Mr. Tom Bleeker on the value of studying the forms

(from a discussion on Facebook regarding if studying the forms is a waste of time instead of just learning how to fight)

I recall the words of Mike Pick, who said that if all you want to do is learn how to fight and be tough, you don't have to spend years studying the martial arts. All you have to do is walk up to the toughest guy in your neighborhood and spit in his face. And when you're mended, go back and do that again. And you'll get tough in a big hurry. Moreover, Ed Parker once pointed out that there are two aspects of the martial arts - the martial side and the art side - and that the person who doesn't understand the art will never understand the martial. In my experience, the best martial artists have been those who are well-rounded and are equally adept in both the martial and the art; prime examples being Ed Parker and Frank Trejo. I've often stated that if all I wanted was to be tough, I've wasted a lot of time studying the martial arts, given the few physical encounters I've had over the past nearly six decades. Imagine how good my golf or tennis games would be had I spent all those thousands of hours I spent on the mats on the golf links or tennis courts.

Mr. Tatum on forms

(recently posted on Mr. Tatum's Facebook page)

Forms are made of all known Geometric Patterns that move about on three planes. ie; Vertical, horizontal, and Diagonal. These Patterns facilitate the use of your kenpo Basic's forward and reverse giving them function on a three-Dimensional level.

Although one can find many answers to dealing with an attack within the forms, they are not governed by rules of engagement.

While some Forms are (A) Symmetrical to each other (one side at a time) in design, others are just symmetrical (both sides being woven together). Within the Forms, these Patterns will Rise, Fall, and even Flatten out depending upon the Plane and perspective of the defender or attacker.

One of the greatest awareness or epiphanies in learning Kenpo is that you the individual are the host of all the Patterns. You are the Universal Pattern.

Most people move throughout their lives never knowing their physical relationship to the world in which they live. They are born and grow through different stages of growth while the Patterns within them rise and expand and contract depending upon the influence of the world influence.

At the peak of their physical stature and in their prime of wellness mentally and physically the Patterns within them expand in balance and maturity. As age consumes us these Patterns take on different shapes yet they hold together the best they can in an attempt to hold up our bodies so we can continue.

Health and Mental Maturity are the keys to keeping your Patterns in symmetrical alignment with each other.

Because Kenpo is built on the normal range of motion through normal body alignment it gives longevity to us in keeping our patterns strong and with integrity.

Coffee & Martial Arts - Grand Master Michael R. Pick

The biggest misconception exhibited by critics of Mr. Parker's kenpo

(posted on Facebook by Mr. Williams back in October 2021)

When it comes to learning Kenpo, there exists a very specific phenomenon that most people are completely unaware of.

And it pertains directly to the practicality of the Ed Parker Kenpo system.

Take a technique like Five Swords.

(Or any technique with at least 5 or 6 moves in a row).

When students execute an entire technique, they make the mistake of basing the entire sequence on a single stimulus. In this case a right punch.

But that only works for the first 2 or 3 moves (block, chop, eyestrike or palm).

What we need to accept, is the idea of then making additional mental decisions, based on the attacker's reaction, as they occur.

Maybe he'll bend backward, or maybe not, right?

So if we just keep doing the ideal phase pattern (meaning the remainder of 5 Swords), without having gone through the mental movie of noticing our opponent bending backward, then why do it? 

The stimulus is absent, right?

So, when a student does all of 5 Swords, they don't realize that there's no new (yet required) stimulus to guide us.

So the main reason for the uppercut and the remaining parts of Five Swords then becomes "because that's what's next", which really means: "I'm doing the next several moves because Mr. Parker says so."

That's what What-if training and Formulation training remedies.

And most people mess that up completely.

Here's how we can get this in our head the fastest:

Create one What-if problem for that moment in the technique.

In other words, imagine that everything went as planned right up to the eye strike. Now, let's pick a What-if variable. Imagine that instead of staying in place and bending backward, our opponent steps back with his right leg (away from us), and doesn't bend backward much at all.

(That's a very likely thing to happen.)

Now, we create a response for that. Let's stick to Orange belt, and let's do a left snap kick to his groin, and then a palm to his jaw. (Thrusting Salute)

So we have now created our first What-If solution, right?

But we're not done. 

The goal is to be able to pick the correct one of these two options (original 5 Swords pattern versus our What-if variable), depending on which reaction the opponent presented us with, correct?

Mental speed means rapid, mental SELECTION. That's the part that people miss. After all, what exactly are we trying to do (quickly) mentally?

The answer to that is "choose the right response", right?

But we can't choose between only one thing. We need at least 2 things to choose between.

In our example, we are choosing between the original (the rest of 5 Swords), or our WHAT-IF answer.

