Fighting vs Self defense

In many traditional self-defense schools, the instructors are against sparring, they put forward that sparring is the sport side of martial arts and has no place in a self-defense situation. Whereas there is a small grain of truth in what they are saying I can’t help think that they are interpreting information for their own purposes. The purposes, as I see it, would be to have an excuse to not have sparring in their gyms so that students feel more comfortable and feel that just learning techniques will be enough.

This of course is not true and maybe a knee jerk reaction (or flinch response) to the amount that sport sparring has been propagated as real martial arts or real self-defense in the past. However, the idea that we should never spar is at least as misguided as the idea that sparring is the same as self defense.

So where do the 2 training systems fit?

If we look at the techniques contained with in the patterns, they all end (or should end) with either you are striking the opponent or putting them in a position where you have an advantage. As an example, we can look at the palm pressing block in Jhoong Gun. As I see it, it is a defense to an untrained tackle, quite a common attack for someone to drop down and charge at mid-level. With the palm pressing block, we take a lower and more stable stance and ‘press’ up and down with our palms on the shoulders of the attacker. The following movement on Moa Sogi, I see as I arm lock and a hair grab. This puts us in a strong position but as yet we haven’t started a counter attack. If we only use the patterns as they are, then at this point we have nothing left. At this point we drop back to our fighting skills and start delivering strikes.

Another example of this is the arm bar in Chon Ji. Generally represented by the low block, we are putting someone one into an arm bar and then step forward and punching them in the head. If we don’t get a good grip on the arm or if the opponent moves awkwardly or effects a release, then we have to fall back on our fighting to find target areas and deliver strikes or kicks and maybe re-establish a dominant position. Even if we do the technique perfectly the final strike in the technique will have to be followed up with more attacks, the attacks that you use will be dependent on the movement or reaction of the opponent.

Now, it is important to say here that when I say fighting skills, I don’t mean gain distance get up on your toes and start scoring points. I mean, getting in close, controlling limbs and then looking for an escape. The fighting skills are also informed by our pattern practice. If the above example from Chon Ji, if the opponent breaks free, they may very well bring their hands up for protection as they restart their attack. So here you switch from Chon Ji, to the knife hand guarding block from Dan Gun to clear the hands and strike the head.

To put it another way, the techniques in the patterns are snapshots of a violent situation, to move from one technique to another we need fighting skills. Through fighting skills we can connect the snapshots and make them a ‘movie’.

There are some ideas on how to work on this with my articles sparring drills, and more sparring drills.

Self defence system

The terms “self defence system” or “martial arts system” got popular years back. It certain sounds good but how accurate is it?

First let’s look at the definition of ‘system’

1. a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.
2. a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method

Certainty both of these would seem to fit many people’s idea of what a martial art should be. A set of principles and techniques that fit together. Sadly, this is not often the case especially when dealing with martial arts that profess to being a self defence style.

All to often when people cross train, they take a technique from a different art and bring to their dojang without really trying to make it fit Taekwondo. A good example of this is wrist locks. I have written a little bit before about ideas on wrist and other joint locks.  However, Taekwondo is primarily a striking art, there is limb control in the patterns, but they are generally there to open up target areas.  It is by no means bad to learn wrist locks but if you do you should learn them on a principle base and then integrate them in to the self defence system of taekwondo, find out where they fit and train them accordingly.

Without this process, you end up with a very messy martial art that is not a system but merely a bunch of techniques that look good stuck together. This is certainly not a system and is also a very good way to forget techniques and not progress in skill.

Through my investigation of the patterns and experience in other martial arts, I have changed my approach to Taekwondo. There are striking techniques which lead on to grabbing, controlling and hitting. There are defensive postures and techniques, which lead into grabbing controlling and hitting. There are stand up grappling techniques which lead into grabbing controlling and hitting.

Around these principles and techniques from the patterns I am free to looker deeper into each one and see what different patterns have to offer. It also gives me a base to work from when I am developing applications.

I would suggest that when you are looking into your own applications, that you try to see where the technique or principles fit with other things that you teach. If they don’t then you may need a little rethink. Either alter what you are teaching, or just accept that the technique is an optional extra

More information on my understanding of some of the things discussed in this article can be found in ‘the pyramid of skills’ and ‘the 3 C’s of tactical taekwondo’

What we take with us (repost)

This is a repost of an older article that I wrote when I moved from China to Indonesia. having just moved to Australia many of the thoughts here seem, once again, relevant.

