Kempo and Jeff Speakman

[Darrencowan]

I know there are some people in here studying Kempo. I find that form really exciting and explosive. The fluidity and combinations are amazing.

I remember reading about Parker in Black Belt Magazine. Additionally, UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell studied Kempo, I think he was a Ni-Dan. Many of the ideas are similar to Sanchin Ryu, every strike is a block, every block is a strike.

Anyway, my favorite cinematic martial artist is Jeff Speakman. When I first saw him on "The Perfect Weapon" I heard he was a Roku Don.

Thoughts...

 

[Darrencowan]

 

[Darrencowan]

 

[Darrencowan]

 

[Darrencowan]

 

[Headhunter]

Kenpo isn't just one marital art. There's kempo which is a Chinese style. There's American kenpo which was founded by ed Parker and is what speakman does I trained with him at a seminar once years and years back he's a good guy.

There's also Hawaiin kenpo which Is chuck liddels style. There is also Stephen Thompson the number 1 welterweight contender in the ufc is a kenpo guy.

As with all martial arts there's the good and bad instructors. I know kenpo gets a lot of stick because the techniques look over the top and about how you're standing still when doing them but my argument to that is its like shadow boxing you put all your moves together in combinations in class but when it's time to use it you may make a completely new combo same with the kenpo techniques

 

[Darrencowan]

Do you have any pics of you with Speakman?

 

[Darrencowan]

Like I said, he's my favorite movie MA, big fan

 

[Headhunter]

Like I said, he's my favorite movie MA, big fan

Yeah somewhere problem is it was a long time ago and when I was there it wasn't digital cameras it was the old fashioned way I could probably dig it out somewhere though. It's a shame speakman didn't do more movies . There was a rumour they wanted him for expendables 2 but he was diagnosed with cancer around the time.

If your interested by the way speakman has his own style of kenpo now kenpo 5.0 he calls it it's basically American kenpo but he's added some more grappling to it

 

[Headhunter]

I'll add to what I said about kenpo. The technique video you posted deceptive panther it may look like a lot but realistically you may only need the first move. The kick comes in you step off the angle and side kick the back knee while the legs in the air. If you time it right your more than likely to put them on the floor since one leg will be in the air from the kick the other will have been taken out. The rest of the moves though are for what if that hasn't happened so you've got back up moves or ideas.

One of the main sayings in kenpo is it's not overkill it's over skill

 

[Darrencowan]

I hope you can find that photo. I'd love to see it. Also, I'm going to check out 5.0. Is he doing ok, now? Did he beat cancer? I know someone like him could beat it. He has all the tools.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Kenpo isn't just one marital art. There's kempo which is a Chinese style. There's American kenpo which was founded by ed Parker and is what speakman does I trained with him at a seminar once years and years back he's a good guy.

There's also Hawaiin kenpo which Is chuck liddels style. There is also Stephen Thompson the number 1 welterweight contender in the ufc is a kenpo guy.

As with all martial arts there's the good and bad instructors. I know kenpo gets a lot of stick because the techniques look over the top and about how you're standing still when doing them but my argument to that is its like shadow boxing you put all your moves together in combinations in class but when it's time to use it you may make a completely new combo same with the kenpo techniques

The trick, there is to use points of reference.

 

[Flying Crane]

There are a number of kenpo "styles" that all trace their roots back to kenpo in Hawaii taught by William Chow and/or James Mitose in the early to mid 1900s. The history before these two people is very unclear and is often argued about. But all of these methods that trace back to the kenpo done in Hawaii are related to each other. Some may be nearly identical in some ways, others may now seem quite different, depending on how their proponents developed them and other influences they may have had.

Ed Parker was a student of William Chow, and there are many lineages that came out of what Mr Parker taught. These include Al Tracy, Jeff Speakman, Larry Tatum, Huk Planas, and many others. There are also lineage that do not trace back thru Mr.Parker, including Kajukenbo. The Chinese Kenpo was a stage of development that Mr. Parker went thru in developing his method, based on influences he had from his other teachers in the Chinese methods. Chinese Kenpo is not a separate system from China.

There are other methods of Okinawan Kenpo, which are actually different, not related to the kenpo of Chow and/or Mitose. They simply coincidentally use the same term in what they call it. Kempo/Kenpo is actually a generic term that basically means "law/way of the fist". It is generic in the same way that the word Karate is generic.

