Potomac Kempo

kempo

The Hidden Power of Stances: Building a Strong Foundation in Kempo

In Kempo, as in life, everything starts with a strong foundation. Just as a house built on sand will crumble, a martial artist without solid stances will struggle to generate power, maintain balance, and execute techniques effectively. Stances are the cornerstone of our training, and understanding their role is essential to progressing in Kempo.

Potomac Kempo - The Hidden Power of Stances Building a Strong Foundation in Kempo

Why Stances Matter

A proper stance provides stability, balance, and control. Whether delivering a powerful strike or evading an attack, your stance dictates how effectively you move. A weak stance limits your ability to react, while a strong stance enables fluid transitions between offense and defense.

Additionally, your stance influences the force behind your techniques. When executed correctly, stances allow you to channel energy efficiently through your body, delivering strikes with greater precision and impact. A misplaced foot or a slight misalignment can dissipate that force, making your attacks weaker and your defenses vulnerable.

The Balance Between Strength and Mobility

It’s tempting to think that the deeper and wider the stance, the stronger it is. While low stances develop leg strength and discipline, real-world application demands mobility. The ability to transition smoothly between stances is just as critical as maintaining a solid base.

For example, training in deep stances strengthens the legs and improves endurance, but in sparring, a more upright stance allows for quick movements and rapid responses. Kempo practitioners must strike a balance between rooted power and fluid adaptability, ensuring they are neither too rigid nor too unstable.

Common Stance Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Even experienced martial artists can fall into bad habits when it comes to stances. Here are a few common mistakes and how to correct them:

  • Leaning Too Far Forward or Back – Your weight should be evenly distributed to maintain balance. If you lean too far in any direction, you become an easy target and limit your ability to react.
  • Over-Reliance on One Leg – A strong stance engages both legs equally. If you rely too much on your back leg or front leg, your movement becomes predictable and weakens your structure.
  • Lack of Core Engagement – A proper stance isn’t just about the legs; your core should be engaged to provide additional stability and control.
  • Feet Too Close Together – A narrow stance limits mobility and makes it easier to be knocked off balance. Make sure your stance provides a solid base without being overly rigid.

Drills to Improve Your Stance

To develop a stronger stance, consider incorporating these drills into your training routine:

  1. Horse Stance Holds – Hold a deep horse stance for increasing durations to build leg strength and endurance.
  2. Stance Transitions – Practice moving between forward, back, and side stances smoothly while maintaining balance.
  3. One-Legged Stance Training – Stand on one leg for extended periods to improve balance and core engagement.
  4. Weighted Stance Training – Perform stances while holding a weighted object to develop lower body strength and reinforce posture.

Stances as a Martial Philosophy

In Kempo, our stances are more than just physical positions—they embody discipline, patience, and control. A strong stance reflects a strong mindset. The ability to hold a stance under pressure mirrors the mental resilience needed in both training and life. Just as a well-practiced stance allows you to react effectively in combat, a strong foundation in discipline and focus enables you to navigate life’s challenges with confidence.

Final Thoughts

Your stance is the first thing you learn in martial arts and the foundation upon which all techniques are built. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned martial artist, continually refining your stances will enhance your power, speed, and overall effectiveness in Kempo. Train them diligently, and they will serve you well both in the dojo and beyond.

The Balance of Humility and Pride: Lessons from Kempo

Humility and pride might seem like opposites, but they coexist beautifully. In Kempo and life, true growth arises from balancing these qualities.

What does it mean to balance humility and pride? Are they opposites, or can they coexist? True humility isn’t about downplaying your achievements but recognizing your potential and the vast opportunities for growth. It’s not about minimizing what you’ve accomplished but embracing the journey of what’s still possible. Similarly, pride, when rooted in genuine effort and self-improvement, can be a powerful motivator. In Kempo, humility and pride are not opposing forces but complementary qualities that drive personal growth.

Understanding Humility and Pride

Humility is often defined simply as “not bragging.” While this definition may seem reductive, it is actionable and deeply instructive. In practice, humility is about acknowledging our room for growth and acting in ways that reflect respect for ourselves and others.

Pride, on the other hand, is tied to our sense of self-worth. The key question is: Who is the most important source of your pride? The answer is yourself. However, many people struggle with this. We’re often our own harshest critics, aware of our flaws and failures, which makes self-pride challenging. This inner conflict can lead to a paradox: criticizing ourselves privately while boasting publicly—a contradiction that undermines true humility.

Potomac Kempo - Humility and Pride

How Kempo Teaches Humility and Pride

In Kempo, the lessons of humility and pride come alive through practice. Two guiding principles help us cultivate both qualities:

  1. Do the best you possibly can.
  2. Strive to improve upon your previous efforts.

This simple yet profound philosophy shifts the focus away from comparing ourselves to others and instead emphasizes personal growth. Consider the following examples:

Alex and Mia: A Tale of Two Runners

Imagine Alex, a 10-year-old, running a race against 5-year-olds. She wins easily, but the victory feels hollow. Why? Because Alex didn’t push herself to her limits. Her pride would be justified only if she ran faster than ever before. Without that effort, the accomplishment rings shallow.

