Category: 10 Kyuu – White Belt

Kenpo Budokan Karate: White Belt: Lessons: 5 – Front Choke (Parting Wings)

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Front Choke (Parting Wings)

The first time I broached this subject with other Kenpoists I was looked at as if I was crazy. I get screaming all the time about this one – parting wings, originally in the Kenpo System is designed as a defense against a two handed push. In the CMATOS system, however, this is modified to be a defense against a front choke.

Self-defense is all about reaction. If you see someone coming towards you to choke you, your first reaction should be to do something other than stand there and let them choke you. Refer back to lesson 2 Rule 0. There you are, in your martial arts lesson, standing there and waiting for your partner to come up and choke you to practice your front choke. What happens in a self-defense situation? You stand there and wait for the attacker to get you in a front choke. How you practice is how you will perform.

It is for this reason, that in the CMATOS system, we teach Parting Wings as the basis for a front choke attack. You should react before the person actually gets a hold of you, and should have started your self-defense long before you are actually grabbed. Now what happens if you do end up being grabbed? Well, there are 1,001 ways to react and several hundred variations on techniques that you can do to get out of the situation. You can browse through our library of techniques for ones that best fit your situation. But if you never allow yourself to get in the situation in the first place…

Instructions

  1. Step forward with your left foot, or step back with your right (judge for distance) foot as you perform a double extended outward block.
  2. Bring your left hand across the attackers Jaw (chop or hammer fist) as you twist forward to slam your right hand palm into the attacker’s ribs.
  3. Twist outward again as you bring your left hand forward to chop into the attacker’s neck as your right hand performs an outward block to check.
  4. Preform a thrusting reverse punch into the attackers solar plexus
  5. Cover and cross out

Breakdown

The first thing you should notice that in the description you are either step forward or step backwards. When performing this movement for testing purposes you should be stepping back with the right leg. But in practical situations, you will need to judge the distance you have against your attacker to ensure the technique is properly executed. If they are coming towards you with arms outstretched, you should step forward to meet the attacker and close the distance between you and them. If you are shorter and the person has a longer reach than you, you will want to be stepping forward as well. If the attacker is already too close and is already about to be choking you, then you will want to step back and allow the attacker to fall into your strikes. You want to use the attacker’s momentum against them, either meeting them force on force (amplification), or fading back and letting them walk into your trap.

Depending on the situation, you can use either an open handed or closed handed double outward block. When starting out it might be best to practice with closed fists as the transition between open hand and closed strikes may be a bit confusing at first. The next step of the movement is a chop with a palm strike. Again, if the attacker’s head or jaw is too far away, don’t try and overextend your movements just to include this strike, your main focus is to drive the palm of your hand into the side of the attacker’s ribs causing them to buckle forward.

As they start to collapse forward, you use this momentum to your advantage to drive your left hand chop into the side of the attackers neck or to their windpipe, whichever target presents the best opportunity for striking. Your right hand comes up in an outward block motion, to ensure that your right side is covered in the case the attacker tries to bring their left hand around and strike you.

You finish off the move by driving a punch into the attackers solar plexus and crossing out to cover. In a self-defense situation, you would then try and evacuate the area and get yourself to safety, not just stand there and see if the move was effective or not.

Some considerations

One of the many criticisms leveled against Kenpo is that to many it appears to be a slap-happy self-defense system with lots of hand waving and “magick”. The reality of the situation is that Kenpo uses the principles of shock and awe to overcome attackers in many situations. The classic Five Swords comes to mind – where experienced Kenpoists are executing 7 strikes in less than a second. What happens if a person comes up and starts to slap fight with you. The strike to your left. You block. They strike to your right. You block. If they are fast enough and aren’t going in any appreciable pattern and they are constantly moving, you are going to end up getting hit. What the Kenpoist knows is that each of the strikes, independently executed could cause some serious harm to the individual, but because most individuals aren’t going to just stand there and let you hit them, they are going to be reacting to what you are doing. What the Kenpoist does differently is throw the strikes out there, and the ones that land are emphasized to ensure maximum effectiveness.

