Martial arts help describe each please and tell pros and cons?

Question

these are the only places in my area.... shotokan karate, chineese kenpo karate, kyokushin karate, shaolin kung fu, tai chi kung fu,

Answer 1

all are good...tai chi is very soft focusing on internal strength and breathing not so much on power....kyokushin is japanese so its lots of power but my reasoning for doing it is its bare knuckle no pads cup and mouthpiece only...i honestly havent looked much into the others and wouldnt want to hand out bad advice.....

Answer 2

Christ man you're a lucky b*****d.  Go for Shaolin Kung Fu man.  This is my personal list of the top 10 most effective martial arts styles, from most to least effective, the criteria in which I rate them being strength efficiency and the proper application of the laws of physics with how they relate to the strengths of the applier, and the weakness of the attacker, in relation to those laws.  Additionally this list assumes they are all clones cloned from a talented martial artist, and each clone is training, for 6 hours a day from age 6 to 20, under the guidance of the "best in the world" in each of these styles and remember that "best in the world" may not necessarily mean someone who won a sports championship.  Boy that was a mouthful but anyway here;

1)  Tai Chi Kung Fu, although, the style available in your area is not likely the complete style.  Traditionally in all styles of Kung Fu, there are always 5 routines to learn, and no family that has ever developed their own style of Tai Chi, namely the Chen, Yang, Wu, Hou Wei Zheng, or Sun families, has taught the complete style to non family members or, students that were not carefully selected.  Regardless of what the Tai Chi Center, or instructor tells you, know, and I can tell  you with certainty, that it is traditional, across all styles of Chinese martial arts, to learn 5 forms, each, 108 steps long.  For reasons I will explain at the end of the list.

2)  Tibetan Crane Style or Shaolin Kung Fu, in terms of efficiency of power, and power of movement, the two are roughly equal.

3)  Shuia Jiao, or Chinese wrestling, the king of the grappling arts.

4)  Karate, any style.  Like I said you're a lucky b*****d.

5)  Catch wrestling or Judo, any style of Judo, but it has to be old school catch wrestling.

6)  Old School Western Boxing

7)  Muay Thai

8)  Krav Maga

9)  BJJ

10) Sanda

Once again; this list assumes 10 clones, cloned from a martial arts prodigy, were each was individually trained, by the highest ranked masters of each of these styles, for 6 arduous hours, from ages 6 to 20, and that they all fought each other to the death.  No rules, no regulations; to the death.  In such a scenario, the clone trained in Tai Chi Chuan would be the sole survivor.  And, oh yeah, they were all trained in facilities that were all carbon copies of one another, received the same everything, nutrition and all that.  Oh and, no women were allowed either, the conditions of victory in the tournament in fights to the death, that the survivor gets to be with a woman.  In such a scenario..... the Tai Chi clone, would be the sole survivor.  Still how is that set up to motivate them how to fight?  "Only one gets to live.... and only one of you gets this woman....." and oh yeah, she's hot too.

Kata, Tao Lu, Shadow boxing, whatever your name for "fighting" an imaginary opponent, the underlying principle in all routines, all forms throughout the world, in places were forms were developed, has always been the same.  Namely, to program muscle memory.  Different styles of Kung Fu in China, and various parts of East Asia with their own indigenous martial arts, have different routines because each martial art has a different emphasis.

For example; even before Karate was taken to mainland Japan, even a traditional Okinawan style, had within it the idea of "kime," or ending a fight with a single blow.  The Japanese made many modifications to the art alright, especially with regards to Shotokan and Kyokshin, however, the idea of Kime, the people of Okinawa figured out on their own.  Getting to the point, the differences.

In Shaolin Kung Fu, you have 5 animal forms.  The reason?  One form to develop power, another form to develop movement (e.g. evasive maneuvers), another, to develop agility, and still another to develop speed.  As to the 5th form, I don't study Shaolin Kung Fu so, I honestly don't know.  Karate's emphasis, across all styles, has been only two things; power delivered with lightning fast speed, done with the simplest movements possible.

