# Sacred Cows in Kenpo!



## Yondanchris (Nov 14, 2012)

This is an article written by my instructor as copied (with permission) from Facebook! 
I would like to talk about the "Sacred Cow" syndrome that is rampant in martial arts! 

"*Sacred Cow, according to Wikipedia (for what that's worth):
 A figurative sacred cow is something else that is considered immune   from question or criticism, especially unreasonably so.[2][3]

  Years back I wrote a blog about the Fallacy of the Mass Attack, mostly   to piss off a few people who were not going to read it anyways, 
it  garnered few comments, I think because there are so many Sacred Cows in  martial arts.

 From Dictionary Online;

 fal·la·cy [fal-uh-see]  
 noun, plural fal·la·cies.
 1. a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.: That the world is flat was at one time a popular fallacy.
 2. a misleading or unsound argument.
 3. deceptive, misleading, or false nature; erroneous.
 4. Logic . any of various types of erroneous reasoning that render arguments logically unsound.
 5. Obsolete . deception.

 Number 1) deceptive, misleading, false notion, belief 

 deceptive advertising that features prominent fallacious  conceptualizations having to do with the perfection of Self.  
Signs in  windows that tell prospective students and parents how wonderful their  lives will be if they just work on the 
self aspects of their life.

 misleading students in to believing that they are learning the  deadliest forms of MA and that there training is best 
because the  instructor has rank in no less than 5 or six of 'the most deadly forms  of fighting'.

 false notions that are reinforced by rules and  etiquette that water down the effectiveness of not just the defenses 
but  the attacks as well.

 belief, I think I'll leave that one alone for now.

 Number 2) a misleading or unsound argument 

 misleading students in to believing (whoops) that curriculum should be  pared back to allow for quick 
advancement through ranks but with a high  cost for the student should they have to use their skills.

 so  called instructors who are great at getting in to the picture with a  prominent black belt but mimic 
the worst possible models of training.  There may be lots of photos on the wall, but the foundations 
of what  they teach are ridiculously inadequate.

 Number 3) ...false nature, erroneous

 the false nature of the attack, lacking NOW and When/Then leads the  instructor to find fault in what they teach. 
At at this point there must  be some other system that fills the knowledge gap, OR, the system has  to be tailored 
(changed at the whim of) by the instructor to make it  'functional'. If the attack sucks, well, your technique sucks also.

 erroneous rituals that increase the likelihood that the instructor will  wind up a Cult of Personality, and, 
the development of the sycophantic  behavior of some of his/her students.

 Number 4) Logic . any of  various types of erroneous reasoning that render arguments logically  unsound. 
(this is the biggest and most common fallacy outhere)

  Logic - remember, martial arts is whatever the instructor says it is, so  how is a new student going to know 
what they are learning, especially  when the kool-aid being served is sweet enough to dazzle the senses? 

 reasoning the defies reason, make stuff up about what you didn't  understand when you learned it and once 
you've told the lie enough you  begin to believe it yourself. 

 Number 5) Obsolete 

  That same year that I blogged the Fallacy of the Mass Attack I also  blogged about training methods I 
observed as being, Old Model, Present  Model and New Model.

 Old Model training is the static horse and  how the structure and methods of instruction are handed 
down to  students who are incapable of performing at the higher levels of their  instructors. 
15 minutes of sweating, 10 minutes of stretching, 15  minutes of basics (almost always in a static horse) 
and one or two self  defense techniques, sets or form. Maybe it is better to spend less  perpetuating bad 
calisthenics and potentially damaging stretching for a  more concentrated approach to the basics 
through practicing sets in a  relaxed and sedate pace. 

 The Fallacy of the Mass Attack is  easy to find on you tube, at tournaments and in movies. 
Is the gang of  baddies going to come at you one at a time and let you do your  choreographed 
nasties while maintaining the needed distance and timing  needed do what is basically showing off? 
Why does this Sacred Cow still  exist? Inertia. Why does the Sacred Cow exist at all? 

