Drunken Monkey

y'know, i'm tempted to say go for both. jkd is based on you having a certain amount of kowledge in martial arts. if you have none, then the school can teach you their own set of core arts to make your own. it makes sense to me to go and find more arts to add to your jkd process. your tag says that you have knowledge in aikido, which would naturally act as your core on which you build. i guess if you absolutely have to go for ONE, it would make sense to be the jkd place. heck, if you don't like it, you can always go to the other place. why do people always make these decisions seem so final....?

or how about the wing chun way. stamp/kick to knee then scrape down the shin to impact onto the top of the foot. then if you're positioned for it, drag foot to take balance. BUT as the intelligent ones amongst you will note, all of this depends on what range you are in and what you have been trained to do. punch, kick, it's all in the mind....

by context i was talking about his reference to the crance stance from karate kid and the infereing that it is a valid crane stance. the crane stance as i understand it has never been a 'guard' type stance. it's 'existence' occuring during a transition. it covers but does not act as a guard. so anyway, let me get this right. you can't say for sure that people DO use it as a guard stance either. just like i can't say for sure that people don't use it. like i have said before, sometimes i get the idea that you just like to argue.

like i say, you are applying a western term, which just so happens to be a not too good translation of a chinese term that actually is closer to meaning fighting art. what i mean is, don't define what a chinese martial art is using english terms. the two don't mix very well, especially when you translate from one to the other and back again.

actually that's not strictly true... the police have no problems with me carrying my 'toys' about, just so long as they are in a proper carrying case and not obviously in view. what they don't like, are guns, which are pretty much illegal with a few exceptional circumstances, and knives (or any such bladed weapon). some of you might remember my little encounter with some 'pesky kids' whilst i had my 'three' on my back....

...nice..... but true....

there you go again... if you look at the context of the 'crane stance' as mentioned in the original post, you will see what i was infereing. as for whether or not you would use the sideways 'crane' as a starting position. well, my style would say that standing on one leg imposes a limit to what you can do. therefore, according to my style, you do not face your oppoent in a 'crane' stance pre-contact. my style tells you that if you are in any one leg stance and your opponent moves to the side, you have to change position to re-face him. this is a wasted movement. in other words, by commiting yourself to a one leg stance pre-contact, you will always be playing catch-up. like i say, that is what my style would tell you. in answer to your question, i am pretty sure that the 'crane' stance is not used to face pre-contact. are you sure that people do use it? apart from in the movies that is....

(fixed some coding) just a little point about the term 'martial art'. a lot of people harp on about 'martial'=for the purpose of war. if this is the case then wing chun, hung gar, choy li fut, tai chi and many more are not martial because their inception was not for war; they were and are for fighting (either focussing on attack or defence). you used to find practioners of these art in the chinese government because i) they were usually rich people and could afford to learn (as well as having too much time on their filthy hands) ii) to be in a position of government, you had to take 'exams' which included fighting as well as other aspects (also a reason for their learning). what was taught to the armies was a totally different beast concerntrating on armed combat (doa, spear, archery etc) and if taught hand to hand, it was usually a shoalin derivitive if not shaolin long fist itself. the chinese name for the martial arts ('wushu') does not literally mean war art. it is more like 'art of fighting'. it just so happens that the 'wu' is also the one used to describe someaspects of war but not war itself. in short, what i am saying is that in chinese it IS NOT 'martial art'. they are fighting arts. hence, boxing is the same as wing chun, which is the same as tai chi which, is the same as hung gar. and yes, the only time i have ever used an emergency technique was when we were in full kit, or purely by accident (i.e forced into it...)

just out of curiosity, when you guys say 'chinese', do you mean mandarin or cantonese?

well, you know what i mean.... tai chi isn't something you do to relax you. you have to be relaxed to do tai chi.

