KempoTiger

Depends which off-shoot of Kempo you are referring to. Kempo itself is an offshoot of the Shaolin arts, because many Okinawan styles of fighting were created out of the fleeing of Chinese monks to the Island for safety. Okinawa also being a highly used trade route between China and Japan led to it becomming a melting pot of cultures as well as martial arts theories. If you're talking about Chow's Hawaiin Kempo, then it's a little bit more fuzzy. Chow was the son of a Shaolin monk but to what extent his father taught him beyond the religious aspect of his teachings isn't exactly certain. Regardless though, all Kem(n)po comes from Okinawa which had it's influences from the Shaolin monks. Personally, I don't feel Kempo is a style per-se but more of an idea about how to train.

I think in the movie Iron Monkey a guy beats the life out of some guys with an umbrella...I could be wrong though

It's a hybrid style of martial arts created in Okinawa and has since spintered into various branches the most prominent of those in the US having been founded in Hawaii under James Mitose. (Parker Kempo, Tracy Kempo, Cerio Kempo, etc...) Most of these schools take a stance of using what works from various systems and combining them. In my system we have a combination of Five Animal Shaolin Kung Fu and Jujitsu being the primary basis of the system, while we incorporate many various theories and concepts into our fighting that range from Boxing to Chin-na to even Aikido in some aspects. One might say it's the mongrel of martial arts perhaps?

You'd be surprised. It all depends on your definition of what it takes to 'surpass' another student. I don't consider myself to train in, nor teach at a "Mcdojo", or whatever other term one may apply. But I will say that when it comes to sparring it's all a game, and lower ranking students depending on their speed, agility, size, strength, and aggression may overcome higher ranking students in that game. I personally haven't lost to a lower ranking student in point sparring in some time now, but then again I've stepped up my training quite a bit in the realm of MMA type fighting, so naturally my speed and technique in point sparring also increased a bit. But this isn't to say it never happened, nor is it to say that it won't happen again. I've just heard this similar type story/claim dozens of times in the past, and I'm not trying to make any jabs at you Kboxer, but I'm just letting you know that if you are judging others as well as your own talent based on the lines of classroom sparring talent, I'd take another look at what you're really learning. Because that ain't it

Nice

Usually what ends up happening is a student gets to a level where sparring comes into play, and sheer aggression often wins and it goes to the students head. Now in my dojo we primarily teach point sparring, and save the real fighting for the dedicated students that truly wish to put the effort (and risk!) in to their training. What happens in regular sparring is we have orange and blue belts (first ranks that can spar) going up against whomever and some higher ranking students while having more fighting technique and knowledge just stink incredibly at sparring. Some of them just get intimidated, and especially with sparring where there's rules unlike a street fight, they have to handle themselves differently than how they've been trained. I'll be honest. I've met quite a few lower ranking students than me that can beat me at point sparring. It's just so much different than real fighting, or even full contact sparring. Just a game of tag. If this is the case kboxer, I'd stick around at the Kempo place and see what else they have to offer, and worry more about yourself than comparing yourself to other softer students.

Honestly? No loyalty is not important if it is hindering your goals. Though I will say this, if you're attending my school as one of my students, keep in mind whomever you are I can still kick your butt all over the mat j/k, but in all seriousness if you live in the NY area out on LI, come on down to my school. We have alot to offer you if you're serious about training beyond learning katas and such.

Franchisement.....train-by-video classes with mail-order belts....watering down the system. The reason everyone left Villari seems to be the same reason everyone eventually branches off from their system once it makes it big.

civilian??? Suddenly Martial arts training is comparable to the military?

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Kajukenbo nor their (most master's) practicing of the Christian faith. I just was taken a bit off guard when I attended a seminar with Sijo and we all had to kneel for a short prayer. I was raised a Catholic, became a general Christian, and am now subscribe to a stance of unknowing agnosticism. But it's all good as long as we all respect each other and are working togethor on learning how to fight

Either this was a joke, or you are seriously giving too much credit and overestimating this guy. Btw he was trying to use a crane style of kung fu

ugh....I saw that "theatrical" fight a while back and almost coughed up a lung laughing so hard. That Keanu Reeves "I know Kung Fu" wannabe is lucky he didn't get his skull smashed in after doing stuff that stupid. He got off easy by having an even more inexperienced fighter to square off against.

