NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 575891" data-attributes="member: 5171">I've taken Kenpo for about 12 years.  It all comes down to the teacher that works for you, the style that'll inspire you to keep working at it, and what you want.I like punch/kick stuff more than I like wrestling.  Kenpo has never been boring for me.  I learned a bit of Jujitsu as a complementary art, but by and large, Kenpo is great for me.(Side note: Treat cross-training like D&D multiclassing.  Add one or two levels of additional arts while sticking with one primary.  Don't divide them evenly into halves or thirds.  Trust me on this.  Really.  The cool stuff is at the top.  What I'm learning today is as acrobatic and graceful and Jet-Li-ish as I could ever have hoped for, despite the rather utilitarian practicality of Kenpo's early belts.)What does your friend think he wants?  What does he really want?  If he really wants practical self-defense, then that's fine.  But almost everyone SAYS that they want practical self-defense, and then they're annoyed when their art doesn't feature kicks to the head.  I was motivated by self-defense, but I also wanted a good workout and something that would help me with self-discipline and concentration.  Kenpo was good for those things.  At least, MY school was.  Your nearby Kenporium might not be.  Ditto BJJ, Muay Thai, and Hung Gar.The teacher is critical.  There are great BJJ people.  There are lousy BJJ people.  Some jujitsu works great on the street.  Other jujitsu, not so much.  Working in the ring is a good predictor of working in the ring, and that's it.  Now, some of the Gracies are just fantastic.  I firmly believe that they could clobber ten guys in a subway.  But I also believe that their martial art didn't determine that for them.  That's just them.  The martial arts threads are full of "Bruce Lee versus BJJ" hypotheses.  The best one that I heard was that if Bruce Lee were still alive, he'd be good friends with the Gracies, and both sides would train with and learn from each other.  A fight between them would lean heavily on luck and circumstance.Any decent art from any decent teacher will give your friend what he needs.  I think that training with a friend is the best way to go -- that's how I started out, and it got both of us to Blue Belt really quickly.  We practiced after school, at lunch, in the park on weekends.  I made a lot more progress than I would have made on my own.  By the time my friend moved, I was set to continue onward with the foundation we'd laid together.Anyway, blabbering.  Hope this helps.-Tacky</blockquote>

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