Thank you for your wonderful explanation in this video. Kenpo Karate is definitely a wonderful style to learn because of the practical street fighting applications that are taught. 👍
I got to meet Ed Parker when my bro and I trained with his Flores Bros. Back in the late 80's Refugio and Jesus were the best. They kicked are butts. Matter a fact i believe it helped me in Marine Corps boot camp.Thx man gave u a subscribe and a like.
I did TKD in my teens. We did a tournament with a local kenpo school. In sparing, they wiped the floor w us. They were way faster, their strikes were precise, we didn't stand a chance.
Not Ed Parkers system. Please differentiate between the "Kenpo" that you are describing and the one being described in this video so not to confuse people or potential students. In fact after reading your comment I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Please explain.
Yea, I noticed that too. Tadashi Yamahita's is Okinawan based karate, A true master who learned from the Old masters. Parker seems fast but not as fast as Tadashi, Tadashi's Shito Ryu looks like kenpo.
I love Kenpo! Trained in it with my father many years ago. I remember the first book I read about Kenpo, “Championship Kenpo” by Steve Saunders. Kenpo, is brutal and great for self-defense. I love what Jeff Speakman, has done with the art and how he continues to progress the art 👊🏾
The spelling you chose. Just two different ways to spell the same word. If you look up our "Origin of American Kenpo" full episode we go into a deeper breakdown with that :)
Hey black belt in the tracy style was wondering if you ever considered doing a video on them I’d find it real interesting to get some more knowledge on the subject love the videos 😁
I haven't done a full review on Tracy but I did do a section of comparison between Tracy and Parker Kenpo in our History of American Kenpo compiliation video.
I studied out of Newark,DE Parker Kenpo. Instructor/Blackbelt was Kathy Long. Well documented, even had great fortune of Mr Speakman conducting seminar during time of The Perfect Weapon. My father was trained under Tracy Kenpo, also in Delaware near Goldy Beacom College. You know the biggest difference n similarity? Nothing. No harsh words, always complementive n pushing one another to greater levels. MMA is more practical for a self defense in today's world. But I encourage my fellow martial artists if their children or family or just anyone who needs structure and an honorable code/view to live their life in opposition to the one not working for them, Kenpo.
Jeff Speakman’s Kenpo 5.0 is more like an MMA Karate if that makes sense. They believe in evolution and have done a great job we go to the San Antonio gym and love it. If your ever in town stop by.
EPAK (Ed Parker American Kenpo) always held my curiosity because i trained in Hawaiian Kenpo. Both trace back to James Mitose BUT the lineage of the style i trained was from a different branch. Adrianna Emperado (student of Wiliam Chow I believe) got together with 4 other guys from various arts and created Kajukenbo (MMA of 1947). One notable practicioner would be Chuck Lidell. I had forgot all about EPAK, until i heard of Speakman 5.0 (Gen X, of course i watched "The Perfect Weapon"). I looked into it an found a 5.0 school not too far out. Actually closer than I've been going for my Wing Chun and FMA instruction. So... Think im gonna go check it out 👍
That is the way it appears and that is all what most people assume it is. American Kenpo is often called a science of motion. The goal of the art (presuming you find a good school) is to learn an array of basic strikes and moves, and combine them with an array of principles, typically anatomical and cause/effect relationship. Each belt level has a list of these sequences that are long combinations of fast strikes and such...but the problem is most people assume these sequences are intended to be trained as actual fighting combinations to be memorized and repeated...and that's not their purpose. CAN they be used? Sure, if the situation happens to fit, but being fighting combos is not what they were designed for. They can be viewed as mini Kata, and their purpose is to look at each sequence and study the few dozen lessons that are embedded in them. The traditional curriculum has 154ish techniques...but they really are just variations of maybe 5 techniques. Every strike, motion, and movement has an opposite and reverse somewhere else in the curriculum. Techniques introduce specific scenario setups (for example what happens if you happen to have your rear hand down when a person punches? There are 3 techniques that address this, one responds on the low plane, one on the mid plane, and one on the high). The idea is to understand the options you have from that particular position. You're not expected to run through the entire sequence on a person, but if you understand that particular lesson then it becomes valuable information. The techniques "Delayed Sword" and "Intellectual Departure" are the same technique...but one is the upside down version of the other. That teaches how to apply some of the same movements and ideas to the lower part of the body instead of the upper. So if a person can understand the relationship between the techniques, and can focus on learning those individual lessons instead of just trying to memorize the sequence, then it actually improves a spontaneous response. I've used portions of techniques in real life because I recognized specific positions, and then I was able to work on the fly. This being a RU-vid Short only allowed me to put so much information in less than a minute, but I did another video getting a little more deeper into this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ilzH1-qptsA.html I hope that helps explain it a little bit better :)
One of the first books on martial arts I ever read was a hand me down copy of Ed Parker's Secrets of Chinese Karate. I must have been 10 years old and read it over and over until it was tattered! It first sparked my interest not just on techniques of martial arts but its development in societies and human history. An interest I still have today which is why I enjoy channels like this that delve into the history, sociology, philosophy and psychology of different martial arts rather than just the mechanics. Highly recommend it in the library of anyone who loves reading general martial arts history.