I haven’t posted in a while, my life has been extremely busy. I got married in December and have spent the last few months preparing to leave China and move to Jakarta. Hopefully since Indonesia doesn’t have so many internet restrictions I’ll be able to post more often.

The subject of me moving country is connected to the theme of this posting. In moving country I have had to say goodbye to my students and teacher. It is never an easy thing to do, but sometimes life pushes you in a certain way. However, it did prompt me to thinking about what a person can take from training. I have moved around a lot and have always had to take as much from training as I can and make it my own.

Often I have had teachers move in and out of my life, if I don’t try to assimilate what they teach in to what I do then why bother training with them. I think that this is something people should ask themselves; what do you take from training?

I have known many good practitioners and Dan grades that have moved away from their dojang and as a result stopped practicing. Without the group or their teacher they maybe find out that their art is meaningless, and belong only in the gym. These are maybe the same people that would tell students that martial arts was part of their life.

I don’t think that someone has to leave their club or even travel to another country to find this out but just ask yourself, if you took away the dojang, your teacher, and dobok, what have you got?

In other words, does the art you practice belong to you or does it still belong to your teacher, do you still need a teacher to continue to develop. Of course we all need one in the beginning but there comes a time when you should be able to break free and start altering the art to fit your needs. It may seem strange for some especially in a system that encourages copying a form as closely as we can.

I think we all have to spend time actually studying the art that we practice so that when life does make staying at your current place of training impossible you don’t lose the art

Only once or All the time

The movements in the patterns have gone through changes over the years. Going way back, there was no sine wave, then sine wave was altered after its introduction, the way some movements are performed was changed and even a whole pattern was replaced. This all happened after the patterns were formed by changing Shotokan Kata.

The applications have also changed, as the people that have looked into the history of the kata and pattern have written a lot about. With all these changes and different ideas on application is can be very difficult to sort thought the applications and decide which are for you.

In this article, in will be looking at 2 principles which can help with digging though the applications.

All the time

As I mentioned in the Yul Gok article, if something happens consistently through all the patterns then you can assume that it is maybe something practiced for aesthetic or technical reasons rather than application. A good example of this is the cross hands position before most blocks and strikes. I have written before how the cross hands can be taken as a flinch that puts us in a good position for grabbing limbs and counter attacking. However, when we do it all the time there are techniques that just don’t fit that principle. So we have to be somewhat flexible in our thinking and if the small detail of a technique don’t fit then try without them.

Another example of a principle being present all the time is the ending of the patterns. Almost all end in a left and right repeated movement and almost all of them are blocks. These can largely be disregarded largely because it does really make sense from a practical sense. We can come up with all sorts of ideas for how a knife hand guarding block can be changed into a throw or lock when done to the left and the right, I’d rather just accept that that part of the pattern is there for a technical, artistic, or even philosophical reason.

Only once

Opposite to ‘all the time’ we have only once. This is when a movement has been given an application that is completely disconnected to anything else.

A good example of this is the U-shaped block in Jhoon Gun. It is often presented as defending and grabbing a stick. Now, apart from the obvious issues with trying to grab a weapon that is being used against you, the stick angle is not one that you would often see. There are also no movements in other patterns that are specialised to other stick attacks, a swing from the side, an attack down the way, or thing else that you would naturally do with a stick is represented. Therefore, we can largely disregard this application as an attack being made for the defence rather than the other way round.

What are we looking for?

If we remove the ‘all the time’ and ‘only one’ what do we have left? Hopefully, what we have are group of techniques that fit together in a system and represent common principles. The principles of one the techniques should be present in other patterns, we should be able to see the links between the different movements whether they be defensive, offensive or for grappling. In the next article I will be looking at what makes up a martial art system.

More Stances

A while ago I wrote about stances and how stances can drive the applications. Time time I’d like continue the investigation into stances, and look into 2 heavily criticized stances.

