Tag: liu he ba fa

Push It

Instructor Ken Wildner catches me while playing a more freestyle version of push hands.

I recently had the pleasure of pushing hands with instructor Ken Wildner of the Tampa Bay Martial Arts Group, who contacted me earlier to see if I was interested in sharing and exchanging. Ken has a background in water boxing (from different lineages than mine). After seeing some of the vids of his group, including this one, I was impressed with how they approached push hands in a variety of ways, from fixed step to almost anything goes, so I invited him to one of my classes so that my students could also benefit from his knowledge and experience.

Ken didn’t disappoint. He’s highly skilled in the chess game of push hands, and he’s a good guy. If you click on the link above (or here), you can see raw, unedited footage of Ken and me engaging in a fairly freestyle version of push hands. I tasted the ground at least a couple times during our play—but still had a hell of a lot of fun getting out of my comfort zone. (Note: You’ll see my wife, a hung gar instructor, first in the video. Although she’s never trained push hands, she catches on very quickly and is gung ho about almost all things gung fu.)

Now you might wonder why I’d post a video where I, as an instructor, end up on my ass. After all, in the world of traditional Chinese martial arts, it seems like 99.9% of vids are of instructors, well, looking good and saving face, especially in front of their students. However, I think this is often achieved because instructors stick only to their own styles and schools, closing themselves (and their students) off, which can actually hurt the students and the arts more than it helps them. Many, many instructors only do and show stuff that makes them look good—or, hell, look practically invincible—in order to build themselves up.

It was clear to me from watching the vids of Ken and his group that this wasn’t their modus operandi and that “win” or “lose,” everybody was gaining something in the process. This is the same approach I myself follow, including with my students, which is why I invited Ken to class in the first place and why I’ve posted the vid. Whether you’re a student or instructor, you should push yourself, even if it means you end up on your ass. There’s no shame in that if you’ve gained something. In general, I’d rather lose face than lose an opportunity to learn something that makes me better.

Needless to say, we had a blast with Ken and are looking forward to the next time he’s in town. If you’re ever in Tampa Bay, I highly suggest you reach out to Ken to check out his group. Whenever you have the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone (in a way that’s safe, of course), I say to go ahead and just do—or push—it.

Can You Bullseye a Womp Rat?

“It’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they’re not much bigger than two meters.”—Luke Skywalker

If you’ve seen Star Wars (Episode IV – A New Hope), you’ll probably remember that Luke Skywalker saved the day and the galaxy by firing torpedoes from his X-wing space fighter into the exhaust port of the Death Star, a moon-sized battle station with enough firepower to destroy a planet. This was considered practically impossible because of how narrow the approach was, how small the exhaust port was, and how fast the fighter craft would be approaching—not to mention that there would be resistance from the enemy.

This scenario got me thinking: In “no-holds-barred” type fights, is the reason why strikers have historically done poorly against grapplers because they’re essentially trying to bullseye a womp rat? (For the sake of this discussion, let’s define strikers as those relying primarily on punches and kicks and grapplers as those relying primarily on throws or on shooting in followed by submissions and chokes.)

Sure, at the highest levels of striking and grappling, both can work and be devastating. No doubt that striking with adequate force to a vulnerable area can be a showstopper. And no doubt putting someone in a guillotine with adequate constriction around the neck can also be lights out. The question is which of those against a moving, non-compliant, resisting, and perhaps even aggressive opponent is more likely to work.

In my opinion, in a situation where both opponents square off beforehand (e.g., in a UFC competition), if you rely primarily on striking, you’d better be Luke Skywalker and able to bullseye a womp rat to stop even a decent grappler. Although there are many vital areas and pressure points all over the body that a striker can target, a grappler’s targets are by comparison largely, well, large (e.g., the legs for a takedown) and arguably easier to get to, requiring less precision and coordination than a punch or a kick. Sure, a well-placed knee to the head or elbow to the back of the neck can stop someone shooting in for a double-leg takedown. But there’s a reason why the sprawl is generally more effective against someone shooting in: executing the knee and the elbow with proper timing and distance are like, well, bullseyeing a womp rat. And if you don’t bullseye the womp rat, the grappler’s going to be all over you.

