Search results

think you didn't see my replies from earlier this week, but we will be competing in Traditional, we really are somewhere more in the middle for Shaolin Kenpo, but of the two a) slightly more locking and b) the kids would get screwed in the Chinese/soft division as it's 11 and under beginner and...

Well said @Old Happy Tiger That's what I love so much about Shaolin Kenpo, always learning it WITH the practical application!

Yup, 100% agree and that's why we have decided to enter them into Traditional! I would be so mad if they were all competing against each other, lol, we could just do an inter-school tournament at that point instead :P

Yeah, after much deliberating, I came to the same conclusion. If I emphasize they really lock out the strikes and such too we just won't be as fluid as Kung Fu even if we are doing our "flow" style, so that's my plan for us to compete in Traditional. Neither is really ideal, but of the two...

Also from an romanization perspective, kenpo in Japanese is けんぽう in hiragana, 拳法 in kanji. https://jisho.org/word/拳法 Where I'm going w/ this language lesson is the alphabetical, aka hiragana, spelling breaks down as such: け = ke ん = n ぽ = po う = u (or in this case making the po a longer sound)...

TKO League = Texas Karate Organization. The organizer told me traditional means Japanese (karate) and Korean hard styles. I'm quite away Kenpo is it's own thing, in the California Bay Area we had a Kenpo/Kajukenbo division just for our forms. Sadly no luck here :(. I believe based on the...

This is the tournament we're going to next month's flyer with the divisions listed out: https://www.tkoleague.com/_files/ugd/84ec89_db3a0fc5101f4af79cc3c43d4b39b5cc.pdf "Kung Fu / Chinese Forms (soft)" <-- youngest division is 11 years and under all together, then every 2 years, then adult...

As someone who has competed for a while myself in my earlier days (early 2000's I competed in "traditional" divisions since my first black belt was a shotokan karate variant) and then again later competed in Kenpo/Kajukenbo divisions in California in the earlier 2011-2015 years... I think what...

Title pretty much says it all, but I love my Canon EOS R5 and RF 28-70 f2.0/L lens. It's soooo sharp. Also the 1,000+ AF points on the EOS R5 make following faces super easy too. Burst is fantastic for capturing those action moments. I previously was primarily using a Canon 5D Mk3 and EF 24-70...

That was my initial knee jerk reaction, but my instructor, Master Professor Bill Grossman, said he used to compete in the Chinese soft forms division before they created specific kenpo divisions in California... so it really got me questioning things. Our stances are NOT as deep as traditional...

Ok let me help by sharing the YouTube channel (which is not done full speed tournament style flow, but mostly count here for students to reference when practicing after they learn). Pick up the speed a bit and don't count out loud / throw the kicks higher for tournament, and that'll give you an...

Going back to my original question, what do we compete in? Traditional or Chinese? I'm still very lost as to what is the right division for my students to compete in. I can link some videos of some of our katas if it will help.

No, I think he's referring to actual Chinese kung fu systems w/ that question. Those systems have specific sub-styles per animal. My friend owns a kung fu school here in Austin, TX teaches various animal sub-styles in his school. His page: ADULT KUNG FU | Shaolin Martial Arts (it lists the...

Nope. Tony Martinez -> American Kenpo (Ed Parker lineage) Gary Swan -> looks like he trained under Stephen LaBounty (RIP sir!) who is also American Kenpo My school is Shaolin Kenpo, Ralph Castro lineage. When I moved here (I came from the Bay Area) I reached out and was told I was the first...

I would agree with this statement. Most of our attacks focus more on fast and effective hand strikes in all the kenpo variants from what I've seen.

I train in Shaolin Kenpo (Ralph Castro founder, he was a peer of Parker's at Chow's in Hawaii). Our kenpo is very practical in that all our kata's are our self defense moves. We require all students to do the kata's with attackers in addition to doing them solo alone. So even a white belt won't...

Hi, I teach Ralph Castro branch Shaolin Kenpo at my school. I'm taking them to their first tournament here in Austin, TX next month and for forms we have 2 division options I see: Forms (Traditional Forms only) Kung Fu / Chinese Forms (soft) My instructor (Master Professor Bill Grossman)...

Haha last post was about a year ago in this thread :) I opened my own storefront dojo in January of 2021 (was subletting elsewhere since 2017 to teach). Up to a little over 40 students so far. For my own personal kata learnings we've started on the "two" series, High River Two already learned...

A lot of our forms are assuming right handed attackers, so I will often do left side versions of our kata's for a fun challenge. It really puts a wrench into your normal reactions! Good for keeping you sharp.

Reviving an ancient thread. I really like the latest generation iron man tops (13oz) with the gusseted inseam and armpit and the wrinkle free fabric, it just feels really great. I have 2, but they've been out of the black top only ones for a while and I really want to get another high quality...

According to Ralph Castro's FAQ #5 on his website, Sisuk is the title for 1st/2nd degree black and Sihing often used for brown belts. But yes they are just family words in Chinese, so I understand what you are saying about them being relational to others in that regard.

What is the proper way to pronounce sihing and sisuk? Google doesn't have a lot for these cantonese words when I've been looking...

Ralph Castro founded Shaolin Kenpo. Ed Parker founded American Kenpo. Our forms are completely different, but yes many animal influences. Ralph Castro's FAQ #3 is good reading: http://www.shaolinkenpo.com/faqs.htm There are a few American Kenpo based places in Austin still, I trained at one...

Shaolin Kenpo for me the past decade. I've got all my various styles I've studied since I began my martial arts journey back in 2000 listed below in my signature :)

Austin TX for me :)

I needed to get to ~40 total students to break even on the lease and all expenses and I'm 2 students away from that number at the moment I'm writing this reply! Not bad for only having the new location open a few months :) I had 11 students when I signed that lease.... (and as you mentioned...

In other news, I was subletting and teaching classes since 2017, but I took a big leap of faith and leased my first storefront this past January, and now have a proper place as of this year that is all my own for teaching this branch of Kenpo :) It was the perfect timing with people wanting to...

I hope you get to try it one day!

ISKA [Shaolin Kenpo FAQs] FAQ #3 is a good read on Castro's website. We don't have the same techniques, but concepts are similar. Also in EPAK they teach 8-16 self defense techniques a belt. We don't do named techniques but we do key kata's which all have 8 x self defense techniques in them...

I guess you missed the memo "Ralph Castro passed away in the early morning of Monday, February 25, 2019." He will be missed. Also Will - I do know all of Twisting Horse now and have been practicing it regularly on my journey towards 2nd degree black belt.