Moa Sogi (close stance)

Her I will be looking at moa sogi that is seen in Jhoong Gun and Toi Gye, not the range of Moa junbi sogi that are seen at the beginning of patterns. This is one stance that people watching the patterns will often pick up on and use a proof that the patterns are ineffective. The close position of the feet certainly would make it seem like not a stance you would want to adopt in any violent encounter.

As with most things in the patterns we have to look a little deeper and past just the stance as an isolated technique. in both of the aforementioned patterns and even in Hwa Rang we move into the stance in the same way. We turn and adopt a position facing 90 degrees to the previous stance. in this we are using moa sogi to out from directly in front of (or behind) our opponent  but remain very close.

If you take Jhoong Gun for example, the front foot of the low stance would be out near the opponent, we use that as a guide as to where the opponent would be. If we turn and adopt a walking stance our body would be further away that we want for the next technique, also the turn would be slower. Moa sogi allows us to turn quickly and remain very close to our opponent which is important if we want to keep control. Of course, it is not a stance to stay in for any length of time but merely to gain a better position and to then flow into the next stance.

Kyocha sogi (X-stance)

This is another stance that is often used to demonstrate how impractical the movements in patterns are. Again, the critics are quite correct that you don’t really want to stand with your legs crossed while fighting. However, what they miss is that kyocha sogi is for moving in while maintain control of an opponent.

In this article I am not going to look into the patterns where we jump in to X-stance as this requires further exploration. I will be using Po Eun as an example pattern

If we look at Po Eun for example, if we use what is often seen as a double punch to the side, to grasp an opponent, the next move we need to keep control of the opponent while moving in. If we take the weight off our front foot we rick losing strength and therefore control. We also can’t simply step forward as the control that we have on the opponent prevents that. So instead, we perform an x stance, keeping weight and control on the front leg and driving down with both hands as we close distance. This is sometimes seen as an entry into judo techniques

So again we see here that 2 stances when taken completely out of context are completely useless. However, when we apply then to the close in and grappling nature of violent confrontation their purpose becomes clear. Once we understand these applications we can be free to explore other application with the same principles.

Pattern practice (repost)

This is a repost of an article that I wrote a few years ago. With many Dojang closed and people finding training difficult I thought it was worth making these points again.

Most schools practice the patterns in the same way. That is putting focus and power into each individual movement. This is an excellent practice in many ways, it builds control of the body, builds technical proficiency, and power. However, the way that we practice patterns also hides a lot of the applications, movements that should flow together or movements that are throws, locks or redirects/parries are obscured by the ‘tick- tock’ way that we move during our practice.  

Of course all of the applications can be practiced with a partner once we have found the meaning for the movements, but then that causes a disconnect between pattern practice and application. i.e. the way we move in each are unrelated. I think it is this disconnect why a lot of people see patterns as just an exercise for creating power rather than a practice of fighting techniques, and even look to other styles for self-defence techniques.

Pattern practice doesn’t have to be like that. If you move away from the competition or grading requirements and practice them as at real training tool and more importantly personalise your pattern practice

Firstly, we should all have a good knowledge of the pattern, the usual way of practicing gives us great muscle memory, power and balance, once you have got to the point that you can practice those patterns almost automatically, by that I mean without thinking about the next movement, you can start making the practice more challenging by increasing the tempo. At this point it is important that you take all the knowledge gained from learning the patterns and apply it at a higher speed. This involves finishing each movement; keeping the same concentration of power, and keeping you balance as well as still being technical in stances and target areas. This shouldn’t be used as an excuse just to blast through the patterns without thinking.

Through this practice you will hopefully notice that some parts of the patterns flow together easier than others. Also moving fast will give you a better idea of how the movements look like when used. We then should try to move them forward one more step to expressive practice.

During this practice the only thing we are thinking about is the application of the forms. The practitioner can ‘play’ with the tempo of the movements. Practicing the pattern in short bursts of speed according to the application that, that individual prefers. For example in the pattern Won Hyo, the practitioner may do the first three movements as a quick blast, then the next three,  the bending ready stance and side kick could be done individually followed by the knife hand guarding blocks all being one ‘group’

Through this practice the student is gaining an understanding of which movements flow in to each other and which are isolated or beginning of a new group. It doesn’t matter if your interpretation is the same as other students’ but for many forms there is a more logical way of dividing them up.

