Way of the Blade

Inside Kung-Fu
“Way of the Blade”
By Addy Hernandez
August 2007
Pg. 24

My martial arts training began in the early summer of my 17th year. I was a bright-eyed, impressionable, high school senior ready to conquer the world. I wanted to leave my past behind and strive full throttle into the future. Paradoxically, fate had already intervened as my past and future were on a collision course in which my reality would be forever forged.
From the beginning, training with sifu Joseph Simonet was physically, mentally and emotionally challenging. Intuitively, he seemed to know my limitation – real or imagined. Sifu Simonet introduced me to several training methods. We boxed, grappled, weight-trained, ran, hiked and worked endless rounds of focus pad combinations. I learned aspects of wing chun, silat, kenpo, doce pares and Yang-style tai chi. Each art offered a unique and challenging expression of fighting dynamics. My passion for the martial arts was insatiable as several years of training ensued.
One day during a private lesson, sifu Simonet handed me a training blade and asked me to show him my knife fighting skills. I assured him , I didn’t know any knife fighting techniques or methods. “Actually, it’s everything you know,” he replied. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” I said. Unbeknown to me, sifu had specifically taught me techniques and methods of movements, which were translatable to knife application. My jurus from silat, my kenpo techniques, the stick drills, everything became knife. My astonishment soon turned into delight, as I realized edged weapons had already been an integral part of my life.
I was born in Mexico in 1976. I was just four years old when my mother died while giving birth to my baby sister. With five very young children, my father packed up and headed north to America in search of work in the orchards of Washington State.
My father is a hard-working man, proud of his craft and Mexican heritage. He grew his own vegetables and butchered livestock to feed his family. Of all the children, I was the one who did not shy from the process of butchering our animals. Very early on, I would learn the skills by watching my father kill, skin, gut and clean animals. For me using an ax, knife and machete became a natural and necessary part of growing up. I would cut off the head of chickens using an ax and then clean and bone them with the sharpest knife my father owned. I have cut up rabbits, pigs, turkeys, deer and even a bear. It was not unusual to see my father and me side by side cutting down alfalfa and corn stocks with a machete. The use of edged tools has always been a part of my Mexican culture.
Growing up, I wanted to be like all the “American kids.” Being young and immature, I was sometimes embarrassed that we slaughtered our animals for food. Now, as a woman and martial artist, I have come to appreciate my heritage with pride and renewed respect.
It was when I was six or seven that I first witnessed an underground Mexican pastime –cockfighting. During harvest every fall my father would hire dozens of workers to pick apples. This was a time of excitement as well as long, hard hours in the orchard. At night the men would gather to drink, play music and gamble on cockfights. The scene of men gathered around a circle of rope yelling and cheering during these cockfights is both surreal and vivid. These vicious rituals would often end with dead or several injured roosters.
Unfortunately, there were some mean who would cheat to win at any cost. In cockfighting, the cheaters would secretly attach thin razors to the cock’s feet, which of course would destroy its opponent by slashing it into a bloody mess. On one particular night, the crowd was loud and frenzied. Apparently, two cheaters had been caught. In punishment, they were forced to arm each rooster with razors and fight. Here I was, a young girl, witnessing a vicious reality of contesting with blades. My recollection of the night ended in chaos, spurting blood and yelling men.
The next day, I asked my father about the cheaters and the fighting, “Papa, I don’t understand. Who was the winner of the fight?” In a somber voice my father replied, “Hija, in a real cockfight with blades – the winner is the second one who dies.”
Through my father and our culture’s necessity to survive, killing and cutting up animals taught me respect in the blade and a strong value for life. Through sifu Simonet and my passion in the martial arts, I understand the lethality of bladework through osmosis and practical self-defense application. The philosophy of these two men has merged and allowed me to forge my own way of the blade.

Taking Chi Sau to the Street Part 2

Inside Kung-Fu
“Taking Chi Sau to the Street Part 2”
By Joseph Simonet
November 2003
Pg. 108-

One of the most critical elements of understanding and appreciating chi sau is defining the line between chi sau as a training tool and its role in developing real fighting skill. Practiced properly, it is a powerful method of developing close-range fighting reflexes based on touch rather than visual acuity. Practiced improperly, however, it can ingrain habits that are not only counterproductive to your training as a fighter, but can get you killed.

In part one of this article, I described several different exercises that could be used both as a precursor to chi sau training and as supplemental training to develop the structure and musculature necessary to perform chi sau well. As useful as these exercises may be, they are not chi say. As such, they are not and end unto themselves but rather a means to an end. Similarly, we must remember that chi sau is not fighting, but simply a means to achieving that end. Like any drill, the goal is not the drill itself, but the isolation and development of the skills the drill promotes.
To help you get the most out of your chi sau training, part two of this article will identify some of the weaknesses of chi sau as it is commonly practiced and teach you how to improve your practice and appreciation of chi sau by maintaining your focus on the real goal: combat skill.

Lack of Power
Perhaps the greatest problem with chi sau as it is taught and practiced today is that it has been reduced to a form of point sparring. Practitioners who take this approach typically assume laid-back, defensive stances that offer no real base for power generation. With this style of practice, a touch-any touch-is considered a hit. Even worse, many times once a “hit” is acknowledged by both partners, the action stops and they start the drill fresh.
Point sparring has been criticized for decades as an artificial, unrealistic form of training that is far removed from the reality of a full-contact fight. Practicing chi sau with the same mindset-that of a sophisticated game of “tag”-is just as far removed from the reality of a fight and just as counterproductive as training method.
Hits win fights, so good chi sau training must teach you how to hit. Don’t be content with touching to win; learn to

Total Domination Pt. 2 Joseph Simonet

Inside Kung-Fu
“Total Domination part 2”
Interview by Michael Janich
July 2005
Pg 62-66, 108, 111

The attitude behind Jospeh Simonet’s KI Fighting Concepts system is simple: One move and you’re done.

