American Kenpo is Ed Parker's modification to the Hawaiian Kenpo he studied as a young martial artist. In American Kenpo every block is a strike. Every strike is a block. At the time of Ed Parker's death in 1990, Kenpo had a very limited focus on ground fighting. Following the Ultimate Fighting Championship of 1993, many Kenpo practitioners began adding ground fighting to their Kenpo curriculums. Ed Parker's student Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon) has made grappling a major component of his "Kenpo 5.0" system which is an offshoot of Ed Parker's American Kenpo.
American kenpo incorporates, locks, throw, strikes, take downs, chokes, etc.
Like most martial arts they incorporate everything, its both striking and grappling as well as kobudo (weapons). Martial arts are not broken down into striking and grappling only martial sports are.
What is its emphasis?
