Adapting Kenpo for a disability

[Ceicei]

Excellent! One of the things that I am always striving to improve is my sense of timing and partially I think it's a mental block, where I see the big guys coming in with a punch for instance, and I maybe block too soon because I don't want to let them into my space. I have learned to improve on this, but it hasn't been easy. I wonder, if I had to rely on my ears and other senses, other than my sight, if it would help to eliminate the anticipation. How did your student do in terms of developing a sense of timing? Was that possible?

My instructor has, at times, put a blindfold on me. Its a whole new world out there when doing martial arts without eyesight. I didn't realize how much my balance depended upon sight. It also forced me to focus upon the opponent's actions (as in "sticky hands"). Timing and sense of feel does get better because of the need to make it work. It is then I understood the emphasis on proper "very close quarters" motion (especially the principle of contouring).

He does this (blindfolding) with many of his senior students. For me, it is definitely a huge challenge as I cannot hear, so going deaf/blind is (even temporarily), shall I say, a new way of handling a fear?

My instructor made the comment that if during a confrontation I became blind (maybe something put into my eye, for example), would I just stop there and panic, or would I then rely on whatever senses I have left to continue defending myself? It gave me a lot of "food for thought" and a new perspective upon my abilities.

- Ceicei

 

[mj-hi-yah]

My instructor has, at times, put a blindfold on me. Its a whole new world out there when doing martial arts without eyesight. I didn't realize how much my balance depended upon sight. It also forced me to focus upon the opponent's actions (as in "sticky hands"). Timing and sense of feel does get better because of the need to make it work. It is then I understood the emphasis on proper "very close quarters" motion (especially the principle of contouring).

He does this (blindfolding) with many of his senior students. For me, it is definitely a huge challenge as I cannot hear, so going deaf/blind is (even temporarily), shall I say, a new way of handling a fear?

My instructor made the comment that if during a confrontation I became blind (maybe something put into my eye, for example), would I just stop there and panic, or would I then rely on whatever senses I have left to continue defending myself? It gave me a lot of "food for thought" and a new perspective upon my abilities.

- Ceicei

Ceicei that is very interesting, especially from your perspective. It sounds like you got a lot out of the experience! Thanks for sharing. Let us know what you learn over time from it.

 

[mj-hi-yah]

A little update:

He got his yellow belt! artyon: I unfortunately wasn't able to attend, but I got the rundown from him in class last night. He had, that very day, gotten his new leg, which is presenting him with many new challenges. He had the old one for the last ten years, and this new one is designed to mimic more natural movement, like stair climbing for instance, but learning to walk on it is a different story! He told me it is completely different and counter intuitive to what he needed to do in order to be successful with the old leg. Some of the technology needs to be smoothed out as well (like it eats his pants so he, in typical male fashion uses duct tape on his new $60,000 leg to solve the problem :lol: ). So considering all of that, I was amazed to find out that he decided to jump in and test with his new leg!!! He apparently did very well on the test in spite of the kinks with the new leg. He was very pleased with his techniques as was my instructor with his performance! He looks great in his yellow belt!

I worked on helping to develop for him a adaptation to a technique we have against a rear choke last night, and despite the frustrations he feels over the new technology, I can already see a difference in terms of stability with this new leg. I can see some of why he is frustrated as there are many kinks to work out (the leg started to go into stair climbing mode a couple of times for no apparent reason during our workout). Also, it's much nosier, so being a ninja may be out for him, but overall regardless of how he stands, he definitely stands as a true martial artist! :asian:

 

[jdinca]

That's great! Shows he's got a lot of determination.

Was the technique you modified Dancer? If you don't mind sharing, what did you change?

 

[mj-hi-yah]

That's great! Shows he's got a lot of determination.

Yes he is definitely determined!

Was the technique you modified Dancer? If you don't mind sharing, what did you change?

No not Dancer but that one will present challenges though… It is a technique called Crash of the Eagle. I’m happy to share, but I have to really think about how to convey this, I hope this makes sense :

In this technique the attack is a rear choke with a push from behind. We are normally taught to use the momentum from the push to step our left foot into a front twist as we drop our weight and unwind from that to face our opponent. We come around with our right arm and trap their arms. We break their grasp with a core body movement that involves our right shoulder in a kind of snapping motion as we turn. His prosthetic leg is his left leg and he can not take that first step into the twist and maintain stability (basically twist stances are not a good idea for him), he can however use the prosthetic leg as a pivot point, so to begin we have him step the right leg to about 11:00 and break the hold using the same core body movement just to the opposite side and not in a twist. He then uses his left arm for the trap and subsequent hand strikes. We had him anchor his left elbow in their right elbow with a frictional pull slightly down (this is instead of the original trap) this gives him more balance as he can use his opponent's body to help with his stability. In the regular technique there's a series of hand strikes that follow the trap...they are: elbow to sternum following up and striking under the chin with the elbow, and then coming back down with a heel palm to the bridge of the nose and following through with a claw down the face which we roll into a backfist to the right side of the opponent’s head and then that rolls down to a chop to right side of his throat (orbiting the hands for checks). To maintain his stability we have him do an elbow to the sternum and then keeping his elbow anchored to his opponent’s body a chop to the left side of his opponent’s throat on a 45 degree angle. We eliminated the chin and nose strikes because they were causing him to disengage too much leaving him vulnerable in terms of balance…normally from the chop we drop into a closed kneel and do a hammer to the groin with an exiting back kick…we eliminated the kick and have him follow up with a pushing elbow strike to the body followed by a hammer to the groin - so he drops the hammer on the exit, but not in a closed kneel…as he steps out.

