Alright, I'll go ahead and get the ball rolling.
I'm from the Tracy lineage. I think the art, in how I understand it, is a fairly complete and comprehensive fighting art. But it doesn't do everything equally well, and it doesn't have everything in it.
A lot of techs have jujitsu type joint manipulations. But there doesn't seem to be any ground grappling, at least not how it was taught to me. If this is in there, then I guess I got short-changed. I am not convinced of the ultimate need to be able to grapple that some seem to tout. It is a legitimate method to fight, and to be well rounded it makes sense to have some skills here, but I remain unconvinced that it is an absolute necessity to save my butt from some random street thug. I don't do cage matches, so my need to have highly developed ground skills is less.
I think it could use a better arsenal of weapons defenses. Some seem OK to me, but a number of them I think are pretty sketchy, esp. the knife defenses. Use of a knife or stick is lacking as well. These are kind of common things to get ahold of, so it makes sense to have some training in their use, in addition to defending against them.
Other systems have a methodology and approach to fighting that is very different from Kenpo. While kenpo is a fairly complete and comprehensive system, it also follows a methodology and it certainly does not have the same kinds of things that other arts have, that follow a different methodology.
Tibetan White Crane, and Wing Chun are good examples. They each have a very specific approach to training and fighting and power generation, and they are very different from each other and from kenpo. Striking techniques are notably different, as they utilize methods that are rather unique to the art, esp. in comparison to each other. There are techniques in Tracy kenpo that have elements that are similar to both White Crane and Wing Chun, but it definitely does not have the same range of techniques that these arts specialize in. But kenpo has its own approach, and White Crane and Wing Chun don't duplicate kenpo either.
I was never taught any internal energy work in my kenpo training. I see discussion indicating that perhaps it is in there, but I never learned it. What (little) I know about internal energy, I learned from my tai chi instructor. I think that if you want to learn this kind of thing, perhaps you would be better off finding a good tai chi teacher. While Kenpo may have it, I think it won't be on the same level, and other methods probably do a better job.
I see that there is some Tai Chi that has been brought into Tracy's system, and I think this is a nod to the fact that if you want this kind of training, that is the place to go to get it. I haven't learned Tracy's tai chi, so I cannot comment on its quality, but the fact that this was brought in to fill this need sort of recognizes that the original system had shortcomings in this department.
So I guess the way I see it is that Tracy kenpo is a "complete" system in its own right, but no, it does not have everything, and it doesn't do everything equally well. But this is true of any art. There is always room for improvement in certain ways.
An art follows its methodology, and in some ways is limited by that. When two arts have very different methodologies, you cannot simply mix and match techniques and expect them to work. You need the base upon which the methodology and techniques are built, and if you don't develop that base, you cannot expect to import its techniques and expect to be able to use them. So no art can really have everything. Even basic striking methodology is different enough. White Crane has ways of striking that few other arts use, because the way we generate power is really quite different. Kenpo, or any other art that doesn't have a similar methodology, could not use our white crane strikes effectively. But White Crane would never see the point in using all the kenpo self defense techniques. It is just a huge difference in philosophy.
Kenpo was my first art, beginning in 1984. I cross train now in several arts. But this isn't because I was trying to fill holes in my kenpo. It was because I suffer the curse of the perpetually curious, and I wanted to experience different things. In doing this, I have gained a different perspective that allows me to see problems in kenpo that I might have been blinded to otherwise. And at the same time, my kenpo training was tremendously valuable in training these other arts, and seeing shortcomings that they have. So I guess maybe I have filled holes in my arts thru my crosstraining, but that was not my motivation for doing it.
