Monday, July 30, 2018
Eight Hands of the Leopard
Very similar to American Kenpo Karate's "Five Swords".
There has been some cross-pollenization somewhere along the way with Mr. Parker's kenpo and USSD's kenpo.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Language Analogy
(by Ron Chapel Ph. D. kenpotalk.com 7-22-18)
You learn to talk, then you learn your ABCs, then you learn to write or script. Phonetics, alphabet, print, write, shorthand. Kenpo Training based on “Motion” is a concept that is the “phonetic phase” of learning Mr. Parker’s commercial system.
But let’s not forget, just because you can say the word, doesn't mean you can spell it, or know its true meaning. Every phase builds upon the previous skills and knowledge acquired.
However, each level if learned in proper sequence is capable of standing alone as a workable segment of the whole. Those who have obtained superiority in Kenpo based on the “Motion Concept” are on their way to moving to new heights of skill and knowledge.
But be aware, once you leave “Motion Kenpo,” the freedom and flexibility you had to move, alter, and change does not re-surface until you have absorbed the lesson of the other Phases and restructured fundamentals to satisfy an advanced criterion.
When you "say" the word, there is some measure of flexibility in how you choose to pronounce it. When you learn your ABC’s and spell the word, there is one way. You cannot change the ABC’s or how you choose to spell the word.
Each level of Ed Parker’s Kenpo Karate has its own ranks and certifications. It is important to understand you do not lose any ranks achieved on previous levels. But, like a Ph.D. in Education who decides to move to an another/different level and become a medical surgeon, you must learn the basics and fundamentals associated with the new level of skills you wish to obtain.
Therefore, each rank, like each level of knowledge and skills, builds and grows upon the previous level. I have had people approach me to learn the “nerve strikes” or manipulations in Kenpo. They don’t understand, without a defined base technique, I can only teach Ed Parker’s “tricks.” To truly learn, you need a well designed and structure delivery system.
In other words, you must learn the techniques at the next level. These techniques then evolve into all aspects of the system. The hard part in “Kenpo” is when you leave the level of art (motion) and move to the level of science (biomechanical) execution. In my own teaching, there is no transition because I teach sound bio-mechanically from the beginning. Therefore there are only stages in the biomechanical hierarchy as one progresses.
Techniques and execution become more precise. Therefore the level of commitment to obtaining skills and certifications are higher and more demanding. But, that has always been the case as you move up in any field of endeavor. From high school, to college to grad school, to professorship. In our educational system, many are content and satisfied with a bachelors degree, then they focus on other aspects of their lives and career.
Others choose however to move to grad school and beyond. It’s about choices. However, feel content that whatever level you choose, you have made significant accomplishments. It is a given in life, the higher you go, the harder it gets, and the fewer the people you will find there.
Kenpo based on Motion is only the concept that is the beginning for those who either chose to begin there or didn’t recognize there is a higher place to start. The former prevails because it is more user-friendly and therefore more commercially viable.
Some have mistakenly thought it was THE system. We live in a society that's wants everything right now. We think 5 or 10 years invested in the martial arts is a lot. We forget, in education, 10 years is nothing. You're not even a senior in high school.
There are old men in China still studying and learning. In this country, we want everything fast. Fast food, fast cars, fast martial arts. We complain because we get a fast black belt in a few years, and get upset because someone says we don't know everything. Many in Motion-based Kenpo are as high school seniors. They know everything and the old teachers just don’t understand how it really works.
After over sixty-one years as a practitioner and teacher, I’m still learning and extrapolating information from the foundation created in me by my teachers. The one thing I know more than anything else is, I still have much to learn whether it is from a layperson, another black belt, or the lowest of white belts. Everyone and anybody can be the catalyst that triggers a perspective previously unrecognized, that leads to knowledge gold. My teacher both, (Ark Wong, and Ed Parker Sr.) were perpetual students, and so am I.
You learn to talk, then you learn your ABCs, then you learn to write or script. Phonetics, alphabet, print, write, shorthand. Kenpo Training based on “Motion” is a concept that is the “phonetic phase” of learning Mr. Parker’s commercial system.
But let’s not forget, just because you can say the word, doesn't mean you can spell it, or know its true meaning. Every phase builds upon the previous skills and knowledge acquired.
However, each level if learned in proper sequence is capable of standing alone as a workable segment of the whole. Those who have obtained superiority in Kenpo based on the “Motion Concept” are on their way to moving to new heights of skill and knowledge.
But be aware, once you leave “Motion Kenpo,” the freedom and flexibility you had to move, alter, and change does not re-surface until you have absorbed the lesson of the other Phases and restructured fundamentals to satisfy an advanced criterion.
