Wudang defense question

[Steel Accord]

I do a lot of writing that involves different martial arts styles, which I try to depict with at least some degree of accuracy. Being a writer and a student of the arts in real life, it is a subject that comes up again and again in my fiction.

So quick question. If someone trained in Wudang fist style, what would be their defense against someone going for a right hook?

 

[Flying Crane]

I think that is a very flawed way to look at it.

First, I don't thing there is a single "Wudang fist style". There are a number of systems from Wudang area.

Second, no good system says, "this" is how we defend against a type of attack. Once the word is out, their defenses would be useless. And it's just a very bad way to structure a curriculum and a methodology. Combat is fluid and chaotic and largely unpredictable, and how one deals with it needs to be flexible and cannot be nailed down to XYZ.

 

[CB Jones]

Interesting.

What kind of writing do you do?

I read a lot and you have peaked my interest.

 

[Steel Accord]

I think that is a very flawed way to look at it.

First, I don't thing there is a single "Wudang fist style". There are a number of systems from Wudang area.

Second, no good system says, "this" is how we defend against a type of attack. Once the word is out, their defenses would be useless. And it's just a very bad way to structure a curriculum and a methodology. Combat is fluid and chaotic and largely unpredictable, and how one deals with it needs to be flexible and cannot be nailed down to XYZ.

I thought I was going to get a response like that.
A ) I know there are a number of different systems under any umbrella term. Such was merely to direct the question to one such system that would fall under Wudang.

B ) I'm not an idiot. I am aware of the chaotic nature of uncontrolled environments in self-defense. Even still, someone who has trained under aikido all their life and someone who has trained under Krav Maga, are not going to respond to the same threat in the same way.

 

[CB Jones]

I think that is a very flawed way to look at it.

First, I don't thing there is a single "Wudang fist style". There are a number of systems from Wudang area.

Second, no good system says, "this" is how we defend against a type of attack. Once the word is out, their defenses would be useless. And it's just a very bad way to structure a curriculum and a methodology. Combat is fluid and chaotic and largely unpredictable, and how one deals with it needs to be flexible and cannot be nailed down to XYZ.

I think what he is asking is:

If someone swung at you describe some moves that you would use so that he can use them in his writings.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If someone trained in Wudang fist style, what would be their defense against someone going for a right hook?

The best way to answer your question is just to use "common sense". It doesn't matter which MA style that you may train, to deal with a hook, there are 2 major solution.

1. dodge it, or
2. block it.

 

[Steel Accord]

The best way to answer your question is just to use "common sense". It doesn't matter which MA style that you may train, to deal with a hook, there are 2 major solution.

1. dodge it, or
2. block it.

*sigh* Fair enough.

 

[Steel Accord]

Interesting.

What kind of writing do you do?

I read a lot and you have peaked my interest.

To answer your question before I go, sci-fi and fantasy, chiefly.

 

[CB Jones]

Lol.

Let's try this.

You are writing a book and on the book your character studies Wudang. You are writing a fight scene in which the character is attacked with a right hook.

Post a cool way of defending the hook and countering it in a Wudang manner.

 

[Steel Accord]

Lol.

Let's try this.

You are writing a book and on the book your character studies Wudang. You are writing a fight scene in which the character is attacked with a right hook.

Post a cool way of defending the hook and countering it in a Wudang manner.

That was the intent of the thread, ask the experts who study the system what they would do. And my response is met with apparent refutation of the statement "there are no stupid questions."

 

[Midnight-shadow]

That was the intent of the thread, ask the experts who study the system what they would do. And my response is met with apparent refutation of the statement "there are no stupid questions."

I'll be honest, finding someone who studies Wudang Fist techniques is very rare. There are only a few places outside of the Wudang Mountains area that actually teach it, so I doubt you will find anyone here who can give you any definitive answer to your questions. You might be stuck either browsing youtube or just using your imagination based on what you think Wudang Fist looks like.

Sorry we can't be more help to you.

Wudang is weird in that way, as it is one of the most well-known Chinese Martial Arts styles and yet hardly anyone actually practices it. Even those who know very little about Chinese Martial Arts will recognise the name, usually from films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

 

[Steel Accord]

I'll be honest, finding someone who studies Wudang Fist techniques is very rare. There are only a few places outside of the Wudang Mountains area that actually teach it, so I doubt you will find anyone here who can give you any definitive answer to your questions. You might be stuck either browsing youtube or just using your imagination based on what you think Wudang Fist looks like.

Sorry we can't be more help to you.

No not at all. I appreciate your response and direction to the best of your ability.

 

[Flying Crane]

Lol.

Let's try this.

