Kenpo Karate: Guts!

So before I proceed, I wanted to add this video that brings back fond memories of old-school nickelodeon...

Mush like the TV show of the same name, a martial artist needs guts in order to defend himself. What are guts? You know beside the organs that allow your body to function properly? (Yes, I had to). Guts are a little bit of confidence as well as what makes strong leaders. Having guts can sometimes mark weather you win or lose.

Have you ever heard the term "gut feeling"? Where you have an inkling and act upon it? Well that is half of what guts is. Being able to discern a right move. This is how mushin no shin, a state I wrote about in a previous post, begins.

Gut feelings become more and more prevalent as an artist gains more experience and as they age, they will be able to enter the mushin no shin state. The other part of guts is a little less complex, and that is the courage to act on those gut feelings.

Often we rely too much on our analytical minds to decipher everything around us. We easily dismiss anything that can't be measured by a yard stick, so gut feelings have little to know baring. However, aside from the mind and the body, a human being also has a soul and the soul is also capable of sensing, we are just not tuned into it.

It is these radical ideas that sound so silly when spoken aloud (or written in a blog). So that's the reason why many choose not to listen to their gut; it is not the eyes, nor the ears, nor hands, tongue or nose and therefore it is uttery erroneous.

Sarcasm... sarcasm... I have experienced these myself and I can appreciate the need for further study before you take me seriously. However that is what guts are to me.

In the matter of defending yourself, it is hard to listen to this feeling all the time. You'll want to ignore it at first and when you do, things won't typically work out that well. When you do listen, often times they work out fine. Not always but usually.

Kenpo Karate: Leadership

Leadership is a crucial skill in the world today. Without it, it can be extremely hard to succeed in business or in just about anything. Leaders lead the way into the future. They do not just follow the path that of those before them, they are constantly learning and creating new things.

They are also great examples and inspire their friends, family, subordinates with their charisma and their take charge attitude. It may seem hard to believe, but kenpo teaches students this too. Students often are chosen to lead classes and teach new students. This helps them remember and also learn how to articulate what it is they have learned in class.

Now when it comes to defending yourself, leadership comes from confidence. A leader is born when he/she has the confidence to accept the duties that they have in becoming a leader. As a martial artist, your duty is to defend yourself and others, preferably for a just cause (personally, if it is not a just cause then you are not a martial artist). And in that respect you become the leader that you were taught to be through the training in your dojo.

Kenpo Karate: Confidence

When it comes to defending yourself, you need to have confidence to do it. It you act meek in a hostile situation it means one of two things: 1, you are misdirecting your opponent to catch them by surprise or (and mostly likely) you are in fact a meek minded person who is easily trampled.

Can you defend yourself with kenpo karate? Yes! ...That is if you believe that you can.

Often we compare ourselves to the greats. We watch movies with Jackie Chan and Jet Li and see how amazing they are and we immediately think that we could never perform at that level, beat all the bad guys and win the girl at the end... Well of course you can't if you don't even try!

I'm not saying that by "believing" you can, you will be able to defeat three assailants at once without any training, I'm saying that with the training that kenpo karate gives you, you can defend yourself.

First off, those tricky moves in the movies, though they are flashy without proper practice, you could not pull those off. Unless you trained like Jackie and Jet. If you believe you can do them and practice them everyday and some how magically get into such a sticky situation, then yes you could. But you don't need to. What you want is to take out your opponent in one move. Too much energy is wasted on making the stunts they do interesting. Not really practical in a real fight.

So now you understand that comparing yourself to the greats is dumb, you need to realize the power inside yourself. Training in kenpo karate develops much of the young martial artist. As a student progresses through the ranks, they get stronger, faster, more agile, longer stamina and, of course, more confidence in dealing with a life threatening situation.

The martial arts, as I've said time and time again, is not so much about building the body as it is about building the mind and spirit. As you progress, you learn timing, your reach and also you find the inner tiger within you that can stand up against anyone.

Confidence can be attained through other methods as well. However, there is no fast way to do so. It takes a lot of effort on the part of the student. But if you really want it, you can strive to find it within yourself.

If you have good self-esteem, you typically have good confidence. How you view yourself is key. If you keep comparing yourself to the greats like Chan and Li, you will always be seeking their confidence and not your own. Start with you first!

• Compliment yourself when you do something well. You don't have to do it out loud; people might stare... But take some pride in the good work you do (will talk more about this later).
• Maintain a positive attitude. This is the most played out saying in the history of the world... but it's true. No matter what, if you decide you are going to have a good day or believe that you can do anything and take down any opposition the day throws at you, you will have a great day.
• If you fail, try again. Failure is only a means of finding the way; it is not a end all situation where if you fail life ends. We often forget this. Especially teens... You can't take life too seriously or you won't be able to get over the hurdles that are constantly there. Remember that life isn't hard, it's how you use the gifts you got and kick the world's ass. DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU DIFFERENTLY! :)

If you're an avid reader (I'm guessing you are if you read this far) there are a lot of books that can give you more tips on building self-esteem and confidence. I'm an avid reader myself and enjoy self-improvement reads (I know not everyone is), but if you want to give these books a try, I've found them pretty useful in terms of confidence building:



As somewhat of an introvert, I found these to be pretty helpful for me. So I hope you enjoy them too. Well, thanks for reading and I will continue this series tomorrow. Till then...

Kenpo Karate: Can I Fight Back?

For all beginners of kenpo karate, you may wonder if learning a martial art is helpful or a waste of time. Growing up, I wasn't sure about it myself. In fact I would say that I really didn't become a black belt until I got my 2nd degree.

I'm not very supportive of belt systems. I understand their function; they represent skill level. However, even if you have the knowledge doesn't mean you know how to use it. This may seem like a weird way to begin a pro martial arts shpeal, but just give me time. : )

There are some white belts out there that act like black belts and there are some black belts that act like white belts. Unfortunately I have been the latter. My sensei had a word for it: paper tiger. It may look like a tiger, but it is made of paper and is no more fearful than a mouse.

I was unfortunately a paper tiger for a long time. I was big; i had strength, but as far as being a black belt, I was not. It took a real kick in the pants for me to take training seriously... but that is a story for another time.

What I will say now is what we in the writing business call a thesis statement... So yeah, kenpo karate or any martial art teaches a student how to defend him/herself. Yes, you can fight back. That is not the proper question. The proper question is will you fight back.

Like anything else, the amount of time and effort you put into kenpo karate makes all the difference. You can just barely pass your tests and gain that black belt, but if you don't put in the real sweat to go above and beyond, you are not a real black belt. Becoming a real black belt takes guts and drive. You need to be a leader and you need to have confidence in yourself. And humility goes a long way too.

Those are the main components to make a black belt. Let me rephrase that: those are the components you need to be able to defend yourself. There are plenty of street fighters that can defend themselves and the only black belt they have, they got from wal-mart. What do they have? confidence, leadership, guts...

They don't have drive, because if they did they wouldn't be thugs. And they don't have humility because they are not eager to learn. That is the difference between being a black belt and being a street fighter.

I'm going to end this for now, because I have some good ideas for future posts from this one. Check back for updates, but let me repeat myself: by learning kenpo karate you can fight back, you can defend yourself and you can win.