Now, picture Mia, a 5-year-old, racing against older children. Despite her determination, she finishes last. Should she feel ashamed? Not at all. If Mia ran her hardest and improved her time compared to her previous races, she has every reason to feel proud. Even in defeat, her effort and progress make the experience a success.

These stories illustrate that pride and humility aren’t about outcomes but about effort and growth.

Potomac Kempo - Humility and Pride

Cultivating Balance Through Martial Arts

Kempo provides a perfect environment for developing the balance of humility and pride. Martial arts constantly challenge you to perform at your best, refine your skills, and surpass your previous efforts. Yet, the practice also instills respect—for yourself, your instructors, and your peers.

Each step forward in Kempo is an opportunity to grow stronger, both physically and mentally, while embodying the balance of humility and pride. The satisfaction comes not from external validation but from the quiet confidence that arises from genuine effort.

A Perfect Place to Grow

Practicing Kempo is more than just physical training; it’s a journey of self-discovery. True pride and humility coexist when we focus on doing our best, striving for improvement, and letting our actions speak for themselves. When pride arises from within, it needs no external validation. And when humility guides our actions, it needs no explanation.

Takeaway

Humility and pride are not opposites but partners on the path to growth. Through consistent effort and a commitment to improvement, you can cultivate both qualities, allowing them to complement and strengthen each other. In Kempo, as in life, this balance is the foundation for true success.

Three Complementary Training Methods for Martial Arts Success

Three Complementary Training Methods for Martial Arts Success

How Combining Practicing to the Air, with a Punching Bag, and with a Partner Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Martial arts is a fantastic way to improve your fitness, develop your skills, and achieve your goals. However, simply practicing techniques and movements is not enough. To truly excel in the martial arts, you need a well-rounded skill set and a balanced approach to training. Here, let’s focus on three crucial components of your training.

We believe that the key to martial arts success is combining three complementary training methods: practicing to the air, with a punching bag, and with a partner. Let’s take a closer look at each of these methods:

  1. Practicing to the Air: This type of training involves performing techniques and movements without any equipment or targets, allowing you to focus on extension, follow-through, and precise technique. It’s safe, easy to do, and can be done anywhere, making it an ideal option for at-home training.
  2. Practicing with a Punching Bag: This method is excellent for developing power and strength, as well as conditioning the striking surfaces to prevent injury. Whether you use a punching bag, focus mitts, or similar, this type of training provides resistance, making it a great workout and an essential part of any martial arts training regimen.
  3. Practicing with a Partner: This type of training gives you a more realistic sense of targets and how the body responds to force, allowing you to practice techniques with an opponent in a controlled environment. However, it’s important to train slowly and with less power to ensure safety.

By incorporating all three training methods into our curriculum, we help our students develop the well-rounded skill set they need to succeed in the martial arts. Each method offers unique benefits, such as refining technique, developing power and conditioning, and enabling realistic application of techniques, to help students achieve their fitness and martial arts goals. With this combination of training methods, students will acquire the skills and abilities necessary for success both inside and outside the dojo.

Chris Santillo, Shihan

The Capitol Tournament Returns!

Potomac Kempo recently hosted its first tournament in three years. Through the worst of the pandemic, our instructors continued to teach in whatever capacity they could, sometimes virtually, sometimes distanced or outside, and often masked. Our annual tournament, however, had to wait. An event of this kind can only be accomplished in person and with a crowd of excited spectators. So, given the long wait, it was a thrill to be able to bring its tournament back with full energy!

Potomac Kempo Hosts Capitol Tournament 2

Throughout November 6th, nearly two hundred competitors and double that in spectators descended on the Embassy Suites, Springfield. The room was packed, and the excitement was engaging. With five different age brackets from young children through mature adults and rank divisions from white belt through second-degree black belt, there were many proud victors.

With our next tournament tentatively scheduled for May of 2023, our instructors are already beginning the early work of preparing their students to compete and win.

Potomac Kempo Hosts Capitol Tournament
Congratulation to all of our victors!
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Huge congratulations to the winners of the Tournament Cup—Sensei Geof and the whole Huntington dojo!
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And endless gratitude to the judges who make the whole event possible!

Three Awarded Fourth Degree Black Belts at Potomac Kempo

Potomac Kempo - Santillo Simpson Gibbs Jelsma - Fourth Degree Black Belt

Sometimes the best amongst us are the humblest, which is certainly the case with these exemplary martial artists.

For many people, the practice of martial arts is a strange—possibly intimidating—concept. People often wonder what happens in a ‘dojo’ with unfortunate misconceptions often perpetuated by movies and television. But the martial arts, and specifically the art of Kempo, which we choose to practice, is not strange or mysterious. It is an ancient self-improvement practice with fitness training and self-defense fitted in to fill out the edges.

In life, we often find that our greatest adversary is ourselves, as we all too often stand in our own way—sometimes going so far as to sabotage ourselves actively. But in Kempo, we work to overcome these traits by developing and utilizing methods that work in the studio and as well as in other aspects of life. By doing so, we work to create well-rounded, successful, and healthy lives.

