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

 

 

Comedy Relief

Have you guys ever heard of Spanish Judo?

Judon’t know if I gotta knife.

Judon’t know if I gotta gun.

Judon’t know if I got any friends.

Judon’t have the skill to take me down.

The Unchained Ego – part 2

In Latin, the word ‘Persona’, is used to refer to the masks worn by stage actors. It can therefore be likened to self image, or more particularly the way that we actually project ourselves to society. Conversely, the ego can be described as the way that we would like to be perceived by people around us. It finds its balance somewhere between self image and narcissism. According to the Western mystic Alan Watts, the ego has; “no physical reality”. Everyday usage reveals a certain amount of stigma has attached to the notion of ego. For instance, it is not uncommon for people to refer to another individuals ‘ego’, as meaning something derogatory. Therefore, when the word ego is applied to another, is it rarely used in a favorable way. Perhaps this is why the follower of the Bahai faith, Abdu’l-Baha, refers to the ego as meaning something corrupt when he says “this lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan; the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside.” He also points us in the direction of the ego by indicating that is located internally and is therefore intimately connected to ourselves. That said, there seems to come a tipping point where the ego, if left unchained and unfettered, can begin to feel like an entity in and of itself. And there is no better place to see that rampant ego, than in the field of martial arts.

Ni Ten Ichi Ryu

Don’t Skip Your Workout

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/10/07/f-forbes.html

Fight Notes

Review of last night (training);

once your body positioning is set, the next KEY IS FOOTWORK

train how you fight – this applies to conditioning

you dictate the pace of the fight

if you are good at dictating the pace, then you control what your opponent does
reaction does not exist – anticipation does

the first few seconds of a fight are used to analyse opponents body position, draw inferences and keep distance – try not to enage until this is done

 

Fingerpaint

Applied Gung Fu

The Unchained Ego

Martial arts teach us valuable lessons regarding the ego, particularly, how it can interfere with an individual’s development within training. Whilst the body goes through the motions of training, the ego can cause interference patterns through, for example, negative self-talk, or in the case of an unchecked ego, the creation of a belief that you are better than you are. Either way, it leads to a skewed perception of reality. This becomes troubling, when we examine the nature of martial arts. At their root, martial arts should be interpreted as combative arts i.e., systems or lines which were constructed for self-protection and whose aim is to preserve the life of the martial artist. Preservation can be through such means as creating an opening for escape, but can also include incapacitating the opponent or aggressor. Should the ego be granted indulgence or allowed to skew the perception of reality, the outcome of combat will also be affected. Will a person who has a self-belief that outweighs his actual skill, approach a fight with the correct mind-set? Is he more likely to take miscalculated risks?

Components

The components required to be a good fighter are as follows:-

a) a technical skillset

b) conditioned as an athlete

c) a mind-set that facilitates fighting

These things must be understood separately and trained separately.

Once a level of success has been achieved with these components, the components must be merged.

Angry Young Men