Traditionally, the martial arts were taught (and still are in most instances) using mimic training. The instructor demonstrates and the student follows along as best they can. The inherent problem with mimic training is it’s very subjective. A student may not observe everything the instructor is doing, or may have their own preconceived ideas about what the purpose of a certain movement is. This will drastically affect the student’s ability to execute. Within mimic training you also have to deal with the varying degrees of the students’ intellectual ability to understand, and physical ability to execute the movements being taught.
Additionally, you also have the problems that occur when one student mimics another. If you ask most martial arts instructors they will tell you that every so often they’ll look up at their students and they’re all doing a technique in a way that they (the instructor) never taught. The instructor will stop the whole class and ask where they all learned to do that particular technique that particular way and they will all swear the instructor taught them. What happens is one student has an incorrect observation or interpretation of something he/she saw the instructor do and now other students are now mimicking that student.
Alternatively, SubLevel Kenpo offers a different approach to the teaching process of the Martial Sciences called Body Index Training, or BIT Training. This type of training utilizes very specific, bio-mechanically sound, physical movements called Indexes. For example, when a student is first being taught an inward block they are taught to stand in a proper right neutral bow (that they have already been taught using BIT Training) facing 12:00. The student is then taught to execute a series of Progressive Index Movements, which are an Outward Downward Index, followed by a Lateral Wrist Index, followed by a Lateral Upward Index, which then puts them in position to thrust their forearm, at a 45-degree angle, as a Geometrical Path towards 10:30.
Using the very specific movements of BIT Training forces a student to learn the exact method and manner of execution of the SubLevel Kenpo curriculum. This type of training leaves little, if any, room for misunderstandings or incorrect interpretations of the curriculum. BIT Training also produces a high level of consistency in the material that spans the entire student body. One of the first things you may notice of the students within a school that utilizes BIT Training is that from beginner to the most advanced students they all have the exact same basic execution of basic material. However, as we all know, there is no such thing as material that is only “basic” – only a basic understanding. So, as students progress in their SubLevel Kenpo training, their understanding, and therefore their execution progresses as well. They learn more sophisticated indexes that increase the proficiency of their execution.
