KT:Techniques with Similar Movements

[Clark Kent]

Techniques with Similar Movements
By BJTipton - 02-25-2011 11:26 PM
Originally Posted at: KenpoTalk
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One thing I like about techniques is that there are endless ways to study them. Right now I really like to find techniques that have similar movements, but against different attacks.

I was practicing techniques when it occurred to me that Tackle Techniques (A) and Circles of Glass have a very similar beginning, but are against two totally different attacks.

A friend of mine had a nice training session on the wooden dummy when he realized that Guarding the Wall, Crossing Darts, and Snapping Twig all have similar first movements.

Crossing Talon, Sewing the Seeds, and Covering the Flame also have similar first movements.

Do you ever look at techniques this way? If you do, what have you found? What is your favorite way to look at techniques at the moment?


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For example:

Chapter One: The Infamous Chinese Sword


Volume One: Two Punches Instead of One?


Over the years of training in martial arts I have found that various systems of martial arts always have a rhyme or reason for the movement and/or concepts taught in its system especially amongst the self defense systems. In this manuscript you won’t find me teaching you how to do the technique, but you will find the concepts of how the given technique applies to the system of kenpo as a whole. I chose the Tracy System as the plateform for this book because there have been numerous books written other systems of kenpo, but none that explicitly target the many techniques that the Tracy system has to offer in appearance.


Chinese Sword is one of those techniques that when taught is given purely by its movement. It is a novice belt technique that in time should be covered again as an advance concept. As a simple technique it has tremendous value. Most of the yellow belt techniques learned are known for their familiar “supreme” chop to the neck that will supposedly end all attempts from the would be attacker that is attempting to subdue you. It also gives the student an introduction as to what the proper knowledge of anatomy can do if applied correctly, but there is a huge gapping hole in this process which is the student in many cases never revisits this technique let alone the material covered in this belt. Many times unless the student is getting his/her memory prepared for the review portion of a schools testing proceedings which require the student to perform various techniques to show name recognition as well as physical competency of the given rank they are testing for.


When a student initially learns Chinese Sword, you learn two variations characterized as A and B. The A version your attacker throws a right punch to be blocked by your right inward block while simutaneously stepping forward in a right leg forward horse stance (RHS) while holding your left hand up in a covering position in front of your face. Next without losing the opponents momentum your to redirect his energy away from you in a raking fashion to intentionally cause the attacker to lose his balance long enough to strike with the same right hand in a circular motion to the right side of the opponents neck. The attacker in all the perfect conditions will be rendered unconcious. The only problem with this is what happens if and when you miss your target. I say when you miss because in life your only garanteed a few things and one of them is that things will not always go how we plan them too no matter how much we train. So now we have this rediculous human being attacking us and our super chop to the neck didn’t work .....now what do I do.....ask him to stop because I missed. Of course not, your a kenpo master right and you have a million techniques you’ve practiced everyday and you can pull one out your hat at a moments notice because you walk around ready just for this specific attack right.....Wrong. The fact is that when you or anyone is attacked usually it happens when we least expect it and the situation excalates pretty quickly leaving us to use the bare concepts of the movement we have practiced the most combined with motor memory. So how do we improve our understanding of the concepts as well as add to our functional motor memory. These are terms I am sure you heard thrown around by instructors hear and there. It simply means that if I do the same motion over and over eventually it will become habit which improves the speed it can be done without thinking about it. Now, concepts are the overall meaning of what the given technique or actions achieves, for example if you strike to the groin to get him to bend over so you can knee him in the face, but next time you kick him in the groin so you can strike him in the neck. Get it!


(Insert Picture) - Showing tech with missed target or blocked target.


Ok so now we are in a position where our counter attack didn’t work what are the possible things this guy or gal could do realisticly. Well, I will tell you that the number one anwser is that he will throw another punch because he doesn’t know why the first one didn’t hit you, but here’s one more to seal the deal. Earlier I spoke of a B version that existed, yet because of the position we are hypotheticly in it would be a useless technique, but the concept shall prove to be worth the time we spent practicing it. When the attacker throws the second punch he no doubt is going for our head as most people do.


(Insert Picture) - Showing second (left) punch coming towards the head.