I had one of our biggest and heaviest students work this on him so we could really challenge him to make sure he could make it work. I had the student attack him with a hard push and he was able to withstand that and break his grasp using the momentum from the push (as we normally would) and soon the big guy was complaining about how well it was working! LOL He did great. We will revisit it next time to be sure it all works for him, and as he gets to know his new leg and its capabilities things can be changed if they are advantageous.

 

[jdinca]

As soon as you said Crash of the Eagle I thought, "ahh, must be the left leg." Nice job just switching it to the left side with a little modification.

We teach this technique with four extensions to our white belts. There's only one or two hand strikes in each one with the focus being on the cross step and the pivot.

Please keep us updated on other modifications you make. I'm sure some will be happy to plagerize. No need to reivent the wheel!

 

[mj-hi-yah]

As soon as you said Crash of the Eagle I thought, "ahh, must be the left leg." Nice job just switching it to the left side with a little modification.

We teach this technique with four extensions to our white belts. There's only one or two hand strikes in each one with the focus being on the cross step and the pivot.

Please keep us updated on other modifications you make. I'm sure some will be happy to plagerize. No need to reivent the wheel!

Thanks. There is a challenge for us as instructors now to remember not only our 170 techniques, but all of his as well. I've been considering videotaping him. At some point if I get his permission maybe I can keep a record of it for others to learn from in that way.

 

[MJS]

A little update:

He got his yellow belt! artyon: I unfortunately wasn't able to attend, but I got the rundown from him in class last night. He had, that very day, gotten his new leg, which is presenting him with many new challenges. He had the old one for the last ten years, and this new one is designed to mimic more natural movement, like stair climbing for instance, but learning to walk on it is a different story! He told me it is completely different and counter intuitive to what he needed to do in order to be successful with the old leg. Some of the technology needs to be smoothed out as well (like it eats his pants so he, in typical male fashion uses duct tape on his new $60,000 leg to solve the problem :lol: ). So considering all of that, I was amazed to find out that he decided to jump in and test with his new leg!!! He apparently did very well on the test in spite of the kinks with the new leg. He was very pleased with his techniques as was my instructor with his performance! He looks great in his yellow belt!

I worked on helping to develop for him a adaptation to a technique we have against a rear choke last night, and despite the frustrations he feels over the new technology, I can already see a difference in terms of stability with this new leg. I can see some of why he is frustrated as there are many kinks to work out (the leg started to go into stair climbing mode a couple of times for no apparent reason during our workout). Also, it's much nosier, so being a ninja may be out for him, but overall regardless of how he stands, he definitely stands as a true martial artist! :asian:

Thats Awesome!!!:ultracool I gald to see that hes not letting this disability hinder his MA training!! He will certainly be an inspiration for others that may be in a similar situation.

Mike

 

[Sigung86]

First time in this thread. Feels good to see so much sweat equity going into the new Black Belts coming along.

I have a fellow who joined me this past summer. He's 70 years old, has had quad bypass surgery. He has the heart of a lion and works very hard at it. We do modify some techs for him, and it is a bit difficult to drop on one knee (for instance). But that, basically, is the spirit of Kenpo. It modifies to the individual in this particular instance. He sent me an email the other day saying that his New Year resolution was to work out at least 3 times a week, and become a Black Belt, God willing. (His words)...

I will be there for him as long as he needs.

 

[mj-hi-yah]

First time in this thread. Feels good to see so much sweat equity going into the new Black Belts coming along.

I have a fellow who joined me this past summer. He's 70 years old, has had quad bypass surgery. He has the heart of a lion and works very hard at it. We do modify some techs for him, and it is a bit difficult to drop on one knee (for instance). But that, basically, is the spirit of Kenpo. It modifies to the individual in this particular instance. He sent me an email the other day saying that his New Year resolution was to work out at least 3 times a week, and become a Black Belt, God willing. (His words)...

I will be there for him as long as he needs.

Sigung86 wow that's awesome! Thanks for sharing your story. :asian: If you can, please drop in here and let us know how he is doing, and what things you are doing to make Kenpo work for him. It would be very interesting for us to follow along.

Thanks,
MJ

 

[Gin-Gin]

He got his yellow belt! artyon: I unfortunately wasn't able to attend, but I got the rundown from him in class last night. He had, that very day, gotten his new leg, which is presenting him with many new challenges. He apparently did very well on the test in spite of the kinks with the new leg. He was very pleased with his techniques as was my instructor with his performance! He looks great in his yellow belt! I worked on helping to develop for him a adaptation to a technique we have against a rear choke last night, and despite the frustrations he feels over the new technology, I can already see a difference in terms of stability with this new leg. I can see some of why he is frustrated as there are many kinks to work out (the leg started to go into stair climbing mode a couple of times for no apparent reason during our workout). Also, it's much nosier, so being a ninja may be out for him, but overall regardless of how he stands, he definitely stands as a true martial artist!

Wonderful news, MJ! Congrats to both of you! :asian: :cheers: I've been feeling sorry for myself with injuries lately, but will think of your student & Sigung86's student to inspire me to keep going! :karate:

He's 70 years old, has had quad bypass surgery. He has the heart of a lion and works very hard at it. We do modify some techs for him, and it is a bit difficult to drop on one knee (for instance). But that, basically, is the spirit of Kenpo. It modifies to the individual in this particular instance.

Which is why I love it so much.