Me sharing knowledge with student

[JowGaWolf]

Videos are coming back This is just a test run / sneak peak. Trying out my new computer and my video editing software.

(3rd Video) This is an old video of me teaching a student after Saturday class. It was common for me to spar with students after class and to share my knowledge of Jow Ga Kung Fu. You guys get to have a sneak peak of something that I hold very close to me in terms of Jow Ga Kung Fu. It's one of those things where I want credit for but don't want to share it because I want recognition for it. That's not a healthy way to be so I'm going to just share a little insight on this one by spreading the knowledge. My pride comes from the satisfaction that I'm one of the few that know how to really work this technique even among some of the Sifus and because of that I wanted to share with my fellow class mate/ student (during normal classes he's my class mate, during sparring and applications classes he's my student).

First the background information on this one. What I'm teaching is an advanced application of a beginner form. I leave a lot of the terminology out because it's a beginner form and the student in front of me understand what I'm communicating. It's one of those lessons that only those in the school know what you are talking about. So what I'm saying may not be clear. Hopefully, you'll get the idea of it through the actions

In the form the technique looks like what he's doing at 0:56. -1:06 and he repeats the same technique at 1:15 - 1:21. I personally think of this as one technique, but in reality from a TMA perspective it's made of 5 individual techniques. I guess in someways you can think of it as a combo. The 5 pieces can be done as shown in the form or it can be separated. Warning there are other variations of this technique.

Here are some variation of the technique in a demo application. I personally don't like this interpretation of it because to me the mechanics and logic look incorrect and I'm just basing that on how I use it, and the things I've learned about this technique by actually using it. By the way don't buy that book that he's showing unless you want to learn things the wrong way. But as you can see the motion is similar

(3rd video.) This is me teaching and sharing a little of what I know about this technique. In the video I'm just explaining the punching concept of the technique and not the footwork that is needed.
Here you can see a few things you guys and gals may already know
1. Straight beats Circular
2. Circular beats straight

Even though we aren't moving at fast speeds you can see how quickly the hook shows up at my face. You can also see the smile on his face when I first show him. That's how I knew he understood just how quick that punch can actually reach the face in n unexpected manner. The secret to this application of the technique is at 0:57 (You have to play it in slow motion)

I could easily spend a month doing a seminar just on that technique.

The best thing about this technique is that parts of it are also found in other fighting systems. Right off the back the hook is found in boxing. In my opinion TKD uses a simiar technique. They call it a block but I think it's a escape from a potential grab.

I'll have to come back to the video below for a future post if I can remember. I don't know TKD, but I'm staring to think that some of these blocks are actually strikes and escapes, and grabs. I'll have to find a TKD person to test those theories out. If I'm correct then some of you TKD people are probably going to have a new found interest in TKD and if I'm wrong then you'll probably just a few more bruises lol.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Videos are coming back This is just a test run / sneak peak. Trying out my new computer and my video editing software.

(3rd Video) This is an old video of me teaching a student after Saturday class. It was common for me to spar with students after class and to share my knowledge of Jow Ga Kung Fu. You guys get to have a sneak peak of something that I hold very close to me in terms of Jow Ga Kung Fu. It's one of those things where I want credit for but don't want to share it because I want recognition for it. That's not a healthy way to be so I'm going to just share a little insight on this one by spreading the knowledge. My pride comes from the satisfaction that I'm one of the few that know how to really work this technique even among some of the Sifus and because of that I wanted to share with my fellow class mate/ student (during normal classes he's my class mate, during sparring and applications classes he's my student).

First the background information on this one. What I'm teaching is an advanced application of a beginner form. I leave a lot of the terminology out because it's a beginner form and the student in front of me understand what I'm communicating. It's one of those lessons that only those in the school know what you are talking about. So what I'm saying may not be clear. Hopefully, you'll get the idea of it through the actions

In the form the technique looks like what he's doing at 0:56. -1:06 and he repeats the same technique at 1:15 - 1:21. I personally think of this as one technique, but in reality from a TMA perspective it's made of 5 individual techniques. I guess in someways you can think of it as a combo. The 5 pieces can be done as shown in the form or it can be separated. Warning there are other variations of this technique.

Here are some variation of the technique in a demo application. I personally don't like this interpretation of it because to me the mechanics and logic look incorrect and I'm just basing that on how I use it, and the things I've learned about this technique by actually using it. By the way don't buy that book that he's showing unless you want to learn things the wrong way. But as you can see the motion is similar

(3rd video.) This is me teaching and sharing a little of what I know about this technique. In the video I'm just explaining the punching concept of the technique and not the footwork that is needed.
Here you can see a few things you guys and gals may already know
1. Straight beats Circular
2. Circular beats straight

Even though we aren't moving at fast speeds you can see how quickly the hook shows up at my face. You can also see the smile on his face when I first show him. That's how I knew he understood just how quick that punch can actually reach the face in n unexpected manner. The secret to this application of the technique is at 0:57 (You have to play it in slow motion)

I could easily spend a month doing a seminar just on that technique.

The best thing about this technique is that parts of it are also found in other fighting systems. Right off the back the hook is found in boxing. In my opinion TKD uses a simiar technique. They call it a block but I think it's a escape from a potential grab.