In last month’s Inside Kung-Fu, Joseph Simonet explained the 30-year background behind his impressive martial arts resume and the genesis of his eclectic KI Fighting Concepts curriculum. In part 2 of his interview, this outspoken martial artist explains his personal fighting philosophy, the role of wooden dummy training in the quest for personal martial excellence, and his plans for the future.

INSIDE KUNG-FU: What are the key components of the KI Fighting Concepts philosophy and curriculum?
JOSEPH SIMONET: Every aspect of my personal study of the arts was a quest to fill in the gaps in both my own knowledge and skills and the curriculum that I offer to my students. After devoting myself to a variety of different arts, I stepped back and began to cherry pick the elements that were most valuable. Again, the goal was to synthesize the various elements at the foundational level, not to arbitrarily lump things together.
In its current form, the key elements of the system include proper structure and alignment, as derived from my interpretation of wing cun and silat; sensitivity and spontaneity, adapted from the Filipino arts, taijiquan, and wing chun; and an attitude of “wherever you’re standing, you’re stand in my spot,” which is a reflection of both my personality and some elements of Indonesian silat.
IKF: Wherever you’re standing, you’re standing in my spot. What does that mean?
JS: It means having the attitude and commitment to totally dominate your opponent. Most martial arts separate fighting into four ranges: kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling. We believe in only one range: trampling range. That’s the range between my initial impact with your body and your impact with the ground. At that point, I’m standing in your spot.
IKF: Certainly somebody of your size and strength could pull that off. But is that a sound foundation of an entire system?
JS: The system works because it is based on proper anatomical structure and a committed attitude. My partner and assistant instructor, Addy Hernandez, weighs half as much as I do and is about one-third as strong, but she can easily knock most men my size on their butts. If the system works for her, it will work for anyone.
IKF: What is Addy’s martial arts background?
JS: In addition to being the first person to earn a black belt in the KI Fighting Concepts curriculum, she has also earned black belts in kenpo, doce pares eskrima, and eskrido, and has instructor’s certification in taijiquan and yoga. She has also kickboxed competitively in the ring.
IKF: If KI Fighting Concepts is a superior system, why did she train in the traditional arts as well?
JS: To teach the full KI Fighting Concepts curriculum effectively-especially to people already trained in other styles-it was important for her to experience some of the traditional arts in their pure forms. That gives her the frame of reference to relate to the other arts, to understand the lineage of our core concepts, and, most importantly, to have a full appreciation of what we do and why. As my assistant and protégé, she needed the additional background. For anyone else just interested in developing fighting skills, the KI Fighting Concepts curriculum is all you need.
IKF: How would you describe your typical student?
JS: Most of our students, both at our school in Wenatchee, Wash., in our affiliate schools in New York, and in our distance learning programs, are experienced martial artists over 30 years old who are frustrated with the traditional arts and really want to learn how to fight. They’ve been around the block, are tired of the hype and want something real.
IKF: Why do they come to you?
JS: In most cases, they got a taste of my approach through my book or one of my videos and like what they saw. They were looking for both a system that made sense and a mentor with the courage to lead, so they came to me.
IKF: You’re a pretty tough and opinionated instructor. Why do they stay?
JS: It’s interesting that usually whatever brings a student to us is never what keeps him here. Our students always grow in ways they never anticipated. Many of them came looking for a physical challenge and never expected the mental and emotional growth they experienced. Others came to me to give them confidence and they ended up finding it themselves through the physical aspects of what we do. It’s just further proof that the martial arts is a personal journey, not a production line to create people who all move and fight the same way.
IKF: Wooden dummy training is usually associated with the practice of specific Chinese systems like wing chun or choy lay fut. Why is this traditional training method such an important part of your eclectic art?
JS: The wooden dummy allows me to practice proper form and structure with full power and resistance. Unlike a heavy bag, it also provides the anatomical tools to practice full-power blocks, traps and other techniques with great realism. Best of all, it’s the only training partner I’ve ever had that never whines and is never tired, sick, bored or injured.
IKF: The core of your wooden dummy training is a form you developed called the “Slam Set.” Why would an eclectic martial art need a form? Are you just replacing someone else’s tradition with your own?
JS: The Slam Set represents all the essential elements I’ve learned in 33 years of training condensed into a 60-second form. If you’ve been around the arts for a while, when you first see it, you’ll see what look like elements of kenpo, eskrima, silat, muay Thai, whing chun and other arts. But when you analyze the form and start extracting applications from it, you realize that what looked like kenpo was not only kenpo, it was also an element of eskrima, and expression of taijiquan, and a fundamental concept of silat. Ultimately, it becomes a window to understanding the common ground of all martial arts.
I developed the Slam Set as a vehicle to train all the core principles of the arts I’ve studied and to provide a set of essential fighting skills in one form. I did it on the wooden dummy so that all the movements would have to be done with contact and intensity and would not degenerate into a meaningless dance. In the process of developing the set, I subconsciously included a number of elements that I knew needed to be there, but at first even I wasn’t completely sure why. As I practiced and analyzed the form and its possible applications, I realized that it truly includes all the movements and skills essential to a real righting system. Even now, years later, I will see a technique or application from another art that I really like and I re-evaluate my curriculum to make sure I haven’t missed anything. In most cases, I end up discovering those movements somewhere in the Slam Set.
IKF: It still seems like practicing a rote form is inconsistent with the spontaneity and “formlessness” you claimed to achieve with KI Fighting Concepts. Aren’t they opposites?
JS: Forms, like oral traditions, are a convenient and effective way of passing on a large body of knowledge, because they allow you to remember things in a sequence. You just need to understand that it’s the knowledge that’s important, not the sequence.
Any movement or series of movements in the Slam Set can be practiced individually as a drill, in any combination, and in any order. With proper visualization and intensity, they can also represent thousands of different applications. For example, what looks like a wing chun bong sao/lop sau/backfist combination to you might be a figure-four armlock to me. The movements are the same, but the intent-and therefore the application-are very different.
By mastering the physical movements of the Slam Set and then creatively expressing them in as many different ways as possible, you don’t do techniques; you make techniques.
IKF: What is the Art and Science of Mook Jong (ASMJ)?
JS: Once I realized that the Slam Set is, in fact, a distillation of all the essential elements of KI Fighting Concepts, it made sense to use it as a primary tool to teach the system to others. In the ASMJ program, students begin by learning the Slam Set form and the most obvious, literal translations of the movements as applications. Once they are competent of the movements. That’s the science.
Then, based on their understanding of the applications, they start analyzing the form and discovering their own combative expressions of the movements. They start seeing applications in the transitional movements of the form-between the “techniques”-and tap into the full potential of their skills. That’s the art.
IKF: How does someone get involved in your curriculum?
JS: We recently established a worldwide federation to provide an infrastructure to share our art. We also host an annual training camp at our facility in Chelan, Wash., which features more than 40 wooden dummies, and teach seminars all over the country. The resources are already there. You just need an open mind and the guts to train hard.
IKF: What are your goals for KI Fighting Concepts and for you as a martial artist and instructor?
JS: I want to build a professional organization of like-minded people who are interested in continuing the development of the effective fighting arts. I want to find worthy instructors who are interested in sharing this information with motivated students. Most of all, I want to leave more than I take.
It’s not about me taking credit for what I’ve done; it’s about enabling others to continue to build upon it without having to do it all over. They shouldn’t have to repeat history. I know that there are plenty of people who have changed their approach to the arts after seeing what I do without ever giving me credit. That’s fine. As long as the evolution continues, I’ve done my part.
IKF: That sounds amazingly humble compared to some of the other things you’ve said in this interview.
JS: Humility is about balancing what you can do with what you say you can do. It’s not about selling yourself short to try to impress someone. When you get right down to it, most of today’s martial arts legends has-beens surrounded by wannabes. I’m here now and I’ve got a lot to offer. People who really want to learn appreciate that and are lining up to train with me. That’s it.
IKF: Nevertheless, I’m sure you know that you’ll probably ruffle a few feathers when this interview is printed. Any final words for your critics?
JS: Sure. I don’t accept challenges; but I do respond to attacks.

