kickboxing v kenpo

wh23

im looking to join either kickboxing or kenpo.iv done neither before.can anyone with experience tell me which is better for action & fitness.cheers

dunkamania

wh23 wrote: »

im looking to join either kickboxing or kenpo.iv done neither before.can anyone with experience tell me which is better for action & fitness.cheers

What do you mean by action?

cowzerp

kickboxing would get you fitter and you'd learn a more efficent fight style too, Kenpo spends lots of time on Kata which in my opinion is pointless, i done it for a good few months and learned zilch, kickboxing you will learn stuff straight away..

Thats my opinion from my experience.

Mad Leprechaun

I did a bit of everything in 4th year for self defense and kick boxing was the best. Some things are very easy to do and you can easily learn them quick.Does anybody know of any really good MMA gyms in around sotuh Dublin or Bray. I would mainly like to learn more kickboxing and either Wrestling or BJJ.

mirwillbeback

Mad Leprechaun wrote: »

I did a bit of everything in 4th year for self defense and kick boxing was the best. Some things are very easy to do and you can easily learn them quick.Does anybody know of any really good MMA gyms in around sotuh Dublin or Bray. I would mainly like to learn more kickboxing and either Wrestling or BJJ.

Hi, no shortage of gyms around that area, though as far as I know pure MMA is rare, pretty much all the aspects of fighting in separate classes.

There's kickboxing and jiu jitsu in Loughlinstown - Glen Heenan does the kickboxing, Jits is Next Generation.

There's also a gym in the Industrial Yarns in bray, Stefan Moriarty teaches tae kwon do / kick boxing, jits is Gary Redmond.

In Glasthule there's a new club which I can find out more for you, I think there may be mma classes there, but not sure.

PM me if you want more details,

Paul

joepenguin

cowzerp wrote: »

kickboxing would get you fitter and you'd learn a more efficent fight style too, Kenpo spends lots of time on Kata which in my opinion is pointless, i done it for a good few months and learned zilch, kickboxing you will learn stuff straight away..

Thats my opinion from my experience.

Kickboxing definitely get you fitter and you are learning how to simple techniques really well which is another huge plus.

Just on the kata thing. Saying kata is useless is like saying weightlifting slows you down. Both are common misconceptions and are down to the way they are taught.

Most kata is taught like this... here is moves a,bc,d,...z go learn them and repeat without giving it much thought. Think of this as instructing the squat as put a bar on your back and bend down and up.

The kata needs to be understood (which if you look at it should be fairly simple) why you are doing the movements, then when you know why, you apply them in a set drill, then you make the drill more difficult.. more realistic, then when you do this with a whole kata you should be more skillfull at whatever that kata entails. strikes, sweeps, takedowns, grappling, close quarter, long range etc every kata differs. Yes you can do these anyway, kata is just a way of packaging these techniques.

But if taught wrong it wont be of any use. Like teaching the squat, even with proper form you need to know rep range, recovery between sets/sessions, tempo etc if you are just squatting but left to figure these out on your own with no advice then squats will be a waste of time due to the level of instruction.


But in your case cowzerp, yes spending alot of time just doing the moves in the kata is pretty pointless and not practical.

OP I believe kenpo is a good art and is a slow burner. You will get better at kickboxing faster basically. Try out a few clubs and see how you feel about them.

OMCCABE

I'm a blackbelt in Kempo and have done a huge amount of kickboxing over the last few years and I would say if you have the option do both..either simultaneously or pick one up later. It all comes down to the instructor and the mentality of the club and what they focus on.

Kickboxing will be better for fitness 9.5 times out of 10 but if it is western style it won't include any elbows, knees, headbutts, throws or low kicks. I will say however that I have trained in a lot of Kempo clubs and some of them seem to have forgotten that these techniques even exist and have focused purely on forms and competition light sparring.


Bottom line it depends on the teacher and club mentality. Try both and see what is a better fit for you as both have their merits. Hope this helps.


-Oisin

Raze_them_all

Kickboxing, everytime kickboxing.

Roper

Raze_them_all wrote: »

Kickboxing, everytime kickboxing.

Except for the times you get leg kicked. Oh and kneed. Oh and elbowed. But other than that, everytime kickboxing.

