Wen Hsiu Quan

Every style has its precautionary measures. Kickboxing coaches will tell you to keep that guard up, Wing Chun teachers will tell you to parry towards the opponent's centre line and with classic Shaolin you have to keep your hand over your groin when you do high side kicks or roundhouse kicks... That is all well and easy to remember until the free sparring starts. Back in 1997 I have used a free form of sticking hands when I trained with friends. It worked well, but there were numerous times where I used an inward block against the inside of a sparring partner's arm. This was not intended, of course, but then again- when we block and redirect a volley of punches- how much of what we do is actually intended? The hands go where they need to without you thinking and when you realise what has actually happened you realise that some of what has happened during the bout was not as prescribed by the text book. With a full-o...

This video came up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djreminisemusic/videos/10152665556038869/ Those of you who have managed to train yourselves to ignore pain will know how these guys manage to take so many blows to the groin. This actually reminds me of a lesson I have learnt as early as in high school. Some of you might remember my post in memory of Wolfgang Goldner. It was in 1996 and I had a PR baton (over here we call it a tonfa as well, but I saw that people in the US use the term "PR". Can somebody be kind enough to spare me the googling and comment the meaning of this abbreviation? :D) At that time I was very happy to show off this really cool arm-lock that I got from an issue of Terry O'Neill's Fighting Arts magazine. In it this guy called Massad Ayoob demonstrated self defence techniques for policemen (and there was also an article about how proper martial arts technique could have made the Rodney King incident less of the fiasco it was back...

It is very easy for caution to turn into a hindrance, preventing us from acting. While it is important to keep one's guard up, to be aware of risks and dangers, one should not be pre-occupied with that. The best way to avoid getting hit is to keep your opponent on the defensive. You will also realise that you have an unhealthy pre-occupation with negative aspects if your fears and concerns prevent you from having a happy and fulfilling life and career.