More good stuff from Ollie Batts. Defensive use of cane:
Also check out Glen Doyle’s Shillelagh work:
To see more of Glen Doyle’s work, check out byyon’s YouTube channel.
Martial Arts
Oon Hak Hyung – Marlin Sims
Master Marlin Sims of the United Martial Science Federation (formerly of WKSA)
Compare to Master Sung Jin Suh’s interpretation. Both are valid, and knowing Master Sims, the power you see in the form is very much in line with his style of things.
Sonny Umpad: Kali & Escrima Master
Courtesy of Low Tech Combat, Sonny Umpad: Kali & Escrima Master:
Been meaning to post that for a while.
Aliveness Training
Catching upon blogs and news, tgace had a brief blurb about aliveness training. He links to this post at TDA Training that contains a video discussing “aliveness” training. Here’s the video:
I must admit I laughed at the use of chess to explain aliveness, because it makes a good point. The way a lot of martial arts are taught (traditional or modern, doesn’t matter — it’s not the art itself, it’s how the art is taught and trained) is that sort of static pattern memorization and following, and that’s not going to make you a better martial artist. There is a place for “dead” (to use the opposite term) training. You do need to learn basic movements, basic concepts. You do need a compliant partner so you can learn the basic movements, how the mechanics work, the subtle factors (e.g. “if the arm is angled this way it’s not going to work…. try it here, now try it there, see?”). There is certainly a place and requirement for dead training.
But it shouldn’t stop there.
Once you get the mechanics down, now you need to take it into alive training. It can be as simple as a your partner providing some resistence so you can really refine the mechanics from the dead training, or it can be a full-out freestyle sparring session. It’s an attempt to take the movements and concepts into actual application.
This is one reason I had a problem with how my Kuk Sool training was taught. It was all fancy dancing and compliant partners. The vast majority of the training was dead training. There might have been a night now and again where something alive happened, and I relished those classes. But the majority of emphasis both in the school (depending who was teaching; Dewain did like aliveness) and moreso the WKSA (witness the “Houston testing” sessions that were little more than memorization-regurgitation dance-offs) was dead training. I do recall before I had even heard the term “aliveness” training that I was seeking this sort of training because I realized that me doing a lock and throw and my partner just falling to the mat was not the way to do things. My partner should go to the mat because I took them down through proper technique application not because “step 5, I the partner fall down on the ground”. There were attempts to improve this in the school, but it just didn’t happen before I had had enough. Again tho, this isn’t necessarily about the art. While Kuk Sool may be taught that dead way as a majority, I know it is not the only way it’s taught. There are schools, both past and present, that certainly do teach in an alive way. It is not strictly the art, it’s the school, it’s the teachers, it’s the students, that ultimately determine how things go.
But that all said, is aliveness some holy grail?
Nope.
Those that preach aliveness seem to forget that people can and do practice martial arts for reasons other than sport or combat or self-defense. Some people just enjoy it as a healthy activity that stimulates both body and mind. I know some people just cannot stand Tai Chi because there’s no throwdown hardcore kombat, and true there may not be as much martial application in how Tai Chi is practiced today and thus probably doesn’t have much for aliveness training. But does that make it any less valid an activity for someone to participate in?
Aliveness is a worthwhile concept, but it must be kept in perspective. It is just another tool, another training aid, not a holy grail. Depending upon your goals, it may be a useful tool or it may be one worth discarding. Just be honest in evaluating the use of the tool against your goals.
Found A Cane
As you know, I’ve been looking for a cane. My requirements were pretty simple: hardwood, crook neck, simple design, something that could be used for walking but also fighting, that I could take it anywhere (e.g. onto an airplane). It was a bit frustrating that I couldn’t find a cane anywhere in town that fit these needs. This is understandable tho, as most people who need a cane need it for true assistance with walking thus needs can be filled in other ways, such as using aluminum canes or wood with non-crook necks. I admit I was “this close” to ordering something online if this one place didn’t pan out.
