5 Tips For Effective Kenpo Techniques

Every time I talk to someone about Kenpo techniques, they all ask me “Why are they better than (X other martial arts)?”. I usually tell them the short answer is “They aren’t better, the one that trained the harder and smarter is going to win”. But right after that, I explain to them Kenpo karate techniques have been developed by teachers that had to fight every day. They developed a very effective way to fight multiple opponents bigger than you at the same time. They were very practically oriented and had a lot of experience. Professor Nick Cerio has been in the famous S.W.A.T. and trained them for empty hand fighting. With that question in mind, I decided to write 5 tips that are very well known inside Kenpo techniques.

1. Your movement considers your opponents and your environment

If you ever been attacked, you know you will be most likely being attacked somewhere you are not familiar with and you need to take everything in consideration. The first I have in mind is how many opponents do you have? Chance are he will not be alone and Kenpo training takes this in consideration. this will greatly affect your moving choice before starting your Kenpo technique. Whenever it is possible, putting an attacker between you and the next one is a good idea. When you are surrounded, the first thing you want to do is sneaking behind someone fast and use him as a shield. Also, don’t forget if you have nobody in your back and two or three opponents in front of you, don’t sneak between two of them, retreat at your left or right side.

While your are moving carefully to a safe area, you should consider another important factor: keeping an eye on everybody. This may sound simple to do, but it is harder than you think. The side your opponents are should dictate the side you are fighting. Let’s imagine you have an attacker in front of you as well as someone at your left. Do you think you can step with a right-handed stance (right leg behind)? It is extremely risky to do so because you are exposing your weak side to the other enemy and you will lose vision on him as soon as you move toward the attacker in front of you. This is the reason why in Kenpo, we should ever train our both sides.

The final touch for your Kenpo karate techniques is considering your environment to not trap yourself. The goal is to walk away safely, isn’t it? Let’s take the same situation with the opponent at your left and the other one in front of you. If you were trap with a wall behind you and at your right, what should you do? You need to move quickly to attack the guy at your left first because you are aware of your environment and your option of moving at your right is removed.

2. Strike at pressure points

Learning where to strike is a critical point in Kenpo. No matter how big and strong you are, someone somewhere is going to be bigger and stronger than you. Understanding where the pressure points are and how to exploit them is a critical aspect. In most fight in the street, you have only three strikes to knock down your opponent, otherwise you are in big trouble and you better run fast.

You have several types of pressure points inside Kenpo techniques. You have the pain points where you hit and produce pain in the body of your opponent (hitting the bicep with a knuckle is a great example). You also have the reflex point where you do involuntary movement. An example of that is if you hit the wrist at the right point, the hand will open by itself. It doesn’t cause pain, but it is nearly impossible to control that motion. The last type of pressure points I am going to talk is break point. This is spot where your bone is weaker and most likely to break. If you hit the elbow and hold his extended arm, your opponent arm is going to break easily.

3. A block is a strike and a strike is a block

Professor Nick Cerio was often reminding that tip in Kenpo training and he had different level of interpretation. The shallower degree is simply every strikes you use can block a strike and every blocks you use can strike someone. Here is an example. Do the motion of throwing a back punch to the head and take the time to examine your motion. By positioning your hands correctly, the same motion can block the exact same punch to the head.

By going to the next level, a block is a strike also means when you block, you should also hurt your opponent by aiming at pressure points. Let’s imagine someone throws you a hook punch. You can block him with a simple outward block. To follow the philosophy of “A block is a strike”, you can also snap a pressure point on the forearm or even the bicep if you have enough time. What about the “A strike is a block”? Think about it carefully. If you strike your opponent fast enough, is he going to be able to hit you again? This has to be a “block” at the same time.

4. Keep your opponent unbalanced

This skill is highly underestimated but very useful in Kenpo technique. When you keep your opponent on his toes or his heels, you will gain a very big advantage over him. You can do so without losing time just by adding this little detail inside your strikes. If you block a front knuckle punch, you can pull his arm at the same time to put him on his tip toes without losing time. This little detail is never expected in the street and will do all the difference. You confuse your enemy and at the same time, you make him lose time to regain his balance. If he decides to strike you, his striking power is going to be so bad you don’t even need to be afraid.

5. Everything is fluid like water

If you had to remember only one tip for Kenpo techniques, remember this one for sure. Kenpo is all about fluidity in everything. With every moves you should be able to breath naturally and synchronized with what you do. When you strike, when you move, when you breath, no matter what you are doing, do it without hesitation and keep the momentum. Have you ever seen a river hesitate? It always flow and you need to incorporate the same idea when you fight. Something isn’t working? Just fluently switch to a better idea! Plain and simple.