Tired of the Kenpo hate!

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 10:04am

It's been a while since I followed the forums, but spent the last couple weeks catching up. So many people here seem to group Kenpo in with all the silliness of martial arts like Aikido and TKD! When did this become the cool thing to do?

Anyone who knows about REAL Kenpo, knows that just because it's not a sport martial art, doesn't mean it's not effective. Kenpo imo is the #1 Self Defense applicable style, due to it's focus on standup striking, and adherence to proper body mechanics in it's flow of strikes.

Here's a great video that displays the Kenpo Self Defense method.

Notice, how he always STRIKES when in a clinch-style situation, giving him a clear advantage over a Jiu-Jitsu stylist who simply attempts to grapple, limiting his tool-set in half. There is nothing wrong with the Jiu-Jitsu technique, and I rely on it as a strong grappling foundation, but for self defense there are just better options imo.

Anyway, hope, this clears up a lot of the BS I've been seeing going unchecked lately >.>

**tao.jonez** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 10:26am

Having a good uke makes stupid stuff work well.

1:35 when he moves out of the way and then backfists the attacker in the fist - lol.

Actually, some of that stuff was pretty good.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 10:32am

Don't preach to me. I've met some serious badass kenpo guys in my life. (Of course I've met some highly disillusioned ones too)

**Cullion** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:18am

American Kenpo is that thing Elvis used to do on stage when he karate-chopped bad guys out of the way during his dance routine, right ?

**Ketsueki** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:36am

Originally Posted by Ke?poFist

Here's a great video that displays the Kenpo Self Defense method.

That video very much reminds me of my Bujinkan training. Unsurprising, as my instructor said that the majority of our striking was derived from chinese kenpo. I do not like this style of instruction, nor anything that starts out: "This technique begins with your opponent pointing a gun at your heart..."

As an aside: I would totally love to see that guys hair fight to the death against Donald Trumps head-pet.

**Jazzman** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:40am

Originally Posted by Omega Supreme

Don't preach to me. I've met some serious badass kenpo guys in my life.*********** (Of course I've met some highly disillusioned ones too************)

THIS ( see above)..........

**Jazzman** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:54am

Of course this is going to turn into a style cluster-f***. And I'll get roasted here and called redundant. That said , an observation. It's rather shortsighted to completely slag off any system or style ( ok ,ok within reason , leave all the ninjette crap out for a moment please) because just about the time you do somebody will come along and prove you wrong. Folks are fond of jumping all over TKD , however there are still TKD folks who can put that foot upside your head , you know what's coming , know which leg it's coming from , know when it's coming amd then can still take your head off.

I believe there is a living example of why you shouldn't slag of ' Kung Fu ' running around these environs isn't there? As goes specific to Kenpo-Kempo , just like anything else it comes down to training methods and the individual , good instruction *does* help , certain mcdojo type systems within the genre.........well let's just say that sorting through a bale of rice straw to glean the usable rice can be rather a chore.

**Lindz** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:56am

Can your kenpo do the 8 speed hits in 4 tenths of a second?

**Cullion** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 11:57am

Originally Posted by Jazzman

Folks are fond of jumping all over TKD , however there are still TKD folks who can put that foot upside your head , you know what's coming , know which leg it's coming from , know when it's coming amd then can still take your head off.

I hear ya. There's a guy who used to post here called Osiris who took out a much larger Kung Fu master with a TKD flying kick once.

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 6/13/2011 12:02pm

Originally Posted by Jazzman

Of course this is going to turn into a style cluster-f***. And I'll get roasted here and called redundant. That said , an observation. It's rather shortsighted to completely slag off any system or style ( ok ,ok within reason , leave all the ninjette crap out for a moment please) because just about the time you do somebody will come along and prove you wrong. Folks are fond of jumping all over TKD , however there are still TKD folks who can put that foot upside your head , you know what's coming , know which leg it's coming from , know when it's coming amd then can still take your head off.

I believe there is a living example of why you shouldn't slag of ' Kung Fu ' running around these environs isn't there? As goes specific to Kenpo-Kempo , just like anything else it comes down to training methods and the individual , good instruction *does* help , certain mcdojo type systems within the genre.........well let's just say that sorting through a bale of rice straw to glean the usable rice can be rather a chore.

I've long had the debates over styles and Ken/mpo years ago, this post was more of an attempt to see how much of a backlash would come from newer member retards, or if I'd be written off as trolling.

To summarize however my thoughts on Ke?po, my personal experience was dreck, and then I was introduced to the greater Kajukenbo community, which embodies a wide cross section of training methodology, from the slap happiness to the MMA minded.

As far as self defense/rbsd type training goes, in my opinion there is a lot more to it, that simply is missed out on when training exclusively in kickboxing/submission grappling. This is not to say there are "deadly secrets" or that sport fighting is unrealistic, but there are just things that aren't covered, simple as that.