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Aikido is great. I took it for 13 years. But I think the most important is finding a passionate instructor. You either get one who is in it for the money or you get one who actually cares about passing his / her knowledge down.
My oldest son and I were taking Isshinryu together. I was never a fan because its more of a "Hollywood" style. But the instructor was so passionate about it he made the class really good.
From a pure fitness standpoint I would go with something that features all the high flying acrobatic kicks. From a self defense standpoint I would stick with Aikido.
While in Chicago, I took Hapkido for a couple years. Due to my travel schedule I wasnt able to pursue further. It was a combination of breathing, strikes, joint locks and using leverage. It was not a tournament based, set up. You progressed as the instructors felt you 'mastered' the material. While not certain, I think Hapkido is a Korean based version of Aikido. The Grandmaster (Hyun?) was usually on site and often taught. If I lived there again I would continue with this discipline.
in all fairness guys like mike winklejohn and KJ Noons have a background in american kenpo, and they have done well in full contact competition
Never heard of either one of those guys. The problem with American Kenpo now days, and really since Ed Parker died, is that the people teaching have gotten away from what Mitose and Chow emphasized so much (character and spiritual development) and now every American Kenpo school I see are nothing but high stance tournament TAG players. Tournaments are nothing but games of tag that develop poor habits like "tag, I get the point, now lets start over".
The important thing is to find a school/teacher that you like and stick with it. I get guys coming to me all the time and I ask them about their background, they say things like "Well, I trained in ju jitsu for a few months, Shotokan for 2 years, Choy Li *** for a year, Muay Thai for a few months, but they were too hard" or they will say "but I found out that those arts sucked...." or whatever. I always tell them, "the art doesnt suck, YOU suck!! You just didnt stick with it long enough to be able to make it work for you!!"
Thanks to all who have posted here with information. It would not surprise me if this thread soon turned into a broader discussion of martial arts, but while people are still answering my questions in particular, I do want to reiterate that I am prone to pulls in the lower back, and have had some trouble with this in the past with my slight bit of past experience in a martial art. Being thrown in a fairly acrobatic forward somersault kind of throw was where I often had trouble with this. We also practiced a clothesline throw, which never caused a problem. This history leads me to have doubts about several martial arts as good possibilites for me:
Judo: Sunil's Dad, it's interesting that you pointed out that it's possible to practice Judo and never compete in a tournament. I prefer to go with the more traditional practice of martial arts, but would not rule out an individual school which made room for someone who wanted to use the traditional approach in a tournament-oriented style. I would think, however, that I would need to be careful with the selection of such a school, and that styles oriented toward the traditional approach would more likely be suitable for me. Not that an individual school in a competition-oriented style might not be good, but I'm guessing those are few and far between.
Aikido: If not for the concern about lots of hard throws, this would be THE art I'd be looking at most seriously. If someone familiar with Aikido honestly feels that I might be able to practice Aikido and work around the back pull issue, I'd appreciate receiving some details about that. However, I've watched people practicing Aikido, and I do have some reservations.
Jiu Jitsu: Except that I was interested in NJ Chutzpah's observation that Brazilian JJ is mostly practiced when you're already on the ground. This might very well work for me, though I can't say for sure as I've never actually watched this style being practiced.
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Sailor Dave, I couldn't agree more with your statement that it's best to find the martial art most suitable to the person practicing the art. I've read and heard a lot of discussions about "which martial art is best." Even with my minimal experience in the martial arts--and that having been fifteen years ago--it stands to reason that the style that suits you best is the one you will stay with, and gain skill with, and will be best for you even if another syle might theoretically provide more effective self-defense. If a style doesn't suit you, you won't stay with it and become proficient, so for you, it won't be effective.
NJ Chutzpah, I'm curious about why you say the striking arts would not work at my age but the grappling arts would. One issue there is the fact that many people my age, and much older, are quite fit and physically active. Mostly, though, I'm curious about why you feel the striking arts are more challenging for those my age than grappling.
Finally, DaBeez, what can I say. WOW! And thanks, for all the detailed information, and the effort to thoroughly absorb my initial questions and answer them fully. I've never bothered to make a profile, so the only way you could have found out what area I'm living in was to check through my C-D posts. Thanks much for taking the trouble.
Thanks to all who have provided so much useful, and interesting, information.
* good-natured laugh * NJ, thanks for your concerns, but no need to worry. I'm kind of wondering how old you are. My guess is that you're on the young side. No offense intended if that's not the case, but there is a certain age when people tend to see those well into their twenties as practically middle-aged, in their thirties as getting on up there, and much over forty as old. It sounds as if you have a picture of someone my age as seeming kind of elderly and frail. If that's the case, you might want to adjust that picture just a bit.
As for hard throws, my tendency to throw out my back occasionally has nothing to do with age. It's a minor deformity, a little excess spinal curvature you might not even notice when looking at me unless you were a doctor or some other professional who would be very aware of the small details of the human form. I've had the occasional lower back pull since high school. It's generally fine, as long as I stay loose and keep my leg and core muscles strong so everything in the midsection stays in balance. I wouldn't totally rule out martial arts with a lot of hard throwing, but I did have some trouble with this in the past with my bit of past experience with Goju Ryu. Therefore, I'm inclined to think that arts which heavily emphasize hard throwing might not be the best choices.
Aikido does involve a lot of acrobatic throws, at least at the advanced levels. If you weren't aware of this, maybe you've heard something about joint locks and that sort of thing, and pictured the art involving mainly control holds and the like. From what I've read and heard about Aikido, and witnessed when watching it practiced a number of times, the emphasis is on joint-locking techniques, but at the more advanced levels they will use twists of the joints to take the attacker off balance so that he can be maneuvered into a throw. Some of the throws are pretty spectacular.
So, thanks to everyone who has offered information and advice.
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