Learn to Block Effectively

How To Improve Your Martial Art Fighting Skills - The 12 Basic Principles

I put together this in-depth document about the 12 Basic Fighting Principles for those of you in the Kung Fu class that requested it. It is available for download on Scribd. Thank you all for your support and dedication to learning! - Master Brown

How To Improve Your Martial Art Fighting Skills - The 12 Basic Principles

PS - please rate it if you download it so other people can get an idea how you like it. Thanks!

Xiao Da - The Truth on Effective Strike

Effective Strike (Xiao Da), is the Kung Fu principle of striking to vital targets, or targets that have more destructive impact than other areas of the body.  This is a common concept in many styles of martial arts.  I recall the first time I showed up for Tae Kwon Do/Hapkido class back in 1991, my teacher said - "want to kill a man, hit here, here, here, or here."  I was stunned.

I thought to myself - "WOW!  Cool!!!"  Followed by later thinking - "wait...why would you tell someone that in their first class?  Isn't that dangerous information to hand out to strangers?  After all even US Army Basic Training Hand to Hand Combat didn't teach us that!".  I chalked it up to him just being half psychopath since he spent most of his life training elite South Korean Special Forces Soldiers in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

It was some time later in my martial arts career that I realized why this information wasn't so dangerous after all.  The reason is simple. If you don't train it, you won't use it.  Effective Strike is a skill like any other. It needs extensive practice and proper training in order to be effective in real combat, or in other words - to manifest itself under stress.  In said Tae Kwon Do class, we never used finger strikes, throat chops, or did any sort of training that incorporated strikes to these vital areas; we simply kicked, punched (less), blocked, and smashed our shins and forearms on one another till bruised an battered.

"Knowledge doesn't make you a badass. Training makes you a badass."

Brachial Stun

Train Like You Fight, Fight Like You Train
 
I like to use the terminology - train like you fight, fight like you train.  In our training, the constant focus of hitting to Effective Strike targets is crucial to making this habitual.  There is no time to think in a fight. One must react and react appropriately; which is the whole objective of proper training.

So when should you learn this skill? Ideally the sooner the better, especially for smaller fighters.  Smaller fighters lack the power that a larger or heavier opponent can produce, so this skill is crucial for us. Being able to hit someone in a targeted area means that your strikes pack more bang for the buck.

With that said, one needs to learn how to properly punch first, before focusing on Effective Strike. Trying to perform Xiao Da from Day One, gives the brain too much to focus on at one time.  A beginner should be more concerned with proper striking, blocking, guard principle, and defense first. 
Once properly introduced, aim for these targets with every strike in your arsenal.

After you have learned it, you can then veer off to other non-effective targets that may lure or distract your opponent; creating what we call Open Doors to the effective targets we want.  This is necessary because an opponent with a good defense will 'require' you to 'open doors' in order to perform Effective Strike.

Ear Claw

How to train Effective Strike
This varies based on whether or not you have a training partner.  I did not have a partner to use when I wanted to integrate this into my fighting so I took colored price stickers used in yard sales, and I plastered them on my heavy bag in the general target areas on the human body.  I then practiced various combinations striking to these targets.  To test them, I sparred with other people.

For those with a partner I recommend a great technique called 'Walk the Body' passed down to me from Master Puyot. Walk the Body has one person standing still (in their fighting stance is fine) while the other practices slow and very low power combinations to targets on their partners body. As you grow comfortable with the targets, the complexity increases by having your partner put their hands up in a defensive fighting position. Following that, you need combinations that the partner blocks so you can open doors to the targets you wish to hit using Effective Strike.

Note: this is not a fast paced exercise and requires patience, cooperation, and hours of practice to become second nature. It challenges your critical thinking skills once you add the complexity of combinations versus defense. Done properly however these strikes will become automatic and ingrained in your skill set.

Knee Break

DIM MAK - The fallacy of pressure point based combat.
Early in my training I met people, and still do from time to time, that have little knowledge of martial arts, but they talk about Dim Mak (pressure point striking) from books they've read, or videos they've watched, or even some Hollywood movie.

