Slapping yourself?

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 1:07am

Well this is the Ke?po forum, so lets get some thoughts. When and where did the notion that slapping yourself somehow helps you fight enter Kenpo training? I believe this is an American Kenpo innovation, but who started it? Was this prevalent in Chow or Mitose's training regimen?

**ojgsxr6** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 1:28am

I've also heard of this being done in Silat.

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 3:50am

Kempo was invented by Curly

**Elky** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 4:04am

Originally Posted by KempoFist

Well this is the Ke?po forum, so lets get some thoughts. When and where did the notion that slapping yourself somehow helps you fight enter Kenpo training? I believe this is an American Kenpo innovation, but who started it? Was this prevalent in Chow or Mitose's training regimen?

I tried American Ke?po once and was quite suprised when they started hitting themselves. The explanation given by the instructor was that it sends ripples of force through your body into the opponent...

He demonstrated this principle by hitting me once without hitting himself and then hitting me a bit harder while hitting himself - thus showing the true power of the slap check (or something).

If I were being cynical I might suggest it was introduced because it makes a nice "slap" noise when you throw a punch.

Sorry, I can't really contribute much aside from "I've seen this too", but it was one of the things that really put me off ke?po.

**bob** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 5:31am

I don't know anything about Ke?po but the face slapping was a time honoured warm up for Australian rugby teams in the 60s and 70s before a game. Players would stand around hitting each other in the face as hard as possible, supposedly to get them ready for the physical confrontation about to take place.

These days it's generally considered bullshit by professional players, though they still do contact drills like bashing their chests against each other.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 7:39am

I did kempo for a couple of months back in 94, but don't recall seeing that practice - then again, it was a smallish dojo, and the more I read about kempo, the more I realize mine was a bit different.

What the heck is that self-slapping practice again???? Am I reading this right, that they slap themselves when punching/slapping someone???? Or am I reading it wrong?

At the kempo school, we slapped each others abs and chest from different possitions for conditioning (usually from a v-up possition with the abs contracted)... and where slapping would be either like, yeah, an slap to a hammer fist or a downward kick with the heel.

Is that what this thread is referring to?????

**Elky** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 8:02am

Originally Posted by El Macho

they slap themselves when punching/slapping someone

^this^

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 10:02am

The self slapping was taught to me to be called "rebounding." Here is a vid of Prof. Kimo displaying it. Watch how he brings his hands back to this chest in between every strike. There was a better vid of him, but it seems they took it down.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1WtzPjC1mM[/media]

The theory as it was taught to me, that by keeping your hands in constant motion and "bouncing" them off of your chest, you develop fast and more accurate handspeed. Not only that but they emphasized how by drawing your arms out and back in, you develop shoulder motion to increase power that would be neglected had you not slapped yourself. I compared this to boxers rolling their shoulders and how boxers don't drop their hands in the process, and I got written off again as being close-minded and acting like I "knew it all."

**Elky** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 10:33am

Originally Posted by KempoFist

The self slapping was taught to me to be called "rebounding." Here is a vid of Prof. Kimo displaying it. Watch how he brings his hands back to this chest in between every strike. There was a better vid of him, but it seems they took it down.

The theory as it was taught to me, that by keeping your hands in constant motion and "bouncing" them off of your chest, you develop fast and more accurate handspeed. Not only that but they emphasized how by drawing your arms out and back in, you develop shoulder motion to increase power that would be neglected had you not slapped yourself. I compared this to boxers rolling their shoulders and how boxers don't drop their hands in the process, and I got written off again as being close-minded and acting like I "knew it all."

That video doesn't look like a demonstration of that principle though. He re-chambers (or whatever the cool kids call it these days) his hand in between strikes, but that's pretty much unavoidable since it's hard to generate power with a rigidly straight arm.

The class that I went to had the guy throwing a punch with one arm while simultaneously slapping himself on the pectoral/shoulder with the other hand - had he just misunderstood the whole thing as it seemed a little strange to me!

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 3/08/2007 12:06pm

Well the idea that you "bounce" your hands to prevent your arms from "stopping" is flawed, because unlike a boxer rolling his shoulders, when your hands make contact with your body they come to a complete halt before they strike back out again.

Originally Posted by Elky

That video doesn't look like a demonstration of that principle though. He re-chambers (or whatever the cool kids call it these days) his hand in between strikes, but that's pretty much unavoidable since it's hard to generate power with a rigidly straight arm.

The class that I went to had the guy throwing a punch with one arm while simultaneously slapping himself on the pectoral/shoulder with the other hand - had he just misunderstood the whole thing as it seemed a little strange to me!

How is it unavoidable? Keeping your hands up and bringing them back on guard in between strikes instead of chambering them seems perfectly sound to me.