Monday, May 02, 2005
Supporting the troops
Regardless of your feelings about the politics of the Iraq war, you may want to do something to show support for Americans over there doing dirty, dangerous work. Here is a link to another blog which has some suggestions, things that connect directly to those people rather than well-meaning but useless gestures like stickers on your car.
Double Parrying
Double Parry With Pivot
This is Serrada's first move, "Outside Block" for angles 1,6,10,12 with empty hands.
Footwork /lower body alignment:
Facing opponent, against a right punch: pivot towards the left, shifting weight forward towards that leg. Keep both knees bent/spring-loaded; as you turn, tuck your right knee in by the left, bringing thighs together for stability. You can go a bit farther and pull in your right foot to get further offline. This will shift the weight more to the left. Either way, the left front foot is flat, the right up on the balls of the toes.
- Simultaneously with the Upper Body:
The right (inside) shoulder is inline with the hips, guarding towards opponent. Flick both hands high to parry a punch. Rear left hand crosses up to protect the face, lead right hand in front; create plane. Alternately, lead hand is low to protect ribs and belly.
Tips:
*Shoulders and hips move together.
*Elbows and knees move together.
*Hands and feet move together.
Everything moves together, stops together.
Balance and integrate: top/bottom, left/right.
BREATHE.
Feel the power of moving from your center, extend it out via the limbs.
Relax. Feel your weight settled, grounded.
Coil and release. Center and extend. Contract and expand.
Variations:
*Practice in each direction, turning right instead of left; positions reverse.
*From a leading foot stance, shift backward, front hand lead.
*From a leading foot stance, shift forward. Opposite hand becomes lead.
*Learn these shifts both outside (of the opponent's hands) and inside too.
*Covering: step back from opponent while keeping guard against attack
- wipe off; lead hand retreats high, new lead moves under it (like pulling rope).
- stepping to the rear pivots and changes lead side;
- front cross-step keeps same side lead
*Double cover (two steps back); turn head to scan around, break tunnel vision.
*Practic eight directions, on lines of symbols + and x. (straight and diagonals).
*Add a thrusting kick to opponent’s knee, leg; or snap wheel kick to groin.
*Kick knee, then scrape down the shin to stomp the foot.
*Eye jab with lead fingers.
*Multiple punches - targetted; circular, (use elbows for intercepting punch)
*Elbow to ribs. Multiple reversing elbows (keep head covered).
*Elbow ribs while stepping through, spin into reverse elbow w/other arm.
*Use lead knee to strike thighs, groin, underbelly.
*Hook, sweep, throw (inner / outer reaps; arm locks with throws, etc.)
*Move to rear. Attacks to knee/achilles tendon, kidneys, spine, neck.
*Moving inside; head smash (head grab w/elbow hit); reverse follow-ups
*Low lead hand parry (cover groin against kick, protect belly/ribs more.
*Lead hand high/low/high combinations parries
*Hand reversals:
-high/low flicks, same lead;
-roll and reverse;
-touch reference points (tap front shoulder/thigh, rear shoulder/thigh).
This is Serrada's first move, "Outside Block" for angles 1,6,10,12 with empty hands.
Footwork /lower body alignment:
Facing opponent, against a right punch: pivot towards the left, shifting weight forward towards that leg. Keep both knees bent/spring-loaded; as you turn, tuck your right knee in by the left, bringing thighs together for stability. You can go a bit farther and pull in your right foot to get further offline. This will shift the weight more to the left. Either way, the left front foot is flat, the right up on the balls of the toes.
- Simultaneously with the Upper Body:
The right (inside) shoulder is inline with the hips, guarding towards opponent. Flick both hands high to parry a punch. Rear left hand crosses up to protect the face, lead right hand in front; create plane. Alternately, lead hand is low to protect ribs and belly.
Tips:
*Shoulders and hips move together.
*Elbows and knees move together.
*Hands and feet move together.
Everything moves together, stops together.
Balance and integrate: top/bottom, left/right.
BREATHE.
Feel the power of moving from your center, extend it out via the limbs.
Relax. Feel your weight settled, grounded.
Coil and release. Center and extend. Contract and expand.
Variations:
*Practice in each direction, turning right instead of left; positions reverse.
*From a leading foot stance, shift backward, front hand lead.
*From a leading foot stance, shift forward. Opposite hand becomes lead.
*Learn these shifts both outside (of the opponent's hands) and inside too.
*Covering: step back from opponent while keeping guard against attack
- wipe off; lead hand retreats high, new lead moves under it (like pulling rope).
- stepping to the rear pivots and changes lead side;
- front cross-step keeps same side lead
*Double cover (two steps back); turn head to scan around, break tunnel vision.
*Practic eight directions, on lines of symbols + and x. (straight and diagonals).
*Add a thrusting kick to opponent’s knee, leg; or snap wheel kick to groin.
*Kick knee, then scrape down the shin to stomp the foot.
*Eye jab with lead fingers.
*Multiple punches - targetted; circular, (use elbows for intercepting punch)
*Elbow to ribs. Multiple reversing elbows (keep head covered).
*Elbow ribs while stepping through, spin into reverse elbow w/other arm.
*Use lead knee to strike thighs, groin, underbelly.
*Hook, sweep, throw (inner / outer reaps; arm locks with throws, etc.)
*Move to rear. Attacks to knee/achilles tendon, kidneys, spine, neck.
*Moving inside; head smash (head grab w/elbow hit); reverse follow-ups
*Low lead hand parry (cover groin against kick, protect belly/ribs more.
*Lead hand high/low/high combinations parries
*Hand reversals:
-high/low flicks, same lead;
-roll and reverse;
-touch reference points (tap front shoulder/thigh, rear shoulder/thigh).
Moving qualities #1
See shapes of movement. Round keeps moving, doesn’t want to stop. Square is the hit, putting a sharp point to the movement. Keep energy moving as much as possible. If stuck, reverse. Feel through your senses; pay attention to your body says. Understand the qualities of movement, what you are feeling in yourself and from your opponent.
Stay relaxed, go with it as much as you can. When pulled, come in (the door is opened). When pushed, go (a window of opportunity). Sometimes you reverse; that is to counter or destroy their attack. You think about what you feel. Their press becomes your roll, which could wind up into a trap/hit.
This requires staying focused in the “Now,” a very Zen-like state of awareness. Feel with your belly. Listen with your hands. The mind watches; the body does.
Stay relaxed, go with it as much as you can. When pulled, come in (the door is opened). When pushed, go (a window of opportunity). Sometimes you reverse; that is to counter or destroy their attack. You think about what you feel. Their press becomes your roll, which could wind up into a trap/hit.
This requires staying focused in the “Now,” a very Zen-like state of awareness. Feel with your belly. Listen with your hands. The mind watches; the body does.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Ram Dass
Some of you may know of Ram Dass; many more are probably familiar with the phrase made famous by his book, "Be Here Now." Ram Dass is one of the great spiritual teachers and speakers to emerge from the 1960's to help bring the teachings of the East to our Western culture. He is someone who walked the walk, living a life of service to others. He is now old, poor and suffering the effects of a stroke he had a few years ago. A fund has been set up to help him. Read here, and help if you can. Even a little bit is appreciated.
Jeff
Jeff
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Confidence
Hello again! Back to the blog after a break. I’ve been busy writing elsewhere, having signed onto an email list that is busy, to say the least; I think addictive is the word most commonly used by those on it. A memo to myself to carry a notepad and remember to use it for blog ideas! Sometimes I just forget it’s there, and a moment of inspiration passes and is forgotten. I’ve had half a dozen ideas for this blog this past week, but once that quick hit is gone, it’s hard to get back. The good news is I travel in small circles, so like the saying, what goes around comes around.
Some circles are bigger than others; a friend who has trained extensively with Dan Inosanto recently said that Guro D’s teaching progression was about a 2 year cycle to get back to material previously covered. This is one reason people who train at that academy might look different from each other, depending on what they got and when in their training they got it. I’ll say this – it takes real genius to keep that much material in circulation. Maybe I underestimate what I’ve learned over the years, but I just stick to simple things because there is always more to do right there. I remember how back in my Kenpo days, there was always more to learn, never enough time to really master what we already had. Come to think of it, that’s about how my flamenco guitar studies feel right now!
In looking at the paths to mastery, what are the key elements? First let me define mastery. My dictionary says it is “1) dominion; also superiority; 2) possession or display of great skill or knowledge.” Both of these are definitions that are applied in martial arts, and they should be synchronistic. Sadly, there is no guarantee the meanings are applied congruously. Dominion refers to a hierarchical structure of social control; too often in martial arts people are concerned with title and rank in order to impress people, pull in students, make more money. Sometimes the title “master” is well-earned through achievement, or bestowed by those appreciative of one’s talents. Other times, titles that are bought, inherited or self-designated may or may not represent actual mastery and are merely window dressing.
The second meaning of mastery is akin to the Chinese understanding of kung-fu, great skill acquired through hard work over time. It does not necessarily mean, as some people try to make it, a magical state of cosmic enlightenment, though that might be nice; by such a definition, the word would be almost meaningless because how many people have that? No, that brings it back into the realm of social mastery or dominion. In truth, most people who are masters of something are simply the best prepared students of the genre, in control of certain parameters of knowledge but by the same token, aware of the limitations of what they don’t know. Mastery is a path of growth, and in the process of gaining whatever else we learn, hopefully the process polishes us as well.
Earlier this morning I read an interview with Nate Defensor, an FMA teacher in the Chicago area. He has an impressive and wide-ranging set of teachers. When asked what quality set them apart, his response was “overwhelming confidence.” This is a great answer, and a big part of the mystery of mastery. To possess skill or knowledge means personal ownership of that thing and a belief in yourself as the possessor. All too often people feel inadequate, comparing themselves to others without recognizing their own innate talents. Modesty can be a good trait in honest self-evaluation, but diminishing oneself is as much a distortion of the ego as self-aggrandizement. It is through experience that we grow what we know; again, as Mushtaq Ali points out, a heuristic learning process. Confidence comes through successful repetition, great confidence through progressively nurturing those skills to higher levels of competency. Ultimately it is not so much how much we know as how well we know what we know. Getting lost in material is wandering in the desert; knowing one thing is like having a star to guide one through the wilderness. Knowing that you can locate that star and navigate allows one to go anywhere, and that is the transition from confusion to mastery. This looks inward for self-validation, not outwards to gain approval from the world. The only dominion that really matters to a master is over oneself. That is where confidence resides.
* An interesting observation on the Defensor interview. He says the older teachers like Cabales were focused on wisdom and tradition, while Dan Inosanto wrote in his first book that Angel was “a true master of the physical art.” While Angel might have had some traditional views on things, I’ll go with Guro Dan on this one. Angel was a master tactician and a detailed and thorough teacher.
Some circles are bigger than others; a friend who has trained extensively with Dan Inosanto recently said that Guro D’s teaching progression was about a 2 year cycle to get back to material previously covered. This is one reason people who train at that academy might look different from each other, depending on what they got and when in their training they got it. I’ll say this – it takes real genius to keep that much material in circulation. Maybe I underestimate what I’ve learned over the years, but I just stick to simple things because there is always more to do right there. I remember how back in my Kenpo days, there was always more to learn, never enough time to really master what we already had. Come to think of it, that’s about how my flamenco guitar studies feel right now!
In looking at the paths to mastery, what are the key elements? First let me define mastery. My dictionary says it is “1) dominion; also superiority; 2) possession or display of great skill or knowledge.” Both of these are definitions that are applied in martial arts, and they should be synchronistic. Sadly, there is no guarantee the meanings are applied congruously. Dominion refers to a hierarchical structure of social control; too often in martial arts people are concerned with title and rank in order to impress people, pull in students, make more money. Sometimes the title “master” is well-earned through achievement, or bestowed by those appreciative of one’s talents. Other times, titles that are bought, inherited or self-designated may or may not represent actual mastery and are merely window dressing.