Following this it is up to the student to go and take that information and practice applying it for this a practice partner is needed, however, by the time we get to the partner stage we should be more used to moving faster and in a more natural way with in the form of the patterns so the application of the pattern should be getting clearer.

There are of course many other ways that patterns could be practiced. If we break away from the competition/ grading idea of trying to do them in a set way without considering what the movements are for. Also this helps us get away from dealing with the movements like each of them are meant to be applied in an isolated fashion. Patterns can also be done slow with maximum concentration and intensity or in a very loose way to practice developing power from your body rather than your arms.

These are just a few ideas. Have fun playing with you patterns

Open blocks

 I recently post on lain Abernethy’s forum about one of the issues of using large blocking movements. In this article I am going to expand on the ideas presented in that post.

 People who study bunkai and application to the forms movements are usually in agreement that many of the movements labeled as ‘blocks’ are in fact something else. The reasoning behind this is very sound. As an example ‘San Makgi’, for this movement to be a used as a block we have to have a very specific situation and also be confident enough to block 2 attacks at the same time. 

Clearly, when we take some movements as blocks we run into a few problems. However, there is one more problem that is worth discussing. That is one of natural movement and mindset. When we are protecting ourselves or in a state of panic and fear, we tend to make ourselves small and be in a tight position. Our hands come up tight round our head to protect ourselves from whatever is coming towards us. 

Even if we are prepared for an attack this can happen. If we look at MMA competitors or boxers, who are in a highly conditioned and in a high state of readiness, they will still resort to bringing the hands up in a protective posture rather than blocking each individual attack. This is a natural defensive movement and as such is very difficult to override. Especially when we are not prepared for an attack.

Now if we take this into consideration and then look at the blocking movement in many of the patterns, we can see that the exact opposite is happening. We are extending our arms and infacting offering ourselves less protection than the more natural position that our body wants to adopt when under threat. We can see this clearly in the openg positions of many of the patterns, Do San or Joong Gun for example would have us in fairly open postures in response to an incoming attack. 

Now you can make the argument that the movements in the patterns represent ideas and the ‘openness’ of the movements is there just for demonstration purposes. However, I don’t feel this has much validity as the amount we have to change the movements to make them practical would render the original movements useless.   

I have stated before, but it is worth repeating that I feel in many cases the cross hands ‘chamber position’ is  a much better defence. It is closer to our natural flinch response and puts us in a better position to grab limbs and execute counter attacks. 

I have written before how that can be seen in Do San, but we can also see it in Yul Gok with the middle forearm block and even the low block in Chon Ji can be better applied in this way.

Are there times when an extended block may work? Yes, of course there are, but as well as the movement we have to consider the mindset required for that movement to be effective. To be that open and to move forward into an attack we have  to be aggressive and have some degree of confidence.

This of course goes for other movements as well. Whenever we train we need to consider the not just the technical and physical aspects for a technique but also the mindset required to make the technique work. Mindset itself is something that we need to spend time working on but that is for another article.

The Double Punch

I haven’t posted anything in a while due to being busy. However I do have a few articles in the pipeline. This month I want to look at double punch, and its application

It would be easy to assume that double punch is very common technique in the Taekwondo syllabus. Certainly it is common in both line drills and sparring. However, when we look at the patterns, double punch is not very common at all. In fact up to black belt, I can only count 4 patterns that contain the technique.

My first question when starting to investigate the double punch was, why does it exist at all? Everywhere else through the patterns a single punch in deemed enough to hit an opponent. If it is enough, why have a double punch at all? If is not enough why doesn’t every technique end with a double punch? Also why stop at double punch, why not double knifehand?

There may be an argument that sometimes you need to hit an opponent more than once. This is true but we can’t really build patterns on ‘sometimes’. Trying to account for every possibility in a fight would make patterns unmanageably long and is something best practiced in well constructed sparring. Also the principle of ‘sometimes’ is not reflected in any of the other patterns.

As with other techniques, we have to look at the double punch in context.

Let’s start with Do San. In the pattern we have a wedging block, a front kick, and then the double punch.  I have written before about my own interpretation of this movement. However no matter what interpretation you practice, it is likely that the front kick will disrupt the opponents’ balance thus moving his head about. It would be difficult therefore to catch the head with a single punch as it bobs about. Watch any boxing or mma match and you’ll see this to be true.

