Fun Friday – Catching a punch with Master Ken!

Defense plays an important role in every martial art. You can punish the opponent with the harshest strikes imaginable, but on top of being able to take a hit yourself, you also need to be able to avoid them, as well. There are as many methods for deflecting an incoming strike as there are for delivering one, whether a forearm block, a simple parry, a redirection combined with a counter-strike, and everything in between. However, what millions of martial artists overlook is the method of catching a punch with one’s hand, akin to the act of catching a baseball. Many martial artists regard this idea as not very practical because of the perfect timing required in order to execute the defense correctly, not to mention the idea of absorbing all of the energy of the punch into their palm and, in effect, the arm being used.

We can safely say that not one of these people has taken a class with the deadliest martial artist to ever walk the Earth, Master Ken. The founder of the most invincible fighting system ever devised, Ameri-Do-Te, and the world’s only 11th degree black belt, Master Ken has spent his entire life studying every martial art in existence, funneling out their weaknesses while retaining their strong points to form the arsenal of Ameri-Do-Te. This approach to combat is the origin of the saying used by Ameri-Do-Te practitioners, “Best of All, Worst of None”. Master Ken considers the act of catching a punch so ridiculously easy that he teaches it as a lower level technique to orange belts within the art. If you’re watching this at home, be sure to go to Master Ken’s website enterthedojoshow.com to received your orange belt certification in order to begin practicing at this level. A word to the wise – be sure to film yourself the first time you practice catching a punch and send it to Master Ken straight away. He has reportedly offered his guarantee that you will be performing the technique wrong on your first attempt.