I have no idea what you're talking about....

I work two jobs (one being the dojo..so I'm kinda dedicated to that one), and go to school. Try to squeeze in any semblance of a social life, and I'm all booked up.

I think Couture got him too...but yeah I agree with you on everything else.

White Tiger Kempo

Well I must say Warlock, I now see why you seem to garner such respect from so many on here You seem to know what you're talking about, and have put much thought into this. Your commentary on Bruce's comments on a mechanical vs. intelligent fighter were pretty dead on in my opinion. Yet only that in Bruce's defense I don't think that he was criticizing the concepts of muscle memory and saying that it's impossible to react in a variety of ways, but rather that too many systems in his opinion taught a few ways to react to a stimuli which would render the fighter helpless once his opponent picked up their style or pattern. As you said earlier Bruce was essentially being the loudest mouth speaking truth's that we've known for some great time, exposing it to the average lay-person. I respect him for it, so that's pretty much all I have left to say in this thread.

word of mouth is the best way to go, but in the meantime I'd say get permission to advertise in places like gyms or even kids centers where you'd get that pay-dough from the legions of children that come through your door.

I agree with everything else said, only that with this part here I'd argue that change was indeed happening but not in the way that Bruce Lee envisioned. Of course many new systems were being created, many of them breaking the rules and incorporating various techniques from different systems and making hybrid styles; but you also must remember that Bruce Lee sought to expose the alleged flaws in training with a system that encourages set movements. For those of you who saw the game of death, he even mocked the supposed nunchaku master for fighting in a manner of predictable attacks and techniques. Bruce sought a more enlightened (at least in his opinion) way of fighting, that encouraged one to become in tune with themselves and find what works and what doesn't work for them through vigorous training and sparring with others. Instead of standing in front of a room learning a kata or form, they would pair up and just try different things on each other to see what worked. Of course Bruce seldom seemed to mention that most traditional or conventional styles did give him alot of techniques and material to work into his classes, regardless though he didn't see it ultimately productive in the purest sense to teach any "style." This explains why he changed his mind entirely about even JKD and closed his schools.

I don't consider that to be necessarily traditional. So you're saying he didn't really criticize traditional fighting techniques that much? I suppose I should avoid using the word "traditional." It's comming across in a way that in hindsight wasn't intentional. I suppose the word I would be looking for is conventional. Lee's philosophy was to become in tune with yourself, and find the most efficient way of movement and combat to work for you. Combining many theories of linear movement from Japanese systems and the flowing essence of Chinese styles, he came into his own and found what worked for him. He then sought to teach others to do the same. Of course we can all agree that much of what he was speaking of, weren't exactly groundbreaking new ideas, but still he was the focal point of the rule-breaking new movement in the martial arts world.

I don't like how guys like ol' "Superfoot" Wallace can keep rewriting the same article on "kicking" every month and profit off of it

Cool. Well if you happen to take it, let me know if they make you learn to speak/read Japanese characters, or if you learn to read in Romazined Pinyin form. Also, let me know whats the difference between Chinese/Japanese Caligraphy, and regular text...so many things I need to learn, but so little time...

I still wonder if what he was criticizing was really what one should consider "traditional" ways of training and fighting technique. Well for the most part he was criticizing the very existance of "styles" that focused on one or a few aspects of fighting, and stuck to an ideology along those lines that ran in conflict with what it takes to be an efficient well rounded fighter. It wasn't "traditional training" he had so much of a problem with, as it was inefficient technique derived from outdated ideas. Bruce Lee isn't exactly a figure that suddenly put an end to traditional styles and decreed them all useless. Just aspects of some he felt were either unnecessary or inefficient.

That's not what I meant. I was talking about meditation and all that stuff. The Chinese MA schools here in Denmark do not care about this. The Japanese and Korean MA schools do however care and do practice it. Since I'm a Christian, I want to stay away from Buddhism and all that. Therefore I will only go for Chinese styles because they don't do stuff like that. Funny thing is that I feel uneasy when in Kajukenbo schools because of their strong ties to the Christian faith, and little prayers that they do before classes. Irony

like I said, it's only my opinion. Keep in mind though, that spelling of Japanese words in roman lettering isn't exactly set in stone, so pretty much they're spelling it out phonetically.