The second meaning of mastery is akin to the Chinese understanding of kung-fu, great skill acquired through hard work over time. It does not necessarily mean, as some people try to make it, a magical state of cosmic enlightenment, though that might be nice; by such a definition, the word would be almost meaningless because how many people have that? No, that brings it back into the realm of social mastery or dominion. In truth, most people who are masters of something are simply the best prepared students of the genre, in control of certain parameters of knowledge but by the same token, aware of the limitations of what they don’t know. Mastery is a path of growth, and in the process of gaining whatever else we learn, hopefully the process polishes us as well.
Earlier this morning I read an interview with Nate Defensor, an FMA teacher in the Chicago area. He has an impressive and wide-ranging set of teachers. When asked what quality set them apart, his response was “overwhelming confidence.” This is a great answer, and a big part of the mystery of mastery. To possess skill or knowledge means personal ownership of that thing and a belief in yourself as the possessor. All too often people feel inadequate, comparing themselves to others without recognizing their own innate talents. Modesty can be a good trait in honest self-evaluation, but diminishing oneself is as much a distortion of the ego as self-aggrandizement. It is through experience that we grow what we know; again, as Mushtaq Ali points out, a heuristic learning process. Confidence comes through successful repetition, great confidence through progressively nurturing those skills to higher levels of competency. Ultimately it is not so much how much we know as how well we know what we know. Getting lost in material is wandering in the desert; knowing one thing is like having a star to guide one through the wilderness. Knowing that you can locate that star and navigate allows one to go anywhere, and that is the transition from confusion to mastery. This looks inward for self-validation, not outwards to gain approval from the world. The only dominion that really matters to a master is over oneself. That is where confidence resides.
* An interesting observation on the Defensor interview. He says the older teachers like Cabales were focused on wisdom and tradition, while Dan Inosanto wrote in his first book that Angel was “a true master of the physical art.” While Angel might have had some traditional views on things, I’ll go with Guro Dan on this one. Angel was a master tactician and a detailed and thorough teacher.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Blogger Game - Q&A
As a link in a personal communication chain, Mushtaq Ali joined this blogger game (rules at the bottom) and I opted in. Hmm, I wonder if there is a way to use traceback to link all those responses? I bet there is, so I’ll ask someone more internet savvy like Mushtaq. It’d be fun to follow the progress of this thing in both directions.
Here, then, are the questions posed to me:
1.You were fortunate enough to be a longtime student of GM Angel Cabales, what is your favorite memory of him?
This is an easy one, a funny memory I can still see in my mind’s eye. I used to drive out to Stockton weekly to spend the day with Angel, usually arriving mid to late morning. Sometimes we’d work out a little, or run some errands, and frequently we’d go have lunch. One place we went often was Gertie’s Mabuhay Café, which was located in the old community center. It was the kind of place with history seeping from the picture-covered walls, and old men playing cards, talking or reading. Wednesdays were all-you-can-eat smorgasborg, and Angel would ply me with food until I was stuffed, then we’d go work out. Sneaky guy! Anyway, this one day we’re there and suddenly Angel stands up and in a loud voice announces “This is my student Jif (his pronunciation of my name) from Oakland and he says he wants to marry a Pilipina!” OH MAN! I slumped in my chair and said “Angel! NOOO! I just got engaged!” I felt like a tasty crumb at a picnic after the ants get the scent. Everybody, and I mean everybody, in the place got up and started coming towards our table. “I’ve got a niece in Manila ...” Darn, I could sure use his help now ... but anyway, he let me twist for a minute or two while he grinned, and then he said to everybody “Nevermind. He’s found somebody.” I got some congratulations and everyone went back to what they were doing.
2. Someone gives you a million dollars, what is the first thing you use it for?
A bit tougher, mostly because a million bucks doesn’t go very far these days. Of course, never having seen a million bucks, I’d be happy to find out, and I’ve certainly thought about this. I look around the world and I see so many problems, that money could be gone in a stroke of the pen. Knowing how hard people close to me are struggling, my choices would be charity close to home. There are also a few personal issues I would want to address, like paying off grad school debt. My house needs maintenance, some of which, like old carpets, might be contributing to my ongoing health problems. I haven’t taken a real vacation in over 15 years and there is someone in Kuai I think I’d like to visit; that one would probably stay on the wish list. All together, these would be perhaps 3% of the total. After that, I’d want to help my ex-wife, still a friend, who could use some seed money for a home or investment property. I have an ex-girlfriend with two kids (not mine!) and grad school debt; I’d want to help her too. My older siblings are struggling badly. My brother just had two major cancer surgeries this past month, and my sister has some degenerative physical conditions too. Rather than give them money outright, I’d want set up a trust so at least they’d have some stability. I’d also set something up for my mom, who has been the one helping them through these times. Finally, I’d put something in an education fund for my daughter and my two youngest nieces. If anything were left, maybe I’d try to get health insurance again for a year.
3. Everyone is excited to read the book you will write, what is it about?
Shoot. Everyone’s busting me on this one! I should get offline and lay off my flamenco guitar lessons … The book I want to write is, of course, about Serrada Escrima. There is so little available, and it isn’t really in-depth. Angel used to say he wanted a book that students could take to the park to use as a reference to train. What I want to do is a more detailed study, really write a technical analysis of the system. It’s in my head, I need to get it out on paper. Angel described a pocket booklet, so maybe I could include a quick guide with the complete book, like the ones that accompany the main user’s guides for electronics such as cell phones.
4. What is the best movie ever made?
Wow, this is the toughest question, because it’s so subjective and depends somewhat on genre. Best martial art movie? Best love story? Best cinematography? My choice combining all three is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” First, I loved the story line, and it was beautifully filmed. The sword fighting was exciting and exceptionally well choreographed. The special effects were novel at the time, and though the actors seemed a bit unfamiliar with wire work in the early scenes, by the end it looked seamless. I loved the fact that the strongest characters in this film were women who could really do martial arts; to this day I cannot comprehend why Michele Yeoh didn’t receive even a nomination for best actress, because in my opinion her role carried the film, tying together all the other characters. Finally, on a purely personal level, this came along at a time in my life when I was going through some issues of loss, and the struggles and choices of the heroes and heroines resonated powerfully in me.
5. You discover you have the power to speak to animals, how do you explain humans to them?
Who says I don’t?!! I also don’t think animals need to have humans explained to them. They know us better than we know them. They have to live with the consequences of our impact on their world. Like other victims of oppression, they come to know quite well the moods and nuances of those who control them. Domestic animals shape themselves by conforming to our structure and whims, while wild animals try to avoid us. Animals live in a world dominated by instinct and emotion. It is highly experiential, grounded in past memory, expressed in present time. Perhaps the biggest difference between animals and humans is a lack of future consciousness. Except for simple things like anticipating dinner, they don’t really think ahead. Even something like knowing it’s time to migrate with the seasons is in awareness of present changes. Don’t underestimate animal consciousness, though. They might not have our powers of reasoning, but by the same token they are less likely to conflict themselves. For them, feeling and response are directly linked, and this flow is a goal humans strive to recapture through things like meditation and martial arts. I guess I’ve turned this around to explain animals to humans, but then we’re the ones reading this, and we’re the ones who need to find the compassion to understand those over whom we hold the power of living or dying. In a sense, animals exist as metaphors for our own inner selves, expressed as archetypes or totems. The more we understand their needs, the clearer we will see the effects we have on all life on this planet. Maybe then we can start to understand ourselves as well.
THE INTERVIEW GAME RULES:
Here's how you can play the interview game:
1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me." The first five commenters will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)
Here, then, are the questions posed to me:
1.You were fortunate enough to be a longtime student of GM Angel Cabales, what is your favorite memory of him?
This is an easy one, a funny memory I can still see in my mind’s eye. I used to drive out to Stockton weekly to spend the day with Angel, usually arriving mid to late morning. Sometimes we’d work out a little, or run some errands, and frequently we’d go have lunch. One place we went often was Gertie’s Mabuhay Café, which was located in the old community center. It was the kind of place with history seeping from the picture-covered walls, and old men playing cards, talking or reading. Wednesdays were all-you-can-eat smorgasborg, and Angel would ply me with food until I was stuffed, then we’d go work out. Sneaky guy! Anyway, this one day we’re there and suddenly Angel stands up and in a loud voice announces “This is my student Jif (his pronunciation of my name) from Oakland and he says he wants to marry a Pilipina!” OH MAN! I slumped in my chair and said “Angel! NOOO! I just got engaged!” I felt like a tasty crumb at a picnic after the ants get the scent. Everybody, and I mean everybody, in the place got up and started coming towards our table. “I’ve got a niece in Manila ...” Darn, I could sure use his help now ... but anyway, he let me twist for a minute or two while he grinned, and then he said to everybody “Nevermind. He’s found somebody.” I got some congratulations and everyone went back to what they were doing.
2. Someone gives you a million dollars, what is the first thing you use it for?
A bit tougher, mostly because a million bucks doesn’t go very far these days. Of course, never having seen a million bucks, I’d be happy to find out, and I’ve certainly thought about this. I look around the world and I see so many problems, that money could be gone in a stroke of the pen. Knowing how hard people close to me are struggling, my choices would be charity close to home. There are also a few personal issues I would want to address, like paying off grad school debt. My house needs maintenance, some of which, like old carpets, might be contributing to my ongoing health problems. I haven’t taken a real vacation in over 15 years and there is someone in Kuai I think I’d like to visit; that one would probably stay on the wish list. All together, these would be perhaps 3% of the total. After that, I’d want to help my ex-wife, still a friend, who could use some seed money for a home or investment property. I have an ex-girlfriend with two kids (not mine!) and grad school debt; I’d want to help her too. My older siblings are struggling badly. My brother just had two major cancer surgeries this past month, and my sister has some degenerative physical conditions too. Rather than give them money outright, I’d want set up a trust so at least they’d have some stability. I’d also set something up for my mom, who has been the one helping them through these times. Finally, I’d put something in an education fund for my daughter and my two youngest nieces. If anything were left, maybe I’d try to get health insurance again for a year.
3. Everyone is excited to read the book you will write, what is it about?
Shoot. Everyone’s busting me on this one! I should get offline and lay off my flamenco guitar lessons … The book I want to write is, of course, about Serrada Escrima. There is so little available, and it isn’t really in-depth. Angel used to say he wanted a book that students could take to the park to use as a reference to train. What I want to do is a more detailed study, really write a technical analysis of the system. It’s in my head, I need to get it out on paper. Angel described a pocket booklet, so maybe I could include a quick guide with the complete book, like the ones that accompany the main user’s guides for electronics such as cell phones.
4. What is the best movie ever made?
Wow, this is the toughest question, because it’s so subjective and depends somewhat on genre. Best martial art movie? Best love story? Best cinematography? My choice combining all three is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” First, I loved the story line, and it was beautifully filmed. The sword fighting was exciting and exceptionally well choreographed. The special effects were novel at the time, and though the actors seemed a bit unfamiliar with wire work in the early scenes, by the end it looked seamless. I loved the fact that the strongest characters in this film were women who could really do martial arts; to this day I cannot comprehend why Michele Yeoh didn’t receive even a nomination for best actress, because in my opinion her role carried the film, tying together all the other characters. Finally, on a purely personal level, this came along at a time in my life when I was going through some issues of loss, and the struggles and choices of the heroes and heroines resonated powerfully in me.
