A thesis is required as a prerequisite for the Black Belt examination.  This document is a copy of the guide/requirements defined by Mr. Parker in his Encyclopedia of Kenpo for the structure and content of this thesis.

WE DO NOT WANT TO RELY ON STRENGTH, THE STRENGTH WITH US WHEN WE ARE YOUNG, AS WE GET OLDER, WE HAVE TO WORK WITH OUR MIND, WE HAVE TO WORK WITH THE PROPER TECHNIQUE, WE HAVE TO WORK IN ANY SITUATION, BY TAKE HIS HEIGHT, WIDTH AND DEPTH, HE WILL BE OFF BALANCE, OTHERWISE THE YOUNG AND STRONGER WILL WIN ALL THE TIME.

When I first started training in American Kenpo I was immediately drawn to the logical and realistic application of the art. Even though I didn’t understand the application of how the techniques, sets, and forms would fully benefit me later in my training.

After training for a few years and listening to my much more experienced teacher I better understood the reactions we use are not only justified, but required.

In this thesis I will cover the moment it clicked for me, the other aspects that shaped my mindset along the way, and training methods I feel are best suited to applying it.

A principled examination of the notion of inducing pain and injury.  The focus will be on the transmission of Hurt or Harm using martial art skill sets tempered by the influence of philosophical, social, moral and ethical considerations.  To be sure, the legal implications of any action should be taken into consideration as well, but that will not be the emphasis of this discussion.  This thesis is not intended as a “how-to” manual.  It will present concepts and ideas that martial artists should consider as they train and form their philosophy and ethics of an art.

This thesis will look at some of the martial arts injuries that have been documented.  It will start with an explanation of some of the medical term needed to describe various injuries.  It will then continue by looking at injuries involving the head and work down.  Since a basic understanding of human anatomy will be essential for the understanding of these injuries, an Appendix is included with reference diagrams for the basic skeletal, muscular and nervous systems.

The goal of the exercise was to determine the most effective principles from Kenpo and Tang Soo Do in order to create a female self defense class based on these concepts.  So began a journey of creation thinking about pieces of techniques and concepts found most valuable.  These were explored with a group of female friends, all who had never studied martial arts or taken a self defense class.  Work was done on hip torque, flow of moves, arm and wrist locks and flexes while learning several basic Kenpo techniques.  This paper details both the original thoughts and explanations as well as incites from this group of women.  The paper is a blend of information, education and moments of informality.

Within this thesis I will compare and contrast the fighting styles of Ed Parker's American Kenpo (EPAK) and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do (JKD).

It would be nearly impossible to try and compare the entire system side by side, so I will limit the comparisons to four main topics.  The founders, stances and foot work, principals, and philosophy.

Knowledge of pressure points is very detailed and is a field of study in itself.  Pressure point strikes are used in most types of Asian Martial Arts due to our common background from Shaolin and other Chinese arts. Pressure points are stressed in some arts more than others.  With pressure points you have the ability to heal or hurt with the same knowledge, depending on how it is used. 

My topics are Tradition, Respect and Loyalty in the Martial Arts.  The significance of my topics will be borne out as a result of my life experiences, in that I have observed a decline in the importance of these virtues.  The technical aspects of the art has many variables but the principles and values must be preserved.

PLEASE NOTE THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERABLY OUT OF DATE.  Summary of the many Kenpo organizations in existence in 2007.

Few individuals, who are truly knowledgeable in the field of athletics training and development would not concur that confidence, goal setting, agility, reflexes, strength and flexibility are vital to the overall make-up of superior athletes.  Those A=athletes who possess and develop these elements or skills greatly increase their ability to separate themselves from their competition or counterparts who do not.

While various resources will be used to support the premise of this thesis, much of the information and various hypothesis will be based upon this writer's more than 20 years of coaching experience for hundreds  of children in a multitude of youth sports.

The years I had spent studying the martial arts has helped me to realize and experience many of the benefits that it has to offer.  I feel that the martial arts benefits go beyond the ability to defend oneself.  Why should someone study martial arts?  What benefits can be obtained?