Great Time at 4th Annual Kenpo Karate Boot Camp

On March 20th, I had the opportunity of teaching three American Kenpo seminars at the 4th Annual Dynamic Academy of Martial Arts Boot Camp in Sarnia, Ontario, hosted by 6th Degree Black Belt, Rob Broad. Matt Trejo, one of my 3rd Degree Black Belts, was also a guest instructor at the camp. In my first seminar, I showed how Dance of Death, Thundering Hammers and Sleeper are family related techniques and how the what-if phase of training can be used to determine which technique should be used in a given situation. In my second seminar, I taught Short Form 3, and demonstrated the opposites and reverses throughout the form when executing the techniques. In my final seminar, I helped students improve their kickboxing skills by working various pad drill combinations. The last part of the seminar finished with some continuous fighting.

I was also very impressed by the dedication and talent of Rob Broad’s students, and Matt Trejo did a phenomenal job in showing how Striking Set 1 could be utilized in more practical, fighting applications. Rob Broad’s classes on Short Form 2 and weaponry were also very exciting.

Above are a couple of pictures from the event.

Body Position, Environment, or Range?

I was watching a clip of Ed Parker teaching a seminar. He asked the class to rank, in order of importance for a street altercation, the following three terms: body position, environment, and range.

Fortunately, I knew the order: environment, range, and then body position. Would that have been the order that you ranked them?

Where you and your opponent are in terms of location (environment) is crucial. Here is a humorous example that Ed Parker gave. Let’s assume that two guys are in a bar in Alaska. The two of them start arguing, and one proceeds to rip his shirt off as if to say, “the fight is on”. In response, the other person decides to step outside in the freezing cold so that his opponent (if he decides to immediately follow him) will be without a shirt. Clearly, environment is working to the one’s advantage that still has his sweater on! Now given that both are outside in the freezing cold, and one person is without a shirt, one would guess that in all likelihood, the one without the shirt is going to be in a big hurry to get the fight over with so that he doesn’t have to fight in such cold climate. Environment is crucial in any fight, and is an important factor in which technique one could employ.

Range is less important than environment but more important than body position. Range allows our perceptual speed to “read” the opponent’s attack so that we can respond with an appropriate defense (or better put, OFFENSE). Range is simply the distance between yourself and the attacker. If you knew for certainty that a specific gun could only shoot 200 yards, you could stand at 300 yards away from an attacker and do the Macarena! You won’t be shot. No, don’t really try this; I am just throwing some humor at you. But the point, nonetheless, is that range is very important once environment, and I would argue target availability, have been established.

Do the kenpo extensions contain new material?

While it is true that the extensions offer many of the same movements already contained in the base techniques, the extensions uniquely demonstrate how upper body principles can also be applied to the lower half of the body. That is why you will find more leg sweeps, foot maneuvers, and leg buckles in the extensions than in the base techniques.

Kenpo karate practitioners that argue that the extensions are meaningless or “busy work” often argue that there is nothing new in the extensions that are not already contained in the base self-defense techniques. A closer examination, however, will show otherwise.

Take the extension of Thrusting Salute, for example. The last part of the extension calls for right downward punch to the groin or bladder of the opponent, which cannot be found in any of the base techniques or other extensions. Similarly, the neck throw in-sync with the right reverse bow as we buckle our opponent’s left leg in the extension of Destructive Twins is also completely new.

More important than just some new movements, the extensions offer “what-if” scenarios should the ideal phase techniques not work as planned. That is what the equation formula is for.

Is the “What-If” Stage of Kenpo Techniques Detrimental to Beginner Students?

I have been to a lot of seminars and Kenpo classes where it looks like the Kenpo beginner student looks as lost as a goat in a hailstorm. They are desperately trying to learn the mechanics of the technique being taught but within a few minutes, the instructor is asking; “now what if this happens instead?” This goes on and on so that by the end of the class, the student has learned a least 5+ what-if factors where the technique could go wrong in its application. After so many “what-if’s” the student becomes less confident in the ideal phase technique as it is supposed to be taught. They leave the class thinking they have learned some cool stuff, but that ultimately, they don’t know if they could ever make the ideal phase technique work because there are so many other factors involved.

