Originally Posted by
-N-
In the Wong Hon Fan / Brendan Lai line of Mantis, we look for the minimum amount of effort/control that allows delivery of the maximum amount of damage. This is in line with our emphasis on speed, maneuverability, and changeability at a faster rate than the opponent can process. In modern military strategy, this is understood as getting inside the opponent's OODA loop.
In our version of Bung Bo, the opponent opens with a right side attack which you counter. He does a switch up to follow up with a left hand attack because you momentarily controlled his right.
Your right hand catches his left wrist and your left hand controls on the inside of his elbow. You are stepping back with this motion, so the effect is to jerk his body forward and his head/torso down while making him sink his weight onto an overextended footwork. This allows a left groin kick into a wide open target. He doesn't have much of a chance to attack with his elbow.
This approach is more about agility and making your technique appear, then vanish in an instant.
We do the Mantis Catching Cicada from the outside position as in Richard's example as well. For us, the footwork is either retreating to pull him in, or shooting in to run him over. We have elbow control in either situation so we don't worry about his elbow attack. Either way, we don't stand in one place and duke it out or struggle. We are about transition, mobility, momentum, and the blitz.
Also, we tend not to do a big power slam on the overturned elbow. Our motions take advantage of small spiraling motions to intercept and control with minimal detection by the opponent. By that time we are already in and our waist power and closing the line generates the force on his elbow with minimal effort on our part. We only need that force for an instant to do damage(to the elbow) and our main interest is to keep going until we have taken him out.