Questions about Kenpo

[Shaolinmack]

I guess i have a question or 2 about my particular achevment rate at kenpo. i studed martail arts since i was 4 and studied till the time i was 12, but i have always been in " the grove". when i turned 23 i rejoined martial arts this time with the kenpo philosaph. i know i am good, i mean i know how to strike and kick i know how to stand and change from one stance to the next, i mean i know what im doing and my teacher sees this too. on June 13 i receved my orange belt and by the end of juse i have 2 stripes and by the first week in july i will have a purple belt. normaly this does not happen. i have been paying for the extraa lessons to acheve this. i meen i studie 10 times as hard as the others i got to kenpo 2 times a day every day, and i love what i do. but am i pussing it to fast? i am only tring to get to a comfortable place for me the yellow bet was to easy same with orange but the purple belt is feeling more comfortable and i think blue is around my level of martial comprehention....
in my previous studie when i was younger i was a green belt in Shinto Ryu, it took me from age 4 to 12 to get that far.. though if i new nothing about kenpo or martial arts i would not be advancing like this, my teacher thinks that i will be fine untill blue belt and that i should probily find it more chalanging.....

 

[Old Fat Kenpoka]

My experience was much like yours. I studied Kenpo from 11-13. Took a break and started again at 18. It took me only a few months to go from White to Purple (skipped Orange) and then to Blue. After that, I was pretty much caught back up to where I was before. At that point, all the Green Belt material was new and my learning slowed to a more normal rate.

Training more often as you do will definitely enable you to progress faster. But you will hit plateaus where no matter how many times you do something it doesn't sink in and you just aren't making it happen. Then you have to be patient and let your brain and body catch up with each other. Patience will be key during these plateaus. During these plateaus, work on other things: work on conditioning, switch to more sparring or more kata or more techniques, or even spend less time doing Kenpo and more time on outside interests.

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Note to MODERATORS: Do you want move this thread to the Kenpo General Section or to the Martial Arts General Section?

 

[DavidCC]

At my school anyway, yellow belt does not require a great deal of ability to achieve. So if you had some prior training this might allow you to move through that stage farly quickly. Even at orange, there are not too many techniques and with some hard work you would move past orange in a matter of month or two especially being young and athletic. So maybe this is your situation. If you continue this meteoric rise through the purple, then I would suggest that something is wrong.

And IMHO don't work so hard, there is no rush, you will only get tired of it.

 

[Shaolinmack]

whell that makes me feel better to know. yea, just like I said, I don't feel the belts I am in are challanging. I spent years learning the basics of the martial arts and the belts that i am learning now are just that the basics. As my teacher said when I hit green belt then all the moves I know will be expanded and should therfore be second nature. so that is proabaly the time I will slow downa and take a look at the concepts that are tought and delve deep into the theory and psycoligy of the motions.

Aparently there is much more to the structure of the system then just motions. In my class we don't do the meditation aspects which i regrett, i spent a summer studing Chi Gong from books and such and realy enjoyed meditation. and i feel that is neglected now a days. Zen And the Martiasl arts go hand in hand. philosopy is the path, to using your skills for more then brutality right?

My next question is about sparing. Im staring to train for point sparing. i have a tournament to go to in september and i have not spared in forever. now when i start to spar what should i work on? I know my balance is good and my speed is good i even have good techneque infact i would say im perfectly average in all the catagories. I have read many places like inside kung fu magasine and black belt magasine not to bounce like a boxer and i dont i like to fight with a good solid wide stance. i like to be routed, i use my speed and patiance when sparing to seek an opining or create one. but after the first or second assult my oponents seem to figure me out and my tacktics fail. could it just be me ore do i need to Swich them up?