doubletwist

Whenever I read things like this, I really just want to a: break down and cry, and b: give up completely on the human race. No doubt there are bad, abusive schools/dojo's out there, and they need to be ratted out and shut-down. But to take such a sensational, extremist, attitude towards an entire group of people because of one school just blows my mind. On the one hand, we need to ignore people like this because it is obviously just slanderous ranting. On the other hand, extreme views such as this can be contaigious, and so we need to keep an eye out for stuff like this so we can be prepared to defend future attempts to restrict our behavior. DT

Ok, here's my little story. My wife and I went into a Braums [kinda like a "Friendly's" for those of you in the northeast] for a milkshake. While we were waiting for them to make them I decided I needed to pee. So I walk into the bathroom, which was currently unoccupied, walk up to the sole urinal and start taking care of business. About half-way through, I hear the bathroom door open, so I'm thinking "ok, someone else is here now]. The urinal is in a small alcove, and next to it is the stall. All of a sudden, I feel a light pressure on my upper back and my butt at the same time. It felt exactly like someone walking up behind you and standing there just barely touching you. In barely a split second, thinking that it's some nutcase, I start to spin around bringing my elbow up to trash this guy, only to see that it's the door to the stall which has been opened enough to just barely touch my back Quite frankly it scared the crap out of me, and I was ready to put a major hurtin' on someone, whether or not I was done peeing Turns out it was one of the employees [female as a matter of fact], coming in to clean the stall or something. Luckily I didn't finish my elbow strike, or the stall door would have probably slammed into her pretty hard. The moral of this story is that even if you're aware of your situation, it's a good idea to LOOK before you strike [ie. I looked over my shoulder as I was bringing my elbow up as we are taught. Not much point in striking out at targets when you aren't sure where they are now is there?] DT

Well. In the last two schools I"ve been in , the Yellow Belt techniques were: 1. Delayed Sword 2. Alternating Maces 3. Sword of Destruction 4. Deflecting Hammer 5. Captured Twigs 6. Grasp of Death 7. Checking the Storm 8. Mace of Aggression 9. Attacking Mace 10. Sword and Hammer Alternate: Intellectual Departure Star Block Short Form 1 Mr Fowler Has the following as his Yellow Belt techniques: 1. Delayed Sword 2. Sword of Destruction 3. Deflecting Hammer 4. Mace of Aggression 5. Obscure Wing [purple belt tech. in my school] 6. Lone Kimono [orange belt tech. in my school] 7. Intellectual Departure Star Block No form at all for Yellow belt. Short form 1 is learned for Orange belt. Some of my school's orange belt tech.s aren't learned until blue [evading the storm] or green [dance of death] Now I'm not saying that that's a bad order or combination. I just don't know his reason for it [i didn't get a chance to ask him when I spoke with him the other day]. I can tell you that if I do end up attending his school, I will feel strange knowing some blue and green-belt techniques, and not knowing all the yellow and orange belt techniques [i'm 3 techniques shy of my orange belt requirements now]. I'm also not sure about the fact that he uses the title Sifu. I understand that it's traditional in Chinese[?] systems, but I've never had a Kenpo instructor called anything other than my instructor or "Mr. whatever" [or sir ] DT.

Lets see, I'm hardly an afficionado of MA films but here's what I've enjoyed. -Perfect Weapon -it's kenpo of course I like it, even if the script and acting aren't nearly as good as the MA. -Rush Hour -It's fun, it's funny, and JC is always a joy to watch. -Enter The Dragon -Bloodsport -Various other Jackie Chan flicks [Legend of Drunken Master, Rumble in the Bronx, etc]. -Jet Li - all I've seen of him is The One and Romeo Must Die, but I enjoyed watching him. DT

Also keep in mind that you're instructor teaches a modified version of this. [For those watching at home, I train with opnek and recently learned 5 swords myself]. Mr. P taught it as as you're uppercutting, your left hand is brought back to your chest. Then after the uppercut, your right [punching] hand swings out to check their left hand, and your left hand now does a sword-hand to their collar bone as you do the shuffle/slide of your left foot back to 4:30, then your checking right-hand continues it's motion in a circle to come down on the side/base/back of the attacker's neck. I believe the "book" version instead of doing the handsword to the collar-bone, goes behind the attackers neck [palm-out] and pulls their head down for the handsword [hammerfist?] to the base of the neck. I'm not going to argue over which is better. I can see advantages to both. As for getting the shuffle down, I too had a really hard time with it. It honestly just took me going over it repeatedly, every day before it finally became something I was comfortable with. DT PS. To those others listening. Mr. P [our instructor] used Kenpo in his 11 years on the police force. As such he has had real-world experience in what did and didn't work on the street, so he makes modifications to some of the techniques. My opinion is that some of the changes make sense and some don't to me, but I respect his experience enough to learn both ways and decide for myself which I am comfortable with.

