Techniques on both sides?

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ProfessorKenpo

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Originally posted by Kirk
I asked Sigung LaBounty what he felt about doing techniques on
both sides, this saturday. He said that while there can be benefit from doing techs on both sides, he personally feels that 1) the techniques and forms cover both sides already, and 2) the time spent working on the opposite side can be better spent on something else, and more effectively at that.

Geez, isn't that what I've been saying all this time as well.

Have a great Kenpo day

Clyde
 
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Jill666

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Originally posted by ProfessorKenpo
Geez, isn't that what I've been saying all this time as well.

Have a great Kenpo day

Clyde

Hahahaha yes it is- I haven't followed the thread for a couple of weeks, but it's funny to tune back in at pretty much the place I left.

And since I already gave my opinion, I'll shut up now. :D
 
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clapping_tiger

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Doc,
thank you for the compliment. It would be an honor to get together someday. I know there is a lot I could learn from you. :asian:

-Jason Johnson
 

Doc

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Originally posted by clapping_tiger
Doc,
thank you for the compliment. It would be an honor to get together someday. I know there is a lot I could learn from you. :asian:

-Jason Johnson

And I from you as well.
 

Touch Of Death

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Look, if you choose to spend a lot of time learning to fight in either neutral, in a pinch, you will choose one or the other in a fight for your life. It is at this point that all your trainig on the opposite side amounts to a hill of beans. If you conciously choose to fight on your weeker side and the fight becomes more challanging you will then choose to switch neutrals. The transition from one stance to another is dangerous business. If you were loosing badly enough to abandon your methods, how in the hell are you going to survive stepping forward or back into your prefered stance. The answer is you don't.
This isn't about handling attacks from all angles; this is about having a right or left side dominance. There is a big difference. I am left handed but I choose to fight as a right hander because I've always prefered to have my dominant leg forward and I've always thrown with my right hand because that is how I was taught as a child. My comfort zone is in a left neutral. If I jumped up into a right neutral against an opponent I would just feel awkward. I've developed a strong right hand but I have a mean left Jab. To reverse this game I've been working on for the last twenty years would just be downright counter-productive. I've always been equaly un-coordinated with either hand, so I can play whichever side I work on, but if you are right handed, fight right handed; because, life is too short and you only get one chance to save it.
 

kenpo3631

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I too practiced my techniques on both sides :eek: Then one day while talking with my current instructor I posed to him the same question. He in turn responded much like Sigung LaBounty
He said that while there can be benefit from doing techs on both sides, he personally feels that 1) the techniques and forms cover both sides already, and 2) the time spent working on the opposite side can be better spent on something else, and more effectively at that.
.

I wonder where they got that perspective from...?:rolleyes: :rofl:
 
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ProfessorKenpo

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Originally posted by Goldendragon7
Since I have studied directly with SGM Ed Parker for many years & have had this same line of discussion with him personally ........ let me share my experiences and insights .......

Some have stated that it is a right side dominate system, and it is a "waste of time" to expand your physical skills on the left (as Mr. Parker suggested) well, if that is the case then they have to prove to me that they never practiced anything else on the left side either, such as blocks, punches, strikes, footwork, kicks, sets, forms, freestyle, etc., so thier skills are due just to their work on their natural dominate side, otherwise their statements are bogus and lack intelligent analyization.

BTW...... if you are naturally left handed you can just practice the "lefty" side and forget about the other... right? :rofl:

Practice, practice, practice no matter what - keep at it and expand the variables. Keep an open mind.

:asian:

As you are a student of Mr. Labounty now Dennis (You did recieve your 6th from him), how can this statement have merit?

Have a great Kenpo day

Clyde
 

Goldendragon7

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Originally posted by ProfessorKenpo
As you are a student of Mr. Labounty now Dennis (You did recieve your 6th from him), how can this statement have merit?
Have a great Kenpo day,Clyde

LOL, Come on Clyde, you are kidding right..... I thought you were wiser than that....... lol :)

First of all... my relationship with Mr. LaBounty goes back some 32 years. He was the Senior of the organization I was in prior to having the opportunity of studying with Mr. Parker........ so not only did he promote me to 6th, but he was behind my 1st, & 2nd as well, throughout our long lasting relationship, we have shared and debated throughout the years.

I don't recall "anywhere", where it was necessary to have the "exact same opinions" as our Instructors or Seniors, on everything. LOL :rofl: If that were the case I think you would be guilty as charged..... hee hee.

Mr. LaBounty understands my position and agrees with me and my point of view (we just talked last night about this very topic), but we also agree that some may not share the same focus. So there is no right or wrong but rather what you feel is good for you to follow.

If you do or don't doesn't make you a bad person or Kenpoist but rather just defines different training methods.

So merit is not the issue. There is merit however you choose to choose to practice.

:asian:
 

Touch Of Death

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Mr. Farnsworth,
Are you suggesting that it doesn't matter what you practice, as long as you practice? What if you spend five years practicing to punch wrong. Is that time well spent? If we were talking about pitching baseball you would understand that some college pitchers never make it to the minor leages because their method of throwing caused them permenant injury. Strikes off the back hand are the same thing. If you arent punchig properly you build scar tissue, sit in a chair with a beer, and talk about how tough you used to be.
 