You can find videos online of teachers knocking out students at demonstrations to show Dim Mak, and all the supposed power one can have over other human beings by hitting them in these targets. People are fascinated by this and very enthusiastic. I can understand why...the idea of knocking out someone else with such ease! The mystery is alluring. Unfortunately, while some of these are legitimate strikes to real targets, some are incredibly finite and difficult to get to.

Kidney Strike

In a previous article, Size Matters - In Chin Na I discuss 'gross' versus 'fine' motor function in combat - high precision striking is less reliable when we are under stress, AND when our opponent is trying to hit us back. That's the live, active, and moving opponent that is also trying to take YOUR head off component.

This complicates things and makes it much more difficult to perform a finite strike to a small target area. So unless you're Luke Skywalker firing your torpedo at the Death Star, give up on the idea. In addition, a human being under the affects of adrenaline in combat (never mind the affects of drugs), is more resilient to these strikes. It really sucks when you're in the thick of it and your silver bullet doesn't really kill the werewolf!

This is why it is better to learn multiple targets, strike in combinations that you would normally throw, and cover your bases in case you miss the first target.  Meaning, you missed but it still hurts them like hell!!

Solar Plexus

Head Targets

• Throat - Crush the larynx making it difficult to impossible for opponent to breathe
• Side of Neck (Brachial Stun) - Knock out blow, or excrutiating pain at the least
• Back of Neck (Occipital Lobe) - Knock out blow
• Jaw - Break or Dislocation. Extreme pain.
• Nose - Pain. Bleeding. Watery Eyes causing reduced vision.
• Eyes - Loss of sight. Extreme pain.
• Ears - Tear them off for extreme pain.
• Temple - Knock out blow. Extreme pain. Disorientation.

Body Targets

• Shin - Extreme pain and discomfort.
• Knee - Break/Dislocation. Extreme pain. Loss of Mobility.
• Outer Thigh - A solid kick to this target can cripple a fighter and make them think twice about closing distance.
• Inner Thigh (Femoral Nerve) - Identical to the Outer Thigh, this target causes excruciating pain.
• Groin - Extreme pain and discomfort. Potentially cripple opponent.
• Bladder - Pain and discomfort. Possible bladder release. (you figure it out)
• Rib - Break. Extreme pain and discomfort. Possible breathing effects.
• Kidney - Potential knock out as well as extreme pain.
• Liver - Knock out blow. Extreme pain/discomfort.
• Stomach - Knock out blow. Extreme pain/discomfort.
• Solar Plexus - High concentration of nerves. Also the meeting point of the heart, liver.
• Collar Bone - Break. Extreme pain. Loss of use of arm on that side. Harder target to hit and not effective on everyone. 

Temple Strike

Form vs Function - The Less is More Principle

Chaos Reigns Supreme.

50 Forms.  That's the number of kung fu forms I had accumulated after 7 years of training.  This was a combination of empty hand and weapon forms.  Some may think this is a great achievement.  I found it disparaging and detrimental to my martial arts training.

For those unfamiliar with martial arts - forms are choreographed sequences of martial movements, an ancient form of Shadow Boxing if you will.  In Karate they are call 'Kata', in Kung Fu they are called 'Tao Lu'.  Historically forms were used as a database to store your martial arts techniques; a way to practice when you did not have a partner or teacher available to train with.

A few highlights of why forms were used - 1. Most people at the time were illiterate. This provided a way to transfer knowledge.  2. Pen and Paper for drawing was not readily available to the average person, who would have no use for such anyway (being illiterate).  3. A vessel of knowledge that could be passed down through the ages from one person to the next. 4. As previously mentioned, a storehouse used for personal training; a way to practice your moves.

All this sounds good in premise, so where did it go wrong?  It went wrong when function became absent from forms.  In my case, after 7 years of training I had no practical knowledge of Kung Fu applications other than joint locking, which I trained as a separate component.  I had no idea what the moves inside my forms were designed to do.  Not only that, I could barely keep 20 forms fresh in my head without having to run back to videos.  I had to make videos of myself doing those forms so I could keep records of what I had learned and not forget.

As far as handling myself in a fight after all this training?  Being honest about it, I would say I could have handled myself against the average joe, but against a knowledgeable trained fighter?  No chance.  This was upsetting too me.  Especially after all the hard work and countless hours of training I had done.  Why wasn't I getting better at fighting?  I did spar quite frequently...