But it did.
Someone had suggested I try out a feed store, so I went to a local Tractor Supply Co.. They didn’t have any canes in stock (they said sometimes they get them, but they’re never ordered they just show up every so often). However, the gentlemen there said to try a place called Callahan’s. I stored that in my head.
Daugther and Wife have started taking horse riding lessons, and they need some boots. I asked Tom where in town I could find boots that would suit the need but wouldn’t cost much. Until Daugther stops growing I’m not going to invest tons of money (even cheap Chinese boots are still kinda expensive), and I’ll spend the money on Wife once she knows what she wants. Tom suggested Callahan’s. So OK, now I have a few reasons to go there.
So today we went and visited Callahan’s General Store. The website will tell you nothing about the place. But folks, this place is awesome. It is a general store, with a little of everything. Western clothing, boots, hats, housewares, lots of cast iron cookware, toys, hardware (i.e. nails, screws), plumbing, feed, vermin traps, horse tack, livestock management needs, Texas-sized belt buckles, housewares, knick-knacks, even chicks and ducklings and sometimes rabbits. It was amazing the breadth of things they offered.
Upon walking in one of the first things I saw? A rack of canes. 🙂 I dug through it. A lot of neat canes but only a few crook-neck ones. Of the ones in there, this is the one I chose:
The cane is made by Brazos Walking Sticks. Or at least, that was the tag attached to the cane. The thing is, the tag says it is this model, but it certainly isn’t that model. This twisted oak model is close, but it’s certainly not twisted nor finished like that. It’s probably classified as the natural hardwood crook neck cane. Either way, they’ve got a lot of really cool canes.
It feels a little long for me. I’ll work later tonight on sizing it.
It should be suitable for martial arts work. It is a little heavy, so swinging it for strikes is a little much but certainly managable. There’s a point in the crook that feels thinner than the rest. I’m not sure how well it will stand up to abuse as I feel some flex. Sure some flex is expected, but it does make me wonder. Also the opening of the crook is just wide enough to fit around my neck, so it’s a bit narrower than I’d like. Still, this is a good start to things. Plus I like the look. It has a lot of character.
We’ll see how it goes. If it breaks or winds up not being suitable for martial technique, then I’ll probably seek out a purpose-built cane, such as from Cane Masters.
As well, Callahan’s General Store is neat! We did find boots for Wife and Daugther, which aren’t ideal long-term but should suffice for a good long while. Also bought some “cookies” for the horses. Neat store.
My DIY Mook Jong
Call it a Mook Jong, Muk Jong, Muk Yan Jong, or just a wooden dummy, it’s an essential training tool of various martial arts, especially Wing Chun. I don’t study Wing Chun, but I do study a relative art, Jeet Kune Do. Furthermore, with my Filipino Martial Arts study, such a tool is handy.
You see, much of the empty hand martial arts study I do involves hands: using my hands, defending against my opponent’s hands. I may need to block, grab, strike, counter-attack, trap, move around their hands and body. This sort of work and practice is easy to do when you have a partner, but when I practice I home I don’t have such a luxury. Sure Wife and Kids humor me and are my uke now and again, but on the whole it’s not a tenable solution. I have longed for a way to have arms available when I practice (even back in my Kuk Sool days).
I do have a Century Wavemaster XXL. Great training tool. I wondered what I could do with it to make arms.
I found something called an Attach-mate, which straps onto the Wavemaster and provides the 3 arms of the mook jong. I’ve heard it’s pretty good, but it can break if struck too hard. Plus it’s expensive.
ProForce makes something called the Strong Arm, Strong Leg, and Strong Arm 2. That looks cool, but I’m not sure how durable it is in terms of taking a whack from some sticks. Plus, it’s expensive.
If you want to buy a proper wood mook jong, look at spending $1000 or more, and then you need a way to mount it and have the space for it.
