A complete combined form from Shaolin Five Animal Kung Fu is demonstrated in a new video lesson that  have added to the Shaolin Five Animal Fist information page.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 3:25 PM BST

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Another great k.o. in this NW American fight between  Garret Burn and Adam Stone. The first round is quite tactical with a lot of grappling, but they come out firing in the second...

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 4:53 PM BST

Updated: Wednesday, 14 May 2008 5:10 PM BST

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Check out these new lenses on Squidoo for both free resources (videos, links etc.) and products for helping you to learn mixed martial arts techiniques:

http://www.squidoo.com/punching

http://www.squidoo.com/throwsandtakedowns

http://www.squidoo.com./submissionholds

http://www.squidoo.com/kicking 

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 5:12 PM BST

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I once trained with an instructor whose favourite saying was "A kick above the waist is a waste". I have since met several other instructors and advanced students who have a similar attitude, and recently I have come to realize that this issue is a major point of disagreement between different styles and schools of martial arts. If you study Taekwondo, for example, you will learn a large number of high kicks, including flying kicks, jumping spinning kicks, and all the rest.

So I thought it would be useful to spend a bit of time thinking this through and trying to work out whether, and in what circumstances, high kicks actually work. Here are my thoughts:

The argument against: If you kick above the waist from a standing position you are reducing your range - the higher you kick the closer you have to be. High kicks reduce your stability and leave you open to a takedown. Jumping kicks take longer to perform than any other kind of technique, and they are often easy to read and avoid if your opponent knows what they are doing. Often you can see that someone is preparing to launch one of these kicks and get out of the way before they even start the technique.

The argument for: A kick to the head which connects properly is more likely to k.o. your opponents than virtually any other technique, and even if it doesn't it will probably do some damage. A good fighter should have every kind of technique in their arsenal, and shouldn't limit themselves uneccesarily.

My conclusion: High kicks can be devastating, but you really should be careful about when you use them. If your opponent is reeling or off balance from another attack, oir if they are tired and drop their guard when in close to you, then a high kick can be a great finnishing technique. As part of a set combination of strikes a high kick can be very effective even if the earlier attack(s) didn't connect, because they are harder to see coming and avoid than if you open an attack with one. Within a fight I would advise you not to use high kicks in any other contexts as they are too risky, however they do also have one other use which I know from personal experience.

Many people like high kicks  and jumping kicks simply because they look so impressive. Some 'serious martial artists' use this fact as an argument against them in itself, saying they are all style and no substance. But as this story illustrates sometimes style is all you need:

When I was in my mid-teens I was walking down the street one evening with a couple of friends. A group of older boys came over to us and after a bit of verbal abuse they demanded money. One of my friends, who had been practicing Muay Thai from a young age, began jumpin around doing loads of really flash spinning kicks and jumping kicks into the air. He then took out his wallet, drpooed it on the floor in front of hi,, and said "come and get it". They didn't have the balls.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 11:09 AM BST

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 Some great new content has just gone live on the Esoteric Martial Arts main page:

Secret Drunken Kung Fu Technique - video lesson showing a hidden application from drunken kung fu

Neck Strength Exercises - A vital part in any martial artists conditioning program, especially if you want to make sure you don't get knocked out when you are hit.

+ Flapping Qi Gong Shaolin hard qi gong and The Gate of the Shoulders which combine to give a very effective method for more powerful punching.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 5:27 PM BST

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Check out this Kung Fu group at squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/groups/kungfu

There's loads of stuff from different members, including San Shou, Eagle Claw and Iron Shirt Qi Gong amongst other things.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 4:09 PM BST

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It's been a little while now since I added an entry for my parkour for martial arts topic, probably because its been freezing cold and raining all the time in Birmingham, so I have not really felt like doing outdoors training so the parkour has slipped off my radar a little; but now the spring is finally starting to kick in and I am eager to get back to it. So, anyway, the point is here is another parkour training video that you may like:

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 6:32 PM BST

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I have recently made a discovery that should be welcome news to anyone with an interest in meditation, and as an added bonus the same principle can be applied to martial arts training. My discovery has been this: less really is more, and I have found a way to significantly improve my meditation practice by spending less time on it.

