Kajukenbo: Too Rough and Tough for Women?

[DANGFU]

When SIfu Remy and I first started our Kajukenbo journey with Grandmaster Abad back in the late 80's, the only female training in the class was Sifu Cathy Owens (Navalta). Was it that the martial arts had not yet gained the popularity and was not the customary past-time for females or was it the Kajukenbo training itself, the "rough-and-tough" training methods and style of our system that kept the females away? At the time, I would surmise that both factors had a major role in women's lack of enrollment in the Kajukenbo Self-Defense System. Everything that everyone has heard about, the legendary brutal training, the blood, the bruises, students quitting is all true. If you had a teacher who was from the islands who had first-hand training from the "tree," then all indications would suggest training ways would no doubt mirror the "old-school" mentality. Grandmaster Abad received the hardcore hard-style training from some of Professor Marino Tiwanak's Chiefs and Sijo had always been ever so present during Grandmaster Abad's Kajukenbo development in San Diego. Therefore, it would be safe to say that with that much closeness to the "trees," our training remained very traditional, traditional to the development and ideals of Sijo. Unless there was some blood, bruising, and some contact (sometimes all-out full contact), all of which I received, gave back, and had experienced firsthand, this would never be "true" Kajukenbo training. To this day, for those who had the right frame of mind and heart, these training scenarios built your character and really tested your heart and spirit. Therefore, not too many women came around and or remained for the long haul. In the time Sifu Remy and I were training under GM Abad, we only witnessed one female who stepped into an actual "monkey line" test with us. All credit and respects will always be given to Sifu Angie Abad for enduring that test as we all stood before Sijo Emperado and other great Seniors. I remember Grandmaster Abad vividly telling us before the test, "don't hold back on her." GM Abad really wanted Sifu Angie to be tested under the same rigors of what he had honorably gave us to for many years. Sifu Angie withstood the test and definitely walked away from the pounding, "bust-em up" that we gave her. Sifu Cathy was another female that knew how to "bust-em up" back in the day. Definitely did not hit like a woman!! Today, I teach my female students in the same fashion and manner. The style has not been watered down to keep enrollment. You either learn to "bust-em up" and gear yourself mentally for the pounding or you go and find another hobby. Women, what are your thoughts about your experiences with your teachers? What were some of your trials, tribulations, frustrating and rewarding moments during your training time?

[JoshC]

Does women's participation in other martial art forms tend to mirror the low attendance of women in Kajukenbo? It would seem that martial arts is largely male dominated anyway in the sense that a much larger percentage of males participate than women--even though, doubtless, many women do attend and many of them can certainly kick my butt.

I, for one, would like to see even more of this "old-school bust-em-up" training in class--even though I also think that our Sifus are genius teachers and always offer incredible training session each class. Sure, we do get some contact when it comes to getting kicked in monkey lines or just getting manhandled when the dummy man. Yet, from what it sounds like, these earlier generations of Kajukenbo offered even tougher training with more contact that prepared students for what a real-life fights really feel like. Sparring seems to be the closest we come to real-life fighting, and even sparring is a far cry from a fight on a street. For me, I have never been in a much of a real fight, so I feel like I need to toughen up as much as possible and get used to taking hits. In the several times I have sparred at boxing, I have felt very unprepared because I'm not used to someone charging at me and throwing lots of real punches. I felt myself flinching a lot and having a hard time just slowing things down enough to even see what was going on. The flurry of someone just throwing at me sort of overwhelmed me. So, I feel like the more we can do to mimic real-life fighting, the better. I know I need to learn how to take a punch to the head. If I even just hit my own jaw pretty lightly, it feels like I will knock myself out.

That said, I have all the faith in the world in my Sifus' training. I am so impressed with how prepared they are every session with an instruction plan that always keeps things interesting, that always reinforces past techniques so we won't forget them, that always features something new, and that always kicks our asses with tough cardio/circuit workouts. I can definitely say that I feel %100 percent more prepared to defend myself than I did when I first began. In a fight, I will be the one who overwhelms the other person. But in all honesty, if on the streets I face multiple attackers, someone who is just as crazy as we have learned to be, someone who is a trained boxer, wrestler, etc., or someone who is on drugs or just a brawler, then the more I can do to prepare myself realistically for these sorts of situations, the less likely I will be to lose heart or get defeated on the streets. At the same time, rougher contact training also increases the likelihood of injuries during practice, and injuries prevent us from defending ourselves effectively.

Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this comment? Probably because I'm still a bit of a sissy (no sexist pun intended) and need to get even more used to taking a beating.

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