Wen Hsiu Quan

Hello, everyone and welcome back. Last week I have posted some basic techniques in the form of warm-up evercises that can be practiced over and over. Those exercises are done standing in one place with only one exercise that has some shifting back and forth- with one foot. Sticking the blade into the other guy is simple when the other guy is within range and standing still. You will not necessarily want to start fighting from within range, though. Once you realise that you are in the kind of fight where not stabbing first means that you might not get to stab at all, starting from out of the opponent's reach and closing the gap between you when you have your chance to stab becomes an important skill to have. Fencing with a partner will of course help, but you have to first prepare your body for the job that it has to do. The first drill is actually a good way of getting into Wudang Kung Fu's footwork. You might recognise the cat/ tiger stance that I use in this video. ...

I could probably have called the movement "Tiger Bares Teeth and Black Tiger Steals Heart" because that is more or less what Kung Fu students would call it. Still- the stances featured in this movement and the techniques used are common to both Karate and Kung Fu. They can be found in Korean Arts like Taekwondo as well. The block itself here does not use the tiger claw hand form that is seen in Shaolin Kung Fu. If you want to use it, however, I really have no objection. To me the fingers spread apart like in the tiger claw form indicates a readiness to grab the opponent's wrist upon blocking it. In Kung Fu the tiger claw can also be used to dig into the punching arm's bicep, disabling that arm from further use in the fight. What I have done here, however, is a simple block and a punch. Really straightforward, actually. The stuff one teaches white belts... Nonetheless- I thought it a good idea to summon a shadow clone to show you some of the applications to th...