Monthly Newsletter
Table of Contents
Master's Notepad
This month, we have an exciting special Master Club class on ground fighting. First, you'll learn some basic conditioning and ground movement exercises. Movement exercises are essential for learning to evade attackers and quickly move on the ground to control the situation. In addition, you'll learn practical techniques to keep the adversary off of you, block their attacks, and counterstrike with effective kicks, strikes, and locks.
Check out the article about Kung Fu Forms and why they are essential. Forms teach everything from how to move and develop skills and power to self-defense and, yes, even ground-fighting.
This month, we are offering a sale on our popular duffel bags. These large bags can hold all your fighting gear, uniforms, shoes, and training manuals.
Tell your friends and family about the academy, and when they get started, you'll get a FREE DVD (a $25 value). If you don't have a DVD, you can get the Video online separately or with the DVD. BRING THEM IN TODAY!
Remember to check in on Facebook to get 5 Points added to your Loyalty Card.
Keep Training,
Master Rothrock
“You must expect failure as part of your journey of success, failure and success go hand."
Keep Training,
Master Rothrock
Kid's Corner
Animal of the Month - The Snake (She)
There are several Chinese martial arts known as Snake Boxing or Fanged Snake Style that imitate snake movements. It is a style of Shaolin Boxing. Proponents claim that adopting the fluidity of snakes allows them to entwine with opponents in defense and strike from angles they wouldn't expect in offense. The Snake style is said to lend itself to applications with the Chinese straight sword. The Snake is also one of the animals imitated in Yang family Taijiquan, Baguazhang, and Xingyiquan. The curved, fluid motion of the Snake lends itself to the practical theory that underlies the "soft" martial arts. The Snake develops temperance and endurance. Breathing improves through the techniques, and the movements appear flowing and rippling with emphasis on the fingers.
Why did the tomato turn red?
It saw the salad dressing!
What did the water say to the boat?
Nothing, it just waved.
About Kung Fu Forms
Most Martial Arts styles, especially Chinese martial arts, have formal routines. These routines are the encyclopedia of Kung Fu techniques. Forms contain all the basics, self-defense, and fighting strategies. Forms also teach you to move from one technique to another and improve flexibility, strength, concentration, and endurance.
Forms are style-specific. What I mean is that the techniques in each form are specific to that style and its movement strategies. For example, Praying Mantis forms differ from Hung Gar (Tiger Crane Forms), which differ from Eagle Claw. Each style of Kung Fu uses different types of hand, foot, and blocking techniques. The forms exemplify the flavor of the method. Mantis forms are quick and fast, using the Mantis claw to trap and unbalance the opponent. Hung Gar forms use more stationary stances with lower kicks, and the hand forms emphasize the claw of the Tiger that the practitioner uses for striking and clawing an opponent. Eagle Claw uses long-range, flowing hand techniques to block and trap opponents with its claws, applying locking and pressure-point techniques.
The techniques taught in the forms are for fighting and self-defense. By learning the techniques within the formal routines, you're also improving your fighting and self-defense skills. You're practicing and refining your methods: punching, blocking, kicking, etc. You develop speed, power, timing, concentration, strength, and flexibility.
Forms teach you to move fluidly from one move to another with many different stances and combination techniques. These routines prepare you to defend yourself against multiple opponents from various directions. You learn evasion, using postures to unbalance opponents, vital points, proper power points, and when to use kicks and punches, depending on the Critical Distance Line.
Forms improve concentration by forcing your mind to remember a series of movements. However, this concentration involves more than just the mind. The body also takes part in muscle memory. Sometimes, when practicing a routine, the mind loses focus, only to be carried on by the body through muscle memory. I often urge students to refine their stances or techniques because, when there is no specific stance or method associated with a movement, the body struggles to decide what to do next. Thus, routines build harmony between mind and body.
Coordination is another critical element developed through forms. Many students have excellent coordination when performing specific techniques, such as a punch or a block-and-punch, but need help with routines. Forms require a higher degree of coordination than individual movements. Coordination involves the hands, hips, and legs for stances and kicks. Coordination leads to smoother execution of techniques and greater power generation because muscles cooperate rather than work against each other. The student must continually learn to coordinate different stances and techniques throughout the routine due to the variety of techniques and the continuous transitions from one method to the next. Routines take years of practice to master. Each routine has its own specialized movements, so each form is unique in developing coordination skills.
