MizuRyu

I slip into a state of zombie-ness in Wing Chun all the time, that's what most arts strive for. An instinctive flow, the art fighting for itself. Especially when we do drills like the laap sao drill, I find that it quickly speeds up to an inhuman pace and it just becomes a test of transition. It's a good feeling.

I've found that the arrogant pushy ones are the most predictable... it's the quiet, humble ones you should fear. At the heart of martial arts comes a responsibility to use it ONLY when ABSOLUTELY necessary, because along with being endowed with such powerful knowledge and skill, you're also entrusted with a great and heavy responsibility. That is why discipline is so important, to help you understand that life isn't push and shove. You're not an animal, you're a human being. You can think, speak, and reason. You are the ONLY creature out of hundreds of thousands that has the ability to help another person from a sapient perspective. To train yourself to do great harm to another and boast about being able to use it DOES make you a bad person in my book. You should be rock solid in the morals and responsibilities passed down from the wise old fogies that gave you that gift. My art is not the best, I am not the strongest, I am not the smartest or fastest, but I am a martial artist, and I understand what that means.

True, in many altercations you will not see a stance, in that case, their legs are weak, which could be a stance in itself, and you just do what you deem necessary. If they throw a 'sudden' strike, without you having any eye contact with them whatsoever, then nothing will help you. Most of the time they're going to build the aggression, yell, point, puff up, then strike. We're taught to watch the chest, not the face, the face doesn't tell you anything about what's going to happen, and you can't see their legs. If they USE a stance, is what I should say, you should be able to crumple it RIGHT off the bat. If they don't, do it anyway, but it'll be much easier. They throw a jab, slip it and boot them in the kneecap, they're not going to be standing on that knee anymore. If they throw a hook, taan, stomp. Very simple, and a quick way to stop someone.

I want to hear an elaboration of Tokkan's point.. but it seems he's turned an eye from his topic.

Well, by crumple the stance I mean a stomp kick to the knee. But they DO call it Wing Chun Chinese Boxing in many places...

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True, I saw a guy on PCP and triple C put his hand through a steel mailbox in Detroit. He doesn't weigh a pound over 130 either.

I went and I have to say it is one of the BEST karate styles I've ever seen. No messin around. Very down to Earth, greatly helpful instructor, and the place isn't too expensive. My first day of training is tomorrow, I can't wait.

I agree. My Tang Soo Do gi is on my wall, and only has 2 patches. One with the World Moo Duk Kwan (our association) logo with the words TANG SOO DO, and the other with our instructor's teacher's patch, out of respect.

Well thought out indeed. In our particular school of Wing Chun, we have a priority of stance. You can tell what someone's intention is by their stance right off the bat. Boxers, kickers, wrestlers all have their stances. We deflect what punches or strikes we can going in, set up an angle, and crumple the stance. From there, it's your game. From what I understand, Mantis has a bit in common with Wing Chun, you could try this little strategy out for yourself with friends and whatnot. It works like a CHARM. "The arms are like the blades of a fan, the knees are the plug. Unplug the fan, and the blades won't do it much good."

I learned around 6th kyu in Tang Soo Do, right before I had to let it go. I think they have their purpose. I've heard good old reasons, many Chinese styles use high jump kicks to take people off horses. But in this day and age the only real use is the 'blast and pass' idea. If you're surrounded, taking out the biggest guy with a sprinting jump kick and then RUN. lol

I couldn't tell you about karate, but if it helps other close range styles are Southern Mantis, and Muay Thai can be easily adapted to a close range scenario. A decent Wing Chun school can indeed be very hard to find. I was lucky enough to find my school by word of mouth alone, and my teacher is probably the best Wing Chun teacher ever. VERY reality based, he actually punches us in the face lol. Keep lookin, and ask around especially. Ask other teachers and do some real deep research, it pays off. As far as the karate thing goes.. I'll do some lookin around.. sounds interesting to me too...

What this ultimately is going to come down to is your personal interpretation of ki according to YOUR faith. Everyone's faith is different. The way I see it, every religion has the same idea, the same basic guidelines, but a different way of presenting and 'enforcing' them. Ki, like God, is something obscure and subjective, it varies from person to person, from place to place. What one person considers holy another person could consider blasphmous.. and so forth. I don't really think there's any right or wrong in this conversation. Ki isn't discovered through evil intent, a pact with satan, or anything of the like; it was found through deep introspection. It is something inherently in all of us, it's a level of understanding that someone achieves, be it of their body, soul, or something else. I'm not really a Christian, but to my understanding things associated with Satan are things associated with personal wrongs and desires. I see Ki as being in no way associated with personal fault, it's just something that's... there. As your soul may be. Soul = ki? who really knows. And that's entirely the point: no one truely knows, they just interpret.

I agree with that, and at the same time I don't. Before I took BJJ, I was into Tang Soo Do, and as usual would cross train with other martial artists, because I believe that to be a good idea. Anyway, a friend of mine by the name of Andy, who was an aspiring Marine and a member of the Michigan Extreme Team (HS Wrestling) participated, and I seemed to deal with him exceedingly well. It really depends on how well you read someone and how you're trained to deal with it. He only actually took me to the ground twice, and both times I grabbed his hair and proceeded to elbow his jaw. The second time I got my legs around him and used a *gasp* pressure point lol. Pressed my fingers above his nipple when he tried to get in close to my chest, made him back off.

