About American Kenpo Karate
What is American Kenpo?
American Kenpo Karate is a self-defense system built for modern day street fighting situations. As said American Kenpo is a self-defense system, not a martial art. As a student of Carroll County Kenpo you will learn simple principles applied to every day motions to learn how to defend yourself. American Kenpo is not about spiritual enlightenment or gaining magical powers. Our goal is to teach you (the student) how to defend yourself in modern day situations.
American Kenpo originated during the 1950's in Hawaii. A young street fighter named Mr. Ed Parker took Kenpo Karate classes under William K.S. Chow. After moving to the continental United States for college he began to apply physics and anatomy to his Kenpo movements. He turned his martial art into a science of motion examining every possible way to make his movement more explosive and more powerful.
American Kenpo as Mr. Parker now called it became a series of principles that governed motion. Often American Kenpo is refered to as a self-defense system due to the lack of spiritual components in the system and the constant evolution that is required for American Kenpo to remain applicable for modern day situations.
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How is American Kenpo different than tradtional Martial Arts?
American Kenpo has some major benefits over traditional Martial Arts. There are three major factors that seperate American Kenpo from other systems, train for skilled fighters, evolution, and self-defense not show.
Often you will find in Martial Arts that the system teaches it's students to fight unskilled fighters or others from the same system. Tae Kwon Do people train to fight against Tae Kwon Do people, Judo people train against other Judo people. It is rare to find a Judo school that trains against Tae Kwon Do people or vica versa. American Kenpo from day one of lessons prepares you to fight against boxers, grapplers, and weapons fighters. Kenpo realizes that you as a student do not have thirty years to gain profiency. Carroll County Kenpo trains you to be ready for anything as soon as possible.
Evolution is the key to maintaining viability as a self-defense system. American Kenpo fully supports evolution in the system. Self-defense techniques change based on fighting trends, execution of basics change based on the current findings in biophysics. These changes are not abrupt and earth shattering but come over time. An example of this are hand gun techniques. Some martial arts still teach to defend against a revolver. That the best way to defend is to stop the hammer or grab the gun. Evolution in Kenpo has altered the gun techniques to handle semi-automatic pistols with internal hammers and enough kick back to rip your hand off if you grab the gun. This evolution prepares us for what could really happen on the streets of today, not worry about what happened on the streets of 200 years ago.
Self-defense is the focus of American Kenpo. Some martial arts want to show their great flips, high kicks, and fabulous forms. Our focus is teaching students how to defend themselves on the street. Just because tournament judges love your forms does not mean you can translate them to street fighting. The focus is self-defense but the skills learned in American Kenpo can be translated to tournament fighting for nice trophies and show. At Carroll County Kenpo we would rather have students who can defend themselves than a student who has a pretty form with no ability to defend themself.
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Why are there so many different types of Kenpo?
Because of the evolution of American Kenpo, how it tailors to the student's body, and the teaching style of Mr. Parker there are many different Kenpo associations each with a slightly different way of doing things. One of the great things about Kenpo is that the system adjusts to your body. This way Kenpo works just as well for a smaller woman as it does for a larger man.
At Carroll County Kenpo we teach the AKKI Curriculum. We believe that this form of Kenpo has great benefits and advantages over other systems in the area. The AKKI believes that effective striking does not come from standing in a deep stance punching the air, but by working body mechanics while moving simulating an attack. For other reasons why CCKenpo is with the AKKI check out our about the AKKI pages.
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Why should I learn American Kenpo?
When you look for a martial arts school what do you want? Some schools teach you how to be a good tournament fighter, others teach you how to look pretty with forms. American Kenpo teaches you how to defend yourself in a street fight. This is our goal at Carroll County Kenpo, to make you able to defend yourself if you were attacked on the street. Fortunately these skills can translate into being a great tournament fighter, or having beautiful forms.
The mental and physical benefits of American Kenpo are too numerous to name them all. Kenpo is not all about fighting, it is about feeling good about yourself and your safety. People have different things that make them feel good about themselves. Some people like a workout so they feel fit, others like to learn new things to feel acomplished. American Kenpo has something for everyone, try it out and you will see what interests you most.
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Why do we teach American Kenpo at CCKenpo?
At CCKenpo our goal is to produce students who can defend themselves on the street. It is the concesus of the instructors that there is no better system for todays street fighting world. Other systems will teach you high kicks, wrist manipulations, and how to make someone submit on the ground...but in the real world, high kicks put you on poor balance, wrist manipulations don't work on everyone, and just because someone taps out does not mean they are ready to stop fighting. Our philosophy is hope for the best, train for the worst. American Kenpo was designed for multiple attacker scenerios. You will learn the ultimate in self-defense which takes into account every situation.
Kenpo serves the student. It is a tool for self-defense, much like a swiss army knife it has many utilities with many applications.
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