# if you studied another art before



## tshadowchaser (Feb 27, 2010)

Why did you change to Kenpo/kempo fromyour first art?
No names of the other art need be named, just the reason you changed to this art.


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## MJS (Feb 27, 2010)

tshadowchaser said:


> Why did you change to Kenpo/kempo fromyour first art?
> No names of the other art need be named, just the reason you changed to this art.


 
Well, I didn't study anything before Kenpo, however, I did train in another branch of the Kenpo system, prior to what I'm in now, so if that counts. 

Originally started in the SKK branch.  Changed to Parker, because thats what my inst. did when he broke away.  After spending some time in that system, transitioned to Tracy.  

IMHO, the transitions that I've made, have been for the better.  I feel that there're more options, SD wise, in the Parker and Tracy system, so that was a plus for me.  Additionally, my current school/instructor provide me with the type of training that I enjoy.  Its amazing where the journey takes you.


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## Xinglu (Feb 27, 2010)

I started in Kenpo too, I'm sorry I can't really answer your question because of that


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## DocWard (Feb 27, 2010)

Simply put, I studied an art while deployed for a few months, and when getting ready to return home, I asked my instructor what art I should look into if I couldn't find the one he was teaching. He said "Kenpo."


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## yorkshirelad (Feb 27, 2010)

From early childhood to mid teens I practised Jutsu in england under the Abbe Kenshiro lineage and Aikido. One day at Aikido class I asked a fellow student what he would do if I just abandoned traditional attacks (shomenuchi, yokomenuchi) and I just attacked him. He said go ahead and the next thing I was on the floor holding my ribs. I asked him what that was and he said "Kenpo". I later found out that the technique he used was 'Parting Wings'. I saved up some money and moved to Ireland, where I could train fulltime. It's a decision that I don't regret. 
I still practise the Jujutsu I learned in England as it is second nature now and always taught it i conjunction with Kenpo.


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## searcher (Feb 28, 2010)

Once I started training in a "formal" school it was a Kenpo school.    I then went to an Okinawan Karate school since the instructor had quite a few kickboxers and I thought I wanted to be a kickboxer.    I then bounced around to several different styles, ataining BB rank in some and below BB rank in others.     I have recently went back to Kenpo in an EPAK school.    I went back to Kenpo because I have felt like something was missing with my training.      And now I feel it is being filled in by the EPAK.     I would still like to learn the Kajukenbo system, if time and finding a school happen to come along.

I could spend the rest of my life learning the Kenpo systems and it would be time well spent.


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## kungfu penguin (Feb 28, 2010)

started in sho shu but after black i was relegated to teaching white belts for a year with no instruction of higher level stuff like my friends. they were trying to drive me out.  i was not the only one they did this to.  frankly i dont miss it much  but once in a while  i woder where i would be if i stuck with it  martial arts started for me in '85  so that would have been 30 years in  but such is life!   then went to american kenpo for 3 year [huk planas branch] got purple, then life got in the way then i went to melendrez white dragon for 7 years and instructor quit now i am in kajukenbo with GM harper for 2 years/ I love it so much!
MJS what is SKK branch of kempo? i feel like i should know this term but am drawing a huge blank thanks---tom:ultracool


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## kungfu penguin (Feb 28, 2010)

infedel http://hokkien.uuft.org/   kaj school in kansas


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## marlon (Feb 28, 2010)

I started with judo which I still love but I needed 60 more points in competion to earn my bb and they were always on the week end and far away.  I was a teenager with a week end job so....
The few karate styles I tried, well one had an ego maniac idiot for an instructor, one just wS not there when we showed up for classes and our money was gone too. White crane was very informal and the friend teaching simply did not take the time anymore.  When I found Skk it had the hard karate aspect I liked, the judo throws and locks and chokes, and the flowingness of the Kung Fu that I had began to really felt drawn to and then the qi Qong part that was in actually the "magic" that brought me to the MA in the first place


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## Manny (Mar 1, 2010)

Well my story is in some degree known. In my youth I trained TKD till I reach my shodan, then when I finish college I droped TKD for several things, 15 years latter I enroled again in TKD. For me Traditional TKD is as nice as anyother MA can be but given the great difussion TKD has gained as an olimpic sport most of the TKD dojangs efforts go for the competition leaving behind the SD aspect of it. I still training TKD cause I love it and it's my core martial art but eventually and not getting what I wanted the most in my dojang I staretd to look around trying to find another MA that could fill the holes TKD has for me.

I must say no any MA is perfect. So I satarted to look around in my city what can I get for crosstraining, Karate Do mmm it seesm like TKD with a little more hands, judo mmm nice grapling art but I am mainly a striker, aikido very nice but schedules were oposed, hap ki do I will love it but cero HKD dojang in my city.... so then I found a little kenpo dojo and the rest is history.

Kenpo karate has been very refreshing to me, I am learning more SD techs, have new clasmates and the sensei seems to be nice and I am improving my hands techs and learning new stuff, orange belt examn is very near.

