Old Style Kata

Doing kata in the traditional manner requires a calm mind and steady stance. There is a difference between the glitzy, acrobatic extreme kata and the older more sedate kata of old. The older kata do not require Olympic level flexibility and gymnastic ability. Rather, they require the elements that make an artist a warrior. Here are some tips to keep your kata looking more traditional.

• Stay relaxed in the motions and movements.
• Look before you move into the next step.
• Keep your movements crisp and sharp.
• Maintain great stances according to the kata’s requirements. Usually these are low and stable.
• Breathing should be smooth and even.
• Show power and fluid grace but do not strike too hard or else you’ll loose the essential flow
• Be balanced through your stance transitions
• Kiai at the right time with intensity
• Single leg stances should be held slightly longer than two-legged stances to demonstrate control

Two other elements for tournament competitors:

• Begin the kata before you step into the ring
• The kata doesn’t end until you’re dismissed

Do you have other tips for performing a traditional kata? Add them to the comments.

        

Three Levels to Develop Great Techniques

How do you develop great Kempo techniques through contemplation and exploration? The dojo is your martial laboratory. Test the techniques, evaluate them and then improve them. But first you need to learn it well, and by well I don’t mean only rote memory.

You can distill the process of learning into categories or levels of learning. Traverse these three levels of learning to really digest and infuse your body with true martial prowess. The levels are:

Foundation level — At this level, you do things by the book. You’re at this level when you are White to Green Belt. You must learn things the exact way they are taught so you can develop the proper body mechanics and positioning. Don’t assume that you’re good enough to make changes at this stage. Compare this to thinking you knew how to make a better A when you were learning to write. You still couldn’t make a proper A yet. Learn each move the proper way then take on the next level when it is time.

Adaptation level – At this level, you are exploring variations and what-ifs. You enter this level about Green Belt and remain until Black Belt. In Kempo, you are not a “master” at Black Belt. You are merely very proficient. At this time, you start to appreciate the differences in the sizes and shapes of the uke (practice partner). It makes a difference with how you do each step of the technique. Also his bodily and defenses reactions may alter how you continue to perform each successive move. Learn to flow from move to move and make changes to adapt to the shifting targets.

Analysis level — At this level, you reduce the techniques to smaller pieces and explore how each one works on Kempo principles. Then rebuild the technique using Kempo theories to become a spontaneous fighter. You’re at this level when your reach advanced Black Belt. This is where you dissect what you are doing and see how the pieces fit together. Why are we doing this move? Why does the body do that? What are the additional attacks and targets for each technique? How would the target respond or counter? How does it relate to pressure points and acupuncture meridian lines? The list of potential questions goes on.

Dissecting the technique is a good strategy for really learning a move or technique. Teaching and analyzing it are two other methods for improving comprehension and understanding. This is why it behooves Black Belts to begin teaching or assisting in classes–where legally permitted by municipalities and local laws.

What is the net gain by doing this? You become a very good artist, an exemplar of Kempo. Don’t worry about what rank you are or if others respect your lineage. All that matters is if you can walk the talk–defend yourself using the Kempo you truly learned. Don’t settle for “knowing” techniques like a dance move. Know it on an unconscious level, a goal we’re all striving for.

        

5 Ways to Improve Your Karate Moves

I mention in my previous article on Ghestalting (such as Remember Your Kempos) that the mind uses chunks of information when accessing or encoding memories. These five steps build upon that practice structure of grouping and ghestalting. Try these before testing or tournaments. It will really help.

1. Practice it at least five times in a row before moving on. Do this once a day.
2. Practice it with a partner so you can get the timing, distancing and gauging right.
3. Practice it on different sized partners so you can understand the adjustment points.
4. Practice it with a partner who is resisting or countering so you can adapt to a struggling opponent
5. Practice it on the left side, on the ground, in a chair and in other environments. Then repeat these five steps.

You’ll notice from the list that the key component of improving your Combination routines is practice.

Have you tried this in your training? Tell me how it worked out for you. Or include other effective training strategies that work for you.

        

Do Your Homework

Practice routines and techniques at home. Yes Kempo has homework! The best method of acquiring new skills is to practice daily. This helps on three fronts.

• Practice helps you retain the information
• Continual review of material helps you understand the information
• Repetitive movements become smoother and ingrained in the body — muscle memory

In short, there is no fast way of gain great skills in Kempo without practicing a lot. Just like in school, homework is a form of practice for math, writing and science. You need to do it so you can learning, know it and apply it. Don’t shirk your obligation to do homework whether it is assigned (or not) from school or martial arts. It just helps.

Take some time to reprogram yourself. Pop culture via television shows constantly bombards you with false information such as “home work is boring”. When you reprogram your thoughts, you teach yourself that homework is enjoyable. Fake it until you make it. If you don’t like it, continue to do it until you do see the value and thus enjoy the work.