I do, and I love it. Although I'm only a Yellow Belt. I might have to put it on the back burner though. :( Things have gotten crazy and I'm seriously strapped for $$$. I've also just moved and the dojo is now 45 minutes out of my way, so I'm going to check out a school that's a few blocks from my work to see if it's worth attending or not. [i won't go to just any school]. My only concern is that while they claim to be teaching American/Parker Kenpo, the instructor [Rick Fowler] seems to have made some pretty drastic changes to the order of techniques tought. Maybe there's a really good reason. I don't know why though, hopefully I'll get a chance to ask him. Anyway, even if I do have to hold off on training for awhile, I WILL be back.... DT

My worst was in high-school, I was practicing softball for a student vs teacher game. I' was at bat, swung [hit the ball, pop to center], and suddently felt like my knee had exploded towards 3rd base. Dropped to the ground to discover that my right knee-cap had dislocated and rotated 90 degrees to the outside of my leg. OUCH! Got to the hospital, they took some x-rays, straightened out my leg [much pain] and counted 1....2....3 and slammed it back into place. That hurt worse than the original injury! And I was told that if it ever happens again, I should straighten my leg out and shove it back in place before bothering to come to the hospital, because it will hurt less before it starts swelling. Ugh, I don't know if I can do that so I'm just very careful with that knee. DT

Well 1in =approx 2.54 cm, so a 4' staff would be around 122cm... DT

True about the awkward shape and weight. Then again, if I was the kind of person who frequented bars [or other locations with pool tables], I might spend some of my time practicing my Bo work with the pool cue. That's assuming I did any Bo work of course. I haven't started any weapons training yet. Soon I hope! You could also practice escrima [which I'd love to learn! ], and break the pool cue in half also! Hehe. But sword practice could also definitely come in handy. DT

You know, for the bar-room stuff, not one person came up with using a pool Cue. [someone mentioned the pool balls though]. If you are familiar with a Bo, I'd imagine the pool cue would be quite dangerous in your hands. Just ignore the fact that it's a horrible movie fight cliche weapon. DT

Actually it's more like a cluster of weapons with a vehicle attached. DT

Awesome! Yeah let me know what you think, and I'll see if my brother is interested enough to go to Midland to learn. DT

That's where style differences come in. you will not see a boxer, thai boxer, etc. straighten the leg. power is generated from the waist, not the ground. For some things yes, but for other things, it is good to have your heel planted. For instance in a technique we learn against a two-handed push, one of the steps is a punch to the sternum/chest to stop their forward motion. If you don't have your rear heel planted, you just as likely to get bowled-over than stop the attackers motion. But if your heel is solidly planted, [assuming the rest of you is lined up properly] they are stopped quite effectively. There are times to keep your heel planted, and times to not do so. But it is a useful thing to learn and get used to. DT

Oooh, I don't know if there's anything in the Midland/Odessa [we prefer "Oddland" to "Midessa" I grew up in Slodetha...], but if you do find anything, PLEASE let me know. My brother is still in high-school in Odessa, and I took him to my Kenpo class this summer and he really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the only thing I've found in Odessa is the TKD stuff [Nunez] and a Tuk Sool Won [i think] place which seemed like a TKD variation with a lot of weapons [and a not-quite believable background story ]. We had a guy come into our school for one class that had gotten his Black-belt in Midland. I don't think it was a school though, just a guy teaching out of his garage, and this fellow didn't know if they were still there. He had gotten is BB years and years ago, and he hasn't been back to our class anyway. Good luck finding it though!. DT

Well that is a possibility, but if he were going for good media attention, I'd like to think he might have come up with something better than " I kicked one in the chin, the rest ran away". DT

Gee, I guess this Karate thing really works hehe http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3589662&thesection=news&thesubsection=general Seriously though, it's nice to know that it's at least not completely useless in a street situation. DT

Very good post Shorin Ryuu. While I'm hardly into any serious advanced theory, my instructer has from the beginning stressed that we need to be relaxed at all times, until the point of impact [or piercing if you will], and then must again be relaxed. If you are not relaxed, your muscles are tightened. It is very difficult to move fast if all your muscles are tightened. Since part of your power is due to speed [in addition to body position, technique etc] this does make quite a difference. If your muscles are tight, in order to move, you must first relax them. He has us tighten all of our muscles. Arms, neck, back, stomache, legs, feet, fists. Tight, tight, tight. Then tells us to punch as quickly as possible. It's just not feasible. Sure we can punch, but even at my level, it is obviously slower and more difficult than punching from a relaxed state. Of course, this is an extreme example of the effect, but an effective example [no pun intendid] nonetheless. DT

I'd been wondering about that. I am still using the Gi I got for signing up, and it's ok, but I'd really like to get a decent Gi soon. But I'm worried about spending all that money only to have it shrink on me. Is it typical to get a Gi that's a size too large to accommodate any shrinkage? I also worry about getting it too big, and with my luck, not shrinking enough so I end up looking like a kid wearing his father's clothes. Maybe I worry too much. But any advice would be welcomed. DT