5. You discover you have the power to speak to animals, how do you explain humans to them?
Who says I don’t?!! I also don’t think animals need to have humans explained to them. They know us better than we know them. They have to live with the consequences of our impact on their world. Like other victims of oppression, they come to know quite well the moods and nuances of those who control them. Domestic animals shape themselves by conforming to our structure and whims, while wild animals try to avoid us. Animals live in a world dominated by instinct and emotion. It is highly experiential, grounded in past memory, expressed in present time. Perhaps the biggest difference between animals and humans is a lack of future consciousness. Except for simple things like anticipating dinner, they don’t really think ahead. Even something like knowing it’s time to migrate with the seasons is in awareness of present changes. Don’t underestimate animal consciousness, though. They might not have our powers of reasoning, but by the same token they are less likely to conflict themselves. For them, feeling and response are directly linked, and this flow is a goal humans strive to recapture through things like meditation and martial arts. I guess I’ve turned this around to explain animals to humans, but then we’re the ones reading this, and we’re the ones who need to find the compassion to understand those over whom we hold the power of living or dying. In a sense, animals exist as metaphors for our own inner selves, expressed as archetypes or totems. The more we understand their needs, the clearer we will see the effects we have on all life on this planet. Maybe then we can start to understand ourselves as well.
THE INTERVIEW GAME RULES:
Here's how you can play the interview game:
1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me." The first five commenters will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)
Friday, March 04, 2005
No bad dogs; bad handlers
Today there was another incident at the dog park, the second one in perhaps three weeks, involving the same professional dog walker allowing the same unleashed pit bull to attack my 4-1/2 month old puppy.
In both incidents, my dog was intimidated by a dog twice her age and size that was grabbing on and biting. The first time we encountered this dog, my puppy rolled over submissively on her back and showed her throat, at which the bigger dog grabbed her by the neck and started shaking her around. I watched for a moment to see if they were playing, but it was clearly one sided, and my dog was NOT having fun. When I asked the dog walker to please take control of her dog, she began giving me a lecture about how this was how dogs learn bite inhibition. Excuse me? My dog is not an experiment for her charge to practice upon! I replied that my dog didn’t seem to be the one having to learn bite inhibition, as she was in the other dogs grasp. She finally called her dog over, acting all exasperated. What a favor she was doing ...
For the past few weeks I’d been carefully avoiding this person, going in opposite direction when seeing her. There are no other large dog parks anywhere in the area, so my choices are limited, and frankly, I have as much right to take my dogs there as she does to walk other people’s dogs. I try to go to the park when I’m less likely to run into her, but since she has packs of up to six dogs three times a day, she’s there a lot.
Today as I entered the park, she was right there, washing off several of her other dogs. As soon as I recognized she had the gray and white pit bull, I called my dog away. Now I don’t have anything against pit bulls as a breed, and many of them are sweet. In fact, my puppy plays with other pit bulls at this same park regularly. They can be aggressive towards other dogs, but I’ve owned Malamutes in the past so I know that you have to be responsible for monitoring your dog’s behavior. Interesting concept, very unclear here.
As we were walking away, her dog came after us. Once again, he began by exhibiting over-excited behavior; my dog plays with many, many dogs wherever we go, so I watched to see if they’d be ok together. Within perhaps 30 seconds, I was once again concerned over the behaviors. The other dog was getting more and more aggressive, grabbing my puppy by the ears and scruff of the neck and pulling, hard. My dog was trying to turn away, her tail was down and her lips were pulled back, teeth bared. This is something I have never before seen her do, but I recognize fear and stress behavior in dogs.
At this point, I called to the dog walker, who was perhaps 60 feet away, to call her dog. Immediately she begins lecturing me again that this is normal behavior, without making a move to rein in the animal. If it is so normal, why don’t I see other dogs doing this to my pup, or my dog exhibiting fear only of this one? As the woman prattles on about dogs “learning bite inhibition” I started getting pretty mad. “It’s YOUR dog biting mine! Call it off NOW!” She keeps blabbering about how I don’t know what I’m seeing up close with my own eyes, but I know my dog is scared. Normally she runs, jumps, rolls over, does all kinds of puppy play behavior with other dogs, and this isn’t it, so I decide to corral her to have some control over this situation. As I step in to take hold of her harness, the pit bull grabs her by the back of the neck and literally drags her away from my grasp. At this point, I’m not going to just watch this escalate, so I step in and shove the other dog away. Surprised, he lets go and jumps back.
Now this woman is REALLY mad, starts SCREAMING at me to “NEVER TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON’S DOG!” I yell back “Well, then CONTROL YOUR DOG when asked!” Here she starts doing the predictable thing, blathering to anyone around that I don’t know a thing about dogs. Now I’m not claiming to be a big expert, but I’ve been around dogs for 50 years. My sister has been an AKC handler for 40 years, even became a judge. She’s raised Malamutes, as many as two dozen at a time, and trained and handled just about every breed you can name, so I’ve been around a LOT of big and potentially aggressive animals. At one point I lived with two Malamutes and a Doberman, each of which weighed 80+ pounds, so I know how to control a lot of muscle on leash, and I’ve broken up my share of dog fights. Yeah, I’ve even been bit a time or two.
Hmm, why is it the person whose dog is being aggressive always blames the other handler? So here I am, leading a scared puppy away on leash, her dog is still running back and forth off leash, and she’s screaming at me about how ignorant I am. Yeah. If anything happens between us again, I’ll just call the cops. I have their number in my cell phone now. What will they do? Er ...
Two years ago, this same woman had two very big, healthy looking Rottweilers on a nearby beach, and they started bullying a sweet older Golden Retriever that I saw there regularly. It got so ugly, people were backing away. I had that sick feeling that this was going down, right here and now. I told the Retriever’s owner “this looks bad” and she looked scared to step in. She and I both began saying to the handler “could you please get your dogs?” She was in a conversation with someone else, had her back to her animals, and just glanced over and breezily said “Oh, they’re ok.” SHEESH! They're not the ones at risk! I’ve seen dogs get ripped apart. It’s fast and it’s nasty. Either of those Rotts were bigger and tougher than the Golden, and they were egging each other on. After a couple more forceful complaints, the dog walker got exasperated that we were interrupting her conversation, so she went and leashed the animals, at which point the shaking Golden ran back to his owner. The Rottweilers just looked hungry and annoyed at losing their fun.
A couple of weeks later I stopped taking my old Labrador, who was about 13 at the time, to this beach because of an incident. She was lying on her back on the sand, just rolling and scratching her back, and an unleashed pit bull ran up and grabbed the top of her skull and started shaking her like a martini. I ran up and threw a kick at the dog; didn’t even connect, but again it let go and backed off to look at the situation. The owner, far down the beach, starts yelling “Oh, you want to kick my dog? Why don’t you try again!” I said “Your dog attacked mine. She’s old, doesn’t fight.” The lady says “Oh, well then she’s going to die soon anyway, so why does it matter?” Unbelievable …. I called the Albany cops, they said I had to contact animal control from Berkeley. Berkeley animal control said, no, we don’t go out there. It’s their problem!” I called back and the dispatcher said “Oops, I gave you wrong advice. Where are you?” Three hours later, after finally going home, some beat officer calls me and says “I’m at the beach and I don’t see this dog!” Whoa, kinda hard to figure THAT one out!
So, back to today, I call the park police to get advice, gave a full description of the woman (twice - and she’s licensed with them) and they said “Call us next time, and no, you can’t touch someone else’s dog.” Once again, the bureaucratic mentality at work – Do nothing, leave it to the (absent) professionals. I simply said “It’s the other persons responsibility to control their animal when requested, and I’m not going to stand there idly and watch my dog get shredded.”
It looks like I’ve been given a simple scenario. If my dog is attacked, I can call for backup that might be hours away. The dog handler has no obligation to control their animal, and if I try to save mine, I’ll be liable for whatever happens. Every several months a small dog gets killed at this park by big dogs running loose, and the owners then round them up and disappear into the city. Nobody has ever been caught or prosecuted around here after such a clean getaway, but the system seems more interested in the rights of the negligent owner than the life of the innocent dog.
Ain’t it sweeeeeet?
No, not really ….. Few things get me madder than blatant abuse covered up by willful delusion. This really pushed my buttons, in case you can’t tell …..
In both incidents, my dog was intimidated by a dog twice her age and size that was grabbing on and biting. The first time we encountered this dog, my puppy rolled over submissively on her back and showed her throat, at which the bigger dog grabbed her by the neck and started shaking her around. I watched for a moment to see if they were playing, but it was clearly one sided, and my dog was NOT having fun. When I asked the dog walker to please take control of her dog, she began giving me a lecture about how this was how dogs learn bite inhibition. Excuse me? My dog is not an experiment for her charge to practice upon! I replied that my dog didn’t seem to be the one having to learn bite inhibition, as she was in the other dogs grasp. She finally called her dog over, acting all exasperated. What a favor she was doing ...
For the past few weeks I’d been carefully avoiding this person, going in opposite direction when seeing her. There are no other large dog parks anywhere in the area, so my choices are limited, and frankly, I have as much right to take my dogs there as she does to walk other people’s dogs. I try to go to the park when I’m less likely to run into her, but since she has packs of up to six dogs three times a day, she’s there a lot.
Today as I entered the park, she was right there, washing off several of her other dogs. As soon as I recognized she had the gray and white pit bull, I called my dog away. Now I don’t have anything against pit bulls as a breed, and many of them are sweet. In fact, my puppy plays with other pit bulls at this same park regularly. They can be aggressive towards other dogs, but I’ve owned Malamutes in the past so I know that you have to be responsible for monitoring your dog’s behavior. Interesting concept, very unclear here.
As we were walking away, her dog came after us. Once again, he began by exhibiting over-excited behavior; my dog plays with many, many dogs wherever we go, so I watched to see if they’d be ok together. Within perhaps 30 seconds, I was once again concerned over the behaviors. The other dog was getting more and more aggressive, grabbing my puppy by the ears and scruff of the neck and pulling, hard. My dog was trying to turn away, her tail was down and her lips were pulled back, teeth bared. This is something I have never before seen her do, but I recognize fear and stress behavior in dogs.
At this point, I called to the dog walker, who was perhaps 60 feet away, to call her dog. Immediately she begins lecturing me again that this is normal behavior, without making a move to rein in the animal. If it is so normal, why don’t I see other dogs doing this to my pup, or my dog exhibiting fear only of this one? As the woman prattles on about dogs “learning bite inhibition” I started getting pretty mad. “It’s YOUR dog biting mine! Call it off NOW!” She keeps blabbering about how I don’t know what I’m seeing up close with my own eyes, but I know my dog is scared. Normally she runs, jumps, rolls over, does all kinds of puppy play behavior with other dogs, and this isn’t it, so I decide to corral her to have some control over this situation. As I step in to take hold of her harness, the pit bull grabs her by the back of the neck and literally drags her away from my grasp. At this point, I’m not going to just watch this escalate, so I step in and shove the other dog away. Surprised, he lets go and jumps back.
Now this woman is REALLY mad, starts SCREAMING at me to “NEVER TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON’S DOG!” I yell back “Well, then CONTROL YOUR DOG when asked!” Here she starts doing the predictable thing, blathering to anyone around that I don’t know a thing about dogs. Now I’m not claiming to be a big expert, but I’ve been around dogs for 50 years. My sister has been an AKC handler for 40 years, even became a judge. She’s raised Malamutes, as many as two dozen at a time, and trained and handled just about every breed you can name, so I’ve been around a LOT of big and potentially aggressive animals. At one point I lived with two Malamutes and a Doberman, each of which weighed 80+ pounds, so I know how to control a lot of muscle on leash, and I’ve broken up my share of dog fights. Yeah, I’ve even been bit a time or two.
Hmm, why is it the person whose dog is being aggressive always blames the other handler? So here I am, leading a scared puppy away on leash, her dog is still running back and forth off leash, and she’s screaming at me about how ignorant I am. Yeah. If anything happens between us again, I’ll just call the cops. I have their number in my cell phone now. What will they do? Er ...
