Wen Hsiu Quan

If you already have a couple of Karate matches behind you you may already have realsed what I am writing here. Some karateka who have been suffering at tournaments may actually find their lives a bit easier after reading this. Here it is- many of us get hurt at tournaments, because we landed a blow, but the referee and the judges just ignore it (because they are assholes- or got instructed by an asshole to do so- which would still make them assholes, I guess...) so the bout goes on longer and you end up getting hit. Any Karate sensei worth his salt will tell you to go into any bout with zanshin (continuing spirit) and that you should not let your alertness waver. This is very true and good advice. On top of that I can add- Do not trust anyone at a tournament. Not the referees and definitely not the other competitors... If you do land a blow do not relax and think your job is done. Stay alert and be ready for counters and keep attacking until the referee stops you. The refer...

  My office is in a building situated in a busy shopping centre. Among my neighbours there is a Chinese beauty salon run by friends of mine. Well... we say we are family... The owner's Aunt Hu came over to visit from Shenyang. When I drove back home one day I passed by the shop and found Aunt Hu practicing Taijiquan outside the salon. I think you can guess what happened next. Aunt Hu agreed to join me for a practice session that Sunday. While she showed me the 24 step Yang Set of Taijiquan I have shown her Qigong and a Wenhsiuquan form.  My warm-up starts in Horse Stance from where I stretch my calves and sink into a half-split. When I got into Horse Stance, however, Aunt Hu stopped me very quickly. What followed was a stern admonishment in Mandarin, but it was basically this: "No! This is not horse stance! Your feet is turned all wrong! Turn your feet to point outward like this! From here you can move this way, that way and that way!"  (accompanied by sweeping hand gestu...

  Modern martial arts are to a large extent what had happened when classical martial arts met Western Boxing. The foremost reason modern fighters will give you for using a short fighting stance when sparring or fighting is that a short stance is more mobile. Is a shorter stance more effective, though? Well...  Let's have a look at that... Can you attack more easily from a short stance? Can you defend more easily from a long stance? Do this simple test and tell me what you find... With punching one can indeed spring into the attack and cross a long distance to land a punch on a target. The feet and body are both out of reach in the beginning, but that changes as soon as you shoot that hip forward... This is of course effective in competitions where fighters start off away from each other. This enables you to go in, score your point, and get out of reach again In the case of a long stance we see that the body may be out of reach, but the lead foot has already arrived on the scen...

A joyful and prosperous new year to all my followers! I have noticed for some time that I have been preferring certain angles of attack during my training. This is a natural consequence of staying mindful of the opponent's centre line and the limbs that you have to get past when attacking. For a long time, especially in one's early years of Karate, we get used to square off with our sparring partners. Free sparring at this stage is then usually a manner of moving back and forth with the most dominating fighter driving his opponent back most of the time. Sooner or later we realise, however, that while increasing the distance between ourselves and our opponent's may keep us safe for a while that safety does not last and- we find it impossible to counterattack from so far away. One of the reasons why I choose a slightly long stance is that the space between my feet give me enough room to make the space that I need to move back just far enough to counter with a kick. That dista...

I have not been writing anything for this blog for a while now... However- I have managed to put some time into this book and- eventually- managed to finish it! You can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59796457 My latest book Those of you who have been following my blog know that I mainly train alone. Form practice is a large part of this training. This book focuses on Kung Fu forms and shows techniques from Shaolin and Wudang, the two main sources of Kung Fu, in order for you to put together your own set or taolu (which is Chinese for kata ). I have also taken a well-known set from Shaolin Kung Fu and give you an analysis of the set in order to help you better understand how these sets are put together and how each of the parts thereof work. The book is available to all Patreons who have joined my Patreon site. I will make more material available soon!  