Michael Janich is a freelance writer, author and instructor in Longmont, Colorado. He also is a founder of the Martial Blade Concepts system of edged-weapon defense and director of product development for the Masters of Defense knife company. He can be reached at www.martialbladecomcepts.com

The KI to Fighting Supremacy Part 1

Inside Kung-Fu
“The KI to Fighting Supremacy Part 1”
Interview by Michael Janich
June 2005
Pg 34-39, 95

Joseph Simonet has taken 30 years of conceptual study and turned it into one revolutionary martial arts system.

For years, Joseph Simonet has been one of the best-kept secrets in the American martial arts community. An exceptionally talented practitioner and instructor with high-level ranking in numerous Chinese, Indonesian, and Filipino martial arts, he is best known for his ability to cross-reference and synthesize the common elements of individual arts into universal concepts and physical principles that transcend style.

KI
This universal body of knowledge forms the foundation of his revolutionary KI Fighting Concepts curriculum and its wooden dummy-based, state-of-the-art training methodology, the Art and Science of Mook Jong. In this two-part interview, Simonet explains the method behind his uniquely visionary madness.

INSIDE KUNG-FU: When did you begin your training in martial arts?
JOSEPH SIMONET: I started training in 1972 in Japanese karate. At that time, I as already a competitive power lifter and was looking for other ways to challenge myself physically.
IKF: When did you get involved in kenpo?
JS: I switched to kenpo in 1973 and met Al Tracy in 1975. Although I have studied many different arts since then, I am still associated with Al Tracy and Tracy’s kenpo and am probably the highest-ranked practitioner of that system no teaching that art exclusively.
IKF: What ranks do you hold and in what arts?
JS: I am currently an eighth-degree black belt in Tracy’s kenpo; a fourth-degree in doce pares under Christopher Petrilli; a second degree in eskrido under Cacoy Cañete; a second degree in pentjak silat tongkat serak; and a black-sash level in wing chun gung-fu. I also have an instructor’s certification in Yan style taiji.
IKF: What do you mean “black-sash level” in wing chun?
JS: I’ve trained in both classical wing chun and its non-classical variants for over two decades and had the opportunity to study with some of the best wing chun instructors in the country. I learned the classical wooden dummy set from the great Wang Kiu and ultimately mastered all the skills of the system on my own terms.
IKF: But you never received a formal rank?
JS: I trained with people who had their black sash and could do everything that they could-usually better. That taught me that individual accomplishment is always more important than formal rank or certification. If anyone doubts my skills in wing chun, they are welcome to stop by anytime and “stick” with me.
IKF: What was the significance of each of the arts you studied and how did they give you the tools to develop as a martial artist?
JS: I consider kenpo to be the most complete encyclopedia of physical motion in the martial arts. If you want to catalog a movement, you can find it in kenpo. The Filipino arts taught me the importance of flow and the fact that spontaneous application is more important than rote technique. Through wing chun I developed an in-depth understanding of physical structure and the advantages of skeletal alignment over muscular strength. Silat taught me forward enerfy, taking an opponent’s space, and the secrets of body leverage and angles in throwing. And from taijiquan I learned the power of fluidity and relaxed movement.
IKF: Which arts were the most revolutionary to your development as a martial artist?
JS: At the time, every one of them was revolutionary to me, because I immersed myself completely in that art while I was studying it. I wanted to make sure that I understood the totality of the art in its pure form first. Then, I stepped back and looked at the art with a critical eye to draw the best elements and concepts from it.
IKF: Which arts were least beneficial?
JS: I have learned something from every art I’ve studied-even if it was what not to do. Once you discover that, you reverse-engineer your training to focus on the stuff that does work.
IKF: What is KI Fighting Concepts?
JS: The KI in KI Fighting Concepts stands for “karate innovations.” I founded it in 1979 as a hybrid system designed to fill in some of the blanks that I found in kenpo, but it’s grown far beyond that. The way I see it, every martial art presents a specific model. Although every model works fairly well at a basic level, the more I challenged them, the more their limitations became apparent and the models broke down. To fix them, you have to look outside the model and draw from something else.
Over time, what began as a hybrid system of kenpo has become and eclectic blend of pre-eminent martial arts systems, unified at the conceptual level. The development of KI Fighting Concepts has also paralleled my personal development in the arts, filling in the blanks in the totality of my own training, knowledge, understanding, and training methodology.
