March 2014 Belt Promotions

Congratulations to the following students on their recent belt promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy:

Ben W: Yellow
Lucas C: Yellow
Noah C: Yellow
Noah B: Advanced Purple
Scott B: Advanced Purple

Great work all of you!

Larry Tatum Seminars

This past weekend Grandmaster Larry Tatum came to Southwell's Kenpo to teach American Kenpo seminars. Myself, and five of my students attended the event. The seminars were awesome. For the Friday night seminar, Mr. Tatum taught how to counterbalance your kicks, and he also covered Leaping Crane, Shielding Hammer, Fatal Cross, Destructive Twins, and Delayed Sword. For the Saturday morning seminar, we did a graph sequence of Thrusting Prongs into Crashing Wings and then into Tripping Arrow. We also went through Locked Wing with the extension. A large part of his seminars also focused on striking the weak point of the opponent. Mr. Tatum has a knack for detail and his power and speed are mind-blowing.

Congratulations to Scott Southwell on his promotion to 4th Degree Black Belt (Senior Instructor).

Here are a couple of pictures from the event.

February 2014 Belt Promotions

February was a big month for belt promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy, especially because I had several children move up to Junior 3rd Degree Brown Belt (we have separate programs for children and adults). In my school, it takes children one year per stripe for all Junior Brown Belt levels, which means that the minimum time-frame for a children's 3rd Brown Belt to be able to test for Junior Black Belt is 3 years since his/her promotion to Brown Belt. This equates to an approximate total time of 8 years for a child to be able to test for Junior Black Belt since beginning American Kenpo. When a child reaches Junior Black Belt (we only have 2 in our school, one of whom is my oldest daughter Morgan), he/she then has to learn all 154+ self-defense techniques that are required in our adult program to be eligible to test for 1st Degree Black Belt. Although this may seem like an insurmountable task, the reality is that a Junior Black Belt would already know many of the techniques required, especially the beginner techniques and those already contained in the American Kenpo encyclopedia forms.

Here is a list of all of the students that I promoted in February:

Brandon D: Advanced Yellow
Alex K: Orange
Ben K: Orange
Cameron V: Orange
Nathan V: Orange
Anya F: Purple
Ethan B: Advanced Green
Luke N: Advanced Green
Maxim F: Advanced Green
Chloe B: 3rd Degree Brown
Christofer L: 3rd Degree Brown
Claire H: 3rd Degree Brown
Joseph L: 3rd Degree Brown
Maia G: 3rd Degree Brown
Madison S: 3rd Degree Brown
Michael L: 3rd Degree Brown
Nathan T: 3rd Degree Brown
Reese W: 3rd Degree Brown
Brennan W: 1st Degree Brown

Great work all of you!

January 2014 Belt Promotions

Congratulations to the following students on their recent promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy:

Noah C: Advanced White
Victoria B: Yellow
Joseph H: Advanced Orange

Awesome work!

November 2013 Black Belt Grading

On November 28th, 2013, three of my top students were promoted to a higher degree of Black Belt. John McDonald was promoted to 3rd Degree Black Belt (Head Instructor) in American Kenpo, and Evan Wiley and Matt Trejo became the first two students I have ever promoted to 4th Degree Black Belt (Senior Instructor).

For their testing, each of the candidates performed Long Form 5 and 6, and Evan and Matt also did Long Form 7. In addition, all three candidates demonstrated many street self-defense techniques on each other, and all of them had to fight in full-contact stand-up, including an individual match with myself.

In my view, these three black belts carry the Kenpo flame with passion, and are three of the top black belts in American Kenpo in Canada.

My 2013 Martial Arts Training Log

Every day I log my martial arts training routine to motivate me to train harder, to track my progress, and to determine where I need to re-evaluate what I am working on. I recommend that all martial artists to do this on a regular basis. In 2013, my biggest change to my training schedule was the time I devoted to Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Having spent the past 29 years training in Kenpo Karate, I have now been training in Gracie Jiu Jitsu for the past 2 years to complement my stand-up fighting skills acquired through Kenpo. Although some martial artists view Jiu Jitsu as a sport, the standards set forth by the Gracie Jiu Jitsu academy are as reality-based as you can get. For my information, I highly recommend you go to gracieacademy.com

Below is my 2013 training log:

Days Practiced: 340
Total # of Classes Taught: 580
Stand Up Sparring (days) – 55
Push-ups: 5224
Sit-ups – 9236
Kettlebell (days): 133