Whenever we would spar, there was no sign of any applications from the forms being translated to our fighting.  I began to question everything, and to look deeper into my art and myself.  Afterall, I had studied Tae Kwon Do early on, and I sought out Kung Fu 'specifically' so I could be a badass martial arts fighter.  That wasn't happening.

The problem with collecting

The more of them I learned, the worse I actually became at martial arts, and forms.  Even though my mistakes were aplenty in my early days of training, I still felt that my abilities and precision with my forms was markedly better at 1.5 to 2 years of training (when I had less forms), than it was even when I won two gold medals and a silver at Nationals.  I felt scattered, all over the map, and certainly unable to allocate enough time and focus on any one thing to get good at it.  Even looking back at the videos I have from the Nationals Qualifiers, I see many flaws and mistakes.  Things that could easily be fixed with focus and the right guidance.  Winning doesn't mean we were good, it just means we were better than our competition.

Less is More!!!

In my frustration years ago, I began to do lots of research.  After looking through the annals of history from various styles, I recognized a pattern - each style had zero, or a limited numbers of forms.  Nowhere did I see 30 forms, 50 forms, and certainly not 125 forms which some boast about in their curricula.  Instead I found this at their roots - Ba Gua: 1 form; Tai Chi: no forms; Eagle Claw: 3 forms; Praying Mantis: 2 maybe 3 forms depending on sources; Xing Yi: no forms, Hung Gar: 1 form.

This was a significant revelation to me.  I began to recognize the flaw in my training practices.  Immediately I started throwing away forms I didn't want; show forms, acrobatic forms, and anything that seemed too counter or conflicting to the forms I decided to keep.  I also began researching the styles of kung fu that were of most interest to me.  I began to PURGE.

Out of the Ashes

Eventually I had to narrow it down to Praying Mantis (my original Kung Fu style) and Tai Chi.  I only kept Tai Chi because the two were so similar to one another in principles and motion, that I was able to focus on both.  Following this pruning of the 'tree of knowledge', I sought out experts in those prospective styles to fill in the gaps created by my years of misspent training.  That previous training served me well in the long run, but I could not help but feel discouraged and somewhat angry about all the time I had spent chasing things I thought were going to make me better but didn't.  I felt like Gollum chasing the 'shiny precious' down every crevasse imaginable.

I eventually found people with the knowledge and know how I sought.  Those that showed me how to do what I enjoy most - breaking things apart and figuring out how they work.  With this knowledge I have been able to reconnect the past to the present and have a new found appreciation for the forms I have kept, and the depth of knowledge that they often hold.

Forms are often that library of techniques, and some are meant strictly for training and conditioning, but some of them are full of high level techniques.  Things that break the rules in basic fighting.  Things that, if one doesn't have a good foundation for fighting, they will get punished trying to pull off the moves in the form when they fight.  The practical has to exist with the theoretical.

How do techniques get lost?

I like to use this analogy when talking about the problem with 'forms' and no 'function':  If you take a string of 10 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu moves that you would apply based on your attacks, defense, and the opponent countering, then remove your partner, you have a form.  A BJJ form, or kata.  If I taught that form to a student but did not show the application, being particular about every detail, it would still get messed up.

Even though I was ensuring they were handed something that would work if needed, two things would result:  1.  They would be unable to use it for real; because they never practiced with a partner, and 2. After I taught them and was no longer watching over them, they would invariably change something through forgetfulness, laziness, or just a plain old desire to do a move different than the way it was taught.

If that change takes place, there is no recourse for the change because the move doesn't do anything other than pass through the air.  It means nothing.  It is martial dance.  Now let's say they teach it to someone else...then what happens?  The fighting application is lost; possibly for good if no one else exists that is carrying it on.  Lost in one generation, that's all it takes.

Without function, a form is just an empty shell subject to the flaw of human transmission.  So ultimately, form should match function, and function should be realistic and achievable in full speed all out combat, otherwise we have nothing but a ghost of the past to practice and share.

I've had people ask in Tai Chi - "What do I do once I am done the form?"  "What do I learn next?"  My response: "Get better at it."  To know something in and out, you have to practice it.  To be proficient at it, one must do it over and over and over again.  Only then can you become a Master of your art.  Adding more is actually less, and masks the truth and higher levels from our eyes.