IKF: So KI Fighting Concepts follows the model of “absorbing what is useful?”
JS: Absorbing what is useful is a nice start, but more important that that is extracting what is essential. A “useful” skill set that doesn’t include the really critical skills that you need to fight well is a guaranteed way of getting your butt kicked. It’s like having a survival kit full of “useful” items that doesn’t include matches or some other way of making a fire. Without that essential element, you die.
IKF: There are a lot of styles and systems out there that claim to have extracted the best of all the arts. How is KI Fighting Concepts different?
JS: Most people who claim to have created eclectic systems have done nothing to integrate their arts at a fundamental level. If you duct tape a wrench and a screwdriver together, you haven’t invented anything. By the same token, duct taping a bunch of tae kwon do techniques onto jiu-jitsu ground skills doesn’t produce an integrated fighting art.
The “concept” in KI Fighting Concepts reflects the fact that it is a synthesis based on total integration of the component parts, not just a buffet line of different martial arts techniques. So many styles are actually defined by the minute difference that set them apart instead of the 99 percent of the content that makes them similar. That’s ridiculous.
By understanding the core concepts and mechanics that are common to all systems, you can achieve total integration at the foundation of the art and flow to any technique you choose. This approach also helps you appreciate various styles for what they contribute to the whole, rather than blowing them off because “their stance are wider than our stances.”
IKF: You’ve got some pretty impressive martial arts credentials, but what qualifies you to create your own martial art?
JS: After 30 years of training, six black belts, and years of seeking the truth from other people, I decided that I was qualified. Who told Yim Wing Chun, Mas Oyama, Morehei Uyeshiba or any other founder of a martial art that they were qualified? Nobody. Because of all the tradition and ritual that surrounds the martial arts we forget that men developed all arts. In most cases, they were developed to overcome the shortcomings of the systems they already had, which were also developed by men. Well, the same thing applies today.
It amazes me that when it comes to every other field of human endeavor-science, medicine, technology, education-we constantly strive for progress. But when it comes to martial arts, most people are convinced that someone else figured it all out and created the ultimate fighting art hundreds of years ago. I don’t think so.
If I have the knowledge, the skills, and the insight to create a superior system, I’m not going to hold back because it’s not traditional. The telegraph was a great invention, but I don’t see anyone trading in his cell phones for one.
IKF: So you no longer see much value in the traditional martial arts?
JS: All living things are evolving, dormant, or dying. When viewed in this way, most traditional arts are at best either dormant or dying. As cultural experience, as a form of fitness, or as an off-the-shelf basic self-defense, they’re fine. But as a state-of-the-art fighting system, no art that values tradition above function is worth betting your life on.
IKF: What about the instructors who claim to have adapted their traditional arts to the needs of modern self-defense?
JS: If they’re still restricted by the limitations of their tradition, they’re going to come up short. Training in traditional martial arts is like restoring an old car. You bust your butt for years to get everything to look exactly like the original. But when you’re done, you’ve still only got a 1973 Pinto. Granted, it’s a beautiful, historically accurate Pinto, but it’s still a Pinto.
IKF: Do you consider yourself in the same league as people like Mas Oyama, Ed Parker or the founders of other well known systems?
JS: That’s not for me to judge, but that’s certainly my goal. They were great men and great martial artists because they started with the martial tradition that they learned and continued to analyze, innovate, and build upon it. That tradition-a legacy of innovation and progress-is what I really value.
If you think about it, the biggest difference between me and the founders of other arts is that I’m still alive. As strange as it may sound, in the traditional arts, being dead is a great qualification. Your followers will spend years interpreting and re-interpreting everything you said or wrote like your grocery list somehow holds the key to martial enlightenment. I’m here to answer questions and provide guidance to my students now. I’m also continuing to grow and learn along with them.
IKF: What has been your most satisfying experience or accomplishment in the martial arts?
JS: Realizing that I was in control of my own destiny and didn’t need validation from anyone else.
IKF: What has been the most frustrating?
JS: Waiting so long to realize it.
(In part two, Simonet explains his fighting philosophy, the role of wooden dummy training in the quest for personal martial excellence, and his plans for the future.)