You are writing a book and on the book your character studies Wudang. You are writing a fight scene in which the character is attacked with a right hook.

Post a cool way of defending the hook and countering it in a Wudang manner.

Ok, fair enough. But it's still probably not a good way to look at it.

Different people who each trained in a different system, may very well use the exact same physical combination of movements, in defending against an attack. In the Chinese methods, the specific combination is not what differentiates one system from another. Rather, much of it lies in the underlying principles used in powering the techniques, and the specific training methodologies used to develop skill with those principles. The principles can drive any technique, any combination. So the combo may be the same, but you might, if you know what to look for, be able to identify a different way of moving, in subtle ways, within that same combination, that reflects the principles and methods of a particular system.

Now, some systems may have a certain technique that they favor, and it comes to be identified, to a degree, with that system. But overall, it is really difficult, if not impossible, to say that a system would "typically" respond to a punch in a certain manner, with a certain kind of combination.

If the principles could be understood and described within some fantasy writing, that could be interesting. But it would take more than a very casual passing familiarity with the system.

I'm not trying to beat down the project. I am trying to offer a legitimate education on the topic.

 

[CB Jones]

I think your character might be better off with a karate background. Lol

 

[Headhunter]

As has been said there's no one way to block an attack. You don't seem to like that answer but it's the truth and anyway even with their techniques they may end up doing something totally different to their training that's how fighting works.

Asking martial artists about what would be cool for a book isn't a great idea since we're all mainly invested in realistic attacks and realism isn't the best for fiction

 

[Steel Accord]

As has been said there's no one way to block an attack.

As one who does this in real life as well. I'm well aware.

You don't seem to like that answer but it's the truth and anyway even with their techniques they may end up doing something totally different to their training that's how fighting works.

Yes, in a real fight, but in a choreographed situation I'm able to depict an ideal scenario for whatever combination of techniques the style teaches.

Asking martial artists about what would be cool for a book isn't a great idea since we're all mainly invested in realistic attacks and realism isn't the best for fiction

Again, also a martial artist but also a fiction writer. I know strict realism isn't best for fiction, especially fantasy and sci-fi that I write. But I also want to grant my work a verisimilitude that comes from my actual experience and that of others. Telling a story is all about weaving truth and fantasy together.

 

[Flying Crane]

As one who does this in real life as well. I'm well aware.



Yes, in a real fight, but in a choreographed situation I'm able to depict an ideal scenario for whatever combination of techniques the style teaches.



Again, also a martial artist but also a fiction writer. I know strict realism isn't best for fiction, especially fantasy and sci-fi that I write. But I also want to grant my work a verisimilitude that comes from my actual experience and that of others. Telling a story is all about weaving truth and fantasy together.

That's gotta be tough to write. Watch a Jackie Chan movie and take a ten second clip from a fight, and try to describe that in writing in a way that makes it exciting to the reader, reveals the character of a particular system, and furthers the plot of the book. Tough job there.

 

[Steel Accord]

That's gotta be tough to write. Watch a Jackie Chan movie and take a ten second clip from a fight, and try to describe that in writing in a way that makes it exciting to the reader, reveals the character of a particular system, and furthers the plot of the book. Tough job there.

Tough but not impossible. Not even unprecedented. There are entire genres in literature and film revolving around the martial arts. As you pointed out, they are used to do all three. The fight scene can be as much a dialogue between two characters revealing themselves to each other and the audience as much as a fun action sequence.

 

[clfsean]

As one who does this in real life as well. I'm well aware.



Yes, in a real fight, but in a choreographed situation I'm able to depict an ideal scenario for whatever combination of techniques the style teaches.



Again, also a martial artist but also a fiction writer. I know strict realism isn't best for fiction, especially fantasy and sci-fi that I write. But I also want to grant my work a verisimilitude that comes from my actual experience and that of others. Telling a story is all about weaving truth and fantasy together.

So what is your actual experience then? If you're asking about something you have little to no personal experience on how to handle a thing, how can you write about it sounding even a little versed in it? Wouldn't that be akin to living vicariously through others? Except with an added dimension of exaggerated & imagined response with the mind/body/spirit at being able to write about it with certitude & finality? I'm not knocking you, I'm just pointing out that even fiction when it starts reaching to non-fiction looses ground with people when they realize, they've been bamboozled.

Inquiring minds and all...

 

[Steel Accord]

So what is your actual experience then? If you're asking about something you have little to no personal experience on how to handle a thing, how can you write about it sounding even a little versed in it?

Six years of Karate, three of Kung Fu. I know how to respond to a right hook. I was asking how would someone of one of the Wudang disciplines would since my style is Northern Praying Mantis. I got my answer.

I now regret having asked.