Does anyone know any good tournament forms? No weapon forms, I’m already doing a creative Kama form.

What I'm wondering is how would you change the training method to make the techniques from kenpo be more useful? For example it seems like now days people often have to take a wrestling/bjj/judo class for kenpo grappling to work, a kickboxing/muay thai class for kenpo striking to be more effective or effective for continuous fighting.

How would you run classes so that someone could just take kenpo and be good at long distance striking, clinch range, basic throws and sweeps, and maybe ground and pound?

Would you get rid of kata or make it more kata focused?
Do self defense technique drills?
More sparring focus?
Change the type of sparring?
Drills that translate to sparring?
Add judo or bjj style randori/rolling?
Or would you not change it at all?
(Also I'm not saying it's not already effective, I like how my instructor teaches, but I have seen a lot of kenpo schools not be effective).

Hello everyone. I wanted to start a conversation with those of you who do Kempo, of any style.

Anytime I see Kempo being performed, regardless of style, the one thing I see consistently is that it seems Kempo adheres to the philosophy of overwhelming the opponent with strikes.

i.e. Overwhelm this guy with a high volume of extremely fast, explosive strikes in numerous succession.

In the style of Karate I practice, there is a heavy emphasis on Ikken Hisatsu -- or one punch one kill (not in a literal sense)

i.e. I want to hit this guy so hard ideally I need only a few strikes at best.

If I had to use an analogy, it would seem traditional Japanese and Okinawan Karate is like a deer slug, or a 50. Cal. I pull the trigger once, twice, MAYBE three times and the job is done.

Whereas I feel like Kempo is a gun shooting .22s or birdshot on automatic.

Obviously I wouldn't want to get hit with either, but wouldn't it seem the first option would be preferable? At the very least in terms of energy output?

Please keep in mind I ask this in good faith and am by no means trying to criticize Kempo. I don't know a whole lot about Kempo so I could very well be mistaken. It's just something I noticed consistently anytime I watch Kempo being performed.

Any thoughts? Again I mean no insult or criticism.

Thank you.

Where should I start reading, the first infinite insight book or the encyclopedia by ed Parker?

Bottom line up front. I would really like it if someone could help me with finding a copy of the older AIKKA kenpo syllabus. I have a version that goes through two brown belts. I don't know if they had a third (it seems likely they did). Anything you have would be helpful, especially any of the requirements for shodan and above.

Before you start with "Just ask your instructor", I did. He's in Alaska, and I am far away in Texas. He's a sweet man, but isn't very responsive to that sort of thing. Technology is not his forte.

I would really just like to know how they had it structured for my own benefit, so I can see where I can take my studies as I keep learning.

Hello everyone! After quite some time that I have been practicing MMA and other combat sports I wanted to go back to my roots. Which would be karate. But I wanted something that had both full contact sparring and pressure testing and be more traditional at the same time.

After some research I found a school that does MMA, BJJ and Kenpo. I then thought "Great! Since they do ΜΜΑ and BJJ they will for sure spar". But when I contacted the school they said that they don't have classes us of now. Maybe they will have in September but right now I can only have private lessons.

What do you think of this? Should I bother? Obviously if in September they have enough people to make a class I will join but just in case that doesn't happen do you think I should start the private lessons or look elsewhere? (elsewhere meaning in another karate style since only that school does Kenpo in my city)

Thank you all for your answers in advance!!!

Has anyone had any experience with this? If so, what is it like? Do you learn online

Trying to find some American (Parker) Kenpo Schools for a while now, and it isnt an easy thing to do, even here in Western Sydney. Whats worse is that I will be moving away from Western Sydney and back out to the Country where pretty much most of anything is not available.

When I previously lived on the Central Coast I trained to Blue Belt, but its been a while. I have a huge Parker Kenpo library that I have collected over the years, but its hard to train reading these; not to mention its impossible to be graded by a book.

Looking for Kenpo Practitioners (even better a Black Belt willing to teach) in the Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Coffs Harbour area?

