Wen Hsiu Quan

Hi, everyone! This year has come to its end and as is the custom with me I will be taking a break from blogging. So- this is the last post from me for this year. I feel like taking a break from all the martial arts talk you usually find here and tell you a bit about a pet peeve of mine that has haunted me ever since I have become an Admin to a wonderful community on G+ called Martial Arts Forums. Martial Arts Forums had less than 1000 members when I joined. It now stands at 1 202 members and I have noticed that it is getting a lot of attention. Now- I don't know whether the Community had this before I joined, but it seems that a lot of requests to join the Community come from either an automated source or just people who have just created an account. As a result I have hit the reject button quite a bit this year. The following types of profile got the boot from me this year: 1. Profiles representing a business that has nothing to do with Martial Arts: Really guys- i...

I like my routine. I'd lie if I say that it has never been disturbed. One group of people with whom I have grown more and more comfortable giving a Saturday to every once in a while is my karate school.  I have noticed that I don't find Sensei John on the internet if I search WSKF South Africa, but definitely when I search "Shotokan Karate South Africa". Yesterday's year end training for brown and black belts was at Hazyview's dojo. This awesome class room is situated on the farm of Sensei Danie Janse van Vuuren and his wife Sensei Sandra. It was once a tobacco shed.  Sensei Danie told me that the mats and equipment you see on the walls were donated by one of the students- Vincent Galaca. He has recently passed his Shodan Grading. Due to the rubber pistols being there we got treated to a gun disarming demonstration from Sensei John. That was after an intense kihon session with Sensei John (still stiff!), a really harrowing...

At my karate class I am known to stubbornly insist on using kicks not normally practiced in our dojo. Most of these kicks come from my Shukokai days. This particular kick, though, has undergone some changes over the years as I took up Chinese martial arts. I refer to both the reverse roundhouse kick and the back spinning kick as the reverse roundhouse, but recognise that the faster version is done with the lead foot while the back spinning version is more powerful and employs the rear foot.   In karate this kick is usually done by doing a front kick or side kick past the target and then to hook the the sole or heel of the foot around to hit the target from the side. I do not find this version very powerful and substituted it with the Dragon's Tail form that involves whipping the leg around and through the target from the side. A problem that reared its ugly head a while ago, however, was when I did the kick against a wall (don't ask) I saw t...

Before I began my study of the martial arts I have regarded shouting as a natural part of fighting. That is what we do when we are angry, right? Let me rephrase- that is what we do when we are angry and brave enough to show it. Without the mental conditioning of martial arts training a loud voice tends to instill fear in most of us. Hell- even with my mental conditioning I find being yelled at unbearable. Even if it doesn't scare you, you must admit that it stirs one emotion or the other in you. Now before I type out my observations over the years- let me share what I have been able to find on the internet thus far. One of these videos shows a teacher of some Japanese martial art demonstrating the effect of a sudden yell on an unsuspecting student and then- from two of my favourite movies from China- Princess and the Seven Kungfu Masters and Kung Fu Hustle the "Lion's Roar" done by female characters in these movies: https://youtu.be/vrRWGsHttDY https://youtu...

I remember waiting my turn with the punching bag at a gym when this boxer was bouncing it around with a series of punches. Sure- the bag was rocking with each blow and swung around, but none of the blows seemed to be anything as damaging as what I have come to encounter in my exploration of the martial arts. When my turn came the bag did not shake as much, but a loud "BOOM!" emanated with each punch and a nice dent started forming. Oh! And no-one was holding the bag... The difference between the two ways of punching lay not so much in the movement- or the external aspect- but in the internal aspects. Now- most of us know what Bruce Lee said about the difference between a karate punch and a kungfu punch, right? Sure- we have all heard it, but here it is again to refresh our memories: https://youtu.be/SqPPftwiopM What Bruce Lee was referring to here was the internal aspect of the punch. In short- the external aspect is about how the technique is performed...

I am back from my gasshuku in the lovely forest area of Graskop and really happy to sit and type yet another blog post. Before I can move on to today's topic I want to mention that those of us who have attended the gasshuku have learnt arm locks, a simple takedown and pressure points. Now- I am no stranger to throws and arm locks, but pressure points were something I have never taken the time to study in depth. What I have learnt on the subject that day shall stay with me forever. Now I want to get to today's topic. The classes at the gasshuku were presented by Sensei John Barnett. Outside the dojo he is a very friendly and cheerful person. His wonderful sense of humour made the lessons a easy to remember. Now- I must mention that Sensei John is a 7th dan member of our shihankai and already past 80. One of the events at the gasshuku- probably the main event- was the obstacle course. Us seniors also had a go at it and Sensei John was right there with us, not ...

You heard me. I am not going to be around to write a post this next weekend. Why, you ask? It is because I am attending a 3 day Gasshuku with classmates and instructors from our local WSKF dojos and some people from dojos in Gauteng Province. I have been practicing alone for years now and truth be told- I have always liked being alone. Still- after a while I realised that spending time with people who are equally interested in any martial art as I am would do me wonders. My time at WSKF has so far been challenging as well as fun. With the championships and gradings behind us for now we can now just get together and have fun. That is exactly what we are going to do next weekend. I wish everyone else a great week ahead. To the people in Martial Arts Forums on G+: Keep those posts coming!

I regard Qigong as a really important part of any kind of martial arts training. I know it is not done in all classes. Some MMA gyms have started doing Yoga, which I can understand. Now that we can observe different styles we have the chance to pick from the best of what we see. The exercises in this post do not take up a lot of time, but are worth starting and ending each training session with. I have decided long ago not to be a Nei Kung specialist. The main reason for that is that the amount of time and training required for that leaves very little for the external training that I like more. These exercises are therefore the most Qigong I do and just about the most time I spend on cultivating Qi. Let's have a look at them: 1. Raising the Sky: I know two versions of this exercise, but the easiest one starts in a relaxed upright stance. Breathing in the palms turn upward as they get raised up to chest level. Still breathing in the palms push...