Arrowhead Martial Arts Studio Blog

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For those who have never seen my instructors instructor move, here is a great reel of footage of Mr. Ed Parker:

Also, here is an article I wrote in 2001 timeframe about Mr. Parker. I hope you enjoy both the clip and the article…

Mr. Ed Parker was the President and founder of the International Kenpo Karate Association (I.K.K.A.). He was also the creator of the now famous International Karate Championships (IKC’s) where Bruce Lee made his historic first public appearance. Mr. Parker was also considered the “Father of American Karate” as he opened the first commercial karate studio in the U.S. in Pasadena California in 1956. He achieved the rank of tenth degree black belt - the highest level within the art.

Mr. Parker began his studies in Judo and boxing then found his way into Kenpo, under the instruction of Professor William K.S. Chow while living in his native land of Hawaii. In addition, through exchanges and interactions with other martial artists such as Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, and James Lee was Mr. Parker able to experiment and formulate his ideas that would later become American Kenpo.

Ed Parker was the original developer of the art of American Kenpo Karate. Through 40 years of experience, he built his system on principles of motion that included “Opposite and Reverse Motion”, “Tailoring”, “Focus” and the use of Logic. He developed many tools to aid his teaching with the creation of the “Universal Pattern”, the “Equation Formula”, training manuals, books and video tapes.

His system incorporates linear and circular motion, with intermittent spurts of speed and power when and where necessary, with both major and minor moves. His idea was to learn motion and principles and then tailor it to fit your body. Later you create your style of moving, governed by principles.

He taught many celebrities over the years including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Billy Idol and David Lee Roth - among other celebrities. He also taught a man by the name of Paul Mills from Evanston, Wyoming - whom he would later call his “Secret Weapon.” Mr. Parker passed away in 1990 at the age of 59.

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We had a surprise test on Tuesday and I would like to congratulate all those who were promoted. Following is a list of those who tested:

Blue belt

• Travis
• Chris

Orange

• Jessica
• Joseph
• Cory
• Ryan
• Rob

Yellow

• Heather
• Nate
• Cheryl

Congratulations everyone!

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With the recent anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, I thought I would share an article I wrote many years ago about his love and passion for the proliferation of the Martial Arts and, specifically, American Kenpo.

Long before I began learning American Kenpo, I made it to Graceland. I remember seeing some of his martial arts memorabilia and thinking how interesting it was that he was a black belt. Perhaps between that visit and all the Kung Fu theater I used to watch on Saturday mornings, was the beginning of my martial arts journey?!

He was a world renowned singer and entertainer. He was also a movie star. But what many people didn’t know was that Elvis was an accomplished black belt in Ed Parker’s American Kenpo. It is not often known that Elvis’s second love to singing was the martial arts. Elvis studied a couple of different martial arts, he even had black belt ranks in some of these other arts, but according to those close to him, American Kenpo was always his favorite.

It was in late 1960 that Elvis Presley met Ed Parker at the Beverly Hills Wilshire hotel. The meeting took place following an announced, and intense, demonstration by Mr. Parker to a group of people that had gathered to watch. Mr. Parker had been conducting a demonstration on the principles and concepts of his Kenpo system. They became instant friends and Elvis started training with Ed Parker on movie sets, in Parker’s studio, and even in hotel rooms, among other places. Their relationship as friends and martial artists spanned from 1960 to Elvis’s early death in 1977.

The martial arts, and in particular American Kenpo, was such a big part of Elvis’s life that he affixed Parker’s International Kenpo Karate International (I.K.K.A.) association patch to several of his guitars. He even went so far as to demonstrate moves and stances while on stage singing his songs. Elvis did this for many years and exposed millions to the Martial Arts through his on stage Kenpo demonstrations and use of the martial arts in his films.

Elvis was promoted to honorary 8th degree black in Ed Parker’s American Kenpo system in August of 1974. While many martial artists look unfavorably at Elvis’ elevated ranking, chalking it up to his celebrity status, Elvis was a legitimate black belt. Mr. Parker had commented that Elvis was a good black belt and that he contributed to the overall improvement and advancement of the martial arts.

In the end, Ed Parker and Elvis shared seventeen years of close, personal association. Ed Parker was his personal bodyguard, friend and confidant. Parker even went on to write a book entitled “Inside Elvis” where most of the information contained in this article came from. He wanted to set the record straight on Elvis’ character, his generosity, his love of the martial arts and most importantly, their friendship.

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We’ve all seen it and probably have done it at some point in our training: we have moved like a robot void of fluid movement.

You know what I’m referring to here…stiff shoulders and hips…rigid, calculated movements…perfect statuesque posture. It’s easy to get caught in this trap; especially for beginners. I know, I used to be the premiere Mr. Roboto when it came to Kenpo.

But, the good news is, it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) have to stay that way. Thankfully, with the use of AKKI Kenpo’s principles, one can overcome this relatively easily.

So how do you get around it? In the beginning, it’s not so easy, however here are some tips to help ease the transition:

1. Loosen up those shoulders and hips and let them move towards your targets
2. Don’t go to, go through your opponents targets
3. Avoid abrupt, linear angle changes and transitions
4. Learn to properly transfer your weight and posture according to the situation at hand
5. Understand proper breathing techniques and how to effectively exhale to soften the edges of your moves

As you may already know, we have three states of motion in Kenpo: 1) solid 2) liquid and 3) gaseous. Because we’re so focused as beginners trying to get the coordination, balance, timing, breathing, accuracy, etc. that we can move with rigid, solid movements. However, as time and practice increases, we should moving towards fluid, liquid like movement. Gaseous moves can be either solid or liquid whereby you’re moving in multiple directions simultaneously, but I highly recommend moving in liquid state of motion as much as possible.

I realize asking you to “relax” is a hard thing when someone is throwing a punch at your face, however, the more you practice this approach, the more you get used to it. That’s one of the biggest keys there is to this.

In a nutshell, relax as you execute your movements and avoid becoming a kenpo Mr. (or Ms.) Roboto.

Agree or disagree? leave your opinion in the form of a comment below.

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Here is a classic Jim Carrey Living Color sketch. He plays a Karate instructor who is teaching a women’s self defense class. A friend of mine has a piece of this clip (”Like A Lot of Beginning Students, You Attached me Wrong”) as my custom cell phone ring. After asking a few people if they saw it last night in class, I thought I would post it after finding out no one had.

Like it? Hate it? Leave your opinion in the form of a comment below.

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I have some bad news to deliver: The 2007 September AKKI Camp has been cancelled due to severe health issues with Mr. Mills father, “Dub” Mills. Here is the email direct from Mr. Mills:

Dear AKKI Members,

Paul Mills

Please join me in supporting Mr. Mills during this difficult time for both him and his family. If you have any questions, please bring them to the class and I would be happy to answer them.

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