Not at all, but it doesn't hurt now does it? It's a solitary exercise, meant to sharpen your understanding of proper form. It's just a series of techniques compacted into a convenient little 'form' that you can practice on your own. They have purpose. The way I see it, the creators of these arts knew a lot more about them than we do, and I trust their knowledge and intent. EVERYTHING has a purpose in an art, one way or the other it's meant to help you and strengthen your understanding of the art in it's entirety. Of course, your personal level of dedication is up to you, and no one else.

Kata and forms are vessels through which you understand the application and proper execution of technique.

For a side kick I paak (relaxed slap) it and do a turning step at the same time. Be sure to slap it 'hard' to throw them off, then take the knee. It's really a 2 part harmony, because you need to turn as you block for it to be fully effective. For a back leg round kick, depending on the height, I'd just kick them in the hip/pelvis when you see the intention. All of this is Wing Chun... because I see it as the most sensible way to block. IF you're talking about tournament stuff, I can't help ya there.

I JUST found the website after a lot of searching. It actually surprises me, because the place is SO small (at least at this particular location). I emailed the guy and he told me to stop in on Friday for both classes to watch and maybe do some hands on. I'm all excited. http://www.michiganryute.com/ I read a review on the yahoo travel page, and a man gave him 5/5 stars and said he was an amazing teacher and a real gentleman. Sounds like the kind of school I'm looking for. It's the Mid-Michigan -> Grand Ledge one. A tiny little outlet in a long business district, pretty much tucked away from the world with a small neon sign of a guy kicking over the word "KARATE" in the window. Small scale operation, which hopefully means a lot more hands-on training!

For someone bigger I rely on my speed and strong hands. Plant lots of leopard paws (my favorite) to the floating ribs and face, and stomp kicks to the knees. I tend to work a lot of angles when I fight, which helps with the wing chun knee kicks as it has a much lower chance of breaking said knee. For someone considerably larger I'm going to strike first, and it's going to be as brutal as possible. I have my own signature self defense combo, where you place your hands up in the 'surrender' position to hopefully put them off guard a bit, then with your hips drive your palm into their chin, rotating a knee into their hip full force to follow up, and follow through by using the power of your leg going back to the ground to drive a hook leopard paw downward into their neck/clavicle. LOTS of force in this, the first 2 should bring him down, the hook is just in case he's really stubborn or you really want to put him down for a while. Keep close and stay close is my motto. But, I'm an infighter, that's where I'm confortable. I find that with bigger people it's sometimes of advantage to stay chest to chest and be aggressive. Anyone here remember lil' old Ramon Dekkers? Small people can be real scary sometimes lol. When I sparred a kid larger than myself in my basement, I knocked the wind outta him. He was big and moving in like a train, so I side kicked him in the stomach. His knees buckled and he went down to the carpet. Not a bad strategy either I'd say.

Actually, they did. Right in the hallways of the school a few years ago. The younger brother went for a push and it started from there, lasted MINUTES. The youngest lost a couple teeth and got knocked unconscious in the end of it. They've got attitude and aren't afraid to flaunt it... and it isn't pretty.

The ONLY time I've used a pressure point was when I already had someone in a complete control joint lock to help them 'calm down'. Besides that, in all honestly, I side with Triangle Man almost 100%. I've been in many more 'real' fights than I'd like to, and I know that people get SLOPPY. Standing up, basic things tend to work better, because you have less time to 'think'. Grappling however gives you much more time to 'think' in comparison, and greater access to tricky spots on the body. I'd slam a leopard strike into someone's rib tips way before I attempt to strike a nerve or vessel. It's just common sense. And I highly respect Triangle Man for not bringing up the letters 'UFC' in those posts, that really gets on my nerves lol. Another thing I will add however, is that not all people experience the same 'adrenaline dump'. People who train and train and train for that sort of thing learn RELAXATION and a gain a level of control. That's why it's so strictly emphasized in so many arts, to favor perfect technique at risk of getting hit. That way, you strike first and hardest, even if you do get clipped on the way in, you were still relaxed, and all the training you did to accomplish proper technique is not wasted in favor of frenzied swipes. I've seen what a perfectly executed snap punch to the head can do, and it is NOT pretty.

I discovered a Ryu Te school nearby, and I was wondering if anyone had any info on this style... I looked in the window while I was walking by, but class wasn't open, and I didn't see any times posted, so I'm probably going to have to rely on chance.

I've gained MANY things, but I think the most useful was building pateince for my own mistakes. I used to get really frustrated when I did something wrong, but MA training taught me that perfection comes with time and practice, not inherent ability. It's probably one of the most useful personal tools I have. It's taught me to have respect for my body, respect for others, patience for other's mistakes, humility, insurmountable self esteem and confidence, mediation, proper breathing, body mechanics, spirituality, relaxation in tense situations, the value of hard work, compassion, understanding, and among many other things, to value life and it's precious short duration, not just mine, but everyone's.

Mine is just the words 'water' and 'dragon' thrown together. I've been swimming most of my natural life, and I'm a dragon in the Chinese zodiac.