Example 1:


Looking at the relationship of his body to ours shows that we are inside the attackers centerline meaning that even when he decides to throw the second punch we have to use a technique that defends from within the centerline. Normally a typical instructor will tell you to make the technique work no matter what as I have been told millions to times, but to no avail I would still get punched in the head. In the following we are going to expose to you the many tools and concepts that if used correctly will turn the kenpo you learned into the kenpo that is tailored to your movement.


Since we are inside the opponents centerline we must realize what techniques we have learned through out the system that could aid us in resolving the current situation quickly as possible with minimal risk. Remember I said that Chinese Sword version B had great potential conceptually because it teaches us to strike to the neck from another angle which attacks the throat (Adams apple aka wind pipe). To crush the wind pipe is the end the attack and quite possibly his life under the right circumstances. When we use Chinese Sword version B we will also have to incorporate another technique to correctly put us in position to take advantage the openning to the opponents throat. If we travel all the to 1st Brown you will find the technique Fish Hook fits this position perfectly; the rising elbow, the left handed cover, and the motion from point of origin just like Chinese Sword version B circles up in the same counter clockwise motion as Fish Hook. The last thing we need to do is change our angle of attack by moving your body up the circle from the left foot being at 6 o’clock to 4:30 which puts in tighter position against the inside of the opponents right punch decreasing its ability to gain powerful momentum blocking his punch using your right tricep. Simultaneously using you right sword hand strike to the throat in the same manner you would perform Chinese Sword version B. So as a black belt we should practice your technique not only in the form you were taught, but also as if something went wrong, or if you missed your target, if it didn’t affect the opponent like you expected. Again it is fine if the technique goes as planned then there is no need to continue detroying the opponents body at that point. This should open up a new world for the already powerful martial art of kenpo you have spent so much time perfecting under the perfect scenarios.


Review: Chinese Sword with Fish Hook -- (Right round house punch followed by Left Punch)


A.) Step forward to the inside of the right punch using a hammering right inward block as you left hand covers. Using your right inward in a continuous motion rake the
opponents arm down toward 7:30.
B.) Immediately attempt to strike to the opponents neck by circling your right arm back towards him.
C.) As the opponent throws the left punch shift your left leg to 4:30 driving you right
elbow to the inside of the oppenents left arm.
D.) Strike with your right sword hand to the front of the opponents throat.
E.) Cover Out (optional due to your previous trainning)


(Insert Picture) - Showing Techniques Movement in Figures (A....etc.)

*Note: This movement is also useful for a straight right punch as long as the opponent is off to the left of
your centerline. If the opponent is to close to attempt the first sword hand to the neck drive you
right elbow to his face and continue the concept as described. Do not be afraid to interject the left
cover hand into the action as an eye strike etc as the concept carries down from latter techniques
such as 7 Swords.


Example 2:


Using the same concept of being inside the attackers centerline as he attempts multiple punches you will find many techniques fit the criteria for defending in this position. Lets take kenpo’s favorite technique 7 Swords and apply it here. If you notice the beginning movements are identical to Chinese Sword; may I say this is not coencidence. Starting from his first right punch we step in to make our initial inward block to the inside of his arm and in the same mannor we are going to rake his arm down because we again started with Chinese Sword as normal, but as we feel his right arm tug back away from us we suspect he’s going to throw a second punch which would naturally come from his left unless he is an ET (Alien) or something. To give ourselfves a moment of time we strike to his eyes with our left finger spears in an attempt to blind him and detur that left punch. Now most of the time a strike to the eyes would incompacitate an attacker because of the enormous involuntary effects that striking the eyes has on ones body. In this case for whatever reason, maybe we hit his forehead instead it didn’t blind him, yet it does give us the time to strike with a right sword hand or inverted punch to his solar plexus. Now this is when things get hairy because the opponents persistence on attacking us continues where as he throws his desperate left punch. Mentally you have to be thinking this guy is not going to quit so I better get out of here being his centerline right in front of him....MOVE!. Since his left punch is coming we move our left foot to 4:30 in a cross step (Chinese Hidden Foot) while raking across his eyes with our left palm up finger slice in an second attempt to blind him as our right open handed outward block strikes to the inside of the opponents left arm. Finally, we successfully blind him long enough to unwind from our cross step driving a right sword hand down across the back of his neck slicing through and reversing our motion back to his throat before covering out to a safe distance.