Todays Women of Tomorrow

Inside Kung-Fu
“Today’s Women of Tomorrow”
November 2005
By Dave Cater
Pg 42

Different backgrounds, different styles, different talents inexorable linked by their love of martial arts.

CHRIS YEN
Martial Artist/Actor
For most of her young life, Chris Yen has been known as either: “the younger sister of;” or “the daughter of.” Now there’s nothing wrong with begin associated with two of the world’s top martial arts names - in this case martial artist/actor extraordinaire Donnie Yen or wushu wonder Bow Sim Mark. Most stylists would give their black sash just for a chance to claim such a pedigree.
But when you live it every day of your life, the comparisons are bound to get old - and quick. Chris Yen struggled mightily to find her own identity. It wasn’t easy.
“I trained with that sort of pressure from the time I was real young,” Yen explains. “The pressure came from my mother and from my father, and from my brother who started young. The pressure was always there.”
Describing herself as “rebellious,” Yen yearned for a chance to carve her own niche in the world. That chance came two years ago when she moved to Hollywood and attended her first audition.
“I realized I loved going out to auditions. I loved going to my acting classes. I loved the fact that I can express myself in another forum other than doing martial arts.”
Her love for acting, her desire to express herself in new and different ways, is paying big dividends. Her first major project, Adventures of Johnny Tao, is due out soon and by all indications it could be the rocket that catapults Chris Yen to stardom.

CHRISTINE BANNON-RODRIGUES
Martial Artist/Actress/Spokesperson
Christine Bannon-Rodrigues has parlayed a tremendous career as a open circuit competitor into an equally impressive life as a school owner and spokesperson. Bannon-Rodrigues, vice president and co-owner of Don Rodrigues Karate Academy, Ltd., is also a spokesperson, product designer and product evaluator for Macho Products, Inc.
With more than 40 martial arts magazine covers to her credit and nine WAKO World titles under her belt, many consider Bannon-Rodrigues to be the best all-around female competitor in sport karate history.

MIMI CHAN
Wah Lum Kung-Fu/Instructor
As long as Mimi Chan is minding the store, wah lum kung-fu will be in safe hands. The daughter of grandmaster Pui Chan, Mimi dabbled in film work a few years ago but soon returned to her family’s Orlando school to train another generation of kung-fu practitioners.
Mimi, who provided all the martial arts moves for Disney’s animated character “Mulan,” recently took eight students to Baltimore, where they captured the U.S. Kuoshu Nationals team forms champion trophy.

TIFFANY CHEN
Tai Chi Competitor
Seems that Tiffany has been around so long she should be retired by now. The truth is, Chen has been around so long because she started so young. Daughter of the world-famous tai chi grandmaster William C.C. Chen, Tiffany is reaching her stride in the world of push hands competition.
Inside Kung-Fu’s 2004 “Competitor of the Year,” Tiffany won the award for best “Lei Tai” performance by a female athlete at the First World Competition Tournament in San Paulo, Brazil. The fighter with the model features also was among six athletes who captured gold medals for the U.S. team.

JEANNE CHINN
JKD Stylist/Actress
Jeanne Chinn is one of the busiest martial artist/actors in Hollywood. A longtime practitioner under the original Bruce Lee student Jerry Poteet, Chinn has graced the cover of several Unique Publications’ offerings and each time been a solid attraction.
With recent appearances on “Charmed” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” as well as an solid guest spot on “NYPD Blue,” Chinn has established herself as a solid character actor. Yet she is quick to say that none of her success would have been possible without the lessons she learned studying martial arts.

JENNIFER & CHERI HAIGHT
Wushu Stylists/Cirque Performers
To wushu or not to wushu? That was the question facing teenagers Cheri and Jennifer Haight two years ago. On one side was the chance to compete against the best in the world at their chosen avocation. On the other side were Cirque du Soleil and a chance to star in a multimillion dollar extravaganza to be staged nightly at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In the end, the choice was obvious. The sisters now star in KA, Cirque’s newest and most-expensive martial arts and acrobatics spectacular. They are, in a word, spellbinding. Wushu weapons flash at the speed of light; spins and kicks fly by so fast your eyes have trouble measuring what’s real and what’s fantasy.
What’s real is the chance they took and the hard work they put into the show. They only fantasy is how easy they make it all look.

LUCY HARO
Lawyer/Wind Chun Stylist
Don’t look now, but the face of wing chun in American is rapidly changing. When Lucy Haro, a family law attorney by trade, wanted to learn wing chun, she skipped the middle men and went straight to the top.
A series of e-mails to grandmaster William Cheung led to training in Australia, followed by more extensive schooling in America. No one of the grandmaster’s most-trusted students, Haro is well on her way to becoming the most-important female wing chun voice in America.

ADDY HERNANDEZ
KI Fighting Concepts.

When Addy became just the second Latina to appear on a cover of Inside Kung-Fu, she instantly was recognized throughout the world as one of kung-fu’s top natural beauties. The fact that she also has carved a niche as being one of the best new martial arts technicians only lends validity to her standing.
Hernandez is a rare combination of femininity and ferocity; softness outside the studio and sheer power when it counts. Her mook jong sets are a joy to behold. With videos and books spotlighting Hernandez’ talents, her stock will be climbing for years to come

LI JUNG
Wushu/Actress/Stunt Woman
This former protégé of the great Wu Bin has easily made the transition from stunt double to on-camera attraction. The hard work that led to a spot on the Bejing Wushu team has propelled Jing to a permanent spot among Hollywood’s “A” list stunt choices.
Along with being one of the country’s most sought after wushu instructors, Li Jing is making inroads in her acting career. She recently filmed a commercial for Microsoft Intel, appeared in a National Geographic documentary, and worked with Donnie Yen in a Hong Kong movie.

