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Posts Tagged ‘Martial Arts’

I treat martial arts somewhat as a sport and as a workout routine, but I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think it also had some practical utility as a self defense technique, and a lot of the classes I teach focus on self defense, particularly in teaching classes to women and teenagers, in particular mugger defense and knife defense.

Recently, I’ve had to give some thought into teaching knife defense. Knife defense and martial arts techniques sort of mix, and sort of don’t. When we spar in class, we focus – and we focus a lot – on not hurting one another. Knife defense has to take a different approach.

First of all, don’t get into knife fights. I don’t care how good you are, if you’re bare handed and in street clothes, and the other guy has a combat knife, you’re at a serious disadvantage. If you can, run away. If you have to give up your wallet to run away, do it. Knife fighting is messy and bloody.

Which leads to the first principle of knife defense: You’re going to get cut. Repeat after me: You’re going to get cut. Again, I say. You’re going to get cut. Be prepared for it, understand that it can happen, and that it will hurt (when you’re getting cut) and hurt a lot less immediately after. The trick is to make sure that you do as much damage to your assailant as you can, while turning the least amount of damage to yourself.

The basic knife attack is a thrust or a slash delivered with the forward hand, sort of like a punch. The knife is used to add those critical four inches to your reach. Most people aren’t particularly trained at knife fighting, so they use a natural punching motion. The first thing you want to do is interpose your hand, or better yet, the outside of your forearm on the line of attack. Just like you do an inside block or outside block on a punch, you do the same thing against a guy with a knife. Again, you’re going to get cut – the key here is to make sure that when you get cut, it’s on a part of your body where it won’t permanently injure you. Try to block his wrist with yours, barring that, block his blade with your forearm. It’ll hurt, but you have to get through the pain to follow up with the punch.
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Don’t ask me how: I don’t know!

Perhaps some Expert can tell me? Perhaps YOU can?

My hobby – obsession actually – is the Martial Arts. In which I hold a 4th Dan Black Belt.

Though these days (after forty years) I’m really into Personal Protection using self-defense weapons.

Once upon a time – many years ago – it was Speed, Skill, Panache.

These days it’s all about SURVIVAL – on the street, in the Park, indeed even in the house and the bedroom.

Using weapons.

The Mugger has Youth, Hostility Aggression on his side. Perhaps Drugs and the desperate need for money to buy them.

I have (only) my legal survival weapons – the Walking Stick, the Umbrella and – the Sjambok. That 42” long South African ‘whip’ much used by their police in crowd control.

The ONLY way I would be able to survive a street mugging (or Park rape-attempt, if I were a woman) is by the use of a powerful, drastic but non-lethal – Weapon. But a legally permitted one, not on any prohibited police or Home Office list.

Forget about the Martial Arts as such. They are of absolutely no use whatsoever in self defence life survival situations. Unless you are a 4th Dan Black Belt, when the whole situation takes on a different aspect, and the Mugger will find himself at very grave risk.
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We all have dreams, desires, goals and it’s great to daydream about what it would be like holding that title belt high in the air feeling the energy of the crowd cheering you on. Back to reality now and here’s a question for you. How much time do you put into a day to make that dream come true? The time you spend training or doing something productive to get closer to your goal or dream, compared to sitting on your couch watching TV.

Don’t get me wrong daydreaming can be productive if you know how to creatively visualize. Realize that your habits will determine your future. Successful people have successful habits, unsuccessful people don’t. To get your dream to materialize you need a plan to structure your time into productive slots. All successful people have a plan, follow it, and gauge their progress by it.

Work towards making the majority of your time being productive towards your goal, i.e. training and conditioning, read and view material that is going to help you become a better fighter such as viewing video of your fights and your opponents to see what you need to work on.

IT’S ALL ABOUT WERE YOU PUT YOUR FOCUS

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Brief History:

Wing Chun (also known as Wing Tsun, Ving Chun or Ving Tsun) is one of the most popular types of Chinese martial arts. Though it’s basically an unarmed combat technique, Wing Chun may include weapons as part of its course. The origin of Wing Chun can be traced back to China, but the real history of its creation has long been a topic of much debate. The most credible suggestion regarding the origin of Wing Chun dates back to 1700 AD in the Henan Shaolin Monastery.

When the Qing forces raided and ravaged the Southern Shaolin temple, a nun named Ng Mui fled to the distant Daliang Mountains, the only survivor. Ng Mui already had knowledge of Kung Fu in the Shaolin temple, which she assimilated with a new form she had learnt while observing a battle between a snake and a crane. She taught this new combat style to her adopted daughter whom she named Yimm Wing Chun. The new system was refined and then passed on from generation to generation, and was eventually named Wing Chun, after Yimm.

The modernization of Wing Chun started in Hong Kong during the 1950s under a Grandmaster called Yip Man. The discipline began to gain real popularity in Asia and the West when actor Bruce Lee became one of the most famous Wing Chun practitioners.
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