Wen Hsiu Quan

I learnt Jeet Kune Do as soon as I could. This is after all Bruce Lee's style that held the answer to all attacks and that could beat any style. After having felt Ms Chen, my Taiji teacher's internal force I have decided to take up Taijiquan in order to see how this kind of force is developed. In Kungfu this type of internal force is not exclusive to Tai Chi, but for some unexplained reason it got associated more with Tai Chi than with Shaolin. Tai Chi is usually more the choice of those alternative thinking souls who want to experience inner peace and tranquility, so very few know that it was actually meant to be a fighting art and even fewer know how to use it as such. https://youtu.be/Ed9-xZKymhc So- the purpose of this post is to tell you some things about Tai Chi that you might not have heard yet. 1. The name does not have "Chi" in it:     I know Mr Fink in our group knows this, but as a youngster I had id...

How often do you train?  What does it do for you?  I have met some really scary individuals who do not just stick with their martial arts classes, but who also engage in different kinds of sports and exercise. And then I have met those who train when they are in class and don't when they are away from class. With the amount of time MMA people spend at the gym I can imagine that they don't really have classes the way us Karate and Kung Fu people do. Now- If your martial arts class is a way to get out in the evenings and meet people I guess this post will not mean much to you as I tend to identify with those people who take up martial arts to improve themselves in one way or the other, whether it be by learning a new skill or two or whether they want to become stronger and fitter. Long time ago, when I started this blog- I said that martial arts rest on 3 pillars: Technique, Power and Tactics. Under power we can also include speed (although I regard...

One of Kung Fu's most attractive features is its out of the ordinary movements. In Shaolin these movements were deliberately unusual to throw off an adversary. From this focus on unpredictability we have seen unusual styles such as the Drunken Fist, Monkey Style and Mantis develop. Compared to straightforward styles like Wingchunquan and Xingyi these styles and their techniques seem more suited for exhibitions than for actual fighting. The Drunken style's unusual pattern of movement did not seem to help the guy in this video much, though... https://youtu.be/p5loQCc8ALA If you practice a style like Karate or any form of Kung Fu you might find that you need something more than just normal punching and kicking to give you an edge or to just look better. That in itself can't be a bad thing, but concern over how you look while fighting is a weakness of which you should rid yourself immediately if you ever have it. There may once have been a time when this st...

If you are studying Karate for longer than a year you shall no doubt have gotten a couple of combinations to practice as part of your syllabus. With Shotokan this progresses to a different combinations using techniques not taught at lower levels. These combinations are practiced almost exclusively against empty air. When I took the time to analyze the way I fight I realised that these combinations, although doing a lot to teach your body to move in the various ways needed to fight effectively, do not necessarily follow the responses your opponent give. The reason for this is simple. People do not all respond to attacks in the same manner. Even within your own discipline different approaches to a presented attack exist. I get the impression that a lot of karateka don't even bother to look at how their opponents respond and just fly into their preset combo like these Tekken characters. https://youtu.be/qrFAs51o6Vc That is all good if you are fighting a video game character,...

I don't know about you, but I love being the passive one in a fight. All those cool blocks, counters and throws that one can do if your opponent would just come at you... What really frustrates someone like me is an opponent who has the same idea. The majority of moves in the forms of Karate and Kungfu are defensive moves in the sense that they are responses to a hypothetical attack. When we find ourselves in the kumite arena- especially in a tournament setting- we find that our opponents do not want to attack first. They'd much rather be the one looking cool by blocking and countering your moves. We find these type of people in real life as well. Clients who don't give us anything to work with at the start. A customer who does not know what to order. If you are the type of person who likes to make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen, though, the tactic I give you in today's post will suit you really well...  For those of you who are NOT game...