In this spirit, we wish to acknowledge the accomplishment of three of our most esteemed students. In December 2021, Kevin Simpson, Jon Jelsma, and Geof Gibbs earned their Fourth Degree Black Belts in the Art of Kempo. They are the first students to reach this level in Potomac Kempo’s seventeen-year history, representing less than one-tenth of one percent of our students.

These gentlemen have practiced the martial arts for an average of twenty years, teaching as well as training, and have studied multiple arts.

In addition to his Kempo practice, Kevin Simpson has studied Ninjutsu, Hapkido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Army Combatives, in which he is a Level 2 Certified Instructor. He is a Sergeant First Class in the US Army Band, and he volunteers to teach both Kempo classes and grappling basics.

Before practicing Kempo, Jon Jelsma studied Tae Kwon Do, Shorin Ryu Karate, and Fencing. Amidst his Kempo practice, he has also studied Jeet Kun Do, Pekiti Tirsia Kali, Inosanto Academy Kali, and Kosho Ryu Kempo. He is a patent examiner for the US Patent and Trademark Office and volunteers to teach Kempo and Kali classes throughout the week.

Geof Gibbs began his martial arts practice with Kempo and has since come to supplement it with the study of Kali and Kosho Shorei Ryu. Having left a former life as a computer scientist, he is now a career instructor, acting as our Senior Staff Trainer and the Chief Instructor of our Huntington Metro studio location in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to teaching Kempo, he leads our Kosho Club. Consistent with our relatively new tradition of passing on belts, Geof was presented with my own Fourth Degree Black Belt that I wore when I was that rank.

We are honored by their accomplishments and are proud to have them as part of the Potomac Kempo team. It is rightly said that “You are only as good as the people you train with,” and these exemplary practitioners are an asset to all of Potomac Kempo. Their work is a testament to lifetimes of dedication, learning, and growth.

One final thought:

As I sat on the floor of an empty studio presenting belts to three very sweaty persons, I searched for words to capture the moment, for praise that would not seem redundant or superfluous. My mind circled twice, and I settled back on humility. I have known these men for decades; we have spent more hours training together than I could begin to count. They are my most accomplished students, yet they may also be my most humble students. And I don’t think that is an accident or coincidence. In martial arts, we tell the story of a student whose cup is so full it will not hold any more tea. Through all of these years, Kevin, Jon, and Geof have all managed to keep an empty cup, space to learn, never believing that they have learned it all.

I wish them a lifetime of continued success and health.

Chris Santillo, Sensei
Potomac Kempo
Founder, Headmaster
Godan, Shihan, Master, Guru

Potomac Kempo Simpson Gibbs Jelsma Fourth Degree Black Belt

The Long Way to Belgium

The Long Way to Belgium

Our path to Belgium started a decade ago in Pennsylvania. Obviously.

One of my students was headed to a martial arts seminar in Pennsylvania. I reached out to the host, and he graciously invited me to join the roster of instructors. It was a humbling experience, and I say without reservation that I learned far more than I taught and am still a student of the host, Sensei Jeff Driscoll, Kyoshi.

While in Pennsylvania, I met another of Sensei Driscoll’s students, Sensei Bart De Backer, Shihan. He, in turn, invited me to join with the other instructors at a seminar that he hosted. Again, it was a humbling and enlightening experience to be amongst such a host of skilled martial arts professionals.

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium

While at Sensei De Backer’s seminar, I met Sempai Bart Matthijs, Sempai Bene Laloo, and Sensei Rik Moelaert, Renshi, who, many years later, invited me to teach at their event in Belgium this Fall. This seminar was in honor of Shinkai Kempo Karate’s Tenth Anniversary and was impeccably professional and impressively international.

Instructors from five different countries gathered to inspire students of all ranks and ages to achieve a new level of martial arts understanding. Here was a chance to interact with the larger world of martial arts and see that, even in a different country, with instructors speaking many different languages, we have a common language of martial arts principles.

In addition to being a rewarding intercultural and educational experience, this seminar was particularly memorable because I had the privilege of sharing it with Sensei Gary Covington, Sensei Geof Gibbs, and Sensei Kevin Simpson, who flew across the Atlantic for the opportunity to participate.

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium
Potomac Kempo Family Reunion in Belgium

Furthermore, we were all the more delighted when the host instructors invited us to guest teach Shinkai’s next evening of classes. Sensei Holly Santillo, Renshi taught the children’s classes, and I led the adult classes. What a wonderful group of enthusiastic students! It was a delight and a joy to get to work with them.

There may be many ways to get to Belgium, but the most direct way seems to be to meet people, make friends, and accept invitations. Regardless of where opportunities and invitations arise, if you have the chance to participate in such events, I encourage you to do so! Spending dedicated time immersed in the practice of martial arts, surrounded by people of similar passion, is truly fulfilling.

And you never know where it might take you!

Respectfully and gratefully,
Sensei Chris Santillo, Shihan

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium