delta1

Inward flows through, then return the motion with an outward. Upward, then step in and drop a downward to chest or solar plexus height. Looping inward/downward, followed by an inward. Lots of combinations with the same elbow if you don't get hung up on the strike and rechamber mentality.

Closest thing I can think of is those bands you put in the freezer, then wrap around your neck in the heat. Don't know how well they'd work, or for how long. I'd tape them in place if you try them. Could get uncomfortable if they slip and ball up under your shin pads. Youmight talk to a physical therapist for some ideas. They do all sorts of wierd stuff like that any how, so who knows?

Don't forget kicks, especially when going to the ground but before he has a dominant position. I've successfully used a shin to the head as my opponent tried to top mount me. Unfortunately, we were wearing helmet type head gear, so he wasn't hurt and eventually got me. But he said it really rung his bell, and upset his ballance even with good protection. And knee strikes are just short kicks, use them too. Don't extend your arms, from top or bottom. If he extends his, trap and break if possible. I'm not a grappler, so if any of you mud rollers want to comment on what I said, I won't be offended.

DLop, methinks you're makeing th' Reks point! You'd essentially take him immediately out of his comfort zone with a lock that he has no idea how to counter!

OooooK! Guess I'll check in here... We are a REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC! We are NOT a democracy! The definition of a democracy is simply 'majority rules'! Our system of government, as was pointed out, protects the individual from the majority in many ways, one of which is that a simple majority does NOT elect our president. The Electoral College was set up to insure that the major population areas do not control the presidential election. The Washington DC slang for everything between California and the Northeast coast is "Flyover Country!" This is what they think of your vote, even with the EC. If not for the EC, you'd hardly see a candidate outside those areas, except for maybe Chicago, DFW, or maybe a few other major metro areas. They wouldn't need your vote, so they wouldn't court yur vote. Do you think they'd represent you, or the folks in NYC and LA? Next time NYC gets close to bankruptcy, or even has problems paying its bills, think about the effect of the EC on policy! As for how the delegates to the EC can cast their votes, that is up to the individual states. Control- whoever wins the election does NOT have total control. Our system was set up with many checks and ballances. The three branches ballance power in many, many ways. And our politicians are also accountable to the electorate in more ways than just the vote at election time. We have a recall process, and if we are awake enough to realize it, the people have absolute control in our court system. We can nullify any law, in individual cases, just because we don't like it! And if the Grand Jury doesn't like the way a judge treats them, an accused, or a witness, they can haul his backside off the bench and investigate and charge him! They can simply remove a judge from the courtroom temporarily because they don't want the judge to hear a particular testimony! The reason it seems like we have no power, or that a politician or judge has control of our lives, is because the vast majority of Americans are butt ignorant, and just as happy to be that way! Too few understand the how or why of institutions like the Electoral College, or their rights and responsibilities as VOTERS and JURORS, which are ONE AND THE SAME! Jurry duty is part of your voting rights, NOT part of your driving privilages! Elections were never meant to be a game or competition, either. But how many people today even know what a principle is? How many people ask for the principles that a candidate will use in making decissions? They are instead asked how they'll vote on one issue, or how they'll fix a problem. Any politician who is not an incumbent that tells you'I'll vote this way on this, that way on that, and I'll do this and that' is lieing through his teeth! He can't know what he'd do on most things until in the position and in possesion of all the 'facts'. Until we start making informed choices, asking intelligent questions, and voting for leaders instead of the guy that promises us the most goodies, we'll have a circus every fur years instead of an election. So THERE! Oh yeah, I'm an independant. But I will say that I havn't supported a Democrat in so long that, well, if Christ was a Dem, I'd probably have voted for the Devil! And here's the only poem I ever memorized: A statesman is an easy man, he tells his lies by rote! A journalist makes up his lies, and grabs you by the throat! So stay at home, and drink your beer, and let the neighbors vote! By Keats

Some systems have different definitions for things. But to me a bridge is established whenever contact is made and maintained for the purposes of controling your opponent or his weapon(s). Bridging is used primarily in sensitivity systems, aka the softer styles. There are a lot of different definitions of gates, and a lot of different concepts on viewing and utilizing them. Pretty much, they are areas of potential entry on offense, and areas to be covered on defense.

The yellow belt curriculum was originally added for kidds! Maaaaan- if you didn't outrank me, I'd make some rude comment about Coloradans! OK, OK- just foolin' wit' ya! Actually, some schools do a begginers class or curriculum so that people can see if they want to get into martial arts. They usually aren't required to buy any uniforms or equipment until they earn their white belt. Gets some people to sign up that otherwise are hesitant. I think it's a good idea, as long as the test is not expensive (free is best, but business is business... ).