If we consider this then we can say that the first movement isn’t a punch at all but a movement to relocate secure the head before punching. This is similar to principles that we can see all the way through the patterns. That of grabbing and hitting. Another application would be to grab the head and use the double punch motion to twist the neck.

As an aside this movement is taken almost directly from the karate kata ‘jion’ but instead on a double punch it is a punch, double punch. To me this strengthens the case that they are not all meant to be punches

If we look at Yul Gok, we can see a similar idea. In the opening movement of Yul Gok the foot slides out to form a sitting stance, when I learnt this pattern I was taught that the foot moves in a semi-circle, rather than moving directly sideways. To me this represents a reaping or unbalancing technique, the hands at this point aiding the unbalancing. Again this technique takes the opponent’s head far off the centerline and we need to relocate it in order to deliver the punch, equally we can also look at this as wrenching or twisting the neck.

Similar ideas can be taken from the opening of Hwa Rang, of unbalancing and the relocating the head.

When looking at alternative application, I think we have to be careful not to be over critical with the mainstream applications. Maybe you feel that the way the applications are presented are not all correct, but I don’t think we should assume they are all wrong either. In saying that, I do feel that double punch is one technique that appears simple but has some extra meaning behind it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Thank you

My Journey – part two

This is a continuation of the previous article detailing my journey through the martial arts, if you would like to read part one you can find it here

 

Krav Maga

After leaving Aikido I floated for a few months until I was invited to try Krav Maga by one of the Aikido black belts I had trained with. I was a bit reluctant at first, I wasn’t at all sure about going for what could be seen as a modern art after spending so much time in the traditional styles.

After a bit of persuasion I went along to see what it was like. I loved it. Running about hitting pads, sweating, and breathing heavy was like returning home. The simplicity of Krav and the training methods makes for a very effective self-defense system.

The classes had just newly opened were quite small, in fact I was in the first group of 8 people to train Krav in Beijing. Of the 8, every single one of us had a black belt in one style or another, this made the training really hard and a lot of fun. We all knew how to train and whether it was pad work or contact drills we were all pushing each other as hard as we could.

One thing that happened while I was Krav was I realized how much extra power I had from learning to relax in the Chinese styles. I was no longer forcing the punches and feeling tight in my body but letting fly with loose strikes. Due to this, the standing and walking practices I learnt from Zhu Baozhen remain part of my practice to this day.

Krav Maga grew rapidly in Beijing, class numbers rose from 8, to around 20, to over 30 on some evenings. With the increase in students more instructors were needed, I happily put myself forward for the instructor’s course. Different from other martial arts, in Krav you don’t become an instructor after time served. You go through a very demanding course. In my case it was 2, two-week long courses. During the course you train every day from about 8 am – 6 pm, constantly running through the technical aspects of the art and the teaching methodology. Each course ends in a day long exam.

The standard expected from instructors is very high and the course is both mentally and physically demanding. It was a great experience, really pushing yourself to your limits each day.

I passed the course and returned to the gym to face the new challenge of being an instructor. I took my turn running regular classes, women’s self-defense classes, and special seminars. I was very happy to be working in the industry.

Balintawak

From time to time I go online to find out what is happening within the martial arts in my local area. It was through a casual internet search that I found my final teacher Mr. Frank Olea. He had posted an ad on one of the local forums that simply said ‘weapons training’. Being a Krav trainer, which involves a number of different weapons, this sounded something that would suit me.

I contacted him and set up meeting. It turned out he was living very close to me and was a Master level teacher in the Filipino art of Balintawak.

Balintawak is a single stick system of Eskrima, traditionally taught one on one from instructor to student. The instructor teaching the student through giving them increasingly complex and rapid attacks for the student to deal with.

That was how the training was, first defending against simple attacks, then attacks where my weapon hand was held, then defending against disarm attempts and so on. All of this was done training outside, and because of our individual work schedules, in the dark.