A second key to the Kenpoist’s shock and awe arsenal is the kenpo voice – other styles might call this karate breathing, kiup, or the kia (and many other names). The idea is that as you are executing these strikes, especially on the ones where you are making the most impact, you are loudly and forcibly using your shout to add power and shockage to the strikes. A good exercise you can do to see the difference is during a practice session while you are punching, do your punches, but do them without breathing, or if you are breathing, very quietly. Then do the same exercise as you shout during the impact. You should notice a very large difference in both power and perception of power during the motions.

We have a saying in kenpo – that kenpo has no blocks. Everything you do in kenpo should be considered a strike. When you are doing an outward block, you aren’t just blocking, you are striking the inside area of the attacker’s arm to add pain and effectiveness to the technique. Just “blocking” does us no good, we want the person to react to each of our strikes, and use their reaction to have them fall into our next strike or trap. You’ll start to notice as you develop your techniques that the principle of “alternating zones” comes into more and more focus, one strike leads to a reaction which is a set up for another strike, until, ultimately, your attacker is subdued.

Things to Work On

As with all techniques you should be focusing on performing the technique in various modes. The first mode is shadow boxing mode, where you are performing the technique in the air. This level is just to get you confident enough with the movements that you can start practicing with a partner. When you are doing this, watch how your hands are moving and practice the fundamental motion that the hands are following – focus on the movements rather than the strikes.

Next comes practice and proficiency with a partner. Don’t just be attacked, but also be the attacker and let your partner defend. You do this to ensure that you are able to see how your body is reacting and you can adjust your strikes accordingly.

After you get comfortable working the move through the standard motions, do the mirror image of the move. In this case, you will be stepping forward with your right or back with your left and executing the movement using the opposite side. What this does is train yourself to be able to adapt to different situations. In a self-defense situation, you may not be able to step back (you may be backed against a wall), or you have to move to the side, by working the technique on both sides you gain considerable proficiency with the fundamental movements behind the technique.

Finally, you should practice the movement using slow tension movements. Slow tension practice is when you perform the movements with all your muscles tensed as tight as you can and as slow as you can. The purpose of this is to really drill into your muscle memory the necessary movements of the technique. When practicing at this level you should be paying intimate attention to where your hands are going, how they are moving, where your feet are, etc…. to get as close to a picture perfect move as possible. Imagine someone taking a time lapse video of you performing in slow tension. When they speed the camera back up to full speed, you should look like a master with the technique.

Concluding Thoughts

If this is the first time you are studying a martial art, I would suggest not trying to rush ahead and learn the other self-defense techniques right away, but focus on getting this movement down perfectly until moving on. It should take you a week or two of practice before you should feel comfortable enough to move on. In the interim, you can always review the previous lessons, or take some of the later lessons on the fundamental concepts and techniques.

As with everything, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us for any clarifications you need or a review of what you are doing. Keep up the great work and we’ll see you in the next lesson.

 

Kenpo Budokan Karate: White Belt: Lessons: 4 – The 4 Empty Hand Self Defense Techniques

On By masterkenpodragonIn 10 Kyuu - White Belt, Belt Requirements, Hakko Goshin Jutsu, Kenpo Budokan Karate, Lessons, Self Defense Techniques, Techniques and Forms, Yonko Karate Goshin JutsuLeave a comment
white belt (Judo belt, Obi, Budo belt, etc.) F...
white belt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 4 Empty Hand Self Defense Techniques (四空手護身術)

At every level through the CMATOS system, you will have 4 empty hand self-defense techniques along with 4 techniques against/with a weapon. At the white belt level, these 4 techniques are designed to be some of the most common situations you might encounter in a self defense situation. The focus is really attackers who are coming at you from either the front or the rear, in (for the time being) a stable grab type of situation. As you progress, it is expected that you will evolve from just performing the movements over and over again, but to become much more dynamic with your movements, and your partner attacker will start modifying the attacks to be both more realistic as well as more complicated. The movements will all be the same, the difference will be in the application of the technique in various situations.

Your goal at this level is purely mechanical. Start building your muscle memory, start learning how and when to react, and start learning the movements and reactions that your attacking partner go through when you perform the self-defense technique. In the (hopefully near-term) future, you will move off from a purely mechanical approach, and start thinking about the techniques at a more technical level, advancing to the “what if” level and start understanding how and when to apply deviations from the base technique. Eventually you will evolve into the theoretical level, where your mastery of the material has made it to such a point that you feel confident in any self-defense situation, and have started working on your own techniques and forms. You will find that your techniques become much more focused, and efficient.