Two years ago, this same woman had two very big, healthy looking Rottweilers on a nearby beach, and they started bullying a sweet older Golden Retriever that I saw there regularly. It got so ugly, people were backing away. I had that sick feeling that this was going down, right here and now. I told the Retriever’s owner “this looks bad” and she looked scared to step in. She and I both began saying to the handler “could you please get your dogs?” She was in a conversation with someone else, had her back to her animals, and just glanced over and breezily said “Oh, they’re ok.” SHEESH! They're not the ones at risk! I’ve seen dogs get ripped apart. It’s fast and it’s nasty. Either of those Rotts were bigger and tougher than the Golden, and they were egging each other on. After a couple more forceful complaints, the dog walker got exasperated that we were interrupting her conversation, so she went and leashed the animals, at which point the shaking Golden ran back to his owner. The Rottweilers just looked hungry and annoyed at losing their fun.
A couple of weeks later I stopped taking my old Labrador, who was about 13 at the time, to this beach because of an incident. She was lying on her back on the sand, just rolling and scratching her back, and an unleashed pit bull ran up and grabbed the top of her skull and started shaking her like a martini. I ran up and threw a kick at the dog; didn’t even connect, but again it let go and backed off to look at the situation. The owner, far down the beach, starts yelling “Oh, you want to kick my dog? Why don’t you try again!” I said “Your dog attacked mine. She’s old, doesn’t fight.” The lady says “Oh, well then she’s going to die soon anyway, so why does it matter?” Unbelievable …. I called the Albany cops, they said I had to contact animal control from Berkeley. Berkeley animal control said, no, we don’t go out there. It’s their problem!” I called back and the dispatcher said “Oops, I gave you wrong advice. Where are you?” Three hours later, after finally going home, some beat officer calls me and says “I’m at the beach and I don’t see this dog!” Whoa, kinda hard to figure THAT one out!
So, back to today, I call the park police to get advice, gave a full description of the woman (twice - and she’s licensed with them) and they said “Call us next time, and no, you can’t touch someone else’s dog.” Once again, the bureaucratic mentality at work – Do nothing, leave it to the (absent) professionals. I simply said “It’s the other persons responsibility to control their animal when requested, and I’m not going to stand there idly and watch my dog get shredded.”
It looks like I’ve been given a simple scenario. If my dog is attacked, I can call for backup that might be hours away. The dog handler has no obligation to control their animal, and if I try to save mine, I’ll be liable for whatever happens. Every several months a small dog gets killed at this park by big dogs running loose, and the owners then round them up and disappear into the city. Nobody has ever been caught or prosecuted around here after such a clean getaway, but the system seems more interested in the rights of the negligent owner than the life of the innocent dog.
Ain’t it sweeeeeet?
No, not really ….. Few things get me madder than blatant abuse covered up by willful delusion. This really pushed my buttons, in case you can’t tell …..
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Small hour ramblings
Doing a quick late night email check, found a comment from a guy comparing flow drills from Kali Ilustrissimo and Krabi Krabong to Serrada. I watched the clips he was referencing, and yes, there is a flow that reminds me of Serrada. I was also reminded of what it was like for me when I was learning the art. There is a process of recognition, that by identifying what we see with what we already know we accelerate our learning curve. However, there are different levels of learning, from superficial mimicry to deep creative intuition. Thinking about what he wrote, I came up with a short definition of two phases of understanding relationship between arts:
Seeing similarities is important for recognizing what is going on.
Seeing differences is important for analyzing what is going on.
While the first phase is the heuristic process of experiential learning to which Mushtaq Ali refers in his blog, the second is the ability to discern subtle variations, not just between systems but between styles of individual practitioners. Thus a beginner will see the broad outline of something and get it because it reflects what he already knows and can see, a classic example of projection, a reality that reflects who we think we are. A more sophisticated person goes a step beyond, using knowledge as a reference base to discover the parts that are not known.
We can see this in a child's development and use of language. At first the child may say "car" to anything that moves on wheels, move on to "red car" and then "nice red car, finally graduating to "Ooh, cool red Ferrari!" The ability to discriminate between things leads to specificity. In martial arts, or sports like football, it is important to be able to analyze and break down an opponent's moves and tendencies, their strengths and weaknesses.
Just as Bruce Lee's punch once again became just a punch, so too can our perspective on association versus differentiation. Having learned to nuance details, one can begin to ignore the smaller points because one's heuristic field has filled in the gaps so thoroughly as to bring up few new surprises. One can scan the big picture, grasp the essence of the whole, and intuit the details on that fluid creative level. One no longer sweats the petty stuff, transcending knowledge with understanding. Thus one can go full circle in approaching a subject. It's like those black belts that get so worn out they fray and become white again. It's why so many masters are humble, because they've gotten past judgementalism to once again have a beginner's mind.
Seeing similarities is important for recognizing what is going on.
Seeing differences is important for analyzing what is going on.
While the first phase is the heuristic process of experiential learning to which Mushtaq Ali refers in his blog, the second is the ability to discern subtle variations, not just between systems but between styles of individual practitioners. Thus a beginner will see the broad outline of something and get it because it reflects what he already knows and can see, a classic example of projection, a reality that reflects who we think we are. A more sophisticated person goes a step beyond, using knowledge as a reference base to discover the parts that are not known.
We can see this in a child's development and use of language. At first the child may say "car" to anything that moves on wheels, move on to "red car" and then "nice red car, finally graduating to "Ooh, cool red Ferrari!" The ability to discriminate between things leads to specificity. In martial arts, or sports like football, it is important to be able to analyze and break down an opponent's moves and tendencies, their strengths and weaknesses.
Just as Bruce Lee's punch once again became just a punch, so too can our perspective on association versus differentiation. Having learned to nuance details, one can begin to ignore the smaller points because one's heuristic field has filled in the gaps so thoroughly as to bring up few new surprises. One can scan the big picture, grasp the essence of the whole, and intuit the details on that fluid creative level. One no longer sweats the petty stuff, transcending knowledge with understanding. Thus one can go full circle in approaching a subject. It's like those black belts that get so worn out they fray and become white again. It's why so many masters are humble, because they've gotten past judgementalism to once again have a beginner's mind.
Monday, February 28, 2005
More on footwork
Once again, I'm diving into the depths of basics. As my old Kenpo teacher used to say, there are no advanced techniques, just more advanced combinations of basics done better, so with that in mind, I keep going over the same fundamentals, mining them for that vein of gold yet untapped.
Serrada footwork is based on the male triangle, and our replacement step is called the papeet. It's simplicity itself - bring the rear foot up next to the front one, then back with the other foot. Usually. Sometimes we step up and then back again with the same foot. Why? Timing, deception, change of reaction to fit circumstances, etc. The focus of this post, though, is the nature of the male triangle, because as simple as it is, it seems hard for people to get. Some people are uncomfortable standing in against an attack, while others have habits from previous training that don't account for what we are trying to do.
Triangle stepping falls into two categories, male and female. If drawn on the floor, the point of the male triange points at the centerline of the opponent and the base is opposite and away. Conversely, the female triangle steps across the centerline, so the base is towards the opponent and the point faces away. As we have only these two variations, it shouldn't be too hard to differentiate, right? Not so fast!
It seems a lot of people have a really hard time doing the male triangle. They think they are being direct in their stepping but are automatically going wide. This is usually because of a perceived need to aviod a head-on clash. To be honest, even Angel sometimes took a slightly wide step, but that was not the philosophy of this system. As I've been saying a lot lately (in my best "arrrgh," a la Pirates of the Caribbean) "Them's more like guidelines than rules!" We want to control centerline, range, balance, and the male triangle establishes our position as the fulcrum. However, knowing rules means you understand when it is necessary to break them, and so Angel sometimes took that wider step. Occasionally it is "Do what I say, not what I do." If we don't pay attention to a detail - any detail - or try to master it, it just isn't going to happen of itself. Right?
So, why do we want to use the direct male triangle if it seems counter-intuitive? Foremost, leverage, both physically and psychologically. When we step in straight, we cut the line of our opponent's movement, forcing him wider either by taking his intended place or by getting deeper into him with our counter. For example, the check hand on an inside move has more deflection if we are direct. Step wider, we have less effect deflecting the strike or unbalancing his center. Sometimes I have students test to see who has the balance of the other. Either you have your opponent's or he has yours. Only one of you can own the center of the circle that is the dynamic of the fight between you. Stepping wider often concedes the center of this two-person dynamic.
The papeet allows us to control range without clashing. Serrada assumes our opponent has the intelligence to strike effectively, so we know where he is going to be. Our ideal range from which to counterstrike is right in front of his hand, because this keeps us defensively just out of range of a sudden and unexpected strike from the other hand. Against multiple attacks we "float" there. If our opponent just misses us, he's close enough to counter effectively. Wider steps may make him miss by more, but it also takes us out of range for that opportunity to hit quickly inside the timing of his movement. By staying "on point" and controlling the center, we are able to change the direction we face more quickly and with less effort. We change sides, making the opponent run around us in circles. All else being equal, he will get tired faster because he must move further. In military tactics, similarly, one has the advantage of direct lines of supply, support and communication inside the circle; to divide the enemy weakens his ability to concentrate his forces. We see this concept graphically mapped out in the widely seen escrima logo of a triangle inside a circle. In simple language, a straight line is the most direct way to get from point A to point B.
Are there dangers to being direct? Of course. There are no perfect or invulnerable techniques; martial arts is about maximizing our odds. We can get run over against a hard charge, or get our front leg swept. Knowing what can go wrong allows us to monitor against such possibilities. Conversely, going wide opens our centerline to the opponent. While that might not be an issue in largo mano range, in medio or corto the wider movement offers our centerline targets to an opponent, such as a kick to the groin. While one can be on guard against that, it takes only a split second of inattention for a quick or savvy opponent to exploit this vulnerability.
Our proper footwork is a heel-toe alignment; the front foot points towards the opponent, the heel of our rear foot is in a straight line with the front foot. This is the natural alignment for a lunge step, and using it closes the low line against the easy groin kick. Sometimes people keep the front foot on line but step wide with the rear foot. Again, in close range this opens that low target.
What are some circumstances that support the direct approach? Aside from the intrinsic value already mentioned, what if one is in a restrictive area? Think of fighting in a hallway or stairwell or on a narrow trail or defending a doorway. What about fighting on a balance beam or similar structure? If one habitually moves from side to side, this could be environmentally unsound. Angel put it this way - we all know how to move because we get around all the time. It is staying in one place that is difficult. If we can make smaller movements, we can always make a few of them to add up to a bigger one. If we always make a big movement, we can't always make it smaller. Think of it as units of measurement. If we map the California coastline in 100 mile units, it is pretty crudely drawn. If we use 10 mile increments, the detail is better. One mile units, even finer. Go down to 10 meters, even more so. The level of precision and detail increases by fine-tuning our scale, and so learning to hold our ground means we can either stay put or move just a tiny bit as our calculations deem necessary. This is perhaps the most cogent reason to discipline our stepping to that male triangle, because it is the smallest increment we can use in facing our opponent.
Serrada footwork is based on the male triangle, and our replacement step is called the papeet. It's simplicity itself - bring the rear foot up next to the front one, then back with the other foot. Usually. Sometimes we step up and then back again with the same foot. Why? Timing, deception, change of reaction to fit circumstances, etc. The focus of this post, though, is the nature of the male triangle, because as simple as it is, it seems hard for people to get. Some people are uncomfortable standing in against an attack, while others have habits from previous training that don't account for what we are trying to do.
Triangle stepping falls into two categories, male and female. If drawn on the floor, the point of the male triange points at the centerline of the opponent and the base is opposite and away. Conversely, the female triangle steps across the centerline, so the base is towards the opponent and the point faces away. As we have only these two variations, it shouldn't be too hard to differentiate, right? Not so fast!