I attended a seminar with Mr. Speakman a number of years ago, when I was a student of Tracy Kenpo. His approach was not really my cup of tea, but he worked hard at it and seemed like a very nice fellow.

 

[Headhunter]

I hope you can find that photo. I'd love to see it. Also, I'm going to check out 5.0. Is he doing ok, now? Did he beat cancer? I know someone like him could beat it. He has all the tools.

Yeah he's all good now as far as I know. I don't know him personally or anything but it was a good few years badk now. Speakman gets a lot of crap on YouTube videos because he's not in as good shape as he was in perfect weapon but to me while fitness is important in martial arts it's hard to stay in shape when your older especially when most of your spare time is spent teaching as opposed to actually training

 

[Darrencowan]

I have the same problem with Sanchin Ryu. There are so many movements and it can be so complex. It's funny, one time at a campout, Master Dearman commented on this huge kumate the masters had, he said they looked like the best orange belts he's ever seen. . I think the basics are where you start for application and when you've truly mastered those, that's what the fancy **** comes out. People don't realize, though, how long it takes to get to that point. I think that's why fighters like Machida and Rodriguez are so hard to stop, they've mastered the basic, now it's time for opponents to try to figure out the fancy ****. I think they did it with Machida. He was unstoppable. I think Shogun really messed with his mind, though. Same thing with Liddell when Rampage whooped his ***.

 

[Darrencowan]

Yeah he's all good now as far as I know. I don't know him personally or anything but it was a good few years badk now. Speakman gets a lot of crap on YouTube videos because he's not in as good shape as he was in perfect weapon but to me while fitness is important in martial arts it's hard to stay in shape when your older especially when most of your spare time is spent teaching as opposed to actually training

He's older, it happens. When you get older, you get wiser, you don't expend as much energy.

 

[JP3]

He's older, it happens. When you get older, you get wiser, you don't expend as much energy.

My main sensei had a saying: "Old age & treachery will defeat youth and skill, every time."

On the above about Jeff... for some reason I was thinking that the time he did Perfect Weapon (also one of my fave MA movies of all time, I'm a fan), I thought someone told me he was a yondan (4th dan)?? I mean, it's not important, as he was the protagonist of the movie, just a bit of data. Might be wrong.

 

[Darrencowan]

My main sensei had a saying: "Old age & treachery will defeat youth and skill, every time."

On the above about Jeff... for some reason I was thinking that the time he did Perfect Weapon (also one of my fave MA movies of all time, I'm a fan), I thought someone told me he was a yondan (4th dan)?? I mean, it's not important, as he was the protagonist of the movie, just a bit of data. Might be wrong.

I don't man, it was so long ago, I thought he was a Roku Dan, but you're probably right.

 

[JP3]

Jeff is 58 now, and TPW came out in '91... so that's 26 years, so he was 32 when it was released. Standard progression for ... most... MA I've been involved with is either a year time in grade (with exceptions for really good people, of course) or a year +1 to advance. So, figure whatever to get to shodan, then either 10-13 years to achieve yondan. Would make him 19-22 for shodan or thereabouts. If he started in his teens with Ed Parker, depending on Ed's philosophy about promoting youth (I've not a clue), that could be about right.

Did y'all know he's apparently a 9th degree now? According to Wikipedia, which everyone knows is always accurate.

Jeff Speakman - Wikipedia

If it's right, Jeff earned his 1st dan from Larry Tatum, under Ed Parker, in 1984, so yondan would be about right if he trained regularly. All-American Diver in college, anyone know that? Got to be a good athelete to be a good diver, so that helped.

 

[Flying Crane]

Jeff is 58 now, and TPW came out in '91... so that's 26 years, so he was 32 when it was released. Standard progression for ... most... MA I've been involved with is either a year time in grade (with exceptions for really good people, of course) or a year +1 to advance. So, figure whatever to get to shodan, then either 10-13 years to achieve yondan. Would make him 19-22 for shodan or thereabouts. If he started in his teens with Ed Parker, depending on Ed's philosophy about promoting youth (I've not a clue), that could be about right.

Did y'all know he's apparently a 9th degree now? According to Wikipedia, which everyone knows is always accurate.

Jeff Speakman - Wikipedia

If it's right, Jeff earned his 1st dan from Larry Tatum, under Ed Parker, in 1984, so yondan would be about right if he trained regularly. All-American Diver in college, anyone know that? Got to be a good athelete to be a good diver, so that helped.

He earned a goju-ryu black belt before he began kenpo. I do not know what level.