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One upon a time, I got a request to describe the Iron Fortress block. Thankfully Youtube has a video dedicated to this these days.

As I’ve probably mentioned (see my bio) I’ve added Brazilian Jiujitsu to my repertoire over the last few years (ten?). A notable blogger / Youtube! person answered a question that spoke to my experience a bit. I felt good about some things – my standing grappling and some locks had pretty good foundations – but found the rest of his points pretty compelling. In the end, try new things because if you have years into Kempo, your ‘learning how to learn’ is probably pretty strong. I’m not suggesting to jump ship, but definitely empty your cup and broaden your horizons.

I was following a podcast on Kajukenbo and found this episode featuring Walter Godin. He was the brother in law of Sonny Gascon, founder of Karazenpo Goshinjitsu. This was the precursor to Shaolin Kempo. Having trained under a student of Walter Godin, Kimo Ferreira, I can see some of the similarities between the systems. However, author David Tavares makes a point about the similarities between early Karazenpo Goshinjitsu and Kajukenbo that to my mind suggests the pivotal role of SGM George Pesare in the development of the Shaolin Kempo we know today.