Hence, I think it is extremely important that Kenpo students first learn the ideal phase techniques against ideal attacks, and that they work these over and over so that the techniques become spontaneous. If taught in this manner, should something go wrong when executing an ideal phase technique, there will be many other ideal phase techniques that one could graft into. Isn’t this what we also do in sparring? We often put a combination together in the hopes of making good contact with our opponent, but somehow, somewhere, something goes wrong? And when it does, do we fall to the floor and curl up in the fetal position? No, of course not. We “graft” into other sparring techniques that have worked for us in the past and get right back into the game mentally and physically.

Through consistent practice, the Kenpo practitioner learns that there are so many ideal phase techniques that he/she can call upon in a moment’s notice should the situation warrant it. Additionally, one learns that the “what-if stage” that is so often taught to beginner and intermediate students, is already built into the system as one learns the extensions of the ideal phase base techniques. The difference is, however, that students that learn the what-if stage as part of the extensions have already put in several years of mastering the ideal phase techniques, can perform them well, and have COFIDENCE in them.

Should you be practicing your self-defense techniques on both sides?

There is no doubt that American Kenpo Karate is a right side dominant martial art and that this can be said of many martial arts styles. The reason that it is right side dominant is that most people are right handed. For people who are left handed, they usually have no difficulty learning the system since Kenpo is based on proper body mechanics.

One question that I guessed asked from time to time, and one which is particularly important in American Kenpo Karate where there are 154 self-defense techniques to learn to obtain a black belt, is if one should be practicing their self-defense techniques equally on the left side to balance things out and to make oneself an overall better martial artist? The answer quite simply is no.

Why? The reason is that when we are stressed, and there is someone trying to take our head off, our brain will respond via the dominant side regardless of how much time is devoted to training on the left side. That doesn’t mean in anyway that we don’t need to be effective on both sides. What it means is that the right and left side movements are utilized differently. In effect, what American Kenpo does is take advantage of a person’s strength on both sides.

Moreover, trying to devote time to practicing techniques on both sides takes away from the time needed to practice the system as was designed. It also blinds one’s potential of being able to see things from your style’s dominant side.

I have heard many people claim that they are ambidextrous. Ambidexterity, however, in the truest sense, is not possible. Take advantage of learning your style as designed.

Why Sparring Must Be Linked With Consistent Practice of Self-Defense Techniques

In American Kenpo Karate, there are four key zones that we must always be aware when sparring.

The first is what we call "out of range control". Simply put, out of range control is when we are sparring with an opponent but he is far enough away where we cannot reach him with either our hands or feet. There is still is an element of control, however, since a quick and deceptive feint could very well get the opponent to move and be caught off guard for a possible set-up maneuver. The second zone is what we call "within range control" and this occurs when we are close enough to be able to touch the opponent. The third zone is "penetration control" which is where we have passed the opponent's defense (particularly his lead hand and leg) and are now able to effectively reach the opponent with strong punches and or kicks to the body, legs, and/or head. Finally, the fourth zone is called "manipulation control", and as the name states, here we (or our opponent if he has penetrated our range to this last zone) are close enough to be able to apply various joint locks, chokes, and so forth.

It is the last zone, manipulation control, that so many of our self-defense techniques in Kenpo are taught against. Martial artists who have little to no knowledge of manipulation control, and how to effectively defend against attacks once an opponent has entered this last zone, are missing this key component to their training. One merely needs to watch one night of UFC fighting to know that good fighters are often able to get close enough to us to be able to apply these chokes and/or locks.

While I am a firm believer in sparring, if all that is done at a particular martial arts school is kata (forms) and/or sparring, I truly believe you need to seek knowledge of practical self-defense techniques designed where the opponent is close enough to us to have applied a lock or choke. Additionally, knowledge of "bonkai" as they call it in traditional styles is not enough. One must consistently work with a resistant partner, and change partners frequently to ensure that you can make your techniques work on people of all sizes and shapes.

With enough practice and skill level, one can also learn to apply self-defense techniques directly into sparring practice.