The Way of Least Resistance

I have previously written about the ikkyo "projection" and how it compares to the throw or projection one finds in, say, xingyi (as an application of pi quan). In that article I noted various methods of ikkyo that I considered to be "mistakes" – and ways of making the projection more efficient, regardless of your school/style. However aikido practitioners will be aware that what is called "ikkyo" has 2 facets, namely the projection and a ground pin . It is the latter that I propose to cover briefly in this post. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I am not averse to students learning the traditional ikkyo ground pin; it teaches some valuable lessons about locking the elbow, including the need to keep pressure at a point just behind the joint, perform a correct twist of the wrist and maintain the correct angle of the arm to the body. As a "first step" it isn't a bad lesson at all. However it is important to note that...

Introduction: the "real world" vs. "attack of the zombies" In Part 1 of this article I dealt with only one defence: against the "sucker punch". I am unapologetic about this: learning how to survive that first "surprise" punch should be a priority in martial arts instruction. Instead it isn't. It is usually buried in a mountain of combinations against " zombie attacks ". You know the kind: slow movement, arms outstretched, no response to your own counters, etc. – countered by a series of wishful strikes that pay lip-service to predictability and that give "overkill" a new meaning. In this article I propose to deal with other, more sophisticated, applications of single whip. And there are many more than those I propose to cover in this article. My goal here is simply to illustrate the general relevance of the sequence: how its movements are congruent with efficient biomechanics in response to common attacks; ho...

Introduction There is a tendency among beginners to think that karate and other traditional martial techniques involving a thrust or straight arm/leg involve pushing the joint to full “lock out”. This impression is exacerbated by the fact that they often hear a “crack” with the technique which they might assume is from the joint being taken to its fullest extreme. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It is vitally important to remember that a straight arm/leg technique should never go to full “lock-out”. Rather a couple of centimeters (an inch or so) always remain after the movement finishes. What stops the technique is not your joint but your muscles. Kime and stopping techniques at predetermined points In my article “ Kime: soul of the karate punch ” I discuss how karateka will stop their punches using muscular power - and how this “focus” (known as “kime”) is part and parcel of the karate method. Indeed, it is part and parcel of almost all traditional far ...