March/April/May 2018 Newsletters (Edited from original)

March 2018

Fake Expectations
This is an interesting article addressing scenario training. It is written by a shooting instructor but the points can be taken in consideration of what martial artists do in their own version of scenario training.

http://www.buildingshooters.com/Article-021-05-26-2017.html

Real Life Kenpo
I publish a monthly article on my website for subscribers and the March article is about a life-threatening confrontation in which his Kenpo saved his life. I had taught him as a young man, many years ago and he was a purple belt. When he went off to college he was faced with a knife attack, which he survived. I wrote the article using his words and included my comments. Briefly, he admitted knew of the threat, ignored it and let his ego get the best of him. He got stabbed but it could have been much worse. The attacker eventually went to jail.
My plan is to write more of these. I asked students to let me know when they had an altercation for several reasons, but now I’d like to pass those lessons to you.
The website is www.wedlakekenpotv.com and a yearly subscription is $29, which includes access to all the years of past material along with new monthly issues.

What The Fitness Pros are Saying
Looking through the most recent issues of IDEA Fitness Journal, I’m seeing a lot of articles about the older client. Makes sense, Baby Boomers are a big market. There were several articles saying that weight training is proving to be more beneficial for that age group than cardio – and that is not to say cardio doesn’t help, it’s that weights should be more of the focus. I mention it here because more olser students are taking the arts and they may come in with an expectation that the cardio they get from us may be all they need and that could lead to disappointment. Helping them structure a rounded routine  may be a good move for both client and teacher.
They’re also talking about how the new blood pressure standards and that both cardio and weight training can help keep the BP down. The new guideline says blood pressure between 130-139 and 80-89 is now hypertensive.

“We all need lots of long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.” – Jim Rohn

April 2018

Kenpo Man on the Move
Missouri’s Ray Kellison is competing and winning in forms on the national circuit. He’s won or placed in his last three tournaments. Nice to see him doing the system and winning. He’s been running Short Four. He most recently was at the AmeriKick in Philadelphia. Check him out on Facebook.  

Scenario Training
My April article is posted for those with a Premium Subscription on my website. It’s a commentary on an article I’d sent a link to in this newsletter recently, called Fake Expectations. The website is www.wedlakekenpotv.com and a yearly subscription is $29, which includes access to all the years of past material along with new monthly issues.

What The Fitness Pros are Saying
The latest issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, April 2018, says female athletes should probably eat more protein. P.48
Group exercise improves physical, mental and emotional quality of life as well as lowers stress. P. 9, study cited was in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
High intensity workouts may improve memory. P. 6, study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

“It's important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.” - Sara Blakely

