Martial Scientist

Wing Chun v. Kickboxing

2009-06-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

A refreshing change from most "sparring" videos that feature a traditional martial art being eaten alive by a "modern" martial art. There's one big change that makes a difference in this one, though. I'll put it at the end, see how long it takes you to figure out where I'm going with it.

First, they're wearing their own respective gloves. The Wing Chun guy has open-handed gloves on, the kickboxer has traditional boxing gloves on. Also, elbow pads. Elbows matter.

Second, their feet. Wing Chun guy is able to continually advance with drop steps in a straight line. Further, he's able to prevent the kicking game from becoming a factor by launching direct kicks against the stable leg of his opponent, with linear kicks directed below the waist.

Finally, there's the distance and movement. Even though the Wing Chun fighter is expending much less energy and moving much less, his ability to launch a sudden set of linear attacks is keeping the kickboxer from moving into his most effective range and jamming out any circular attacks.

So what makes the difference? It comes down to who's playing whose game. In a kickboxing match, their would be a ring to force more circular footwork, they'd both be wearing full-sized gloves, their would be no elbow threat, and low kicks would be *right* out. But this isn't a kickboxing match.

This is the Wing Chun guy playing his game against a kickboxer. And naturally, he's winning his own game.

So that's where I'm going with this. Your success is almost 100% based on how well you can make the other guy play your game. It's an old axiom that strikers train to stay on their feet and grapplers train to take them off of them, but it even works on striking. But it goes further and farther out than that. Striker v. Striker, Grappler v. Grappler, whatever have you.

You've spent the majority of your time getting good at something in particular. How well can you make it matter?

Homework: What if you've trained to be as balanced as possible? How do you make *that* matter?

Quick Thought

2009-06-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

It's perfectly permissible to attack the unweighted leg with a hand technique, if possible. It's very difficult to avoid a throw while you're hopping around on your weighted leg.

Spend some time studying the single leg pickup and you'll see the mechanism. Just don't get caught bending over to pick up a weighted leg.

Good luck.

New Footwork Drill

2009-06-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat drill for working on the distance half of timing. Or the timing half of distance. Or something like that.

The attacker begins by launching any attack, preferrably in slow motion to start. The defender then blocks, parries, or checks the attack while taking a step. Against some attacks, though, the defender may be able to defend solely by stepping out of the way. After the defender moves, he should then launch one slow-motion attack to verify that he's in range, shifting his weight but not moving his feet. Then, the attacker should launch a second attack, shifting his weight but not moving his feet, which the defender should not block, only attempt to lean out of.

This is an amazing drill for developing distancing, and it feels like a miracle when it works. The secret is in the degree of weight that can be shifted. If the attacker over-commits, he has no additional way to shift any further weight forwards when the defender leans back. If the defender does not shift enough weight backwards during the attack, he'll be too close to lean away from the second attack.

Most importantly, as always, is to have fun with it.

Today's drill is courtesy Michael Giles.

My knees are sore, and that makes me happy.

2009-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Push hands was fun, and I happily, intentionally overdid it. Everything but my arms and ankles was so sore yesterday and today, it hurts to move. That sort of endorphin-generating good soreness of a great workout.

Including my knees.

See, when I was young and stupid, I really pushed my right knee past what I should have. Pain was, in this case, weakness entering the body. It hurt so bad and got so weak as things went on that I eventually ended up using a cane on bad days. The problem was that the knee wasn't hurt bad enough in any one way to fix, so I was pretty out of luck.

Then a Tai Chi practicing friend taught me Part the Wild Horse's Mane, Single Whip, and a "hipwork" movement in which the legs are placed at 90 degree angles to themselves and the weight is shifted forward and back using only the pivot of the hips and purely linear movements of the knee. At first, the exercises felt so easy I wasn't sure I was getting anything out of them.

Then I put my cane in the closet.

Ordinarily after a workout like Sunday's, I'd be using my cane to get to the bathroom, because that's where we keep the Advil. Now I'm sitting here on the couch, cane still in the closet, poking my knee with my finger and smiling at the mere presence of a little over-did-it stiffness.

And being thankful.

Push Hands Thought

2009-06-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

"I've been here two days and I've already learned to push, pull, pick up, stand, turn. and drink from a bottle. This is going so much faster than the first time through. :)"

A Man Apart

2009-06-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

1) I've had formal teaching in a variant of Goju Karate and Aikido.

2) I've had actual experience working as a bouncer.

3) I no longer take formal teaching, or bounce.

4) I still love and explore as much Martial Arts information as I can get my hands on.

5) It's about time I started sharing. :)