It seems a lot of people have a really hard time doing the male triangle. They think they are being direct in their stepping but are automatically going wide. This is usually because of a perceived need to aviod a head-on clash. To be honest, even Angel sometimes took a slightly wide step, but that was not the philosophy of this system. As I've been saying a lot lately (in my best "arrrgh," a la Pirates of the Caribbean) "Them's more like guidelines than rules!" We want to control centerline, range, balance, and the male triangle establishes our position as the fulcrum. However, knowing rules means you understand when it is necessary to break them, and so Angel sometimes took that wider step. Occasionally it is "Do what I say, not what I do." If we don't pay attention to a detail - any detail - or try to master it, it just isn't going to happen of itself. Right?
So, why do we want to use the direct male triangle if it seems counter-intuitive? Foremost, leverage, both physically and psychologically. When we step in straight, we cut the line of our opponent's movement, forcing him wider either by taking his intended place or by getting deeper into him with our counter. For example, the check hand on an inside move has more deflection if we are direct. Step wider, we have less effect deflecting the strike or unbalancing his center. Sometimes I have students test to see who has the balance of the other. Either you have your opponent's or he has yours. Only one of you can own the center of the circle that is the dynamic of the fight between you. Stepping wider often concedes the center of this two-person dynamic.
The papeet allows us to control range without clashing. Serrada assumes our opponent has the intelligence to strike effectively, so we know where he is going to be. Our ideal range from which to counterstrike is right in front of his hand, because this keeps us defensively just out of range of a sudden and unexpected strike from the other hand. Against multiple attacks we "float" there. If our opponent just misses us, he's close enough to counter effectively. Wider steps may make him miss by more, but it also takes us out of range for that opportunity to hit quickly inside the timing of his movement. By staying "on point" and controlling the center, we are able to change the direction we face more quickly and with less effort. We change sides, making the opponent run around us in circles. All else being equal, he will get tired faster because he must move further. In military tactics, similarly, one has the advantage of direct lines of supply, support and communication inside the circle; to divide the enemy weakens his ability to concentrate his forces. We see this concept graphically mapped out in the widely seen escrima logo of a triangle inside a circle. In simple language, a straight line is the most direct way to get from point A to point B.
Are there dangers to being direct? Of course. There are no perfect or invulnerable techniques; martial arts is about maximizing our odds. We can get run over against a hard charge, or get our front leg swept. Knowing what can go wrong allows us to monitor against such possibilities. Conversely, going wide opens our centerline to the opponent. While that might not be an issue in largo mano range, in medio or corto the wider movement offers our centerline targets to an opponent, such as a kick to the groin. While one can be on guard against that, it takes only a split second of inattention for a quick or savvy opponent to exploit this vulnerability.
Our proper footwork is a heel-toe alignment; the front foot points towards the opponent, the heel of our rear foot is in a straight line with the front foot. This is the natural alignment for a lunge step, and using it closes the low line against the easy groin kick. Sometimes people keep the front foot on line but step wide with the rear foot. Again, in close range this opens that low target.
What are some circumstances that support the direct approach? Aside from the intrinsic value already mentioned, what if one is in a restrictive area? Think of fighting in a hallway or stairwell or on a narrow trail or defending a doorway. What about fighting on a balance beam or similar structure? If one habitually moves from side to side, this could be environmentally unsound. Angel put it this way - we all know how to move because we get around all the time. It is staying in one place that is difficult. If we can make smaller movements, we can always make a few of them to add up to a bigger one. If we always make a big movement, we can't always make it smaller. Think of it as units of measurement. If we map the California coastline in 100 mile units, it is pretty crudely drawn. If we use 10 mile increments, the detail is better. One mile units, even finer. Go down to 10 meters, even more so. The level of precision and detail increases by fine-tuning our scale, and so learning to hold our ground means we can either stay put or move just a tiny bit as our calculations deem necessary. This is perhaps the most cogent reason to discipline our stepping to that male triangle, because it is the smallest increment we can use in facing our opponent.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
A small milestone
Whooee! This blog reached 1000 hits! And only half of them were mine ... kidding ... Thanks to those who are reading here. I'll have more up soon. Off to teach a class now ....
Friday, February 25, 2005
FMA Digest
Today feels a bit like housecleaning, just putting up odds and ends like the last one on Sonny's balisong book. After all the long posts I've done recently, this should be easy reading. Today I got the advance copy of the new FMA Digest, published by Steven Dowd. This is a quarterly journal that comes in a downloadable .exe file that opens as a flip book with pages. It's a beautifully done format that I haven't seen previously. The new issue (which will be available to the general public in a couple of days) is devoted to profiling online FMA vendors like yours truly. There are some great products I hadn't seen before, from really nice small aluminum training knives to large kamagong swords. The FMA Digest website itself has a lot of great links to martial arts associations, online digests, vendors, etc. Anyone in these arts will undoubtedly find something of value there, so take a look and show some support for this cool site!
More on Sonny, briefly
For those interested in Sonny Umpad's work, he did a book many years ago called Balisong: The Lethal Art of Filipino Knife Fighting. This was co-written by Sid Campbell, a master of Shorin-ryu Karate and a prolific writer, and Gary Cagaanan, a long-time student of Sonny's. This is still in print, and you can see more about it on Amazon.com.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Follow-up on levers
I got an email in response to my post about Sonny’s centerline roll, asking, “Do you know if this fulcrum type of striking is implicit in CSE?” (Cabales Serrada Escrima). Good question, so I took a stab at it.
“To answer your question, there are little levers and big levers. We should know how to use each one as necessary. The cross block on angle 3 is no different than for other angles once you have countered the strike, so your roll could be against a 1, 2, 3, etc. You could use your wrist, as you said, or if you drop down a bit and turn your hand up (drop your elbow) maybe even use your forearm for the lever as you expand your check to move the person's arm away. Anthony Davis did the move more like this.
The basics are the basics. They are tools to competency on a fundamental level. Learn those rules innately, then you can go beyond them knowing how to navigate your way back when things get confusing. As an example, a senior Serrada practitioner recently described to me a technique that Angel showed him once. It didn't even sound like Serrada, except he could describe it in Serrada terms and I could follow the concept. It wasn't anything I'd ever heard before, not in our basics anywhere, but knowing angles 1 and 3, I got it."
My correspondent wrote back that I said, “Anthony Davis did the move more like this,” asking “Is this detail taught in the basics as you teach it?”
My reply:
“No. I appreciate what Anthony showed me, but it is different in details than what Angel did and I prefer to focus the basics on the latter. That doesn't invalidate other ideas.
In the cross block I do what I call tilt-and-turn. The basic hit from the block position is a tilt a of the body forward towards the lead shoulder, using the waist and legs to dip the shoulder but still oriented with centerline towards the opponent's weapon hand. The whole body is the lever. This helps bring your weapon hand back in even as you are striking outward like the (Snap! blog) From the strike to the arm, one then turns the body to face forward. That brings the left shoulder clockwise, thus projecting that hand outward and opening up the opponent's centerline by pushing their arm away. What Anthony does from the block is push out with his hand to open the opponent first, which then also uses the left arm as the fulcrum for a levered strike. See the difference? Both work, but it changes. Ultimately it's good to understand them both. Anthony's is maybe a bit quicker, Angel's more powerful."
“To answer your question, there are little levers and big levers. We should know how to use each one as necessary. The cross block on angle 3 is no different than for other angles once you have countered the strike, so your roll could be against a 1, 2, 3, etc. You could use your wrist, as you said, or if you drop down a bit and turn your hand up (drop your elbow) maybe even use your forearm for the lever as you expand your check to move the person's arm away. Anthony Davis did the move more like this.
The basics are the basics. They are tools to competency on a fundamental level. Learn those rules innately, then you can go beyond them knowing how to navigate your way back when things get confusing. As an example, a senior Serrada practitioner recently described to me a technique that Angel showed him once. It didn't even sound like Serrada, except he could describe it in Serrada terms and I could follow the concept. It wasn't anything I'd ever heard before, not in our basics anywhere, but knowing angles 1 and 3, I got it."
My correspondent wrote back that I said, “Anthony Davis did the move more like this,” asking “Is this detail taught in the basics as you teach it?”
My reply:
“No. I appreciate what Anthony showed me, but it is different in details than what Angel did and I prefer to focus the basics on the latter. That doesn't invalidate other ideas.
In the cross block I do what I call tilt-and-turn. The basic hit from the block position is a tilt a of the body forward towards the lead shoulder, using the waist and legs to dip the shoulder but still oriented with centerline towards the opponent's weapon hand. The whole body is the lever. This helps bring your weapon hand back in even as you are striking outward like the (Snap! blog) From the strike to the arm, one then turns the body to face forward. That brings the left shoulder clockwise, thus projecting that hand outward and opening up the opponent's centerline by pushing their arm away. What Anthony does from the block is push out with his hand to open the opponent first, which then also uses the left arm as the fulcrum for a levered strike. See the difference? Both work, but it changes. Ultimately it's good to understand them both. Anthony's is maybe a bit quicker, Angel's more powerful."
Monday, February 21, 2005
Sonny Umpad's Centerline Roll
It's surprising to me how long stuff lives on the internet, and how it gets in places I would never have a clue to look. One of my students just sent me a link to a martial arts forum with which I'm unfamiliar, where someone put up several posts I did nine years ago (NINE YEARS?!) concerning Sonny Umpad's centerline roll technique. I'm not going to explain it here when you can go to this site to read what I already wrote (including some questions I answered after the original post). Suffice it to say Sonny is a very high quality FMA teacher and his training for double stick is one of the most 'live' versions of that part of the art I have seen. His method is simple to grasp but complex in its offerings, just the way I like it.
There is no such thing as a "simple" system. There are those that are quickly accessible to beginners, and those that have lots of complexity and variation.
Simple systems force you to look deeply. Complex ones have the same potential, but often students get caught up in the "more" syndrome and never take or find the time to re-examine what they've already got. In the end, a simple system will blossom and you will understand many ways to use it, and the information will be deeply implanted.
There is no such thing as a "simple" system. There are those that are quickly accessible to beginners, and those that have lots of complexity and variation.
Simple systems force you to look deeply. Complex ones have the same potential, but often students get caught up in the "more" syndrome and never take or find the time to re-examine what they've already got. In the end, a simple system will blossom and you will understand many ways to use it, and the information will be deeply implanted.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Kiai
Martial arts are often associated with yelling and screaming, from the kiai of karate to grunts to Bruce Lee's catlike yowls. In the FMA, however, we don't use the kiai much. I've heard masters flat out joke that "We're not karate!" What, if any, is the function and purpose of the kiai?
On a basic level, it is a timing device. It focuses our mind to what we are doing, unifying our movement to our intention. While there are various sounds preferred in different schools, a general idea is a tight or compressed sound that opens and releases energy at the moment of impact. While one might be told that it is just a word, and use another particular sound, kiai is actually onomatopoetic, meaning a word that actually suggests the sound to which it refers (like murmur or buzz). Thus one could say keeeee (smack!) ahhhhhh in delivering a hit.
Using the breath with a hit also releases energy. The unity of mind/body maximizes the impact to the target, but it also can create internal stress in the body, which over time can have negative effect on health. By releasing the breath, we provide a safety valve for the energy of that "equal and opposite reaction" to blow off harmlessly, as opposed to shocking our own internal organs.
Think what happens if you exhale too soon. You have no energy. Hold your breath too long, you restrain yourself.
The sound itself conveys power. There are stories of old masters who could drop birds from the air by stunning them with a powerful yell. I myself once stopped the charge of a huge bull mastiff with a spontaneous yell from the pit of my stomach. It came from nowhere, a combination of terror, inspiration and adrenaline. The power of that moment stays with me, and it's why I'm here to write this now.
Here is a link to an article I found on Stephen LaBounty's website which is more in-depth on developing and using this. There are other interesting looking links on there, such as "The Knife in Combat."
