Someone charging you...

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Shorinryu Sensei, sounds intriguing. Is body shifting anything like emptying part of your body, or yielding, while filling or loading another? Or is it more like riding the force of an attack to enhance your counter? I hope you are familiar with these terms- if not, I apologise. But, as you said, they are a little difficult to really understand without experiencing them.

 

OK, since you're online at the moment..try this.

 

Get in a front stance, left leg (works either way, but we'll start with left) forward.left foot will NOT be moving. When the guy lunges at you (this is the tricky part and takes lots of practice) keep your front foot in place (it can pivot though) and wait until the last possible moment, and then move your back foot directly to the left..(hard to explain) in a cresant circle so that you end up nearly in a front stance, still facing the guy, but facing his side now.

 

I know that sounds confusing. How the heck do you explain it???

 

OK..try this one, maybe it will be easier. Out self defense stance is rather nature. Feet about 1-1.5 feet apart in a normal standing posture, knees slightly flexed. Both hands out in front of you, palms facing the opponent like you're saying "wait, stop".

 

As he rushes in, take either of your feet and move it behind the other foot, rotating the body as you do so that your body rotates to a front stance, and you're at 90 degrees from where you started.

 

Damn..that doesn't sound good either! *sigh*

 

Think of a clock..going back to 1st scenerio. Left foot forward at 12 o'clock, right foot at 6...OK?

 

Now, take your back (right) foot, and move it in an arc, shifting your body with it...to 9. There..I like that better. Did that work?

 

Reverse feet..right foot forward at 12, left at 6. Take left and arc to the right, shifting shoulders and torso as you move until left foot is at 3.

 

Working any better?

 

Last scenerioo where you're in that natural stance..left foot at 9, right fooyt at 3. Take left foot and arc it behind the right foot...3/4 turn around so that you end up with right foot forward in front stance at 9, and left foot at 3....that still sucks though! lol

 

Look..why don't you fly out to Montana, and I'll just show you!

[delta1]

Look..why don't you fly out to Montana, and I'll just show you!

 

Be glad to!

 

The clock system works to describe it. Sounds like you are simply pivoting off the line of attack and positioning yourself to counter, which is what most of our techniques do also. It works. Thanks for the clarification.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

lol...yep, sounds like you got it!

 

NOW..this is where the real meat and potatos comes in. When an attack comes in..punch/kick...whatever. At the same time you make your body shift away from the attack, you toss in a counter offensive technique..usually a punch.

 

With the combined power of the your arm movement, the shoulders moving/rotating and pushing the arm, plus the momentum of the attacker..you can really nail somebody good!

 

When you get the timing down so you wait until the last possible micro-second to do all of this, the attacker can't adjust and change the angle of his attack and get you, plus it suprises the hell out of them!

 

Primary targets for the counter punch are the head or the solar plexis/diaphram or ribs.

 

Have fun!

 

I've seen and talked to a lot of instructors from many different systems that tell me "Oh yeah, we do that too."..but in the 20+ years that I've been judging/refereeing tournaments, the only people I have actually seen USE it, are my students. And when done properly, it works LITERALLY every time.

[shotokanwarrior]

what happened to the sprawl, works very well ? a deep low front stance works well for me and a neck crank. But then again im also 240lbs and most guys are smaller.