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Old 09-02-2012, 11:33 AM   #1
nerez3
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 10
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Training TKD/Karate while taking aikido?

I have recently became interested in taking up a striking art while taking aikido

Reason is I am fairly young, and would really like a bit more of a physical workout. Yes I know the gym would be more effective but I feel it is a waste of time to go to the gym 1 hour a day when you can learn a new art in that amount of time.

Right now I am stuck between 2 dojos.

One is a TKD dojo, owned by a 6th dan. Seems to have a decent amount of staff all ranging in around the 4th dan range.

The other is a Shorei-ryu style karate dojo, owned by a 8th dan called john sharkey. Apparently he has trained many world class karate-ka and is an exellent instructor.

I am veering a bit towards the karate, simply because of a higher caliber of an instructor there. What I was wondering is which art would least mix up with aikido. I am looking to not mix up half-learned techniques with another art only to make myself more confused. I have heard that this is a major problem while taking 2 arts.

On one side you need a large amount of balance to pull off some of the kicks in tkd, and it increases flexibility. But it is largely focused on kicks which only set to offbalance you(50% balance lost when standing on one leg)

On the other side karate just seems like a more complete system to me. Blocks, strikes, and kicks, instead of relying just on kicks.

Which one is more of a "workout" per-se?
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