Frank would continually push me to understand the weapon movements especially the knife which he specialized in. He was also always pushing himself and trying to develop his art, the benefit of having a younger master as a teacher. He would occasionally come up with a new attack combination or angle that I had to defend against, either with a stick or a training knife. One night he came down from his apartment and announced that for the next few weeks we would be training with live blades.

For me Balintawak brought a number of things together the methods of Balintawak complement the Chinese systems very well due to the close in nature of the style. It also blends quite well with some of the Krav techniques.

Frank granted me permission to teach his style shortly before I left Beijing.

Currently, I live in Jakarta where I teach both Krav Maga and Balintawak with some Tactical Taekwondo thrown in. I choose not to study any additional  styles right now. I use my time in this country to consolidate what I have learnt from all the teachers I have known.

As I said in the about section I try to bring everything I learn back to the original TKD patterns that I learnt. For example, my interpretation of the opening movement of Do San was inspired by the attention paid to natural movements in Krav Maga techniques, and my application of Sonkal Daebi Makgi was taken from the chicken form from Xingyiquan and some of the Bagua entering movements.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey through the martial arts. I don’t know where my path will lead me next, but I know I will be training and studying martial arts for as long as I am able.

San Makgi – The most misunderstood ‘block’ in Taekwondo

I mentioned in a previous article that Do San was the most hated pattern in TKD, but how it contains some very strong applications. The same can be said for san makgi. When teaching Toi Gye, it is difficult for new students and teachers to go through the section of the pattern with 6 san makgi in a row with a straight face. The movement looks so odd and unmartial, I have heard it called may things, cowboy walking, space invaders, this silly move, and many more things.

The mainstream application, to defend a kick or a punch, has a lot of common flaws in it, and generally leads instructors and practitioners to view it as an exercise to work the hips.

In an effort to give it some martial validity, some teachers present this as a forearm strike with a block and even a kick added. I have a few issues with this particular interpretation.

Firstly, you are changing the basis of the movement. When executing san makgi we are driving both arms,  and one leg with the hips at the same time, of you change it in to 3 movements, a kick, block and forearm strike then you are changing the way that the movement is being performed. You can read more about my views on movement variance here.

Also, why a forearm strike, it seems a fairly impractical attacking weapon, when a knife hand would be much more effective and in keeping with the attacking tools that are represented throughout the patterns.

Even the kick seems like a little bit of an afterthought when I have seen this being demonstrated it always seems cramped and uncomfortable for the person demonstrating the kick. Techniques, as a rule, should never looked forced or uncomfortable.

So, my take on san magki is a little different.

Going back to a recent article I wrote on stances and applications, I suggested that sitting stance is mainly used in tripping and throwing movements. This is exactly what I think san makgi is.

What is seen as a kick, is actually stepping over/round the opponents leg. We are aiming to have our ‘kicking leg’ land either in front or behind our opponent lead leg, depending on the orientation of the opponent, either facing towards (leg behind) or away from you (leg in front). This puts us in the position to throw our opponent over our leg.

Our arms are going to be used to pull the opponent over our lead leg. The back hand on the opponents arm and the front hand on the body. Again it depends whether the opponent is facing you or facing away from as t where your hands are.

The hip motion brings the movement of the hands and feet together at one time, planting the foot as we pull our opponent over

Of course to do this we have to gain position, this s the reason for the repeated movements in the Toi Gye pattern., as the opponent moves back to avoid the first attempt then  they open themselves for the second, front to back, or vice versa

 

To complete the sequence we have another misunderstood move, doo palmok miro makgi. If we use the application above, then the purpose of the ending block is easier to understand.

If the trip is done to the front, then there is a danger of it not having much effect, more just unbalancing the opponent. They can easily just get back up and continue their attack. Doo palmok miro makgi helps us to maintain the dominant position by wrapping the arm and helping us locate the head of the opponent.

With this application of the technique I believe that there is less changing of the movement from thr way it is presented in the patterns. Making it a stronger use for the movement rather than changing everything to make it fit the block punch system. As with everything else, the techniques cannot be taken on surface understanding, they have to be trained and adapted to the person and situation only then can it be included into a personal system

I realise that explanations of techniques are sometime difficult reading. I am hoping soon to make some video demonstrating the various application that I have discussed here.

Until then I hope that you enjoy my discussion on the various techniques.

 

Happy Training!!!