On a basic level, it is a timing device. It focuses our mind to what we are doing, unifying our movement to our intention. While there are various sounds preferred in different schools, a general idea is a tight or compressed sound that opens and releases energy at the moment of impact. While one might be told that it is just a word, and use another particular sound, kiai is actually onomatopoetic, meaning a word that actually suggests the sound to which it refers (like murmur or buzz). Thus one could say keeeee (smack!) ahhhhhh in delivering a hit.
Using the breath with a hit also releases energy. The unity of mind/body maximizes the impact to the target, but it also can create internal stress in the body, which over time can have negative effect on health. By releasing the breath, we provide a safety valve for the energy of that "equal and opposite reaction" to blow off harmlessly, as opposed to shocking our own internal organs.
Think what happens if you exhale too soon. You have no energy. Hold your breath too long, you restrain yourself.
The sound itself conveys power. There are stories of old masters who could drop birds from the air by stunning them with a powerful yell. I myself once stopped the charge of a huge bull mastiff with a spontaneous yell from the pit of my stomach. It came from nowhere, a combination of terror, inspiration and adrenaline. The power of that moment stays with me, and it's why I'm here to write this now.
Here is a link to an article I found on Stephen LaBounty's website which is more in-depth on developing and using this. There are other interesting looking links on there, such as "The Knife in Combat."
Mining Feedback
If you look at the bottom of each posting, there are some tiny links.
The time links you to a permanent record of that particular post on its own page, which might be useful if you want to save a particular blog for future reference without having to dig through the archives.
The comments link is there for people to respond to what was written, making this a more interactive forum. It hasn't gotten much use, but the comments that have shown up are very encouraging. I was actually inspired to post this entry after reading a comment on Serrada footwork from Alex Castro, an old student who has done some very interesting things in his martial arts career. I'll never forget performing for a packed house (about 2000 people) at the "Night of the Masters" in San Francisco back around 1992. Alex not only was uke for me, but also took some big falls for his Shuai Jiao grandmaster a few times during the evening. That was awesome!
Another example that lets me know I'm not just spinning my wheels was feedback from Mushtaq Ali regarding my thoughts on conscious training (or was that on training consciousness?)
Anyway, thanks to those who have contributed, and encouragement for anyone who wants to add in. I'm glad people read these entries, but it's even better knowing it's thought provoking.
On a final note, from time to time I send out an email letting people know there are new entries here (usually when I've been quiet awhile). If anyone wants to stay updated through my list (it's private) let me know, and by all means, let others know of this site.
The time links you to a permanent record of that particular post on its own page, which might be useful if you want to save a particular blog for future reference without having to dig through the archives.
The comments link is there for people to respond to what was written, making this a more interactive forum. It hasn't gotten much use, but the comments that have shown up are very encouraging. I was actually inspired to post this entry after reading a comment on Serrada footwork from Alex Castro, an old student who has done some very interesting things in his martial arts career. I'll never forget performing for a packed house (about 2000 people) at the "Night of the Masters" in San Francisco back around 1992. Alex not only was uke for me, but also took some big falls for his Shuai Jiao grandmaster a few times during the evening. That was awesome!
Another example that lets me know I'm not just spinning my wheels was feedback from Mushtaq Ali regarding my thoughts on conscious training (or was that on training consciousness?)
Anyway, thanks to those who have contributed, and encouragement for anyone who wants to add in. I'm glad people read these entries, but it's even better knowing it's thought provoking.
On a final note, from time to time I send out an email letting people know there are new entries here (usually when I've been quiet awhile). If anyone wants to stay updated through my list (it's private) let me know, and by all means, let others know of this site.
Friday, February 18, 2005
My training knife is back!
About 15 years ago I designed a training knife for Serrada lock-and-block training, which lots of other folks know as numerado. One person feeds strikes using espada y daga and the defender flows through continuous defenses. Lots of people just put a short stick in their left hand and use that to represent a knife. That's ok, but using something with the real shape and weight adds realism and facilitates learning both how to use the weapon and how to face it. Perhaps I'll say more about that training another time, but right now this is about my knife.
I put a lot of thought into what I wanted. First, it is 12" long. I didn't want something as big as a barong, more like what might be carried as a military or hunting knife. Next, I wanted the versatility of a double edged weapon. This is to increase awareness. If you can handle going against a a double edged knife, a single edge won't be any more dangerous, but the reverse is not true. You could have a good stripping disarm against the blunt spine of a single edged knife, but with a double, this could be folly. Also, a lot of S.E. Asian weapons and military daggers are double edged, so this gives a nod to those traditions. Last, I wanted a strong functional cross guard. This is to train the attributes of that. The guard protects the hand and can also be used to aid in countering defensive strikes against the knife. The handle is shaped loosely after the German daggers of WWII, using one I had available as a template. The blade is different in that I copied the broader, more modern leaf-shape tip from a Collins boot knife
Finally, I had to choose a suitable material. Wood is inconsistent in quality, and with issues of deforestation and destruction of tropical habitats, I wasn't comfortable with it. Aluminum has that shiny metal look, but is too damaging for sticks. I finally chose to use solid billets of half-inch thick delrin, a very strong plastic that has similar weight to that of a real knife with similar length and profile. It is easily machined and is no harder on sticks than a hardwood knife. My first knives were made by hand. One of the original trio was bought by Mike Krivka and given as a gift to Dan Inosanto. I then got a program written so these could be machined on a CNC machine, which costs many tens of thousands of dollars, but allowed me to control quality and produce quantity.
I was excited about these because they have great balance and feel in the hand and did everything I wanted for training. I did try some other knives from a source I won't name; my students broke three in about a minute, so I wrote the guy back. He asked what we were doing and I told him, then suggested he try something other than cheap injection molding, to which he replied he could break my knives. For the record, I don't know of any that have ever broken and they've endured full-power abuse in training.
I originally had 20 made. These took about 3 years to sell. I then had a second run of 20, and these took maybe 7 years to sell. That averages four knives a year, mostly bought by students and local friends ... and they weren't cheap to do up front, with costs for programming, prototype, material, machining .... certainly it is much easier and cheaper to get real blades from China or Pakistan. People would say $50 was too much, then turn around and spend $100 or more on trainers that couldn't be used like mine, either because the wood was too nice to destroy with sticks, or the aluminum chewed their sticks to pieces.
When I finally sold the last one 5 years ago, I went back to the shop that had made them, but they were making parts for Silicon Valley at huge mark-ups and were too busy for my little project. About the time the dot com business went bust, they started making golf clubs and that took off too, so they gave me a copy of the program and sent me out the door.
Problem is, machine code is supposed to be universal but isn't, and my code didn't make sense on other machines. I ended up doing some smaller knives in aluminum from a completely different design, and then tried adapting this numerado knife to aluminum, but it wasn't the same. They didn't have the balance or angle cuts and were harder on sticks.
A year ago I found a small shop struggling to get work and took my project there. They seemed anxious to do it, but for one reason or another I kept getting put back on their schedule. Finally, after a full 12 months, they called and said they'd run a prototype. It needed tweaking, and is slightly different than my original ones, but close enough to put that big smile on my face!
So, now, for the first time in years, I have these great training knives again! I'm expecting the same snail's rush to get them, but that's ok, because those who have bought these have been happy campers. They are still sharp, so I have to buff down the blades to make them safer for practice, but other than that, they're done. Hallelujah!
I have a picture of the original production on this weblog here, and I'll try to post pictures of the newest ones on my escrima products site soon ....
I put a lot of thought into what I wanted. First, it is 12" long. I didn't want something as big as a barong, more like what might be carried as a military or hunting knife. Next, I wanted the versatility of a double edged weapon. This is to increase awareness. If you can handle going against a a double edged knife, a single edge won't be any more dangerous, but the reverse is not true. You could have a good stripping disarm against the blunt spine of a single edged knife, but with a double, this could be folly. Also, a lot of S.E. Asian weapons and military daggers are double edged, so this gives a nod to those traditions. Last, I wanted a strong functional cross guard. This is to train the attributes of that. The guard protects the hand and can also be used to aid in countering defensive strikes against the knife. The handle is shaped loosely after the German daggers of WWII, using one I had available as a template. The blade is different in that I copied the broader, more modern leaf-shape tip from a Collins boot knife
Finally, I had to choose a suitable material. Wood is inconsistent in quality, and with issues of deforestation and destruction of tropical habitats, I wasn't comfortable with it. Aluminum has that shiny metal look, but is too damaging for sticks. I finally chose to use solid billets of half-inch thick delrin, a very strong plastic that has similar weight to that of a real knife with similar length and profile. It is easily machined and is no harder on sticks than a hardwood knife. My first knives were made by hand. One of the original trio was bought by Mike Krivka and given as a gift to Dan Inosanto. I then got a program written so these could be machined on a CNC machine, which costs many tens of thousands of dollars, but allowed me to control quality and produce quantity.
I was excited about these because they have great balance and feel in the hand and did everything I wanted for training. I did try some other knives from a source I won't name; my students broke three in about a minute, so I wrote the guy back. He asked what we were doing and I told him, then suggested he try something other than cheap injection molding, to which he replied he could break my knives. For the record, I don't know of any that have ever broken and they've endured full-power abuse in training.
I originally had 20 made. These took about 3 years to sell. I then had a second run of 20, and these took maybe 7 years to sell. That averages four knives a year, mostly bought by students and local friends ... and they weren't cheap to do up front, with costs for programming, prototype, material, machining .... certainly it is much easier and cheaper to get real blades from China or Pakistan. People would say $50 was too much, then turn around and spend $100 or more on trainers that couldn't be used like mine, either because the wood was too nice to destroy with sticks, or the aluminum chewed their sticks to pieces.
When I finally sold the last one 5 years ago, I went back to the shop that had made them, but they were making parts for Silicon Valley at huge mark-ups and were too busy for my little project. About the time the dot com business went bust, they started making golf clubs and that took off too, so they gave me a copy of the program and sent me out the door.
Problem is, machine code is supposed to be universal but isn't, and my code didn't make sense on other machines. I ended up doing some smaller knives in aluminum from a completely different design, and then tried adapting this numerado knife to aluminum, but it wasn't the same. They didn't have the balance or angle cuts and were harder on sticks.
A year ago I found a small shop struggling to get work and took my project there. They seemed anxious to do it, but for one reason or another I kept getting put back on their schedule. Finally, after a full 12 months, they called and said they'd run a prototype. It needed tweaking, and is slightly different than my original ones, but close enough to put that big smile on my face!
So, now, for the first time in years, I have these great training knives again! I'm expecting the same snail's rush to get them, but that's ok, because those who have bought these have been happy campers. They are still sharp, so I have to buff down the blades to make them safer for practice, but other than that, they're done. Hallelujah!
I have a picture of the original production on this weblog here, and I'll try to post pictures of the newest ones on my escrima products site soon ....
Snap! (part 2)
Snap! (part 2)
I'm starting this blog with a quote that my friend Tom Meadows wrote in the guest book after the previous posting: "Jeff, I always thought your abanico's looked quite strange, and now I know why. Since I consider most people's abanicos utterly useless due to their using solely wrist movement, yours being quiet strange is a good thing, and now I know how you generate power with it. Similar to how I do it, but I think we may use our hip/shoulder linkage differently during the process. I copied mine from GM Cacoy. We'll have to compare when we get together next. Your Blog made me realize that what Cacoy does with the baton is use it just as if it were another jointed bone of the body, thus it never fights the natural linkage, always complements it, and it is so hard to fight because you are not used to dealing with someone with two forearms below his elbow."
I had to think about this, because for one, it's hard to see myself as others do, and not being a camera hound, I don't have a lot of self-referential film to study. Tom mostly saw my fighting in the Philippines in 1989, and back then I don't think I had nearly the insight into the mechanics of Serrada that I do now. I understood the techniques on the macro level, but now we're putting them under a microscope for higher magnification.
