First Month Training?

[Kenpo Gary]

What stands out in your mind from your first month of training? For may of this this goes way back.

I am not sure why but the most vivid thing I remember are the drills kick punch formal style, kick punch street style, and kick punch street style with twist. Anyone else use or learn this series? What is most vivid from you first month of training.

Kenpo Gary

[MARSHALLS KENPO]

What stands out in your mind from your first month of training? For may of this this goes way back.

I am not sure why but the most vivid thing I remember are the drills kick punch formal style, kick punch street style, and kick punch street style with twist. Anyone else use or learn this series? What is most vivid from you first month of training.

Kenpo Gary

How those at the school made me feel like family.

[Seabrook]

What stands out in your mind from your first month of training? For may of this this goes way back.

For me, this goes way back to 1985. The first thing that I remember is learning a variation of Obscure Wing, and thinking that with my newly acquired skills, it wouldn't be long until I have the skills of a ninja, LOL.

[Kenpodave]

I was one of the first students at the school when it opened to the public. I had searched for Tracy's Kenpo for nearly a year, and had called Al Tracy a number of times, so I was there as soon as I got the flyer.

What I remember most is that feeling of, "Yes, this is exactly what I have been searching for!" And a sense of awe at this instructor who looked to be 18 years old (he was 30) who was the best martial artist I had ever run across and, more than that, had technical knowledge that was astounding.

I had been training for 7 years at the time, and had found my home.

[Nubreed]

Old school Training!
Ok, I come from the old school 1973-74 Kajukenbo training. I remember a little blond girl about 13 years old running the class. She was mean! We had a 2 hour classes back then, and the first 30 min. was horse stance training. We had to stand in a horse stance with our legs/thighs level with the floor if anybody stood up it was longer. If you straightened your legs she would come by and kick you really hard in your thighs and tell you to get down in your stance. My senior Black Blt instructor would use a bamboo sword and hit you on the back or thighs with it. We would have to do hopping knuckle push ups across a painted 40 foot concret floor.

We would have to do contact drills before getting out of our horse stance. Kajukenbo's body contact theory goes way back to the early days.When the person playing the role of the defender hit hard in practice sessions. Students were taught to take blows and not show pain under any circumstances. The original theory is that the student should train strong to be strong.

This fits in well with Professor Emperado's other premise that you can not stop everything that is thrown at you. The small person could not always defend himself against a larger opponent without at some point getting hit. The theory that all students should train their bodies not to let pain stop them. The Kiai is a vocal expression of power in an offensive manner, and to unite the martial artist's mind with his body defensively.

If the Kajukenbo stylist Ki-ai when he gets hit in the stomach. It causes him to expel air, at the sametime strengthening his stomach muscles against the blow. Also, as he turns his mind from feeling pain to executing the Ki-ai, strikes to other parts of the body, such as the shin, face and bicepts this ceases to hurt as much. In Kajukenbo controlled contact.which involves focus, is one method of when self defense techniques are being practiced.

When they practice this harmless contact. They also know that by having actually struck the target they can feel the correct striking area, rather than stopping six inches away and not being sure of the target. One rational for using a live target is that if the martial artist trains for years stopping their strikes short of the target, and one day are forced to defend themselves on the street.

There is a good possibility that they will unthinkingly continue to pull their punches or strike without the penetration necessary for effective self defense. Students should get used to touching their opponents and knowing that the blow will penetrate if they so desired. Controlled contact training eliminates the need for students to go home bloodied and broken when learning martial arts but confident they can take it.

Ki-ai is a Japanese word meaning "bring forth the spirit"

Sot- is another word used by some segments of the Chinese fighting arts. Although its purpose is to bring out the fighting spirit, the word means to kill or execute. The word Ki-ai is used to define a yell that comes from the lower stomach and not from the throat. The tone or yell can be any sound coming out of the mouth. The purpose of the Ki-ai's is to draw added strength, while at the same time, adding a psychological factor of fear at the moment of contact to your opponent.

Only 80% of the air is expelled from the lower abdomen at which time it contracts the stomach and becomes hard, leaving enough air in case you are counter-attacked. The correct way to Ki-ai is to breathe in through the nose, exhale throught the mouth. Doing this allows moist air in the throat aiding you to continue fighting longer than the one who inhales through the mouth. The Ki-ai should be done on contact and not before. There are a few levels of teaching and doing Ki-ai's on people that should be known.

Kajukenbo Ki-ai Training

1. Can the person stand there strongly? (if they can't they are going to have a hard time taking a punch) If they can't have them relax and hold themselves strongly.

2. Are they willing to be hit? make sure that you take a new student, especially, through phases of being hit easy then harder. If they look petrified they build them up to it.

3. The last thing is- are they willing to take pain? Can they take pain without becoming angry, sullen, dramatic, etc. If they get hurt are they willing to shurg it off and continue. This is usually the last phases. be careful with this as if done wrong it can result in someone giving up.

So be sure you do 1 and 2 if they don't have 3 (in that order). If done correctly the student feels they have accomplished something. If done incorectly they will feel a loss, and most people have a hard time with loss

We learned break falls on that same concret floor and many a time there was blood drawn from just training in repetitions technique drills. It was like something out of boot camp a military night mare. But it made alot of really good tuff as nails fighting men and women from this old school training. You would never get anyone to train like that anymore, without a law suit anyway. I loved every minute of it!