Write-up later.
Strikes and Takedowns
The main points here are improvisation and connectivity. Since we don’t go into a fight knowing how the opponent is going to react, we can’t have a predetermined method of approach and a set way to end the fight.
The method is to engage the opponent with credible threats, so he is forced to react to your actions; thereby giving you the initiative and a quicker route to get inside his decision/action loop. You don’t have to be really fast, just a bit faster than his cycles would be enough. This is how you dictate the terms to him. What you do depends entirely on what the opponent is giving you.
Self-Defense: It’s about Getting the Ideas Right
I have seen a lot of videos about self-defense, and I have to say, people are generally too hung up on performing techniques rather than getting the ideas right. Applying the wrong ideas leads to the using of wrong techniques in the wrong contexts, and that would expose the defender to more risks than necessary.…
Class Note No. 2
Grappling during engagement; offensive and defensive.
Action 1:
Initiate an attack and bind with the opponent’s arms. Open them in an opposite manner, i.e. one up, one down, and grab his right at the end of the opening move while he is distracted by the staggering and opposite actions. Takedown with a spiral.
The takedown is done correctly if the opponent spins on the ground.
Action 2:
The opponent initiates an attack. Bind his leading arm and draw it inward, while at the same time shoot your left forward and perform a brow-sweep. Your draw and the shooting of your body is going to make him resist by pulling back, and that allows a takedown with a simple push. Your leading arm should lift his up to pin his balance down.
If he does not resist by pulling backward, then you can simply perform an attack with the arm that is drawing him in.
Class Note No.1
Action 1:
A typical Mantis “Chaotic Fury” with multiple hits along and across different lines and directions in a burst. Strikes turn to grapples and grapples turn to strike.
Action 2:
Right hook to his left, cross and hitting his right ear without turning the wrist. Could turn this into an eye-sweep or a backfist.
Action 3:
Backfist. Pressure and misdirection on his left to get in from the right. His right arm lets go, and the backfist follows immediate to get into his cycle.
Conflicting Force 爭力 (zhēng lì)
For any attack to be effective, the attack has to land where the opponent is not defending, i.e. the open part of his body. This is easier said than done, as any person will naturally put up their arms in defence in face of an attack, unless they are surprised or slow to react. Therefore,…
Abstract No.4 First Stanza 摘要四路 第一段
Asian martial arts devote a lot of time on practising forms, and here we want to show how a form should be practised: By breaking it down into sections and use them in sparring. Originally, there was no such thing as a form (or kata, to go by Japanese terms), and forms were created for…
Wrestling 摔跤 (shuāi jiāo)
Literally it means throws and trips in Chinese. When people think of wrestling, they either thinking of Greco-Roman wrestling or WWE, which is a form of sport entertainment, and Judo is usually left out for the discussion and treated as its own separate thing. While there are many similarities in all forms of wrestling, as they…
Breaking with Traditions: A Critical Examination of the Phantom Arrow 跳出傳統：從新檢視〈鬼箭手〉
Our traditional manuscript describes the technique of Phantom Arrow (鬼箭手, guǐ jiàn shǒu, lit. ghost arrow hand) as follow: “I, standing with right foot forward, initiate an attack with my right arm. The opponent, standing with his right foot forward, uses his right hand to ladle my right arm. He then takes a left step and…
Pick-Melon 摘瓜
The technique Zhāi Guā (摘瓜) literally means plucking a melon from the ground, with the melon being the opponent’s head. This is an interesting move not because it is particularly effective, which it is, but for the clever ways of guiding away the opponent’s guard and arriving at the position to with body movement. The trick…
螳螂拳紀要 The Art of Mantis 