Kenpo, what do you guys think??????

[JKDjeetKuneDo]

Ive been studying kenpo for awhile years now, and ive been doing martal arts since age 6, thanx to my great brother,
and im starting to wonder how effective it is, any comments will be great, thanx everyone
Keith (GrassHopper)

[nospam]

Well, no matter what MA ya do, if you have a good attitude, a good teacher, and use a good dose of periodical reasoning throughout your practise- any MA is good.

If your style and practise follows this regard, then bravo! you are doing good.

And don't sweat not getting into fights. If a person can go through their youth and most of their adult life not going through a physical altercation...cudos! That is more of a MAN than those that for some reason (usually two good reasons betwen the legs) feel the need to define themselves by battlescars and quote/unquote asskickings.

Although I realise and fully understand the urge of a student to 'battle test' their MA ability in the 'real world'. Hopefully with increased MA ability comes an increase in personal discipline and understanding that it sure as hell is HARDER to walk away than to duke it out.

Wow, I think I used the soap box real good this time.

[origenx]

JKD - basically, what have you learned in kenpo? Educate me. I've heard it's basically fast hard striking, and also targets pressure points. Is that about right?

[Kymus]

Yeah, its mostly pressure points and quick tecneques, it seems pretty good to me, ive been doing jkd and various kung fu's my whole like and i started kenpo class's not too long ago, and i was just wondering how some other martal artists felt about the style.
Keith, (GrassHopper)

[MonkeySlap Too]

What school or style of Kenpo is it?

[Kymus]

its tracy kenpo, from white to black, than parker from black to 10th degree.

------------------
"Crosstraining is the key"
~Sifu Rick Tucci~

[MonkeySlap Too]

I'm not a big fan, but I have known some pretty tough guys who practice it.

If your teacher is good, you'll get a lot of knowledge in regards to street awareness and conflict resoloution.

However, these American Kenpo styles are built around the Arthur Murray dance studio model. You give your customer something new every class so you feel good and keep paying for lessons. The result is a thousand techniques to stop a punch.

I have seen Kenpo guys fight in NHB and I've never seen them pull of a 'Kenpo' technique -just kickboxing...

I don't really want to diss it completely, but I can't say it would be my first choice either. If you like it, thats great.

[totallyfrozen]

My 2 cents:

When I was only 9, my mother put me in Kenpo (the Ed Parker Kenpo). We lived in California. I got in a couple of fights in school and the Kenpo did nothing to help me. It was not natural for me and it got in the way of my natural insticts and movements. In all fairness, I was only 9 and I was just beginning. I did not study Kenpo enough to earn a brown or black belt.

Many say that Kenpo is the same as Kempo. I study Ryukyu Kempo now, and they don't really seem to be the same; although, the name is the same.
My Kempo is closer to Wing Chun, I think, with some Dim Mak (called Kyusho Jitsu)thrown in and some JuJitsu grappling. Anyway...

If you stick with Kenpo, there is a good chance it will serve you well. If it feels natural to you, then you will probably do well in it.

I did see in one UFC video a Kenpo fighter knocked down a 700lbs Sumo wrestler with one hit. He puched him in the side of the head. That was pretty stunning to see!

In summary, I wasn't impressed with Ed Parker Kenpo and I got my butt kicked...but it might work for you.

"There is only ONE martial art."

[This message has been edited by totallyfrozen (edited 08-15-2000).]

[This message has been edited by totallyfrozen (edited 08-18-2000).]

[8stepsifu]

I started in Kenpo when I was 5 yrs old Kenpo is very philisohical. Peace is held in high regard. First one should use escaping techniques, then block, then hit back. In my school people were praised for blocking and avoiding fights rather than engaging in them. It's a good style and it made me a great tournament fighter, but when it came to fighting (I moved to an area where I was a minority) my conditioning to avoid fighting at all costs got right in the way of all the punches and kicks that I had develeoped. I could work magic with my fighting, but only in a friendly situation. When I couldn't block or escape, I got pounded.

[JHWSS]

8stepsifu,
Hey that sounds a lot like san soo. Only san soo works.

