How does one tell if his or her instructor is a qualified instructor? What traits should someone look for in an instructor of American Kenpo Karate. You know these days the martial arts world is littered with so so instructors and fraudulent instructors as well as good and excellent instructors. Unfortunately there seems to be far less better instructors than bad.

Rather than concentrate on what makes a bad instructor or fraudulent instructor, let’s look at what you may find in an excellent qualified instructor. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion of the qualities of a good reliable qualified and dedicated American Kenpo Karate instructor. I have only attempted to point out a few qualities one may look for.

1. Organizational ties – An instructor who has national and international organizational ties i.e. school charters and certifications is an instructor who cares about his students. This means that this instructor’s intent is to not only have his school recognized but his students rank recognized beyond the boundaries of his or her own school.

2. Does the instructor have dedication- Selfless devotion: served the public with dedication and integrity. Instructors should also have the dedication to also train and continue to learn from other instructors. There is nothing more humiliating to me as an instructor than to see overweight instructors about to burst out of their gis.... It simply shows poor dedication to their perspective arts as well as a lack of dicsipline. A great Kenpo instructor simply loves training too much to stand still.

A student should SEE his or her instructor's techniques improve. Since the instructor gets to train every training, instead of standing still, he/she will gradually improve. This is nothing new. And when you are an instructor, you can’t do the techniques sloppily.... You need to show a good example.

3. The excellent kenpo instructor strives to be the embodiment of kenpo - Kenpo is a quite simply A WAY OF LIFE. One should see this trait in their instructor. He strives for the perfection of kenpo. He strives to be the best he can be and to instruct to the best of his ability.

4. Professional conduct- A good Kenpo instructor may end up being many things to his students, trainer, educator, confidant, and role model. This is part of the student/teacher relationship. The instructor above all else should strive to never misuse or manipulate the student teacher dynamic. Students are taught to put their utmost trust in their instructors, he teaches them to trust his knowledge, to trust his judgment, trust the techniques. there by trust in him. Instructors instill this trust in their students and this should never be broken or misused.

5. Leadership- A Kenpo instructor leads by example. He is nt one of the boys. He doesn’t ask of others those things that he cannot or will not do himself.

6. Preservation of American Kenpo- Is the instructor interested in preserving, and upholding the integrity of American Kenpo Karate. Are they teaching American Kenpo Karate as it should be taught as Grandmaster Parker outlined in the "Infinite Insights into Kenpo" and have neither revised or watered it down.

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Hello Barron, That was a very good comment about instructors.I totally agree with you..

Hi Barron,

I agree with 99.9% of your article above. Good instructors should be humble, active, wanting to learn more, and so on, but I completely disagree with your statement "there is nothing more humiliating to me as an instructor then to see overweight instructors about to burst out of their gi's, it simply shows poor dedication to their pespective arts and a lack of dicsipline.......". If it is true laziness that the instructor is overweight, then yes, I agree with you. However, to lump EVERYONE into that catageory is completely unfair. All my life I have been thin and built, mostly due to my training. However, in 1997 I was in a car accident that should have killed me and completely messed up my back. Since I was young at the time, I didn't think about what "could" happen as I got older to my back if I didn't train right and take care of myself. I thought I was invincable. I was wrong. In 1998 I was in a tournament and my opponent kicked me on my left knee cap, blowing out my ACL, MCL, and miniscus tendens. The pain was unbareable and I have never walked the same since. I didn't get surgery until 2004 on my knee but because I had waited so long, they had to perform 2 separate reconctructive surgeries a month apart from each other. All of this coupled with two broken ankles and different times of my youth have made walking, and even moving in general a real difficult thing, and a painful way of life. Because of all this, I am no longer thin. I am now overweight and yes I am using these injuries as excuses. When you need to stand in place for a minute so the pain in your back and your legs and ankles goes away, it makes working out very difficult. When I finally get going, I believe that I could move with the best of them, even if it's only for a few minutes. That is why I have tailored my self defense to "kill shots". I don't have what it takes to stand toe to toe and fight someone, and now I have the skill and the knowledge to make sure that my fights aren't toe to toe. Should I be considered a bad instructor because I am no longer thin due to these debilatating injuries? I don't think so and neither do my students. They understand that some times life throws you a curve ball and the true essence of who you are as a human being will show when you try to handle that curve ball. I'm trying to teach my students that no matter what, don't give in and don't give up. Maybe one day I will be thin again, but I honestly could care less. Besides injuries to a person, there are people with glandular problems that can't lose weight unless they get that special stomach surgery. Should they not be considered a good instructor because of a glandualr problem that isn't their fault? I don't think so.

Like I said, great article and I agree with 99.9% of it. Kenpo truely is in your soul and a good or even excellent instructor will radiate the art and not just try to pass it down from one generation to another like an heirloom. They will develop their student's Kenpo aura.

John, I am not refering to those who have medical or serious health issues.

John, I am not refering to those who have medical or serious health issues.

Hi Barron,

I figured as much and I appreciate your understanding, I just wanted to set the record straight. Great article. Very informative and excellent words to live by. Great job once again.

I agree with you John,people like you are a special case..I was also injured, in sparring,knees,back & to many head tramus..now I have  signs of dementia,which makes it very hard to learn new things.

Oh, come on now Baron, don't back down at the first sign of resistance. The only thing worse then a bigot is a bigot without a spine. If the man is fat, call him fat. The last school I was at my sensei told me that if I did not lose weight, I would not be advanced. True to his word, five years after that statement, I was never once tested or advanced. Now that is commitment!  What I did get is better. I was in better condition then anyone there, and I could take anyone there. I learned the laws of motion, and practiced everyday. So before you tell the Trejo's and Soto's of the world that you deem them unfit to teach, please remember that Ed Parker was a fat boy too.

Parker and trejo both were in excellent shape most of  thier careers. DO your homework.

If you train long enough and fight long enough, you will eventually have a medical issue. Be it back, legs, hands, etc. A former competitor in "hollywood" style show boat breaking Thomas Massi has so much damage to his hands that he can barely close them all the way. I have never liked the whole breaking stuff for no good reason thing. But he use to compete at Action expo in Atlantic City NJ.

Dang Baron, you missed a perfect opportunity to say, "You know what, I spoke a little quickly and should amend my thoughts", but that would require humility. So, as you requested, I did my homework, and found out that, yes, Ed Parker did in fact teach while he was, as you say, busting out of his gi. So which is it? Did he humiliate you, or did you cast your net just a little too far?

The last time I made SGM Parker's acqauntance was at a seminar in 88. He was nt busting out of his GI. (This was a little over a year before he passed away.)  I did not consider him out of shape. Parker also promoted conditioning. 

By the way I would like to point out that I did step back and amend my thoughts when someone brought up the point of medical conditions and health problems. ( No simply being lazy, undisciplined and not being able to push yourself away from the dinner table because you are a glutton is NOT a medical condition.) Your response was that I was then back pedaling. In all honesty , I think your the one who spoke to quickly. So, Did I humiliate you, or did you cast your net just a little too far?