The Way of Least Resistance

Master Wu Bin demonstrating the sinking backfist (image courtesy of Kung Fu magazine) Following my previous articles "How civilian defence grappling differs from sport grappling" and " Elbow locks: an introduction ", I wanted to discuss one particular technique that warrants special attention in both contexts: Many of you martial artists will be familiar with the movement depicted on the right (demonstrated by Master Wu Bin - one of China's leading wushu trainers, as featured in the Kung Fu Special Edition 2012 magazine): This is a technique that features regularly in Chinese martial arts forms (including the feng quan forms taught in the Chen Pan Ling system). But what in the world is it? One of its main applications, as often demonstrated to me by Master Chen Yun Ching , is not as a backfist strike , but rather as an arm bar  to the elbow. Why in the world would you ever want to do an arm bar in a low, cross-legged stance like this, you might a...

Introduction In writing my preceding article " The ikkyo projection ", I became aware of need to address the (rather basic) question: "How should one go about locking an opponent's elbow"? Elbow locks are among the most common techniques in grappling - both in standup and ground fighting. Please note that in this article I'll be covering the type of elbow lock is commonly known as an "arm bar" - ie. a simple hyperextension of the elbow. I'll cover more elaborate twists of the elbow, eg. the "kimura" or "figure 4", another time. Furthermore, in this article I don't propose to analyse ground fighting, at least to any great extent. My primary purpose here is to write an adjunct to my previous article which relates to controlling your opponent's elbow in standup fighting. However I think it goes without saying that the basic principles I cover here are equally applicable both in standup and ground fighting. S...