When you "say" the word, there is some measure of flexibility in how you choose to pronounce it. When you learn your ABC’s and spell the word, there is one way. You cannot change the ABC’s or how you choose to spell the word.
Each level of Ed Parker’s Kenpo Karate has its own ranks and certifications. It is important to understand you do not lose any ranks achieved on previous levels. But, like a Ph.D. in Education who decides to move to an another/different level and become a medical surgeon, you must learn the basics and fundamentals associated with the new level of skills you wish to obtain.
Therefore, each rank, like each level of knowledge and skills, builds and grows upon the previous level. I have had people approach me to learn the “nerve strikes” or manipulations in Kenpo. They don’t understand, without a defined base technique, I can only teach Ed Parker’s “tricks.” To truly learn, you need a well designed and structure delivery system.
In other words, you must learn the techniques at the next level. These techniques then evolve into all aspects of the system. The hard part in “Kenpo” is when you leave the level of art (motion) and move to the level of science (biomechanical) execution. In my own teaching, there is no transition because I teach sound bio-mechanically from the beginning. Therefore there are only stages in the biomechanical hierarchy as one progresses.
Techniques and execution become more precise. Therefore the level of commitment to obtaining skills and certifications are higher and more demanding. But, that has always been the case as you move up in any field of endeavor. From high school, to college to grad school, to professorship. In our educational system, many are content and satisfied with a bachelors degree, then they focus on other aspects of their lives and career.
Others choose however to move to grad school and beyond. It’s about choices. However, feel content that whatever level you choose, you have made significant accomplishments. It is a given in life, the higher you go, the harder it gets, and the fewer the people you will find there.
Kenpo based on Motion is only the concept that is the beginning for those who either chose to begin there or didn’t recognize there is a higher place to start. The former prevails because it is more user-friendly and therefore more commercially viable.
Some have mistakenly thought it was THE system. We live in a society that's wants everything right now. We think 5 or 10 years invested in the martial arts is a lot. We forget, in education, 10 years is nothing. You're not even a senior in high school.
There are old men in China still studying and learning. In this country, we want everything fast. Fast food, fast cars, fast martial arts. We complain because we get a fast black belt in a few years, and get upset because someone says we don't know everything. Many in Motion-based Kenpo are as high school seniors. They know everything and the old teachers just don’t understand how it really works.
After over sixty-one years as a practitioner and teacher, I’m still learning and extrapolating information from the foundation created in me by my teachers. The one thing I know more than anything else is, I still have much to learn whether it is from a layperson, another black belt, or the lowest of white belts. Everyone and anybody can be the catalyst that triggers a perspective previously unrecognized, that leads to knowledge gold. My teacher both, (Ark Wong, and Ed Parker Sr.) were perpetual students, and so am I.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Friday, July 20, 2018
Thursday, July 19, 2018
The History and Purpose of the Star Block Set
(by Ron Chapel Ph. D. kenpotalk.com)
The “Star Block” was a variation on a Five Animal Blocking Routine, and was the beginning of all sets. The original Finger Set followed it almost immediately. Ark Wong was a major influence on Parker and is also the root of his understanding of structural integrity, internal energy, and nerve applications that I use.
In all honesty although I studied with Ark Wong for several years, it was not until I actually met Ed Parker did he begin to explain what I had learned in a manner that I could really understand. I came to him with a great deal of information, but not truly understanding the applications because it was out of context until he began to enlighten me.
The Chinese martial arts community was a “closed shop,” with real information not generally taught to outsiders, and for the most part still is. They liked and embraced Ed Parker and even expressed their feelings of how much they liked him to his son after he passed.
Parker never really left “Chinese Kenpo,” but he Americanized it for his own consumption and personal art, and than he created a commercial version for the vast majority of his students from the last couple of years or so of the sixties and seventies on.
Unfortunately, the complexities of the Chinese Sciences are not easily taught, nor were they intended to be, in general, available to most. That hasn’t changed. The level of knowledge required to teach is extradordinary. Although some put the label of commercialization of Kenpo at the feet of Ed Parker, it was actually the Tracy’s who started first and at least initially arguably were much more success because of the astute business acumen of Al Tracy.
As you can see below, this was how Star Block was presented in the original manuals of Mr. Parker, which doesn’t tell you much. All of his technical writing were done this way in “outline” form, to give a general idea of what was to be done. But the real knowledge had to come out of Mr. Parker’s head, unless you studied with Ark Wong, and even if you did the info came with little explanation not only because of the tradition of teaching, but elements of a language barrier as well.
As example, the Star Block, which later became known as Blocking Set 1, not only contained the basic blocks but secrets of alignment and block relationships, as well as the built-in models of extrication for limb seizes and indexing. But, none of that information was ever committed to codification by Mr. Parker. What is below is pulled directly from the yellow Belt Manual.