MING QIU
Wushu Stylist/Stunt Double
When “Walker, Texas Rangers” co-star Nia Peeples needed a stunt double, Ming Qiu was the only choice. After seeing Ming’s demo tape, Peeples actually flew from Texas to California just to meet the former Jiangxu wushu star. The rest, as they say, is Hollywood history.
Sing 1995, Ming Qiu has been the first - and only - choice on most stunt coordinators’ call list. In the past five years, she’s doubled for Lucy Liu in Kill bill, Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2 and Ecks vs. Sever; shadowed Kelly Hu in Cradle to the Grave, The Scorpion King and “Martial Law;” and appeared in Collateral, Austin Powers: Goldmember, Starsky & Hutch and Spiderman 2. Her television credits include “Law and Order,” “CSI: Miami,” “The Shield,” and “Charmed.”
Currently working on MI: 3, Ming teaches privately at a local park in Monterey Park, Calif., where she ahs 15 students. She also just finished training Milla Jovovich for the film, Ultraviolet.

KA’IMI KUOHA
Kara-Ho Kenpo
From the time she was old enough to walk, Ka’imi Kuoha always seemed ahead of her time. A child actor in her formative years, a high school graduate in her early teens, Ka’imi was mastering her personal learning curve while the rest of her peers were just getting started.
Today, she is the designated leader of a martial arts system founded by the great William K.S. Chow in Hawaii. And she couldn’t be nicer, more unassuming or unaffected by the whirlwind surrounding her appointment. A dancer, singer and performer, Ka’imi first and foremost is a martial artist of great repute whose future will always be bright.

TIFFANY REYES
National Wushu Competitor
There are dedicated martial artists, and then there’s the kind of dedication exhibited by Tiffany Reyes. When Tiffany can’t make the 300-mile trip to Los Angeles to train with coach Li Jing, she’ll perform her sets in front of a computer camera. Together, the pair will discuss improvements and then Reyes will repeat the movements - over and over again.
A client services coordinator for Google, Reyes won a spot on the U.S. Wushu “C” National team in 2003. This year she hoped the four hours a day of practice will pay off with a spot on a the “A” team going to the World Wushu Games in Vietnam.

JENNY TANG
Wushu Instructor
Jenny Tang is a good example of the apple not falling far from the true. A niece of famed tai chi master Wei Qi He, tang spent her formative years as a member of the Shanghai National Wushu Team before attending college in America.
Today, as co-owner of Tai Chi Wushu Resource in Southern California, she is helping produce a new generation of internal stylists. Maybe just as important is her contribution to traditional tai chi tournaments in America, where she has become a trusted judge and valued advisor.

KA-YAN WONG
Choy Lay Fut Stylist/Model
Ka-Yan Wong was born to be a kung-fu master. Even as a baby, her father, choy lay fut master Tat-Mau Wong, was preparing her for the world of Chinese martial arts. By the time Ka-Yan was two, she already was doing full splits and could hold her leg on in a perfect sidekick.
Today, Ka-Yan is that rare martial artists who is exceptionally gifted in all aspects of kung-fu, including hand forms, weapons, sparring and even lion dance drumming. Ka-Yan’s two gold medals in broadsword and nanchuan at the 2004 World Traditional Wushu Festival Competition in China stand out as highlights in a long and successful run of competitions.
Now a young woman with a honors degree in biochemistry to her credit, Ka-Yan also has ventured into the world of acting and modeling. She recently spent a good deal of time in China furthering her modeling and kung-fu skills. Many predict it’s only a matter of time before this child martial artist prodigy makes her mark on the big screen.

GRAYCE WEY
Krav Maga/Traditional Kung-Fu/Actor
Businesswoman, creator, producer, writer, actor. Every time it seems as though Grayce Wey has finally found her niche, she discovers something else to make her life complete. Although she was born in San Jose, Calif., Grayce is fluent in Mandarin. This made her a valuable property with production companies in China and America. One of her early acting roles was a guest spot on Disney’s “Lizzie McGuire.”
But Grayce is much more than an actor. Her first martial art was krav maga. Loving its simplicity and effectiveness, Wey became an instructor and developed the U.S. licensing program for the Krave Maga National Training Center. However, she returned to her cultural roots several years ago by studying traditional kung-fu with Jonathon Wang of the Beijing tai Chi and Kung-Fu Academy.
An accomplished writer, Wey began Desert Lotus Productions in 2003. One of the company’s first projects was Anna’s Eve, a horror film in which - not surprisingly - Grayce produced, directed and starred.

Addy Hernandez Profile

Inside Kung-Fu
“Profile Addy Hernandez Taking Charge”
By Dave Cater
November 2002
Pg 136

