Kickin' It Old School: Karate

This week we look at old Karate stuff from the 1960's. Most of these are older than a lot of you Dojo Rats out there, but some of it is downright funny and it takes us back to our roots.
Today we start with an old TV commercial I remember as a kid; "Hai Karate". It may be my warped sense of humor but it's just as funny today as it was then...

Dojo Rats Are Everywhere!

They're everywhere... basements, old buildings, garages, out in the woods. They're Dojo Rats! They scurry about in their unkempt ways, just below the radar and out of the public eye-- but boy, can they scratch and bite! And they generally have a ton of fun while they go about their business, their strength in the casual disarray of their activities.
I picked this video of Bobbe Edmonds for these reasons. These Dojo Rats are working on serious training in an informal setting, music in the background, and I'll bet there's a cooler of beer there somewhere.
Edmonds may just out-Dojo Rat me even. His website, "Thick As Thieves" -Lost In Space, Drunk As A Skunk--is hilarious. Here he describes his website:
"I am, in no particular order, an IT professional, a martial arts instructor, a beer connoisseur, and afflicted with Yellow Fever (i.e. I love Asian Chicks). This blog consists of Martial Arts, Sci Fi/Horror, Political Rants, Humor and the occasional DEEP THOUGHT. You will need a background in Lovecraft, Chili Peppers, MST3K, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Kung Fu Fighting and Disco Music to understand what I’m doing here. And even then you will probably leave with your head spinning like that chick from the Exorcist."
The guy is a talented martial artist and is pretty damned funny also. On the video's I reviewed, his crew goes through some serious training, and has a blast doing it.
Go on over and check out Edmond's site: "Thick As Thieves", it's well worth the visit.

New Member Merging!

Hey! Time to become an ARGONAUT!
Argos Classic Martial Arts Reprints is joining us at the "Convocation of Combat Arts Forum"
Check out all the funky old martial arts stuff at Argos, and the Combat Arts Forum, both highlighted above!

Wing Chun vs. Northern Mantis

On the heels of my post suggesting that some Wing Chun guys appear to carry their center fairly high in body structure, I found this training fight. These guys are pretty evenly matched, and while this sparring session appears to go by tournament rules (no elbows, knees, kicks to the legs), it's still pretty good. The Mantis guy carries his center low, testing my theory, but the Wing Chun guy consistantly maintains positional superiority. The grappling clinches could be cleaner but they do occur, reminding us that while hitting closes the gap - grappling is inevitable. It does seem to me that there is a lot of energy wasted on high kicks, and some of the hallmarks of Wing Chun we have viewed in past posts (such as trapping skills) are not present.
Martial Development sent me a note to check out "Why Wing Chun punches never miss", which outlines some of his Wing Chun strategy, with some ideas about chain punching, positioning and timing.
As always, I appreciate everyone's input. While we have incorporated Chi Sao into our push-hands play, my working knowledge of Wing Chun is somewhat limited, so thanks for the tips!

Weakness In Wing Chun?

Eddie Chong on Rollback/Armbreak

Glen Hairston Rollback/arm break

Sam Masich Rollback/bar/break

I'd like to be clear about this, because these comparisons are general in nature and we are talking about differences between striking and grappling arts.
With that said, I believe that Wing Chun players tend to carry their center very high in their body structure. This may be because of the close range hitting and play of Chi Sao (sticky hands), and "climbing" over the other guys guard. This combined with off-angle hitting tends to pull the center up with rapid punching power mostly generated from the shoulders. At a Wing Chun seminar, my friend was paired up with a very muscular guy with fast hands. In Chi Sao, my friend could not defeat his hitting, so he began up-rooting him with the Tai Chi Chuan push, and the guy couldn't maintain his root to continue hitting. Now, this is all very general but I think it points out a weakness in Wing Chun.
Take a look at this video of Nathan from TDA Training (guest posting at Mokuren Dojo). In Western boxing, the boxer ROOTS down into the hit, maintaining his connection to the ground. Many times in Wing Chun, I see the person hitting nearly up on his toes, at least on one foot. Additionally, Wing Chun's strength, adherance to toe-to-toe centerline concepts, may also limit mobility in neutralization. Compare Eddie Chong's arm bar/break to the others to see what I mean.
All-in-all, I see Wing Chun as powerful and effective, and some of these comparison's may be off-base. I am fascinated by the hand trapping, and will continue to explore these ideas.
*(Edit.) Upon edit, I see I posted Nathan's hook punch video earlier, so I found the boxing video HERE. Note that even when Nathan lifts his heel in the cross, hook or uppercut, he is driving down into the ground to develop power. This produces different energy than Wing Chun "chain" punching.

November: Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month-- And Special Feature: Defense for "The Arm Trap"

Our Local Girls

Defense For "The Arm Trap"

Yes, It's here! November's "Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month" features some local girls. These are the Friday night Beer-tenders at the watering hole on our remote undisclosed Island hideout. They tirelessly pour Beer after Beer for the thirsty Dojo Rats, and generally put up with all our crap with a smile. What a team!
--And the special feature in our series on Wing-Chun trapping techniques is: Defense For The Arm Trap... enjoy!

Natural Neutralization

Let's change the focus of this series a bit; This video shows "Natural Neutralization" rather than trapping techniques. In this case, you keep the structure of your "bridge" extended and merely join with the incoming force and turn your centerline. Here's what the author of the video ("Hgamer") has to say:

"About This Video
This took place at windy city's wing chun 5th annual seminar. I take no credit at all, as my Sifu just showed some superior blocking skills. If you know what to look for you can see tons of different concepts being applied. The 1st thing to notice is that a skilled practioner really just blocks the majority of the time, the unskilled, tries to cover that up by simply blizting the attack. Its very common in the wing chun world for many to do that.
Also, what how blocks come about, its not done by the hand but by the body. You can visually see this since sifu's center stays consistent throughout, and simply turns in conjunction with the amount of force, while the hands don't chase out which is a common no no in wing chun. Let the attacks come to your house, and the closer they are the safer it is for you. All to often, people will shoot out their hands trying to reach out to block.
Blocking is a simple concept but difficult to do, know the person's centerline, have your triangle constantly point to that indivudals center line, and go with the force. While there are many more concepts involved these are the general three which one must follow to develop superior blocking skills.
Finally in some glimpses you see freezing out motions, where you can literally lock out your opponents motions, by simply holding your structure and techincally freezing his hand motion. All to often wing chun is confused with the concept of sticky hands. Sticky hands is not about sticking to people, its making people stick to you. Out in the street, people will not do sticky hands in a real fight, what your developing is the ability so that people will stick to your hands. In a simple concept imagine your hands as blades, if you position your blades in the right angle, whatever touches it will cut into it, thus forcing that individual to stick."