# trapping ideas



## yin_yang75 (Feb 7, 2003)

Locking for suggestions please. 

I use the Muk and do all the energy drills I can in class but I WANT More. I love trapping but it's hard to do by your self.

Besides the dummy, I'm stuck. I want a warm body. but there is nobody to drill with. The dummmy is good for technique but I want counters to counter.

So at this point I'm looking for new drills, techniques, etc to advance my trapping. All sugestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Byron


----------



## sweeper (Feb 7, 2003)

well I'm a relativly new student so I don't have much experience in anything  But As I understand it "trapping" as it is practiced is realy more sensitivity work, in that regard you realy need a person in front of you so there is movement and energy to feal, it's also important to try to practice it under stress, like in sparring or 2 on one or something like that.


----------



## pknox (Mar 7, 2003)

Here's something I've tried that may or may not work for you...

Take one kali stick, and using duct tape, secure it to a heavy bag so that it is perpendicular (the stick should be sticking out, with the butt end facing you).  Place it at roughly your shoulder level.

The stick simulates an opponent's outstretched arm.  The difference between it and the mook jong is that it moves.  If you trap on one side, and then come around to trap the other, you have to be careful the stick does not clock you in the side of the head, or that it has not moved out of your range.  To me, that gives it more of a real-world feel than a stationary target.

Let's say you're practicing the 4 gates for example -- when you trap on the inside of the "arm", it moves, changing the opponent's angle.  When you go to hit the opponent in his "face"with your free hand, you may find that your target has moved.  This often happens in real life as well.

When you're tired of this, add a second "arm" to the bag on the other side.  I've never gotten past that, but I guess you could put "legs" on it eventually as well.

Incidentally, it can also be used to practice slipping hook punches and lateral stick strikes.


----------



## pesilat (Mar 7, 2003)

> _Originally posted by yin_yang75 _
> *Locking for suggestions please.
> 
> I use the Muk and do all the energy drills I can in class but I WANT More. I love trapping but it's hard to do by your self.
> ...



You can practice the motions of the standards (i.e.: pak/lap, double pak, pak/jao, etc.) on the Mook or in the air. There's really no good subsitute for a living partner.

As a sidenote, check out my article Applied Trap Hands at http://www.impactacademy.com/articles

It doesn't specifically discuss training drills, but the perspective it comes from may spark some ideas in your head.

Mike


----------



## pknox (Mar 8, 2003)

Pesilat:

Great article, btw.  I especially found interesting the part where you take trapping theory and apply it to armed applications.  Interesting way of thinking about things, and it just kind of proved what good FMA'ers have been saying all along -- whether or not you are using a weapon, the same concepts still apply.


----------



## pesilat (Mar 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by pknox _
> *Pesilat:
> 
> Great article, btw.  I especially found interesting the part where you take trapping theory and apply it to armed applications.  Interesting way of thinking about things, and it just kind of proved what good FMA'ers have been saying all along -- whether or not you are using a weapon, the same concepts still apply. *



Thank you 

Yes, to me, it's all the same whether I've got an external weapon or not.

I try to use this philosophy: I don't try to force the weapon to do things. I work in concert with the weapon. I move the way I feel is proper and let the weapon follow its nature in whatever way it will.

Blunt weapons, by nature, cause trauma. Edged weapons, by nature, cut and puncture. Flexible weapons, by nature, tie and bind.

So I do my strikes, traps, locks, sweeps, and disarms and let the weapon follow its nature along the way.

Mike


----------



## pknox (Mar 8, 2003)

Excellent philosophy, pesilat.  Keep in mind, though, that the weapon never "follows its nature" until we've trained enough to allow ourselves to yield to it.

Basically, you are then at the point when your movements become instinctive, which is the goal every martial artist, whether classical or otherwise, hopes to achieve.

I guess that's what Sijo Bruce really meant when he said that JKD was about simplifying -- once we get all of our preconceived notions, thoughts, and extraneous movements out of the way, we can allow instinct to take over.  Kind of like the old Zen philosophy of constantly readying yourself for enlightenment to come "spontaneously."  I guess its not as paradoxical as I used to think it was.

So, in a way, I guess we're training to forget as much as we're training to remember.  What a comforting thought for when I keep forgetting things!


----------



## pesilat (Mar 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by pknox _
> *Excellent philosophy, pesilat.  Keep in mind, though, that the weapon never "follows its nature" until we've trained enough to allow ourselves to yield to it.*



Actually, the weapon _always_ follows its nature. It's up to us to keep out of its way and let it follow its nature on our intended target 

You do have to train to yield to it, or, I prefer, "cooperate with it," but the weapon will follow its nature regardless. If you don't cooperate with a blade, for instance, it will just as happily cut you as your opponent. It's just following its nature 



> *Basically, you are then at the point when your movements become instinctive, which is the goal every martial artist, whether classical or otherwise, hopes to achieve.
> 
> I guess that's what Sijo Bruce really meant when he said that JKD was about simplifying -- once we get all of our preconceived notions, thoughts, and extraneous movements out of the way, we can allow instinct to take over.  Kind of like the old Zen philosophy of constantly readying yourself for enlightenment to come "spontaneously."  I guess its not as paradoxical as I used to think it was.
> 
> So, in a way, I guess we're training to forget as much as we're training to remember.  What a comforting thought for when I keep forgetting things!  *



Absolutely. "Before I studied the martial arts, I thought a punch was a punch and a kick was a kick. After I studed martial arts, I thought a punch was more than a punch; a kick more than a kick. When I understood the arts, I realized that a punch was a punch and a kick was a kick."

The best analogy I've ever heard for it is driving a car.

When you were a kid, you watched your parents drive, and they were just driving the car. Nothing to it.

Then you started learning to drive and suddenly it became much more than "driving a car." It was steering, braking, shifting, clutching, turn signals, mirrors, wipers, AAAAHHH!!!

After several years of driving (different people develop at different rates), it was just "driving a car" again.

Mike


----------



## pknox (Mar 9, 2003)

Very nice.  You know, if I stick around here long enough, I might learn a thing or two.


----------