The path to success requires effort. My favorite quote is from Thomas Edison.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Divide the material up into sections that are doable each day. For instance, you can assign Monday as Kata day, Tuesday becomes Weapon Defense day and Wednesday can be Combination day. Just rotate the schedule and keep working.

That’s all I have today.

        

Five Levels of Implementation

I’m often criticized for teaching students in a simplified format. That is having an uke (attacker) punch in and remain static while the tori (defender) executes his or her technique. It seems that they miss the idea that you teach more effectively by isolating the problem from miscellaneous things. For instance, when teaching a child how to speak, you use simple words and sentence structure. Likewise when you teach a child how to read and write, you use lined paper and simple words. You never throw them the Scientific Journal and let them work it out.

This leads to another aspect of Kempo training that is often forgotten or misunderstood — the levels of implementation of a technique and how to control an opponent. When we begin to teach “take-down” moves and simple throws, the goal is to get the uke on the mat. We as instructors are not looking for all the subtle yet vital nuances that make the technique devastating. Rather we just want the gross (or basic) move to work. This provides confidence and develops a feel for the technique.

As the student develops skill with the technique, we introduce other things that are going on. “Turn the arm like that” or “Displace their weight here by moving the hip” are phrases you may here me say. So the crux of this article is there are levels of each technique. It does no one any good to teach all of the levels on the first day. It takes time to move from one to the next.

I also enjoying hearing intermediate students tell me that I forgot to show the white belt the rest of the technique. These well meaning students forget that I taught them the same way. Later when they were much better at the movements, I added more to keep them working towards a better technique. Often times, the instructor does know what he or she is doing when they only teach part of a technique.

Here are some of the levels I’m talking about:

1. Throw onto the ground — as mentioned earlier, this is the basic move. Just get the bad guy on the mat and step back. You have the advantage and hopefully the bad guy gives up.

2. Accelerate to the ground to disrupt brake-fall — at the point where the student can perform the throw well, we introduce them to adding “juice” or accelerating their fall. The intention is to disrupt or stop the opponent from countering the fall with a brake-fall or roll out.

3. Control the fall and position opponent — the next step is to not only accelerating their fall but to guide the fall into a useful position on the mat. Then snatch the opponent and put them in position where you can continue to attack. Usually this is called “seating” or “pinning” at the shoulders and hips. The opponent is pinned and can’t use all their limbs for attack.

4. Apply pressure point strikes and control with locks — once the opponent is pinned it is time to dissuade them from trying to get out. At this level, we teach the application of pressure points and joint locking to control the opponent and gain compliance.

5. Submission – this last step is forcing the opponent to submit to our control and domination of the fight. This is the severe use of joint locks and chokeholds. This is the level that is popularized by Mixed Martial Arts competitions and tournaments.

Training in martial arts is not an instant gratification activity. It takes time and effort to develop the mental and physical skills to perform the techniques. Some moves may seem difficult to execute or perform. This usually means you haven’t trained enough in the art to get it to work. Let the art soak into your muscles and bones. Let the partner training teach you about body weight and how individuals react.

Sometimes these are called the hidden or secret moves of the art. But really they are just the rewards of perseverance and dedication. There are no mysteries to someone who is skilled and devoted to the arts. It all naturally evolves out of practice and application. Explore and apply concepts from one technique that you do well to others. See how the “levels” show themselves in your technique.

There are other layers or levels. Do you have one you’d like to share? Put it in the comment section below.

        

Why Slow is Actually Fast

The slowness of Tai Chi is the fastest way to develop proper waist power, correct weight shifts, smooth movement and muscle memory. You see it in the park or on TV, lots of elderly people moving very slowly in a fluid motion that resembles some sort of martial art. Well, it is a martial art but the emphasis is on physical development.

Going that slow is actually very difficult especially for beginners. The thighs, knees and ankles burn with fatigue. It doesn’t seem like you are making any sort of progress. This is absolutely wrong. Sore muscle is a sign that you are working them out. It also means you are performing the techniques correctly.

Waist Power
There is a saying in Tai Chi, “the waist drives”. This means each movement initiates by a waist movement. The waist moves the feet and the arms. Nothing is done without the waist directing the power. The waist thrusts punches forward. Arms are put into defensive position by a twist of the waist and subtle weight shifts.

Push hands drill of Tai Chi

In all martial arts, the waist is key to generating power and force. Yet in Tai Chi, it is so isolated as the main mechanism for all movement that it becomes the focus of training. This is a good thing if you want to develop proper power.

Weight Shifts
Tai Chi has a rule that no leg is lifted or moved unless it is un-weighted. That means all your weight needs to be in the other leg. Normally, we stumble around and make quick footwork shuffles to compensate for our lack of balance. Some artists are so good at it that they appear to be stable and balanced the whole time. This is only true for Tai Chi artist.

