skribs
Grandmaster
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- #41
The post taeguk poomsae I've seen is literally just jumbled up karate kata sequences with some small variations. In some cases the applications carry in others less so.
But since your hellbent on working with them the thing you need to do is find Iain Abernethy's website and look for his oldest podcasts and books etc.
His old stuff dealt with the process of deriving applications and he's the most comprehensive source for that kind of info (And the only one I remember by name).
Essentially you discern applications by understanding a few basic rules that took lots of people years to work out between old books and interviews with even older karateka.
Once you have the rules applications will jump out at you and it's just for you to test them with ever increasing resistance and realism.
Once you've narrowed down the ones that work you figure out why they work and then you'll know everything you need to know to use them in a fight.
I'll take a look when I get home.
Third, try some things. Experiment. If the move is a knife hand block to a punch... have you partner punch with the other hand. What changes to you have to make to block that punch? Have him throw hooks, and upper cuts and over hand punches... Figure out how to make that technique work for all those. Have him grab your wrist with one hand then the other. Will this move escape the grip? Can you make it lock up the other guy? Have him grab from the front, from the back.... Now move closer to the other guy and do the move...
So I should have them throw every technique we know at me and see what sticks? What if the actual movement is different from the stylized movement? Just based on these variables, that's a lot of iterations. And that's assuming:
- I do the techniques correctly
- We think of every technique I might be countering
- We know that in order for this technique to work, I have to grab a certain way or target a particular weak point on my opponent
We then turn around and teach the kids how to prove the theory correct. But we're not expecting them to reinvent the wheel. I think the same thing applies here. There's a balance between relying on the wisdom of the people who came before you, and then being able to experiment on your own. But there's also no need for me to reinvent what's already been invented.
EDIT TO ADD: That's not to say I haven't found these applications. But more often I've found them by accident, or I've found them when someone's attacked me in a certain way and I've found out what works.
There hasn't been a "let me try all of these motions from the forms" moment, and there hasn't been a "let me try this motion, and you attack me every different way and we'll see what works." It's more been random luck that something that worked happened to resemble something from a form.
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