So, what to do if you’re a striker? Well, one obvious solution would be to practice bullseyeing womp rats more. By increasing your precision and speed against a decent grappler at full speed, you increase your chances of being able to use it in a realistic situation. But in my experience there’s a big problem with this solution: finding a person who’s willing to be kneed or elbowed like that. When executed perfectly (especially if you try something like hitting a person in the trachea when they shoot in), striking can be very dangerous—and that makes it problematic in training. Unfortunately, being unable to train at full speed makes using these strikes in real combat much more difficult.

Another, probably better solution is to work some grappling into your game. Both standup and ground grappling will almost certainly occur naturally in any situation that is not for some reason limited to striking. In fact, even in western boxing, fighters will clinch, sometimes throwing the opponent away to make space or staying in the clinch and getting off short, powerful body strikes. And I don’t disagree with grapplers who say that most street fights go to the ground (I just disagree with a percentage like 90%—I’m not sure it’s quite that high).

A third way to make striking potentially more effective is to make your strikes heavier. That way, even if you miss your intended target the size of a quarter, you might at least do some damage to the area you do hit, perhaps jolting your opponent enough to then allow you to hit your intended target. So, if you’re primarily a striker, ask yourself if, like Luke, you can bullseye a womp rat when the entire galaxy’s fate rests on it. If not, consider practicing on more (and different) womp rats/partners, consider working in some grappling to your skill set, or consider making your strikes heavier. But whatever you do, don’t join the dark side.

Introduction to Water Boxing, Part 6

By practicing the five old fists of Xingyi Chuan, we can often develop the proper mechanics of certain movements/forces in Zhu Ji more quickly.

In part 6 of my series of videos introducing water boxing, we look at how Xingyi Chuan fits into our approach. In addition to training Zhu Ji, we train the five old fists (beng chuan, zhuan chuan, pi chuan, pao chuan, and heng chuan) to focus on mechanics. When learning a form, it can sometimes be difficult to focus on the proper mechanics for a particular movement (or force or posture) because you’re often learning several movements and the transitions between those movements–all at the same time (sort of like a martial arts version of multi-tasking). Because a Xingyi fist like zhuan chuan has the same (or at least very similar) mechanics as some of the movements in the form, by practicing it as a drill we can concentrate solely on those mechanics and, ultimately, put those mechanics into the form. There’s a lot to learn from the mechanics of the five old fists, but perhaps the most important concept to get out of it in the beginning is yin/yang theory, including reprogramming your nervous system to think with and about the other side/half of your body, ultimately enabling the other side/half to be engaged naturally. You can also take this approach by just focusing on one movement in the form and drilling it over and over again.

Introduction to Water Boxing, Part 5

In part 5 of my series of videos introducing water boxing, we look at how we use our bones. Unlike in many internal arts (for example, in most styles of tai chi), in water boxing, we don’t necessarily avoid using force against force. This is one of the reasons why the solid (ice) stage of water boxing is learned/taught first (and why we place so much emphasis on structure). It may also explain why some people have described the feel of water boxing’s force as being similar to Xingyi Chuan and why, unlike in tai chi, we use the 70/30 stance.

Introduction to Water Boxing, Part 4

Moving the joints together is a fundamental principle in water boxing.

In part 4 of my series of videos introducing water boxing, we look at the joints. In water boxing, we say that when one thing moves, all things move. And when one thing stops, all things stop. Moving all the joints together is one of our fundamental principles. It’s also one of the reasons we generally train by moving slowly. Once your body starts to naturally move with the joints in sync, you can begin to move faster to further develop and apply the force that results from that synchronization.

Introduction to Water Boxing, Part 3

Water boxing generally uses three primary stances.

