i've been reading alot of threads about kenpo in mma 'and kenpo cross training.why is kenpo not big in the mma fight scene and why are kenpo fighters not sucsessfull in the arena.training and aplication .firstly a lot of kenpo clubs don't spar and if they do it is more for cardio and recreation, most kenpo instructors don't understand the complexity's of mma fighting or their training method's .many kenpo clubs don't have a ground system in place ,leading students to cross train to gain the skills ,therfor not being pure breed kenpo practitioners when they enter the arena,you must also realise kenpo is a street system ,many techniques and principles would not be aloud in the arena.how can we change this as students and instructors.if you are a student speak to your instructor get him to go on a course or work out his own fighting system ,if you are a instructor ,in this day and age you would be a fool not to diversify as it is what the public want ,if you want a sucsessful club then you must do what parker wanted and change with the times ,and times have changed.every magazine ,every program ,mma fighting, nhb fighting , pride ,cage rage ,k1 ,ufc they go on .(and on and on ),it don't take long, most instructors have the skills ,work on it as a group ,it's fun ,great group bonding.i have been persicuted by my art for the changes i have made ,i have been disrespected ,and people have tryed to dicredit my system, the funny thing is ,i don't see them out there changeing things or pushing boundaries,just stagnateing in their own clubs feeling comfy on their pedistals. big fish in small ponds.i still teach american kenpo in a traditional manner ,but i also have my kenpo fighting system schools ,it has been great fun developeing ,and experienceing all the arts that have helped my changes . so next time you are asked why kenpo ain't so big in the mma world "if it's so good " or "if it's so effective"then instead of saying it's not our thing 'think of what parker wanted and evolve with the times .this is what parker said. "when i am gone ,i hope that people won't try to traditionalise my art,i want you to always remember that kenpo will always be the art of perpetual change.if you remember this then the art will never become obsolete,because it will change with the times." the imortal words of our late senior master ed parker matt kenpo fighting system
-The reality is that most kenpo instructors see very little reason to make the changes and come out of their comfort zones. American kenpo is a very effective, street-oriented martial art. I do believe that like all systems it should continue to grow and expand and could truly benefit from the addition of ground fighting and submission grappling skills. However, for the interests of a school owner, there is not a lot of incentive to expand into this. -A potential student, or the parent of one if regarding a child, cares little if nothing of MMA victories or which style wins in competition of any type. They care about what are you going to do for them or their child. They care what values and benefits they are going to get out of their training and their experience with your school. Even self-defense is not a main selling point, but a side benefit. As far as they (or their child) being able to protect themselves against a typical attacker on the street, which is their main concern in this regard, a kenpo instructor can in good conscience tell them that they teach a good street-oriented system (obviously no matter how good the system works, this is effected by how good you work the system). -Though there are many MMA fans on this forum, the general public is not really influenced by the sport. In fact, the ones who are MMA fans are usually young guys who are financially insecure and not stable enough in there own lives to be a good potential student anyhow. Of course there are many exceptions to this, but for the most part, the people who are influenced to come into my school that tell me they were influenced to start training by watching UFC, Pride, K-1, ect. makes me cringe. Not because I fear them being an "educated consumer"(I could easily try to market to these guys myself, Frank Shamrock has trained at one of our schools for the last several years, and Scott Coker, the head of K-1USA is one of our most senior black belts), but because at least the majority who come in this way are not really that committed and often can not afford lessons either. -The vast majority of instructors who have adapted and expanded their cirriculum to encompass an expansion of their art/system to include strategies and techniques from full contact and NHB competitions are the ones who do it more for themselves and to expand their art, rather than to increase their student base or their income. These same instructors basically leave this more for their advanced students seeing as how they are usually the only ones who are both in the physical and mental shape for this and have the indomitable spirit to keep coming back again after taking the pounding and damage that can often occur with this type of training. In my experience, this is one of the major reasons that the 20-ish pseudo tough guy is usually gone so quickly. He wanted to pound on someone. He didn't want to make the effort or take the punishment that goes along with becoming really good in these sports. In other words, most want a victim, not to be played with by a more experienced fighter or be 'spanked' by one if he gets a little too out of control.
kenpo hi yes i can condense what i feel about my system,but then i would only be doing what most instructors have done to this art "condense it " to make it more edible to consumers.that is why in the uk it is in such a sorry state. i still run my junior classes as american kenpo .( all together we have over 200 in 7 clubs)i also have a adult american kenpo school .its not only about mma ,look at athos of american kenpo tiaji ,a great bloke ,great adaptions .i consider him a freind. its about exploreing possibilitys in kenpo and liveing upto parkers dream of evolveing and proggressing.and the individuals dreams of finding a school that is different ,in someway special .an instructor who don't teach what he has been taught without thought or exploration.an instructors that pushes students to persue peronal goals and develope their individual skills. that to me is kenpo ,i have just taken my path ,athos took his , i took the mma route because i think kenpo if developed has hughe potential in this area as all areas ,athos internalised his with great sucsess. i found what i consider to be the best base system in the world ,and have just added some different concepts and ideas.i have had a good reseption from students .each scool has opened with no less than 12 adult students and i have not lost any yet ,so i am happy cos my students are happy.i only have adult k.f.s classes.