Happy to hear you saw the light DT

Of course it's all *. But there's always a part of me that wishes I had the $ to blow on something like this just to see what scam he's pulling, what kind of * files he'll send you; and also to be able to track his butt down and give him a reason to sweat away the time in his house for scamming people... Ah well, I guess I'll just have to settle for sitting here thinking, what a load of crap. DT

Hopefully, this is in the correct forum, since this MIGHT also fit under "Comparative Styles", but I think it is of a non-comparative enough nature that this is better.... There are obviously no shortage of topics regarding what styles everyone thinks are best, but I'd like to take another approach. There are certainly no "perfect" styles, and one person can excel at a style that another person might not be able to figure out at all. What I'd be interested in seeing, is for your preferred style(s), what are 1 or 2 things that you like best about them, and what are 1 or 2 things that you think could be improved, or that you think your style is perhaps lacking. Please remember, I'm not asking why you think it's better than another style, just give a couple aspects that you think are good or that could use improvement. Keep in mind of course, that other schools/dojo's might already implement some of these things, so please specify if you think it's a lack of your entire style, or perhaps just of the school you're learning from. Oh, and if you think you can get away with saying there are NO shortcomings to your style, you're full of **** NONE of them are or ever will be perfect. I guess it's only fair for me to start. My preferred style [so far] is of course Kenpo. In my case it's American Kenpo, based on that of Ed Parker. What's Good: 1. Fast hand-speed: Good lord the high-level guys can hit you a lot, and they all hurt. 2. Fairly solid focus on real-world self-defense: Perhaps not as "pure" as NHB practice, but it does focus a lot on street defense, especially at my dojo since the instructor used his Kenpo as a cop for 11 years. And as you progress in belt-level, it builds on the original "book form" techniques to encompass all the imperfections of real-world fighting. What needs help: 1. Lack of ground-work/grappling. We do a tiny bit, but not really enough. Of course, quite a few schools to teach BJJ as a supplement [wish mine did]. 2. Lack of recognition. Seems like more people here are familiar with esoteric stuff I've never heard of than are familiar with Kenpo, which surprises me as Mr Parker was such a huge influence [for better or for worse] on Martial Arts in the US. Between famous students such as Elvis, Darrin McGavin, George Hamilton, Warren Beatty etc. And also had influences on Chuck Norris and yes, even Bruce Lee. Mr Parker started the International Karate Tournament which is where Bruce Lee first demonstrated his abilities to a large audience. Anyway, that's my take in Kenpo... I'm interested in hearing what everyone has to say about their preferred style. DT PS. In a previous post I stated my instructor was a cop for 20 years. That was a goof on my part, and not an aspect of me being full of **it. He's done Kenpo for 20 years, and was a cop for 11.

Go Kenpo! DT

I do believe that using videos/books as a supplement to your work at the dojo is extremely useful, perhaps even a recommended practice. I do NOT however believe that it is reasonable to rely on distance-learning as your only exposure to a MA. I can't imagine trying to learn all these techniqes without the feeling of doing it on someone, or having it done to you by someone who knows the technique better than I do. Not to mention the frequency with which I feel like I'm doing something correctly, only to be told I'm not, and having my instructor [or even fellow student], make a minor adjustment in my technique which brings about even more power, speed and understanding. That's just something that a book & video can never be capable of doing. There are of course other places that claim to have complete distance-learning courses to get your blackbelt. I'm sorry to say that one of them is even in Kenpo, sold by a guy in Dallas named Adrian "Chief" Roman. For the low-low price of $995 [!!!] you get the videos, books and a black-belt & certificate. It is of course on your "honor" that you will complete the course properly before wearing the BB and presenting yourself as such. I can't really comment on the quality of what is contained in the video's themselves. Hell, they may very well be excellent training videos; but the way it is presented really reeks of * if you ask me. DT

I have not experienced any racism or sexism at either of the schools I have attended; however this thread has made me realize that almost everyone in my school is white. I hadn't really noticed that before. I guess we need to go find some other races before someone thinks we ARE racist "aryan wannabe's" !!! I would certainly not tolerate any racism/sexism in our dojo. If I could not stop it, or if the instructors were involved, I would not hesitate to leave immediately. Even if it was the only dojo available, I would rather not train, than be with anyone like that [the racists, not the other races ] DT

Welcome. If you are looking for self-defense stuff, you might also look into Kenpo. It's much geared towards self-defense and defense against multiple attackers [although that's a bit advanced ] I've only been studying Kenpo for a few months and I do feel much more comfortable with my abililty to handle a street situation [not ready to handle another trained martial artist yet though.] There are a fair number of schools in the UK, although I don't know if any are near where you are. My advice would be that choosing the right school is as important as finding the right style. A good style can be ruined by a bad school. A lot of others here seem to really push Muay Tai and Krav-maga for self-defense. And although my school unfortunately doesn't offer it, BJJ [brazilian Jujitsu/Gracie Jujitsu] is often used to round off the training in case the fight ends up on the ground [often very likely].