 Neutral  Bow, You Must have a perfect neutral bow.Your toes HAVE TO BE PARALLEL  
or you will be cast out of the club and excoriated because you didn't  have you freakin toes parallel. 
The neutral bow may be uniqueish to  Kenpo but it's just one of many stances, and besides, 
if you waste time  trying to get to an unimpeachable neutral bow whist someone is trying to  rearrange your face, 
I cringe at your chances to do anything to stop  the attack.

 Blocking from 3 to 9 and from 9 to 3. WHY? WTF?  
Chapter and verse can be cited for the sophisticated motion called the  THRUSTING INWARD BLOCK! 
THE CONCEPTUAL BOX! MARGIN FOR ERROR! DEPTH OF  ACTION! OUTER RIM! OUTER PERIMETER! CANCELLING ZONES! 
There is more, but  suffice to say, if you still treat a punch like it is a grab, and you  are not waiting for 
THE GRAB to touch you and BE A GRAB, then you or  your instructors missed the point of the attack.

 Twist Stances.  Oh boy, here we go. Look closely at Stance Set 1. 
There are TWO types  of twist stances in StaS1. Rotating Twist and In-place Rotating Twist.

 Cat Stances. Or, maybe you should be turning your hips first instead of  sliding your front foot almost 
all the way back to your back foot  before you kick with the front foot. Here's a question for you, 
is it  possible for your lead leg kick to be a thrust kick and not just a  snapping kick? 
Can you increase the level of penetration in to the  target with your front leg? 
Absofeakinlootly! It's called a 30/70 cat  stance and HIPS CONTROL FEET!

 Finding Balance and a pivot point  (before making contact with the target) and still throwing what 
you  assume is a a power kick (mostly roundhouse). Wait, some of you think  that you should never 
pivot on the heels of your feet when fighting or  doing anything Kenpo. NEVER ever ever. Bite me. 
Try doing Thrusting  Salute while pivoting on the ball of your left foot as you line up the  kick. 
Talk about constipated and mumbled motion! Find balance IN THE  TARGET. 

 Back kicks. The lazy instructor allows students to  believe that the back kick is any hip position and 
foot posture that  executes a kick behind them. It appears that where their hips are is  irrelevant to the 
structure of the kick and whatever comes out of that  cluster f' is called a back kick. 
HIPS CONTROL FEET, KNEES AIM FEET.  It's not rocket science, but is easy to screw up. 
Call it a back heel  kick, and don't chamber that knee in front of you to kick behind you.  That is just stupid.

 Sacred Cows infect training to such a  degree (pun intended) that it's almost as if the old saying is true,  
"Don't wash the dirt off the car, it's the only thing holding the car  together,"  
Let's assume that your instructor is in the Mechanic of  Motion phase. 
He or she is able to mimic what they learned well enough  to show it to you, but, 
it's a copy of a copy of a copy and holds no  relevance to what the original version taught.

 Or, your  instructor is in their Technician of Motion Phase and is tinkering with,  
altering significantly and in general screwing around with what he/she  was taught. 
Oh goody, not only was the model screwed up to begin with  but now it's TAILORED! 
Everything is fine now, he/she fixed all of those  little details that didn't make sense in the first place! 
Alright!  let's move on, there's nothing to be learned that can't be messed with  in the future...

 My favorite, the Salesman of Motion. CLUELESS.  His answer when you ask him about what he 
just showed you is to  stammer, guffaw and point out that he's a black belt and is not to be  questioned. 
On second thought, you attacked him wrong. Wait, that seems  to be the industry standard in Kenpo, that pesky attack thing. 
Sing with  me, Doe a deer a female deer... and that brings us back to DOH!!!!!!!!!

 Share with us your observations of the Sacred Cow in the Kenpo you see.  It always helps to 
acknowledge that there is a problem before it can  get better. 
But please, no names, it gets messy if you point fingers at  someone else because there are three fingers pointing at you too. 
Keep it  light, complain about yourself if you want to, just don't let on that  you are talking about yourself.