Raze_them_all

Roper wrote: »

Except for the times you get leg kicked. Oh and kneed. Oh and elbowed. But other than that, everytime kickboxing.

ah the leg kicks dont annoy me too much, and in all fairness most of kenpo's kicks are to the groin

Roper

Raze_them_all wrote: »

ah the leg kicks dont annoy me too much, and in all fairness most of kenpo's kicks are to the groin

And the eyes, don't forget the eyes.

globalkb

I've only done one of the two - kickboxing.

but from my experience in that I will tell you that the class i go to is excellent fitness wise and we do a lot of sparring (if that is what you mean by action) and learn a lot of very practical and usable techniques.

if you need more info pm me.

(thanks Bish for not posting Glen's home number this time!!!)

wh23

can you tell me where you do your classes.do they cater for beginners

globalkb

I train in Loughlinstown leisure centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Glen Heenan is the instructor there his no is 0863993095

He caters for beginners and they are always welcome. There a quite a few beginners there at the mo so you wouldn't be on your own.

Mad Leprechaun

globalkb wrote: »

I train in Loughlinstown leisure centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Glen Heenan is the instructor there his no is 0863993095

He caters for beginners and they are always welcome. There a quite a few beginners there at the mo so you wouldn't be on your own.

I have football on thursdays so is there any other day that it is done.

globalkb

in loughlinstown leisure centre you could train on tuesdays.

there is a class run by the same organisation (but a different instructor) on wed nights in blackrock and another on wed nights in stillorgan.

There is also a great class on monday nights in total fitness sandyford.

PM me if you want numbers for the instructors of any of the above classes.

stega

used to do the Westwood Golbal Kickboxing that moved to total Fitness not a bad set up

however the class became over run with young lads not taking the class serious.

and a group of lads gained there black belts around the same time and just wandered around the class with the heads up their h8le.

The summers classes were much better as grading wasnt untill September and focused on sparing and bag work.

Comming towards a grading the class slows down completly and this can become very very boring at time.


The Global Blackrock class is run by a very very young blackbelt, yet he is pretty good at self defence. This class is very messy and not run properly at all , only popped down a few times and seems to be just a social club.

globalkb

can't speak for the blackrock class as I was never there but I was in the total fitness sandyford class monday just gone and the whole class i did pads / fitness then finished with sparring. great workout.

stega you should come try out the Loughlinstown class if you are still intersted in kickboxing.

stega

yeah i fairness liam can do a very good class once there is no grading coming up.

yeah might give glen's class ago. But looking at full contact fighting and might head out to jimmy's

007phoenix

wh23 wrote: »

im looking to join either kickboxing or kenpo.iv done neither before.can anyone with experience tell me which is better for action & fitness.cheers

Kempo is to teach you how to fight against someone who cant fight.
Kickboxing is to fight toe to toe with any fighter.
There is no substitute for hard fast strikes, you cant block 10 straight punches to your face

dade

I've done both over the years.

granted i stopped Kempo training about 15 years ago. I found that both have their advantages. Kickboxing is great for all around fitness and sparring. the kempo club i was in (in Artane) did put an emphasis on sparring over Kata, but we only trained there once a week we would do our Kata and form training in a different club so it had a good balance for us.

I think the answer depends on what it is you're trying to gain from your training. I found that the Kempo training kept me more focused mentally and thought me more mentally than physically which to me was more of a benefit.

ginoginelli

I know 4 blackbelts in kempo. 1 said nearly everything he learnt was a load of crap. 2 said everything they learnt was a load of crap.

The other said he learnt alot and was now confident he could defend himself in any situation.

He later got the **** kicked out of him in a one and one fight during a rugby match!

foams

Kempo vs Kickboxing which one is better, only one way to find out
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6gyUb0E7o&feature=related

Lampytron

i would like to start kickboxing but all the other clubs are a little too far out for me as I don't drive. Where is the club in blackrock and who is the insrtuctor? PM me

stega wrote: »

used to do the Westwood Golbal Kickboxing that moved to total Fitness not a bad set up

however the class became over run with young lads not taking the class serious.

and a group of lads gained there black belts around the same time and just wandered around the class with the heads up their h8le.

The summers classes were much better as grading wasnt untill September and focused on sparing and bag work.

Comming towards a grading the class slows down completly and this can become very very boring at time.


The Global Blackrock class is run by a very very young blackbelt, yet he is pretty good at self defence. This class is very messy and not run properly at all , only popped down a few times and seems to be just a social club.

YamaMotoYama

ginoginelli wrote: »

I know 4 blackbelts in kempo. 1 said nearly everything he learnt was a load of crap. 2 said everything they learnt was a load of crap.

The other said he learnt alot and was now confident he could defend himself in any situation.

He later got the **** kicked out of him in a one and one fight during a rugby match!

