Orange belt testing

Night before last I tested for orange belt. I tested for orange belt in Tae Kwon Do and Freestyle Kenpo Karate years ago, and since it is only the second promotion after white, it doesn't seem like a big deal. But not all orange belts are equal.  The training and development I went through to earn this one made it worth more to me. Instead of ten combos and two kata/forms I performed in TKD, I demonstrated 27 self-defense techniques, 9 sets (mini forms) and two forms. Given my propensity for wordiness, I could probably write a 200 page book on concepts, observations, and experiences from the 6 months I spent learning and practicing orange belt Kenpo. But this is a blog, not a book, so I'll try to stick to the test itself.

Some students may not realize this, but the test actually starts weeks before the night of the official exam. The instructor watches everyone practice, gives pointers and correction, then looks to see if there is improvement. A good instructor does not test someone unless he or she already knows they could pass the test. I made mistakes and neglected key concepts during the actual test, but I had a firm grasp on the foundations. So on one hand, I certainly do not feel like an expert in orange belt curriculum, and on the other hand, if I waited to test until I felt I had really mastered this stuff, I might never progress beyond my current rank. Besides that, it is not up to the student to decide when they test. The instructor decides when they are ready.

We started out in a full class lineup and ran through exercises, basics, and yellow belt material. In two's and three's, students dropped out and moved away to work on things they had not learned yet. The ranks above me left to train the ones below me, and finally only one other person was left in the middle of the room with me. At this point I was already soaked in sweat and breathing deeply. Mr. Steinman explained that first degree black belt tests can take four hours or more, and as your knowledge grows, so must your physical conditioning. Then the real test began. My fellow student and I were run through more self-defense techniques, multiple times each, as the rest of the class watched from the sidelines. Then we were asked to do a form which has the same footwork as the yellow belt form, but uses parries instead of blocks in different directions. Simple, but when I started to perform the left side, my feet were stepping left side but my hands were doing right side. "That's not right," I muttered and paused to start left side again. This time my feet were following my hands, doing right side. "That doesn't feel right either." I focused and concentrated on what I needed to do, knowing that it was pure nervousness and fatigue distracting me.  I had practiced this sequence over and over for months! I finally got it right.

Next was a quick rolling technique line.  The instructor picked students to line up and attack us in quick succession. I barely had time to recover from one set of moves before another student came at me with a grab, strike, or kick.  I was exhausted and dripping with sweat, but you start to feel things when attacks come quickly and with force, that you don't feel practicing the moves in the air or in slow motion on a person. My stances were being challenged, I was being canceled and knocked off-balance, and my movements were sloppier as I struggled to adjust timing and ranges. It really came home to me what Mr. Steinman has mentioned several times about positive stances. If you block and absorb the force of an attack with a "neutral stance", you get knocked back into a "negative stance". You will be off balance, feeling clumsy and challenged, and you feel jammed and crowded. If you use a striking block against an attack early in its travel, leaning forward to meet it as it is launched instead of waiting for it to reach you, you can maintain, or take back, your own space. 

This requires a more aggressive mindset. By default, I have a defensive mindset. I think first about blocking, parrying, or dodging attacks, and keeping myself safe. Counter-attacking is secondary, so I attack if I see an opening. But I am starting to see that I should be creating those openings using checking and aggressive blocking, rather than waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. Kenpo stresses attacking weapons thrown at you with enough force to disable them. Mr. Steinman calls taking out weapons "appetizers". Striking primary targets, like the groin, solar plexus, throat, face, etc., is the "main course". Follow up attacks, like eye pokes, back knuckle strikes to the temple, etc., as you exit the danger zone are "desert". I'll never forget the time I asked him why we didn't grab and control an overhead club attack. Instead of explaining a complicated theory, he just told me to attack him with the stick. Then he kicked me in the stomach hard enough to make me drop the stick. That particular technique calls for a snap kick to the groin, so he was being nice and still rendered my weapon useless.