Karate is concerned with power delivered with speed, done as simply as possible, that is why the forms in Karate are simple, and designed to program the muscles to that end.  Think for a second; a jab is not like a hook, and a hook is not like a cross.  Different martial arts moves do different things.  In east asia they figured this out a long time ago, that any form you develop, is ultimately restricted to that set of movements, and a person's body will thus be programed, to that set of movements, and only that set.  Therefore the best way to have adaptability, as fights are unpredictable, is to emphasize muscle memory as believe it or not the ancient Chinese had a concept of it, anyway emphasize muscle memory, with the 5 things that affect the outcome of a conflict.  Namely, power, speed, evasiveness, agility and because I do not study Shaolin Kung Fu I haven't got a freaking clue as to the 5th factor is.  I would imagine its focus, so Shaolin Kung Fu likely has a routine designed exclusively for that; a meditative, martial form.

In China there is a maxim that goes "it is better to do a technique 10,000 times, than to know 10,000 techniques and practice them one time."  If you take the western approach, and have an arrogant attitude saying stuff like "oh, Kata doesn't work, its bullcrap" or "MMA is da bomb, it eats up Shaolin kung fu" and all that junk guess what?  You will end up picking up a myriad of techniques, a myriad of punches, kicks, blocks, and tactics, and find yourself training for 9 hours a day.  Its easier, and simpler, to simply know 5 animal forms as in Shaolin Kung Fu, emphasizing the 5 things which will affect a fight.

In Shaolin Kung Fu, for the first four, for certain, I know that;

1)  One form emphasizes power, so the movements use powerful muscles, the body's most powerful muscles.

2)  Another form emphasizes evasiveness over offensive movements, or even blocks.

3)  Another form emphasizes lightning speed.

4)  A final and more difficult form, emphasizes agility and hey, and agile fighter can be dangerous.  Countless bar bullies have been severely injured by Tae Kwan Do guys who, too dumb to realize that in the real world people can not take repeated kicks to the head, end up firing a jumping spining kick full force, and getting themselves arrested.  While vacationing in Hawaii my sophomore year of High School, I turned on the news, and they are talking about a nasty bar fight.  Some stupid white guy starting spitting racial slurs at this Korean guy who repeatedly told him to leave him alone.  White guy pulls out a knife, and the Korean guy panicked.  Because he was a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwan do, he just reacted, he didn't even think; he jumped, firing a Jean Cleade Vandamish spinning kick which landed squarely in the racist white guy's temple, killing him instantly.  The Korean guy's attorney, as the government of Korea I believe had given the american authorities permission to try him, actually only got him a 6 month term in prison, and prevented the death penalty only because it was in self defense.  The point of this story?  No, people can not take repeated kicks to the head like in the movies so be careful if you ever get there, and yes, an agile fighter can be very, VERY dangerous.  Don't think those acrobatics the Shaolin do are there just to make them look pretty.

5)  Here, this is just conjecture, but I believe the 5th form studied at Shaolin, involves exclusively, learning how to focus the mind.  It is a form that combines meditation, with martial arts moves, and it is held, I believe, entirely from the painful horse stance and yes, I believe it also has 108 routines.  This is likely the most advanced form of the style, and it is only learned when the Shaolin disciple is close to completing their training.

As to pros and cons, look, a martial art is either effective at making efficient use of your body's strengths in relations to the laws of physics, and how best they can aid you, but hinder your agressor, or it isn't.  A martial art too reliant on raw physical might, is not an effective style, because you get tired sooner or later, and no one can keep on fighting forever.  Think of MMA guys; even they need a 1 minute breather at the end of every round.

Depending on the style's philosophy, that is how the forms were designed, to program muscle memory to move in accordance with that philosophy, and make that emphasis for resolving a violent conflict.  That is the essence of Kata, of Tao Lu, of the 5 animal forms of Shaolin.  In addition, not just a philosophy, but forms are placed in a routine, or I should say techniques, that were proven to have worked.

For Okinawans, great power delivered with speed and precision worked, so the Katas are "short and sweet."  To program the idea of "briefness."  For the Chinese what worked for many of them was speed and barrages of punches but centuries of encountering all kinds of martial artists, led them to develop a more complete system.  Shaolin Kung Fu, is possibly the only martial arts style that develops muscle memory regarding every single aspect of a conflict in ADDIITON to making an emphasis on the mind.

Shaolin Kung Fu, I place above Karate, because it is both more complete, in that it is not focused solely on just power and speed like Karate, but mobility, agility, and most importantly meditation, which are largely missing in Karate.  The forms in Karate, will make you lightning fast and powerful in due time, but, it is an incomplete martial art compared to Shaolin Kung Fu.

Look, even the most complete style of martial art, has "something missing."  You will never find a wholly, truly complete system.  Thi