I know a kickboxer that had the crap beaten out of him too...

I don't think its the style that counts **only** - its the fighters in the fight and who lands first. Just because you do martial arts (karate, tkd, kick boxing or BJJ) - doesn't mean you won't get beaten up in a fight.

MA gets you used to being hit and reacting...

TBH - I'm surprised that anyone who has got to the level of blackbelt would trash talk their own style.

Baggio...

Not Kenpo.... Go for Kickboxing.

Kenpokicks

Hi

I am a Kenpo Instructor with a bachround in kickboxing. If you want to just get fit and learn some basic moves then kickboxing is probably best for you. If it is a good full contact club you will get a good grounding in the basics in fighting and it will give you good basic skill in a short period of time. A lot of Kenpo Clubs don't do much fitness in their classes as there is a big syllabus to cover so the fitness side of things is left up the student to me able to look after themselves (however a good blast through Kenpo Forms or a hard technique line will be a workout in itself).
In my club, we do emphises fitness and encorperate circuit training and full contact sparring into our classes. There needs to be a good balance between sparring and self-defence.
If however, you would like to learn self-defence properly, then it has to be Kenpo all the way. However it is a very involved Art and takes a little while to advance in it. It's not for everyone and requires a lot of dedication. In a good club it will take 5 to 7 years to get a Black Belt.
In any Martial Art, there are good and bad clubs/Instructors out there so choose your club carefully.
Hope that was of some help.

YamaMotoYama

Kenpokicks wrote: »

Hi

I am a Kenpo Instructor with a bachround in kickboxing. If you want to just get fit and learn some basic moves then kickboxing is probably best for you. If it is a good full contact club you will get a good grounding in the basics in fighting and it will give you good basic skill in a short period of time. A lot of Kenpo Clubs don't do much fitness in their classes as there is a big syllabus to cover so the fitness side of things is left up the student to me able to look after themselves (however a good blast through Kenpo Forms or a hard technique line will be a workout in itself).
In my club, we do emphises fitness and encorperate circuit training and full contact sparring into our classes. There needs to be a good balance between sparring and self-defence.
If however, you would like to learn self-defence properly, then it has to be Kenpo all the way. However it is a very involved Art and takes a little while to advance in it. It's not for everyone and requires a lot of dedication. In a good club it will take 5 to 7 years to get a Black Belt.
In any Martial Art, there are good and bad clubs/Instructors out there so choose your club carefully.
Hope that was of some help.

I fully agree with Kenpokicks... Kickboxing is great sport and will have you up and running in a short time (striking). Kenpo in the long term will teach you other skills than kick boxing - different striking weapons, locks, some joint breaks, defenses against many different attack types...

I also do Kenpo - and we have clubs nationwide, so if you'd like any info... PM me.

ginoginelli

YamaMotoYama wrote: »

I fully agree with Kenpokicks... Kickboxing is great sport and will have you up and running in a short time (striking). Kenpo in the long term will teach you other skills than kick boxing - different striking weapons, locks, some joint breaks, defenses against many different attack types...

I also do Kenpo - and we have clubs nationwide, so if you'd like any info... PM me.

Kenpo for the most part sucks. Maybe theres a few decent teachers out there, but the majority of clubs are run by walter mitty type mustache petes.

Most of the self defence stuff they teach you is almost impossible to pull off, that coupled with a serious lack of alive training leaves you in a worse postion than if you had never walked through the Mcdojo door.

Kickboxing has plenty of flaws too. but at least youre learning how to punch and kick properly, finding out what it feels like to get hit, and getting a bit of excercise.

Kickboxing > Kenpo

YamaMotoYama

ginoginelli wrote: »

Kenpo for the most part sucks. Maybe theres a few decent teachers out there, but the majority of clubs are run by walter mitty type mustache petes.

Most of the self defence stuff they teach you is almost impossible to pull off, that coupled with a serious lack of alive training leaves you in a worse postion than if you had never walked through the Mcdojo door.

Kickboxing has plenty of flaws too. but at least youre learning how to punch and kick properly, finding out what it feels like to get hit, and getting a bit of excercise.

Kickboxing > Kenpo

I agree that some of the stuff in Kenpo can be overkill... but the whole point of the syllabus is for Kenpo practitioners to find what works for them (thier body type and size) and to think outiside of the box instead of going head long into a brawl.

As for your Walter Mitty comment - there are plenty of chancers in kickboxing too. Anyway thanks for your opinion.... I'll treasure it!

yomchi

Keep it civil guys.