The Way of Least Resistance

Introduction: that nasty first punch I recently had my attention averted to a blog post of the (always interesting!) Wim Demeere, ie. "How not to block a punch" . I find myself agreeing with pretty much all of what Wim has to say, but I have my own gloss on the issue – particularly as it relates to that all important first punch that people so often face. First, let's have a look at the video that Wim critiques. I have embedded it below: A video featuring an assortment of punches to the face – all of which are unanswered – and a particular practitioner's answer to how to "block" such punches. "It's not possible to block this sort of punch – and here's the evidence!" The first thing people think of when watching a video like this is to question whether it is at all possible to "block" such a punch. They will draw distinctions of the kind I make later in this article under the heading "What about the practiti...

Introduction Recently a member of the Traditional Fighting Arts Forums, Emero, posted a query where he asked how one would defend against a spinning kick and a reverse crescent kick, pointing to the 2 examples below: A video showing the spinning back kick A video showing the reverse crescent kick I answered Emero on the particular thread, but I thought the question was appropriate enough to pose, and answer, here in my blog - especially since it will feed into my upcoming article “ Situational reflex: the key to martial effectiveness ”. Challenges in dealing with circular attacks What Emero notes is that powerful circular attacks are hard to respond to. A linear attack is relatively easy to understand and can be dealt with by controlling the center line (a topic I hope to address in the future). But circular attacks don’t really respond to the same methods; for one thing, they don’t move along the center line, so controlling it does not yield the same benefits. Now i...

Embusen: a kata's movement "floorplan" “Embusen” is a Japanese term that literally means “demonstration line(s)”. It is commonly used to describe the pattern of lines along which a kata is performed. So, for example, the kata pinan nidan / heian shodan has a sideways “H” embusen (meaning that when performed, the kata will, broadly speaking, trace an “H” - or if you prefer, a capital I with serifs - on the ground). The kata shisochin has both an “x” and a “+” embusen (ie. it moves in 4 directions from the centre - which fits well with its name, meaning “4 direction battle”). The variations on embusen are almost endless - particularly when one looks at other arts. The “embusen” of the internal art of xingyiquan is essentially a straight line forward and a straight line back. Baguazhang’s “embusen” comprises endless circles, like eddies in a pond or stream. I even know of one bak mei (white eyebrow) form where the “embusen” traces the Chinese character that is the name ...