I had a wide ranging discussion with Andrew from Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, and the podcast drops tomorrow. I’ll post a direct link as soon as I know it’s live. Here’s a teaser clip that addresses a confidence issue in martial arts. I think I got this from Iaian Abernethy’s podcast, but I’m not sure. Here’s the gold standard for technique – it’s not do I know it. If you can do a technique against a compliant partner, you are aware of the movements. You can do a technique when you can make it work against someone who doesn’t want you to make it work. There’s a feed – allow – resist continuum in training. For a novice, you should feed the opportunity to do the technique. If they never get to try to apply the movement, there’s no point. For an intermediate practitioner, you should allow it if they get the setup. To really know you can pull off a technique, you should do it against a resisting opponent in a free sparring / randori / live roll situation where your opponent is actively trying to beat you.
Combination 65, East Coast Edition
We’ve received duplicate / conflicting submissions for many combinations, but it seems to be really prevalent in the 60s for combinations. In many cases, it seems to be an East /West split. We recently posted a video of combination 65, but here’s an alternate take from another reputable source. This one (again) seems like a repurposed tiger technique, and references combinations in the 40s, but was pretty easy to follow.
Combination 73
We nicknamed this one ‘reverse hip toss’. It’s a really interesting contrast – it opens with perhaps the most unlikely strike I’ve encountered, a poison thumb to the biceps – and ends with a really interesting hip throw. We debated and workshopped this one quite a bit as the description included a reverse hip toss, but the footwork and setup didn’t match what was required for the classic reverse hip toss. We interpreted a hip toss of sorts that matched the footwork, positioning elements and setup descriptions, so we hope we’ve nailed it. If not, I’m sure some Grandmaster somewhere will be kind enough to send in a video correction. It was fun to do anyway.