May 2018

In Memoriam-
We lost a Kenpo great in Frank Trejo this month. I met him over 40 years ago when I walked into Ed Parker’s Pasadena, CA headquarters school. I was there for his International Karate Championships in 1977 with my student, Kurt Barnhart. Frank would later tell me that he saw all kinds of weird and wonderful people coming through those doors around IKC time and his first answer, when I introduced myself by saying “I’m Lee Wedlake, from Chicago” was “So what?” After I started training out there in 1979, we became good friends.
I was the first person ever to have Frank do a seminar, when I invited him out to Chicago. My guys loved him and they have fond memories of him. I had him down to Florida after I moved there as well. The reaction was the same. Frank and I, along with Dennis Conatser, were with Ed Parker on his first trip to Australia in 1986. We had great fun doing demos and seeing the sights. We stopped in Hawai’i on the way home and that is a story in itself.
I could go on with stories but I want to remember him here for those who did not know him. I considered him to be one of my teachers. I always gave him credit for that. He taught me much about Kenpo and more about fighting. He made a funny comment once about my knowledge of principles, which was “I could kick your ass and Lee would tell you how I did it”. I was more a forms guy but fought in many tournaments against some national-level fighters and Frank had told me “Put your head down and punch!” I did well under his coaching. I guess he thought so too since he passed down both his third and fourth degree belts to me. We were promoted side by side by Mr. Parker when Frank went to 4^th and he gave me his belt. The 4^th  degree belt he gave me when he went to 5^th but held it for me when I went to California to see him. What an honor.
He was Ed Parker’s “adopted son”. Mr. Parker loved him. Frank was a tough guy, had a great sense of humor, and his skills were exceptional. Add in that he could teach and his students applied what he taught, it made him a stand-out in the Kenpo world. He was on the cover of Black Belt magazine with Mr. Parker and graced the pages of it and other martial arts magazines as well. His photo was the lead shot for my first article in Inside Kung-Fu magazine, the subject being forms. Frank won the IKC in forms more than once (I beat him once in 1979), vied for Grand Champion and took the fighting division several years. He was on the Budweiser National Karate Team as a co-captain and it was my article in Karate Illustrated that showcased them. It was one of the first, if not the very first, karate team with a corporate sponsor.
Frank and I kept in touch over the years and I called him once in a while when he was working on his health problems. Even after he had his toes removed he kept his sense of humor and told me he had “A little bit of a balance problem”. People from all over the country contributed to funds for his medical bills, a result of his having become influential in their Kenpo. I like to think I kicked that off by being the first to have him come to teach outside the Pasadena school. I thought Frank was going to pass away sooner than he did, then he seemed to turn a corner and looked like he was improving. I was a bit surprised to hear of his passing. We were close in age and I’d been thinking about how one your age or younger can be your teacher and have such an impact. Many of Ed Parker’s early students were in his age group and many years ago it shattered my concept of someone having to be older and wiser to be your teacher.
As I have said over the years, I was fortunate to have great Kenpo teachers in my life. I had Ed Parker, Frank Trejo and Huk Planas contribute greatly to my knowledge and skill. Early on, it was the late Mike Sanders in Illinois, and he truly got me on a better path. The list of role models in this art include seniors, peers and students and I don’t know that I’d have met and gotten to know them without Sanders opening my eyes. We lost Mike in 1979 in a motorcycle accident and it left me without an instructor. However, he’d left me with skills and direction and that got me noticed in national competition, enough that Ed Parker asked me to be his representative in the Midwest in late 1979. He re-created me and through him I met Trejo, Huk, Paul Dye, Yosh Furuya, John Sepulveda, Bob White, Tom Kelly, Gil Hibben, Brian Duffy, Steve LaBounty, Gary Swan, Ron Chapel, Gary Ellis, Graham Lelliott, Joe Palanzo and so many more. I am grateful.
I have been passing along this art for over 45 years. I have students around the world continuing to do so. I’ve outlived four of my black belts – Rick Stone, Jory Carson, Rich Kozik and Frank Triolo (the best man at my wedding). I’ve lost three of my teachers now. Man have heard me say, “Learn what you can while you have the opportunity, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.” I lost Sanders after three years as his student, Mr. Parker after 11, and Frank much longer. The first two were a surprise. Frank was different. Yet, the point remains. You don’t want to use the “I’ll see them next time they’re in town” excuse to miss a seminar. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “I learned more from you in an hour than I did in years with…” or “Why was I never told that when I studied…?” and “I want to know what you know”. And that’s not just in Kenpo, I heard it as a flight instructor, too. Take the opportunities, we won’t be around forever.
Miss you Mr. P, Frank and Mike.   

May 2018

May Article Posted
My May article is posted for those with a Premium Subscription on my website. The title is Gap-osis, on checks. The website is www.wedlakekenpotv.com and a yearly subscription is $29, which includes access to all the years of past material along with new monthly issues.

What The Fitness Pros are Saying
The latest issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, May 2018, has an article on high-intensity mental training. The author says health and wellness coaches can help their clients how to concentrate with intensity and “achieve lasting behavioral changes”. That’s right up our alley.
1) Rein in the wandering mind.
Cue your people to focus on a particular movement or sequence and to pay attention to the details of it. “Bottom-up focus” refers to one being on auto-pilot. “Top-down focus” refers to paying close attention to the task.
2) Get going, keep going.
Emphasize determination, not just motivation. Have them mentally rehearse movements. It actually releases endorphins – makes you feel good.
3) Be SMART and supportive.
Goal setting should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Use your spot checks and review classes to help them.
4) Deliberate practice.
Concentrate on challenging goals and get specific feedback from a highly qualified instructor. People need to see improvement, even if it’s small.
This is just a small extract from the article and I’ve tried to hit the main points for you. I’ve used this as part of my teaching method for years. It works.

Ignorance
This link was sent to me by Tim Walker in Florida. It’s written by a firearms instructor but the points he makes apply to an instructor in any field. https://www.buildingshooters.com/articles/the-gift-of-ignorance

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” - William Arthur Ward

March/April