Talk about your poster girl for high school’s “Most Likely to Succeed” honor! Addy Hernandez was as close to a can’t-miss as you’ll ever find at Chelan High School in Washington.
Homecoming queen. Honor roll. Class president. Cross country runner. Softball player. Martial artist. All while working two jobs to help support her family. Big things were expected of Addy when she started her freshman year at Eastern Washington University.
And she expected big things in return.
“I planned on studying personal training, physical therapy and philosophy,” she remembers, with a smile.
But expectations soon were met with disappointment.
While her body was in a classroom in Cheney, her mind was focused three hours away in an unstructured training hall that more resembled a scene from Walden’s Pond.
A year earlier, Hernandez saw a notice in a local newspaper announcing the promotion of martial arts instructor Joseph Simonet. It took three class before the eclectic master agreed to meet with the high school senior.
“I had to travel up this dirt road,” she recalls. “The sign coming up said, ‘Primitive Road.’ When I got there, he told me to hit him as hard as I could. I went to throw a right punch and then felt myself on the floor looking up. I said, “Cool, okay when do we start?”
Simonet turned to his newest student and simply said, “You’re in.”
That as the beginning of Addy’s year-long love affair with the martial arts.
“I didn’t expect it to affect me that way,” explains Hernandez, who was born in Michuacan, Mexico. “The power the discipline gives you is incredible. It was a fantasy for me to know the martial arts and become proficient and comfortable with them. It changed my whole perspective in life and that was largely due to my teacher.”
She sought the same transformation in college, but there was none to be found.
“When I left the martial arts and went to college,” she notes, “I thought I would find the same kind of teacher and philosophy. But it didn’t take me long to realize the professors and instructors didn’t share the same ideals. I had gone through such an incredible self-seeking journey in martial arts. After a year, I decided to make martial arts a career. Joseph and I became business partners and opened up our KI Fighting Concepts school.”
Hernandez, whose father, Lauriano, moved the family to Washington after the death of her mother, took to her new life with incredible energy and dedication. In just seven years, the 5-foot-3, 118-pound brunette has earned a third-degree black belt in Tracy’s kenpo karate; a fourth-degree in doce pares under master Christopher J. Petrilli; a seond degree in eskrido under grandmaster Cacoy Conete; a third-degree in KI Fighting Concepts (a hugely popular wing chun/pentjak silat/kenpo hybrid); and been certified as a tai chi teacher.
“Usually, fellow martial artists envy my position, because I live in the gym from morning to night.”
That’s no exaggeration. Addy begins each day with a 6 a.m. kickboxing class. That’s followed by a full day of privates, a kids’ class, group classes and more privates. When her martial arts days ends at 9 p.m., her personal day begins with weight training, yoga, Yang tai chi and long-distance running, where she is training for a marathon (26.2 miles).
“I like to take advantage of my youth,” she explains.
Hernandez, who has teamed with Simonet to produce a series of highly successful videotapes for Paladin Press, believes she would have still been successful in life without martial arts. But inside, something would have been missing.
“I think I would have been successful to a point, but without that understanding of myself and that take-charge attitude, I wouldn’t have been as far as I am now with anything I wanted to do,” she admits.

Name: Addy Hernandez
Birth date: June 30, 1976
Birth place: Mexico
Came to America: 1980
Hometown: Lake Chelan, Wash.
Siblings: 3 sisters, one brother
Started Martial Arts: 17
Arts Studied: Yang style tai chi, Kenpo karate, Doce pares, Wing chun, Pentjak silat, Kickboxing, Pankration
Instructor: Joseph Simonet
Height: 5-foot-3
Weight: 118-pounds
Belt Levels: 3rd degree in Tracy’s kenpo karate; 4th in doce pares; 3rd degree in KI Fighting Concepts (wing chun/kenpo/pentjak silat); and certified teacher in tai chi
Current Work: Teaches martial arts full time
Outside Loves: Gardening, pottery, working with bonsai trees, training for a full marathon
Career Goals: To make more martial arts videotapes and to continue studying and teaching martial arts. I also hope to be a voice for martial arts women everywhere.
Facts: Loves children. Also speaks fluent Spanish
10 Years From Now: “I want to establish myself and make a name for myself in the martial arts world. I also want to be the CEO of global e-commerce business.”

The Blade Set

Inside Kung-Fu
“The Dynamic Blade Set”Interview by Dave Cater
July 2006
Pg. 90-94

ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF THE KI FIGHTING CONCEPTS APPROACH IS ITS DYNAMIC BLADE SET.
INSIDE KUNG-FU: Please explain the blade set’s connection to your highly successful KI Fighting Concepts Slam Set?
JOSEPH SIMONET: First, let me explain what the Slam Set entails. The Slam Set is about 60 seconds of a high-impact, high-intensity form done on the mook jong (wooden dummy). So far, the Slam Set has taken about 25 years of research and development. Fine-tuning and recalibration of the Slam Set is a lifelong evolution.
The Slam Set is my database. Every single movement I train can be found in the Slam Set. Bruce Lee’s book, “Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense,” states that “a good gung-fu man is a simplifier.” I’ve simplified nearly 35 years of training and study into a 60-second database. From the Slam Set I’ve derived five major new models of training methods. These are the Skill Sets, Two-Man Set, Club Set, Club and Blade Set, and the Blade Set. The Blade Set was created using the empty-hand Slam Set form.
IKF: Are you saying that the blade set is just doing the Slam Set with a knife in your hand?
JS: At first that was my intent. However, one day I was watching my partner Addy Hernandez working the Blade Set in the air and I had an epiphany. Watching Addy I realized a metamorphosis had taken place. The blade set had become its own entity.
IKF: From what arts were the Slam Set and Blade Set taken?
JS: I built the Slam Set predominantly form Tracy’s kenpo, wing chun, pentjak silat, doce pares and tai chi. The blade set came out of the Slam Set. As previously stated, all my movements at this point are from the Slam Set database.
IKF: I didn’t realize that kenpo was a knife-based art. Where’s the connection?
JS: Al Tracy was teaching me a blade/knife interpretation of kenpo as far back as 1975. Kenpo is an art rich with lethal and crippling blade applications. However, it’s not always known or taught.
IKF: How did you decide which movements to leave in and which ones to discard?
JS: Over the years I’ve developed a formula for defining value of the material I keep, and to ascertain its function and practicality. The acronym I use for this process is CAPA or Conceptual Analysis and Practical Application. When building a martial arts modality, one must adhere to the strict law of physics, anatomy, philosophy and intent. In my pursuit of developing an art of the 21st century, I am not bound by tradition, dogma, religion, culture or any other futilities. It is my intention to rid martial arts of moronic vacuities.
IKF: Using your own acronym, it sounds as though you’re expressing your conceptual analysis. So tell us your practical application of the choosing and discarding of various martial arts material.
JS: After studying in m aforementioned arts for years, I began seeing them as inanimate physical structures. These structures being analogous to let’s say the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and so on. I broke down these arts to their simplest forms and components. Filtering through these disassembled arts I gathered what I discerned as universal truths and/or essential characteristics. Someone once stated we should, “Absorb what is useful…” I would suggest we “Extract what is essential.”
After unifying these common and essential parts, I went back to the disassembled arts and connected secondary parts as well. These universal and secondary components became the elements of the Slam Set-Art and Science of Mook Jong.
IKF: After training for 35 years, you must have left thousands of parts in these piles. Are they of no value? What did you do with them?
JS: To continue the metaphor, I dug a mass grave and bulldozed all the unnecessary material and covered it up. The last I heard was that a herd of sheep were grazing over the grave as they chewed the last decay off the traditional martial arts carcass.
IKF: Why was it important to incorporate a blade set into your system?
JS: In my view, martial arts in general is in need of a paradigm shift. I’ve been burdened with the obsession of designing a truly new and necessary hybrid martial system. In pursuance of a weapons art, I once again address CAPA.
My conceptual analysis leads me right to the kitchen drawer. If one were not restricted by frivolous doctrine or mandate, knife/blade training is the most natural and accessible of all weapons. Every house, condo, apartment, mobile home, palace, tepee or cave worldwide has knives in them. It seemed reasonable to create a weapons system based on a weapon everyone has access to.
To elaborate on the paradigm shift, let’s look back at the tournaments of the 1970s and the 1980s. Regardless of what “martial art” everyone trained, their sparring pretty much looked the same. So I’m thinking, why train in such and such an art but fight completely different than the art itself? I’ve always felt that every movement one trains must be functional fighting. If not, the practitioner is overloading the nervous system with superfluous motion, all of which equates to being a waste of time, money and opportunity. Martial arts should be based on practical, functional and simple movement. Even today’s students are learning worthless kata, technique and history, all in the pursuance of worthless rank.
The translation of the Slam Set (empty hand) into the blade set is an expression and application of a “Seamless Transitional Integration”-from empty hand to blade to empty hand, regardless of order. Thus, form and function are indeed synonymous.
IKF: Most of your Blade Set moves are practiced on the mook jong. Why is that?
JS: Actually, all the Blade Set movements are practiced on the wooden dummy. As I stated earlier, the Slam Set is the template for the Blade Set. So wooden dummy training is an essential expression of the Blade Set. Also, the Blade Set is practiced with an opponent/training partner as well as in the air.
IKF: How does the mook jong work translate to real-life combat?
JS: The wooden dummy is one of the most versatile training apparatuses in martial arts. It allows the practitioner the ability to generate full-force attacks, trapping options, precise limb destruction and rapid-fire flow with adhesion and spring-loaded attacks. These are essential training attributes necessary for the development of a true combat fighter.
IKF: If someone were left-handed, would that hinder his Blade Set development?
JS: Absolutely not. Within the Blade Set, both the right and left hands are utilized. I designed the Blade Set to be effective with a standard right-hand grip of a standard left-hand grip. Also, one could use an ice pick grip with either hand. If someone wanted to, the Blade Set could be performed with two blades at once with any grip on either hand.
IKF: The Blade Set appears perfect for women to learn. Why is that?
JS: Actually, the Blade Set is perfect for anyone to learn if he is serious about truly surviving a brutal attack. However, that being said, the blade is the ultimate equalizer when it comes to self-defense (other than a gun). Women can level the playing field against stronger and/or larger opponents with functional blade application. Knives are easy to carry, conceal, affordable, legal and lethal.
IKF: What knifefighters/practitioners out there today are you impressed with and why?
JS: There are three blade experts in the United States that I would consider world-class. I’ve personally spent time with each of them. So, my opinion is based on first-hand experience. They are Kelly Worden, Jim Keating and Mike Janich.
IKF: What particular skills and/or accomplishments do you perceive inherent in these knife experts?
JS: Let’s start with Kelly Worden. Kelly is the most skilled and toughest student Remy Presas ever had. He’ll bring it, and bring it hard. Jim Keating is a knifefighter’s knife expert whose skills are exemplary in every sense of the word. Mike Janich is the smartest knife expert I’ve ever met. Mike has successfully translated his massive intellect into surgeon-like precision with his blade.
IKF: Give me three examples of unique and/or essential elements of your Slam Set-Blade Set series that differentiate it from other arts?
JS: 1. My entire database is a 60-second form. I can focus on honing a relatively small amount of information as opposed to cluttering my nervous system with unnecessary junk. 2. Space. The Slam/Blade Set can be done in a very confined space (4x4 feet). Being effective in so little a space is perfect for airplanes, security, crowds, between parked cars, etc. 3. A Slam/Blade Set practitioner can deliver a lethal dose of knees, elbows, blades and attitude in fractions of a second in a “Seamless Transitional Integration.”
IKF: How do you plan on propagating your art?
JS: Several ways, actually. First, Addy and I own a gym in Wenatchee, Wash., and have about 175 students. Secondly, we have teamed up with Unique Publications and we’ll be releasing our Blade Set book later this year. Thirdly, Paladin Press will be releasing DVDs on our Slam Set curriculum later this year as well.
And finally, we will be teaching the “Blade set” at out 7th Annual Wind and Rock Training Camp in Lake Chelan, Wash., July 7-9. Come and join us. Check out our Web site at www.kifightingconcepts.com for more details.