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The Blunt Weapons Training section will give concepts of motion for the
use of blunt man-made weapons used in American Kenpo Karate
training.
The two weapons which will be discussed most often will be kenpo clubs
and the kenpo staff, both of which are offered specially made to fit
the
technician through Martial Fusion. The Club and Staff tools
available
through Martial Fusion come with color coordinated graphics of the
Dragon
and Tiger to aid in complex movements and demonstration purposes.
Initially, I must request that before reading or trying any of the
concepts
discussed in this section that you use these weapons with great care so
as not to injure yourself in any way, and do not over train in these
concepts.
Either of those would be detrimental to continued training and to the
safety
of the practitioner. One suggestion to aid the student from
injury
would be to work basic drills with clubs and staffs would be to work
single
club, double clubs and staff in basic motions found in the Universal
Pattern.
I'd
also like to open everyone's minds to is to the idea that AMERICAN
KENPO IS
NOT
SIMPLY FOR EMPTY HAND TRAINING. I understand the beginning of the
creed mentions "I come to you with Empty Hands," however, Kenpo is
designed
as an evolving self-defense system to fit in it's own time and
place.
I also understand that straight Kenpo training doesn't really have a
lot
of man-made weapon training. For those of you out there either
adding
edged and blunt weapons training to your art directly or in
cross-training,
this concept section will simply help to broaden your
opportunities.
As for students who have not ventured forward in this side of the
martial arts, I would encourage to looking
into this type of education.
Now
let's get
to work.
We are going to continue down the path of collapsing started in the
Empty-Hand Training section just for fun (and continuity, something the
writers/director's of the Matrix could learn a thing or two by;
sorry had to be a twit again). So with the Staff you can use the
collapsing principle, it's just a little bit more tricky then with
Clubs. Clubs are a lot more readily definable to Empty Hand work
then Staff given the length and grip differences. But you can
still do it, just in a different way. From the Shielding Hammer
technique idea we'll start with the Lead end moving to an Outward sweep
for the block with the Opposite End and collapse and either check or
strike some low target (we're in Kenpo so I bet you can guess), the
Lead Tips then moves through their face while the Opposite end moves up
and back for the collapse, then the Lead end drops for an outward
thrust with the tip for the elbow strike. The basic idea for
collapsing with a Staff eventually comes down to to fulcrum the Staff
from a leverage perspective. The best aspect of this translates
to the idea that each end of the Staff can be used for something.
Just like with the Empty-Hand side of things, the other end of the tool
can be used to strike your opponent, checking their action, or hitting
someone else in a multiple attack situation.
The big difference when working with a Staff, say
with techniques like Gathering Clouds and Circling the Horizon, you can
do more interesting things such as fulcrum based takedowns and locks
when collapsing that work a little differently Empty-Handed. In
the case of Circling the Horizon you can move in with the straight line
attack with the Lead End and move with the Opposite end during the step
through to a lead strike, and instead of sinking to do the low strikes,
you can use the range and fulcrum from the Staff to sweep your opponent
by taking the Lead end down to the leg for the stick and back for the
sweep with the Opposite end high to help with the strikedown and the
check to deter any retaliation. Say in the case of Shield and
Mace the same can apply where you step forwards with the Lead end
deflecting and drop checking the strike with your step through thrust
to the opponent. What is now the opposite side now circles around
counter clockwise with the various strikes to the ribs, head or neck,
then collapsing it back using the range of the staff to strike the leg
and can also be used for the same type of sweep. Or you could
just strike the leg without sinking to a Kneel Stance and simple step
through with a Knife Edge slicing kick to the knee to lead to other
fun. Either way, while a Staff, if not used correctly, can tie
you up, the range you can is incredibly viable and creates a vacuum
with the collapse idea we are talking about.
So Clubs are a lot easier to adjust from Empty-Hand
work given they are a more natural extension of your hands. Now
with the Shielding Hammer self-defense technique in mind you step back
and circle your Club to the Outward Block or deflect, shuffle in for
the Inward Strike with the Club, then collapse the Club hitting with
the base below the grip in an Outward Thrust. Essentially the
base of the club or the end below the gripping surface is the area you
would use to hit with like an elbow strike with most examples. It
also can be the area of contact for the Downward Hammer motion say with
the buckle concepts we mentioned in the Empty-Hand area like Gripping
Talon or Broken Ram. Even the Hammerfist at the end of Circling
Wing can be applied the same way, or be compounded to hit with the base
and extend to a strike with the front of the Club. A good example
too of collapsing and extension would be with Obscure Wing. With
the Club you can step and check, strike back with the base of the Club
to a low target, extend the Club down to a vital target hitting with
the front, then raise it up striking with the base. These are
just some ideas to try, others are out there to play around
with.
The idea of wrapping (and I don't mean with a record
company, even though I personally do have my rap name picked out) is
another method of collapsing that has far reaching potential with both
Staff and Clubs. Wrapping really transcends a lot of what you can
do with Empty-Hand work, which really sets it apart due to the vice
like motion you can get with it. Wrapping from an Empty-Hand
sense is similar to a joint lock with a fulcrum added for extra
control. Say as an example Crossing Talon or Grip of Death with
the wrist joint lock or the neck lock. From the perspective of
the Staff you can take either the front or rear end of the Staff and in
a circular motion from a block or a strike around any available
appendage to lock up the joint. Especially with a Staff you can
then move to a strikedown, or move to a more enhance strike after
unwinding from the lock. With Clubs it can get more entertaining
with single or double Clubs. Even though the range is different,
wrapping with Clubs can take on a whole new level from the turn of a
wrist. As a Club example your opponent attacks with the Right
Hand, say a punch or something, you while you step in to Left Neutral
Bow. You move the strike out of your way with your right hand,
Club in tow. From here you move the Club around the opponents
wrist, vicing it in with the base or the bottom of the Club while
pulling the opponent in. From there if you have the other hand
empty you can start hitting whatever is close by. If you are
using two clubs you can start a cool drum solo. Bare in mind
though, as with anything martial arts related, you got to get the
timing right for it to work. Your opponent ain’t gonna just stand
there.
In closing I would like to say that one of the best
forms of training for any of the tools we discuss on this e-zine are
just that, forms. Forms, sets, self-defense techniques don't just
function well for empty hand operation. Oh yes, I know there's a
huge debate over whether we should even use weapons or not and whether
they adjust over from empty hand methods. First let me say this,
for those who want to train “wholistically” or by the book, “Here are
my weapons, my Empty Hands,” and all that, that’s fine. I can
appreciate purists in any form, as I am in some endeavors, so I ain’t
gonna mess with ya. And to be honest you shouldn’t be messed
with, because you aren’t doing anything wrong. Baring in mind we
all train for different reasons, you should be honored for yours, as we
who do train with tools should be honored for our reasons. Me
personally, I train with tools because of my background and experience,
and like to call this my “realistic hobby.” So you wanna work
Clubs, work em, you don’t, then don’t, but let’s leave each other alone
about it what’s say. As for the other debate, let me be
frank. Once again, you wanna “cross polinate” or whatever the
vernacular these days for training in other arts outside of Kenpo to be
well rounded or whatever you wanna call it, go for it. But any of
those arts, ie. Arnis, Kali, Aikido, what have you, they will be the
first to admit that they apply their weapons work to Empty Hand and
vice versa, and it does take a change in application to make it
work. Just as with Kenpo, it does take some changes in
application to make it work effectively with Clubs, but the technical
work in Kenpo are a terrific template. |