Review: Chinese Sword with 7 Swords -- (Right round house punch followed by Left Punch)


A.) Step forward to the inside of the right punch using a hammering right inward block as you left hand covers. Using your right inward in a continuous motion rake the
opponents arm down toward 7:30.
B.) Immediately attempt to strike to the opponents neck by circling your right arm back towards him.
C.) Pivot into a soft bow while striking to the opponents eyes with your left hand finger spears while simultaneously chambering your right sword hand/inverted fist to your
right hip.
D.) Pivot back into a your horse driving your right inverted strike to the opponents solar plexus as your left hand covers high.
E.) Cross step with you left foot back to 4:30 as you block with a right open handed parry to the inside of the opponents left punch.
F.) Simultaneosly rake across the opponents eyes with you left hand palm up as you cross step back to 4:30.
G.) Unwind striking down against the back of the opponents neck using your right sword hand only to reverse the motion striking back to the opponents throat.
H.) Cover Out (optional due to your previous trainning)


(Insert Picture) - Showing Techniques Movement in Figures (A....etc.)



Volume Two: How did I get tackled.....?


I know you thought the uncomfortable thought of Chinese Sword was over and it was solved because the attacker would only thow another punch, but sadly that is not the case because let us not forget there are other styles of martial arts out there plus the beloved MMA (Sigh !). Seriously though we must not forget that an attacker may resort to whatever he is comfortable with only until it doesn’t work then usually panic ensues and its a free for all that most of the time in my experience becomes a make shift tackle or attempt to pick you up. Again they aren’t going to back off becasue we blocked their punch which would be nice, but yet we’re stuck in the real world. So lets say the situation took off in a hurry, your opponent throw that wild right round house punch because he had been drinking to much and you not enough to agree with his none sense lol. You manange to block this punch in an attempt to execute Chinese Sword, but as your chop makes it to his neck he some what drops. What appears to be him dropping is really his initial attempt to tackle you at the waist....What Do You Do Now ? Well, again because of the over 600 techniques of the system you have been well prepared for this situation, just not in this order so taking the chains of the metaphorical “the technique ends here” thought process we are going to recognize our position. Remember our right hand was last at his neck from our sword hand strike and we are in a right leg forward horse stance. Now ask yourself where have I seen this before exactly as we are with this guy at our waist whether we put him there or whether he went on his own in efforts to gain an advantage. Correct it is 1st black Winding Elbows that has an exact resimblance. It is not a coincidence that they are similar because each technique is the what if situation of another, or the reverse, or the inversion, and or simply a rearrangment of what you have already learned. If your unfamiliar with Winding Elbows it begins exactly as the traditional Chinese Sword version A does continuing from where the sword hand to the neck ends. Once you completely penetrated the opponents neck, flip your right hand over palm up or down hooking the opponent down over your right thigh as you pivot into a right bow stance. Continue the clock wise motion of your left hand as it circles over the top of the opponents back driving the point of your elbow down into his spine while your right hand keeps him in position momentarily. As your left elbow strikes immediately circle your right hand counter clock wise over the opponent in the same manner striking to his spine again as your left hand goes into cover position while simultaneously returning to a right horse stance. In this scenario we see that even though we made contact with the attackers neck he didn’t collasp as we wanted but his reaction to attempt a tackle offered up great new targets to strike that we were already acustom to without trying to reinvent the wheel.


Review: Chinese Sword with Winding Elbows -- (Right round house punch followed by Tackle)


A.) Step forward to the inside of the right punch using a hammering right inward block
as you left hand covers. Using your right inward in a continuous motion rake the
opponents arm down toward 7:30.
B.) Immediately strike to the opponents neck by circling your right arm back towards
him.
C.) As he attempts to tackle by dropping his height keep in contact with his neck with the
right hand as you pivot into right front bow stance circle your left arm over the
opponents back striking with the point of the elbow to his spin.

D.) As your left elbow strikes immediately circle your right hand counter clock wise over
the opponent in the same manner striking to his spine again as your left hand goes
into cover position while simultaneously returning to a right horse stance.

E.) Cover Out (optional due to your previous trainning)


All comments are welcome as long as you can prove your point in a healthy fashion. No egos here only kenpo.