But for now focus only on the following for each of the techniques of this level:

  • Memorize the technique
  • Perform the technique in front of a mirror on your own
  • Be able to perform the technique from both sides. The mirror image technique (e.g. if you step back with your right leg and left outward block, you’ll instead do the move stepping back with your left leg and right outward block, etc…)
  • Perform the technique in super slow tension
  • Practice with your partner through all phases (regular speed, both sides, and slow tension)

Take some time with each of the techniques in the following lessons to make sure you get through at least 2 training sessions and practices with each individual technique before moving onto the next one. At this juncture, I would not really recommend doing more than one self-defense technique lesson per week. (If you are already an experienced martial artist then this rule really doesn’t apply to you). If you want to continue lessons, but want to continue focusing on the self-defense techniques, I would recommend looking at the lessons on the 8 fundamental techniques and concepts in the interim as these lessons can be done in parallel with the self defense lessons.

Kenpo Budokan Karate: White Belt: Lessons: 3 – The 8 Core Self Defense Techniques of the White Belt

On By masterkenpodragonIn 10 Kyuu - White Belt, Belt Requirements, Hakko Goshin Jutsu, Kenpo Budokan Karate, Lessons, Self Defense Techniques, Techniques and FormsLeave a comment
Hapkido holds many throwing techniques in comm...
Hapkido holds many throwing techniques in common with judo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Goshin Jutsu (八護身術) – Self Defense Techniques

As a white belt, or someone who is just starting out study of a martial arts, there are a million and one things you get exposed to, and all of a sudden everything seems so overwhelming. It’s like a kindergartner being thrust into the middle of an advanced quantum mechanics symposium. This is really where the lessons and cirriculum come into play – when working with an instructor or a set lesson plans, your instructor (or the lessons on this site) are designed in such a way to gradually introduce themes, concepts, techniques, and forms so that by the end of the entire process, you will have learned the CMATOS system and should be effectively able to defend yourself.

Notice the heading of this article – 八護身術 – it signifies the 8 (hatchi or hakko 八) self-defense (goshin – 護身) techniques (jutsu -術). Unless you’ve studied Japanese or another Japanese based martial art, it seems foreign and strange – confusing. Hold onto that confusion and remember how you felt when you first saw the Japanese. Although there are some Japanese terms used throughout CMATOS, the vast, vast majority of everything here is in English (aside from the Traditional form names for the other styles). If you are keeping a training journal, you should write your thoughts on the language confusion so you can refer back to it in a few month’s time when everything starts to seem to click.

Rule #1: Don’t rush things.

Yes all CMATOS material is up on the website (or will be if it isn’t already) and you can spend a few weeks going through all the material. But rushing through the material and techniques before you actually have become technically proficient in them is a very bad choice – which will only lead to further confusion. Take your time, work through the lessons as they come, and ONLY after you feel comfortable with the material in a lesson should you really go onto the next lesson. The lessons here, as mentioned, are designed to take a lot of the confusion out of the practice and ensure that you are advancing at a pace both you and your instructor are comfortable with.

Calming the Storm

It may seem an insurmountable bit at this point, but in reality you only have 48 self defense techniques and 11 forms that need to be perfected in order to attain your black belt within CMATOS. These 48 techniques are broken down into 32 base techniques, and 32 extensions – so by the time you get to the extension, you should be very confident with the base technique itself. In addition, the 11 forms have been relatively simplified from the standard Kenpo Forms, and should be easy enough for you to pick up and perfect.

White Belt Focus

The whole focus of the white belt level is getting down your basics as well as starting to understand the techniques and movements within the CMATOS system. It should be challenging. It should push your limits – if it doesn’t then something might be wrong. In many styles, the first lesson is all about basics, and then after punching in the air for 3 months, you finally move on to learning something practical. In CMATOS, the material starts with some relatively complex movements. While we don’t specifically teach each of the movements or baseline punches individually, the idea is that as you start learning the self-defense techniques, you will start to pick up the movements. Since the material is reviewed at every level, the goal is to build in a gradual proficiency as you continue to practice the forms and techniques.

