With over 450 photos, this comprehensive and insightful guide to the forms and history of Kenpo Karate is ideal for martial arts students of all levels The Kenpo Karate Compendium details the forms of American Kenpo as prescribed by the “Father of American Karate,” Ed Parker. Author Lee Wedlake, 9th degree black belt, world-class instructor and competitor, brings his acclaimed training and teaching experience to bear in this unique resource for all who practice and teach American Kenpo and its offshoot systems. The American Kenpo system is taught worldwide and this reference will become a standard for thousands of Kenpo practitioners in various lineages. It will also serve as a stimulus for all martial artists by providing a sense of the logical framework of American Kenpo. Having collected the general rules of motion and the numerous fine points of Kenpo, the book is a standout in the genre. • COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT of the Kenpo Karate system provides a progression of teaching curricula for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students and instructors • COVERS history, fundamentals, forms, solo and partner practice, and advanced technical skills • INCLUDES over 450 black and white photos detailing forms and techniques • SOMETHING FOR ALL STUDENTS, whether pursuing martial arts for health, competition, self-defense, or personal improvement Table of Contents Introduction Preface Chapter 1: What the Beginner and the Black Belt Should Know Chapter 2: The Basics and Exercise Forms: Short and Long 1 and Short and Long 2 Chapter 3: The Intermediate Forms: Short Form Three and Long Form Three Chapter 4: Form Four Chapter 5: Form Five Chapter 6: Form Six Chapter 7: Form Seven Chapter 8: Form Eight Chapter 9: The Sets Now What? Legal viewpoint by Frank Triolo Capstone--The Thesis Form General rules of motion Recommended Reading About the Author

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Almost 50 years ago, a new television show swept our nation and captured my attention. It was called "Kung Fu". It starred David Carradine as a Shaolin monk wandering the American Wild West. The philosophy was appealing, the fight scenes were riveting, but what really captured my interest was the relationship between the young Kwai Chang Caine and his mentors Master Po and Master Kan. So, I set in search for my own Master Po. Over the years I visited various styles and schools in my area. None worked for me. Until 1990, when I met an older, white haired gentleman who taught something called American Kenpo. His manner drew me in; his love for what he taught was infectious. But as time passed, I discovered that I wanted the art to contain more that basic moves, katas and self-defense techniques. Was that all there was, just to collect movements as if they were trinkets for a curio cabinet? Where was the philosophy? Where were the fundamental principles? I felt as if I was lost in the woods. I needed a map to chart my course through the unknown. Because when you have a map, a compass and a point of reference, you know where you are, where you are going and how you are going to get there.American Kenpo Karate - the Key Principles is that map for the Kenpo practitioner. This book explores the five key principles that are the reasons behind the physical movements encompassed by this martial arts system. Just because a movement involves a kick or a punch, it isn't necessarily karate, let alone American Kenpo. With that map, it is difficult to get off the track.There are over 200 photographs that help to demonstrate concepts within this book, which was written so that anyone, martial artists and non-martial artists alike, can understand and appreciate it.

Wing Chun is the most popular form of Chinese Kung Fu in the world today, with over four million practitioners. The art as it is presently understood has been handed down from teacher to student for more than three hundred years. Until now, no one has ever stepped back and taken a critical look at why this art’s techniques are presented and performed the way they are. This book, by Wing Chun master Danny Xuan and martial-arts authority John Little, is the first to decipher these techniques that until now have been encrypted within this art. Xuan and Little reveal how Wing Chun was designed holistically, based on the laws of physics, human nature, and biomechanics. It was also designed with economy, efficiency, and productivity in mind. Unlike other martial arts, Wing Chun doesn’t focus on making a person larger, more rugged, acrobatic or animal-like; rather, it focuses on making optimal use of one’s own bodily structure and power potential by applying the sciences of biomechanics and physics. Thus, it is possible for males and females of all ages and sizes to excel in this art. The Tao of Wing Chun provides a readable, authoritative means of cultivating personal protection skills, enhanced flexibility, improved coordination, greater stamina, and physical and mental fitness while simultaneously cultivating humility, focus, determination, self-confidence, character, camaraderie, and deep inner strength. Foremost, this book offers the reader the means by which to apply Wing Chun principles in daily life. Enhanced by forty-eight full-color illustrations, The Tao of Wing Chun will fascinate, educate, and entertain a wide range of readers—from beginner to master.

