Kenpo Principles

There are a multitude of American Kenpo principles and concepts. Kenpo is a very scientific and technical martial art where even the slightest movement has a purpose. My instructor, Mr. Steinman, teaches six key principles using a combination of moves for each of them. This is a good way to illustrate them because they are hidden in Kenpo self-defense techniques, and it teaches us to look for them as we grow more proficient.

I came to Kenpo after studying other martial arts, so manipulating the attacker's body is not a new concept to me. But I studied Japanese Jujitsu where we manipulate the opponent by latching on, locking, trapping, holding... all very close and heavy contact. What IS new to me (and what takes an effort to retrain my mind) is the concept of controlling the attacker's body with quick and momentary contact using checks, angled blocks, canceling, etc. As I facetiously tell my instructor sometimes, "They didn't teach me THIS in Tae Kwon Do, sir". While the comment is intended to be humorous, there is also a lot of truth to this. The hard styles of karate and Tae Kwon Do I studied do not include such concepts - at least not until a much higher rank than I reached. In this way, Kenpo throws white belts in the deep end of the pool, and you start learning advanced concepts right away. Why not be exposed early? The student will have a head start when they reach a level where proficiency is required.

Ok, here are the six principles: Two things first off. This is dry physics and theory so I wouldn't blame anyone for clicking on to something more interesting. Second, keep in mind this is FAR from an exhaustive list of Kenpo principles.

Contouring - I expressed concern for my less than perfect vision and difficulty, at times, with depth perception once to Mr. Steinman. He responded that Kenpo can work in complete darkness, because as you grow in skill, when you feel one part of the attacker's body, you know where the rest of the body is. Contouring refers to following the line of the body, but without dragging or leaning on it (which robs power and speed). Once you block into an elbow or bicep, you "contour" along the arm to chop the neck or backfist the temple. Contouring helps eliminate wasted motion and guide you straight to a target. It can be done along legs, up the back, down the arms - anywhere the path leads to a target.

Angle of Incidence - I'm still not sure I completely understand this one, but it has to do with the angle at which your weapon (fist, foot, elbow) hits it's intended target. Angles are extremely important in Kenpo. Striking someone straight horizontal in the chest will knock them back. Striking downward into the solar plexus or stomach will compact and ground them - and keep them closer so your next strike can blast them. Angles can move the attacker up, down, back, or into a follow up strike. Properly used, angles can protect you by canceling an attacker's potential weapons.

Fusion - Most of the time in Kenpo, the feet and hands move much faster than the torso. They are lighter and more flexible. But you put the backup mass of the body behind the arm and it becomes much more powerful. Fusion harnesses the mass of the body to give power to a limb. For example: executing an inward elbow strike has a lot of power because your lats, pecs, and deltoids power it up. But try connecting your fist to your opposite shoulder and strike by rotating your hips. Now, not only your shoulder, but your entire body is behind that elbow. Fusing a flexible weapon to the torso harnesses amazing power. This can also be accomplished by stiffening a joint momentarily. It helps your entire body to move as one unit.

Point of Origin - I imagine this principle comes from Kenpo's heavy emphasis on self-defense. You can fire a strike or block from a relaxed position, even when you are not in a ready position or expecting an attack. There is no cocking or chambering the weapon. An arm hanging at your side can easily shoot straight into the groin. Casual, folded arms can execute all kinds of mid- and upper-level strikes without ever moving the torso. The idea is to meet a surprise attack with one of your own. So there are two bonuses here.
1. Quick response to a sudden threat
2. A deceptive and difficult to anticipate counter-attack

Frictional pull - This is one of the most fascinating, I think, but also tricky to use effectively. The idea is to contact part of the attacker's body and move him by rubbing or dragging sharply against him. For example: chopping into a bicep and scrapping the edge of your hand into the elbow pocket. This one little move can accomplish a lot. It can cancel attacks from other limbs (ground the feet from kicking for an instant). It can bring or suck in the attacker's head to meet an elbow or palm strike with your other hand. This is a very good example of how Kenpo makes use of brief contact (which does NOT bind or fuse you to the attacker) to control him.

Rounded Corners & Elongated Circles - I wonder how many nervous tongues this had tied during tests! I did a bit of online research on this one and found at least one advantage for each of these.
Rounded Corners: A weapon (fist) traveling in a circular motion does not waste time or energy to stop and change directions. You can go from moving horizontal to vertical with continuous motion by cutting off the corner.
Elongated Circles: A weapon following an oval path means that the weapon can reach the target sooner than a full, round circle motion, and apply more direct force to the target. Where a completely round, circle path might cause your fist to scrape or graze the target, a stretched oval allows you to cut off the corners and still get most of the battering ram power of a linear strike.

