Well another week is upon us and those Monday Blues might be getting you down but we have much to celebrate in the world of Combat sports. I was at a Kung Fu grading this morning watching the new students progress and then we got stuck into some of our own syllabus, more on that later!
A couple of things to celebrate in the meantime...
How about the very sensible decision by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to re-instate Wrestling into the games, the less said about their decision to remove it in the firstplace the better!!
It's wrestling folks, one of the pillars on which the games and all Combat sports were built. Added to the games in 684BC how on earth could the games continue without it? Heracles and Theseus would be furious if they caught wind of the plot to remove it. Handy fighting tip: never incur the wrath of Gods especially ones that invented Combat Sports mmmkay? However a sense and a respect for history prevailed and Jacques Rogge made a wise choice. For wrestling some major overhaul was required but all for the better. A change of rules (they hadn't really changed since Heracles and Theseus wrote them) and a more inclusive policy with regard to female medal categories.
Talking of women in the Combat sphere here is a great cause to celebrate. A woman I was introduced to this week whilst having some down time. Guru Besar Rita Suwanda! Not only one of a few female Masters in the world but one from Indonesia too. How is that special? Well Indonesia's religion is predominantly Islam with the largest Muslim population in the world. Practicing Martial Arts and being a woman is tough enough let alone being a Master. Guru Rita is an exponent of Penkat Silat, check out the "Fight Quest" show on youtube for an insight.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2py-S8tcng&list=TL3jTAZzWwjtk
Another great female fighter pulling apart the perceptions of what a Martial Artist is, is Rosi Sexton. Or rather Dr. Rosi Sexton who holds a Phd in theoretical computer science, a degree in Osteopathy as well as a first class honours degree in Mathematics (from Cambridge no less) Not only does she scrap with the other 12 pro females in the UFC she balances it all whilst looking after an 8 year old son. She is in the news today as she makes her UK debut for the UFC next month. Good Luck.
What else can we celebrate? How about the positive impact that the Combat Sports are having on the favelas of Rio de Janeiro? I salute British founder of Luta Pela Paz (fight for peace) Luke Dowdney. Who has brought boxing to the gang war happening in the slums. Engaging the kids and would be gangsters and guiding them onto a different path away from the violence and drugs that they are so conditioned to. He says "Boxing was a way of opening a dialogue with kids not engaging in conventional programmes. It makes a young person strong, teaches you discipline and about never giving up"
Anyway lots of positive vibes going around but back to todays training to morn a small but significant loss! The Lau Gar syllabus is changing- this too will be a positive especially if the knife "defence" is re-examined! But I'm shocked to hear that something has been removed. The Double kick (cern-tak) I agree that it is not in keeping with the low kicks of the traditional aspect. The double kick is however a belter on the tournament circuit, which I understand fully is the reason why it is being removed from the traditional syllabus. But it still functions and it functions better than the "Machine gun kick" becoming more synonymous with point fighting (not that there is an intention to replace it). The thing about true Lau is that it has always been associated with tournament fighting indeed it is a functional fighting art which makes it a rare breed. So I think this one is a bad choice. I for one will still be teaching it. It may even squeeze the advantage my way so by all means let it go if you choose. My advice, step away from syllabus it should never be set in stone. "The art lives where freedom is" Thats what Bruce said and thats a good thing to reflect upon. I'm sure Rita, Rosi and Luke would agree.
I'll write soon I'm off to China next week!
