This fellow is an old-school karate guy in the true sense of the
meaning. He’s about a dozen years older than me and was probably churning out
kicks and punches when I was still a toddler. On the other hand he probably
hasn’t trained since about the time I began getting serious about this stuff,
which would be, oh, around 35 years ago (yikes!) On the one hand I give him
credit for knowing a fair amount, but then I see his sticking points, where
half-remembered techniques of yesteryear freeze him up in the moment. He’s a
physically powerful guy; the challenge is to keep him focused in the moment.
Anyway, we were analyzing the cross block,
which is where we deflect an attack to our left side, right side forward, with
our weapon or lead hand angled downward and the check hand crossed underneath.
From there, as the check hand controls the opponent’s arm we were doing a
raking downward backfist (or chop) to the bicep (as opposed to the neck) and
then a short straight punch to the solar plexus. One variation of a finish from
there was to close in and trap the head with the left while delivering a smash
with the right elbow. It’s a nice, short explosive combination but he was
over-thinking it and freezing up. I was trying to get him to relax and see how
the moves flow from one position to the next logical available target.
It was at this point that I came up with a new
analogy. I asked if the guy did home repair and if he had a toolbox, to both of
which he answered affirmatively, so I surmised that he probably knows the
difference between a hammer, screwdriver and pliers. Again hearing
confirmation, I then said that he probably would not be confused as to which
he’d need for any particular task, to which he also agreed. Here I drew the
analogy, calling the bicep strike a hammer, the short punch a screwdriver, and
the head smash pliers. He immediately got the message.
I then asked if philips head screwdrivers were
better than slot head screwdrivers, making the point that neither is better,
but each is the proper tool for a particular job. So it is with punches. A
twist punch is neither better nor worse than a straight punch; each has
suitable applications though there can be overlap in choice.
Since he got this too, I then described the
technique as a work project, where different tools might be needed along
various stages of the process. Rather than pre-determining what tools he might
need at any moment, I suggested that he dip into the toolbox at any point to
get the one needed right then.
Sometimes martial arts seem such a mysterious
and confusing whirlwind. Usually that’s because the vision is too tightly
focused and cannot see the forest for the trees. I had already described
applications of several punches, each of which basically used the elbow to
create a defense against a counter while attacking. You may recognize this as
the JKD principle of an intercepting fist. By seeing them as similar, not
unlike a slot or philips screwdriver, it becomes easier to focus on the main
idea of hitting the target while simply integrating the angle of the arm for
protection.
In this case using the toolbox analogy brought
some clarity to seeing options. With the three basic tools of hammer,
screwdriver and pliers we are either smashing, drilling or squishing a target.
The most important thing is to see the “what” while being flexible and adaptive
about the “how.” I constantly reinforce the mindset of being “target oriented”
- see the target, hit the target. How you do it is a variable, and training
should teach us how to use our tools and why they fit certain situations.
Correctly understood, this should lead to efficiency because one learns to
strike quickly with any opportunity rather than wasting time and motion trying
to find some position that might distant or unavailable. Again using JKD
philosophy, it’s using the most direct weapon to the closest target.
It is said that speed cannot be coached.
However there is raw linear speed and then there is adaptive speed, which
includes the mental triggers that initiate timing and control motion. Watch a
world-class sprinter sometime. Everything propels him forward towards his goal.
The arms pump straight ahead and back; rocking them side-to-side is less
efficient and unbalanced and will cost the runner time in races that are
measured to 1/1000 of a second. So if
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