Reply #23: Iv'e studied several, and they all have their pros and cons

[BigMcLargehuge]

from a stylistic point of view. I've studied Shotokan Karate, Kodokan Judo, Parker Kenpo Karate, Aikido. I am currently training in Hapkido, Haedong Kumdo, and Kuhapdo.

The benefits/characteristics of each-

Shotokan was very rigid and linear

Judo was very rough and tumble and teaches how to take really hard hits and grapple

Aikido is very fluid and doesn't require much force

Parker Kenpo concentrates on hand speed and self defense

Hapkido is similar to Aikido except we train to break bones and smash things

Kumdo is the Korean form of Kendo (not practical self defense but a hell of a sport)

Kuhapdo is the Korean form of Iado, literally the art of drawing the sword and is very concentration intensive

The drawkbacks/characteristics of each-

Shotokan is a brute force art so being strong is a requirement. You can get around this sort of by introducing a weight training component.

Judo is a sport first and a martial art second so most people train to compete.

Aikido has almost never been seen "on the street" so lots of shit gets talked about its perceived inability to offer self defense skills. Aikido training is very much oriented to the "ideal" inside the dojo with almost no discussion of application in real life. That said, I found some Aikido techniques were natural when necessary and could be relied upon.

Parker Kenpo is also very ideal oriented and their self defense techniques are very complicated. In my experience they are great in theory but not in practice.

Check references of ANY Hapkido school you run across. Hapkido is the fasted growing MA in the US right now so every Tom Dick and Harry who can spell it is putting it on their signs. Many, many, many, many of these guys are teaching Robert Bussey's bullshit Hapkido based on video taped courses or are teaching simple expansions of Tae Kwon Do 1 step sparring techniques. Look in the American Hapkido Association before signing with any dojang. Another indicator is to sit in on a class. How many students are there? How many of them are upper belts? If there are more than 20 students you are not looking at a Hapkido school. Hapkido training is done almost always at near-full contact "with surprise" so training is hard, strains joints, sometimes snaps tendons, and occasionally breaks bones. Hapkido belts are white, yellow, purple, blue, green, red, black. If you see stripes and levels and other stuff on the belts of students in a class you check you, you are not looking at a Hapkido school. The only Hapkido belts that advance by degrees are black.

Haedong Kumdo is a fun sport but not practical for self defense as you generally aren't walking around in armor and carrying a Shinai.

Kuhapdo is a fun art too, and very beautiful, but you don't want to wave a live sword at someone unless you have a deep desire to experience Jailhouse living.

Here are some general tips for choosing a school.

Do you see 10 year olds wearing black belts? - bad
Is the instructor out of shape? - bad
Does the school insist on a long term contract of prepaying for multiple months? - bad
Does the school offers Kempo Karate, Muay Thuy, Kardio Kickboxing, Gracie Jui Jitsu? - bad
Does the school use Ninjas in their name? - bad
Does the school have a little dragons program? - bad
Does the school advertise a black belt in X-years? - bad
Does the school stack trophies in the window? - bad

Feel free to pepper me with any other questions.