A Close Look at the Combinations

Posted on October 4, 2026 by matt

Andy Henson sent me a link to a couple of videos by The Martial Alchemy Channel of some former Shaolin Kempo instructors who have moved on to other arts revisiting the material and taking an in-depth look at the combinations. They have a playlist that includes most of the techniques from 1-27. There’s a few unrelated videos in the playlist – it includes non-Kempo content, too. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the conclusions that they draw, but they do explain their thinking clearly. See what you think.

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Time to get angry -with me.

Posted on October 2, 2026 by matt

We’ve posted all but two of the combinations we have access to, and now we’re going to dig into the material. This is a bit of foreshadowing, but three years ago Marlon Wilson posted a video that really got to the heart of the matter.

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Combination 15 – To twist or not to twist

Posted on September 28, 2026 by matt

I was looking for more videos to link in the archive, and I like to keep an eye out for videos featuring GM Villari, as I suppose those would be about as official as a record could get. I was surprised to see in the video that he doesn’t do a twist stance – I had always been taught that way and wasn’t a big fan.

This led to some discussion on the Facebook Page, so I recorded a quick followup after my class the other day. It’s hand held vertical footage with no rehearsal, so obviously it’s premium quality. I offer a ‘step and twist’ option that I learned at a Choy Li Fut seminar on the Siu Moy Fat Kuen form (small plum blossom fist). The second one is just to use a boxing pivot to some extent. Let me know what you think.

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