Let's face it, meditation can be really difficult, and sometimes it is even more difficult than others. Anyone who has ever tried to meditate on a regular basis will know that some days quietening the mind can just seem like an impossible task. Sometimes you have something on your mind that you just can't let go of, other times you might be in an emotionally charged state (either positive or negative) which disturbs the mind, or it may just be that some days you just can't stop your mind from wanderring; diet lack of sleep, or recent intake of alcohol (say, the night before) are all common factors that can affect the concentration.

In the past when I have been finding meditation difficult I have always tried to work through it. I always thought that this difficulty just shoed how much I needed to meditate that day, and I obstinately refused to give up. But it has likewise been rare for me to break through the barriers on these days to have what I would feel to be a successful or productive meditation session.

Recently, on a day when I was having particular trouble, I relented and decided to give up. But before I stopped I decided to briefly try something which I now call my ten breaths technique. Basically what I did was to promise myself I would finnish very soon, and then to try to concentrate as fully as possible for only 10 breaths. Knowing that it was only for a short time allowed me to put aside the distraction and concentrate my mental control into a short burst, and therefore to actually get 10 breaths worth of good quality meditation done.

Afterwards I could really feel that I had been meditating, and it was clear that this brief 10 breaths had been more effective than if I had carried on as usual and done another 10 minutes or more. Quality definitely counts more than quantity.

Martial arts training is slightly different, becuase often when you are stressed, distracted, or whatever it can be really nice to loose yourself in the physicality of the training. But the quality over quantity principle still stands, particularly if you are learning or practicing technique rather than doing physical conditioning. If you practice doing something sloppily then you can program yourself with bad habits which can make it harder to do it right in the future. I would definitely say that if you are not ready and willing to put 100% commitment into a training session then it is better not to do it at all.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 10:40 AM BST

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I've already in previous posts how  love to see different styles coming up against each other to see how it plays out. This MMA fight is a classic example of a grappler coming up against a striker. The video quality isn't perfect, but it's definitely good enough to enjoy the action....

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 4:28 PM BST

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Anyone who has ever seen Star Trek should be familiar with the famous Vulcan nerve pinch, which mr Spock and his Vulcan compatriots use to render their enemies instantly unconscious simply by squeezing the nerves in the correct place. I have always loved Star Trek and as a child the Vulcan nerver pinch was always one of those things that I really wished that I could do.

Of course the actual nerve pinch, as it is shown in Star Trek, is a piece of fiction. But yet it is also true that the idea for it was not simply plucked out of nowhere, but was based on something real. It's pretty safe to assume that the idea for the Vulcan nerver pinch was based on the Chinese art of manipulating pressure points. The same principles that are used for healing in accupuncture and accupressure massage are also used in oriental martial arts for fighting and self-defense. The system which teaches martial arts students to do this is called 'Dim Mak', and is sometimes known in the west as the art of the Death Touch, for its reputed ability to kill an opponent with just a touch of the right combination of points.

Drawing on the Dim Mak system of Kung Fu here is a technique for renderring an opponent unconscious which is actually very similar indead to Spock's famous Vulcan nerve pinch:

This technique actually consists of two different pressure point manipulations, either of which is capable of causing unconsciousness, and which can be easily combined to create a very reliable method.

The first part involves the application of pressure to the juggular notch, and it is this action which looks remarkably similar to the nerve pinch. The juggular notch is the indentation at the base of the throut underneath the adam's apple at the centre of the collar bone. This is one of the most effective and easy to use of all the pressure points. a brief jab of the fingers into his point causes a gag reflex and full body motor dysfunction, effectively stunning your opponent for anout 2-4 seconds. Sustained pressure to this point can causes unconsciousness in around 20 seconds or so. Approaching from the front you should press your thumb into the juggular notch and spread your fingers out over the top of the trapezuis muscle running from the neck to the shoulder, digging your finger-tips in for a good grip. This gives you a good control point over your opponent, and greatly reduces their ability to resist or counter attack.

