Posted on 
Mar 16, 2006 03:19 pm Thats cool man, Kenpo is a great art.
What exactly the "pin" is varies from school to school and style to style. Many different lineages exist under the umbrella "Kenpo" heading. Some got so watered down they don't pin at all...my last pin was hard because I got the promotion very quickly (cuz I am training A LOT) and my instructor said he just wouldn't give me another belt that quickly without dishing out some pain...I suspect for my next one I will be sparring multiple opponents or something like that...not sure though. Many Kenpo lineages, in an effort to attract more paying students, had to dial back the "toughness" as FAR fewer people are as insane as I am to go through this type of training...so, as typical Americana, it's watered down for the almighty dollar.
My instructor was trained in a very militaristic school, so it's a bit tougher than many modern dojo's. His black belt test lasted a couple weeks, his sensei, for whom he also taught and worked started keeping him at the gym doing work for all hours, causing sleep deprivation, playing mind games with him trying to get him to crack and the sparring session(s) of his life...so it wasn't just about martial arts skill, it was about stamina and strength of character...since that is his background, that is how I am being trained.
That said, he has also told me that he knows I am 38, have a family and career and knows full well I don't have time or ability to take part in that sort of thing...but it will still be hard...I am working on my green belt now, and my main training partner is kinda not coming so much now, so my progress is slowing a bit due to lack of people at my level to train with...I was hoping for my brown belt by the end of the year, but I dunno if that will happen. I am teaching one class a week for kids and one for adults, and teaching really makes you better, when you have to teach and explain you really learn...so thats helping me improve.
I like the pin, it's seems crazy to an outsider, but I feel it's a right of passage in a fighting art.
Good on your buddy for teaching women's self defense, Kenpo is a phenominal street-type self defense system...it's quick, mean and definative. it's not facy hollywood kicks and panches it's eye gouging, throat strikes, breaking bones and joints...it's the truest kind of self-defense.