In part 3 of my series of videos introducing water boxing, we look at the three primary stances: the 60/40 stance, the 70/30 stance, and the 90/10 stance. The reason why I use this terminology for the stances is because probably the most important thing to practice in the beginning is the weight distribution. From there, you can better adjust for the proper length, height, and width, as well as engage the use of the kwa (hips), all of which will enable you to use the stances in a dynamic and more combat-oriented way.

Introduction to Water Boxing, Part 1

The opening movement of Zhu Ji provides an excellent introduction to water boxing’s approach to training and combat.

When people see me perform the opening movement of water boxing’s foundational form, Zhu Ji, one of the most common questions/comments they have is why I keep my palms out (away from my body) rather than down (toward my body) when I lift my arms overhead. Virtually all tai chi and even some water boxing practitioners practice their forms’ opening movements with their palms down when lifting their arms. In this video (the first in a series I’ll be doing to introduce water boxing), I explain one of the main reasons I practice and teach the movement this way, using this movement as an introduction to water boxing.

Cobra Kai Offers a Real Lesson in Fighting (Hint: It’s a Hit!)

My wife and I are huge fans of Cobra Kai, the Netflix series based on The Karate Kid movies, and we can’t wait until the third season is out. Even though we just recently binge watched the first two seasons, we’ve already started re-watching episodes because, well, they’re so good. It might take you a couple episodes to really get hooked, but once you get to Episode 3 or 4, I think you’ll find yourself becoming a fan, too. The writing is excellent; the series pays proper homage to the movies but also has twists, depth, and surprising gravity that maybe surpass what the movies had.

SPOILER ALERT. Although I’m not really giving anything away regarding the plot, I figured I’d warn you just in case. What I’m about to talk about happens in Episode 7 of the first season.

In this episode, Sensei Johnny Lawrence requires that every student gets punched in the face in order to learn to stop flinching. Although learning not to flinch is arguably an important lesson, I think the more important one is simply getting hit hard. I don’t necessarily think you need to get a bloody nose, lose a tooth, have a rib broken, or be knocked unconscious, but getting hit hard enough to respect and expect what your opponent can do to you is one aspect of training that I think many traditional martial artists overlook. It’s also a big reason why I think Chinese MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong has dominated traditional martial artists—he can take a punch. (You could, however, argue the punches he was taking were weak or ineffective to begin with, but that’s a topic for another blog post.)

Two boxers, one famous and one fictional, get it (and got hit). Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.” And Rocky Balboa said, “But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.”

Now you might interpret those quotes a little differently than I do. But I think we’d agree that the essence of both is that if you want to succeed in fighting (or in life), you’d better prepare yourself mentally and physically for getting hit—so that you can hit back. Some might disagree with me, but I don’t believe anyone is untouchable. (I’ve heard of a few untouchable masters over the years, but I wonder what would happen if you put all those untouchable masters together to fight. Who would win?)

So unless you’re physically so frail that getting hit poses a serious danger to your health (or if you can’t trust the person hitting you to exercise restraint), I suggest getting hit every now and then. In fact, when I started dating my wife, I told her to hit me so that I could feel how powerful she is. I wanted her to see that I could take a hit. But I’m not stupid, so I also told her not to give me full power. She happily delivered a roundhouse kick to my thigh because that is one of her signature weapons. Thankfully she gave me only about a third of her full power. When she asked how it felt, I smiled, doing my best not to wince from the pain, and told her she was good. I’d like to think she spent the week until our next date really impressed by how tough I was, but I know for sure I spent that week massaging out the bruised knot on the side of my thigh and thinking that if I ended up with her, we’d never fight because I’d never want to get hit like that with her full power. We’ve been married for a year now, and I can happily say I’ve never felt her full power.

I’m convinced you’ll learn something from getting hit, too. In fact, in all seriousness, there are actually other very good reasons to get hit in training, but I’ll save those for another blog post. Now go out and get hit!