Here's another point about Alternating Maces. Some Kenpoists do not agree with working this for different pushes (shoulder/high chest or lower rib cage). They correctly point out that there are other techniques designed to deal with those pushes, that work off your natural reactions to those pushes. I believe it is important, because when you get to those techniques you'll have a reference as to why those techniques work better. It also gets you thinking more about modifying techniques to work in different situations other than the ideal. Example: when a hard push connects to your lower rbs, your reaction is not only to cave, but to buckle over. Your arms will go out front, but because of this different posture your elbows will tend to fly out. Hooking Wings teaches you to control this reaction (or more desireable, to intercept him before the strike lands) and at the same time you regain control of your centre, you take control of his. I think you'll get a better feel for this if you've tried making Alternating Maces work for a low push. I won't go into a lot of detail here. My recomendation is to talk to your instructor and see what his philosophy is about this. Just thought I'd throw anoter idea out.

We do a lot of crane/frictional pulls which work like you describe. Not a grab, more like a hook and yank. And it generally pulls him into your simultaneouse strike. Key is to do the moves sharply and forcefully, and anchor the elbow of the pulling arm.

Actually, this is one good application of Lifting Water (the opening of the Yang 108 form), followed by any number of moves for the 'push'.

A hard parry as you move off the line of attack would work if the push did not make contact. But, remember that this technique is for one that makes HARD contact while he has a lot of forward momentum. Parrying under these circumstances gives your directional harmony to him. You are moving back forcfully, and so is your defense. Remember too that AK works off reactions- not just his, but yours as well! What is your reaction when suddenly forced backwards by a blow to your chest? You will automatically step back and simultaneously throw your arms out in front to counter-ballance yoursel! What this technique drills is to control and take advantage of those reactions. Now, we learn these terms so that we can converse with others about what the technique does, how it works, and what it teaches. We have a good mental understanding of what is involved. BUT, you will never really understand any of this until you've been hit several times hard enough that your backside hits the floor! You have to feel these reactions, feel how to control them, and feel the variables and learn to deal with them. Otherwise, you'll have no real idea what is being taught. My brother and me once spent the better part of two weeks just pushing each other and reworking this technique. We were so sore in the mornings that we could hardly move (back then, neither ofus had a single piece of protective equipment). But that is what it takes. You play with ranges, timeing, force, momentum, what if's and any other variables that may occur. A strike to the solar plexus while you are directly in front of him, no check in place, and with his momentum marginally checked will likely have you eating an unintentional head butt. If he did not have a lot of momentum and you moved slightly off to the right (not far enough to compromis structure when you punch), and you go to more of a close kneel; you can avoid the head butt and perfectly position him for a right inward elbow to his mandible. Simulate your reaction to a solar plexus shot, and pay close attention to what happens to your jaw, and immagine an elbow strike while in this posture. A strike to the sternum will stand him up, but it will also cave his chest and shoulders, altering his width. That reaction is part of why this technique works so well. It also checks his momentum/deapth. And his head comes forward into good range for the back knuckle. You are correct about his reaction depending on how you missed a target with a strike. But, you need to miss a few to learn to deal with this. As for the rest of the technique, you'll get a feel for it as you practice it more. And don't rush the learning process to get to the slamming part of understanding. Remember, we learn these techniques in three distinct stages. Get it down in the Ideal Phase, then work up to the Formulation Phase gradually, which is where this occurs.

Actually, there were three brothers: Al, I think Jim or George, and not sure about the last. At least two of them studied under Ed Parker in the early days of AK. At the time they left, they were among his senior students, and had some sort of business arrangement with Mr. Parker. They left early on over a dispute about marketing Kenpo. They wanted to more aggressively market the system, and Mr. Parker did not think the system was ready for that. It was nowhere near as complete as he wanted it before expanding to a mass market. When they left, the Tracys' took Jimmy Woo with them, and several students, and started their own system based on AK. They also incorporated some traditional forms from Kempo. Tracy's people like to say they are more complete, and more dynamic than EPAK. As Mr. Parker discarded some of the techniques that were redundant and modified others to work better and teach basic principles better in fewer techniques, the Tracys' kept all the techniques as they learned them and added more of their own. They flow more like traditional Kempo as well. Their problem comes when they apply that flow to techniques that don't work well with it. They do have a prety good system, but their understanding is not up to EPAK in many cases. On the plus side, some of the things they incorporated from Kempo do have great, workable flow and are good for developing sensitivity. I obviously prefer AK, but I don't short the Tracy guys TOO much!

Others have already answered, so I'll just add that the whole thing is a bit of a misnomer anyhow. Occidentals have long been known for their butchery of oriental languages. Look at how many people here practice their 'katas' regularly!

TDA, just noticed the yellow stripe. Congrats! But, does this mean that I have to behave now? Thanks for the descriptions. These share common moves with several techniques, and they sound like simple techniques made up for your school or system.

The problem with giving a generic defense against any attack is that there are too many variables. Did the push make contact? How hard? Where- high. low, evenly, more to one side? How much forward momentum does your attacker have? What was the range? Did it lift? Environmental factors? Size and atrength of you opponent? I'd suggest looking at what your techniques teach instead of looking for rote responses to attacks. The base technique is for a two hand push to the lower chest that makes HARD contact. I've worked it for higher and lower pushes, and it can work. But you first have to thoroughly understand the base technique, and there are a lot of adjustments that have to be made. For example, if the push hits you high on the chest, you'll be thrown a little more off ballance, and your step back to reestablish your base will likely be further back and a little more in line. This will change your relative angles to the attacker, necessetating some changes. If done for a low push, then yes, you'd go down and in with the block. For a higher push, that block has to go softly towaed his left shoulder. Too hard, or too much across, and you'll throw his arms out into orbit (a Kenpo no-no!). Going downward 'wipes' the block, which will not turn his center line off the line of attack. Yes, this has to flow! No pauses, breaks, etc. Again, for the higher pushes, there is a difference from what you describe, though. You drop a right downward forearm onto both his forearms with gentle downward pressure, and the right hand cranes his right elbow as you turn into a right forward bow and left straight punch over your right. The crane and stance change will pull his center back on the central line of attack, just in time for the punch to land! The forward bow is a solid stance to deal with his forward momentum. STOP- and look at what you just did! I'm not going into detail here, as it would be confusing at the begginers level. (I'm an intermediate lelel student, and it still confuses me sometimes, as this is a senior level concept). But I will tell you that this is your introduction to the gasseos phase of motion! This is an important thing to have an understanding of later on, so get the base down cold now! The punch can go to the solar plex or the sternum, and you need to understand why and waen to strike the different targets, and the consequences of each strike as it relates to positioning. Also, understand what will happen if the strike is off target. Again, it flows. This is a replacement move, which checks (but does not control) all three of his demensions. The strike rolls over simultaneously. You've basically took control of him, and delivered the coup de gras (little Savate lingo there) at about the same time he realizes it. There is a lot more that this technique teaches, and there are a lot of better techniques against pushes in both Kenpo and other systems. But as you progress, you'll get away from the 'if he does this, I'll do Alternating Maces" idea. I used to train emergency responders, and at the beggining of every class I'd get "what if this, or if that, what do I do if, ...". I used to tell the "I can't give you a list for every situation you'll face. Every emergency is different. But, I can teach you to apply principles, and you can make your own list to deal with anything you find on the spot." That's Kenpo.

Never heard of any of these. Sounds like names for techniques used only in your school or subsystem. Be interesting to see the written description(s) of some of them.

Sauzin, pretty good, except for this (quoted). James Mitose is not generally considered to be in the roots of American Kenpo. While Prof. Chow did start out under Mitose, he left early on and concentrated on Chuan fa, or the Chinese fighting systems. Mr. Parker learned Chuan fa from Prof. Chow, then other arts from many others. What he did was so radically different from any single system, our system lineage starts with SGM Parker. Think of a family tree, where the root system is extensive, Mr. Parker is the trunk, and there are now several limbs and branches off of that. aefibird, I think we've talked about this before, but as there are a lot of new people here, and we are sort of testing the Kempo waters, I'll go over it again (just skip through if it gets boreing/repetitive ). American Kenpo does forms that were mostly made by Ed Parker, though some of his senior students created or modified some of the forms. I believe it was Mr. Chuck Sullivan that modified our staff form at a test. He got lost in the middle of the form, and just started winging it. Mr. Parker looked at him a while after he closed, then said "I like what you just did better. I think we'll do it that way." So it got revised, as the legend has it. American Kenpo: Our early forms get you started learning how to move. We call it 'building a dictionary of motion'. Later, the forms are made up of parts of techniques, but rearranged. They help us with borrowing, grafting, technique flow, different applications, etc. They are basically more complex versions of our techniques, strung together to teach different concepts. Our techniques themselves you've heard me call 'mini forms', as they are not just single moves. They are a serries of moves strung together in a logical sequence to deal with attacks that have common characteristics. They teach us to move efficiently and effectively under the force of an assault. They are the primary medium through which we learn to use principles and concepts involved in fighting, and their application. Techniques are learned in stages, and are broken down, tore apart, and rearranged just like karateka do when studying bunkai in a form. Chinese Kenpo: My system only has one master form, consisting of all our techniques. But most of the people doing it are useing the system in conjunction with, or as a base onto which to graft other systems. It works extremely well for this, and we get work in forms from those systems. It is Parker based, so the techniques serve the same purpose as in AK. Doing a principles based system, as all Parker based systems are, gives a much deeper understanding of any system or style you study or come in contact with. You get more insight into the bunkai, or true understanding of any systems forms. And, studying or working with other systems gives more insight into Kenpo also. In addition to forms, there are sets which are used to drill basics (Finger Set, Kicking Set, Stance Set, ...). One of the things I like about some of the Okinawan Kempo systems is their forms. They have beautiful flow! AK has flow, but we also have more hard moves. I used to do a two man form, taken from Tracy's Kenpo, and they took it from one of the traditional Kempo systems. When you got going fast with it, man did you get a feel for flow, and for timeing and sensitivity! Getting drug off by my significant other............................ Later!

