parkerlineage

Okay, I don't claim to know jack...but isn't a katana a two-handed weapon?

Looks awesome - cheaper than the one I was going to go with, too. Another question, if you (or any of you other 77 people who have looked at this care to actually say something) happen to know - how long should my blade be? I'm 6' 6"...so I'm assuming I need a fairly long one... Peace; Parkerlineage

Random crazy thought I just realized - I could be a fourth dan by 25. Anywho...

It seems like the general concensus (of outsiders) would be that a man should not fight a woman. Granted, they are generally built smaller and weaker than us - but, as others have said, an attacker is an attacker. I would do what was neccissary to be done to eliminate the threat - whether that could be solved with a simple lock/takedown or not. Peace; Parkerlineage

Congrats! What do you have to do to get a stripe in your dojo?

We have tigers and dragons. No peacocks. I tried looking around for you, but couldn't find anything. Sorry, man. Peace; parkerlineage

I know...everybody hates me. They didn't answer me on the Chinese forum, either. But thank you for your advice. At least somebody cares about me. I shall try to keep that in mind. Being a semi-hardstyle martial artist, I found myself wanting to really power the blade through all the cuts and strikes, but I'm getting over that. Thanks; parkerlineage

I hold no rank in either kung-fu or jujitsu. I train on occasion with an 8th Dan in kung fu, and an 8th Dan in jujitsu, but I don't pay them the official going rate or come to classes regularly, so I have no rank. My instructor swaps ideas with them on occasion as well, so we have limited mix of all three (more jujitsu than kung fu, since American Kenpo has very few throws/grappling). As a double, I also meant that American Kenpo comes from those three arts, which is why I also choose to train a bit in them - to see my roots. And I think our discussion of the upward block can be applied to a lot of things...many if not most strikes have multiple power principles. Peace; Parkerlineage

There are tons of threads very similar to this one. All I'll say for here is that you should try to keep your cool, do whatever Aodhan suggested, and move fast. Peace; Parkerlineage PS. Ha ha! Sorry, I've just always wanted to do that whenever I answer these things. I'm 6' 6"...and I have good technique!

Shoot them. Though, I like the triple backflip idea, germandrache. Seriously, though, I would strike the biggest guy (you know there's going to be more than one) as hard as I could in the face/chest/groin with whatever came to mind and was most effective, kiai as loud as I freaking could, and then move on to the slowest while the rest of them run, or proceed to the fastest/next biggest if they start moving in. As a general, prayerful rule, if you take down the big guy, the rest will think twice. We hope. If not, you may end up having to beat them all up, instead. Peace; Parkerlineage

Congrats! Keep working...it's only the beginning...all the cliche stuff everybody else will say. Keep having fun, whatever you chose to do! Maybe learn a bit, too. Peace; Parkerlineage

Ong Bok looked awesome...never got to see it, though. The best martial arts movie I've seen was Shanghai Knights, but only because it was funny. As a general rule, martial arts movies *cough* suck. Oh, good example: That one with VanDummb and his four split kick in a row thing against some big Malaysian? guy in a little 'underground' fight ring. He makes me mad..."Look, I can do the splits...I must be a great karate master..."

We generally don't teach lower ranks weapons. However, we had a little summer camp thing, and one of the things we did was teach a multitude (five) of weapons kata. My conclusion from watching the kids is that rank doesn't mean a lot, sometimes. Some of the yellow belts (9th kyu) were great with the nunchaku - others...eh. There was an orange belt (8th kyu) who was probably the best beginner with sai I've seen. Conversely, there were green belts (4th kyu) that made me want to cry with their kata, and not because they were so great. I think it depends on the student, the art, and the instructor. Rank might make it easier, though - I can learn new weapons kata like they're nothing, now - something I couldn't do as a younger student/lower rank. Peace; Parkerlineage[/i]

Karate25: Aha. Kind of more like...gravitational divorce, right? (hehe) I still say it's rotation primarily, but I suppose I see your point, as well. scottnshelly: Application of techniques in 6 at the end? The majority of the last techinques are gun techniques, and good ones, at that. I'll do the last three techniques - tell me if you need more (I can't recall their names, sorry). Third to Last: This is for a gun attack from behind, as your video may have told you. The technique teaches/reinforces one of the basic principles of fighting a gun, which is get the heck out of the way! It also teaches the immediate need to destroy the weapon arm with the arm break. It then goes on to address the need to take/control the weapon through the grab, and then gives a few examples of things you can do with it (other than just shoot the guy). Second to Last: This is for a gun attack from the front, and again addresses the need to control the weapon with the parry/hook, this time trading the weapons destruction for a pacifier (the eyestrike). The kick to the knee and drop correllate with the converse of the first law of Kenpo (create a base), which is to eliminate your opponent's base. The further control of the gun also shows the option of moving them rather than yourself (applied in other techniques as well), and then again, the technique offers strikes with the gun barrel/handle. Last: Gun attack from the side. This one completes the family of you move/they move/ with you both move, by dodging and parrying at the same time. This is followed by immediate control of the gun, as usual. However, this time, they start backing away...hence, you chase them down (the steps) to maintain control - a new, and other very important principle for fighting guns - don't stop once you're in. This is followed by a very nice throw, and then, an interesting eyestrike that I've never seen anywhere else (in Kenpo). The crazy circly hand movements at the very end are showing the breakdown and reversal of circles, and how they relate to one another. They are the beginning of the first and last techniques as well, kind of tying it all together nicely. Again, one of our hand isolations - there's one in every kata after the various sets (hand/finger, block, strike, kicking) are through...though I'm not sure where it is in 5...I'm guessing Circling the Horizon. Hope that helps, and, to answer your question about whether those forms are important to development, I have two answers. The good, traditionalist student answer: If they weren't, would Parker have made them? The other one: Good principles, yes. Good practice, yes. Good for physical and mental excercise, yes. But so are the techniques. And you're going to have a heck of a time getting people to attack you from the right angles and the right strikes for you to do Long Form 6 on all of them. Peace; Parkerlineage

