Kempo/Kenpo techniques

[SK101]

Your opponent throws 1 punch. You counter with 5 moves while he is still frozen in his punch. Is this realistic? In the normal situation, if you make 1 move, your opponent will respond with 1 move. When you make your 2nd move, he will respond with your 2nd move.

Unless you are 5 times faster than your opponent, this kind of training is not realistic IMO.

2 Techniques posted do exactly that and the 3rd system posted AKK has many, if not most techniques taught off a single strike - Initial reasoning in Shaolin Kempo is to teach where to hit and with what to hit not to make it look like a real fight. Sparring and sparring drills are more the area for defend/counter/defend/counter type of training, but pieces of Combos/DMs/Kempos/Forms can be broken out and used in the same way. I can teach someone to play football by putting them into the game their 1st day to make it "realistic" for them or I can start off with basics and work my way toward reality. In my opinion SKK is often taught with too much dependence on sparring to develop the reaction side of the system, but if an SKK instructor does a good job teaching people in the sparring ring then the Combinations can be thought of as the building blocks to get a person ready for the sparring portion of their training. Me personally I like lots of drills to bridge the lack of reaction needed for most combinations while decreasing the amount of variables a student has to deal with in sparring. Many people may say on a combination the person is being hit and the body is being manipulated to bring them into the next move. I agree with that, but it is the initial hitting of the attacker that is the weak link for many. You can't get to the end unless you have a great beginning. In my opinion back to lots of drills and working just the very beginning of the combos.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

You can't get to the end unless you have a great beginning. In my opinion back to lots of drills and working just the very beginning of the combos.

If you want to use a jab to set up a cross, do you want to put 100% power into your jab?

The interested questions are:

- Which training is better? One step sparring, or continuous sparring?
- Should one train one step sparring before continuous sparring?
- Could one develop bad habit through one step sparring (such as don't know how to use move 1 to set up move 2)?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If you want to use a jab to set up a cross, do you want to put 100% power into your jab?

The interested questions are:

- Which training is better? One step sparring, or continuous sparring?
- Should one train one step sparring before continuous sparring?
- Could one develop bad habit through one step sparring (such as don't know how to use move 1 to set up move 2)?

I don't think that's a question with a binary response. Every type of fight training I have any familiarity with has some form of X-step sparring/drill. Most also have some form of continuous sparring/randori/rolling. They serve different purposes.

 

[Flying Crane]

If you want to use a jab to set up a cross, do you want to put 100% power into your jab?

sure. Because the point is I want him to go down, not that I want to drop him specifically with a cross. If he goes down with the jab, I’m done. No need for the cross. The cross isn’t the final goal. The cross is ready in case the first shot didn’t finish the job. It’s a good automatic combination, so a good strategy. But if you can land the jab, then land it like you mean it.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If he goes down with the jab, I’m done. No need for the cross.

Agree! When you have tried 3 times with your jab, you still cannot drop your opponent, you may try the jab-cross combo. When you do that, you may just use jab as a set up.

 

[punisher73]

If you want to use a jab to set up a cross, do you want to put 100% power into your jab?

The interested questions are:

- Which training is better? One step sparring, or continuous sparring?
- Should one train one step sparring before continuous sparring?
- Could one develop bad habit through one step sparring (such as don't know how to use move 1 to set up move 2)?

As to the first question, both are different strategies that can be used. In Japanese Karate, for example, they pulled in the concept of "one strike/one kill" into the mentality from sword fighting into their karate where they train each strike to be a fight ender. BUT, to understand it properly, it does NOT mean that you only have "one bullet in the gun" so to speak. It means that every strike you throw should have the intent to end the fight instantly. To use a Western Boxing example, Jack Dempsey referred to his jab as a "Left Jolt" and wanted it to also be a power punch.

As to the "one step sparring". This is a concept that has been largely misunderstood from its original intent. Originally, it would have been referred to as "Ippon Kumite". The concept was that it was one moment in time. You are attacked and respond to interrupt the attacker so he can't utilize a continuous attack on you. To use a Western Boxing example again for reference, the idea of throwing a jab at your opponent to disrupt his timing and set point so he doesn't use a combination on you.

ANY sparring method can lead to bad habits if not trained properly under proper guidance. You put someone into sparring without proper tools on how to use them and you can immediately develop someone who is very "gun shy" and won't engage properly or trying to overpower their technique with muscle instead of using proper technique.

Back to Kenpo techniques. They are meant to be drills that develop flow and targeting based on the opponent's reactions. They are NOT meant to run the entire technique in a real situation. This is not different than boxing trainers I have seen utilize 10-20 strike combinations as drills for their fighters for the same reason.