A brief but succinct description of "American Kenpo". I found through research that it's also originated to North America from Japan, not exclusively China.
Thank you for this RU-vid short. This is probably the shortest yet most complete explanation of our system I think I ever heard! It's often difficult to give such a short history of our art and yet have it be accurate. You managed to do both exceptionally well in this short. I can't seem to stress it enough! Great job, Salute and My First is Covered.
Has anyone noticed,or think it's weird that whenever American Kenpoists spar,they never use the techniques they train in?Like all those techniques they train in line drills? Their sparring looks like amatuer kickboxing?
This has been addressed many times on the channel, but the self defense techniques are not intended to be cut and paste sequences for sparring. They are case studies, basically small kata that teach how basics and principles work together. When a good Kenpoist spars, you will see Kenpo, if you know what to look for. Namely how they control distance, check opponent's joints, how they move up the circle or off the line, freestyle technique combos, and honestly yes, you will see a lot of PIECES of techniques used because they aren't supposed to memorized and repeated, but rather used to recognize positions and then apply the segments that fit. That's what you'll see a good Kenpoist do in sparring. SOMETIMES...full techniques do work. I've used Intellectual Departure, Five Swords, Crossing Talon, Deflecting Hammer, Shielding Hammer, and double parry trapping blocks several times. I've seen Lone Kimono and even Squeezing the Peach used by the book in sparring. Unfortunately there are a lot of bad schools that don't teach the techniques the way they SHOULD be, and that's when you get the bad kickboing.
@@ArtofOneDojo i know they don't have to be used in absolute sequence in sparring as they are in the line drills but i've not seen 1 technique,not even 1 used in sparring? Where are those unique hand strikes from Kenpo from the line drills in sparring?You know,those circular,rapid sequence strikes to the face and torso? Your sparring just looks like plain kicboxing?
@@ninjamaster7724 I just gave literal examples of techniques I've used and seen used. Rapid hand strikes? One of my go to combos is a backfist to the head, rebounded off my body to their torso as I step in and buckle their rear leg with a hammer fist (That is an example of one of those circular strikes to head and torso combined with leg buckles). Kenpo leg checks I do ALL the time. Inward outward parry traps I use all the time. I've shown clips of these in various episodes. Also there are Kenpo freestyle techniques that are supposed to be the actually sparring versions of techniques. I use those a lot and they are quite effective. Also, a lot of moves and counters that look like basic strikes and moves can be from techniques. If a person punches with their right and I dodge to the outside and deliver a counter punch to their ribs, I've technically done Attacking Mace. I've had that one done to me too, and it absolutely works. Unless you are extremely familiar with the techniques, freestyle, and the position recognition...Kenpo can look like basic kickboxing. I wish I had more footage than I do. I have shown examples of these and hope to get more footage in near future, but the truth is having cameras to record sparring was not something we commonly did in class, I only have clips that are recorded from friend's schools.
@@ninjamaster7724 That's fair enough, but I'm trying to provide a little bit of insight based on what I've actually done, seen, and had done too me. Are there any particular videos you were looking at?
@@JoseGonzalez-gg6rs he put out alot of very tough fighters. I knew or was familiar with alot of his students. They were a tough and talented bunch. Going to his school was a huge accomplishment and ive nothing but respect for those who did.
In the case of American Kenpo, it has SOME Karate elements. Our basic punches, kicks, and stances resemble Karate much more than Kung Fu, but it's a mixture and Karate is often part of that mixture. Also you have the name recognition. A lot of people who are not experts don't know the word Kenpo, but they do know "Karate". Much in the same way Tang Soo Do is often called Karate in the United States. Other versions do come from Japan so it'll mix.
The moves are fine, those sequences are not "copy and paste" combos to use in the street, those sequences are more like mini Kata, intended to be broken down into multiple lessons so you can recognize different positions/scenarios and only need 2 or 3 moves.