I have to agree with that whole post, but especially this part. Some of the worst whippin's I've took were when I was drunk, and especially when I steped in for a friend! I still like to drink, but I very seldom get drunk any more. And I've learned that the company you keep goes a long way towards keeping you out of trouble! I also agree that it sounds like there is more to this story than we know. Still tragic, but maybe not the isolated incident it appears to be.

Differences (besides those I already mentioned): AK is very mobile, in all directions, while WC tends to keep forward pressure. AK works at all ranges, where WC is noted for its' in close work. We have more 'hard' moves. Both have excellant flow, but AK is probably a little more static- not sure. AK ballances all three major power principles, and our stance changes do a lot of the work for us, where I think WC relies more on torque and body rotation, though still has good use of marriage of gravity and backup mass. Your guard uses an immoveable elbow, and tends more to deflect strikes away from the gates, where ours clears a path to protect our zones. WC is a little more into the Chinese method of weighting one foot, where AK is more 50/50 in its' stances and footwork. Note that, as I said earlier, these are more points of emphasis than actual differences. AK has a lot of similarity to the 'hard' systems/styles. Very similar to TKD in some respects, in that we have all their hard moves. The difference here is that as we advance, we do these with more flow, where TKD tends to stay hard and staccatto. But I've worked with TKDers who have some AK background, and they can definately flow, avoid wasted motion, and still hit with power (actually, they hit harder than the more traditional TKD systems, since some of what traditional TKD and the karate do systems teach actually robs power, where adding flow puts it back). I often drive the Taiji people crazy when I talk about some of the 'external' similarities to TCC and AK. I won't get started on that here, but Mr. Parker did study TCC, and there is a lot of Taiji influence in AK as a result.

YOU'RE confused??? ( :walks around, scratching... head: ) HEY!!! Wasn't this supposed to be a KEMPO thread???

OK, I'm probably going to step in it here, but I have to ask: Doesn't WC have a stance that is similar to our neutral bow? Your right and left (bow?) stances have the same heel-toe allignment, and your guard is similar except for the 'immovable elbow'? And the torsoe and hips should be at 45' to the opponent? If your hips and body are square to the opponent, doesn't it render the classic WC guard position useless, as all he has to do is take a slight angle to go straight between your guard? Having a little trouble here adding 1+1, maybe. But then again, I ain' never been akused uf bein' a jeeneyus! Also, don't you do a sitting stance where you sort of roll back onto one leg and turn hips and body 45' to your opponent while keeping your feet on a line perpendicular to the central line/plane? This would be transitory, and probably the defense against him taking an angle in between your guard. But again, it would move your hips and body 45' to your opponent. Maybe I've been exposed to a different system or lineage than what you study. And I understand that WC is about the only family of systems out there that argues about such things more than AK ( ). But that is my limmited understanding. Signed, Confused in The Other Washington

dear john, No matter how good your technique is, it can allways use improvement. There is also bunkai (understanding), which is infinite in scope, and can never be explored enough. And I prefer to see a school with a minimum time in grade as opposed to advancing anyonewho pays the test fees! My advice, for what it's worth, is to stop worrying about your rank and testing and concentrate on skills and understanding.

Thanks, DM! I knew you could do a better job on the WC side of this. I stayed away from planes to keep it short and simple, but they do help in visualizing. And that 'mother line' concept does help visualize movement, both on a rotational axis, and as the opponent is unballanced by tilting or moving the mother line (though I don't know if WC looks at it this way). Good explanation!

aefibird, I'm not surprised that your instructor teaches this in Shotokan, especially as he's studied other systems. I've said before that the main differences in systems/styles is the principles they favor useing and concepts they emphasize, and the way they train mentally as well as physically. Sounds like your instructor doesn't limmit himself to the dogma of a particular system, which in my mind is a very good thing! This is why I like a mixed forum, is that we all can get a different perspective from each other on the things we do. Oh, and an occasional argument can be fun too!

DM, here is what I was so clumsily trying to lead into: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=201293#201293 Probably better in its;\' own thread any how!