high level skill

[Danjo]

What do you consider high level skill in shaolin kempo or any kenpo? Is there a ceiling to increasing skill or not?
Obviously i am not speaking about odd thoughts of being able to beat the crap out of anyone...
Respectfully,
Marlon

Seems to me that the goal of the martial arts is to have the ability to defend yourself. Clearly being able to do that efficiently, and being able to teach that clearly, are the measures of high skill. Anything else is just window dressing.

 

[Matt]

Perhaps i did not phrase my question appropriately. What is the way one defines high level skill in kempo / kenpo? How is it different from a healthy, athletic fast 20 something 3rd degree black belt's skill?

respectfully,
Marlon

I think that there is a higher level of skill. I think having the ability to perceive the opportunities that present themselves is one level. Being able to make the things happen that I want to happen is another. When I can look at a situation, decide what I want to have happen and then make it happen efficiently, then I'll have higher level skill. Doing it at a subconscious level is the skill level after that. Physical prowess is just one factor in making that happen.

Just my opinion.

 

[marlon]

thanks Matt. I like your thoughts on this.

be well

respectfully,
Marlon

 

[marlon]

I think that there is a higher level of skill. I think having the ability to perceive the opportunities that present themselves is one level. Being able to make the things happen that I want to happen is another. When I can look at a situation, decide what I want to have happen and then make it happen efficiently, then I'll have higher level skill. Doing it at a subconscious level is the skill level after that. Physical prowess is just one factor in making that happen.

Just my opinion.

Matt how do you train to develop towards this goal? How do you help others to do so? How were you hepled? The answers may all be the same..or not.

Respectfully,
Marlon

 

[marlon]

of the things that have help me develop better skills, now is focusing on the concepts of kempo and applying them outside of the set techniques; discussions here on MT and the questions they raise about anything i might think i know or do not know; Doc; studying body mechanics esp. by applying the concepts i find in taiji to kempo (sticking energy for example); meeting masters and learning from them but then testuing what they said in order to prove it or disprove it to myself; asking my teacher questions; having the students ask me questions...all these thing help. I feel any higher level skill i can achieve will come from understanding concepts and training these things in a dynamic fashion with a good partner. In the basics of body alignment, body mechanics in relation to myself and the other, is where i find the most benefit to elevate skill. It is when i look away from brute strength and youthful speed that i find ...a higher level of skill. Then i question why teach anything based on brute strength and youthful speed. But i am not one of the master of kempo so i ask everyone of you masters or not: What is higher level skill and how do you train or teach to attain it?

Respectfully,
Marlon

 

[marlon]

Hello - my two cents if you don't mind is high level keeps moving. An average person who does well is advanced around Green.

Yes there is a ceiling to all physical training. Are you hitting the training wall as far as energy or time?

no, no wall (yet) i am looking for what the masters were looking for and since there are many masters on this forum...i thought it a great place to ask.

Respectfully,
Marlon

 

[MahaKaal]

I have not studied Kempo but I will add my understanding of what High Level Skill is according to the art I practise.

When you first start out at any art, there are the fundamentals, set techniques, correct posture, basic concepts, awareness etc. The more you practise each technique the more you can understand the underpinning concept behind it, why does this work? When you can understand a concept it gives the student a wider choice of how to fight, allowing them to not think of techniques they learnt in class, but instead be more dynamic and flow from one technique to another according to the situation. Beyond this is understanding the timing of a fight, to be able to gauge distances, anticipate primary, secondary and tertiary strikes and allow your opponent to throw them. Once you can anticipate, you will be able to make your opponent move and stirke in the way YOU want him to, by controlling the fight, angles, distances, tempo, you can choose which openings you offer the opponent without making them look like blatent baits. Higher then that would be to syncronise yourself with your opponent perfectly and then ruin his timing, as what he expected has now totally been changed. Once all this has been attained, you should be able to amalgamate it all together so that you use your skill to the level it is required when it is required, "gears" to put it into words. Your ability should become instinctive and should happen by itself without even thinking, due to your experience and ability to calculate high levels of combinations, scenarios, counters and counter-counters.

But to get to that stage, requires enormous amounts of practise and honing of skill. I personally dont feel there is a cieling of skill, as skill has no limit, you could take a whole lifetime of training and just keep getting sharper and sharper.