Wen Hsiu Quan

Welcome back, everyone. Christmas is by now a pleasant memory, some of us have already settled into the habit of writing the date correctly- 2020 is here and we are ready to work... One of the disadvantages of training alone is that there is nobody but you to keep your mind focused on the job. I have found that I have a lot on my mind this year. Nothing special- we all do at some time. And- it does affect our training. The funny thing about it is, however, that you need to leave all thoughts and cares outside the dojo when you are training, right? Well- this is why I love martial arts. Once you learn to properly focus on your training, you learn to give yourself a break from all those work problems, family issues and whatever is waiting to eat you outside the dojo. Giving your mind that break actually helps you better to reach a solution for whatever problem it is with which you may be dealing at any given time. Thing is- life is always going to ...

This is usually the time when we take some time to look back to the highlights of a year. This year I became aware of the end to three things approaching. The first thing that I have seen coming to an end is this blog. Well- I am not done yet, but I can see that I am running out of things to say here. :D I used to announce my December Break from blogging at this time of the year, but this is the first year in which I have stopped writing new posts for a long time to come. Still- the Wenhsiuquan Facebook Page got started this year. You might find some new posts from me or some shared posts from other martial artists on it from time to time. Be assured, though, that I may stop blogging sometime, but I will never stop training. The next thing of which I have seen the end is single life. :D In this case I have not just seen it coming. It has arrived.  Xiaowei and I have been dating since July now. This in itself...

Hello, everyone. :) Recently I have begun teaching someone. As is often the case- this student did not approach me to learn a martial art, but needs to learn to defend himself. Well... self defense is only about a third of what Wenhsiuquan is all about, but I am always happy to share what I know in order to get the word out there. A question that came up in our conversations during lessons was what to do when somebody grabs your leg. It is not the first time I had to answer this question and I think we have the Gracies to thank for that. You see- long before they cake and ruined it for everyone schoolyard fights and barroom brawls had pushing, punching and maybe the odd bit of wrestling. Nowadays, however, a lot of kids watch MMA takedowns and now choke holds and leg takedowns get seen a lot... So... where a lot of us used to learn and rehearse responses to punches, kicks, front grabs and wrist grabs- we now have to know defense against leg takedowns as well. Before I get ...

Hello, everyone! Just when I thought that my break from this blog was going to be a long one, some smartass went and posted this on Facebook: So- I thought it necessary to say a couple of things about an attitude that seems to be spreading among people who consider taking up martial arts. Well... It seems that Greta Thunberg is a good way to get people triggered about anything, but I would most likely not have even begun writing this post if it did not have something to do with martial arts. First of all- my view on criticizing any style of martial art has been made known in an earlier post, along with my reasons for holding that view. To save some new readers the trouble of searching through my older posts- let me just say that I am against it. Okay- for my reasons you are free to search through my older posts... Secondly- I have found a correlation between people saying any technique "does not work" and unwillingness to train. It was only in very recent t...

Hello, everyone and welcome back! :) We are finally here... The last movement in the last form to be discussed on this blog. Well- at least for the time being... I had lots of fun creating these gifs and will most definitely use them in future posts. Thank you to those who have followed this series, thus far. I know many of you are far away and we may not be able to meet in person. You are, however, welcome to email me or inbox me with any questions or comments that you may have. Well... on to today's move... In the book the movement starts with an outward block like this... From there you can assume that you have a firm hold of the opponent's attacking arm when you move in with the hammer fist. After striking downwards with the hammer fist the fist shoots diagonally upwards with an uppercut or as we call it here- a cannon punch. I must admit that I am using more of a downward forearm strike than a hammer fist in the above demonstration...

Hello, everyone. Today we are at the second last movement in the Striking Form. The movement is shown like this in the book and I do admit that those are not very good photos to illustrate the movements involved. In the Form this movement takes you back to the place from which you have started. For this reason my back is turned towards you in the photos. Well... you would still get the movement if you read the text, but we do like pictures better than words, right? Well... here is a demonstration of what the movement is supposed to represent. The downward pressing block is not unusual and can be found in a number of Asian martial arts. I got tired of defending against straight punches in my gifs, so I had my shadow clone try to shove me. As you can see, I (the one without the shirt) ride the oncoming force as I step diagonally backwards. Had this been Push-Hands practice I would probably just have pushed back, but in this movement we consider a ...

Hello and welcome back, everyone. Today we look at this movement in our Striking Form. Shaolin students would probably call it "Black Tiger and Stopping Fist". Karate students may say I stole this from Heian / Pinan Nidan (although I have recently learnt that some styles actually call it Pinan Shodan...).    A demonstration of the move is here below: When we attack first it is better to attack a target that is opening up than one that is closing. We know that by now, right? We are all familiar with opening up the body with a jab to the face. As the opponent's guard raises his ribs open up and we can take the shot. Well- now we have a way to open up the face... Unless the opponent sidesteps one of two things will happen. Either he will get hit or he will block the punch to his midsection. If he retreats in a straight line he will get hit anyway... Now... if the punch does connect the opponent is likely to drop his arms in response...