The key is to shift your weight without wobbling side to side. The center of balance must be maintained inside one’s own body. This shifting of weight back and forth is much like the ebb and flow of waves. It is exactly how the Tai Chi artist develops tremendous force when they actually touch you with their strike or push.

It should be so smooth that it isn’t visible from the outsider’s perspective.

Smooth Movements
Smooth and fluid movements are key to uproot the opponent and stay balanced. This trait is a result of proper waist movement and weight shifts. The Tai Chi artist becomes hard to push up against because they “go with the flow”. The exercise of push hands develops sensitivity to force either pushing or pulling. It keeps their attacks and defense in harmony like one fluid stream.

Not only is it hard to press or pull the Tai Chi artist, it is also difficult to locate an opening for attack. Imagine trying to find a dry spot on the beach with the waves ebbing and flowing. At some point, the water covers it up without warning. The key characteristic of all martial artists is to remain smooth and fluid with their movements. Tai Chi is a perfect style to develop that trait.

Muscle Memory
The slow movement and counts develops wonderfully ingrained movement habits. The short 12-step Tai Chi form has, as the name would imply, twelve steps. Yet each of those steps has four to eight sections. By practicing these steps over and over, you learn the exact way to do a movement. It gets ingrained in your muscles to move that way. The Tai Chi artist invests in proper movement first, then technique application second.

Did you know you could perform Tai Chi forms at normal speed? It requires you to be very good at doing it very slow so each movement is exact. At that speed you can see the martial application of each technique. Tai Chi is a sophisticated martial art and combat style. It just hides itself as a simple way for the elderly to exercise and stay fit.

If you want to understand your martial art better, consider taking a Tai Chi class for at least a year. It takes that long to really appreciate the subtle changes affecting your movement. It’ll be the best use of your time and comprehension of the biomechanics of Kempo.

Has another art helped you understand your base art? Tell me how.

        

Why is Monkey Dance 14 Different?

As a derived style of Kajukenbo, we must look to their required kata to learn more about our syllabus. Traditional Emperado Method Kajukenbo uses Monkey Dance 13 and 14 as developmental kata. They teach moving footwork and stance work. They are simple yet vital foundational moves. In our style, we practice footwork with our Moving Blocking Sets – the Eight Point with half-moon steps for example. We practice stances in other drills and Kamuki kata too. There’s no need to add additional stance-only kata. We need to prune the unnecessary leaves to promote proper growth.

Low horse stance in a kata

Secondly, Monkey Dance 11 is the Okinawan Kata Naihanchi 1. This kata was first taught by Grandmaster Mitose when he introduced Kenpo to the Hawai’i. It could be said that this is the first and only Kenpo kata. However, we can look to other systems and related styles to see what they do. Famous masters such as Chosei Motobu have two Naihanchi kata in their system. If it’s good enough for the Motobu family, it is good enough for us.

Therefore it seemed logical to include the second Naihanchi as Monkey Dance 14. It’s a beautiful kata and it teaches great techniques. This kata is very timely in the curriculum and challenging for Brown Belts. It also adds another kata with the traditional Mitose opening – something that I personally like and enjoy performing. Naihanchi 2 also acts as the capstone for the Monkey Dance or Palama kata series.

While we’re on the subject of Kata, I prefer to call the Kempo kata Kamuki. Calling something 1 Kata when all forms are kata is confusing for students and instructors alike. The Monkey Dances are called Palama by Kajukenbo in honor of the first YMCA program in Hawai’i. My inspiration for using Kamuki is it’s the second Kajukenbo YMCA location and its first initial is “K”. This helps me remember that it’s the equivalent of Kata. So Kamuki 1 is 1 Kata. Kamuki 2 is 2 Kata. Kamuki 3 is 3 Kata and so on. Less confusion once you get use to it.

Changes should not be made lightly but they are important. As the analogy previously mentioned, pruning is necessary to improve growth. Redundancy is important to emphasize key movements and techniques. More than that, it becomes a hindrance and leads the system to skew its character or effectiveness.

For instructors out there, what have you trimmed from the curriculum and why?

        

Don’t Dangle Your Arms

In kata and during drills, you can spot the dangling arm of a beginning student. After a decent punch, the arm just flounders next to the body. A beginner “forgets” about their left arm once their mind moves on to the right arm. They forget the most important element of striking – Chamber your punches.

Don’t dangle your arms about. Put them somewhere effective and useful. Successive punches require the piston action of recoil and strike from opposite arms. Think of the arms as a connected piece of rope. When one goes out, the other side must pull in. Don’t just pull in to a position close to the body. Make sure it is in the elbow position for maximum efficiency.

