Wen Hsiu Quan

Mixed Martial Arts is actually ancient. Even karate came from combining techniques from different styles. Taekwondo even more so. Bruce Lee is well-known for pointing out that a style is a mere crystalisation of what is actually real. Let's face it- real fights are chaotic and each traditional style attempts to find order in this chaos. That is why I am convinced that Jeet Kune Do was not developed by asking "what works?", but rather- "How were we meant to fight?" Bruce Lee made no mention of Qigong in his Tao of Jeet Kune Do. I get the idea that he did not like it much... When I developed Wenhsiuquan I did not want to abandon what I trust in a quest for formlessness. This was because form gave me efficiency. The question I asked when selecting my style's techniques was: "How will my energy best be utilised?" It is for this reason that the techniques of Wenhsiuquan do come from different styles, but at the same time also belong together. The o

Martial art sports that use percussive techniques will always have punches to the face. Many participants believe that punching an opponent in the face will give them the advantage they need. Fact is, however, that the head is a smaller target and easy to get out of harm's way. The amount of body movement necessary to evade a face punch is much less than that needed to move an entire body. One of the advantages of ducking and slipping is that you stay within range for counterattack while being out of danger for that moment. For advice on how to perform ducking and slipping techniques you are welcome to email me at boshoffm3@gmail.com.

Hello, everyone. While I am training like mad at the moment- and loving it- I thought of those guys my age who do not kick so high anymore. While a lot of people (like the Thai boxer below) can take a split, tilt the hips a bit and then have a high roundhouse kick a lot of us cannot split that far. Is all lost then? Short answer- nope!  I know Shukokai people will not accept this and Shotokan people can act as if they knew this secret for a long time (because they did!), but here is my tip for that jodan mawashi   geri: See the sketch? You notice the front stance? Yes- that is not a Shotokan front stance, but it will do (you guys can't hog the spotlight here). Notice how far your back leg can stretch just because the front leg is bent? Now- bending the supporting leg and aiming your kicking hip as high as it goes (yes- we aim with the hips and NOT the knees!) let that kick shoot out.  Pretty cool, huh?  This means that as long as you can stand in z

Okay- This week I have not been in a good mood and it is getting worse. While my tolerance for bullshit is really low I'd like to place the following on record. Earlier this year I was asked to make time in my already busy schedule to attend classes at our Shotokan dojo- under a sensei whom I have left late in 1997. Because I was happy with the idea of spending time with other martial arts enthusiasts and making sure that our style does not die within us I agreed to put aside some time to go to the dojo and train with my fellow students- who at this stage are all my seniors. Before this time I have already been training on my own at no cost and needed nobody to watch me or to tell me to get up and train regularly. About 22 sessions of training on my own at the hall painstakingly acquired for us, three payments of R 200 and 1 surprise notice of an up and coming grading of about R 1 500.00 later I am starting to feel like I have been played for a fool. Honestly now- I