  Hello, everyone. It seems I had a case of writer's block that has kept me from writing posts lately. When you practice martial arts every day, however, there are a lot of things about it to write about, but what you don't bother with, because you tend to reckon that it is too mundane or obvious to write about. Well... maybe for experienced martial artists... Then- I end up realising again that there is not only an entirely new generation to whom we can pass on much of this seemingly redundant knowledge, but also a record to set straight with a new generation of experts. This post is about two old enemies. Some say they were never supposed to meet, but meet they did. The one was set on knocking the wind out of you, the other was... well... now its role is disputed, but everyone was sure at the time that it was his job to stop the other from achieving its goal. These two are of course the Front Kick ( Maegeri in Karate) and the Lower Parry ( Gedan Barai to Karate people). Gedan...

This year started with me in a new situation.  No longer working for just myself and with less free time than before I have been spending less time on the book and this blog now sees me for the first time as well. Early morning workouts have become shorter and more hurried. I am however still taking whatever time I can to learn new things.  I enjoy Yoga as much as Qigong these days and have made it part of my workouts. https://web.facebook.com/marthinus.boshoff.3/videos/3258081497594422 I am glad to say that I am now more than halfway done with the book. I have also received an offer from a friend to help with Youtube videos. Let's see how this year goes...   

Now... with a lockdown having started in the third month of this year, carefully adapting to each new stage of our protracted state of emergency and having to get used to a new job that just about takes up all of my time these days- we woke up one morning and found that this entire year had passed. So- what have you done during all this time? Have you put off all commitments and plans for when things start looking better? If you have I would not judge you or blame you. Hell- I remember seeing on Facebook how quiet the "Law of Attraction" group had become when the shit had really hit the fan. Faith seemed to have been in short supply. The people that had really kept me going were those who had suddenly begun doing what I had been doing for the last 30-odd years- exercising in their own yards... Martial arts may contain mostly techniques for fighting opponents in the physical realm, but my biggest hope for any martial arts student is that he or she cultivates an indomitable war...

Hello, everyone!  I know it has been a long time since I have written anything. I have started at a new job that has me a lot busier than I have expected myself to be and I had to work on a couple of Saturdays. Saturdays are of course the days on which I attend to my blogs. It felt good to have today free to attend to my book as well. It is still a work in progress and I will let you know on Facebook, Twitter and Patreon when it is out. All in all- I still train. Even though I now have to wake up earlier in the mornings to train I still take the time to train. That will never stop for as long as my body remains able to move. The chapter at which I am now is an analysis of the Five Animal Combined Set of Shaolin Kung Fu. This set is somewhat different from the taolu that we see in Wushu competitions nowadays. I feel it is a good idea to look at the forms that were designed for training rather than performance purposes. Many of you already know that I regularly practice my Karate kat...

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 el...

I admit that Ninjutsu fascinates the hell out of me. Thanks to Stephen Hayes and Ashida Kim I have been able to learn sword techniques, shuriken throwing and of course- some interesting unarmed fighting techniques.  The Mi Lu Kata- or Lost Track teaches techniques that rely on misdirection to get past an opponent's defense in a fight. I am not certain whether this kata has any ties with the Mizongyi (Lost Track) Boxing that is attributed to the legendary Huo Yunjia. I am not even certain whether this kata exists outside of Kim's school on Ninjutsu. I have however, had a lot of fun learning it and have started practicing it again. With the details about Ninjutsu having become even more uncertain in this day and age than how they were 40 years ago I doubt that anyone is able to say for certain exactly how Ninjas used to fight in the 17th Century. What I am certain of, however, is that these techniques do not seem like fighting techniques used by Japanese warriors at the time. I c...

Learning this form was not much fun as the first video that I have watched on this featured a woman doing the form at top speed. I have already accepted that the way your form looks depends partly on who you learn it from. Not much further away on the internet, I have found this variation: Nonetheless- I enjoy having this form in my program. I have always wanted a kata that features a hurricane kick. :) The number of katas I know now stands at 27. I have also created 8 forms of which I plan to keep 4. 3 of them got discussed in earlier blog posts. Even though I have gone and learnt this many katas I think that regularly practicing the katas that you know is more important than learning new ones. Sure- every once in a while you would pick up a new technique from a kata that you have not yet practiced. Still- it will only become of any use if you have practiced it enough. Well... there is only one more form that I would like to show you, but that will have to wait for next week. Now I ha...