So not only do I need to learn physical technique and create "muscle memory", but I need to adjust my way of thinking and my attitude. A blocked or parried punch can recover and hit you again, but a broken or damaged arm is not only no longer a danger, but a painful distraction to your attacker. Of course, in practice sparring, you have to use checking and deceptive movements to create openings, in order to avoid injuring your fellow students. But somehow I need to start moving from the defensive, cautious, and careful approach I have, to using positive stances (leaning into attacks), a more aggressive strategy (with control, of course), and not be so distracted and busy dealing with attacks that I rarely hit back. This is really allowing the attacker to dominate, while I could be making the opponent busy with my own attacks. This realization might have crystallized at my test, but I think what I've been learning in past months definitely contributed.
The belt ceremony in Kenpo is unique compared to other martial arts I trained in where the instructor simply hands you a belt and your fellow students clap to congratulate you. At the end of the test, the instructor had us stand in a meditative horse stance (feet just over shoulder-width apart, knees bent, hips slightly forward, left hand clasped over right fist in front) for a few moments. He leaves the room for a few moments, with the second highest rank present. What they do I don't know, but I joked once that they couldn't find the right belt in the back. An honest guess would be that the instructor consults with the highest rank student or another black belt about how the testing students did well and areas for improvement. When you stand in that position for five minutes with your eyes closed, you start to feel things you don't feel standing naturally with eyes open. You start to be come aware of exactly where on the soles of your feet the most weight is planted, your balance and posture, the sounds around you become much louder - it is an odd experience.

When the instructor returned, he placed the folded belt on the floor in front of me and told me to kneel. I knelt in the "seiza" position I learned in jujitsu (right toe over left, thighs resting on calves, hands resting on thighs, back straight, head tilted downward). Then the instructor knelt and placed his hands and forehead on the belt. He said this means he promises to pass his knowledge to the student. Then I placed my hands, left down first, on the floor, fingers pointing inward toward each other and elbows out. I left only my forehead on the belt for a few seconds (instead of bouncing back up), to show respect. This means that I should use my head before my hands. Then I picked up my right hand first, then the left, and placed my palms back on my thighs, still keeping my head bowed. Most students probably don't go to this level of detail in following Japanese tradition, especially since this is "American" Kenpo, but I think it shows respect to the instructor and the art, and since I learned it, why not follow it. Next the instructor told me to pick up the belt and tie the first half of the knot. This means that I promise to learn with dedication as a student. Then he told me to take my old belt and hang it around my neck. This means that I am taking with me, and continuing to work on, everything I learned while I was wearing it.

After standing up, comes the kick. My instructor looked at me with a wry smile on his face and said "You don't mind a little kick do you?" "No sir!" I responded. He told me to breath in and then breath out and tighten my stomach while he felt my solar plexus with his fingers.  Then he took a couple steps back, eyed my torso for a moment, and launched into a step-through front thrust kick. The senior student was standing behind me and stopped me from flying backwards. Then the instructor ties the other half of the knot on the new belt, signifying that he promises to earnestly teach and do his part. While he ties the knot, he quietly mumbles a few personal, encouraging words to the student. I won't repeat what he said to me, but it meant a lot to me and motivated me to do better in the future. Then all the students give a round of applause, and come by to shake hands and congratulate the promoted students.

If I had to describe how I felt about it, I would say that I felt a sense of accomplishment, but along side it, a need to continue polishing and improving on the things I was tested on.

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.

Checking

I tried to learn Kenpo on my own for years. There were no nearby dojos in the various towns I lived in. I could pick up the basic movements from a book with some patience and perserverance, but I knew I was missing something. I just didn't know how much.

