http://www.uskempokarate.com/index.html HAHAHAHAHAHA 'STREET BELT' - Bad ass!!!!! that seminar looks like a bargin at $35 sign up!!
not sure what you are after in an MA but there are tons of boxing, bjj, thai, mma gyms in your area. . . all of them/any of them will be literally leagues above Shaolin Kempo Karate LARPing.
I'm mostly interested in getting into better shape. I think MA would be more fun than most other activities. The self-defense, discipline, and other benefits are also good. I guess I'll check it out, but yeah, I'll keep looking too. Their class schedule lines up pretty perfectly for me though...
See what you think of it as an entertaining workout. I wouldn't be suprised if you spent most of your time (beyond the initial warm up and depending on your current level of fitneess) barely breaking a sweat though. I wouldn't be too hopeful for other benefits you listed either. Shop around mate. What are your feelings on the arts I listed in a previous post? All will get you in much better shape, and have a greater probablity of fulfilling your peripheral goals too. They are nowhere near as scary or intimidating as they might seem. If you're secretly craving the suit and the belts etc then gi based BJJ, Judo or a decent knockdown Karate school coul dbe good for you?
Well, looking at schools near my work instead of home, and with schedules that fit, I see: - A 2x per week, 1 hr Tang Soo Do class: http://www.cambridgetsd.com/ , no fees, just requires membership in the CAC (Cambridge Athletic Club), and a one-time uniform purchase. My work offers a gym subsidy which would cover the CAC membership... and I'd get full access to the gyms. - TKD: http://www.cwtkd.com/ , pre-pay 3 months for $189 for beginners (designed to end up with you getting your yellow belt), then $84 per month @ month-to-month after that. No test fees or any other fees according to website. They do have olympic-style sparring, and have a competition training class for advanced students. - a really expensive ($160/month if I paid per month, down to $115 for a year), big MMA gym, with octagons & all sorts of space. Teaches thai, BJJ (gi or no-gi), boxing, and a few other things I think. Very open schedules, apparently instructors are there all day running open format classes & training. Seems a little hardcore for me, aside from the expense... http://www.waikru.com/ - an interesting looking Aikido place (http://aikidotjboston.org/index.php/about-atjb) with a schedule that fits as well. (I say its interesting because they have daily classes, and their least experienced instructor has been in the art for 20 years, and also has a shodan rank in kenpo karate. Their other instructors are 4th degree BB or above, with at least 30 years each) - Another Aikido place where William Gleason teaches (shobu aikido in Somerville). Schedule a little tougher though... http://www.shobu.org/index.php - A variety of no-website (at least via google maps) kung fu & various types of karate I could check out I guess... - Another Kempo karate place, not sure what type: http://craigskempo.com/ - A BJJ place: http://www.kimurabjj.com/index.php. They don't list prices on the website, but I could check it out. So, it sounds like I have some schools I should visit & try out. The best in terms of schedule + location would be the USKK place that is looking not so good. 2nd best are the (1st) Aikido place & the Tang Soo Do place.
Ok you're not going to get fit with aikaido so cratch that out straight away. Also, most places that bill themselves as PRIMARILY a self defense school are usually very heavily theory based and again, you can scratch them out for fitness reasons. Most guys i've seen in *most* TMA's who're fit, do most of their fitness training outside of the club and that's the real reason they're fit, not because of the 50 stupid knuckle pushups the fat bald man in the gi makes them do at the end of class whilst kiaing between exercises. best bets are probably the MMA or the BJJ place. The karate places might be helpful as well but you'll have to check them out.
How do you feel about boxing? I noticed that thee were a ton of boxing gyms in your area. The fitness would be awesome, you'd have to develop discipline, and being able to punch someones lights out generally has good self defence crossover too
I went to a Villari splinter school in the 90s for a couple years. At the time I thought it was great, now I can tell you they are long on techniques and short on basics and principles. The sparring was basically two people beating each other with no sense of footwork, timing or anything else really. The self defense I see in the video posted above is a perfect example. Nice flashy technique, but he breaks contact with the attacker in favor of a weird donkey kick. Painful to watch! Most any kind of karate will help with your fitness but only a few will help with your cardio so you may need to hit the gym or jog as well to get truly fit. As for Villari himself...well. At least he's not overtly fat! :hat:
Hmm I also found a judo club pretty close to my work with a nice schedule. 2 hour classes right after work available every weekday. I think that would appeal to me more than BJJ. I'm sure boxing would be a great workout, but it doesn't appeal to me as much as judo.
Judo has all the benefits you are looking for. It's a solid art which will get you fitter, stronger and is grounded in pragmatism. Judo also provides the avenue for competitive fighting if you should wish to pursue that area of ma. It'd be a very good choice.
That hybrid name (Shaolin Kempo Karate) hurts like nails on a chalkboard eh? Of course I bet you’re the sarcastic, knowledgeable type that would ask why do so many round-eyed American Martial “Masters” decide to award themselves the honorific title of “SOKE”. OKEY DOKEY SOKEY
Morik, since you keep asking here is one historical personal opinion of one who was of that generation: On one level Freddie V. should be admired as an American MA success story. Staring out in the early 1970s with one place, in Dedham Massachusetts if my memory serves me, he built up Kempo franchise empire that at its height had over one hundred locations mostly located in New York and New England, but with some far-away studios included Canada and even down to Florida. The innovative business model included having instructors that would teach full-time for money - and with proper salesmanship could make a living at it – as opposed to the typical part-time “MA instructor hobbyists” (no matter how dedicated & skilled, who took tuition money just to cover expenses). Villari schools provided often the first exposure to Martial Arts training to thousands of noobs – some of who actually ended up using it is Street Self-Defense. And of course the naysayers – the more “traditional” Martial Arts schools were just being jealous of his success. But there were some legitimate questions to ask: So who exactly were Freddie’s teachers? (Rhode Island’s George Pesare and Nick Cerio weren’t exactly the Shaolin Temple Priests Master Po and Master Kan of the TV Kung Fu series) Now what is the historical lineage/basis of what did you say “Shaolin Kempo Karate”? Why in your early days was the franchise called: Villari’s United Studios of Self-Defense? How does one retain a proper level of Quality Control of instructors/teaching curriculum with such an explosive franchise growth rate? Will me taking Fred Villari’s Brand Vitamins – on sale in the school’s lobby – make my doing the Animal Forms better? Funny - Grappling was never mentioned to Freddie’s students in the early 1980s oh wait it was Jujitsu then. Then came the organizational schisms with The Villari Empire during the 1980s… but that is another story beyond this thread. Also remember this Empire was built all before the Internet and YouTube. But in the videos you see posted here – well you would apply the word "crisp” to the level of techniques being performed?? Morik regarding the "bad rep" IMHO THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH ALL KE?PO SCHOOLS TRAINING – NOT JUST FREDDIE’S – is their overemphasis on what I call the "one step & punch right-handed mannequin attack paradigm" – but what is now often referred to in this MA generation as ALIVENESS or RESISITING OPPONENTS. A kyu student in Shotokan Karate et al - who is good a Sanbon Kumite drills - would probably befuddle many of these guys. You mean you’re not going to just stand there while I finish you off with my deadly Leopard’s Paw? You keep on moving in with various types of attacks??? Then as another aside - middle-aged Ke?po Style “Founders”, 10th dan Grandmasters, Great Blue-eyed Soke, Fearless Leader… whatever do not have to have to be Olympic athletes – but well - they don’t need to be a poster children candidates for NutriSystem either!! Now just maybe - this Kempo school has evolved their curriculum & training – many actually have because of the growth of BJJ etcetera – so please keep us posted if you go for the trial.
