Welcome to the KenpoPedia > Forms > Form 5 > Frequently Asked Questions > Why aren't the techniques of Form Five executed exactly like I learned them for self-defense?

There are, what could be called, different divisions within the American Kenpo system. The three (3) major divisions are: Basics, Self-Defense, and Freestyle. Forms fall under the division of Basics. More specifically, they are known as basics in motion. This piece of information is important because each division is designed to have specific goals and skills that the practitioner must learn and master. In the Basics division, the practitioner is not primarily concerned with defense within a combat situation and is more concerned with defining, understanding, and learning the rules and principles of motion to aid in such a situation. Another way to say this is that the Basics division is designed to help one learn the motions, concepts, and principles that will be used within live self-defense, but in a safer, less immediate environment. Because of this, certain liberties can be taken that would be unwise to do in a combat situation.

As stated, numerous times within this series, an American Kenpo form is defined as follows: forms show the rules and principles of motion, that everything has a reverse and an opposite, and give an example of this concept. It is imperative that one understand this definition before attempting to perform any type of analysis upon the forms. And, this question is a type of analysis.

To delve into this question further, a thought experiment is a helpful tool. Imagine that you are creating a martial art system, more specifically the forms of that system, and you are presented with a challenge. You want the forms to show specific types of motions. Motions that will clearly demonstrate the information you wish to present. Now you come to a choice. Do you make up new motions to accomplish this task, or do you use motions that are already part of another part of your new system?

You decide it would be better to use already defined motions, because this would help your students with muscle memory, because they will already be familiar with the motions. Also, this will make learning the form much easier and hopefully get your points across more readily. The motions that you wish to include are only a part of larger groups of motions that the practitioner learns in the other part of your system. And, in certain instances they don't directly fit with your defined rules for this other section. What do you do? Do you abandon this decision and just make up new motions? This is a dilemma that the originator of the system faces and must solve.

Then an idea comes to you. You will remove any extraneous motions and streamline the motions down to only the ones you need to fulfill your requirements within the form, and alter the other problematic motions to fit within the stated rules of this branch of your system. Furthermore, you may also need to add new motions (aka an extension) to the base sequence to further advance your desired goals. And, this solves your problem. This solution is clean and elegant, but it may cause your students to wonder why the exact same motions weren't used, exactly the same between the different divisions. You conclude that this is a small price to pay for the overwhelming benefits that were obtained from this decision.

This thought experiment is a rough overview of what occurred in American Kenpo.

Understanding this answer is critical to understanding American Kenpo forms. It clearly demonstrates that the purpose of the different divisions of the system have different designs, goals, structure, and functions within the system. The system is not just a bunch of impressive movements strung together to create American Kenpo. There is a targeted and planned intention behind every aspect and division of the system.