Rise, Drill, Fall, Overturn- Part 2

Above we see Tim Cartmell demonstrating Xingyi's Pi Chuan, or splitting fist.
There's a lot of information in this clip, which includes the rising, drilling, falling and overturning of the palm.
This sequence however, has more to do with unified body movement than just an overturning palm.
Here's what famous author and martial historian Robert W. Smith had to say about Rise, Drill, Fall, Overturn:

"The fundamental tactic- and one the masters practice by the hour- is the same as in Pa Kua: rise, drill, fall, overturn. Twist as you rise and overturn as you fall. Twist as your head pushes up and overturn as your head contracts. Twist while your hands stretch out and overturn while they lower. Twist as your foot goes foward and overturn as it drops in place. Your waist rises as you twist and falls as you overturn. Rise equals go, fall equals strike. Together they mean to strike like a rolling wave. Each part must be clearly differentiated: all must be done like lightning. This is facilitated by keeping the body relaxed until the last instant. A cardinal principle of Hsing-i is that all movements must be done lightly and briskly without the heavy muscular contraction of Karate."

Mike Patterson in Pi Chuan, Splitting Fist

Rise, Drill, Fall, Overturn

In this post, we examine the concept of Rise, Drill, Fall, Overturn. There is somewhat of a controversy about whether overturn should precede fall in the terminology, but we'll touch on that later.
In this video, Kent Howard does a good job explaining the concept. As we can see, the Chinese Internal Martial Arts do not use hard blocking techniques. Instead, the most efficiant angle of blending with a strike is the goal. The motion of rise and drill shoots at an angle into the incoming force. The overturn and fall (or fall and overturn) then joins and leads the opponent. Bringing the opponent into your center of strength, using your body mass is the key. It's not just yanking the guys arm down, it's pulling him into your strike or throw.
More coming up...

Friday Fun: Tied To The Whipping Post

Sometimes I feel;
Sometimes I feel;
Like I'm tied to the internet
Tied to the internet
Sometimes I feel like I'm Blogging...

Come on!
I know it's Friday and there are some of you who are stuck in an office cubicle, tied to your whipping post...
Release the ties that bind you, it's Friday!

Seriously, you think you got problems?:

"I don't know why I let that mean woman make me a fool;
She stole all my money,
Wrecked my new car,
Now she's with one of my good time Buddies
Drinkin' at some cross-town bar-
Sometimes I feel,
Sometimes I feel,
Like I'm tied to the whipping post..."

P.S.; We do a great combat ukulele version of this...

Bad-Ass Military Hapkido

Those of you who read Dojo Rat regularly know that I am often critical of the "McDojo" aspect Korean Tae Kwon Do has devolved into.
I have a Second Dan in TKD so I feel my criticism is within bounds.
But strip away the sport aspect of Korean martial arts and you have one of the most bad-ass fighting systems on the Planet.
My TKD instructor, the late Tae Hong Choi, taught these techniques to Special Forces guys while he was stationed in Vietnam during the war. This demonstration clearly appears to be a military team, and the cream-of-the-crop. Top level guys, weapons disarms and sentry elimination.
Of course, not all Korean soldiers are trained to this level. My friend Brian was an Army Ranger and we trained together at the old TKD school. He had been in Korea, and had lost team members on the DMZ doing stuff that nobody is supposed to talk about.
He told me that the bulk of the South Korean soldiers he met and watched in demonstrations were not exceptional in martial skills. In fact, his Rangers were a lot better in some cases. You have to realize that with mandatory service in Korea, young guys roll through on a two-year program and then head to College and a bussiness career.
But I have to admit, this video demonstrates some exceptional skills...

80% Of School Fights Are Girls

From CBS:

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (CBS) Two teenage girls went at it.
Two adults allegedly watched and another minor videotaped the whole thing in Louisiana. The fight popped up on YouTube more than a week ago. Days later, in Lowell, Mass., local authorities discovered similar videos online and said local educators report about 80 percent of school fights are now girl against girl.
(snip)
We plugged in "girl fight" on YouTube and 267,000 videos popped up. Under them you'll find pages of comments from viewers all over the world.
---------

(D.R.)-- This is clearly a trend that has changed since I was in high school in the '70's. I mean, I remember a couple of girls that could kick a guy's ass, but I don't remember a single girl fight.
Does this mean that boys are fighting less?

The "Roman Army Knife"

From "The Mail Online" (London):

"The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.
An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.
It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.
Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.
(Snip)
The knife was:

'Perhaps a useful gadget for a wealthy traveller.'
Modern Swiss Army knives originated in Ibach Schwyz, Switzerland, in 1897 and were created by Karl Elsener.
The knives which provide soldiers with a 'battlefield toolkit' have since become standard issue for many modern day fighting forces thanks to their toughness and quality.
Nationalist Elsener decided to design the knives after he realised the Swiss army were being issued with blades manufactured in neighbouring Germany".

(D.R.) But where's the corkscrew?


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247230/The-Roman-Army-Knife-Or-ingenuity-Swiss-beaten-1-800-years.html#ixzz0eP5hUCQQ

February: Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month

Um, yum...

Ok, there must be some lonely geek sitting in his Mom's basement that knows where this picture came from.
Is this a screen grab off a romantic comedy?
I'm guessin' it might be Jennifer Aniston.
Very, very nice.