Kata practice reveals the untrained arm the most. You need to remember the next kick or punch, how to turn and where to strike. There are a lot of things to remember when you practice Kempo but each action has its place in the building blocks of an effective weapon. An arm left unattended is not effective. It is not in a position for use when needed.

It is normal to do this. The mind is attempting to coordinate a lot of moving parts, something it hasn’t done. This is the difference between a beginner and someone more experienced. The mind is capable of handling all the inputs. It just needs time to work out the procedure and the awareness of limbs when not the focus of a task.

When you are not aware of where each part of your body is, you are sacrificing your defenses and preparedness. Put things in a position for a reason. This mental awareness of your body helps keep the mind focused on what it needs to do. It also allows the mind to focus on where the opponent’s body is in relation to your own. You’re not just concerned about where your body parts are, you must also know where the opponent’s body parts are.

The mind is making thousands of calculations a second to process its place in three dimensions, moving and responding to an attack. All the limbs need to check in with central command and be prepared to deploy to a new front at a moment’s notice. I like to think of my body as an army, moving pieces where they are most effective.

Just like an army, the mind needs to train with the body to shake out any miscommunications. It needs to hone its ability to keep tabs on what every part is doing while moving it the environment. This follows the famous triad of martial arts thought – uniting the body, mind and spirit.

Dangling an arm allows your opponent to snatch it as a lever or as an opening for their next attack. I’ve talked about levers before and they are the keys to controlling an opponent. Don’t give your opponent that kind of gift to use against you. Shore up your defenses and maintain body awareness. And don’t dangle.

        

My Spare Brain: 1 Effective Way to Improve Memory

The most effective way to improve memory is to write stuff down, then read it later.

During my studies in Cognitive Science, I learned a lot about human cognition, memory and thinking. We talked about how people can improve their memory with simple tricks. How the brain can be fooled with visual illusions and so on. The field is a fascinating area of study and research. What struck me most was a questioned posed during class. A fellow student asked what’s the best way to improve our memories. The professor said, “Write it down.”

Get a notebook and use it.

Human memory is fallible and requires something to keep it working well. That requires pen and paper. Nothing helps you retain information than writing and reading your notes over and over again. Reading someone else’s notes isn’t as productive as writing it down yourself. The very act of translating the memory of class into comprehensible words and lists does wonders for memory retention–because you are re-encoding the material. With practice and additional classes, you can re-enforce correct form and again re-encode the memory into your mind. This cycle is the best way to memorize material.

Notebooks are the best invention for memory in the world. Take the time to do it soon after each class. Don’t let more than a day or two pass before you write things down. Just jot everything down in a flood of words. Don’t try to censor the material or format at this time. Most likely, writing things down will trigger more memories and thoughts about class. Record them, even if it’s a few days later.

Later go through your notes and arrange them in an organized manner. Rewrite things to make them sound better and add simple drawings if that helps you. These are like reference notes for you, so put them in a format that works for you. Most people have different ways of storing and sorting information. Use the one that fits your method and memory style best.

Another great tip is to add comments to your older notes. If the instructor makes a comment that applies to an old technique, adding the insight to the previous version of the notes goes a long way into understanding the technique. During your review of your notes, you may have thoughts on how the material relates. Record those thoughts too. Your notebook is a living document. Feel free to add to it all the time. Don’t let it become stale because you don’t want to contaminate it with new ideas. A notebook is a workbook.

Everyone is different so not all tricks work for all people. What is your trick to remember things?

        

The Practice Priority: Commitment to Practice Leads to Success

There are some beginning students who believe that all the practice they need occurs at class. This is a recipe for failure. You must practice to get better and you must practice at home. When you make practicing a priority, you are paving the way to improvement. We have an old saying around the dojo, “If you’re not getting better, then you’re getting worse.” Don’t allow yourself to get worse than you are now.

Break down your practice into interesting bits. Do katas on one day. Then do combinations the next. Do your material at the park on sunny days. Next, do your material in the pool mostly underwater. Wash your car in stances or in deep stretches. Watch TV shows in the Horse Stance and do push ups during the commercials. Your only limit is your imagination.

Practice leads to success in all endeavors, not just Kempo. Take your ability to practice and enjoy the art with all your activities like basketball, flower arrangement, art, or crafts. You can use your Practice Priority at work too. Is there something hard to do or something takes a long time to finish – practice doing it in small bits or make it streamlined. A ouch of prevention (and planning) is worth a pound of cure.

Use class time to refine and clear up matters uncovered during your personal practice. If you don’t review your material, how will you know where your difficulties lie? Your instructor can clear up confusing points or help you recall tricky techniques. But if you don’t know what to ask, then you can’t fix it. Remember, don’t wimp out and find excuses to skip class. Make practice a priority and you will be successful.