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Point Fighting Tip #1: Don't stop until the ref stops the fight

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If you already have a couple of Karate matches behind you you may already have realsed what I am writing here. Some karateka who have been suffering at tournaments may actually find their lives a bit easier after reading this. Here it is- many of us get hurt at tournaments, because we landed a blow, but the referee and the judges just ignore it (because they are assholes- or got instructed by an asshole to do so- which would still make them assholes, I guess...) so the bout goes on longer and you end up getting hit. Any Karate sensei worth his salt will tell you to go into any bout with zanshin (continuing spirit) and that you should not let your alertness waver. This is very true and good advice. On top of that I can add- Do not trust anyone at a tournament. Not the referees and definitely not the other competitors... If you do land a blow do not relax and think your job is done. Stay alert and be ready for counters and keep attacking until the referee stops you. The refer...
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Ma Bu is not Kiba Dachi?

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  My office is in a building situated in a busy shopping centre. Among my neighbours there is a Chinese beauty salon run by friends of mine. Well... we say we are family... The owner's Aunt Hu came over to visit from Shenyang. When I drove back home one day I passed by the shop and found Aunt Hu practicing Taijiquan outside the salon. I think you can guess what happened next. Aunt Hu agreed to join me for a practice session that Sunday. While she showed me the 24 step Yang Set of Taijiquan I have shown her Qigong and a Wenhsiuquan form.  My warm-up starts in Horse Stance from where I stretch my calves and sink into a half-split. When I got into Horse Stance, however, Aunt Hu stopped me very quickly. What followed was a stern admonishment in Mandarin, but it was basically this: "No! This is not horse stance! Your feet is turned all wrong! Turn your feet to point outward like this! From here you can move this way, that way and that way!"  (accompanied by sweeping hand gestu...
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Long Stance vs Short Stance

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  Modern martial arts are to a large extent what had happened when classical martial arts met Western Boxing. The foremost reason modern fighters will give you for using a short fighting stance when sparring or fighting is that a short stance is more mobile. Is a shorter stance more effective, though? Well...  Let's have a look at that... Can you attack more easily from a short stance? Can you defend more easily from a long stance? Do this simple test and tell me what you find... With punching one can indeed spring into the attack and cross a long distance to land a punch on a target. The feet and body are both out of reach in the beginning, but that changes as soon as you shoot that hip forward... This is of course effective in competitions where fighters start off away from each other. This enables you to go in, score your point, and get out of reach again In the case of a long stance we see that the body may be out of reach, but the lead foot has already arrived on the scen...
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Stance, Distance and Angle

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A joyful and prosperous new year to all my followers! I have noticed for some time that I have been preferring certain angles of attack during my training. This is a natural consequence of staying mindful of the opponent's centre line and the limbs that you have to get past when attacking. For a long time, especially in one's early years of Karate, we get used to square off with our sparring partners. Free sparring at this stage is then usually a manner of moving back and forth with the most dominating fighter driving his opponent back most of the time. Sooner or later we realise, however, that while increasing the distance between ourselves and our opponent's may keep us safe for a while that safety does not last and- we find it impossible to counterattack from so far away. One of the reasons why I choose a slightly long stance is that the space between my feet give me enough room to make the space that I need to move back just far enough to counter with a kick. That dista...
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Finally Done! 😃

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I have not been writing anything for this blog for a while now... However- I have managed to put some time into this book and- eventually- managed to finish it! You can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59796457 My latest book Those of you who have been following my blog know that I mainly train alone. Form practice is a large part of this training. This book focuses on Kung Fu forms and shows techniques from Shaolin and Wudang, the two main sources of Kung Fu, in order for you to put together your own set or taolu (which is Chinese for kata ). I have also taken a well-known set from Shaolin Kung Fu and give you an analysis of the set in order to help you better understand how these sets are put together and how each of the parts thereof work. The book is available to all Patreons who have joined my Patreon site. I will make more material available soon!  
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Making the Lower Parry work

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  Hello, everyone. It seems I had a case of writer's block that has kept me from writing posts lately. When you practice martial arts every day, however, there are a lot of things about it to write about, but what you don't bother with, because you tend to reckon that it is too mundane or obvious to write about. Well... maybe for experienced martial artists... Then- I end up realising again that there is not only an entirely new generation to whom we can pass on much of this seemingly redundant knowledge, but also a record to set straight with a new generation of experts. This post is about two old enemies. Some say they were never supposed to meet, but meet they did. The one was set on knocking the wind out of you, the other was... well... now its role is disputed, but everyone was sure at the time that it was his job to stop the other from achieving its goal. These two are of course the Front Kick ( Maegeri in Karate) and the Lower Parry ( Gedan Barai to Karate people). Gedan...
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2021: Not so much more of the same...

This year started with me in a new situation.  No longer working for just myself and with less free time than before I have been spending less time on the book and this blog now sees me for the first time as well. Early morning workouts have become shorter and more hurried. I am however still taking whatever time I can to learn new things.  I enjoy Yoga as much as Qigong these days and have made it part of my workouts. https://web.facebook.com/marthinus.boshoff.3/videos/3258081497594422 I am glad to say that I am now more than halfway done with the book. I have also received an offer from a friend to help with Youtube videos. Let's see how this year goes...   
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