Goldendragon7

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Origin. posted by Touch'O'Death
Are you suggesting that it doesn't matter what you practice, as long as you practice?

T-O-D.... You bring up a good point. Just running through movements with out purpose or a watchful eye can be leading to bad habits. However, I don't think that's what Jason was talking about.

On another note, if you are practicing incorrectly and your intent is "just" physical exercise then it really doesn't matter what you do as long as you are not leading to injury. Most however, want much more than "exercise", so like you point out it makes sense to be watchful of exactly what, how, & why you are doing what you are working on as well as have a good plan of action that will lead to a multitude of benefits.

:asian:
 

jfarnsworth

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Originally posted by Touch'O'Death
Mr. Farnsworth,

Yes; and sorry I didn't see this until now.

Are you suggesting that it doesn't matter what you practice, as long as you practice?

No, not at all. I find practicing both sides enlightning and sometimes kind of tough. However my feeling on this subject is to become more well rounded (me personally) kenpoist with getting a better understanding of position recognition. Sure there's repetition by performing both sides but after all what do I have but time right?

What if you spend five years practicing to punch wrong. Is that time well spent?

Probably not. As long as an individual has a good understanding of basics and concepts then there should be no problems with training your punches. If taught properly from the beginning that is.

If we were talking about pitching baseball you would understand that some college pitchers never make it to the minor leages because their method of throwing caused them permenant injury.

OK, I'll buy that but let me warn you that I personally don't get involved in baseball whatsoever.

If you arent punchig properly you build scar tissue

OK

sit in a chair with a beer,

I don't like beer.:eek:

talk about how tough you used to be.

Unfortunately you won't hear me ever say anything about being tough (past, present, or future), that's not my style.;)

I hope that answered your questions.:asian:

Posted by Goldendragon7
Just running through movements with out purpose or a watchful eye can be leading to bad habits. However, I don't think that's what Jason was talking about.

;) You know me too well.:D
 
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clapping_tiger

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Originally posted by jfarnsworth
I don't like beer.:eek:

.....and you claim to be from the Midwest :eek:
I thought we all loved beer?;)
 

Rich_Hale

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Let me share with you, what Mr. Parker shared with me. This explanation is abbreviated, because Mr. Parker and I discussed this topic for about 45 minutes . . . actually I brought it up and Mr. Parker discussed it for 45 minutes.



I had just returned from a visiting a, very good, studio that taught “Ed Parker’s” Kenpo, in the southwestern area of the US. While I was there they really emphasized the left side of the techniques, because, they said, Mr. Parker said to. Myself, I felt they were “over emphasizing” the left side of the techniques.



During my next lesson with Mr. Parker I told him what I had seen. His quote was, “I wish everyone would quit carving everything I say in stone.” He then told me while he was visiting this studio, he had asked to “see” the techniques on the left side. He did not tell them he wanted all techniques “done equally” right and left sided. Mr. Parker said it was frustrating that he would visit a studio, ask to see something unique, or different, then come back ten years later to discover what he had asked to see, had become the cornerstone of their training.



Then I asked him what his stand was, on left side training. This is what he told me. The value of doing a technique on the left side is in that the left side (of a technique) is weaker than the right side. This forces you to do the technique more correctly, in that you can’t “muscle” your way through it. He said too many people rely on speed and power to pull-off a technique (on the right side), but when you work the left side it forces you to slow down and apply the principles of Kenpo, in order to make it work.



He said to take what you learn from doing the technique on the left side and apply it to the right side, in order to further enhance your strong side. (As the result of an improved application of the Kenpo principles)



Note: An earlier post mentioned that left-side techniques were better for left handed people anyway, but my ex-wife, Barbara Hale, is left handed by day and totally right handed by night (on the mat). You just don’t train with Larry Tatum and Ed Parker for twenty years and come out the way you came in.
 

marlon

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Has anyone worked on pulling off the techniques righty agaist an left handed attack? You can find some interedsting things...


Respectfully,
Marlon
 

dubljay

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marlon said:
Has anyone worked on pulling off the techniques righty agaist an left handed attack? You can find some interedsting things...


Respectfully,
Marlon
As my instructor says: "What works on the inside of a right works on the outside of a left, and vice versa".

The body mechanics should not change much if any at all, targets and weapons used may change.
 
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Kenpo-Sloth

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Hi,
I'm a novice (orange belt) and want to add a my perspective to this discussion.
When you start training, everything seems to be geared to the right handed person. If you do something on the left side, it's only after you have already completed it on the right side.
A new left handed student finds it temporarily frustrating, however this same student should see the advantages of being left handed later on when you do techniques, forms, etc.. on both sides.
IMHO, a left handed student (such as myself) has a definite advantage over the "Right Side Dominant" student who sees no reason to do anything on the left side. I assume that my Left or Right side can do equal damage to an attacker, so shouldn't we train them equally?? :idunno:
I like Beer!! :cheers:

 

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