(answers by me)
Is it safe to learn?
If you are training properly, you will get bruises regularly. It would be disingenuous to imply that you can learn to fight without some pain and bruises on the way. However, the injury rates for martial arts are much lower than other sports such as basketball, soccer or even golf. Proper safety equipment is a good idea before participating in sparring practice.
How long will it be before I can defend myself?
You will find that the techniques that you learn are nearly immediately applicable for self defense. Techniques alone won’t defend you however. Your training should cultivate a mindset, spirit and set of reflexes to apply these techniques. Within a few months, you will have a good foundation for self defense against common attacks. The pioneers in kenpo / kempo didn’t have the reputations as fighters to be reckoned with due to elegant techniques – it was through intense training.
How long will it take to get a black belt?
The time it takes to achieve the rank of black belt varies from student to student, teacher to teacher, and school to school. In some arts with a limited curriculum, a black belt can be obtained in as little as two years. Our curriculum is broad and covers striking, kicking, takedowns, grabs and weapons. Four to five years is an average amount of time given regular attendance and regular practice at home.
Should I take private lessons?
Private lessons are an effective tool for learning rank material and honing the finer points of your technique. At the beginner ranks, however, the group classes are usually sufficient to absorb the material, and provide the cameraderie of people like yourself as most of the classes are organized by rank. Upon reaching the intermediate ranks, supplementing your group classes with private lessons will help your progress dramatically.
I’m not big/strong/fast/flexible/coordinated – Can I still do this?
If you were an extremely big, strong, coordinated, flexible person, you probably wouldn’t need martial arts lessons. Through your practice you will become stronger, faster, more coordinated and flexible. The qualities you have to bring are only commitment and effort.
I’m a _____ belt in _______. Do I have to start over?
Probably. If you are coming in from another art, the curriculum, theories, concepts and even goals are probably different. If your basic skills are strong however, it will aid in your progress, and you will move through the ranks more quickly than the average student. If you come from another kempo/kenpo school you will be evaluated individually and placed at a rank accordingly.
Am I too old to start?
It’s never too late. The training is done at your pace, you have no one to keep up with except yourself. You will improve and progress. Mature students often have attention spans and life experience that help them absorb the technical concepts more readily. Patience and practice will compensate for the fact that you are not 18 anymore.
I really appreciate the openness of this site, but here’s my suggestion, why not put video clips of the combinations being performed? That would be amazing, Also, I appreciate the point you are putting across, I like for the system to be open, rather than out of reach. Well I hope that helps, just giving my two cents as a 10 year martial artist.
Thanks for the kind words, Bruce. Posting clips of the combinations is an eventual goal, but I just haven’t had time to dedicate to it yet. Of course, if some get sent in, I’d certainly host clips of the combinations! But seriously, it is on the ‘to do’ list.
Sir thank you for this site, the information provided is truly helpful I attended a SK school for a few months and used this site to help supplement the material covered in the classes, unfortunately I had to stop attending due to finical strain, and am currently deployed to a combat zone, I hope to use the material on this site to re learn techniques and forms to start study under the school when I return to conus. thank you again for your work.
I feel rather stupid for asking this, but…where is the technique archive? I found the main archive page and from there, the page on “What we have, what we need”. However, I still can’t see anywhere that the techniques themselves are listed.
Hi Ryan-
The link to the technique archive is listed on the right under “pages”. There’s an entry called “shaolin kempo technique archive”. Click there, or on the ‘don’t forget to check out the technique archive’ picture.
Or click here:
https://kempoinfo.com/shaolin-kempo-technique-archive/
Hope that helps.
Thanks Matt. I’d gotten to that page; I just didn’t see the further links on the right that went to The Combinations, The Animal Techniques, etc. I found it a little while after I asked, though.
Matt: Great web site; can’t wait to see it grow over time! I’m a 8-year student of SKK, but have been away for 10 years. I’m excited that your descriptions of the techniques are almost exactly as I remember them, and that I can use this as a source to refresh my memory on combinations and forms. Thanks! When I get me legs back under me, perhaps I’ll re-engage my old instructor!
I’ll be turning 50 in a few months…I’ve progressed to the rank of 3rd degree brown. But the testing is intense- 3 hours or more. I find that I’m getting fearful of pushing myself to the limit like that–you hear so much about people keeling over in their late 40’s, early 50’s. I’m in much better-than-average shape and people don’t believe I’ll be 50. My joints are starting to more sore as I get older. How can I deal with this new-found concern ?
Have you started taking Gloucousime chrondrotin (sp)? I find it really helps and so do my students. This coming weekend we have to people testing for 2nd degree black belt and they are both in their 50’s. If you trust your instructor and you can actually see him/her paying attention to you during the test (observing your breathing/ eyes/ speech) then they know what they are doing. I have another student who could possibly go for 4th in dec. he just finished p90x and p90x2. He is in his 6o’s. If really nervous go to dr. and have a reg. check up and ask him about your concerns.
Great site!!! I have been training in SKK for the last year and a half, and am currently up for rank of 3rd brown. Comming from other martial arts/kung fu back ground I was a little skeptical at first of the system, but I stuck with it and have learned to love this style of martial arts..especially as I progress into the higher ranks where the moves start to flow with more with the techniques.
