Martial Arts

Ki Bohn Soo

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Probably my favorite technique set in Kuk Sool is the first set: Ki Bohn Soo.

(You can turn down/off the sound if you wish… you’ll only lose the 70’s disco soundtrack).

While it’s a set learned at white belt, you have to remember the translation: Fundamental/Foundational Techniques. These 15 techniques are designed to teach basic principles: of body mechanics (how your opponent’s body does and doesn’t work), body positioning (where to place your body relative to your opponent), balance (keeping yours, disrupting your opponent’s). It also teaches you basics of how to move, and even basic gross motions that with repetition can just come to you when you need it. No they’re not necessarily techinques for street fighting, but knowing them well can help you out (when I do pressure/aliveness drills from a standing position, I find myself utilizing #9 quite often). And in theory, being the first set you learn they’ll be the motions that you do more than any other. This is what foundations are all about, and Ki Bohn Soo gives you that solid foundation.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, all the advanced cool flashy stuff in anything you do is nice, but if you don’t have fundamentals, the flash is worthless. I’d rather spend my time working to master fundamentals than doing really advanced and difficult but marginally useful stuff.

One thing that’s nice about this particular video is the man performing the techniques is SUH In Hyuk, founder of Kuk Sool Won. Point being, high level accomplished individual. I enjoy watching high level accomplished folks performing fundamentals because it helps you get better at the fundamentals. Watch this video now. Go practice, go to class and learn more. In a year, come back and watch the video again and I’m sure you’ll catch subtle things that you were unaware of before. Watch the video again in 5 years, and again you’ll catch subtle things that you missed before. And if this improves your fundamentals, if it strengthens your foundation, everything built on top of that will get stronger.

Ki Cho Hyung

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

For those not familiar with Kuk Sool, the first form you learn (at white belt) is called Ki Cho Hyung which is “Foundational Form”; it’s not an easy form, but one that lays the foundation for all that you will learn in studying Kuk Sool.

I like this video because here you have a high ranking Master, SUH Sung Jin (8th degree black belt), performing Ki Cho Hyung (first part of the video). While certainly the performance is stylized for demonstration purposes, there’s still much to learn from watching it. While it’s always neat to watch high level people perform high level things, there’s something educational about seeing high level people perform beginner things. No matter how far along we go in studying anything, in the end the fundamentals are what it’s all about and without them all the high level stuff really doesn’t matter.

Updated: Yea! Someone reposted THE video of KJN SUH Sung Jin performing Ki Cho Hyung.

Yes, it’s a bit slow, a little stylized, but it’s being demonstrated to show proper form and movement.

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting

/ hsoi

One of my favorite scenes in Bruce Lee’s film, Enter the Dragon:

While there’s no question it’s fun to talk about the hardware of martial arts (gun calibers, gun makes/models, swords, canes, staff, form/style, modern vs. traditional, etc.) in the end the key to any bit of self-defense is the software: your brain. There are priorities of survival:

  1. Awareness and preparedness
  2. Tactics
  3. Skill
  4. Equipment

Notice that equipment is the least important; it’s still important, just that there are more important things. As you go up the ladder, there’s a “force multiplier”; #4 gives you the least multiplier, #1 gives you the most – all towards your chances of survival. In fact, #1’s multiplier is so strong that it alone can zero out all the others. Take a class like Street and Vehicle Tactics from InSights Training Center.

Best way to win a fight? Don’t get into one. If you know there’s going to be a fight (gun fight, fist fight, whatever), don’t go into it. It’s often said, your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation. Bruce Lee demonstrates this perfectly in the above scene, fighting without fighting, taking care of the bully without throwing a punch or losing his temper.