What if Sensei Iain got a look at Kung Fu?



If you have not yet seen Sensei Iain Abernethy's videos then now would be a good time to start.

The video below would not mean as much to you if you have not been studying Karate for at least 3 years. In some styles it may take even longer to see the katas that he discusses. 


What many of us experience when practicing kata is that the movements do not make any sense. Here in Bassai Dai for instance we have two blocks that are not followed by any kind of visible attack. So- what are we to believe? That the opponent will just walk away if he sees that you have blocked the only two punches that he was willing to give to this fight?

That is where Sensei Iain helps a lot. After watching the first of his videos I have made a point on finding out what he has to say about the obscure movements of every new kata that I have learnt.

Sensei Iain does not do Kung Fu, though.

I have thought that I have Kung Fu pretty much figured out. On Kung Fu pages and in Kung Fu groups online you may get elitists querying each other about their lineage, but strangely enough- nobody seems to give a damn about the applications of the movements in their forms (or "sets" as they like to call their katas).

Well... I was fairly at peace until I came across this sequence in the 5 Animal Set of Shaolin Kung Fu.




Now... that low block, which may remind some Shotokan students of that low block at the start of Enpi is called "Tiger Crouching on Ground" and that double punch is called "Twin Dragons Shooting Pearl".

What do you think would be Sensei Iain's application for this sequence?

If you want to see mine you can follow my Patreon page and see my application in this post.


https://www.patreon.com/posts/41774944


I think I have just given Kung Fu the Sensei Iain Treatment. :)

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