From time to time I have been reviewing Master Matt’s archives for what a particular pinan or kata looks like to give me a head up as to what I am learning. At my age, 73, I like to see the entire project and then learn the pieces it gives me a better idea of what is going on. Needless to say, I earned my Black Belt on December 19 after years of study and attending class at time – 4 days a week. I lasted a few heart “minor operations”, prostate cancer, heart ablassion (i cant even spell it) and now I have a heart monitor (linq loop) to watch for atril fibulation. With all this in mind, I made it through my 5 hour belt test. The following day I got a call from the people that monitor my heart and wanted to know what I was doing on Saturday at 3:00 – I said I was sparing for my Black Belt. They didnt believe me so I explained it again.
Thank you for allowing me to review your archive and learn more from the videos.
Mike
can someone describe an iron fortress block for me
Sorry to take so long. An iron fortress is a block where you parry with one hand and do an ‘outward’ block with another. For example, if I was doing an iron fortress to my right side, my left hand would do a palm block across and my right hand would do a #1 block. I hope this makes sense.
Please tell me what plugin you use to see
The pinan and kata on kempoinfo.com? Thank you.
It’s flash – the videos are hosted on Photobucket. It’s a throwback to the early days when I didn’t have a hosting account or a dedicated domain name.
Hi my name is Jonathan Sinhleterry. I have a very difficuly situation that ive been trying to figure out for a few years now. I was blessed to have reached the level of Ni dan, while attending and instructing at a USSD school in California. Once i moved to Alabama i dont have anyone to teach me. I originally got to 1st dan and then my sensei flew to alabama to teach me then i flew to california to test for 2nd dan. I believe that has run its course. Still grateful for all my sensei has done, but i would like to at least reach 4th dan before i can say thay im done with kempo. I know the information is here that youve put up and im thankful but how would someone like me continue to move up in rank without being ranked up by a kempo master. Im in need of some serious help if theres anything you coild do to help me that would be greatly appreciated please message me back through email if possible. Thank you for your time. God bless
Hi Jonathan – You are in a challenging position, but not insurmountable. Let me see if I can connect you with someone who can help. I’ll be in touch.
Cool page just ran into it,My question is my shaolin kempo karate dojo shut down and we were doing animal kempos…..I was told that there were a lot of animal kempos online..is this true and if so does someone have a link?? Since I seem to be a bit in the dark I was also told there was a huge split in the skk organization and not all dojos are practicing animal kempos……does anyone know anything about that…,,thankyou for taking this message……md6
It’s very interesting to see the small differences in each lineage of SKK.
In our school system, the majority of the information for the techniques are the same, with minor differences here and there that the man at the top of the school system, 8th dan Robert Pearlswig, has either changed voluntarily or possibly just remembered differently from his time studying under Villari. Notably, the black belt level forms are in some cases considerably different, which is in my opinion unfortunate as we don’t learn the “original” version of these forms. (Although, it’s not as though the black belt forms in SKK are rooted in any other traditional arts as it is, haha!)
Does anyone else have any experience with Pearlswig from the past? I’ve heard good and bad things, and I always am interested in more and more information.
Thank you for this amazing website by the way, the different perspectives and history of SKK it provides access to is second-to-none on the internet that I can find.
Hi – For Shaolin Kempo animal videos, I would get in touch with Jesse Dwire. His website is https://www.dragonphoenixmartialarts.com
I haven’t had personal experience with him, but the name definitely came up in the past.
Have you ever written a book on the art?
Hi Peter –
I haven’t (yet) written a book on the art, but it’s on my ‘someday’ list. For now, what I have up here will have to stand as my contribution. Thanks for asking!
Ok another question here. In the art of American kenpo, they encourage students to prefix, suffix or whatever the individual techniques. I don’t see this as common in shaolin kempo and when I’ve brought up changing anything about the techs I’m told not to. Wondering why the difference between the two arts? Sometimes I like to tweak them just a bit for fun and make them more personal to me.
By the way, wonderful contribution this web page is to the art of shaolin kempo. You have honored your kempo forefathers.
Hey Peter –
Thanks for the kind thoughts. In Shaolin Kempo it is generally rare, although teachers will usually acknowledge that one is unlikely to ever use a particular technique ‘as written’. I do encourage such tailoring and grafting in my teaching, but these days I mostly teach Professor Kimo Ferreira’s Kempo (of Kempo Jutsu Kai) which values this concept.
can someone describe for me how to perform a monkey parry and a crane block? thank you, peter
hi matt,
can you explain how to do a monkey parry and a crane block ? thanks, peter
Hi Peter – The monkey parry is a downward, outward parry with a soft hand to wrap around the incoming punch. Crane blocks tend to be ‘stiff arm’ with full elbow extension working in a large circular manner.
An example of a monkey parry is here with Gary Boswell demonstrating combination one. Look at the initial block. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeOmshM09UU&list=UUxPHKyg7B5sQmk3bLCMW2kw&feature=c4-overview
Matt. Florida is a lot closer to Alabama maybe Mr Singleterry could come train here in Tallahassee with me.
hi matt,
thanks for the info on the monkey parry and crane block;
i am currently living in a small town in upper new hampshire and am desperately looking for an instructor to train with; can you circulate this request with folks you know and respect to see if someone is near enough and willing to take on a second dan, kempo, student? thanks, peter
I understand that the pinans created by mr sonny gascon are variations of the shotokan forms but I’m wondering what forms he based kata 1-4 on?
Hi Peter –
The pinans that you may know from Shaolin Kempo are variations of shotokan forms but were introduced later by Nick Cerio (and perhaps others). Kata 1-4 are based on the Kajukenbo ‘Palamas Sets’ and you’ll find examples of those on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rntiBLNwzZQ