There were phrases like "left hand checks low".  I assumed that meant the left hand guards against incoming attacks. I was right, but it turns out, after taking Kenpo from an instructor for eight months, there is a LOT more to the concept of "checking".  Especially in self-defense techniques, a hand which is not striking, parrying, poking, or chopping should be held in a position to protect your vital areas. But Ed Parker, the founder of American Kenpo Karate, used the concept of width, depth, and height zones. Depth zones represent range, or the distance from you or your weapon (be it hand, foot, knee, or elbow) and your target (be it forearm, bicep, solar plexus, or kidney). Monitoring width allows for early detection of attacks. Controlling (or checking) width deprives your opponent of the angles he needs for powerful attacks on you.  Checking an opponent's height can render him unstable and off balance, or grounded and immobile.

My instructor often uses the phrases "checking his height" or "to check his width".  To illustrate, let me use a technique called "Deflecting Hammer". It's a simple technique taught to white belts, but it contains the potential to check width, depth, and height. This is a defense against a right, step-through, front kick. Your left foot steps back, which moves the target (your torso) back a bit and rotates the hips to a diagonal position (neutral bow stance). Previous training would have me using a striking block at right angles with the rising shin, but there are two reasons NOT to block straight across your body.

1. Attacking a shin straight on with your forearm will probably hurt your arm more than his leg.
2. Knocking the leg hard sideways could spin the opponent enough for him to raise his left arm in a backfist strike.

Blocking (hammering) at a diagonal angle "deflects", rather than stops, the kick. With practice, you can guide the kicking foot to step down where ever you want it, setting up your opponent for a counter-attack. You can control the amount of horizontal/outward impact AND the diagonal, deflecting angle, almost pulling the leg toward you with the contact of your arm.
1. A little outward force turns him slightly away, but not so far that you don't have access to his ribs and head (checks width).
2. The deflecting angle of the block allows the foot to pass you, sucking the opponent in to meet your counter attack (checks depth).
3. The farther forward you cause him to plant the foot, the harder it will be to lift it (checks height).
So just with the contact of the block, you've already checked width, depth, and height.

Next, you  rotate clockwise, without moving your feet, into a forward bow. The hip rotation gives your left arm the range to "check" the opponent's right arm. Again, you check both width and height by slapping his upper arm and sliding the knife edge of your hand down into the elbow "pocket", creating "frictional pull". This keeps the opponent planted forward, jerks his head forward, and also keeps him from turning back into you. If you think about it, you are actually checking four limbs by your contact with one:

1. You momentarily pinned his right arm.
2. His right leg is grounded and he can't lift it to kick.
3. He can't rotate back toward you because you're blocking him with the check, so his left hand and
4. foot can't reach you - his own body blocks them.

The really amazing thing: you're not even grabbing or holding any part of his body, you're only pushing forward and down on his arm (this former jujitsu student is in awe).  Granted, this is will only work for a split second, but a split second is all you need to launch forward with your loaded left leg and use your body's momentum to run your right elbow into his head. If you're really quick, you can make him run into your elbow while he is planting his kicking leg forward. This is called "borrowed force" (using the attacker's movement to add impact to a strike). If he has already planted, the "frictional pull" into the elbow pocket can bring the head forward into your elbow.

Very simple moves, but there is a lot going on that is not obvious to the casual observer. This is the stuff you can't learn by reading "1. step back with left foot, right downward block, 2. left hand checks forward, 3. right inward elbow", and then mimmicking the motions. An instructor explained and demonstrated it to me (sometimes with painful reinforcement), and I have felt it work (and how it doesn't work) on fellow students of all shapes and sizes, and on myself. Checking (as opposed to grabbing, locking, or holding) allows for quick withdrawel or transition to other moves if things don't go as planned. Binding yourself to a bigger, stronger opponent gives him the opportunity to manipulate your body, when you want to influence his.

Now, believe it or not, I don't walk around thinking "I hope that dude tries to kick me so I can try out my moves!", but it facinates me how, in between the strikes and kicks I learned from Tae Kwon Do and Karate, little bits of light contact (checking) can influence an opponent's movements and set him up for the next strike in the sequence.  And I'm just a yellow belt - just a beginner.