So I met up with my local martial arts buddy today and we played around with thai checks, blocking with the shin, vs compressing with a tight jin ji du li and just taking the kick on the leg. Like the image below but tighter:
We didn't go super hard as the floor was a bit slippery, but hard enough that you could feel the impact.
We each had a go receiving kicks and came to the same conclusions:
- Maintaining balance was different, but neither was worse.
-Thai checks were better for aggressive action to disrupt the other persons balance
-A tight low JJDL offered the knee as a threat; you didn't want to kick that
-JJDL hurt a lot less. My shins are not super hard, but they're OK. With one person (kicker) in shin guards and the other not, you could definitely feel the impact through them on the thai check, JJDL was no problem at all
-JJDL is easier to pull off as you have more time before you need to react; it is a much faster movement
-JJDL gives opportunities to counter with that lifted leg more easily than a thai check
Having done it a few times in sparring, and now having done some direct comparison, I'm gunna pretty much leave the thai check going forwards in sparring. I'll still practice it in drills, and maybe occasionally I'll look to get aggressive with it, but I much prefer JJDL.
At some point in the near future I'll put a video out on JJDL, as its the one major Shaolin stance I've not done yet, so there will be some footage of us trying stuff out in there.
I definitely recommend giving it a go.