i'm talking about correct as in 'obeying' the 8 major principles. my last post was the brief summisation of another longish conversation. the main points were as follows. tai chi movements follow 8 principles. each must be satisfied in order to do the movement correctly. when you begin, you must do slowly or else run the risk of not adhereing to the principles. when you progress, you can go faster. i should point out that the last conversation was to point out that if the person teaching tai chi says that it is done slow for relaxation, calm, zen, cultivating or whatever nonsense, then he probably does not know what he is talking about. so once again, you do tai chi slowly in order do each movement correctly. am i wrong?

crane stance in chinese martial arts means standing on one leg. it is almost always transitionary. it is separated as a 'stance' for training in strength and endurance. it is not a stance for fighting in and you do definitely do not stand there like a pillock in crane stance. how many times do i have to say this? films are not the best reference for facts.

just being nosy now, rich_2k3, where do you train?

whoa.... and what you say about kickboxing/boxing isn't ignorant? just so you know. bruce was far from mastering wing chun when he left for the states.

you have to keep in mind that they are just drills. even though there are fixed things in the drills, there are things that you, as the people practicing, should be adjusting yourself. timing, level of force, receiving force and receiving timing are things that you adjust according to each partner. you don't go in at a constant rhythm because it is that which develops bad habits, not the drill itself. if you alter the entry timing, your partner will not always be ready at the time of entry. also, if he can comfortably receive something at a certain pace, then step it up. adjust the entry speed until you find his limit. same with entry force. find his limit. here are three things that you, as the attacker, can vary. i guess what i am saying is that you seem to be doing the drills wrong. mix up the rhythm. as for stance, stepping, footwork. they are not addressed in these drills because simply, they are not the main focus of the drill. as i have pointed out, there are already three things (on both sides) to worry about. adding extra footwork stances (which would vary anyway because of different distances you take up pre-contact), would begin to make things that little bit more confusing. just out of curiosity, how long have you been training?

you know what chilli means? hot soup.

i'm confused. 'combat hapkido'? doesn't that suggest that 'regular' hapkido isn't suited for combat? bah, greedy men and their marketing ploys....

mule kick? kinda like what benny urquidez used to do?

i have a little wad of scrap paper where i have all of the wing chun terms in chinese. my sifu gave me the dummy form written in chinese and told me to decipher it. he then had me 'perform' what i thought the form was supposed to look like. i also have my knife form in little drawings with notes for my own use but unfortunately, i can't really decipher what i meant when i drew/wrote it down.... occasionally, i like to write down the things that we used to do; every single drill and excercise. this acted as a reminder and a good way of making a training/refreshment list. for a start, it always seems to remind me of a type of punching drill that i haven't done for a long time.

well, summer does sound more viable. but the thing is, i think i have to go back to hk this summer. something about village having a big festival. anyway. c'mon guys. let me know if anyone wants to meet. even if you say 'no' at least i'll know then....

krav maga in london? where? maybe i can pop down there and have a look, seeing as it's easter and all...

stepping is one of those things that while there are certain things that are true, what you do and how you do it is determined by you, what you can do and how you do things. in wing chun, you aim to move and hit at the same time. this is the general rule. there will always be instances where you will want to move first then hit. or hit then move closer. in theory, the shuffle/slide and hit (one beat) is always better because it is the quickest, most efficient way of doing things. BUT sometimes, (for example if the opponent is moving 'off beat', you will want to move first then hit 'half beat' later. back to the punch/step question. again, how you step depends almost entirely on what is going on. you will probably want to be stepping to his offside (outside gate) to punch ove his attack. in this case, depending on what side you step to, how you are standing, how he is standing, you will step differently. there is no 'fixed way' of stepping and punching.

i wonder if some people realise that i.ps are logged and that the admin guys actually do know when people are using multiple accounts.....?

well, it's the easter break so i figured that i should ressurect this just in case any of you guys here have some free time (exams+revision aside....)

oh no, he can't do that. that would be the sensible thing to do. you should know by now that 'sensible' and 'high school student' are not the most related of things....