There are some people making mook jong’s out of big PVC pipe, which is a lot less expensive than wooden ones but still costly and the space issue remains.
Then there’s stuff like this Hitman. Not sure how durable it is, but it’s pretty cool. And expensive.
Over on the Dog Brothers forum, there’s a thread with some additional links and discussion.
But upon seeing The Hillbilly Mook Jong, I got inspired.
I present to you, my DIY mook jong:
As you can see, it’s nothing special. I had a bamboo pole, which I cut in half to make 2 3-foot lengths. I used a little rope to attach the poles to the side of the Wavemaster, and viola. Low-cost mook jong. 🙂 I was actually looking for wiffle ball bats, but they’re amazingly difficult to find for some reason. I had the bamboo pole so eh, use that. I can’t say this is “no cost” since I did have to buy the Wavemaster and the rope, but certainly this didn’t incur the expense of any of the above mentioned options. If the bamboo breaks, no big deal to replace it. I tried some basic sinawali and gunting drills, some basic trapping and footwork. Worked like a charm. Sure it’s not a proper mook jong, but for my purposes it gives me what I need.
One trouble is the bamboo is hard and only gives so much. The back of my hand was getting sore after a lot of striking (yes, this is a good conditioning opportunity). Solution of course is a bit of padding. Keeping in the spirit of not wanting to spend any money:
I had an almost empty roll of Shop Towels, which fit over the bamboo and provides just enough padding so the back of my hand doesn’t get banged up yet there’s still some felt impact. I did have a new roll of towels that was of course very cushy, but was way too much padding. Plus the weight hung on the bamboo and caused too much shifting.
So yeah, it’s cheap, it’s far from sexy. But it works. It allows me to train. It cost me nothing out of pocket. Easy to use, easy to remove, easy to put back. If it breaks, easy to fix or replace. I can also whack the Wavemaster as I work. I can adjust lengths, heights, positioning. There’s just a lot I can do here.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go practice. 🙂
Blauer on Street Psychology
Tony Blauer discusses psychological aspects of preparedness:
- Golden Rules:
- Acceptance
- Get Challenged
- Don’t Stop Thinking
- Create A Directive
- Never Telegraph Preparedness
- Identify Your Natural Stances
- Identify Force Continuum (if possible)
- See Your Strategy With A Successful Resolution
- No Fear
- Stay Detached
- Closest Weapon/Closest Target
- Negotiate
For elaboration on these points, go read the article.
Tough Decision
Deer hunting seasons starts in a couple weekends. I’m all geared up for my first opening weekend.
Then I learn about an Edged Weapons Defense class that happens the Sunday of opening weekend.
I don’t know what to do.
Sit in a blind, in the cold, maybe in the rain, waiting… hoping….
Go do some cool martial arts stuff taught by Leslie Buck.
Hrm.
I’ll admit, I’m really drawn to taking the class. But opening weekend, the rut… I may not have enough free time otherwise if I skip opening weekend.
I thought about hunting Saturday morning and Saturday evening, then driving home and taking the class on Sunday. Not sure yet.
If only all decisions in life could be so tough. 😉
Getting Involved
Another good post from Matthew over at Ikigai, discussing another video that’s been going around. In short, some TV show was filming a prank and the prank backfired when the prankster/actor got a wicked kick to the face from a Good Samaritan. You can watch it below. You’ll see all you need to see in about the first 10 seconds of the video.
Speaking purely as a martial artist about the kick… awesome kick. 🙂
But what Matthew really wants to discuss is getting involved.
Part of me applauds him for his quick thinking and desire to help make the world a little more scum-free. It takes courage and conviction to step in and aid your fellow man. Furthermore, his technique selection was probably a good one – if he tried to tackle the guy, he ran the risk of getting stabbed or shot while tussling. If he tried to stand in the bad guy’s way non-violently he would have gotten bowled over or pushed aside.