 Sacred Cow, ..and that brings us back to DOH! (the only thing Homer has ever said that I liked)" * ​


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## Yondanchris (Nov 20, 2012)

&#8220;Number 1) deceptive, misleading, false notion, belief&#8221; 

Welcome to what I was force fed for 10 years! It wasn&#8217;t until I started  evaluating my knowledge and training paradigms did I realize that I had  been sold a bill of rotten goods. 

&#8220;Number 2) a misleading or unsound argument&#8221;

I wonder how many of those prominent seniors where smiling in said  pictures. This pyramid scheme sucked both my parents and I in for years!  Then I finally grew up! 

&#8220;Number 3) ...false nature, erroneous&#8221;

As an instructor myself, the &#8220;light bulb&#8221; created by contact resistance  and NOW/When/Then methods was akin to a nuclear bomb to my &#8220;martial  knowledge&#8221;. I thought I had &#8220;tailored&#8221; my previous system for my  students&#8230;until I realized I was just smearing the poo all over the  place. 

&#8220;Number 4) Logic . any of various types of erroneous reasoning that  render arguments logically unsound. (this is the biggest and most common  fallacy out there)&#8221;                                                                                                    

KoolAid&#8230; sometimes its water and sugar and sometimes its cyanide. We see  this with the cultapersonality and their sycophants spewing whatever  magical spell they have come up with this week and pass it off as  &#8220;original&#8221; or &#8220;hidden knowledge&#8221;&#8230; B.S. . Give credit where credit is  due. Mr. Parker was a genius and we are all just the beneficiaries of  his epiphany.   

_&#8220;Number 5) Obsolete -That same year that I blogged  the Fallacy of the Mass Attack I also blogged about training methods I  observed as being, Old Model, Present Model and New Model.

Sacred Cows infect training to such a degree (pun intended) that it's  almost as if the old saying is true, "Don't wash the dirt off the car,  it's the only thing holding the car together," Let's assume that your  instructor is in the Mechanic of Motion phase. He or she is able to  mimic what they learned well enough to show it to you, but, it's a copy  of a copy of a copy and holds no relevance to what the original version  taught. Or, your instructor is in their Technician of Motion Phase and  is tinkering with, altering significantly and in general screwing around  with what he/she was taught. Oh goody, not only was the model screwed  up to begin with but now it's TAILORED! Everything is fine now, he/she  fixed all of those little details that didn't make sense in the first  place! Alright! let's move on, there's nothing to be learned that can't  be messed with in the future...My favorite, the Salesman of Motion.  CLUELESS. His answer when you ask him about what he just showed you is  to stammer, guffaw and point out that he's a black belt and is not to be  questioned. On second thought, you attacked him wrong. Wait, that seems  to be the industry standard in Kenpo, that pesky attack thing.&#8221;                                                                                      _

Okay sorry for the long quote&#8230;but tons of GOLD in there. If we do not  pioneer and innovate within our own system we will continually be bogged  down by the Old and Present Model of training. Sacred Cows show up in  many forms that hinder forward progress.                                                                                  

Mechanic of Motion &#8211; Technician of Motion &#8211; Salesman of Motion&#8230;which one  are you? Seriously?                                                                                  

There are millions of Mechanics of Motion&#8230;copies and imitators of their  instructors. If I want to see Mr. Tatum move I will watch Mr. Tatum, if I  want to see Mr. Parker move I will watch Mr. Parker move, If I want to  see Mr. Salantri move I will watch Mr. Jack Cole move&#8230;.wait, I mean I  will watch Mr. Salantri move. There is no room in Kenpo for 100 people   who move like Mr. Salantri, or a 1,000 that move like Mr. Parker&#8230;we are  asked and challenged to move like ourselves using the laws of motion  that Mr. Parker conceptualized for us!!!                                                                                         