American Kenpo Karate

Random Kenpo Techniques – 4605
Yellow Belt Freestyle Techniques: 8
Blocking Set 1 – 122
Blocking Set 2 – 30
Kicking Set 1 – 59
Kicking Set 2 – 20
Finger Set 1 – 56
Finger Set 2 – 12
Coordination Set 1 – 34
Coordination Set 2 – 12
Striking Set 1 – 27
Striking Set 2 – 12
Stance Set 1 – 44
Stance Set 2 – 12
Short Form 1 – 114
Short Form 2 - 63
Short Form 3 – 79
Long Form 1 – 39
Long Form 2 – 20
Long Form 3 – 34
Long Form 4 – 43
Long Form 5 – 33
Long Form 6 – 12
Long Form 7 – 17
Long Form 8 – 12
10 Yellow Techniques – 12
12 Orange Techniques – 12
12 Purple Techniques – 12
16 Blue Techniques – 12
20 Green Techniques – 12
20 3rd Degree Brown Techniques – 12
20 2nd Degree Brown Techniques – 12
20 1st Degree Brown Techniques – 12
20 1st Degree Black Techniques – 12
2nd Degree Black Techniques (Orange ext) – 12
3rd Degree Black Techniques (Purple ext) – 12
4th Degree Black Techniques (37 Blue-Green ext) – 12
5th Degree Black Techniques (36 Brown ext) – 12


Modern Arnis

Anyo Isa – 8
Anyo Dalawa – 8
Anyo Tatlo – 4
Anyo Apat – 4
12 Basic Strikes (control) – 2
Slice blocks: Block, check, counter to 12 basic strikes – 1
Six-count drill (canes) – 1
Trapping hands (De cadena) – 2
Banda y banda vs. angles of attack (1-2): 1
Rompida vs. angles of attack (1-2): 1


Black Dragon System Kung Fu

Long Fist 1 – 1
Roaring Tiger - 1
Breathing Law 1 - 2
Single Dragon Short Stick - 13
Orr Fai Do Fa – 11
Spear (Qiang) Form - 27


Gracie Jiu-Jitsu

Trap & Roll Escape from Mount: 327
Americana Armlock from Mount: 135
Positional Control from Mount: 175
Take the Back from Mount: 88
Rear Naked Choke from Back Mount: 85
Leg Hook Takedown (Standing): 60
Clinch Aggressive Opponent Standing: 55
Punch Block Series Stages 1-4 from Guard: 131
Straight Armlock from Mount: 76
Triangle Choke from Guard: 48
Elevator Sweep from Guard: 24
Elbow Escape from Mount: 68
Positional Control from Side Mount: 42
Body Fold Takedown (Standing): 11
Clinch Conservative Opponent: 10
Headlock Counters from Mount: 40
Double Leg Takedown (Standing): 19
Headlock Escape 1 from Side Mount: 28
Straight Armlock from Guard: 20
Double Ankle Sweep from Guard: 30
Pull Guard (Standing): 7
Headlock Escape 2 from Side Mount: 25
Guillotine Choke (Standing): 24
Shrimp Escape from Side Mount: 21
Kimura Armlock from Guard: 23
Standing Headlock Defense: 10
Punch Block Series Stage 5 from Guard: 27
Hook Sweep from Guard: 23
Rear Takedown (Standing): 17
Haymaker Punch Defense (Standing): 12
Take the Back from Guard: 42
Guillotine Defense (Standing): 11
Elbow Escape from Side Mount: 20
Standing Armlock: 17
Twisting Arm Control from Mount: 43
Double Underhook Guard Pass from Guard: 31


Super Hooks (Mount Controls): 120
High Mount (Mount Controls): 72
Surprise Rolls (Mount Escapes): 75
Surprise Elbows (Mount Escapes): 60
Americana Armlock (Mount Submission Counters): 51
Straight Armlock (Mount Submission Counters): 36
Twisting Arm Control (Mount Submission Counters): 51
Neck-hug Sequence (Mount Submissions): 48
Cross Choke Sequence (Mount Submissions): 68
Control Flow (Side Mount Controls): 36
Knee on Stomach (Side Mount Controls): 46
Bump and Shoot (Side Mount Escapes): 27
High-low Guard (Side Mount Escapes): 35
Americana Armlock (Side Mount Submissions): 32
Elbow Cup Armbar (Side Mount Submissions): 18
Safe Hands (Side Mount Submission Counters): 32

December 2013 Belt Promotions

Happy New Year everyone! I am very excited about 2014, and am hoping and believing that this will be one of the best years ever for Seabrook Martial Arts Academy with respect to skill development and knowledge enhancement. As the head instructor of our school for the past 19 years in London, Ontario, I am committed to doing everything I can to bring out the best in each and every student.

The purpose of my first blog of 2014 is to recognize all of the students who were promoted in December 2013:

Ben W: Advanced White
Lucas C: Advanced White
Cameron V: Advanced Yellow
Nathan V: Advanced Yellow
Peter Z: Orange
Chris H: Blue
Jenn B: Advanced Green

Congratulations everyone!