Wen Hsiu Quan

Hi, everyone! During this week Sifu Randy Brown from our G+ Community collaborated with another favourite member of mine-Sensei Ando to give us a really good demonstration (good meaning practical and straightforward) of how to deal with a rear bear hug. Because I know both instructors are Kungfu instructors and because Kungfu has a very special place in my heart (Wenhsiuquan is about 70% Kungfu) I felt like sharing my take on this classic Taijiquan move with them. You are welcome to see it too. Now- I must apologise in advance. My ability to get a partner for a demo video is about the same as a Jehovah's Witness getting invited in. So- I had to create my own Uke for this post. :D I know he is not as good as a real person, but he gets the job done... Now- Although I will agree that modern arts like BJJ and Krav Maga have done a lot to teach us real solutions to real problems I still have a strong preference to a martial art that you can study your w...

Hello, everyone. After reading Jackie Bradbury's recent article in our G+ community I felt compelled to share what I have learnt in this regard. Some of you already know that I am a practicing attorney and among those who know are a number of people who know that I have at one stage of my career spent 4 days out of my 5 day work week in a criminal court as what American readers refer to as a "Public Defender". Charges of "Common Assault" and "Assault GBH" formed a large part of my briefs during that time. Now- I am not going to quote a bunch of court cases or legislation in today's post. I save that kind of talk for when I appear before magistrates and judges. They like hearing that kind of thing. What I do want to do is give martial arts students who do care about the law and who wish to abide by it the guidelines that he/ she has to keep in mind. It is actually not a lot to remember and actually quite simple. I live in South Africa a...

Hello again, everyone. I trust everyone has been training well this week. My Saturday workout took a bit longer to finish as I started on my undertaking to learn the kata Gankaku. By the look of things I have about 75% of the sequence down. Hopefully the other 25% will be there next Saturday. :D Effectiveness is one of the main discussion points we find in martial arts groups and among martial artists in general. It has probably been the number 1 sales point on which new styles or old, but formerly obscure styles, used to gain students.  I remember the publicised No-Rules Tournaments in the 90's. They were the precursors to the MMA we see today. Journalists and commentators all held the view that the aim of these tournaments was to determine the most effective martial art. Well- the 90's are long gone and I have not seen any martial art styles disappearing from existence after these tournaments. Before the 90's Judo champion and Shotokan black belt Ha...

Hello again, everyone! Today's post is the last in the series on Kungfu moves that we find in Karate. This move is one of 3 double handed strikes that show up in forms from time to time. Because fists are allowed in most martial arts sparring competitions (except Judo for instance) some might even say that they have used it as opposed to the other strikes that are both open handed. The Twin Dragons are found in Shaolin Forms and consist of two punches- one chest level and one stomach level, shooting out simultaneously. It is also executed by punching the face and abdomen at the same time. The original version of the technique looks like this: This version is also found in the Bassai Dai and Rohei kata of Shukokai. Other Okinawan-based styles also use this method. Japanese styles of Karate like Shotokan and Wado Ryu have the arms bent, further apart and the body leaning into the punch like this: While the first method is sufficient for hitting two ta...

Hello, everyone! I think this stance is one recognised easily by Kung Fu and Karate practitioners alike. It is the mother of all stances. When you want to teach someone proper posture for Chinese, Japanese or Okinawan martial arts (okay- Korean martial arts as well), the Horse Stance is an excellent place to start. In sparring context both Karate and Kungfu uses the stance facing forward for stationary practice. Punches and strikes are practiced while the legs get a workout and the student starts to develop the rooting necessary for effective technique. Once Horse Stance is mastered other stances follow with very little difficulty as the relaxed shoulders, low centre of gravity and upright back are things essential to all other basic stances that follow. It is true that one starts learning ducking and leaning at an advanced stage, but that would be useless without the foundation laid by basic stance training. Ask a Karate master the value of Kiba Dachi-or Horse...

Hello again, everyone. Thank you for joining me. I am at the last chapter on moves found in forms of Karate and Kung Fu that are similar or even exactly the same. This particular movement called "Single Tiger Emerges from Cave" consists of three elements that I will analyse separately. Firstly- the stance being adopted may be known to even a lot of kyu-level students of styles like Shito and Goju Ryu as Cat Stance. In Chinese martial arts we find it being referred to as Tiger Stance. While I have not yet seen any Karate katas showing it, one of the functions of this stance is to enable you to shoot into Bow (forward) Stance while attacking with a move like Black Tiger Steals Heart (which is a fancy Chinese name for Gyaku Zuki to put it simply). The second element is the hand form called "Tiger Claw" that sweeps forward and outwards to deflect a straight attack. Hand forms are an integral part of Shaolin Kungfu and the Tiger Claw is ...