Free lesson for striking with the body and parry

[drop bear]

This is why I was trying to teach them to hit using their body. The basic movement in Jow Ga is shuffle movement and not step. Each shuffle is throwing the body weight forward or backwards. So that movement can be used to power punches from some unexpected positions. If the clip below, if he would shuffle forward then he wouldn't lose the power that you speak of.

This is more like our big wheel punches where the power flows in the same direction.

At 1:05 he misses the parry and almost runs into my fist because he's trying to parry across his body instead of using a parry that is more forward at 45 degree angle. His parry is trying to address the punch and not the mechanics of the punch. You have to play it in slow motion to see it. The best way I can describe it, is that if you and I are sparring. I don't want to parry your fist because it's too quick. The time to parry the fist is a very small window and by the time you react, you'll be "swatting at flies"

This is what I consider parrying the fist.

I want to parry closer to your elbow where the mechanics of your punch exist. This increased the time that I have to actually parry, because now I'm not watching for movement in the fist, I'm watching for movement in the mechanics of the punch at the elbow. The 45 degree parry puts all of your elbow movement within my range so I only need a slight adjustment to keep up with the movement of the elbow. If I parry your punch, then you can feint your punch and my parry will fall on emptiness. If I target the mechanics of that punch then feinting won't prevent me from pinning your arm because my parry is moving forward and not across my body. (Not sure if I'm describing a clear visual here)

There's a ton of things that this type of parry cancels out which makes it difficult for the opponent to throw that rear hand. It's also a more aggressive parry than what most people use. In the video you can hear me say that the parry is like punching with my palm

This particular technique requires a type of structure which is tricky for beginners. As DB and Danny noted, the students are operating from a bladed structure and rotating in the direction of their parry, which totally kills the body connection and structure necessary to transmit power for the punch. If you were doing a parry followed by a punch, then it wouldn't be a problem because they could rotate back for the punch, fixing their structure and adding power. Alternately, they could just rotate into the punch to begin with, relying on head movement and a minimal parry for protection. \

What you're doing instead is operating from more of a square stance with a solid, somewhat forward projecting parry and a simultaneous punch that is largely dependent on the forward body motion for power This only works effectively if you have a good handle on body connection and structure. Otherwise either the parry, the punch, or both will leak power and not produce the desired results. I'd spend more time with the students making sure they could feel the structure necessary to transmit lines of force through the body with individual punches and blocks before trying to teach that particular method of simultaneous defense and attack.

You could of course also throw a hooking style strike to the body. Which means you could rotate the punching shoulder backwards. And stay bladed.

And block with as much force as you want.

But the strike would be one and a half beats. Rather than one.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

But the strike would be one and a half beats. Rather than one.

This is why style like

Praying mantis is famous in speed generation. If you combine defense and offense into 1 move, you may not be able to generate the maximum power.

Baji is famous in power generation. If a punch need to take you 1 second to generate that power, in fighting, you may not have that 1 second.

Chen Taiji also emphasizes on power generation. Please notice that there is no parry and punch at the same time.

 

[Flying Crane]

I still have plans to get a chance to meet with people here. Corona got in my way. I'm so glad that I held off on that office space that I was going to get to open my own school. I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to get something that would be large enough to add a small bedroom with shower, that I could use to put up guests, if they would like to sleep at the school instead of a hotel. Not a total lost, I can now have better locations once a vaccine becomes available.

Yeah, I was putting out my feelers to see if there was interest in the community, and then Covid hit and that idea shut down. Just after California locked down I noticed a new BJJ school was in the middle of opening in a strip mall near my home. I saw the new banner over the door, but everything was closed. The worst timing ever, for that kind of thing. I wonder how much the fellow lost on that arrangement.