*Side note - this is, once again, why repetitive practice is necessary to achieve results. I learned from racecar builders that 95% of the effort is in the last 5% of the results. That's another way of saying the learning curve is steep at the beginning, but it's a lot harder finally refining a finished product.
Back to Tom's comment, there are different ways to throw abanicos; sometimes a fan is more than just a fan ... and for clarity, the movement to which I’ll be referring through this piece is horizontal abanico combination striking, such as to the head. If one uses a stick as a stick, simple wrist rotation works because you have a 360-degree surface with which to hit. On the other hand, if you use the stick as a metaphor for blade training (or use an actual blade) then you have to account for different surfaces and what your intention is in choosing with which one to strike (hint - it isn't always the cutting edge).
This is actually an important distinction between styles in FMA, and as it reflects the personal bias of a practitioner, can shape the evolution of a particular system. For instance, you could always see the blade orientation in Angel's strikes, from the tip of his toes to the end of his stick. Some (if not many) of his students, having trained almost exclusively with the stick, modified their movement either consciously or (more likely) unconsciously so it is tuned more precisely for that weapon but loses some of the inherent versatility of an edged perspective. Back when I was learning a little about Japanese edged weapons I was taught that the design of blades maximized the inherent flow of power through the hand. I've basically accepted this premise, but for argument's sake I'll say that power and speed are not synonymous or necessarily desirable, and so the "flat" wrist-turning abanico with a stick suits a certain purpose.
The most common abanico headshots are, of course, a simple wrist rotation, seen in FMA training around the world. It’s fast and flashy – POP! POP! POP! and you are done. How then did Angel, using more powerful edged-position strikes, move so quickly he could make his stick blur and disappear? Ah, Grasshopper, that is the question, and one I am unraveling to this day. I can reveal what I can see; what I can actually do is another matter.
Since this thread is about snapping strikes, we have an obvious clue, and a secret known to many advanced martial artists. In order to snap a strike, you have to get out faster than you go in! As James Mitose wrote in What Is Self Defense? : “If your punching speed is about 10, be sure your returning speed is 13.” His reasoning was to avoid a jiu-jitsu grab, but it makes as much sense in avoiding an escrima counterstrike. This speed factor also focuses the strike like a hypodermic injection of energy at the point of contact. It also keeps the arm loose and fluid so your energy projects out to the tip of the weapon like a whip (centrifugal force).
It’s common in many martial art schools to see students pose their punches, a habit learned by lining students up and having them lock out punches on command. This may be good for seeing the focus of the strike, but it also creates a habit to stop, which in a fighting situation is a really, really bad idea. Returning a punch keeps the flow going and resets for the next move. With a stick, it moves our target (the hand) away from a counter while maximizing power, and yes, keeps us from stopping to admire our work.
An important key in the snap is whole body movement. Everything moves as one in an integrated fashion. Even if we isolate a movement, we have to consider the dynamic tensions that hold the rest of the body in place to support the part that moves. Consider Newton’s third law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If we throw our abanicos with just the wrist, we are reversing the momentum of the stick with the small leverage of our wrist, and all the shock and impact are felt in that relatively small area. If we utilize the whole body, we gain power through multiple levers, from the feet, legs, torso and arms. Some of Angel’s strikes looked delicately balanced, his whole body counterbalancing the point of impact. This spreads the stress of achieving our angle of impact over a wider area, allowing for more finite adjustments, and similarly absorbs the rebound. By angulating the body to position the arm, it relieves stress closest to the point of impact, minimizing potential for injury and allowing more fluidity in recovering the rebound of the strike. As I wrote previously, that rebound is with the tendons, minimizing the workload of the muscles.
Not every blow in a rapid sequence will achieve maximum potential, but then a lot of Asian martial arts are based on setting up the opponent for a final blow. If one throws two abanicos to the head, if the first is an inward rotation, in front of one’s body or overhead, pronating the hand (palm down) and then follows with an outward strike (supinated or palm up), the first might accentuate speed and the second power. This wouldn’t mean a weak first strike or a slow second one, but that the first strike would be setting up the second, and the latter would carry more focused intent. Make that a three-strike pattern and again the last would (or should) be the most emphatic. All might create speed through the snap, using the bicep for the return of the forearm rather than just wrist twists, but if you are doing combination strikes, they should be explosively pre-planned. Once you complete the sequence, it’s time to move on. Either get to a ready position for whatever comes next, or flow into another defense or counter.
As Tom wrote, having a stick gives us an extra joint. I tell students we have two elbows in our arm. Use this flexibility as an extension, starting from the ground up and coming from the waist. Tai Chi books talk about this kind of energy a lot. I never understood it from the books, but through practice it is becoming clearer all the time.
I'm starting this blog with a quote that my friend Tom Meadows wrote in the guest book after the previous posting: "Jeff, I always thought your abanico's looked quite strange, and now I know why. Since I consider most people's abanicos utterly useless due to their using solely wrist movement, yours being quiet strange is a good thing, and now I know how you generate power with it. Similar to how I do it, but I think we may use our hip/shoulder linkage differently during the process. I copied mine from GM Cacoy. We'll have to compare when we get together next. Your Blog made me realize that what Cacoy does with the baton is use it just as if it were another jointed bone of the body, thus it never fights the natural linkage, always complements it, and it is so hard to fight because you are not used to dealing with someone with two forearms below his elbow."
I had to think about this, because for one, it's hard to see myself as others do, and not being a camera hound, I don't have a lot of self-referential film to study. Tom mostly saw my fighting in the Philippines in 1989, and back then I don't think I had nearly the insight into the mechanics of Serrada that I do now. I understood the techniques on the macro level, but now we're putting them under a microscope for higher magnification.
*Side note - this is, once again, why repetitive practice is necessary to achieve results. I learned from racecar builders that 95% of the effort is in the last 5% of the results. That's another way of saying the learning curve is steep at the beginning, but it's a lot harder finally refining a finished product.
Back to Tom's comment, there are different ways to throw abanicos; sometimes a fan is more than just a fan ... and for clarity, the movement to which I’ll be referring through this piece is horizontal abanico combination striking, such as to the head. If one uses a stick as a stick, simple wrist rotation works because you have a 360-degree surface with which to hit. On the other hand, if you use the stick as a metaphor for blade training (or use an actual blade) then you have to account for different surfaces and what your intention is in choosing with which one to strike (hint - it isn't always the cutting edge).
This is actually an important distinction between styles in FMA, and as it reflects the personal bias of a practitioner, can shape the evolution of a particular system. For instance, you could always see the blade orientation in Angel's strikes, from the tip of his toes to the end of his stick. Some (if not many) of his students, having trained almost exclusively with the stick, modified their movement either consciously or (more likely) unconsciously so it is tuned more precisely for that weapon but loses some of the inherent versatility of an edged perspective. Back when I was learning a little about Japanese edged weapons I was taught that the design of blades maximized the inherent flow of power through the hand. I've basically accepted this premise, but for argument's sake I'll say that power and speed are not synonymous or necessarily desirable, and so the "flat" wrist-turning abanico with a stick suits a certain purpose.
The most common abanico headshots are, of course, a simple wrist rotation, seen in FMA training around the world. It’s fast and flashy – POP! POP! POP! and you are done. How then did Angel, using more powerful edged-position strikes, move so quickly he could make his stick blur and disappear? Ah, Grasshopper, that is the question, and one I am unraveling to this day. I can reveal what I can see; what I can actually do is another matter.
Since this thread is about snapping strikes, we have an obvious clue, and a secret known to many advanced martial artists. In order to snap a strike, you have to get out faster than you go in! As James Mitose wrote in What Is Self Defense? : “If your punching speed is about 10, be sure your returning speed is 13.” His reasoning was to avoid a jiu-jitsu grab, but it makes as much sense in avoiding an escrima counterstrike. This speed factor also focuses the strike like a hypodermic injection of energy at the point of contact. It also keeps the arm loose and fluid so your energy projects out to the tip of the weapon like a whip (centrifugal force).
It’s common in many martial art schools to see students pose their punches, a habit learned by lining students up and having them lock out punches on command. This may be good for seeing the focus of the strike, but it also creates a habit to stop, which in a fighting situation is a really, really bad idea. Returning a punch keeps the flow going and resets for the next move. With a stick, it moves our target (the hand) away from a counter while maximizing power, and yes, keeps us from stopping to admire our work.
An important key in the snap is whole body movement. Everything moves as one in an integrated fashion. Even if we isolate a movement, we have to consider the dynamic tensions that hold the rest of the body in place to support the part that moves. Consider Newton’s third law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If we throw our abanicos with just the wrist, we are reversing the momentum of the stick with the small leverage of our wrist, and all the shock and impact are felt in that relatively small area. If we utilize the whole body, we gain power through multiple levers, from the feet, legs, torso and arms. Some of Angel’s strikes looked delicately balanced, his whole body counterbalancing the point of impact. This spreads the stress of achieving our angle of impact over a wider area, allowing for more finite adjustments, and similarly absorbs the rebound. By angulating the body to position the arm, it relieves stress closest to the point of impact, minimizing potential for injury and allowing more fluidity in recovering the rebound of the strike. As I wrote previously, that rebound is with the tendons, minimizing the workload of the muscles.
Not every blow in a rapid sequence will achieve maximum potential, but then a lot of Asian martial arts are based on setting up the opponent for a final blow. If one throws two abanicos to the head, if the first is an inward rotation, in front of one’s body or overhead, pronating the hand (palm down) and then follows with an outward strike (supinated or palm up), the first might accentuate speed and the second power. This wouldn’t mean a weak first strike or a slow second one, but that the first strike would be setting up the second, and the latter would carry more focused intent. Make that a three-strike pattern and again the last would (or should) be the most emphatic. All might create speed through the snap, using the bicep for the return of the forearm rather than just wrist twists, but if you are doing combination strikes, they should be explosively pre-planned. Once you complete the sequence, it’s time to move on. Either get to a ready position for whatever comes next, or flow into another defense or counter.
As Tom wrote, having a stick gives us an extra joint. I tell students we have two elbows in our arm. Use this flexibility as an extension, starting from the ground up and coming from the waist. Tai Chi books talk about this kind of energy a lot. I never understood it from the books, but through practice it is becoming clearer all the time.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Snap It!
This is a continuation of what I was thinking when I wrote "Consciousness, movement, learning" yesterday morning, but here I am leaving behind more abstract learning theories and going straight to the heart of a physical attribute.
There are different types of strength, having varying degrees of applicability in martial arts. In weight training, these can be broken down generically as endurance, strength and power. Endurance and power are the bookends, the former about being able to repeat a movement for a very long time (like distance running) and the latter referring to the sheer brute ability to move something. Genuine power is very explosive, because the greater the momentum from the initial impulse, the further the load will travel. Strength is sort of in the middle, but more towards the power end, maybe 80% of maximum potential. It has much of the explosiveness of power but requires greater stamina, and will be more tolerant on the joints and flexibility. For the martial artist, it is probably the most applicable way to utilize weight training.
Martial arts has a somewhat unique range of demands, so unlike the marathoner or power lifter, we have to have some capacity in each area. Perhaps the professional sport closest in requirements is American football, and it is no coincidence that many players also do some martial arts for conditioning and reflexes. If football is a metaphor for war, what better than training in warrior skills?
One difference in training for martial arts versus pure weight training is the idea of tendon strength versus muscle strength. Real power lifters understand this and the smart ones are careful to monitor their limits. In the old days training took years of hard work, allowing tendons and ligaments time to build up. The use of steroids in modern training cuts down recovery time between workouts, allowing greater muscle growth in a shorter period. Muscles have adequate blood supply to allow rapid change. Connective tissue has less blood supplying nutrients and is tougher and slower to adapt. A consequence of rapid growth is that muscles can get so strong they overpower the tendons and ligaments, making ruptures more common.