Rule #2: Don’t get frustrated.

Think back to the Karate Kid. Daniel had to do all these seemingly meaningless chores, while in the background, his muscle memory started to develop until he was proficient enough to be able to defend himself with a half broken leg and some vapor rub. You aren’t expected to master these techniques overnight, in fact, the standard student takes anywhere from 3-6 months at this beginner level to really start showing proficiency in the material. Slow the videos down. Pause them. Watch yourself perform in a mirror. Get a partner and practice them together. Send us your videos of the material so we can give you tips and pointers on how to improve. Better yet, find an instructor in the CMATOS system and study under them, or contact us for an in-person lesson.

Rule #3: Practice makes perfect.

You are only going to get out of the system what you put into the system. Daily practice is highly recommended, but at a minimum you should set aside two 30-60 minute training windows per week for you to work on your material and go over the lesson materials. Don’t be afraid to go back and review previous lessons or materials so you can ensure that if you missed something or didn’t catch something on the first go around, you can pick it up the next go through.

Rule #4: Find a training partner.

At a very, very, very minimum – if you are looking to advance through the ranks and achieve certified ranking within the CMATOS system, you will need someone to be your partner during the video testing. A much better situation to find yourself in is you have a partner who you consistently are practicing and training with. Use your significant other and take the lessons together, use your child, use a co-worker or gym buddy. Find someone who you can work on the techniques with on a consistent basis. The best benefit of having a partner is that you can work to correct each other’s mistakes and learn as both the attacker and defender. When you attack someone and have them perform the defense against you, you know and feel how your body reacts – this gives you a much better insight into how an attacker will react when you perform the movement on them. In addition, you can work out more “What if” scenarios than just walking through the motions in your head or in an empty room.

Rule #5: Be consistent.

One of the major problems with distance learning and video learning courses is that most individuals who enroll do not spend the time or effort working with a partner and do not set aside the necessary weekly training periods to properly advance through the ranks. To combat this, we offer the distance learning membership – it is a financial commitment, but studies have shown that the greater your financial investment in something, the more likely you are to stick to the plan. Our goal is not so much to make money, as it is to encourage you to stick to your training and achieve a high level of success with the CMATOS system. With the commitment, you are more likely to set aside a training period each week, and are much more likely to find a partner to work with so you can advance through the material much quicker than working alone.

Rule #6: Do what works

The base CMATOS material is based off Kenpo Karate which is based off the Kosho Ryu Kenpo Karate system founded in the 1200’s. This stuff has worked for many individuals over many millennium. However, just because something worked in the past and worked for someone else does not mean that something is going to work for you. The fundamentals will remain the same, but the actual technique and application is a purely individual basis. In addition, remember the previous lesson on self-defense awareness – things need to be dynamic, you may not be able to step back in a particular movement, you may be stuck behind a wall, you may slip and fall…. There are only 48 base self defense techniques in CMATOS (out of the 750 some odd techniques from the various kenpo systems), so there is A LOT of room for additions, extensions, and modifications to the material to make it work for you. This especially applies if you are facing any physical challenges. Even people who are wheelchair bound can benefit from the CMATOS training – there will just be any necessary modifications to make the material work for you. If it’s not working for you, you aren’t doing anything wrong, you just aren’t doing enough right.

Concluding Thoughts

If you ever get stuck, always remember you can reach out to us for guidance. Your focus here isn’t getting things “perfect” but your focus is understanding the basics and on reaching a level of “proficiency” through which you should be able to defend yourself in several specific situations. Focus on these few basic techniques and you will be well on your way to CMATOS mastery.

 

 

Kenpo Budokan Karate: White Belt: Lessons: 2 – Self Defense Awareness

On By masterkenpodragonIn 10 Kyuu - White Belt, Belt Requirements, Kenpo Budokan Karate, LessonsLeave a comment
Different levels of attacks in Japanese martia...
Different levels of attacks in Japanese martial arts  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I come to you with only Karate, empty hands, I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong; then here are my weapons, karate, my empty hands.”

