A Night at the Fights

Science of In-Fighting

Wong Shun Leung – The Science of In-Fighting – the complete video:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8329045887054742433&hl=en#

 

A Little More Fedor

Demon State

The contemporary western occultist Aleister Crowley viewed inner demons as metaphors for certain psychological processes. This is the point at which we depart from the realm of the paranormal and instead venture into the internal territory of the human psyche. And it is not a huge departure for us to interpret demons as psychological STATES which we as martial artists can use to overcome feelings of fear and vulnerability. Development of the psyche is after all, a crucial element of becoming an effective fighter. In fact, if anything the psychological implications of demons as metaphors for fortitude and inner strength may actually assist our journey in the combative arts.

Have a Cup of (Brazilian Mint) Tea

Thanks to ML for this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8373791.stm

Tetris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2QNsxXTuuQ

MMA has EVERYTHING to do with it!

We are in a technological age which gives us immediate access to information. MMA bouts allow us to use fighting as the starting premise to analyze what works and what doesn’t work. We can look at top rate fighters against other top rate fighters and we can a) draw inferences, b) see common denominators, c) shape theories, and, d) apply them/pressure test.

The alternative/traditional methods that apply to such arts as Wing Chun, is where we find ourselves putting a huge amount of faith into a system where there are no objective means of verifying their effectiveness. Why are we so eager to buy into myths, legends and puffs of smoke? Wing Chun does not have any decent fighters but it does have some excellent demonstrators of skill in carefully pre-planned and coached situations.

MMA provides us the (best and most morally acceptable) means to see what works and what fails at the outset. The question isn’t Wing Chun versus MMA, it is instead blind faith versus tangible results.

What’s MMA got to do with it?

I do get the idea behind sport-driven martial arts as far as training platforms.  The idea behind them, in my mind – as well as others I’m sure, is that for sports like boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo and BJJ  are always pressure testing.  Most of these mentioned sports even pressure test to the point of trying to put the other guy down.  I get that.  And if a person can excel with a high level of skill at one or more of these sports, I am confident that this person could lay out another bloke on the street.

Looking at Traditional Martial Arts, I think it’s safe to say that things have got a little watered down.  But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t effective.

This post topic got stirred up due to another topic on Wing Chun techniques.  The argument is that because we don’t see a Wing Chun technique in a professional arena  – it makes it useless (or less useful).

I propose that we (as Wing Chun Gung-Fu men and women) get down to the real matter at hand: does it work for ME?  Let’s keep looking at the professional arena to see what those high percentage moves are and incorporate those ideas into our own training – but let’s keep drilling our drills and then pressure test ourselves and let THIS be the platform for deciding whether something is worth keeping or discarding.

Pandeamonium

‘I’m into magic and I’m into myth,’ Marianne says, gesturing to the books that have by now fallen on the floor. Deborah picks one book up, a book of demonology, detailing nightmares and demon myths across five continents and fifty centuries.

‘Do you… believe… in things like this?’ she asks.

‘It’s not a question of believing, or of whether something is factual. Myths endure because they are true; what they tell us about ourselves is true, and sometimes myths were the way we instinctively understood these things before science and philosophy broke them down and explained them.’

(extract from Pandeamonium by Christopher Brookmyre)

Todays Training – Review

Body positioning for (MMA) striking

Drilling against partners

Let the fight paradigm, dictate what you train and how you train it

The training partner as the ‘focus pad’

Training striking by being out of range of the heavy hag and allowing the body to figure out how to compensate