And there are two training steps required to make that possible:

1. We create our What-If technique (switching to Thrusting Salute).

That is the What-If phase.

When we first practice this new version, we are, in essence, practicing a different ideal phase technique.

What I mean by that is that we are still not practicing spontaneity. We are merely practicing a different (still predesigned) pattern.

When we practice this new version, we are still guilty of pre-planning. In other words, we know, before we even start, how we are planning on finishing, right?

So, although we are now designing a "B version" to 5 Swords, we aren't yet forced to make the choice mid technique. It is still pre-planned. It's just that it's a different plan now.

And that's why we need:

2. The Formulation phase. 

And all that means is that now, for the first time, we will have our partner react with either of those two choices. And we won't know which one, until we get to the eye strike. 

So this is the first time that we are actually forced to keep monitoring our opponent, and then match our What-If choices to his two different reactions.

So now, for the first time, we start WITHOUT knowing how we will finish!

That's a very different feel.

But it's obviously more realistic.

And we only had two choices so far. Little by little we will have to add a third, a forth, and so on.

But it is very easy to get overwhelmed with too many choices. The trick in mastering this is to start with only two of them. Once that becomes effortless and automatic, we can then add a third one. 

And when we do that, we make mistakes again, accidentally picking the wrong one. That's normal.

So we stay with just those three choices for a while.

If this was class, the process described so far could easily take 2, 3, or 4 classes before everyone can do this.

And  now, we just duplicate that exact same process with the next What-if reaction.

But there is one more vital consideration:

What confuses this entire issue even further is the fact that, as human beings, we need to develop three different processes, all of which come together as one.

We need to:

1. See the attack coming

2. Decide how to respond to it

3. Execute it with our body

In Kenpo, we call those:

Perceptual Speed

Mental Speed

Physical Speed

And if even only one of those is too slow, everything is too slow.

Here's a good way to look at those three speeds:

The faster our perceptual speed, the SOONER we start our move.

The better our mental speed, the better we MATCH our best move to counter the attack.

The faster our physical speed  the sooner we FINISH our move.

Lastly, it's very important to understand how to develop the three speeds, as they each require very different conditioning (training):

Perceptual Speed is the result of familiarity. Nothing else.

If you spar a lot, you learn to react to a Roundhouse kick sooner and sooner as you gain experience.

A white belt reacts to the completion of the kick. But the black belt, instead, reacts to the initiation of it (recognizing what it is much earlier)

The greater the variety of attacks we continuously look at, the better we get with this.

A good point fighter will rarely be surprised by a blitz.

A good grappler will rarely be surprised by an attempted leg attack.

An experienced cop is rarely surprised by someone reaching for a weapon.

Their advantage, in each case, comes from being familiar with the stimuli.

Their response is not necessarily faster, but rather EARLIER.

Most Kenpo black belts are relatively good with this, as they often partner up with each other and attack each other with a variety of different attacks.

(However, there is great room for improvement here, as some of the common attacks we do on each other sometimes might lack the realistic aggression of a street fight.)

Physical speed is practiced in Kenpo from day one. It is a result of all the coordination we develop as we learn to use the most efficient path of a strike in the most economical fashion.

This skill is then amplified by practicing sequences, forcing us to switch from one (fast) basic move to another, and another.

This is the positive side of practicing the ideal phase.

The vast majority of Kenpo black belts are very good at this. It is arguably the most practiced of the three speeds.

But mental speed is the process of MATCHING a stimulus to a response.

Kenpo people usually do great with that against the first attack, but much worse with changes DURING an attack. A problem which is exacerbated by excessive memorization.

(This is the negative aspect of too much time spent practicing of the ideal phase)

Most of us realize that mental speed is by far the most difficult one of the three to develop.

How fast we are physically becomes irrelevant if we choose the wrong response (due to underdeveloped mental speed), or if we react too late (due to underdeveloped Perceptual Speed).

So optimal speed then is the result of harmonizing all three of them, and understanding that they occur in a sequence.

Perceptual Speed comes first, which then triggers mental speed, which then triggers physical speed.

Switching that order doesn't work.

Although in Kenpo, many try.

But it doesn't matter how many times we "fly" through a technique sequence. It will do nothing for our mental speed. Quite the opposite.

It's the equivalent of fighting blindly. If we don't first perceive the change our opponent introduces (his reaction), followed by quickly selecting the best response, we are in essence merely hoping to get lucky with our strikes, because we never consulted our perception to warn us, and we never consulted our mind to provide us with the best solution or counter.

And so, as a result, we get videos and posts which pose the question "Do Kenpo techniques really work?"

And my answer to that would be that in the absence of engaging in what is described above, they do not. And for those who are stuck practicing only the ideal phase, they never will.

Mr. Dan Inosanto quote