Notice the top of this page – we’ve repeated the Kenpo creed (along with other areas on the site). As a student of CMATOS you should become intimately aware of this and what it means. It’s not something you need to necessarily memorize (bonus points if you do), but it is something that you should internalize. Before we begin training, or even thinking about studying a martial art – you should realize that the techniques that you do learn can be used in a self-defense situation. You should also realize that by learning a martial arts you are assuming a lot of power and knowledge, and with this great power comes great responsibility. Any instructor who notices that their students are abusing the material, should take immediate disciplinary steps.

Before we go into actual self-defense techniques, students should be aware of some basic self-defense concepts that should apply in most if not all situations.

Concept 0

“I come to you with only Karate, my empty hands, I have no weapons.”

The first concept of self-defense, is that your base defense will always be your empty hands (and the rest of your body). Maybe you have a concealed carry permit, maybe you are a law enforcement officer or a military officer. Regardless of what your background is and how “armed” you may be, you have a very high chance that at least on one instance when it comes to self-defense you will be either without arms, will be disarmed, or will not be able to access your arms. This being said, your training should first focus on proficiency in self-defense with empty hands. Your Glock may be in the other room while you are in the restroom, but you always (unless dismembered) will have your empty hands on your person.

Concept 1

“If you never walk down a dark alleyway in the middle of the night through a bad neighborhood, your chances of having to defend yourself are significantly reduced.”

The first concept of self-defense is to not put yourself in a situation where you need to use your self-defense techniques. It is the paradox of the martial artists. We can break faces and smash boards all day long, but we hope we never have to use our skills in a self-defense situation. According to the latest 2014 crime statistics report, the violent crime rate is only 0.37%. Of that only about 38% occurs by strangers, this means that your chance of having to use your self-defense in a normal day-to-day situation is less than 0.1%. Just because you have a low chance of needing to defend yourself, you should be on alert for any dangerous situations, and avoid them as much as possible. Use your common sense and avoid areas and situations where you may be forced to use your techniques.

Concept 2

“Those who can turn and run away can live and fight another day.”

In the event that you find yourself in a situation that could be escalated into needing to use your self-defense, you ideally should try and remove yourself from the situation, or work to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. You can’t be hit and can’t be hurt if you aren’t there. Your primary objective at this juncture should be to get out of the situation and to safety as soon as possible. 9 times out of 10, the situation can be resolved simply by walking away.

Concept 3

“Shout, shout, let it all out”

Imagine this situation. A man walks up to you, and gets in very close to you. Feeling threatened you immediately jump to a self-defense technique and leave the man in a heap on the floor. When the police come to interview the witnesses, what are they going to say – what if the man was a foreigner and just wanted to ask for directions. They are going to say they say a man walk up to you and you beat the living daylights out of them. Let’s modify the situation a little bit – as soon as you see the man approaching you, you shout at them to step back, to get away. The same scenario unfolds, and the witnesses tell a completely different story – the man was threatening you, you told them to stay away and they continued to approach. Additionally, by shouting, you will draw attention to your situation with the possibility of authorities being called or assistance being offered. Using what we call “the command voice”, clearly communicate your intentions and make sure that everyone around can hear that you are the one who is trying to mitigate the situation.

Concept 4

“but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death”

When you have made the decision that retreat and avoiding of the situation are no longer possibilities, and you have ruled that self-defense is your only option, you must be prepared to meet like force with like force, and continue through with your self-defense to its conclusion – which may entail leaving the person injured, maimed, or killed. You can’t go 50/50 or decide half-way through that you want to stop – you must see everything through to completion. If not, there is a great chance of retaliation and injury to yourself and to others. At the same time, you have to be willing to accept that your outward use of force will be met with an equal and opposite use of force, and consequently you could wind up injured, maimed, or killed. DO NOT stop because you think the other person is going to stop if you stop. Only if you have the situation and the attacker completely under control should you consider lessening your defense outlay.

Concept 5

“The best defense is a good offence.”

Don’t wait for the attacker to cold clock you or pull a weapon on you. Once you have made the decision to react – you need to react right away, which means you need to make the first move. If you wait, or if you hesitate, you could be severely injured as a result. Yes, your training will prepare you for most if not all situations, but what if you slip, or what if someone comes along to help your attacker? There are too many unknowns in these high adrenaline situations – the more control you have over the situation the better, which means if you are able to initiate before they are able to react, you should be able to subdue the situation before it escalates even further.

