2 weeks in to new program

[Headhunter]

So it's been 2 weeks since I decided to focus exclusively again on kenpo and its been going great. I train Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and on the days off I do my own fitness and strength training or heavy bag work at home.

Yes I do kind of miss the other stuff but its nice to just focus on one thing. Since its been over a year since I got my first dan my instructor has said I could test for my second next year and if I could then maybe do it in California at wonder valley kenpo camp which is run by graham lelliot and has some high up international instructors there. Of course to me rank isn't important but hey I'll take it if the opportunity is there.

I'm also doing a lot more reading on kenpo, I've been reading ed Parkers infinite insights books and lee wedlakes books and just taking in the information.

 

[Buka]

Glad to hear you're enjoying your Kenpo again, bro. That's good reading you mentioned, I enjoyed them, too.

 

[_Simon_]

Ah that's great you're enjoying it, keep it up!

And yeah I've found that whilst alot of learning and answers are found in training, reading from all sorts of sources about your style just invigorates your whole training and approach to it... and not only stuff about your style but writings from branch offs from your style, precursors, philosophies etc really makes you think, and appreciate your style even more.

There's so much depth you can explore if you just open yourself to it I've found...

And of course, reading stuff here on MT does that too ;D


Ps. And awesome to hear about your potential 2nd dan test, keep us posted!

 

[Headhunter]

Glad to hear you're enjoying your Kenpo again, bro. That's good reading you mentioned, I enjoyed them, too.

Thing is I'm kind of more enjoying training it on my own more than the classes. The classes are okay but tbh it's still something missing there can't explain it I mean I do like the classes and I'm not bored at all but I dunno lol

 

[Buka]

Training on one's own is sometimes wonderful. I know just what you're saying.

 

[Headhunter]

Training on one's own is sometimes wonderful. I know just what you're saying.

I just wish I could find a club that feels like the place I started in. There it was good technical instruction but you also got a good work out, sparred a fair bit and did realistic self defence pressure drills due to the instructor being a policeman.

Now all the places I've seen seem to be to obsessed with the perfect technique like focusing on the exact perfect stance and tbh for a self defence based style that's silly because you're never going to be in a perfect stance. The place im at now isn't to bad you get a bit of a workout nothing great but tbh not trying to sound big headed but my fitness is above average anyway and we do get a lot done.

But hey no where's perfect I'm just enjoying what I've got. At the end of the day it's all you can do just do what I can do and make the most of it.

 

[JR 137]

Thing is I'm kind of more enjoying training it on my own more than the classes. The classes are okay but tbh it's still something missing there can't explain it I mean I do like the classes and I'm not bored at all but I dunno lol

You know your own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else. Sure, a teacher and partners will point out some you didn’t know existed, but with a decent level of experience you’ll know what you really need to work on. When you train alone, you work on exactly what you want, and not what the group needs overall.

Just my opinion of why I feel like training solo has more benefits than class sometimes. Obviously class is needed, but solo training can be more productive at times if you do it right.

 

[Headhunter]

Ah that's great you're enjoying it, keep it up!

And yeah I've found that whilst alot of learning and answers are found in training, reading from all sorts of sources about your style just invigorates your whole training and approach to it... and not only stuff about your style but writings from branch offs from your style, precursors, philosophies etc really makes you think, and appreciate your style even more.

There's so much depth you can explore if you just open yourself to it I've found...

And of course, reading stuff here on MT does that too ;D


Ps. And awesome to hear about your potential 2nd dan test, keep us posted!

Yeah kenpo wise I've been looking round and I am interested in kenpo 5.0 jeff speakmans system, he seems to be one of the very few who's tried to evolve kenpo by putting in grappling elements and removing ineffective techniques but sadly no where near trains that system.

 

[Headhunter]

You know your own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else. Sure, a teacher and partners will point out some you didn’t know existed, but with a decent level of experience you’ll know what you really need to work on. When you train alone, you work on exactly what you want, and not what the group needs overall.

Just my opinion of why I feel like training solo has more benefits than class sometimes. Obviously class is needed, but solo training can be more productive at times if you do it right.

Yeah you can't learn on your own to start but when your experienced its probably better to learn by yourself most times. I mean I spent 10 years doing nothing but my own training and I don't think my skills suffered for it.

Sometimes I get really technical and break my stuff down but I also blast through at pace as well. At the weekend I did every single self defence technique on the kenpo syllabus twice so I did 154 techniques twice and damm by the time I got to black belt I was dead on my feet.

 

[_Simon_]

Yeah you can't learn on your own to start but when your experienced its probably better to learn by yourself most times. I mean I spent 10 years doing nothing but my own training and I don't think my skills suffered for it.

Sometimes I get really technical and break my stuff down but I also blast through at pace as well. At the weekend I did every single self defence technique on the kenpo syllabus twice so I did 154 techniques twice and damm by the time I got to black belt I was dead on my feet.

Great point, sort of what I alluded to in the other thread I started, regarding having experience enough to train newer stuff on your own.

And holy patootie.... that's ridiculous haha, I remember when I had a grading coming up I'd go through everything in the syllabus, usually split into 1/3s or 1/2s, and only doing the whole thing though just the once as a grading rehearsal. Doing it twice wowza, respect XD

 

[JR 137]

Yeah you can't learn on your own to start but when your experienced its probably better to learn by yourself most times. I mean I spent 10 years doing nothing but my own training and I don't think my skills suffered for it.

Sometimes I get really technical and break my stuff down but I also blast through at pace as well. At the weekend I did every single self defence technique on the kenpo syllabus twice so I did 154 techniques twice and damm by the time I got to black belt I was dead on my feet.

I don’t know if it’s truly LEARNING on my own or more so REFINING what I’ve learned during solo training. I feel things my teachers can’t see; stuff like a slight off-balance, hesitation in techniques, over committing, etc. Slowing everything down on my own and going over little details over and over again helps me a lot. My teachers won’t spend 30 minutes going over one turn in one kata; I will though. My teachers won’t have me do a combo on the bag 100 times because my foot repeatedly lands too far one way or another on my entry or exit; I will though. That’s the real benefit to my solo training IMO. Some may call it OCD, but I call it getting all the little things right so the big picture improves.