Jamming and Bridgeing

[red5angel]

Can I get some descriptions of these two terms from you peeps? I understand bridgeing in its application for WC but I am wondering if it means different things to different people in different styles.

[apoweyn]

what does it mean in wing chun?

i'm imagining that it means a method by which to safely cover distance. getting past someone's kicks to a punching range, for example.

does that sound right?


stuart b.

[EARTH DRAGON]

Jamming...... to stop your opponents force or tecnique by retarding or obstructing the movement before it starts.

Bridgeing.... moving into your opponents space to close off the distance. To aid in jamming or countering

[Jaguar Wong]

from my point of view (what I was taught), bridging is basically closing the gap to get into a more favorable fighting range. Or if you're on their outer gates (kicking, or long punching range), it's using something (feint, footwork, strikes, etc) to get into the inner gates, or for a clinch/grab and control the opponent better. Usually with two pretty equal fighters, the more aggresive guy that can bridge successfully into a clinch has a bit more of an advantage, because he's acting, while the other guy has to react with the constant changes (the bridge, then the clinch).

jamming, again from my point of view, is using any technique to stop the momentum/movement of your opponent, placing him in a less favorable position, or even better, breaking his balance. The most common jams that I've seen are basically more like bum rushes, using the arms/forearms to attack the shoulders, or collarbone of the opponent when he's going for a wide kick or punch. The jam usually ends up in a clinch with the defender (now the aggressor) controling the movement, and either putting the attacker on his heels, or attacking from the clinch.

The jam that I use the most is less aggressive. I plant a front or side thrust kick into the hip/dan tien area of my opponent when I see them preparing for anything, whether it's a punch, kick, bridge, step, etc. The only problem is when they go for a shot. I'm basically handing them a single leg in that situation. Sure my kick lands pretty good, but it basically folds them right over where they need to be for the takedown.

Hope that sheds some light on the question.

[apoweyn]

that's basically what i was thinking. i knew what jamming was, but bridging i was less sure about.

i would agree that bridging is more than closing distance. it's overcoming resistance to do so. hence the 'bridge' analogy. you don't need a bridge to cross a field. you need one to cross a stream in that field. likewise, you don't need bridging to close distance. you need it to get past the obstructions present between you and the desired distance.

so, to my mind, bridging would encompass techniques for closing distance, but also techniques for immobilizing (jamming, for instance), shifting, or otherwise removing obstacles (stop kicks, blocking, etc.) on the way.

example: everytime i close on a guy, he sidekicks me in the ribs. he's a better kicker than me. no question. so i want to get to punching range. i feint high, jam his sidekick counter with my lead foot, trap his hands on the way in, and strike. that's how i envision bridging.

(can i do any of that? [shrug] depends on the day, i suppose.)

does that make sense?



stuart b.

[Jaguar Wong]

yeah that sounds like good use of jamming to aid in bridging. Another good example of bridging is Mark Kerr's super crisp low single to get the takedown under the opponent's effective striking zone.

Tigerstyle has an interesting way to bridge. He'll absorb a shot (cushioning it, so it doesn't have the oomph that you want it to), and basically smother you on the inside. I've seen him calmly get inside the apex of a roundhouse and walk through a guy once. That was funny. But mostly he covers, and moves into punching range (or grappling range now that he's a grappler...almost :p). He was even doing this when he was smaller than most guys, but now that he's a big guy, he seems more snooty about it.

I figure as long as he's not doing some lame hopping hokey pokey front stomp feint and Frankestiening his way in for a bad single leg like Royce Gracie, he's doing OK. (note: I really like Royce Gracie, but his takedowns are actually worse than mine are...well not really, but they still suck compared to the standard in the "sport").

[apoweyn]

:)

i have a similar tactic. i absorb the kick in the teeth, then fall down with the guy's foot still in my mouth, thereby affecting the takedown.

not only does it take the fight to the ground. it also rids me of all those pesky childhood memories.

seriously, though, what you describe tigerstyle doing is a really nice example of bridging, zoning, jamming, etc. one of my favorite tactics against the spinning hook kick actually. good stuff.



stuart b.

[Jaguar Wong]

Dude, don't compliment him. His head's big enough already. In fact, he used that on me against a spinning hook kick in one of the last sparring sessions (I think it was like 56 years ago, or something like that. I'm losing count). I think I fell on my butt. Either that, or staggered around trying to catch my balance like a point sparring champion after actually landing a technique. ;)

[apoweyn]

[laugh]


zoning, i think, has a place in this discussion as well. the idea that an attack occupies certain spaces at certain times, and that the trick is to be in different spaces at those times. that's how i would classify that spinning hook kick defense. bridging by zoning into the space before the kick arrived and jamming the thigh.

three cheers for clever, big-headed tigerstyle. ;)


stuart b.

[Brett Again]

Most common interpretation of "jamming" that I use is jamming a kick in pre-kick mode by getting to close to it... ie. You see the skip beginning and front leg emptying for a skip side kick... you stutter step in so he can't even chamber the kick properly because you're too close. Chances are at this point you can uproot and take down, or at least off-balance and counter attack.

Bridging = "any method or technique of getting close enough to damage the opponent that augmepnts your ability to simultaneously prevent him from damaging you."