Nick Cerio's Training system circa 1975

Throw back Thursdays from zanshinkenjutsu... Zanshin Kenjutsu Kenpo Karate seeks to maintain the integrity of Nick Cerio's Kenpo
Nick Cerio's Training system circa 1975
About us - www.kenpobiller... Nicholas Raymond_Cerio and to pass the teachings of Professor Cerio on to new generations of martial arts students. Professor Cerio was an admirer of Shotokan Karate, and in the development of his own uniquely powerful system of Kenpo drew upon many of the strengths of Shotokan while maintaining the fluidity, speed and devastating effectiveness of the art of Kenpo. Zanshin Kenjutsu Kenpo Karate maintains the blend of Shotokan's linear power along with the speed and ferocity of Kenpo that Professor Cerio developed over 40 years ago

[@mycama9307]

That’s my dad

[@billtzizik5898]

An early version of Cerio’s Pinan 2

[@rickmortis]

I do love Kenpo and Mr. Cerio was close to where I lived. I still wish I had the opportunity to learn from him. I did study some Kenpo, but lets just say, from a lesser organization. I laugh sometimes, Kenpo is over-kill with strikes. Some of the combinations would end a person right away without the other strikes. Again, I mean no disrespect!

[@nhamilton9537]

Interesting modifications on what are essentially a mixture of Shorin Ryu and Goju Ryu Kata.

[@mgbushido]

Trained with him for 15 years

[@rickmortis]

Nice honor and Im sure great memories!

[@trevorpeluso-weaver1499]

What was that finger tip plank push up thing called does anyone know?

[@eastcoasttaekwondo330]

I just called them full body push-ups. Don't recall if that ever had a single proper name

[@johnday4902]

A lot of power here.

[@Yoshwayy]

The baddest man in New England at the time

[@louisviola9763]

Marvin Hagler?

[@IRONxMONKEY]

Fred Villari? :)

[@deejin25]

@@louisviola9763 I'll go with Hagler.Not to diss Cerio. Looks like he was in shape back then and actively training hard.

[@fredhugard7444]

@@IRONxMONKEY I've seen the old clips of Villari on here doing kata...his technique didn't look as bad as i expected.

[@mgbushido]

@@IRONxMONKEY Villari was trained by Cerio

[@blockmasterscott]

Dude was a beast in his prime. I loved watching him do katas.

[@michaelorsini2623]

Great stuff right here

[@chrisg5025]

Awesome to see this! I did 5 years of nick cerios kenpo. Getting my dan rank in 2007. Wish I could have met the man in person. I heard great things from my sensei about him. Rip professor cerio.

[@rickmortis]

I grew up near his studio and watched him give a demo there. I would have learned directly from him at the time, but I was a kid and it just never happened.

[@robertstclair8999]

Awesomeee!

[@chrisblanchard4938]

What was the name of the second form Mr. Cerio performed?

[@fredhugard7444]

Pinan 2

[@nhamilton9537]

1. Pinan Shodan 2. Pinan Sandan

[@whiskytango504]

To bad he soften his style and put a price tag on this style on Kempo, Sold it to everyone, put rank on people for money..the true sense and honor was lost in the late 80s. Now it's comical to watch..sad it didn't stay true

[@mgbushido]

That was so true. We could see it in the final years of our training with him, from 1983 till his passing in 1998. We went to him as black belts from Fred Valari school in Dedham, Mass. We knew we couldn't got any further worthwhile training . The Professor( Shihan at the time) agreed to meet with us. After the meeting he agreed to take us on as students as white belts !!! No hesitation we drove from Boston to N. Kingstown, RI twice a week for private lessons in 1983. We were white belts for 8 months then orange belts for a year then promoted to 1st degree brown belt. Year later Shodan. Then opened a school teaching Nick Cerio Kenpo. We didn't want any dan test as we did not want to wear stripes on our black belts. Saw too much of that at Valari's school. When did take a dan test, as he told us we did not have to wear stipes. After the test he said that we were the 1st black belts to learn his system from white belt to black belt. He had just started changing it to Nice Cerio's Kenpo when we started with him. He was tough as nails and a great instructor. RIP

[@miah1571]

Question. Out here in CT. His name holds weight. A high ranking BB who trained with him recently told me it was Professor Chow who promoted Professor Cerio to 10th Dan. I have no way to verify that. Would you have any input?

[@mgbushido]

@@miah1571 I did see a certificate that he had from Prof. Chow but I don't remember what what rank it indicated. His 10th came from Ed Parker or the Kenpo collaboration. We were his students at that time. I Prof Chow had already passed at that time.

[@miah1571]

Thanks for the reply. Yea, I guess alot of he said he said. I heard parker promoted him to 9th Dan Who knows. I'm contented to say his system was the final marker before shaolin kempo came out. Was always curious where Vilarri came in. When we were all ussd, no one ever accredited vilarri as the founder of the name shaolin kempo. But he has been accredited with being the founder of the " mc dojo".

[@mgbushido]

@@miah1571 You are probably right about his 9th Dan from Parker. We trained with Parker a few times with Prof. Cerio. Parker was a good instructor and very entertaining. Prof. Cerio told us that Vallari was one of his senior students. When Prof. Cerio went overseas to teach he left Vallari in charge. When he returned Vallari has promoted himself to 10th dan. That is when they parted ways. I punched-in for Vallari few times when he taught classes in his Dedham school. He had quick hands. Very skilled.