Forms took years to develop, with each master incorporating new thoughts and ideas into the style. A simple explanation for development was that someone got attacked. He then produced a block and counter for that attack and practiced these two techniques. If he gets attacked again and someone counters the striking technique, he later develops another block and counter. A master could also take a specific principle from the system, such as evasion, and develop an entire routine emphasizing that characteristic.
Many forms of kung fu were also animal-specific. For example, the Eagle Claw has a Leopard form. This routine doesn't use the half-clenched fist but emphasizes the Leopard's speed. Eagle Claw's Tiger form emphasizes the Tiger's strength and power rather than the clawing hand techniques of the Tiger Claw system.
Joint Flexibility
Joint flexibility keeps your joints healthy and loose. Inflexible joints can lead to arthritis, nerve damage, stiffness, and joint damage. Healthy joints require rotation, flexibility, and strength.
The full-range circular moves +of Kung Fu and Tai Chi rotate the joints as you build strength and improve your flexibility. That keeps your joints healthy and increases blood flow.
Since everything on your body is circular, circular movements are the best way to keep your body healthy. Plus, this is the way your body moves naturally. Therefore, straight and linear actions are less beneficial for your body.
As I mentioned, the Yin/Yang has two components: light and dark, strong and flexible. Therefore, a healthy body requires that you keep these two opposites in harmony.
Groundfighting
Ground Fighting involves a variety of techniques to defend yourself on the ground. Kung Fu teaches you to avoid getting knocked down to the ground. Kung Fu uses a variety of footwork, postures, angles, and critical distance. However, you can never predict when a confrontation might end on the ground. Kung Fu has many techniques to defend yourself on the ground.
This month's special Master's club class is ground fighting. The first two techniques you will learn in a ground fighting class are the Spider Run and Crab Walk. These two ground exercises allow you to move quickly toward or away from your opponent for offense.
Next, you'll learn the fighting strategies from the ground. For example, we covered simple palm blocks, eagle claw grabs, and the flower leg technique in kung fu. You also learn several kicking techniques, including the Front Heel Kick and Side Cutting Kick.
Next, you explore how to sweep an opponent to the floor. Sweeps are used from the ground-fighting or standing position. Some of these sweeps include the Reverse Sweep, the Forward Sweep, the Iron Broom Sweep, and the full Circle Reverse Sweep; they are always a lot of fun! Once you get this arsenal of weapons down, you'll have more strategies and techniques from the ground, or you can sweep your opponent to the ground.
Suppose you find yourself in a self-defense situation and an attacker moves in quickly. You drop and sweep his legs from under him, and down he goes. That allows you to leave the area and avoid further conflict. More advanced strategies include using the third leg to unbalance the opponent to drive him to the ground. Once on the ground, you have opportunities for various locks.
Welcome New Members
Curtis Strotman
Sherri Ludwig
Nathan Snapka
John Sterling
Ronald Prasad
Gabe Chaves
Kirstin Cenk
Mary Geever
Sergio Juarez
Kesha Kumar
Adalena Schur
Christine Caropresi
Trudy Bennardo
Joanne Resovich
Mary Langer-Schnepp
Terry Taylor
Bodhi Anand
Sonny Anand
Patrick Hilko
Dalas Browder
Alicia Shay
Neal Mello
Sarah Bucolo
Ysabella Irvin-Weathers
Mike Egler
Dan Wald
Katy Kendeall
Silvia Wunderly
Michael Debona
Rilus Buxton
Thai Gibson
Christian Snowberger
Lauren Smith
Julia Littlefield
Jaxon Cooper
Samet Zautadze
Andrea LaFoca
Ophelia Mecadon
Kingsley Mecadon
Kennedy Carroll
Harper Carroll
Emily Kopiak
Cathleen DeGrazia
Diane Honney
Kevin Coleman
Copyright © Rothrock's Kung Fu & Tai Chi. All Rights Reserved