I'll have to come back to the video below for a future post if I can remember. I don't know TKD, but I'm staring to think that some of these blocks are actually strikes and escapes, and grabs. I'll have to find a TKD person to test those theories out. If I'm correct then some of you TKD people are probably going to have a new found interest in TKD and if I'm wrong then you'll probably just a few more bruises lol.

Excited to see more videos! One question Two questions (well, a bunch, but I'll stick to one two lol): is there a reason you are throwing the hook instead of the cross at the end? My assumption is that it's how you do the footwork; if you like going in close a hook would be better, but if you're using the block/grab at the beginning while stepping out, you want a longer range punch. Second question: what happened to the neck grab? I'm not seeing it in your application, curious if you altered it to something else I didn't catch, or if you decided to discard it.

 

[JowGaWolf]

is there a reason you are throwing the hook instead of the cross at the end?

Yes in the technique. It's a hook that lands on the back of the head. Normally we think of hooks that land on the side of the face but the specific Jow Ga technique naturally lnds on the back side of the head (It's the same spot that is illegal in sports fighting). You may actually seen me use this technique in sparring, but I land them on the side of the head instead of where they should naturally land. There are other reasons why for the that specific technique the hook is better.

The difference between a hook and a cross is that I can see and track the motion of a cross. When thrown at maximum effectiveness, a hook will actually travel outside of your field of vision and into your blind spot, your brain won't calculate it. If you go to the video 0:37 and play it in slow motion (slowest setting). You can actually see that my hooking hand is traveling into his blindspot. Keep in mind we have both vertical and horizontal field of vision. The image below does not show full range it shows what we normally use. This visual range often becomes smaller when people fight so it's easier to sneak things into the blindspot.

The punch alone doesn't allow you to reach the blind spot. You actually have to move the body so that the punch is in the blind spot. There are also some other things that help such as body movement. The technique uses body movement to trick the opponent eyes into tracking the wrong thing. So it's a combination of things that actually makes the entire thing work. But the simple answer to your question is that the Technique in the form uses a hook, so I was teaching from the form and just explaining the parts that make up the technique and how it can follow the sequence in the form or we can break it apart to use parts of it.

You can see here how the hook travels out of the field of vision.

but if you're using the block/grab at the beginning while stepping out, you want a longer range punch.

I can use this specific techniques from a various ranges. From long to medium range. Keep in mind you aren't seeing the footwork in the video. If I need to cover distance to get closer my feet will get me there. This is why Jow Ga students practice this drill The formal name of the drill is "Stepping form"

This is a beginners version. The advancing step is a shuffle vs what you are seeing here.

here you can see how the shuffling can cover a good big of distance if needed.

Second question: what happened to the neck grab? I'm not seeing it in your application, curious if you altered it to something else I didn't catch, or if you decided to discard it.

I just put that to show that other Jow Ga practitioners have different interpretations. My opinion about the grap is that it's WRONG and puts the person in more danger than necessary. But it's an interpretation. In the schools that I was trained in, there is no grab. I think he got it from that book which is why I stated don't buy the book. He's the only one that teaches it like that.

Other schools will either end with a hook or a grab. I'm a little biased because if I can hit someone in the back of the head and watch them pass out, then that's the road that I want to take. If I can break something and then punch the broken part of the again, then that's the path that I want to take. If it didn't hurt the first time because of the adrenaline, it will definitely hurt the second time when I nail it.

You can see it in the form here 0:41 -0:43 where it uses it as the punch. It doesn't look like a hook but it is, I think most people don't think fighting application when doing the forms and because of that some of the actually understanding of the technique is lost.

At the 1:09 mark of the ISMAH Sneak Preview video you can see me halfway doing the technique and shaking my head that, there is no way to do that technique the way that we do it the form, We just aren't going to fight like that. In the form some of the angles and footwork are missing so while the technique is legit it requires the angles from the footwork. You will never see the footwork and angles for that technique in the Jow Ga forms.

Just a few months ago the head of the Jow Ga association that I'm a part of hinted to this in a video that he made and I was waiting for the Sifu's and some other student to respond in a way that they understood, but none of them did. I don't know if they respond in private like I did. (I responded in private so I wouldn't ruffle any feathers. I'm trying to stay low key these days within the Jow Ga world.). I just took the lack of response as that they really didn't understand what he was saying. He only said 3 words but if you know how to do this technique then those 3 words is like a book of knowledge. Do this day I'm the only one that I've seen from Jow Ga videos that actually use this technique.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Here is the example of what I talk about when I say how movement causes the eyes to track the wrong thing.
Play 0:04 in slow motion a couple of times as you watch the hook land. After 3 or for times, I want you to ignore the hook, because it's not important. Focusing on the hook at first just helps you to see what really happens.

After you get a good feel for how that hook is going to flow in that video. Then pay attention the head of the guy who eats the hook. You want to see where he's looking before he gets hit. It's going to come up quick even with youtube slow motion. What you'll see is that he's not tracking the hook, he's tracking the body movement going to his left. He doesn't see the hook because it's in his blindspot. A lot of techniques in TMA are like that. It tricks the eyes into focusing on the wrong stuff. In TMA some of the techniques move the way that they do so that the eyes track the wrong thing. This is why it's a risk to change some of the TMA technique in an effort to "make them work"