Concept 6

“Safety is our number one concern.”

The goal of self-defense is to make yourself safe. Once you have disabled your attackers, your first priority should be getting to a safe area and waiting for the authorities to arrive. Don’t look back and try and try to sort things out. Get yourself a safe distance away and continue to be on your guard. At this point and time, you should start forming a clear mental picture of everything in the situation – who were the attackers, what did they do to provoke your response, what were they wearing, what did they say – all of this information is going to be needed when the authorities arrive.

Concept 7

“Get on the ground. Get on the ground NOW!”

When the authorities arrive and you are still finding yourself in a self-defense situation, be sure to follow their commands to the letter. At the point of the arrival (if you have been shouting appropriately), they should be able to identify you as the one being attacked – however, in many of these situations, the authority will assume that both parties are the attackers and will take you into custody for questioning. Don’t try and resist or explain yourself while they are shouting commands at you. Let them do their job, and your story will eventually have it’s place being told.

Concept 8

“I am the perfect weapon.”

Anything and everything in your immediate surroundings can be considered a weapon. Use your situation awareness to your benefit – position things between you and your attacker, pick up a discarded shoe and throw it at the attacker to distract them. Be also cognoscente that they can turn anything in your surroundings into a weapon as well, and be sure to position your attacker as far away from possible weapons as possible.

Concept 9

“The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle.”

If there is one thing that you take away from all of these concepts, regardless of how prepared you are, you may, one day, be faced with insurmountable odds. If you’ve spent your time practicing – and not just going through the motions, but having a solid and consistent practice routine, you should feel pretty confident in most situations as your muscle memory and years of practice should take over. If you just read some information, just practice every now and then, and expect to be proficient, well you are just fooling yourself and setting yourself for some potential issues in the long run.

Concept 10

“Hot Potato. Take it back!”

RULE 0 of practice. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER. Help your practice partner up. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER. Hand your practice weapon back to your partner.

I know it sounds a bit rude, but the mantra goes – how you practice is how you will perform. If you consistently practice a self-defense movement, and then go to reach down and help your partner up, what do you think is going to happen in a real self-defense situation. Your adrenaline is going to kick in, your muscle memory is going to react, and after you’ve knocked your attacker down, you’re going to reach down to help them back up. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times, and have thousands of stories along the same thread. You should always let your partner get up on their own as you stand in the guarded position. When it comes to weapon defenses, you should switch roles – play the attacker and let the other person disarm you – otherwise you’ll be in a situation where you’ve disarmed your attacker, and in the next beat, hand them their weapon back.

Now, this being said, it is OK to occasionally help your partner up, or put the weapon down and have them go fetch it, but don’t get into the habit of just handing the weapon back over or helping them up. They should be in the habit of practicing break falls and recovery and can use these practices to improve these maneuvers.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s a lot to think about and take into consideration. The point here is not to memorize these concepts, but rather internalize them and keep them in the back of your mind as you go through your techniques and forms so that when/if you do end up in a self-defense situation, you are much better prepared to defend yourself and others. Keep going back over these lessons as needed for refreshers and reminders, and let these form the basis of your CMATOS studies for the years to come.

Final Thoughts

There is no right or wrong way to approach a situation, and neither is there a better or worse way to defend yourself. The goal is getting you and others to safety – how you get there is completely up to you (weather its through CMATOS or any other system). Always continue to learn and improve, take what works for you and improve on it, and what doesn’t work and replace it.

 

 

Kenpo Budokan Karate: White Belt: Lessons: 1 – Introduction to CMATOS

On By masterkenpodragonIn 10 Kyuu - White Belt, Belt Requirements, Kenpo Budokan Karate, Lessons1 Comment

“I come to you with only Karate, empty hands, I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong; then here are my weapons, karate, my empty hands.”

Sometimes when the day starts to wind down, and the lessons have all finished, I sit back and reminisce to my very first Karate lesson. There I was, in a little pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and standing across from me was this huge he-man-esque figure towering over the class – barking commands like a drill sergeant, and there I was, with two left feet and all elbows. Trying as I might to do something called a horse stance with no animals in sight. It was awkward, and after the first lesson I thought of never going back. But, something inside of me kept me going back for more. And even though I was only in the class for a short time before we moved away (Air Force transfer), I learned a whole lot about both myself, and what I wanted out of life. I wanted to be the he-man, and be the one in charge, teaching lessons like I had witnessed.