I have just briefly touched on each principle and there is a whole lot more to them than what I've outlined here. But anybody should be able to see the value of the American Kenpo system and an instructor who takes the time to make sure his students understand these things.

Open Hands

I've seen Kenpo as an uninitiated observer for years, first in movies, then in books and instructional videos. But after learning from an instructor for a few months, I realize how much, and how many different ways, open hands are used. (And I'm sure there are many other ways I haven't seen yet.)

Of course, everybody knows about the famous karate chop with the knife edge of the hand. On a side note, I find it quite amusing that Austin Powers always yells "Judo chop!" when lightly tapping a bad guy on the shoulder, causing him to crumble like telephone pole fell on him. Modern forms of judo normally focus on off-balancing (kazushi), throwing (nage), and locks or holds, but not striking (atemi) like jujitsu and aikido. But I guess that is the joke!

On the serious side, using the knife edge of the hand as a weapon can be very effective. The contact area is from the base joint of the pinky finger to the wrist bones. Closing your fingers together and pulling your thumb in protects your fingers and thumb, and also makes this edge of your palm more solid. If you deliver all the force that comes from hip rotation, shoulder muscles, and elbow extension through that narrow strip of flesh and bone, it is penetrating and painful, especially against the neck or collarbone. (A smaller surface of the striking weapon with the same amount of force behind it equals greater penetration.)

Some techniques in Kenpo use a short range, downward and forward cut with the knife edge of the hand to create space, bring the attacker's head forward for the next strike, to off-balance him, and to check his height. When I first saw the move, it looked like a push, and I didn't perceive it as delivering pain or even as being effective. Then my instructor gently delivered it properly down my lower ribs and into my stomach. Very painful and penetrating, even though he was being nice.

Let me get off track for a minute, since this reminds me of another moment of enlightenment. We were practicing a defense for an overhead club attack which involves a quick side-step right to move your head out of the path, a right inward parry, and a left outward block to the forearm holding the club. Being a former jujitsu student, I was puzzled why we were not controlling or grasping the weapon hand. Once you block the arm, the attacker can take that stick anywhere, including follow up strikes to your knee, arms, ribs, etc.! When I made this point to my instructor, rather than explain, he just handed me the stick and said "attack me". I expected he would talk me through technical points as he usually does while demonstrating a technique. But he simply blocked my arm and planted the ball of his foot in my lower stomach with a front thrust kick. The technique calls for a front snap kick to the groin, so he was being nice, but it caused me enough pain to make me double over and cough. And I noticed that my body folded at the hips as I was knocked back, leaving me in no position to execute follow up strikes with my stick. In fact, I nearly dropped the stick. The technique then calls for a side kick to the rear knee and a back knuckle strike to the head immediately following the front kick, so there would be no time to recover.  A completely different approach to dealing with an impact weapon from my previous training, but certainly effective.

Back to open hands: An open hand can also check, and there are different types of checking, or preventing an attacker from using his weapons effectively. There are finger pokes, which are most effective to the eyes. There is the "palm-claw" which begins as a palm strike to the face or groin and ends with a raking claw or a grab and pull. The opposite of a knifehand strike is a ridgehand or reverse knifehand. You strike with the bone at the base of your thumb. Of course, there are inward and outward parrys, which redirect incoming attacks. There is also a "crane" hook, where you point the fingertips and elbow down, creating an arch which can trap and manipulate attacking arms without latching on to your opponent. I noticed Kenpo seems to avoid techniques which bind or tie you to your opponent and might allow a bigger, stronger attacker to fling you around. Not being latched on also allows you to transition quickly to other moves or checks if needed.

When these open hand techniques are used in combination with punches, hammerfists, and back knuckle strikes, it begins to feel like you are constantly opening and clenching your fist. Seems like good training for coordination, and it also helps teach you to relax until the point of impact. A relaxed arm moves faster than a tense, stiff one. But my previous perception that open hand strikes are weaker, and you use them when you want to use less aggressive force, has been shattered.  When you take into consideration things like the "puzzle principle" (your weapons fitting into different targets on an attacker's body), open hand strikes could actually be more effective than a closed fist in certain applications.