How many techs are in the system?

[MARSHALLS KENPO]

How many techs are in the system? 254 base techs,perhaps five or six with varrying degrees of prefixes,suffixes,inserts,and modifications? What do you think?

[Celtic_Crippler]

Infinite....

I say that because I feel the overall goal of a kenpoist is to become spontaneous with their reactions.

If you have to stop and think about how to deal with a right punch then you will end up with a black eye.

Prescriped self-defense techniques are a TOOL, just like drills, forms, and sparring. TOOLS are meant to teach something, where kenpo is concerned I believe they teach principles as they apply to various aspects of combat.

If attacked on the street would you go into Parker Long 1? No, you would not, but you would apply principles learned throught the practice of that form. The same holds true for techniques.

There is a finite number of ways one could be attacked. This is why SGM Parker was able to classify attacks. However, there is an infinite number of combinations of basics and principles that one could apply to deal with any given attack.

The approaches taken by many pioneers in kenpo have been different in regards to how to teach the underlying concepts taught through mastering a self defense technique.

You have the Tracy approach on the one hand with 10 different versions of Five Swords spelled out for each student to learn and then on the other end of the spectrum you have the Sullivan/LeRoux approach where 1 technique is taught and the student can develop extensions and versions that have not previously been written down and are intended to be more tailored to each individual with instructor guidance.

Is either methodology better? Not at all, just different. Just as with some maneuvers within a self-defense tech, what works for you might not work as well for me. No two people will exucute Delayed Sword exactly the same. SGM Parker understood that physiological and anatomical differences among individuals affected how they executed a technique, hence we have the principle of tailoring.

Therefore, I hold that it's not as important to focus on the number of prescribed techniques one learns as it is important to understand how and why A technique works.

Once one reaches that level of understanding and spontaneity, they could feasibly create and write down as many self-defense techniques as they had days left on the earth.

So, how many tech's are there? Well....how many do you want?

[MARSHALLS KENPO]

Infinite....

I say that because I feel the overall goal of a kenpoist is to become spontaneous with their reactions.

If you have to stop and think about how to deal with a right punch then you will end up with a black eye.

Prescriped self-defense techniques are a TOOL, just like drills, forms, and sparring. TOOLS are meant to teach something, where kenpo is concerned I believe they teach principles as they apply to various aspects of combat.

If attacked on the street would you go into Parker Long 1? No, you would not, but you would apply principles learned throught the practice of that form. The same holds true for techniques.

There is a finite number of ways one could be attacked. This is why SGM Parker was able to classify attacks. However, there is an infinite number of combinations of basics and principles that one could apply to deal with any given attack.

The approaches taken by many pioneers in kenpo have been different in regards to how to teach the underlying concepts taught through mastering a self defense technique.

You have the Tracy approach on the one hand with 10 different versions of Five Swords spelled out for each student to learn and then on the other end of the spectrum you have the Sullivan/LeRoux approach where 1 technique is taught and the student can develop extensions and versions that have not previously been written down and are intended to be more tailored to each individual with instructor guidance.

Is either methodology better? Not at all, just different. Just as with some maneuvers within a self-defense tech, what works for you might not work as well for me. No two people will exucute Delayed Sword exactly the same. SGM Parker understood that physiological and anatomical differences among individuals affected how they executed a technique, hence we have the principle of tailoring.

Therefore, I hold that it's not as important to focus on the number of prescribed techniques one learns as it is important to understand how and why A technique works.

Once one reaches that level of understanding and spontaneity, they could feasibly create and write down as many self-defense techniques as they had days left on the earth.

So, how many tech's are there? Well....how many do you want?

Great post Sir.
I guess my real question is with the techs that relate to similar techs inside,outside,opposite and reverse motion, how many master moves are there?

[still nobody]

There are 154 Base Techniques. There are 96 Extensions. For a total of 250 Techniques. As for the Master Key Movements, unfortunately everyone seems to be rather tight-lipped about them and you, or me, or whoever need to figure them out for ourselves. I recommend looking at all of the techniques and extensions in the system and looking for the COMMON or REPEATING movements....Assemble said techniques into family groups of common MOVEMENT and....

[MARSHALLS KENPO]

There are 154 Base Techniques. There are 96 Extensions. For a total of 250 Techniques. As for the Master Key Movements, unfortunately everyone seems to be rather tight-lipped about them and you, or me, or whoever need to figure them out for ourselves. I recommend looking at all of the techniques and extensions in the system and looking for the COMMON or REPEATING movements....Assemble said techniques into family groups of common MOVEMENT and....

This is true, however the more I study, the more questions I have

[still nobody]

Sir,

I believe what you are really asking is "What are the master key movements and what do they mean to MY interpretation of EPAK?"

I hope that is a fair summation of your thought.

Respectfully,

[MARSHALLS KENPO]

Sir,

I believe what you are really asking is "What are the master key movements and what do they mean to MY interpretation of EPAK?"

I hope that is a fair summation of your thought.

Respectfully,

Sir you are correct, I posted a thread sometime ago about master key techs, I am always looking for what others consider the Master Keys. I am also looking at what relates them to their simplist relationships. One would think that a Master Key tech would cover any attack. So there should be only one Master Key Tech.

My Respects

[Rob Broad]

This thread might be useful

On 'MASTER KEYS TECHNIQUES'