I want to congratulate you on taking your first step (or possibly millionth step), into the world of martial arts – as an instructor, I take great pride in welcoming new students into the world of possibilities martial arts offers. Many of you starting today won’t make it past the Orange belt level – the attrition rate for students making it past the Orange belt level is around 30% – people get bored, they move away, or they find something else that captures their interest. Of the remaining students, 30% won’t make it past Green Belt, of that 30% won’t make it to Black belt, and of that, only 30% really stick it out and make martial arts a fundamental part of their personality. The ones who make it beyond black belt to the higher dan rankings are truly the 1% of the martial arts world.

I’ve seen highly motivated students start off with a bang, only to peter off after just a few lessons, and I’ve seen students who had no desire to be in classes, make it all the way up to 5th dan. The martial arts is really what you put into it and what you want to get out of it. Some come for the prestige of earning a high ranking. Others do it for the health and fitness benefits. Still others do it for the self-defense development. For every student, there are a million and one different reasons why they want to start studying martial arts, and all are valid reasons.

After 32 years of study in a wide range of martial arts, I’ve learned a few key things:

  1. You don’t know anything. There is always a master out there who has better techniques than you.
  2. There is always someone out there better than you
  3. You are always learning
  4. No one style is better than any other style
  5. Exposure to multiple styles is a very good thing as most styles complement each other
  6. Never try to be a jack of all trades and master of none – focus on a single style until you reach at least an intermediate proficiency level before trying something else
  7. If something doesn’t work for you, do something different so that it does work

I designed the CMATOS system to be as simple as possible to advance through the ranks – there are only 8 self defense techniques per belt level, and only one form that is required. Four self defense techniques are designed for open hand combat, while the others are defenses against or with weapons. The material that you learn in the beginner levels will be repeated again (with extensions) during the intermediate levels, which all culminate with the final belt Jun Ichi-dan (red black stripe belt) – to show basic mastery of all the fundamentals of the system. The rest of the 750 plus moves from Kenpo Karate are left for the Black Belt levels to digest and absorb – the goal is that students in the CMATOS system will quickly reach a theoretical level of proficiency and be able to adapt to any and all self-defense situations rather than try and memorize 750 different moves and their infinite variations.

One thing that helps the students learning the system is keeping a training log of what they learned. For your first entry into this journal I would like you to write out what are your goals for learning the CMATOS system. If you would like, you can email us this journal entry so that we can see what our students are interested in and can start offering even more tailored lessons for you. It also becomes a point in time you can go back to and see how your goals evolve over time.

Learning the Martial Arts is really a lifelong commitment, but at a minimum, it requires constant practice and revision of your techniques. You could go through all the lessons on the site in a matter of a few days and have a good basic understanding of the system, but no practical knowledge of how it works. You could spend hours researching and studying the material, but if you never practice with partners, you’ll never get beyond the basic level of mechanical ability. We encourage all students to study at their own pace, but also encourage students to practice on a regular basis, as well as finding a training partner who can help you with the techniques. The best way to do this is to commit to a course of study, and provide your own financial motivation for continuing to advance through the system by committing to a distance learning course with us.

Once you feel confident with your material, you can send in videos for us to review and provide feedback, and if you have successfully mastered all the material in the white belt lessons, we encourage you to apply for yellow belt ranking recognition by sending in a recording of your demonstrations. Without these goals and motivations to study, and without a consistent practice and development, the material of CMATOS will be just that, material on a website.

You will only get out of the system what you put into it. You’re not going to do very well in a self-defense situation if all you have done is read instructions and watched videos – you need to get that muscle memory primed so that when push comes to shove you are ready to react and defend yourself.

But again, this is all dependant on what you want to achieve from CMATOS. I would encourage all students to read over this material carefully, as well as study the history of the CMATOS system to get some general understanding of what you have in store over the next coming years.

I look forward to working with each of you and hope your training is successful and you get out of it what you are expecting.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for support.