Over the last 30 years, I have had the opportunity to train under some great teachers. Most notatbly is Lin Chun-fu, who taught me Praying Mantis, Tai-chi, Shaui-chaio, Hsing-I, Ba-Gua. Over the the past two years I've crossed trained in MMA and BJJ with some great fighters in So. Cal (e.g Eric Paulson, James Wilkes). This cross-training has changed the way I lead my small Tang Lang class I teach on Saturday mornings.
All of the traditional training usually started with the opponent punching with the right fist and right hand. The rational was, if you keep proper distance, this is the only way your opponent can reach you. Add the predictable punch with the opponent standing there like a statue (rt. hand & ft. extended), so all these cool techniques could be done while he stands there. I saw this at a Kung Fu San Soo school - I also saw this on a sample web video, where a visiting instructor was leading a throwing seminar - too much cooperating by the "opponent". It's in the magazines all the time. Guess what? this distance and attack almost never happens.
So when I started training with some of the local K1, IMF, etc., and saw how fast the punches were pulled, it made me realize our training needed to be adjusted. Fast left jabs, quick shin kicks to the thigh all needed to be dealt with. And to my surprise, my traditional Chinese martial art training worked excellent, when re-calibrated to Muai-Tai type attacks.
When we first started pulling the punches when the students were doing two-man forms for instance, they would "chase" the jab, over-extending and leaving themselves vulnerable. After some practice, they would execute the technique as if there was no opponent and the move worked perfect. In fact, Master Lin used to say, "when you practice solo, imagine there is an enemy (shadow-box). When there is an enemy, imagine their is no one there". When he taught this, it never really made sense - until our experimenting with actual fighting techniques. So, the art it self was perfect, it was the training that was flawed.
My intent of writing this is to increase an awareness of training setup, to maximize the effectiveness of your training. Don't just punch with the right fist/leg and the left hand chambered (like we've all seen too often).
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Amen Brother!
Originally Posted by Onjer
. Maybe because I started martial arts with no prior training or preconceived notions on how to fight, or maybe because we have a lot of forms drilling (especially bung bo) and not as much sparring practice, I find myself using some techniques when I spar. It just comes out. Another one is sliding your front foot in behind their foot, pointing your foot up. Opponents trip over it as they try to back up.
Greetings Onjer