So how many forms is the right number?

How many applications do you need in your style (assuming your forms are your library of techniques)?  How many do you need in a 'forms' format?  How many forms can you remember or practice at one time?  What is the purpose of you learning forms?  Fighting application, or forms competition?  These all dictate the answer but ultimately the answer is the same - only a few.

If you're using them for the applications, you don't want a ton of them if the form is long enough to comprise the fighting arts you teach (decent ones have 35 moves or so).  If you're competing in forms, you need to become as proficient as possible at the forms you are competing with so you shouldn't be focused on too many at one time.  Example: when I went to the Nationals Qualifiers in Hershey, PA, I had 3 forms I was focused on.  In retrospect, I felt I did better there than I did at the Nationals a few months later, where I had decided to try and compete with five forms instead of three.

Myself, I prefer a training set or two, and 1 hand form for the style I am trying to fight with.  One weapon form for each weapon I am going to use.  In conjunction with their fundamental fighting skills, I teach 2 basic forms to start (1 short, and 1 long), to prep people for learning the more complex 'fighting form'.  The intricate movements found in a style such as Mantis can be difficult to learn in the air for beginners.  The basic forms also provide them with something to compete with if that is their interest.

Ultimately it is up to the individual or the teacher of the system to decide what is correct for themselves and their students, this is based on my experiences and observations over the years.  Good luck and Good Skill!

--
Randy Brown
Master Instructor/Owner

Plum Blossom Fitness Martial Arts
'Strength through Adversity.'
222 Great Rd.
Littleton, MA 01460
978-486-3095
http://www.PlumBlossomFitnessMartialArts.com

Martial Arts in a Bottle. Why do we need MMA?

"Martial Arts Systems are living breathing entities. It is the Martial Artists that stop evolving."

There's a huge industry popping up around the term Mixed Martial Arts or MMA.  It fascinates me that this has happened but it is completely understandable why.  For years, decades, generations, Traditional Martial Arts systems have failed.  Failed to evolve.  All too often do we cling to the past and hang on to outdated or irrelevant material for the sake of preserving or honoring someone that came before us.  So quick are we to idolize our teachers and subjugate ourselves, that we forget it is our responsibility to evolve martial arts to a higher level.

To say someone does Muay Thai, Boxing, and BJJ, and to call it Mixed Martial Arts, begs the question - why not take the principles you like from Boxing, and the ground fighting from BJJ, and evolve your art of Muay Thai? 

Wei Xiao Tang, Grand Master and founder of 8 Step Praying Mantis Kung Fu, said before his death - "It's  incomplete (his system), change it."  What happened was quite the opposite.  In reverence for their master, most went on to freeze the system in time, preserving the past as their great master left it.

Many styles of Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and on and on, have done the same thing.  Some styles have done their job - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was born from Japanese Jiu Jitsu and evolved to another level on the ground.  Russian Sambo is an amalgamation of effective techniques from any style they can find.

The original Kempo was developed by a group of guys that went to a wide variety of martial arts schools and brought back the techniques to test them in bar fights.  What didn't work, they got rid of.  A streamlined system that offered a small number of techniques that could be used against two basic types of hand strikes, as well as a knife, and club attacks.

BJJ came on the scene in a blaze of fire.  Taking all comers from any style of fighting and decimating them for years.  Now what is happening?  The art is transforming for the tournament circuit and losing much of it's teeth.  More and more rules are taking the focus away from what can really destroy someone, to what works on the mat or in the cage.  Is the art still effective?  For now.

The Traditional Arts went through the same process in the early 70's with the introduction of Point Sparring.  A type of fighting that destroyed the practical fighting applications of most art forms, to keep things safer for two fighters testing their skills.  Traditional schools began training people to win point matches, rather than being able to actually fight.  The end result?  Martial Artists that could play tag, but not fight.

BJJ schools are now entering the same phase.  Many schools from my understanding do not even teach the self-defense aspects of the art, and strictly focus on tournament fighting.  I hardly visit every school in the nation, but the trends are clear in the industry, magazines, blogs, etc.