The way it is taught is the problem. As some said, they condinse the training. In my training, around every three weeks we spar. There is also a traditional training concept we use called bunkai, in which we learn self defence from our katas,and train our instincts so we can feel, not think in a fight, but we do nothing that has to do with sport accept sparring. Also I feel that the standards of contact that some traditional students have are thrown out the window once they enter the ring. That happened to me when I entered a sparring tournament. I let my instincts flow like a real fight at first, then I realized that I had to lower my standard of contact. Then, I lost. Bottom line- some practitioners aren't used to controlled fighting.
kenpo the main problems as i see it are for street as anything experience is paramount ,how many instructors of so called street arts have any street experience,have they worked the door or do they socialise in public places were incidents happen, are they police or military ect ,were do they get this street experience ???. otherwise it's just theory ,useualy poor theory . and for mma or freefight ,sport karate ect. they try to place street princples and concepts in the ring ,or traditional dojo arts to the same . it don't work . i'm not saying barriors don't cross as we all know they do,but these are all specalist fields. my field is extreme street with a bit of mma,i have a interest in the extreme, and mma is extreme ,so is street .some have a interest traditional and theory based arts ,i just wish people would stick to teaching what they specialise in . this is where damage is done to arts ,and people say that certain arts are crap or none effective ,they are effective in their field ,as instructors we have a responsability to our chosen arts to maintain standards and portray our arts correctly.
Some arts just don’t believe in competition. That doesn’t mean they don’t practice full contact. Arts that are structured around self development centre the contest on oneself and see competing as promoting self centred people. Another problem is that people can start to feel they are only worth something while they are winning, once they become older and start to lose they become just another has been, what use then is training if the reason you trained was to be a champion On a technical level competition leads people to train only in the techniques that will serve them well in competition, these are not always the ones that are best for self-defence. All competition has rules and these rules shape the way people train. Earlier this century there was a Japanese Judo club that thought that Karate would be better. They started train in this and as time went by they thought the training methods were not that real. They then made a competition, it was sort of a knock down competition where the exponents wore body armourer for protection. This moved them to techniques that favoured big strong wrestlers that could grab the opponent and throw them to the ground. They then decided to change back to Judo! In Shorinji Kempo we practice randori, but not to win or beat your partner, just as an educational tool. Randori can be structured a number of ways, it depends on the area that you trying to develop. It can be done with protection, without protection, light, heavy or limited in some way e.g. one side attack only, or no kicks.
kenpo hi my main point is all about horses for courses,to many instructors try to teach what the don't understand ,like i teach extreme street but i also like my student to experience the speed and presure ect of free fight ,they don't have to compete . in my art kenpo fighting system, the emphasis is on street,self protection that is my thing ,but i also have some experience of fight sport, my street benifited from free fight .so i teach free fight ,also don't get mixed up with mma and fight sport ,mma ain't nesecaraly fight sport ,mma is what it is mixed martial arts,i don't compete to win, i compete to test myself. i hate it when you go to a club (and i travel a lot ) and see instructors teaching quite clearly what they don't understand,and inexperienced students believeing in what he/she says.i don't teach kata ect as i have little understanding of it ,i never got it . it's like pre set techniques are good to learn nuts and bolts,and get a basic understanding of the workings of physics /anatomy ect ,get the motion working . but random attack techniques are there to build reaction /timeing /speed /distance ect the list goes on. a pre emted attack technique will in the long run teach you to pre emt,pre emt on the street and it's over.free fight helps with ramdomiseing like any free sparring drill ,just more range. most of the time trad arts and some of the modern stuff try to use logic , how many street fights or confrontations you,ve had are logical, i aint met many violent agressors and drunken yobs that are to logical . it can sometimes end in pain, cheers matt
Hi Mat, Yes, your absolutely right, horses for courses. It would be dead boring world if we all did or thought the same thing Martial Arts offers a diverse realm of experiences to suit most needs. From a training stand point many people overestimate the importance of sparing. There can be no doubt that it is a vital learning tool; but there needs to be some skill development first otherwise the pressure forces students to revert to base instincts like moving away from the attacker or just plain ineffective technique. The idea should be to develop peoples skills through the use of systematic training methods otherwise you just go through a culling procedure; the ones that have natural ability will stay while the ones that are probably in the most need of the training will stop coming because they keep getting the crap beaten out of them. Any decent martial art should be good for street self defence, after all that’s what they were originally designed for. Although as time has changed the societies we live there have been changes in what is needed from the arts. By that I mean that as society has become safer there has been less emphasis on effective self defence and more on self development, as it has been needed more. I believe that even some of the more developmental traditional arts could be reverted back easily by changing the training methods. When it comes to Kata I’m lucky as Shorinji Kempo has only a few. They are important methods of learning how to combine techniques and to move. We focus more on training in pairs and use a number of ways to bridge the gap between rehearsed movement to totally free attack and defence. One such technique is the addition of Ran Han Ko; this is where the defender uses a set technique at the start of their defence and finishes with something of their own. This forces the attacker into defending against a partially known and partially unknown response. There are many ways we develop students so that eventually they can partake in free randori with some degree of effectiveness and safety.
