Wen Hsiu Quan

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...

Ever watched the glorious sport of Rugby? Well- I'm sure American readers will have an idea of what it is by now. It is Football without those sissy helmets and shoulder-pads! :D Something tells me that that remark has bought me a couple of people waiting for me with pumping fists in the comment section after this post... :D Seriously, though- football fans also know that sports like Football and Rugby are really brutal and the kind of injuries sustained by players often exceed those sustained by MMA fighters. Yes- there are worse things than being punched in the face... Trust me. I don't know much about American Football, but did you know that Rugby has a full-contact and a virtually no-contact (or very light contact) version? No- it is not Sarcastaball... :D (Damn! I'm not going to finish this post if I continue laughing at myself like this...) It is called Touch- Rugby. Now- jokes aside- my point is this: In normal Rugby- teams consider being tackled...

Go to a karate class nowadays and you will find that free sparring is full contact (here in South Africa anyway). Ask the students why and they will most likely tell you that it is the best way to prepare you for an actual self defence situation.    If you look at the techniques they use while sparring you will find that they only use the techniques permitted in tournaments. They'd tell you that it's for safety reasons. The culture of stopping attacks short of contact during sparring can be traced back to Shaolin Kungfu's early days. A large number of these techniques were known to cause permanent damage. I still remember reading in Wong Kiew Kit's book about the risk of the head of an arm bone being broken off with qin na attacks. I was not satisfied with calling myself a martial artist if all I had to offer was a series of punches and kicks found in any other style- and a way of fighting which is already known and predictable. We ...

Depending on the type of competition or whether it is a real fight or competition it is very important to know what  distance is close enough to touch the opponent and what range is close enough for some real damage. This fight probably comes to anyone's mind when we think about fighting a taller opponent. The Legendary Musashi Miyamoto is said to have fought a samurai called Kojiro. Kojiro's advantage in combat lay in his sword, which was longer than what was the norm at the time. Musashi, however, remedied the situation by beating Kojiro to death with a wooden oar which he had modified to fight with. I am not going to deal with projectile weapons and guns here. Everyone knows that the range of those is far longer than even a 7 foot staff can muster. What I will discuss, however, is what assumptions about range are wrong- and even dangerous- and which approaches deliver the best results.  First of all- It is not always a good idea to stay out of your o...

I think all of us who have gone to a dojo at some stage in their lives know about someone like this in class- a boy or girl who has received belt after belt in gradings and whose basics and kata are exemplary, but whose kumite is really bad and who- to be frank- just can't fight...  True- The disadvantage may in many cases be psychological, but another poison- which is especially fed to students who have never fought before in their lives, is that those blows, kicks, blocks (oh don't get me started on blocks...) and stances are effective for use in actual combat. Truth, however, is that they aren't. Why do we practice them this way then? I have actually given the answer to this question a couple of posts ago when I discussed the three elements in martial arts. Now those techniques are supposed to develop power when practiced regularly. As for technique itself, you really have to find that element in the technique that makes it work, preserve it and make...

We have a female bullterrier, Patrys, at home. We got her as a puppy and grew up to be quite a strong and healthy dog. The day Hiccup, a tiny Staffordshire pup showed up we did not know what kind of reaction to expect from her. She showed us, however, that she had a very caring attitude about her and took to gently playing with the little one. As Hiccup grew bigger and bolder the games the dogs played became rougher up to the point I began to worry. Both dogs, however, showed that they are strong enough to handle each other. The next pup to be raised and trained by her was Bruno. His tackles can put an ITM Cup player to shame. :D Observing these dogs gave me my philosophy on sparring. If one uses discretion, sensitivity and patience one shall have no need for body armour, mitts, shinguards and-my least favourite- a mouthguard. As one gets stronger blows can become harder and attacks more forceful. Two styles which seem to share this phikosophy, or that unwittingly demontrate it, a...