Technician of Motion &#8211; can only tinker with a good model to begin with.  If you try to take apart a junk car&#8230;you still have a junker. If you try  to tinker with a Rolls Royce&#8230;you might create something great! The  foundation must be there for the Technician to work with or else the Law  of Entropy will certainly take over where there was once order and  comprehension, devolves into disorder and absolute incoherency.                                                                                  

Salesman of Motion &#8211; Need I say more&#8230;there are way to many of these  within the system. Rank whoring has made them greedy, prideful, and  arrogant. As someone once said, who was correct to point out that we  have raised the bar to the level of mediocrity. (Not a direct  quote&#8230;trying to remember exactly what was said). In other words we are  continually bringing up generations of kenpoists that believe that they  are excelling and are good black belts/instructors when we are actually  raising the bar to a new level of mediocrity.

Just my .02 cents! 

Chris


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## Flying Crane (Nov 20, 2012)

Chris, 

did something significant happen in your training recently?  Some personal experience that made you realize you were getting some low-quality training that had been billed as something really good?


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## Yondanchris (Nov 20, 2012)

Flying Crane said:


> Chris,
> 
> did something significant happen in your training recently?  Some personal experience that made you realize you were getting some low-quality training that had been billed as something really good?



No the last 2 years of study in EPAK has given new light into my previous training and re-enforced the reasons why I left that organization in 2001. I think also recent events that have challenged my integrity and reputation, but thankfully that time has passed!


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## Sami Ibrahim (Jan 12, 2017)

Good Evening,

          In my opinion the biggest "sacred cow" or fallacy that I have seen is the disconnect between real violence and the way that many people train.
Maybe their is something wrong with me but I measure the value of Martial Arts training on how well it prepares a practitioner to handle violence, while I acknowledge that Martial Arts training can have additional perks, being focused on dealing with real violence should be the number one purpose for a Martial methods existence.  I know from my experience that Ed Parker's martial methods can do this very well or I would have died many times over but the focus of so many practitioners seems side tracked on so much frivolous and trivial matters and many instructors seem more interested in keeping the students happy, paying customers in fantasy land than actually preparing them to survive the ugly reality of violence.


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## Touch Of Death (Jan 12, 2017)

Yondanchris said:


> This is an article written by my instructor as copied (with permission) from Facebook!
> I would like to talk about the "Sacred Cow" syndrome that is rampant in martial arts!
> 
> "*Sacred Cow, according to Wikipedia (for what that's worth):
> ...


Actually, your feet control the hips... who wrote this?


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## Yondanchris (Jan 13, 2017)

Touch Of Death said:


> Actually, your feet control the hips... who wrote this?



Clark Cole (Associate Professor)


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## Flying Crane (Jan 13, 2017)

Yondanchris said:


> Clark Cole (Associate Professor)


Mr. Cole is still your teacher?

I'll be honest here, that was a lot of rambling.  Yes, there are a lot of stupid things going on in the martial arts, and in my opinion, in kenpo in particular.  Caveate emptor. 

 I don't find the material in the OP to be particularly enlightened, and I see parallels between that materal and the stuff he seems to be railing against.  

Example:  he talks about sycophants.  The fact that you posted this rambling mess here for all of us, does that make you a sycophant?


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## Touch Of Death (Jan 13, 2017)

Yondanchris said:


> Clark Cole (Associate Professor)


Try kicking with your toes pointed in the opposite direction, and you will find they control your hip.


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## Yondanchris (Jan 13, 2017)

Flying Crane said:


> Mr. Cole is still your teacher?
> 
> I'll be honest here, that was a lot of rambling.  Yes, there are a lot of stupid things going on in the martial arts, and in my opinion, in kenpo in particular.  Caveate emptor.
> 
> ...


Yes Mr. Cole, Mr. Salantri, and Mr. Kai Li! 


Sent from my R1 HD using Tapatalk


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