New perspective on training

[Kickboxer101]

So I've been doing kenpo again for about 3 months now and I've realised my priorities and perspectives on training martial arts have changed. At first it was all about fitness and power and speed and just punches and kicks but now because of kenpo it's more than that. I still enjoy doing fitness training of course but now I enjoy doing the kenpo techniques and analysing what I'm doing and watching what other people and seeing the different variations that they do and then discussing it with them like why they do it that way and why I do it my way and then trying out the different ways and seeing what works best. I feel now I'm understanding martial arts more than I did when I was just hitting pads. I feel like I'm learning more about the body mechanics and the target areas to aim for in a real fight and what to cancel out on your opponent.

Now I'm not as fussed if I don't end up getting a sweat on or throw hundreds of punches a night. Of course I'm still doing that as well but I'm enjoying things in different ways now. I think kenpo and kickboxing really do compliment each other well. The kickboxing gives you more cardio and strength and conditioning and more work on the basic punches and kicks and kenpo works on more technical aspects like how to offset your opponents balance and cancel out their depth and things like that.

 

[marques]

I know quite well both "versions". And I consider the second version (the technical one) a gift of God! It is so hard to find... While the first version can be teached by non martial artists and replaced quite well by a range of sports.

But recently, I started appreciating the fitness version. My fitness level is no more good enough by nature. And I do not find enough motivation for other sports...

I like them both, too.

 

[Kickboxer101]

I know quite well both "versions". And I consider the second version (the technical one) a gift of God! It is so hard to find... While the first version can be teached by non martial artists and replaced quite well by a range of sports.

But recently, I started appreciating the fitness version. My fitness level is no more good enough by nature. And I do not find enough motivation for other sports...

I like them both, too.

I do believe 100% that fintness is very important in martial arts and for self defence. The thing is with styles like karate it gets this image of guys who are lazy because a lot of instructors have big stomachs on them and yeah they do but that's also because they're guys who are in their 50-70s and have full time jobs and spend most nights teaching and spending time with their families and probably have a ton of injuries or illness or whatever so they won't be spending huge amounts of time in the gym or going running but yeah for a guy in his 20s or 30s and training martial arts they should make an effort to stay in good shape even older guys they may not be able to workout as hard (some will) they can still train a bit by doing their forms and techniques even though that may not look like a huge workout it's still better than nothing and they are a good cardio workout.

 

[JowGaWolf]

So I've been doing kenpo again for about 3 months now and I've realised my priorities and perspectives on training martial arts have changed. At first it was all about fitness and power and speed and just punches and kicks but now because of kenpo it's more than that. I still enjoy doing fitness training of course but now I enjoy doing the kenpo techniques and analysing what I'm doing and watching what other people and seeing the different variations that they do and then discussing it with them like why they do it that way and why I do it my way and then trying out the different ways and seeing what works best. I feel now I'm understanding martial arts more than I did when I was just hitting pads. I feel like I'm learning more about the body mechanics and the target areas to aim for in a real fight and what to cancel out on your opponent.

Now I'm not as fussed if I don't end up getting a sweat on or throw hundreds of punches a night. Of course I'm still doing that as well but I'm enjoying things in different ways now. I think kenpo and kickboxing really do compliment each other well. The kickboxing gives you more cardio and strength and conditioning and more work on the basic punches and kicks and kenpo works on more technical aspects like how to offset your opponents balance and cancel out their depth and things like that.

It's good that you reached this level of awareness of what you are doing. You now have the understanding that that there is real purpose with the techniques beyond, "This is what this does and how to do it." Don't be surprise if you start to improve faster than some of your classmates who may just be doing martial arts for fitness. It sounds like you are getting to the point where it no longer becomes about winning and where it becomes more of "Strike this, Strike that. If I can strike successfully enough times then I win by default." Most people fight to win, which is backwards. If my goal is to successfully strike my targets then winning becomes a side effect of my focus to strike.

 

[JowGaWolf]

As far as fitness goes. I've gotten to the point where being fit was the problem. So now I try to be ready, both physically, and mentally and the side effect of this thinking is that I get fit.

 

[Buka]

So I've been doing kenpo again for about 3 months now and I've realised my priorities and perspectives on training martial arts have changed. At first it was all about fitness and power and speed and just punches and kicks but now because of kenpo it's more than that. I still enjoy doing fitness training of course but now I enjoy doing the kenpo techniques and analysing what I'm doing and watching what other people and seeing the different variations that they do and then discussing it with them like why they do it that way and why I do it my way and then trying out the different ways and seeing what works best. I feel now I'm understanding martial arts more than I did when I was just hitting pads. I feel like I'm learning more about the body mechanics and the target areas to aim for in a real fight and what to cancel out on your opponent.

Now I'm not as fussed if I don't end up getting a sweat on or throw hundreds of punches a night. Of course I'm still doing that as well but I'm enjoying things in different ways now. I think kenpo and kickboxing really do compliment each other well. The kickboxing gives you more cardio and strength and conditioning and more work on the basic punches and kicks and kenpo works on more technical aspects like how to offset your opponents balance and cancel out their depth and things like that.

Martial training is just the balls.

 

[Tames D]

Martial training is just the balls.

Balls to the walls.

 

[Kickboxer101]

This is another thing I've started doing is writing because I find when I get told something I do listen but sometimes it's hard to change it and when you get told a few things in class it's hard to remember everything so what I've started doing after every class is coming home and writing down as much as I can remember being told and when I come to doing my own training what ill do sometimes is open my book and practice the moves I've written while making sure I'm doing those corrections. It's pretty cool my instructor showed me he'd done the same thing and he's got like 20 books full of notes of stuff he's taken down from the 60s. Stuff he's learnt in class or in seminars or from other students and he says whenever he reads them he learns something he'd forgotten. I'm definentely enjoying it more this way now than just physical training. Again people may say its not as good or it's so over complicated I have to write it down but I enjoy that it's fun running through it in my head. I mean I still feel the practical physical stuff is very important it's like someone who knows everything about cars and can tell you exactly how it works and how the engine is built but none of that means anything if you can't drive the car. So that's why I'm training both styles still to get a good mix of both worlds

 

[Tez3]

Martial training is just the balls.

The dog's bollocks.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The dog's bollocks.

A dog's breakfast.

 

[Tez3]

A dog's breakfast.

But if you makes a right dog's dinner of it, you have failed miserably.

 

[JR 137]

Edit: Tez's "The dog's bullocks" quote didn't show up (insert quote here)...

The mutt's nuts

 

[Ironbear24]

Yeah Kenpo is very cool. What I love is how eclectic it is.