I too want to applaud the guy. He heard something bad going down and wasn’t going to let bad things stand. Given what he knew about the situation at the time, he did the right thing.
Unfortunately, as we see in this video, quick acts of effective violence are sometimes misplaced. As it turns out, there was no theft occurring, and the man in the leather jacket was angry and loud because he was annoyed at the childish prank pulled on him. The striped-shirt-kicker made a big leap in judgment assuming that the man trying to escape was both a.) a perpetrator of crime, and b.) the actual bad guy in the situation (he might have been trying to escape a bad situation himself).
This is a very good point. Just because you see things unfold a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean that’s how things are. So you’re pulling up to a convenience store and you see someone running out in a panic saying they store has just been robbed. You would naturally assume the person saying this was a victim, or at least not the thief. But if they were a clever thief they may well have used that as a ruse to distract you so they could get away. Things may not always be what they seem.
Furthermore, the kicker took the law into his own hands and introduced violence into a non-violent situation. In a crowded mall like that, it is very possible to grab the attention of nearby security and alert the authorities to a crime in progress. In most large shopping centers there is both mall security and real law enforcement officials nearby.
I take odds with this. Where was the nearby security guard? Watch the video. Much time passes and at least I would think if there was a security guard around they would have gotten involved in the scene… someone lying on the ground, people huddled around minding them… wouldn’t a security guard get involved? I never saw any security guard in the scene. Meantime, a potential scumbag gets away. It’s just like the old saying: when seconds count, police are only minutes away!
Nevertheless, the discussion is a valid one: should you get involved?
In this case, it was just a kick. How about people who carry concealed handguns? There’s greater potential for lethality there. The rule generally is that you should only draw your gun if you or someone else’s life is in danger. You use the gun to defend life, not to stop a criminal and/or hold them at bay. In a case like this, no one’s life was in danger so no gun should come out. If the gun did come out, it greatly changes the situation for all involved parties.
Me, I’m torn on getting involved. My heart says yes, get involved. Bad things should not be allowed to stand, even stupid prank shows that pull crap like this (IMHO, they reaped what they sowed here). My head knows that there’s great risk for legal and other trouble if I did get involved. Is it worth it? It’s hard to say. To me, it all depends upon the circumstance and situation, and that I can’t know until I’m there and in it. One good question to ask yourself is: is it worth dying for?
I don’t feel good people should be or feel crippled to help those in need, because the bad guys certainly feel no restrictions. It’s sad that our society is moving in a direction that encumbers good people and makes them have to think twice about doing the right and good thing.
Ki Cho Hyung – Old School
Ki Cho Hyung is the foundational form learned in Kuk Sool. It is learned at the white belt level. It is not an easy form, it is not a beginner form. It is a foundational form. All things in Kuk Sool build upon it. It remains one of my favorite forms.
I wrote an article about Ki Cho Hyung and included this video:
Ki Cho Hyung is being performed by Master Sung Jin Suh (oldest son of founder/Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh, and heir apparent to the throne). It’s very slow and stylized, to point out the ideal technique and performance of the form.
Compare now to this performance of the form:
That performance was done by In Hyuk Suh, and I believe is the original version of Ki Cho Hyung. Anyone that says Kuk Sool hasn’t changed or evolved doesn’t know their history.
While the form remains fundamentally the same, some differences are:
- Hand motion and placement in part 1 (e.g. where’s the initial block, cover, punch?)
- Part 4’s slightly different hand motions in the middle section.
- Where is part 5?
- I was told that part 5 was a later addition. Furthermore, I was told the only “developed” part of part 5 was the first half of it. Ever notice that the second half of part 5 is just like part 4? Well, they apparently needed a way to finish out and so there we go… just add that in so there’s some sort of “finish” to that part.
- Hand movements and motions are much more flowery (e.g. end of part 1, all of part 6… well, part 5 in the video).
What other subtle differences can you pick up?
Stuff From Hsoi 