For someone just starting in martial arts (im 25 male) would Kenpo or Aikido be better?

Kenpo would probably be better, in my opinion. Kenpo will have you do more of the things that you would associate with %26quot;traditional Karate%26quot; type classes. A lot of punching and kicking with some joint locks/escapes as well as throws and sweeps later in your training. You will spar, eventually, and as you progress you will be introduced to progressively harder techniques and maybe some kata. Kenpo will also have a more traditional belt system and require that you wear a karate style gi (uniform), usually you can wear a lighter weight gi which will cut down on your start-up costs.





Aikido class will teach you to evade attacks by tossing your opponent in a %26quot;gentle%26quot; way. Most Aikido classes seem to be more Ki oriented (Chinese say Chi, Japanese say Ki), so you will most likely do exercises that invovle Ki building and manipulation. A lot of the martial arts community do no put much stock into the effectiveness of the Aikido art which is debateable, this may be because you do very little live training. The partner work done in class usually involves a cooperative partner and there is no sparring as well as no competition for Aikido because that would contradict on of Aikido%26#039;s main principles.





|||There really is no best or better martial art. I%26#039;ve sparred with the above students, especially Kenpo guys / girls and learned alot. Exposure to every martial art is rewarding, but If I were 25 again, I would concentrate my efforts towards learning the Jeet Kun Do and the Jiu Jitsu arts. For the beginner or black belt, I find that their fighting concepts / priciples, skills / techniques are devastatingly realistic and not some elegant fancy boring repetative kata that serves no purpose in the real world. Most of the sparring I do now end up on the ground within seconds. The ground game is where it is at, unless you%26#039;re the only one on the ground looking up (not good). The ground and pound is where I was lacking which enhanced my own overall fighting abilities. If there are no Jiu Jitsu schools near you, and I doubt if you find anyone who teaches Jeet Kun Do, there are so many instructional youtube videos or you can purchase ones that you can self teach with your friends. Good Luck, and God bless. |||Although I had trained martial arts prior to 25, I started Kempo at about 27 and loved it.





But this decision really depends on what is best for you as an individual, not because you are 25 and male.





People don%26#039;t start martial arts by accident. Everyone has a reason, as will you. Don%26#039;t go into it unprepared though. One of the very first things you should do is set goals for yourself and what it is you expect to achieve by studying martial arts.





Doing this can be difficult however, and having never participated in martial arts will only make setting a goal that much more difficult.





First things first, determine what your goal for starting martial arts is. You%26#039;ve probably already figured this part out but it helps to spend some time here and really analyze why you are considering martial arts and whether or not it is what you need.





Write down the reason(s) you are starting martial arts so you can take a look at them. Number them in order of what is most important to you. Everyone has their own personal reasons for starting martial arts. But only you can be the best judge of why you are starting a journey into martial arts. It%26#039;s all about what you want and why you want it.





Here is a list of some of the top reasons many people start training martial arts:








Physical Fitness


Self-defense


Stress Reduction


Recent Martial Arts Popularity


Sport Competition.


A new hobby.


Interest in Martial Arts Culture.





I have written a full article related to your question on my website, if you are interested in reading it here is the link: http://www.socalmartialarts.com/martial-...|||kempo is more well rounded. but primarily striking based. it is a harder style in that its more physical, and less spiritual.





aikido is nothing but joint locks and throws. but...it%26#039;s far from being simple. it is very simple once you get it, but it%26#039;s getting there that%26#039;s hard. it takes alot of patience. it%26#039;s very traditional. you sill spend half the class sitting in seiza (it hurts my knees terribly) ...and as one person said you do very little live training. but there is a good reason for this.





aiki throws (aikido, aikijujutsu, hapkido) are not gentle at all. they are meant to slam you face first into something, be it the ground, or a wall, a car, a tree, or another person. and many of their %26quot;throws%26quot; are done by twisting joints...in many cases they arent really throws. but demolishing joint locks. but they do it passively because you can%26#039;t do it hard or your dojo will be littered with battered and disentigrated body parts. it does take a longggg time to learn though.





if you want to fight relatively quickly, given the two options you listed. i%26#039;d go with kempo. |||Kenpo and Aikido are each challenging styles in their own right. Both Aikido and Kenpo are a lot more effective against multiple attackers than most grappling styles. Since you%26#039;re 25, you%26#039;re still young enough to begin and excel at either style. |||akido is a slow process to learn ( if you lack patience you will get bored)





kempo similar to that of akido I think is a little faster.





I%26#039;d suggest kempo