Crushing your enemies, driving them before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women? It doesn't get any better than this." –Eugene Robinson, ripping off John Milius That's the sentiment that surges just below the surface of Eugene Robinson's Fight – an engrossing, intimate look into the all–absorbing world of fighting. Robinson – a former body–builder, one–time bouncer, and lifelong fight connoisseur – takes readers on a no–holds–barred plunge into what fighting is all about, and what fighters live for. If George Plimpton had muscles and had been choked out one too many times––this is the book he could have written. When Robinson and his fellow fighters mix it up, they live completely for the moment: absorbed in the feel of muscles slippery with sweat; the metallic tang of blood mingling with saliva in the mouth; the sweet, firm thud of taped knuckles impacting flesh. They fight because it feels good. They fight because they want to win. And even if they get their asses kicked, they fight because they love fighting. Fight is part encyclopedia, part panegyric to fighting in all its forms and glory. Robinson's narrative – told in his trademark tough–guy, stream–of–consciousness noir voice – punctuates this explanatory compendium of the fighting world. From wrestling, jiu–jitsu, boxing and muay thai to bar fighting, hand–to–hand combat, prison fighting and hockey fights, from the greatest movie fight scenes to how to throw the perfect left hook, Fight is a scene–by–scene tour of the bloody but beautiful underworld that is the art of fighting. With his aficionado's enthusiasm and fast–paced, addictive voice, Robinson's Fight combines compelling text with beautiful photographs to create an illustrated book as edgy and interesting as it is gorgeous.

Kempo, also known as Kenpo, is a classic and effective system of self-defense. A Japanese martial art that teaches you how to avoid physical confrontations, the primary focus of Kempo, or "Fist Law" is not to inflict harm, but to manipulate the balance and structure of your opponent for optimal results. It teaches you how to avoid conflict through an understanding of Kosho Ryu's unique mental discipline and philosophy developed by the thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhist priest, Kosho Bosatsu. With hundreds of photographs of kempo techniques and downloadable video, this Kempo book gives you systematic guidance for maximum effectiveness in the striking, throwing, and locking arts. Practical in its application, powerful in its philosophy, Ultimate Kempo is a martial arts foundation that any practitioner can use to hone their skills. Chapters include: What is Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo? What is the Martial Way? Concepts of Study Escaping Joint Locking Throwing Striking Pressure Points

This book is the third in the American Kenpo Journey book trilogy and features 32 black belt Honorees, approximately 400 photos (many historical), a history chapter by Dr. Steve Walton, a special chapter on John Conway, Sr. - the Irish Connection, and nearly 125,000 words of text. Many top American Kenpo instructors have made this Journey book trilogy required reading for all upper belt promotions.

Kenpo has much more to offer people than just a means to defend yourself on the street. It has at its centre a unique strategy to survive life and the psychological techniques it uses. This is something that everybody can learn and use to their own advantage, every day of their lives. Kenpo is a self-defence system that encompasses both the physical and psychological aspect of fighting, and is one of the simplest systems to learn. It is structured in such a way, that from the very first lesson, you will leave the Dojo with valuable skills. These new found skills will help give you a new sense of confidence and perspective in every sphere of your life. It is an unfortunate fact that violent acts upon innocent people, are increasing at a dramatic rate. Wherever you live, whatever your circumstances, we should all have the right to live life the way we want to. However, to survive in life, we need to develop some basic survival skills. Life has changed, it is a fact of modern day living, that we need to be more aware of our environment and who is in it, along with the implications that it may bring. Our life survival skills have also changed, not only is it important to learn people skills and how to deal with them, but skills involving self-defence are just as important in today's modern and increasingly violent society. The development of mental strength and conditioning, is an essential part of modern living as well as learning self-defence skills. Having purely physical skills, is not enough to circumvent many of life's obstacles. Whether they are physical or mental, we need skills to deal with them. Training both our mind and body is the only way to achieve this. I have written this book to not only give an insight into my chosen Martial Art of Kenpo, but also to share some of the mental and physical conditioning techniques it uses. These techniques can be used by anybody to get through life in a productive positive way, whilst protecting yourself from people, circumstances and events. In many ways, this book is about self-help, it is a compilation of many of life's experiences, which can cost you money, friends, jobs or physical pain. Perhaps after reading this, it will motivate you to do something positive, be constructive or just extend yourself outside of life's bubble. This is the first book in a series of three, it is not possible to include all elements that Kenpo contains in one book. I have condensed what I feel are the key basics that are necessary for you to build a solid base from which to fight from, and be able to add to it in the future. The following two books will detail the "physical application" of Kenpo in much more detail and can be used as a reference for your studies of the art.

The author of this concise guide to unarmed combat and self-defence is a legend. W. E. Fairbairn (1885-1960) spent over thirty years in the tough environment of the Riot Squads of China's Shanghai Municipal Police. In order to lower levels of Police mortality at the hands of Chinese Tongs, he studied ancient Chinese and Japanese martial arts, including Ju-jitsu, and was the first foreigner to be awarded a black belt in the discipline. He developed his own system which he called 'Defendu'. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was recruited by Britain's Special Operations Executive as an Instructor in unarmed combat and expounded the deadly mysteries of attack and defence to scores of trainee agents about to be dropped into occupied Europe. His methods were approved and officially adopted throughout the British army. Fairbairn also developed weapons and defence aids such as bullet proof vests. He is best known as the co-inventor of the famous Sykes-Fairbairn knife. In this book he expounds his distilled experience of unarmed combat. Fully illustrated, it shows how to deliver deadly blows with hand, fist, knee and boot; wrist, bear- and strangle holds (and how to break them); how to throw an enemy, and how to break their backs; how to disarm a pistol-wielding attacker; and securing a prisoner. The book also contains a chapter on the use of the rifle in close combat by Captain P. N. Walbridge.