Wen Hsiu Quan

There are days where it seems that martial arts students of today did not learn the same things that we have learnt back during the 90's. The first time I saw a post of Facebook of someone saying that blocking does not work I wondered how that person fights then... The second time I saw a post saying blocking does not work it was in the Karate Nerds Facebook group. While I can expect that these groups can also have members who have not attended a single class in any martial art before I was still surprised to see the post in a Karate group that has lots of active Karateka. If I have to think of a reason why this line of thought is emerging I would guess that it is because MMA has given us fighters from different disciplines like boxing which relies a lot more on evasion and body positioning than deflecting punches and kicks. This is fine. Evasion is the king of defense techniques because it leaves both hands and feet free to counterattack.  One must un...

If you ever wondered whether teaching kids martial arts is a good idea let me tell you this story: I was 22 and working in a Chinese Restaurant when I asked my boss about Kung Fu and how the Shaolin Monks develop their skills. Mrs Ku told her daughter in Chinese to tell me something and via her I got the reply: "You should have started when you were 8, while your bones were still growing." Well- I started Karate at 14. Still- I have no regrets. From about the age of 9 I had entered this phase of playing Bruce Lee and Ninjas out of which I guess I have never really gotten so far. I'd really recommend that children who love martial arts should be allowed to study it. Now- I am sure parents love seeing their children doing well at the dojo. I can hardly imagine how the parents of the following children must feel: 1. Mahiro Takano Just so you know- THIS is the video from which I have learnt Kanku Dai. I had to polish the kata later at the dojo so that i...

Hi, guys and girls! Some years ago I wrote a blog post listing some of the most awesome martial artists that I have come across from browsing the internet. Back then it was already a long list. We have legends of martial arts heroes from ancient times. Truth is, however, that as the martial arts are still alive in this age- some really extraordinary martial artists can be found in the world today. In this post- I am going to list some really awesome people who have become celebrities and in my book- legends- because of what they have done for the martial arts. This list also serves as a means to inform anyone who has not yet heard of these people of their existence and what they do. So- without further ado... Here is my list, in no particular order: 1. D K Yoo https://youtu.be/OY_58aCNrhw I may not be as crazy about Korean martial arts as I am about Chinese martial arts, but I admit that South Korea has produced one scary individual. DK Yoo...

Hi, everyone! One of the my favourite training tools is the Wing Chun Dummy. Too bad I don't own one myself. Still- Regardless of what style you practice- this simple piece of equipment reminds you of one very obvious thing about fighting- Your opponent is not  a punching bag.  A lot of what I see in the way punches are done for basic practice or in forms makes it easy to forget that our opponent's have arms and legs. The path that our fists take toward their targets are often not without obstacles in the way. You would agree with me that it feels easier to land a hard punch on a wide open target than it is doing the same with a target that is behind an arm or a hand.  The creator of Wing Chun Quan- The Shaolin Elder Ng Mui knew this. That is why she deemed it necessary for a fighter to practice hitting a solid object, but with the portrusions that we see on our wing chun dummies these days. Punching bags serve a purpose too, of course....

I remember back when I was still 13 when I saw a photo of Sensei Morio Higaonna's fist in a book on martial arts. Not long after that I started doing knuckle push-ups and put up a makeshift makiwara in the yard. Still- my fist still did not have that callous over the knuckles like Higaonna Sensei's. About 11 years later I got interested in Kung Fu. Part of what I have liked about the training was that it focused on strengthening bones as well. My fists still did not look like Higaonna Sensei's, but they hit pretty hard... Learning to channel force through them was an awesome experience. Now- this year- at the age of 39- I find my fist looking like this... It is still not like Hiagaonna Sensei's fist, but the skin over the two first knuckles are now thickened and tough. Stick around in our martial arts groups long enough and you will notice that martial art styles get evaluated a lot on their perceived ability to help you defend yourself. Well- we can't ar...