Show Me the Money

While surfing the web recently, I came across a Kenpo site that explained why the author did not furnish any useful information about Kenpo on the web site. He said it was because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; that he did not want to reveal the deadly techniques of Kenpo to any terrorists who may visit the site. What a bunch of bull!
This reasoning posits that a terrorist who is willing to blow himself up and kill hundreds of people and go straight to heaven, with no prior training except for how to push a button, will be searching the Internet for some secret Kenpo technique he could practice using for years so he could kill one person, and then have to wait even longer to get to heaven.
Can you picture bands of radical Muslum terrorists roaming the streets of America secretly killing unsuspecting shoppers using secret Kenpo techniques they learned from a web site? The real reason for not putting free information on the web is that the author wants the public, which could also include terrorists, to pay for the information, either through the purchase of classes, books, or videos. There is nothing wrong with wanting people to pay for your expertise, just don't be afraid to admit it.

Combat-Ki

Have you seen the demonstrations of Combat -Ki on television. Combat-Ki is supposed to be a way of absorbing punches and kicks so that they are rendered harmless.
As you watch Combat-Ki in action, watch the way the practitioners are struck. First, they are always stuck by another Combat-Ki practitioner. Second, most of the techniques are slaps and pushes. If that is the way Combat-Ki practitioners attack, then I see why they need the ability to absorb punches because they will receive a lot of them. If that is the way Combat-Ki practitioners spar each other, then don't see the reason they need the ability to absorb blows because slaps and pushes are not going to injury anyone.

Watch how the Combat-Ki person who is kicked is knocked backwards. If a person struck by a kick is knocked backwards, it is because the kick was a push, not a strike. A proper kick only penetrates the target 1 or 2 inches, and then is retracted. This means the force of the kick is a strike, not a push.

I have held a body shield for Taekwondo masters who were demonstrating a proper kick. I was not pushed backwards, I was jarred from head to toe by a shocking, shuddering blow that made me think my teeth filings had fallen out or that my eye balls were bulging. One time, I was sweating from a workout when I held a body shield for my instructor's side thrust kick. When the kick stuck, I was suddenly blinded; all the sweat on my whole head had suddenly rushed to my face and into my eyes.

When using a proper kick, the force of the kick is not expended in moving the opponent backward, it is expended within the opponent's body. Just as you see in the punches of professional boxer, the punch does not knock the opponent backward into the ropes, the opponent just suddenly drops to the floor. If a Combat-Ki practitioner tried to absorb a Taekwondo side thrust kick or a karate reverse punch, he or she would be injured, guaranteed.

Slow Students

Instructors shouldn't hold a class back so a slow student may catch up; the class should move along at a steady pace. The slow student should be encouraged to keep up and may need extra instruction, but you do not punish the many for the imitations of a few.

Commercialism

Ever notice how the people who put down commercialism in the martial arts usually have the least profitable schools. Once again, it is the "have nots" criticizing the success of the "haves." To rationalize their failures, they consider themselves the martyrs of the martial art world. They think they are the only ones who are "true" to arts and thus will not lower themselves to be profitable.