Old texts on martial arts talk of tendon strength as the key to power in technique. Muscles initiate movement, but also can inhibit it. One has to balance agonistic with antagonistic muscles so that the latter don't inhibit the actions of the former, and the key to this is relaxation. Again, old writers talk about feeling as though your bones are longer than the muscles, so that one is not pushing or emphasizing muscle action alone. Bruce Lee described a punch as a rock on the end of a rope; speed is a force multiplier, converting mass into power. However, to be able to effectively move quickly without using a lot of braking strength from the antagonistic muscles, more stress is placed on those connective tissues, requiring conditioning of those.
This is why long-term training in martial arts is important to achieve certain results. One can learn certain skills quickly, but can the body perform consistently without self-destructing? More modern arts proclaim superiority in that they teach skills more quickly. In the old days, that was done only in times of dire emergency, when fighters were needed sooner rather than later. In more normal times, however, the slow approach allowed a fighter's body to adapt to the rigors of the art, and also allowed the person to mature mentally and emotionally to control the power they were developing.
[Note* - HATE THIS! I wrote a couple of long paragraphs explaining technique, thought I'd be smart and hit "save draft" ... and my modem had been disconnected from the server, losing about 20 minutes of work. I'll have to switch to writing in Word and pasting into here. That's twice in 24 hours I've lost work here ... grrrrr!] [Make that three times! I just rewrote a paragraph, hit draft, and it didn't save ...]
ANYWAY (again!) .... All this is applicable to Escrima. In the words of Small Circle Jujitsu creator Wally Jay, Escrima is perhaps the fastest art to be dangerous because our weapon can be used from Day One of training. I myself have taken pride in how quickly students can be brought to a decent level of skill. Still, to learn technique is one thing; to be able to execute with speed, power and accuracy is something else, and to do it consistently over time takes real skill. The centrifugal force of the stick is a force multiplier that works against the leverage of our joints. Incorrect movement can, either over time or in an instant, create pain in our wrist, elbow or shoulder. Similarly, incorrect stepping or distribution of weight can affect the joints of our legs or our lower back. Often we are unaware of our bad habits until we experience feedback through pain. This is why I try to utilize other body parts to support movement, either by using bigger gears, such as turning my hips instead of just arm punching, or using my free hand to help power a strike and relaxing my weapon hand into more of a simple directing role.
Beginning students usually use muscle to do everything, pushing their sticks, extending their hands. I was fortunate to be able to study video of Angel for many years, and I could always see that he seemed faster than most, if not all, of his students. Often at the end of a strike his stick would simply disappear in a blur, but through further observation I realized that his hand motions did not seem to mirror this movement. I've long said that a stick does two things: it gives leverage and extension. Clearly this is what Angel was utilizing.
A common example of this in the FMA is the witik, a snapping strike similar to how cats often hit with a front paw. To create the snap, the hand is actually retracting while the tip of the weapon is still traveling forward, creating a whip-like strike. Angel used this kind of technique in a variety of strikes, for example, his famous "triple strike" which combined a straight hit to the head combined with a double abanico. While many people throw their abanicos by turning their wrists, Angel used a forward motion with his hand, almost like a strike towards the face, and then retracted his hand allowing the weapon to accelerate into the whipping strike. This accomplished two things at once - it made his blow faster and more powerful, and it got his hand out of range of counterstrikes faster.
This technique relies almost completely on elasticity in the tendons of the wrist to accomplish, and is not something most people can do right away, either conceptually or having the strength. One has to trust the ability of the weapon to snap without rotating the wrist more than a minimal amount for targeting, because the leverage of that stick can quickly amplify that rotation into severe discomfort. It is deceptive, but that is an important part of the art.
Again, there is a lot of technique hidden within the techniques of the art, ways to maximize speed and power while minimizing effort, and saving our strength and our bodies by displacing stress from smaller, weaker areas into larger more durable ones.
There are different types of strength, having varying degrees of applicability in martial arts. In weight training, these can be broken down generically as endurance, strength and power. Endurance and power are the bookends, the former about being able to repeat a movement for a very long time (like distance running) and the latter referring to the sheer brute ability to move something. Genuine power is very explosive, because the greater the momentum from the initial impulse, the further the load will travel. Strength is sort of in the middle, but more towards the power end, maybe 80% of maximum potential. It has much of the explosiveness of power but requires greater stamina, and will be more tolerant on the joints and flexibility. For the martial artist, it is probably the most applicable way to utilize weight training.
Martial arts has a somewhat unique range of demands, so unlike the marathoner or power lifter, we have to have some capacity in each area. Perhaps the professional sport closest in requirements is American football, and it is no coincidence that many players also do some martial arts for conditioning and reflexes. If football is a metaphor for war, what better than training in warrior skills?
One difference in training for martial arts versus pure weight training is the idea of tendon strength versus muscle strength. Real power lifters understand this and the smart ones are careful to monitor their limits. In the old days training took years of hard work, allowing tendons and ligaments time to build up. The use of steroids in modern training cuts down recovery time between workouts, allowing greater muscle growth in a shorter period. Muscles have adequate blood supply to allow rapid change. Connective tissue has less blood supplying nutrients and is tougher and slower to adapt. A consequence of rapid growth is that muscles can get so strong they overpower the tendons and ligaments, making ruptures more common.
Old texts on martial arts talk of tendon strength as the key to power in technique. Muscles initiate movement, but also can inhibit it. One has to balance agonistic with antagonistic muscles so that the latter don't inhibit the actions of the former, and the key to this is relaxation. Again, old writers talk about feeling as though your bones are longer than the muscles, so that one is not pushing or emphasizing muscle action alone. Bruce Lee described a punch as a rock on the end of a rope; speed is a force multiplier, converting mass into power. However, to be able to effectively move quickly without using a lot of braking strength from the antagonistic muscles, more stress is placed on those connective tissues, requiring conditioning of those.
This is why long-term training in martial arts is important to achieve certain results. One can learn certain skills quickly, but can the body perform consistently without self-destructing? More modern arts proclaim superiority in that they teach skills more quickly. In the old days, that was done only in times of dire emergency, when fighters were needed sooner rather than later. In more normal times, however, the slow approach allowed a fighter's body to adapt to the rigors of the art, and also allowed the person to mature mentally and emotionally to control the power they were developing.
[Note* - HATE THIS! I wrote a couple of long paragraphs explaining technique, thought I'd be smart and hit "save draft" ... and my modem had been disconnected from the server, losing about 20 minutes of work. I'll have to switch to writing in Word and pasting into here. That's twice in 24 hours I've lost work here ... grrrrr!] [Make that three times! I just rewrote a paragraph, hit draft, and it didn't save ...]
ANYWAY (again!) .... All this is applicable to Escrima. In the words of Small Circle Jujitsu creator Wally Jay, Escrima is perhaps the fastest art to be dangerous because our weapon can be used from Day One of training. I myself have taken pride in how quickly students can be brought to a decent level of skill. Still, to learn technique is one thing; to be able to execute with speed, power and accuracy is something else, and to do it consistently over time takes real skill. The centrifugal force of the stick is a force multiplier that works against the leverage of our joints. Incorrect movement can, either over time or in an instant, create pain in our wrist, elbow or shoulder. Similarly, incorrect stepping or distribution of weight can affect the joints of our legs or our lower back. Often we are unaware of our bad habits until we experience feedback through pain. This is why I try to utilize other body parts to support movement, either by using bigger gears, such as turning my hips instead of just arm punching, or using my free hand to help power a strike and relaxing my weapon hand into more of a simple directing role.
Beginning students usually use muscle to do everything, pushing their sticks, extending their hands. I was fortunate to be able to study video of Angel for many years, and I could always see that he seemed faster than most, if not all, of his students. Often at the end of a strike his stick would simply disappear in a blur, but through further observation I realized that his hand motions did not seem to mirror this movement. I've long said that a stick does two things: it gives leverage and extension. Clearly this is what Angel was utilizing.
A common example of this in the FMA is the witik, a snapping strike similar to how cats often hit with a front paw. To create the snap, the hand is actually retracting while the tip of the weapon is still traveling forward, creating a whip-like strike. Angel used this kind of technique in a variety of strikes, for example, his famous "triple strike" which combined a straight hit to the head combined with a double abanico. While many people throw their abanicos by turning their wrists, Angel used a forward motion with his hand, almost like a strike towards the face, and then retracted his hand allowing the weapon to accelerate into the whipping strike. This accomplished two things at once - it made his blow faster and more powerful, and it got his hand out of range of counterstrikes faster.
This technique relies almost completely on elasticity in the tendons of the wrist to accomplish, and is not something most people can do right away, either conceptually or having the strength. One has to trust the ability of the weapon to snap without rotating the wrist more than a minimal amount for targeting, because the leverage of that stick can quickly amplify that rotation into severe discomfort. It is deceptive, but that is an important part of the art.
Again, there is a lot of technique hidden within the techniques of the art, ways to maximize speed and power while minimizing effort, and saving our strength and our bodies by displacing stress from smaller, weaker areas into larger more durable ones.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Thai Films
Thai filmmaking is reaching a level of recognition and distribution that hasn't been seen since Bruce Lee did "The Big Boss" (aka Chinese Connection) there for his first feature film. Their martial arts movies have a level of gritty excitement reminiscent of Hong Kong movies from 25 years ago. Two recent offerings stand out; catch them if you can!
The first is "Ong Bak", which means Buddha Head. This was a love-it-or-hate-it smash success at the Cannes festival a couple of years ago. It may not be polished to Hollywood standards, but it has an honest sincerity that carries it through, and some pretty darn cool fights and stunts starting from the opening scene. You couldn't do this movie in the U.S.! It just came out in theaters here. I haven't seen it yet on the big screen or in English, as I was given a VCD from Thailand last year. I've been making up my own dialog, but the movie is pretty self-explanatory. Aside from the action, it has a strong spiritual theme of good overcoming evil through purity and piety. I haven't been this excited over a martial arts film in years.
Next is "Bang Rajan," an historical epic. I haven't seen this, only trailers a year ago, and I just heard from some students that it briefly passed through some local theaters a couple of months ago. Heads should roll! I even wrote to the distributor for info awhile back and got no response ... Presented by Oliver Stone, it's a bit of a jingoistic plug for Thai nationalism that also got critical acclaim in film festivals. From what I saw in the trailers, it's probably the closest thing to authentic native jungle warfare ever shown on film, pretty graphic stuff. Thai or not, this has to be THE movie for escrimadors interested in historic roots. Now I'll probably have to wait a couple of years for them to release a DVD, unless my Thai connection can come up with some domestic offerings over there ....
The first is "Ong Bak", which means Buddha Head. This was a love-it-or-hate-it smash success at the Cannes festival a couple of years ago. It may not be polished to Hollywood standards, but it has an honest sincerity that carries it through, and some pretty darn cool fights and stunts starting from the opening scene. You couldn't do this movie in the U.S.! It just came out in theaters here. I haven't seen it yet on the big screen or in English, as I was given a VCD from Thailand last year. I've been making up my own dialog, but the movie is pretty self-explanatory. Aside from the action, it has a strong spiritual theme of good overcoming evil through purity and piety. I haven't been this excited over a martial arts film in years.
Next is "Bang Rajan," an historical epic. I haven't seen this, only trailers a year ago, and I just heard from some students that it briefly passed through some local theaters a couple of months ago. Heads should roll! I even wrote to the distributor for info awhile back and got no response ... Presented by Oliver Stone, it's a bit of a jingoistic plug for Thai nationalism that also got critical acclaim in film festivals. From what I saw in the trailers, it's probably the closest thing to authentic native jungle warfare ever shown on film, pretty graphic stuff. Thai or not, this has to be THE movie for escrimadors interested in historic roots. Now I'll probably have to wait a couple of years for them to release a DVD, unless my Thai connection can come up with some domestic offerings over there ....
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