There are an infinite ways to be attacked. You can’t handle all the possible situations with a single set of techniques for each instance. This is the source of the “What if” questions that plague instructors across the country. How do you apply your techniques from the required moves you are forced to learn? That’s […]
Month: September 2009
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. Practice it at least five times in a […]
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, […]
Remembering 9/11
Eight years ago, I was dropping off my daughter at daycare when I heard about a plane that hit one of the twin towers. I was astonished. By the time I got back to work, the whole office was watching the news on an old TV set rigged up in the conference room. The news […]
10 ways to help your dojo stay open for business
If you’re like me, you see the dojo as your second home. You love being in the Hall of Training, working on your material to perfect the art. In this tough economy, it is difficult to keep a Kempo school operational. I know because I had to close one myself. What students should do is […]
My Neighbor the Grandmaster
Martial arts come in many, many styles. In turn, there are millions of practitioners of the warrior arts. This means there are all sorts of people who study. It lends itself well to this quote: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” With the variety of people who practice and the fact that will and […]
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 […]
Complementary Actions
The notion of absolute opposites is a crude and unsophisticated concept. A better and older concept is that of complementary items. In this case, the focus is on complementary actions. For every action there is a complementary action or target. For instance, hard targets are ideally hit with a soft strike like a palm heel. […]