My introduction to Kung Fu was the 48 Form Set of Taijiquan that was created in the 1950's. I have only gotten the feel of actually channeling qi into martial arts movements, though, when I learned Shaolin Kung Fu. That had led among other things to me creating a custom made Taijiquan form (The words "form" and "set" are sure to confuse a lot of people who do not study Kung Fu. Since Karate people call katas "forms", however, I also call Kung F sets "forms"). I was satisfied to have my Taijiquan form for practice of a Wudang based martial art and the 5 Ainimal Set as a faorm for practicing an art from Shaolin. Then- as you know- I have started writing my book on Kung Fu forms. So- I have looked through my collection of martial arts material and found this video from a while back.   Now... for a long time I was happy to practice my 20 katas from Karate, rotating them in groups of 2 to be practiced two days every week, but then I have decided t...

  Can you learn a form from a book? Well- I have tried. With interesting results.  The video below shows Sifu Wong Kiew Kit. He is doing a form that I have learnt from his book on Shaolin Kungfu. Below is a link to a video of me doing the same form.   The differences tell us that there has been a miscommunication about some parts of this form, don't they? Nonetheless- I am happy with the version that I am doing. After all- I have been practicing it for a long while now before I saw this video. No lightning came from the sky to punish those who have adapted traditional forms for the sport of Wushu during the 1960's. Nobody gets punished even for making up their own forms so- just relax...  Had I belonged to a Kungfu club or school, however, I would have taken care to do the form as it is taught by that school.  Changes in forms are actually a common occurrence in Asian martial arts and I have learnt at least two versions of a number of forms in one style of ...

Hello, everyone.  You see this list below? This is what I use to make sure that I practice all the katas that I have learnt. Saturdays are easy. On Saturdays I practice all 5 Heian katas and all 3 Tekki (Naihanchi) katas from Karate. On Sundays I practice Taijiquan and my kata and fighting practice is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It used to be two katas per morning just before I finish my workout, but- as you can see- the katas have now been put together in groups of 3.  3 of these katas are brand new to me and there are also some old katas of mine that I have decided to brush off and add to my list for regular practice. One kata that I have really enjoyed learning is Gekisai Ichi from Goju Ryu. I just list it as "Gekisai" in my Kata Rotator because it is the only Gekisai that I will be practicing- well... for now... The kata first came to my attention when Jesse taught it to another martial arts Youtuber in one of his videos. Then- when one of my martial artist friends ...

It has been a while since I have sat down to write any book. You may have noticed that I even neglect my blogging nowadays...  I have, however, had enough time to think about what to write about next. I have chosen to write about form practice in Kungfu. In our general language we use the term "forms" to refer to those sequences of movements that are performed without an opponent. Kungfu people, however, call these sequences "sets". The word "forms" are usually used by Karate people when they refer to kata. In Karate the Japanese term kata is used while the Chinese term taolu is used by Kungfu practitioners. Kungfu forms are generally longer than Karate forms, though. In Karate we find that the traditional styles follow a very conservative approach to teaching and practicing forms.    During the 80's some more progressive styles of Karate have appeared with acrobatic forms- performed to music, no less.....

Weird as this may sound these days- Judo was the not only the first martial art that I took up, but it was also the first "soft" martial art that I have learnt. With the standards of competitive grappling having gotten really high we hardly see anything that appears to be soft in Judo these days. Then I won't even mention anything about the Founder's maxim of minimum effort, maximum effect. Judo nowadays seems to be about: I was happy to learn my first throws and found that some worked even on people that were bigger than I was at the time. Still- I have found that I easily got toppled sometimes by a completely untrained person. Well... as you all know by now I have found the bugs, fixed it and wrote a book about it... The first major bug-fix came from Karate. And- it was not even Japanese Karate, but an Okinawan-based style, Shukokai (a style that was derived from Shito Ryu). Karate taught me the value of a good stance. Now... the stances that...