I have a feeling it is an almost impossible request... I can only ask and hope for the best.

Cheers

Where can I find videos that show the american kenpo principle of "simultaneous attack and defense?" I've heard that one of the key traits of american kenpo is that many techniques combine offense and defense in a single move. Where can I find videos of this principle in action?

Just wanted to post here in case anyone knew him... GrandMaster Dennis Tosten, 10th dan, passed away this morning. He was one of the founders of Amerikick, a Kenpo Karate org based out of the Philly area. Many of my instructors were trained by him, and I had the pleasure of taking a few classes from him myself when I was younger. His teachings had a huge impact on my life, and I'll always be grateful for it. RIP Sensei...

https://www.facebook.com/100063542561867/posts/586923903435690/?flite=scwspnss&mibextid=S3bKfMw3fRQBOTXc

How would I go about searching for a studio near me? I earned my 1st degree brown belt back in the late 90s but never had the chance to test for black. Lately I’ve been thinking about getting back into studying for it but I don’t know how to find a place to learn. Every website seems lacking or out of date. And I’ve just gone to random websites of nearby karate places to see what styles are offered but that’s time consuming. Is there a way to search?

Tracy’s

Villari/ Shaolin Kempo

Karate Connection

White Tiger Kenpo

Kosho ryu

Nick Cerio’s Kenpo Karate

Karazenpo

Kajukenbo

Lima Lama

????

Something like that?

I don’t just mean this sub. I mean in general too.

Agree or disagree?

/martialarts had a poll 21 days ago about who would be willing to compete if reddit ever held a tournament. There were a lot of people down to compete so I figure let's actually make it happen!

I run a martial arts group in NYC, we are about to start doing monthly hard sparring day again and I thought that would make for a great environment for the qualifiers. My Idea is to have two hopefuls spar three special* 2 minute rounds and the 'winner' moves on to the tournament, do this for the next three months and have the tournament be around July.

There will be people with extended grappling and striking experience present to supervise, the locale will be a grappling school in Astoria, though the actual tournament might be held somewhere else. Obviously this is not a sanctioned event and no pros will be allowed to compete, certain protection will have to be worn, and liable forms will have to be signed. Weight classes will probably by divided into 3 divisions. If you are interested and/or have any questions just send me a message or chat. Hope to see some of you there!

It'd be a novice level Tournament, so no 'veteran' level fighters (more than 10 fights, any martial art tournament counts as 1 fight) or pro fighters.

Absolute rules are as follows: (no strikes to the back of the head allowed, no elbows unless both agree and have elbow pads, no knees to the face, no ground and pound, no twisting leg locks, no spine locks, no groin strikes, no eyepokes, no slamming, no spiking people on their head/neck, no jumping guard, no scissors throw, no oblique kick to the leg)

Fight format will be as followed: Three 2 minute rounds. First round is called Style Wars, you are to adhere as much as possible to the ruleset/strikes of your respective martial art (sans the ones that were already stablished as not allowed in the absolute rules) the one who veers the most away from their style is the loser of the round. No finishes, must go the full 2 minutes.

Second round is the Wild Card round, chance will decide what rules you will both fight under. The one who sticks the most to the style wins the round. Finish depends on the ruleset, E.g. if Judo ruleset is stablished then if you get an Ippon you win the round.

Third round is an MMA round. The one who dominates wins the round. Finishes allowed via TKO at referees discretion, tap, or verbal tap.

It will be full contact "friendly" sparring essentially, so no trying to knock out or damage your opponent if he is already compromised (there will be a referee to make sure). Gear at minimum will be gloves (at least 12 oz), shinguards, groin cup, mouth guard, and headgear up to the individual.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Just interested on the opinions of what people think the benefits/drawbacks to this kind of competitive ruleset.

View Poll

I've heard that male Kenpoists tie their belts to the left and female Kenpoists tie their belts to the right, because their Chi is stronger on those sides or something. Where do nonbinary Kenpoists tie their belts? Would they have to tie their belts in the middle?