Back to the point of this article - MMA.  What is it?  'Mixed' Martial Arts?  Why?  Shouldn't martial arts be evolving and relevant?  Incorporating the best techniques they can find in order to win in battle?  Why does one need to mix them up?  Traditional Jiu Jitsu had focus on stand up grappling, and ground techniques with very limited striking (due to it being the grappling art for Samurai that dropped their swords in combat), but it was still called Jiu Jitsu.  Samurai wore armor so punching and kicking was not relevant, why not evolve the style to include striking and kicking from arts that have those skills?

Kung Fu styles were comprised of Striking, Kicking, Locking, and Throwing, yet they were called Praying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Hung Gar, Tai Chi, Long Fist, etc., etc., etc. and not dissected into something called MMA.  And yet they were MMA.

The MMA thing is born of a necessity.  A necessity to return evolution to hand-to-hand combat.  It is filling a void in what we as the stewards of Traditional Arts are failing to do - evolve.  Praying Mantis Kung Fu (the primary style I teach and train in) is after all a hybrid of 18 different styles, according to legend.  Someone threw out a lot of stuff, and combined the good stuff to create Mantis Boxing.  Yet for most, Mantis Boxing lies in ruin, with applications that will never work against a modern fighter, or a full speed, full power, or larger attacker.  Why?

Why does an Eagle Claw practioner, a style born from Elephant Style Wrestling (Mongolian Wrestling), and later combined with other styles to become Eagle Claw, not practice to defend against a Japanese Judo artist (another throwing art)?  Why do they instead focus on cartwheels, flips, and splits to impress people in a show, rather than carry the primary heritage of their art?

Those are topics for a separate article in itself, or you can read Brian Kennedy's book Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals for good insights as to why.  But the combination of their root systems to form those styles is a significant point here.

The same type of legends are passed down for many other styles as well to include Tai Ji Quan.  Chen Tai Chi was created by the Chen family, by taking other styles and keeping the techniques they liked.  One of their protege's - Yang Lu Chan, founder of Yang Style Tai Chi, created his style by combining Chen with other styles he had trained before.  Time and time again, the history of martial arts has shown that this is how styles were created, styles were destroyed, and styles evolved.

Bruce Lee's failure...
That's right, his failure.  Bruce Lee was a phenomenal martial artist to be sure.  He was a hard worker and went above and beyond what most are willing to do to train.  How good of a fighter was he?  I don't know, but he was one hell of a movie martial artist, and quite the philosopher.  His failure however, was in thinking he needed to 'create' another style, or as he put it, "a style of no styles".

Bruce found limitations in his primary art Wing Chun.  Wing Chun lacked a high degree of kicks, failed to shut down certain types of attacks, and lacked the ability to generate power in strikes similar to boxing or other traditional arts.  As a matter of fact, if you watch Donnie Yen in the excellent movie Ip Man (still a movie but a great depiction of the art), about Bruce's teacher, you will see an accurate representation of Wing Chun's use in combat.  A thousand punches on a body versus a few powerful well placed strikes.

Bruce went outside of Wing Chun seeking answers, and to evolve.  He learned kicking from Chuck Norris, studied other styles of Kung Fu, I believe some Western Boxing(?).  Picking up techniques from other various teachers and sources along his journey.  Doing what needed to be done for himself as a martial artist and teacher.  In the end, he made a classic error in judgement.  Rather than creating his Jeet Kune Do, why didn't he do what we should all be doing?  Evolving the arts we practice rather than feeling we need to do one of two things - a) adhere to the past in a draconian fashion, or b) create a completely new style and/or abandon our traditional arts and the positives they have to offer.

Why didn't Bruce fix Wing Chun?  I don't have an answer for that.  Perhaps it was for the same reason we are reticent to change our styles, out of respect and reverence for our teachers.  The point is, we are too quick to abandon what we have, for something with a new name/title, or to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that our styles are invincible, or too deadly for cages, rings, mats, and test fighting.

Who are we serving by preserving?
Why do we teach in a way that allows a martial artist that has studied for 2 or 3 years, to be destroyed by someone with 6 months boxing experience if they were to get in a fight?  Why do we see the effectiveness of an art like BJJ, and pretend that it doesn't exist, or that we'll magically stay standing in a fight with them?  Even though we haven't trained at all in the ways to shut down their most basic attacks?

This is why a term such as Mixed Martial Arts exists today.  We created it.