Why does Kenpo karate flow so much better than traditional forms like Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, etc?
How does Kenpo allow for so much more speed?
Major and Minor moves, that’s how.
Put simply, you can’t always be hitting as hard as you can…unless you want to move stiffly and slowly. But you don’t want to move like that, and you don’t want to gas out in the middle of the fight – whether it’s your pro debut, or a parking lot scuffle. You want to be sure that you continue to breath properly (a topic Ed Parker spent some time on in his excellent series “Infinite Insights Into Kenpo”), conserve your energy for strikes that count, and flow so that your opponent feels like he’s trying to keep dry under a fire hose.
When a student’s timing is off during techniques, it’s usually a lack of understanding of this Principal. So, let’s fix it, eh?
Simply put, Major moves are finishers – powerful strikes using multiple Power Principals (more on these later), to targets that can’t be “armored”, or defensive movements that can’t fail (that is, “can’t” as in you’ll be crushed if they do). Your initial block in any technique is a Major move, as is the final strike. The reasoning is simple really – if you blow the first block, you get trucked and lose the fight; at the end, there is no need to conserve energy or preserve timing…it’s The End.
When you perform Major moves, you exhale. Major moves are generally, but not always performed with the strong hand.
Minor moves, on the other hand, and set-ups for Major moves. This can be jab-type strike, or a strike that doesn’t take power to work, like a finger to the eye. This isn’t to say that a Minor move can’t end a fight (ever been poked in the eye? sheesh), but that they aren’t meant to. Reactionary defensive moves are generally NOT Minor, but pre-emptive ones can be, like checks.
When you perform Minor moves, you inhale. Minor moves are generally, but not always performed with the weak hand.
All right, there you go, see you next…what? Examples? Oh. Sure. Wouldn’t really be much of a training tip if I just left it there, huh? All right. hmm. I’ll give you two – one that just about everyone should have, and one that just about everyone will practice.
Grip of Death
If you don’t know this technique, go to your local quality Kenpo school (yes, there are ones that suck. You get what you pay for), sign up, and you’ll get this one in the first few weeks. Onward:
- Stepping in with double hammer fists – Major move, exhale.
- Reaching up and levering BG’s head – Minor move, inhale.
- Heel palm to chin of BG – Major move, exhale.
Move 1 HAS to be Major, so you can get Boy Genius to loosen up enough to take the rest of the beating. Of course, you could always pre-empt his grab, but legally…Move 2 is Minor because, well, really, you’re using leverage, not muscle, and pulling his head back isn’t going to end anything except, maybe, his snoring. Oh, and you want to have plenty of O2 for Move 3. Move 3 is Major – this is a serious fight ender. Not only are you using Torque, Marriage of Gravity, and Back-Up Mass, you’re striking to a very vulnerable target; no, not the chin, the chin is just a transmitter of force. You’re really attacking his neck and spine. See, all his vertebrae are flexed, so there’s no real slack, and you’re gonna slam into them like a train wreck.
Five Swords
Told you there’d be one that everyone would practice. I don’t know what it is about this technique, but all the Kenpoists I’ve met like it and practice it. Cool.
- Right block & chop to neck – Major move, exhale.
- Palm/ finger strike to head – Minor move, inhale.
- Uppercut to Solar Plexus – Major move, exhale.
- Chop to Vagus Nerve – Minor move, inhale.
- Chop to base of skull – Major move, exhale.
This one is really cool. Someone, might have been Joe Palanzo, or Frank Trejo, or even Huk Planas, I don’t remember which, showed this to me at a Camp. The idea is that you want to really beat on this guy with your right hand, so originally it was block, uppercut, chop. When you really speed it up, and let your arms windmill a bit, you see where the other moves work themselves in. As you probably already know, in Kenpo you don’t cock a weapon unless you have something else going on…like a poke to the eyes.
Okay, so the block in move 1 is Major for all the previous reasons, but the chop isn’t. Move 2 could be Major, but you need to catch your breath, and the Forward Bow isn’t really used to generate power here…at least on this strike.Move 3 is Major, using the Torque and weight transfer from the stance shift; I’ve seen someone get punched in the Solar Plexus hard enough to induce vomiting. Blech. Move 4 is Minor because it dosen’t need any oomph to work, the nerve controls your blood pressure, striking it disrupts it’s work day pretty badly. If you don’t believe, come on over and I’ll knock you out – it doesn’t even hurt. Oh, and again, you want to get some air in! Move 5 is a huge finish – the chop is actually targeting the brain stem, which protrudes slightly at the base of the skull; a hard shot here can disconnect the wiring, or make the stem swell, causing temporary paralysis. Bad Juju either way.
Okay, so that should be enough for you to get the idea of Major and Minor, and start practicing on your own. If you need help, drop me a line!
Mr J