Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good, solid instruction
Comment: While nothing can replace a good instructor in learning martial arts (there is more to learning any art than simply the mechanics of how to do the moves), this book does a good job in covering the basics of any good martial art; stretching, conditioning, strikes and kicks. In addition, it provides a good history of the Kara-ho system. The conditioning goes beyond warm up and provides effective exercises that enhance fighting performance. The strikes and kicks are presented in pratical terms of how they are used (application). The only I would have liked to see more of is the techniques of Kara-Ho which make it such a devastatingly effective martial art.
Customer Rating:
Summary: On This Book
Comment: This may not be the best book, on telling you how to appropriately master this particular style of martial art, but it does have cute ka'imi kuoha, and her sexy feet, in it!......
Customer Rating:
Summary: more
Comment: I missed the one page on Sam's training partners, mostly because the photo of his ice-breaking stunt was a real turnoff. The author should have written that he studied a number of non-Kenpo arts and trained with proficient partners. One line reads that he collected black belts in several other arts. The more I read, the fishier it gets. Kuoha will have to write a detailed chronicle of his training to explain his lineage. Right now, it appears that he has difficulty explaining how he inherited the top position of Chow's organization with a few years of off-site training.After reading the book several times, I'm still left with the impression that Kuoha really needs a show to promote Chow's art. Somehow, I get the impression that the pressures of commercialism are great on the shoulders of Kuoha. Perhaps it's time to leave Kenpo and move on to disco karate.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Comment: 2 stars is earned by the unique historical information on Prof. Chow in Ch. 1. Obviously, I am unable to make comments on his art. Detailed history would get 5 stars. Ch. 2-3 is about stretching, stances, and a plug for pills. Yawn. The photos include complete bodies. The captions seldom describe form rather than function. Yawn. There are more pictures of conditioning and leaping high kicks than anything else. That's acrobatics, not street fighting. There are many pictures of a female holding a foot high in the air. This looks like a book about tournament-oriented kickboxing.Then, there's the touchy subject of mastery. Ok. Here's the fishy part. How does one secure a promotion from 1st degree black belt to 5th degree in two years (1978-80, plus his training with Chow from age 18-21) and then to 9th degree in four years, 1978-1984? Mastery takes a long time. Hand out grades do not. Kuoha writes that he was training remotely because he visited Chow weeks at a time. He insults all of the schools in California and doesn't mention a training partner in California. So, unless he names his training situation in California, we can only assume solo practice. In one chapter, Kuoha writes that these training sessions were 14-15 hrs/day. In another, 15-16 hrs/day. Didn't he check his own book? Also, he states that he medically retired from the police force and then renewed his studies with Chow. How does someone so physically-challenged manage to train hard core martial arts? This makes little sense to me. This situation deserves a more detailed explanation to rescue it from a a Grand Canyon in credibility.
Kuoha should write a detailed book on Kempo, specifically the training methods and demeanor of Chow. Little is written on the life of this Hawaiian pioneer. I bet Kuoha has a *lot* to offer, but it's not in this book.
