Teaching students how to use Jow Ga Kung Fu

[JowGaWolf]

I thought today would be a good day to share one of my sparring classes with the group. The classes were designed to teach students how to use Kung Fu.. I always try to spar at a level that will allow students to be able to take risks without paying a heavy price. I want them to try to new things and new attacks. I think this is key to learning.

You can see that even though I'm moving slow. I'm still able to get some punches. Sometimes I land punches and other times I don't. It just depends on what I'm trying to teach. With this particular student, I would often train her on recognizing openings. A lot of times she would attack when there really wasn't any opening. One of the big issues that she had was that she gets tunnel vision really quick. She's so focused on trying to watch for openings that she can't see anything else.

She is much smaller and shorter than me so she has has to deal with the range difference Her biggest advntage is her speed. I tried to get her to punch me harder but she was too afraid of "hurting" me. Hit harder was her weakness, because she never would hit me harder.

For beginner students I pretty much just watch and provide openings for students to go for and watch what they are doing so I can correct it. You can hear me ask her "You saw what happened, Right?" when she makes a really big mistake. The other students watching didn't see it because I pulled the punch.

Here's the an enhanced picture of where she messed up. Most people tilt their heads forward to that the jabs land on the forehead. The type of punch I was using here would make that a costly mistake. See if you can spot this moment in the video.

 

[jobo]

you could help her range by givibg her a spear

 

[JowGaWolf]

you could help her range by givibg her a spear

ha ha ha.. get off my spears. Besides, I'm not sure if that would work. She would have to give me the spear in order to throw those punch combinations.

 

[drop bear]

If I was throwing like that I would be really concentrating on head movement good level changes and good exits.

There is almost a basic pathway you can follow to avoid some hits. So say I bolo punch with my left I would angle my head to the right to keep it off line. Then was going to bolo with my right that is when I would hit a level change to get my head on the other side.

Bolo punching while being right in the middle will get you uppercuted

 

[Tony Dismukes]

If I was throwing like that I would be really concentrating on head movement good level changes and good exits.

There is almost a basic pathway you can follow to avoid some hits. So say I bolo punch with my left I would angle my head to the right to keep it off line. Then was going to bolo with my right that is when I would hit a level change to get my head on the other side.

Bolo punching while being right in the middle will get you uppercuted

Yep. I’m not great with that style of punching (although I’ll play with it occasionally). However the professional fighters I’ve seen who are good with those punches do exactly as you advocate.