Flashing Dagger
04-Jan-2004, 02:27 AM
Salute to everyone.
The style of Kenpo that I study here in Ohio, USA is founded on Tracy's kenpo but blended with the ideas of Mr. Parker's American Kenpo. I'm guessing that other Kenpo/Kempo people here on this forum have a similar amount of material to learn for each rank progression. We have 30 techniques per belt along with forms and sets. In Tracy kenpo many of these techniques contain up to 4 or 5 variations of the same technique, so actually we are learning more than 30 techniques per belt.
That makes for alot of techniques with names and variatons when you get into the upper levels of the art. But one of our primary goals in learning techniques is to "internalize" kenpo, or make certain principles of motion part of our muscular memory. When confronted with a shoulder grab on the right flank we would not be able to take the time to mentally check our technique list in order to come up with the right response.
I guess that we need to just have faith in the process of repitition. I am trying to extract the essentials from the art and find the simplicity in all of the sophistication. But it takes faith in the art in order to subjecty ourselves to such repitition, right?
My instructor says that when I am becoming bored with a technique, then I should do it until I feel like I am going to drop from exhaustion. Then I should do the technique 50 times more. Do that for a year with all of my techniques and then I will have internalized kenpo.
Is it really that simple? What does everyone think?
Salute
-Flashing Dagger
The style of Kenpo that I study here in Ohio, USA is founded on Tracy's kenpo but blended with the ideas of Mr. Parker's American Kenpo. I'm guessing that other Kenpo/Kempo people here on this forum have a similar amount of material to learn for each rank progression. We have 30 techniques per belt along with forms and sets. In Tracy kenpo many of these techniques contain up to 4 or 5 variations of the same technique, so actually we are learning more than 30 techniques per belt.
That makes for alot of techniques with names and variatons when you get into the upper levels of the art. But one of our primary goals in learning techniques is to "internalize" kenpo, or make certain principles of motion part of our muscular memory. When confronted with a shoulder grab on the right flank we would not be able to take the time to mentally check our technique list in order to come up with the right response.
I guess that we need to just have faith in the process of repitition. I am trying to extract the essentials from the art and find the simplicity in all of the sophistication. But it takes faith in the art in order to subjecty ourselves to such repitition, right?
My instructor says that when I am becoming bored with a technique, then I should do it until I feel like I am going to drop from exhaustion. Then I should do the technique 50 times more. Do that for a year with all of my techniques and then I will have internalized kenpo.
Is it really that simple? What does everyone think?
Salute
-Flashing Dagger