tsdtony: What is your experience in seeing Ed Parker's Kenpo? I would have to assume it is limited, since one of our major points are the three body mechanics and how they relate to every single strike/block. EndlessDave: I can't say I've ever heard of Nick Ceiro's Kenpo - okay, I've heard of it...the name is familiar...but I can't place it. Of course, I advocate sticking with Parker, but in any event, I'm sure it's close enough. We have techniques for all those as well...I think that Kenpo is stree effective...tell me, whomever said it first - is not a punch easier to land than an eye-gouge? I wouldn't say they're totally useless 'in the ring'...you can adapt principles for what needs to be done...but, Ceiro or Parker...keep advocating our style, my man (I assume). Muaythaiboxer: Whomever you saw practiced light contact. Do not assume it is that way for the rest of us. What rank were these people, for one thing? In my dojo, at the brown/black belt level, we throw punches that knock people back four feet, kicks that drop 350 pound guys to their knees (well, I do), and blows that leave men's heads ringing the next day. And that's using control... Not to criticize kickboxing at all! I'm sure if one of them kicked someone in the head, the fight would be over. Just defending my art in its right. Peace; Parkerlineage

Thanks for the thoughts, guys... If you do end up fighting, there are always ways you can control the amount of damage done, which is more likely what I would do. You don't have to axe kick the guy's collar bone into oblivion when you can armbar or wristlock him and hold him down until he gives up. However, I would take Master Parker's advice (I don't know if he meant exactly in this instance, but...) and never leave your opponent on his feet. Armbar/wristlock/whatever...talk him down, then kick his legs out and get the monkey out of there. Peace; Parkerlineage

No, I haven't, but now I'm going to...thanks. Parkerlineage

Me, too! I always tell adults not to call me that, but they insist on doing it! Going back into my little corner, now... Parkerlineage

Figure out some sort of agreement with them...trade something for instruction...whether it be something like janitorial work...or...something else. I'm going to be instructing at the college I'm going to, and I plan to be ready to make all sorts of arrangements with people... Peace; Parkerlineage

IMHO, the sai would be the best weapon to begin with. It fits the Kenpo forms and system (I'm assuming we're talking about the same or similar Kenpo), as it is like having a third segment of your arm. My instructor put it to Short Form 2, and I added a version for Long Form 2 in our dojo (which my instructor approved, so it's good). You can use them in all the forms, though the 1's are pretty lame. Peace; Parkerlineage

Gravitational Marriage - The body in line with the strike on a vertical plane Gravitational marriage in Short 1 and Long 1? Where? I'm not seeing it...

In resopnse to point sparring, we do in tournaments, but in class...I don't know what you'd call it. Kind of a cross between point and continuous. More like...oh, I don't know, I'll just describe it. When we are at the advanced rank we are (the majority of the advanced class are high brown and low black belts), we use our judgement as to what is a good shot. Little hits that can be shrugged off are generally disregarded. You fight and keep hitting until somebody scores a hit that leaves you short of breath, or your ears ringing, or something like that...or that would have been devastating in a fight had you not been wearing protective gear. Of course, it's all subject to who's fighting whom. You fight smaller guys who can take less, more stuff counts. You fight big guys who's legs weigh as much as I do (probably not), you sure as heck better hit them a whole lot, and hard. I'll leave you guys to classify that. Peace; Parkerlineage

Kempo and Kenpo are the same thing - Kempo is the litteral translation from the Kanji. Chuan Fa is Chinese. Kenpo also doesn't have a whole lot of ground fighting techniques, so I don't think that would be an issue. Peace; Parkerlineage

I've been thinking about this since I started posting on this forum...it seems that the most common concensus is that we should not use our arts to fight people. While I certainly condemn looking for fights, it sounds as though most people say that you should try to talk your way out of a fight, even take a few hits, rather than do anything. I don't think I would wait around to get sucker-punched by the guy in front of me while his two buddies come up behind to kick in my skull while I'm laying on the ground. If I get into a situation that I find dangerous, and talking fails after a few seconds, you better believe I'm going to employ the martial part of my art on whomever is asking for it. So, my question is, are we throwing punches in the dojo because they look pretty, and reaching "inner peace" so we can try to babble our way out of fighting, or are we training to remove ourselves (or, more accurately, our opponents) from dangerous situations?

My three cents would be wushu. What little I've done of it seemed pretty acrobatic to me.