The second part of the technique is a strike to the brachial plexus origin. The brachial plexus nerve runs down the side of the neck, along just behind the collar bone and down the front of the shoulder. The point you want to strike is at the base of the neck, on either side, one or two centimetres behind the collar bone, and around 1.5 - 2 inches to the side of the juggular notch. You can use a chop, or alternatively raise one knuckle out of a fist and strike with this. A good strike to this area will knock you out instantly, but it can be difficult to hit just the right spot in a real fight, which is why you use the juggular notch for an initial stun and to gain control.  It it doesn't work first time just make sure you keep up a good amount of pressure on the juggular notch and try again. But with the accumulated effect of both attacks it should work first time anyway, as long as you hit roughly the right area with the strike.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 5:42 PM BST

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One of the things which really differentiates kung fu from other martial arts is the large number of hand forms which are used in addition to the ordinary fist. This varied and innovative use of the hand can dramaticaly increase your options, as well as making certain techniques more effective. Here are 5 of the main kung fu handforms with a brief description of the way that they are used:

1. The Phoenix-eye fist - This is like an ordinary fist but with the forefinger held out slightly from the others. The thumb should be pressed against the nail of the forefinger with the middle knuckle immediately behind the top knuckle of the forefinger to hold it in place. You strike with the middle knuckle of the forefinger. This hand form is famously used to strike to the eyes, but it can also bve used to strike to the temple for avery effective knock out punch.
2. Leopard fist - To get the Leopard fist simply form an ordinary fist and then straighten the bottom knuck at the base of the fingers so that the middle knuckles (used as the point of contact for strikes) are held out from the rest of the hand. This is very effective for fast combination strikes, but it is also used to focus the force of a strike to break the nose or ribs.
3. Tiger Claw - To form the Tiger Claw begin with the hand open and flat, with the fingers slightly spread. Now bend the top knuckle as far as possible whilst only bending the middle knuckle halfway or less. In many techniques it looks as if this hand form is being used to scratch or literally claw at a person's face, but this is not really the case. Rather than a scratch this is actually a kind of brief grab which is used to yank the head to the side and to pull the opponent down. Strikes with the heel of the hand are also commonly used with the Tiger Claw, and often such strikes can lead into a grabbing / clawing technique without the arm being withdrawn. Holding the hand in a Tiger Claw form also makes it easier to grab hold of your opponents arms to use grappling and Chin Na techniques to counter punches.
4. Eagle Claw - This is basically halfway between a tiger claw and a leopard fist, and is used in a similar way to the tiger claw only with more emphasis on hooking and grabbing limbs rather than clawing the face.
5. Crane Beak - with the wrist bent forwards, the tips of the fingers are held against the tip of the thumb. This is used for hooking striking limbs and to attack with the tips of the fingers in 'pecking' techniques against the soft, vital areas of the body.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 4:59 PM BST

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New on the EMA main site:

50 new Ninjutsu technique videos - short videos demonstating a single technique each, all viewable on one player

The newly independent MMA section has a huge amount of new content from Basic MMA - A Beginners Guide to Escapes and Counters

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 1:01 PM BST

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I am a big believer in the importance of sparring. Even if you study a traditional martial art and have no intention of fighting in competitions it's the only way you can get any sense of what its like to use the techniques your learning in a real situation.

And I'm also a great believer in being creative with your training sessions and adding in plenty of variety. Its all too easy to think of sparring as just being a single exercise, done the same way each time, in which two people square off against each other and have a semi-contact fight according to the rules of their particuar school. But there is much more that you can do than this, both to make it more interesting and to gain real added benefits.

One common exercise in MMA classes is to have one person who is not allowed to strike, but just has to try to take his opponent down to the ground, whilst the other fighter is only supposed to strike and to try to stay on their feet, without trying for any takedowns or grappling themselves. Its a really fun exercise that also allows you to focus on a specific area of your game.

Other possibilities include having one person using punches only, while the other practices dodging and blocking, or having one person just kicking while the other person tries to catch their leg and / or get a takedown. You don't even need to stick with one on one - one of my favourite games is to have two people who are banned from striking trying to get a takedown on one person who has no limitations put on what they can do. Its a great way to improve your ability to stay on your feet no matter what (very useful for a striker going up against a grappler). These are just a couple of my ideas, i'm sure there are many more that you could come up with to suit your particular style / school.

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 3:22 PM GMT

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I love watching two different martial arts styles going up against each other. It used to be the best thing about watching mixed martial art fights in the early days, comparing styles and how they fared against each other. These days most fighters in these competitions train in specifically mixed martial arts gyms, and its not really a mixed martial arts fight at all because 'mma' has sort of become a martial art in itself. That's why I always like to keep an eye out for videos like this where fighters from two distinct martial arts go up against each other. There' s some pretty good action in these fights too.... 

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 2:55 PM GMT

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Sexy ladies in revealing leather costumes kick ass in this martial arts action. Watch the first 5 episodes of this internet only video series - I promise you'll love it!

Posted by esotericmartialarts at 3:17 PM GMT

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