theory, little pressure and massively compliant uke seem to be the order of the day. If course it doesn't help when you make claims like "one of the seven deadliest things to do to someone"
Manila, as a fellow Kyokushin practicioner... stick with Mas Oyama. But, look at the older Kyokushin fights, there they used to dodge and block much more than now, which seems more 'correct' to me. I was thinking exactly the same. Was also remembering master Ken.
Much thanks for your advise! I'm already continuing my Kyokushin classes since I have already advanced and would like to progress more!
Though I still find it cool when the sensei did those multiple strikes at the beginning of the video. But again, would he stand against other striking martial artists of the same level?
Kenpo black belts tend to have great technical skill and the ability to look awesome in demonstrations. But technical skill is only theory and is nothing without practical skill. I've met coloured belts in Kyokushin who are better fighters than a lot of the Kenpo black belts I've met. In my opinion it all comes down to an imbalance between technical training and practical training. Some of the latest Kenpo coaches I trained with just didn't understand the priorities of training. This is especially bad for people in a system that claims to be realistic about self defence. They only had 2 classes a week, though the coaches did go to another dojo on other nights, so the priority should have been alive drills and sparring, not fully compliant technique drills and loads of forms. Of course they can get away with it as they don't pressure test their training so there's little to no risk of failure and most people there probably won't ever need to use it and if they ever do they would be able to count the number of times on one hand. Probably not. He'd probably come up with some excuse so he wouldn't have to. Seriously though, what I said above also applies to a lot of other styles. Regards, Daithí.