Sunday 8 September 2013
Sunday 1 September 2013
The Self Defense conundrum
It's always there on the flyer for the new Martial Arts Club, but what is it? Despite the very obvious kinship between Martial Arts and self defense I have to be honest and say that there are a whole bunch of clubs which fail to grasp or teach the subject. I admit that no club is beyond this, because self defense is a very difficult thing to define. We would be at fault to suggest that because a student practices a Martial style they would instantly be able to defend themselves. To know something and to do something does not go hand in hand. The style (whatever it is) has to be adaptive by nature for it to function as self defense. It's has to be capable of instant evolution. As I have stated in previous blogs, stuff never goes down how you want it to. The very nature of teaching self defense is incongruous. Affecting a self contained scenario to promote a technique is almost a waste of time! I use "almost" to avoid sweeping statements, there is always place to promote understanding and build a repertoire of moves
Incredible things happen to human physiology during times of stress and all fairly instantaneously. Do you want a brief biology lesson about fear response? Probably not but whatever it's my blog :) Our reaction to fear response goes two ways, the high road and the low road. The high road is thoughtful and considers the stimulus carefully in the Hippocampus. This is the memory part of your brain and cross references whats going on at that moment with what you already know and makes decisions based on that. The low road swings by the Amygdalae which is associated with emotional responses. If something is happening you don't like the signals move to the Hypothalamus which floods your bloodstream with approx 30 stress hormones turning you into either The Flash or The Hulk. Neural activity combines with the hormones to create the famous fight or flight response, it's pretty awesome stuff, but it comes at the price of degraded small motor functions like accuracy or complex motions. In general technique goes out the window, don't believe me google any kind of street fight and cringe at what you see. However I've been there, seen it, done it and unfortunately that is how it looks. Certain styles get criticised more than others when it comes to self defense. BJJ and MMA, you must of heard it yourself "The last place you want to be in a fight is on the ground" True, whilst you're fumbling with your failing complex motor functions to put a choke on, someone else gets stuck in! Yes it happens but what BJJ and MMA have as their weakness they also have as their biggest advantage. They weren't designed for self defense they were designed as sport. What do combat sports have in abundance? A competitive edge, a striving will to succeed and better the other person! What do you need more in a situation of surmounting odds? The tenacity to fight like a caged tiger regardless of technical ability. This is what some clubs lack, never ever underestimate tenacity training when it comes to self defense, it should be a war not a battle. Self defense is about avoidance and de-escalation, valuable skills but arguably not a tenant of the true Martial Arts. Martial after all is taken from the Roman God of war. So it's down to how you actually teach self defense, it's about what you promote as the fundamentals. Is an encyclopedia of moves enough or do you have to get students a bit hungry... A famous fable to finish sure you've heard it before. A Grandfather and a child watch a fox chase a rabbit. The child asks "Who do you think will come out on top Grandad?" Grandad says" The rabbit will escape" The kid asks how he can be so sure? Grandad replies "The fox is running for his dinner, the rabbit is running for his life".... That's how the fable ends but in my version the child concludes by questioning "how hungry do you think the fox was?"
Incredible things happen to human physiology during times of stress and all fairly instantaneously. Do you want a brief biology lesson about fear response? Probably not but whatever it's my blog :) Our reaction to fear response goes two ways, the high road and the low road. The high road is thoughtful and considers the stimulus carefully in the Hippocampus. This is the memory part of your brain and cross references whats going on at that moment with what you already know and makes decisions based on that. The low road swings by the Amygdalae which is associated with emotional responses. If something is happening you don't like the signals move to the Hypothalamus which floods your bloodstream with approx 30 stress hormones turning you into either The Flash or The Hulk. Neural activity combines with the hormones to create the famous fight or flight response, it's pretty awesome stuff, but it comes at the price of degraded small motor functions like accuracy or complex motions. In general technique goes out the window, don't believe me google any kind of street fight and cringe at what you see. However I've been there, seen it, done it and unfortunately that is how it looks. Certain styles get criticised more than others when it comes to self defense. BJJ and MMA, you must of heard it yourself "The last place you want to be in a fight is on the ground" True, whilst you're fumbling with your failing complex motor functions to put a choke on, someone else gets stuck in! Yes it happens but what BJJ and MMA have as their weakness they also have as their biggest advantage. They weren't designed for self defense they were designed as sport. What do combat sports have in abundance? A competitive edge, a striving will to succeed and better the other person! What do you need more in a situation of surmounting odds? The tenacity to fight like a caged tiger regardless of technical ability. This is what some clubs lack, never ever underestimate tenacity training when it comes to self defense, it should be a war not a battle. Self defense is about avoidance and de-escalation, valuable skills but arguably not a tenant of the true Martial Arts. Martial after all is taken from the Roman God of war. So it's down to how you actually teach self defense, it's about what you promote as the fundamentals. Is an encyclopedia of moves enough or do you have to get students a bit hungry... A famous fable to finish sure you've heard it before. A Grandfather and a child watch a fox chase a rabbit. The child asks "Who do you think will come out on top Grandad?" Grandad says" The rabbit will escape" The kid asks how he can be so sure? Grandad replies "The fox is running for his dinner, the rabbit is running for his life".... That's how the fable ends but in my version the child concludes by questioning "how hungry do you think the fox was?"
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