I will stay enough in Kenpo karate? don't know? I will get a BB in kenpo? don't know thats a long term goal, what I know is today I am learning, improving and liking kenpo a lot and that's what matters to me.

I studied some judo (when a little boy), a little aikido (when get married) and a little Shotokan Karate some years ago but no one of these MA caught me as Kenpo do.

TKD has it's merits and still liked that's why I have not quit here but Kenpo Karate can be a good adition to what I already know in MA.

I consider myself as a MA student and all I can lear well recieved.

Manny


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## DocWard (Mar 1, 2010)

marlon said:


> The few karate styles I tried, well one had an ego maniac idiot for an instructor


 
Was his name Rex? Did he teach Rex Kwan Do?


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## Blindside (Mar 2, 2010)

I bounced around to several different systems due to temp jobs and frequent moves before finding one that really appealed to me; Kajukenbo. Then I move again and found the closest thing that was available and that was Kenpo. Fortunately it was (and is) a great school and I've never looked back.  But the reason both instructors and systems appealed to me was a practical approach to self-defense, a hard "old-school" contact mentality, and a good atmosphere.


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## chaos1551 (Mar 2, 2010)

DocWard said:


> Was his name Rex? Did he teach Rex Kwan Do?


 
It was developed after fighting for years in the octagon.

Now.. grab my arm.  The other arm.  MY other arm.


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## DocWard (Mar 2, 2010)

chaos1551 said:


> It was developed after fighting for years in the octagon.
> 
> Now.. grab my arm.  The other arm.  MY other arm.



Take a look at what I'm wearing, people. You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys? Forget about it.


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## LawDog (Mar 3, 2010)

I did not stop training in my first arts of Boxing & Judo(65), Thai boxing,(69), and Taiho-Jitsu,(70's) I simply added Kenpo into the pot because it had, on a simple level, alot of the techniques from these other systems. What caught my eye is that Kenpo had the transitional footwork that was needed to connect Judo / Jujitsu techniques to the Kenpo techniques. It also had engrained into it simple knee & elbow techniques, similar to Thai boxing.
On a side note, 
I did replace the Kenpo Judo with traditional Kodokan Judo throws. I also added American boxing jabs, upper cuts and hooks, Thai knees and elbows. I also added Taiho-Jitsu suppressions, (early Kenpo had very few).
Works for my students.
:ultracool


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## Jenny_in_Chico (Mar 3, 2010)

I started in TKD and did it for 6 months. Then I moved to California and assumed I would continue in that art. I visited some TKD schools here and just wasn't feeling anything click for me, I'm not sure why. A TKD BB instructor was really understanding of my misgivings, and suggested I check out another art to see if it would be better fit for me (for which I give him much respect). He actually suggested I check out kenpo. I visited a kenpo dojo and watched an advanced class, and was blown away. 

I am interested in MA strictly as self defense, and I could immediately see that kenpo was the real deal (at least in my dojo and with my instructor). Also, kenpo is a much better art for me because it doesn't emphasize athletecism and crazy flexibility the way that TKD does. In my experience, at least, it emphasizes power, speed, a strong balancing base and aggression, which are all *my* strong points. 



Blindside said:


> I bounced around to several different systems due to temp jobs and frequent moves before finding one that really appealed to me; Kajukenbo. Then I move again and found the closest thing that was available and that was Kenpo. Fortunately it was (and is) a great school and I've never looked back. But the reason both instructors and systems appealed to me was *a practical approach to self-defense, a hard "old-school" contact mentality, and a good atmosphere*.


 
This is one thing that struck me when I first walked into my kenpo dojo. We employ medium to hard contact in techniques and sparring, but the atmosphere was one of cameraderie rather than testosterone aggro. As a woman I felt completely at home, accepted and encouraged.


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## youngbraveheart (Mar 7, 2010)

When I was twelve, I took Chinese Kenpo for a couple of years, but quit when I got into high school. 

A lifetime later, I decided I wanted to train in martial arts again. Even though I live in a town known for Kajukenbo, I did a search on the internet and discovered there was Chinese Kempo in my home town. I met Master Bill Chun Jr. about 10 years ago and after spending a few hours with him was allowed to train. How naive I was/am... I remember reading about Ed Parker as a kid, but did not know about William K.S. Chow and certainly didn't know anything about his top student, William Q.C. Chun Sr. 

The Chow/Chun Method is what I should have trained in as a kid because Chun Sr. had a school in this town where I grew up in. Even though I am a latecomer, better late than never and only one of a small group of lucky guys.


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## Hawke (Apr 15, 2010)

I moved back down to Southern California and could not find an Aikido dojo that I liked at the time.

I trained in a few arts for a few months looking for an art that would be effective for self defense.  Instead of doing the free one day lesson I look at the training for three months to get a better feel and either stayed or moved on to another art.  I really liked the self defense application of Kenpo and the medium to heavy contact sparring.  

Kenpo (EPAK) gave me a working vocabulary to break down the techniques and a better way to generate power.  Instead of the usual response of we do this like that because it's tradition, I had Kenpo instructors that would break the moves down and why it's effective.  I liked this response way better than "because that's the way we always do it."


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