Kenpo Synonyms

My instructor often says "If you want terminology, Kenpo as a ton of it".  At first, learning all the terms to describe complex movements is intimidating, but once you get some of it down, it makes things much easier to understand.  When you don't know what a "front crossover to the rear" is you feel kind of silly in the dojo, looking around while everybody else moves as one unit. A little common sense and you can probably figure out what the basic idea is. A crossover may look like an opportunity to stumble over your own feet, but it allows you to adjust your distance without turning your vital organs towards a threat. Where it gets tricky is remembering that a "rear crossover to the rear" (2 Rs) means you move straight back, while a "front crossover to the rear" (one F, one R) means you move diagonally backward. Using the same logic, a "front crossover forward" (2 Fs) is straight forward and a "rear crossover forward" (one R, one F) is diagonal. This is necessary because you cannot maintain a neutral bow stance without getting your legs all twisted if you try to move your forward leg around the rear instead of simply crossing in front of it. So whether you cross behind or in front depends on where you need move.

But I wanted to discuss synonyms used in Kenpo. These are interesting and I'll just dive right in.
A "sword" means a knifehand position is used (fingers extended straight and squeezed together, thumb tucked in along side). There are many ways to use this hand position, but it's especially useful for chopping into places where a clenched fist or flat hand would be awkward or less effective. This is called the "Puzzle Principle" (weapon fits into the target) and yes, Kenpo has a long list of principles and concepts. You can bend the elbow by chopping into the inside of the joint. You can get better penetration for strikes to the throat or neck. You can use a scrapping thrust, cutting into the ribs, and down into the stomach to ground an opponent and set them up for a strike. Lots of options.  You can jab with your finger tips, but this requires some training on proper targets and delivery or you can get hurt. And never strike with the side of your pinky! Use the edge of your palm or the spot just in front of your wrist. You can use the other side of the hand (the area between the wrist and the base of your thumb) and this is called a "ridgehand" or "reverse knifehand".  It's far easier to swing a ridgehand up into someone's groin from a natural, relaxed position than to use a regular knifehand. Upward strikes (like attacking tendons behind the elbow joint) are easier with a ridgehand also.

Hammer = pinky side of the clenched fist. This is commonly used against the groin when someone is attacking your from behind. Hammers are also used against the ribs and the side of the face. A downward hammerfist can easily break a collarbone. In Kenpo, hammerfists (and all movements for that matter) are inserted into technique sequences in such a way that they "feed" the next move or the previous move "feeds" them. If I use an "extended outward block" to protect myself from a punch, it leaves my forearm in a mostly vertical position. It's a very natural movement to rotate your hand a quarter turn and drop the clenched fist, pinky-side first, onto the collarbone. If you just elbowed the attacker behind you in the stomach, swinging the fist down into the groin is natural. By the way, you could easily guess that the technique named "Sword and Hammer" would include a knifehand strike and a hammerfist.

Salute = palm strike. Just imagine a "heil Hitler" salute with the palm and fingers pointed more vertical than at a 45 degree angle. As with any hand strike, it's important that the area of your hand with "backup mass" takes the brunt of the force. With a palm strike, the base of your palm (not the bases of your fingers) have the most backup mass because it is closer to your wrist joint (which has the backup mass of your arm, which has the backup mass of your body). The orange belt level alone has "Triggered Salute", "Thrusting Salute", and "Glancing Salute" self-defense techniques, and each of them incorporate a palm strike somewhere in the squence of moves.

Here's a few more:
Wings = elbow or bent arm
Feathers = hair (as in hair grab)
Branch = leg (the technique "Buckling Branch" involves a kick to the back of the knee)
Mace = fist
Claw = attacking with the fingernails in addition to a palm strike
Twigs = arms ("Captured Twigs" is a defense for a rear bear hug with arms pinned)

It seems silly, but you can create some very kung-fu sounding names for techniques using analogies like this!  Mr. Parker had a sense of humor too, or else he wouldn't have placed a technique called "Squeezing the Peach" (grabbing the testicles) into the system.  I wonder if he imagined how many black belt instructors would struggle to keep a straight face while calling that one out on a test in front of parents and girlfriends!

One last comment: the guy in the picture looks cool, showing all his muscles, but he is in a VERY vulnerable position there! Everything from his front knee to his groin, the inside of his front thigh, all major organs, and his left ribs are all easy targets. His elbow joint is also fully extended, and punching with power like that can damage the joint. Simply dropping his rear fist and his front elbow would add a lot of protection. He should turn his front foot inward so that the knee provides some cover for the groin and it can bend if attacked. You gotta protect yourself! ;-)