[kenpoman]

You're right! It is a lot like san soo. When Ed Parker put the system together he did so with the assistance of San Francisco based kung fu instr. James Wing Woo. Even though Kenpo had, I repeat "had" some ties with Mitose Kempo in the 1950's, it was completely rehashed and shares less than 10% of the original Japanese style Kempo. Kenpo is actually a system rather than an art. The techniques are taught merely as ideas of motion. More important than the technique/idea itself (the 'how') are the natural reasons why the technique is funtional (the 'why"). There were originally more than 600 techniques in the system, but several techniques relied on the exact same principle. Parker deleted repetative techniques and placed emphasis on the principle instead of the technique itself.
The objective is to understand the functions, which are governed by laws of motion, and become a free thinker...learn new habits and create your own spontaneous techniqes as a matter of natural reaction. Those of you who have experience in kenpo, but couldn't make it work, were only in the beginning stages. You're not supposed to try to make the original techniques work (the last thing anyone can do in a fight is recall what was taught in class last week). American Kenpo still has the name 'karate' on its patch to distinguish it as a form of MA, but today's Kenpo is actually a soft, circular, Chinese (in origin) style.

[This message has been edited by kenpoman (edited 08-28-2000).]

[MonkeySlap Too]

The American 'Kenpo' styles are not Chinese in origin. They have borrowed from Pai Lum and a little from San Soo, but they really owe thier creation to Ed Parker.

Ed Parker desreves a lot of credit for covering a lot of ground that was hard to get if you where white. His imagination was good, and he applied an engineers sensability to structuring his art.

But it is NOT a CMA. But that is not a bad thing. Just call a thing what it is.

[kenpoman]

You're right. kenpo is not CMA, but todays kenpo did a little more than 'borrow' from other systems. When Ed Parker formed the IKKA he did so after meeting up with James Wing Woo...who played a big, big part in the formation of the American Kenpo forms and techniques. Even Jimmy Lee stayed at his house during this time (the system being built) Parker openly shared this info in his books and at seminars. This was a big deal in the kenpo community at the time because the practitioners had a choice...either learn the new material or go elsewhere. Many left. Kenpo today is in a constant state of growth, but James Wing Woo/Jimmy Lee (kung Fu) played a key role in the formation of forms and techniques. Granted a number of changes have been made since then (deletions/shortcuts), but 40 years ago today's system was CMA.
There are very few who were actually there, but those who were tell the story at this link:
http://www.tracyskarate.com/FAQ'S/EDtrain.htm

Pay close attention to the last paragraph.

[This message has been edited by kenpoman (edited 08-28-2000).]

[MonkeySlap Too]

Granted, Ed Parker may have absorbed some material from CMA, but my position remains: He created his own thing. It may have borrowed from many arts but it is a distinct thing created by him (and perhaps his associates).

But it is not a CMA!!

Just because I took clases from Northwestern, does not make me a graduate of the school. I may have learned some valuable things. I may be really smart and can extrapolate from that and be very sucsessful, but I cannot claim to be a graduate because I have not taken all the other classes!

I have plenty of friends who have been long time Kenpo guys. They can point to thier success in defending thier lives with thier Kenpo. But they cannot point to anything in thier system being a CMA. (and spare me the 'circles' lecture - geez)

And really, most Chinese I know take offense to this. Use a Japanese word and then claim it's Chinese? WW2 wasn't so long ago in the minds of many Chinese I know.

But despite linguistic changes, Kenpo does not train like CMA, it does not build body structure like CMA, it isn't CMA!

(and a Kenpo guy claiming it is CMA doesn't count. He would not know by definition!)

But it is okay for what it is. What is wrong with saying Kenpo is a modern style developed from these other styles combined with Ed Parkers particular genius?

[8stepsifu]

JHWSS and anyone else. Please refrain from telling how great and undefeatable your particular style is. I'm a Sifu with two lifetimes of training ahead of me, not a begginer shopping for a school. Kempo works. I think the kempo I learned was more from Mitose. There was an octagon on the wall. Inside there was bamboo, pine tree, and plum blossoms. They were representative of escaping arts, blocking arts and fighting arts. Btw I've seen plenty of video clips of Kung fu San Soo and it's nothing impresive. It's nothing I haven't seen, and its not anything different from everything out there. I have a question..
What was Mitose's Kempo like? What is the difference between his philosophy and art and the modern one.

One more thing. I do kung fu. I learn thousands of applications and I don't ever think of the whole coreographed line when I'm fighting. It's always spontaneous and adhereing to solid princibles of motion. I don't have set patterns, just more options if something I do fails. When this happens I know so many techniques that even when I fail, I see oppontunity.