Followed by the Finger Set, which too had nothing to do with using the fingers as weapons, but was originally an “Index” set taught by Ark Wong. I use the word “index” where Sifu Wong and Mr. Parker spoke of “position” and “posture.”
Anything else sir?
BLOCKING SET 1
(STAR BLOCK)
(BOTH SIDES)
a. Contains:
Sequence of blocks that are as follows: (up, in, extended outward, down, re-cock, pushdown)
1. Right upward block for a left overhead club attack or chop.
2. Right inward block for a right punch to the body.
3. Right extended outward block for a left punch to the face.
4. Right outside downward block for a left kick to the groin.
5. Right hand re-cocks (a right back elbow block) to your right hip for a left roundhouse kick to your right kidney.
6. Right push-down block for a right knee kick to the groin.
b. Teaches:
1. Five (5) major blocks in addition to one (1) hidden block.
2. Sequence of blocks that promote Continuity of Motion and preserve Economy of Motion.
3. Correct manner in which to use your major blocks.
4. Blocks that protect all three (3) “Zones of Protection”.
5. The execution of these major blocks while in a stationary position.
6. Maximum cover of head and upper body areas.
NOTE: REPEAT THE SAME SEQUENCE ON THE LEFT SIDE.
The “Star Block” was a variation on a Five Animal Blocking Routine, and was the beginning of all sets. The original Finger Set followed it almost immediately. Ark Wong was a major influence on Parker and is also the root of his understanding of structural integrity, internal energy, and nerve applications that I use.
In all honesty although I studied with Ark Wong for several years, it was not until I actually met Ed Parker did he begin to explain what I had learned in a manner that I could really understand. I came to him with a great deal of information, but not truly understanding the applications because it was out of context until he began to enlighten me.
The Chinese martial arts community was a “closed shop,” with real information not generally taught to outsiders, and for the most part still is. They liked and embraced Ed Parker and even expressed their feelings of how much they liked him to his son after he passed.
Parker never really left “Chinese Kenpo,” but he Americanized it for his own consumption and personal art, and than he created a commercial version for the vast majority of his students from the last couple of years or so of the sixties and seventies on.
Unfortunately, the complexities of the Chinese Sciences are not easily taught, nor were they intended to be, in general, available to most. That hasn’t changed. The level of knowledge required to teach is extradordinary. Although some put the label of commercialization of Kenpo at the feet of Ed Parker, it was actually the Tracy’s who started first and at least initially arguably were much more success because of the astute business acumen of Al Tracy.
As you can see below, this was how Star Block was presented in the original manuals of Mr. Parker, which doesn’t tell you much. All of his technical writing were done this way in “outline” form, to give a general idea of what was to be done. But the real knowledge had to come out of Mr. Parker’s head, unless you studied with Ark Wong, and even if you did the info came with little explanation not only because of the tradition of teaching, but elements of a language barrier as well.
As example, the Star Block, which later became known as Blocking Set 1, not only contained the basic blocks but secrets of alignment and block relationships, as well as the built-in models of extrication for limb seizes and indexing. But, none of that information was ever committed to codification by Mr. Parker. What is below is pulled directly from the yellow Belt Manual.
Followed by the Finger Set, which too had nothing to do with using the fingers as weapons, but was originally an “Index” set taught by Ark Wong. I use the word “index” where Sifu Wong and Mr. Parker spoke of “position” and “posture.”
Anything else sir?
BLOCKING SET 1
(STAR BLOCK)
(BOTH SIDES)
a. Contains:
Sequence of blocks that are as follows: (up, in, extended outward, down, re-cock, pushdown)
1. Right upward block for a left overhead club attack or chop.
2. Right inward block for a right punch to the body.
3. Right extended outward block for a left punch to the face.
4. Right outside downward block for a left kick to the groin.
5. Right hand re-cocks (a right back elbow block) to your right hip for a left roundhouse kick to your right kidney.
6. Right push-down block for a right knee kick to the groin.
b. Teaches:
1. Five (5) major blocks in addition to one (1) hidden block.
2. Sequence of blocks that promote Continuity of Motion and preserve Economy of Motion.
3. Correct manner in which to use your major blocks.
4. Blocks that protect all three (3) “Zones of Protection”.
5. The execution of these major blocks while in a stationary position.
6. Maximum cover of head and upper body areas.
NOTE: REPEAT THE SAME SEQUENCE ON THE LEFT SIDE.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Elvis "Tiger" Presley fan art
Joe Petruccio, a licensed Elvis artist through Elvis Presley Enterprises has released a new Elvis painting. Joe shared his latest creation via his Facebook profile on April 12th, 2013.
from elvispresleyfansofnashville.com
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