The Way of Least Resistance

Here are a couple of questions that were recently posed on the Traditional Fighting Arts Forums by "Kframe".  I thought it would be useful to post them here along with my answers: "Ok, now here is a great question with regards to the round kick and movement.  We all know that moving up the circle past the apex will cause the round kick to lose a lot of power. How far does that movement have to be fore it starts losing power? How much power does it lose in the first few inches past the apex?" A roundhouse kick loses force exponentially the moment it passes the apex.  How much is lost in a few inches?  It isn't easy to say definitively, but I'll give it a go in a minute (I'd need my brother to do some more precise calculations). Let's just say that even a few inches and I think you'll have lost more than the kick was worth.  That's exactly why the Muay Thai defences below involve body shifting sideways (ie. "taisabaki" or ...

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 ...

Introduction Martial artists often talk about the the "flinch reflex". Some insist on " training it out " or " getting over it " (if that is at all possible - more on that later). Others like Tony Blauer talk about the need to "transform" this reflex - ie. to harness it and turn it into a productive reaction rather than an essentially submissive one (see his " SPEAR " methodology). With due respect to Mr Blauer and others like him, I think the traditional martial arts have many hundreds of years head start on this idea. In this article I propose to show just how traditional techniques build on the flinch reflex so as to create a supremely effective response in civilian defence scenarios. What is the flinch reflex? This website defines the flinch reflex as follows: "The flinch response is an unconscious response to a perceived threat. Throughout human history, this survival mechanism has protected countless people from serious...

I experienced an unpleasant event a couple of days ago: I was walking along a busy walkway at the Wellington Street Bus Station here in Perth when a bus pulled up and people started pouring out. A fellow stepped off the bus straight into my path and we bumped into each other. I apologised (even though it wasn't my fault) and I stepped to the side to give him room to pass me. This is consistent with my nature: my first reaction is always a conciliatory one. And usually in such "bumping" cases the other person also apologises, we both smile and head off in our separate directions. This case however turned out to be different. Even though I stepped to one side in a conciliatory gesture, the other fellow decided to plough straight into/through me (rather than avail himself of the gap I'd created). He was a big fellow - at least a foot taller than I am and about 40 lb heavier. As he started to push into me I could see him looking straight ahead with a sneer, as if I didn...

Further to my article " Muidokan embu: 2 person forms for karate ": By design, any drill that is continous (ie. that "loops") must comprise entirely moves that permit continuation. This can be criticised as not allowing the practise of "finishing moves". Indeed this is a valid criticism. However it does not dissuade me from regarding continous 2 person "looping" drills as highly useful training. Rather, it merely suggests to me that they are only part of a well-rounded martial arts regimen. You shouldn't imagine that "looping" drills can replace kata and kata bunkai practise. Instead they add to them. How? Our most basic embu based on Fukyugata ichi - demonstrated by me as a single person sequence, then by Sam and Clement as a 2 person sequence. In the latter both sides are doing the same sequence as demonstrated by me. The answer to the above question lies in the closer consideration of "finishing moves": What ha...

Introduction The title of this post is, of course, a misnomer: there are many martial arts that preserve the deflections that I call "haiwan nagashi uke" and "ashibo kake uke". There are even more martial artists who use them unconsciously or unknowingly. However in traditional karate these are techniques that appear to be disappearing - at least in the kata. That they should do so is sad, because they are genuinely effective deflections; one might even say that they are essential elements of a civilian defence arsenal. Haiwan nagashi uke What is the haiwan nagashi uke? As I discussed in my previous post " Blending blocks ", haiwan nagashi uke is a rising block where the body is turned so that the deflection is carried past the head. It is unique in basic techniques because it is invariably accompanied by a " simultaneous " movement with the other hand; either a strike or another (usually low) block. The advantage of haiwan nagashi uke ove...