I have studied martial arts for self defense only. French Savate was too deadly to be practical in anything but a fight to the death. Tae Kwon Do provided great exercise and could be effectively used in a fight. Tae Kwon Do provides great tournaments. I was surprised how safe tournament fighting was. Movies sensationalize to the max, of course. But, the best form that I found for walking away, unscathed (without killing anyone) was Chinese Kenpo. My sefu (master) was a total maniac, but the students were great! Has anyone studied an unusual fighting style (like White Crane Kung Fu)? Any interesting self defense stories, where some hot babe was rescued from a whole street gang?

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Sounds interesting.
Could you tell us a bit more about Chinese Kenpo please?

As a matter of fact, this is the first time I heard about Chinese Kenpo.
I knew there was Kenpo Karate (One of the famous Kenpo Karateka being Danny Innosanto), but this was new to me.
So, please, give us some more detail.
And also tell us why your Sifu was a maniac.

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Mrdee, now, that we’ve heard from the sponsor at Hackers, Inc, we’ll get back to the show. It would appear that Sefu Smith isn’t the only madman on the loose, eh?

Sefu Smith (his real name) actually believed in violence, as a solution. The man actually advocated it in class. The look of disbelief was the universal response to some of his stories by the students (including me).

A man at the telephone company started an argument. Smith hit him!!!

Two men in a bar didn’t like the way Smith was checking out their women. Smith invited them to go outside, where he thrashed them.

Kenpo (not to be confused with Korean Kempo) is a 50 / 50 style of fighting. That means half hand work; half leg work.

Tae Kwon Do (which means hand / foot art) is 20 / 80. 80% is using the legs. I was told that it is because of the short stature of Koreans that they focus on legs for the greatest reach (sounds reasonable, I guess).

In Tae Kwon Do, you use a cat stance. That means leaning back on your rear foot, bending your rear knee, while placing your other foot forward. This forms a T and lowers your height. It puts the balance of your weight on your rear foot and looks cat-like. You present fists (as opposed to Kenpo or Kung Fu’s open hands).

In Tae Kwon Do tournaments, I used to cheat.

(Well, I call it cheating. You’ll probably laugh.)

I would take the traditional cat stance at the start of the bout. I would lull my opponents into a false sense of confidence. I let them get points; sometimes, even stumbling to look clumsy.

At some point, I would put a terrified look on my face and start breathing hard. EVERY TIME, these guys would immediately attack.

Immediately switching to a Chinese Kenpo working horse stance, which is a low, center-balanced, full-body spread, I would deliver flurries of punches for points.

Then, I would give pressure-point taps (there are 14 deadly pressure points on the human body) and whisper, “You’re dead, fella!"

The last time, I got away with this trick (each tournament fight was for another belt level promotion), Master Thomas gave me a flat, bland stare and said, “I saw and heard that. Stop doing that. This is a Tae Kwon Do tournament, not a comedy club.”

Master Thomas was a 2nd degree blackbelt, so I gave him a defiant look of challenge and retorted boldly, “Okay, Master Thomas.”

 

 

 

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Great stuff, that is.
Yes, you do know how to cheat, don't you?

To be quite honest, I don't think I would want to train under a Sifu/Sensei who preaches violence.

Thanks for the insight.

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