The Ultimate Martial Arts/Combat Sports/Boxing Thread
08-04-2015, 02:25 AM
Sounds about right. I'll make some comments on this if I may.
* I have trouble transitioning from long/kicking range into grappling range.
There are two basic distances, Front Foot Distance (FFD), where one of the opponents must move onto the front foot to touch the other, and Close Contact Distance (CCD), where both guys can be weighted on the back foot yet still hurt each other. Without going into details, you want to close only when he is weight forward, because then if he wishes to deal with your closing on him he has fewer options.
You can safely close inside or outside his guard as long as you get your foot behind his (usually) front (weighted ) foot
while simultaneously dealing with his hands/guard (so you don't get hit and so you can fuck him up).
Generally, control his elbow to remove his arms and to stop him folding his arms/elbow/body into you. Generally, you keep your own
elbow pointed down, then, because in that configuration it is controlled by the traps and lats, it becomes very hard for him to move, lift, or knock down.
Proper closing is the ultimate skill because it requires good hand-foot coordination. Before I explain however, allow me to offer an analogy.
The opponent's body is a strategic hill that you wish to capture. However, it is well protected with machine gun defences. These are his arms and legs. Before you can capture the hill you must immobilize or neutralize the arms and legs.
The danger is thus in attacking because to close you must go onto the front foot. It is easy to fuck you up then bcs you have committed to an action. I can easily, for example, parry your arm, let my weight drop onto the back foot, and kick your leg or seize your arm and pull you off balance.
However, you want to capture that hill and it ain't gonna come to you of its own accord. So timing and risk.
In many chinese styles, it is crucial that hands and feet are coordinated. "Hand moves, foot moves" is the rule. So for example, if he is coming onto his front foot, say to punch me, I simultaneously raise an arm, left or right and extend a leg. Say my left forearm meets his left forearm. My left foot passes outside his left foot. My left toes point behind his foot, towards his centre mass. I step in so close to him that my knee position is challenging his balance. Now his front leg can't easily hurt you and his right must punch across his body to get you.
In kung fu styles, once we have arm contact, it is never abandoned. I am sure you have noticed this with your friend. He captures your elbow, right? He slaps your arms away, from inside or outside, overwhelms them, or crosses them? He folds your arms back? Or he enters your zone through the door between elbow and shoulder and as he enters your defences are swept aside?
So what happens now? Lots of things could happen. Why not pivot on your front (left) leg and swing the right around. See, you've flanked him. You still have contact with his arms. Maintain that. Control him. Attack with your other arm. But stay upright, don't flinch, and don't stop moving through his center line while flanking. The rotation of your movement alone should fuck him up and send him tumbling.
With the background he has, your friend might teach you the exercises you need to get the hand skills i am talking about here. Otherwise, as general advice you should think more about where you want your feet to be, not about how you will hit or kick him.
Best training method for this is bagua, in particular circle walking with mud stepping. But that is talking about commitment.
* My kicks telegraph my intentions too easily, which often gets me taken down.
Stop kicking from FFD. The general goal is to get your feet behind his feet. And never stop moving. Your friend will hate it.
And always control/overwhelm his arms as you come in.
* Is there a specific strategy against "soft" martial arts?
No. There is no such strategy. You just have to learn that stuff yourself. If you want a quick "in" then find someone who is good at tai chi "double push hands". Careful, lots of frauds and fakes and stupid new age types out there.
If you find someone who will teach you that and practice with you, then a year of an hour a day will make you pretty much an unpinnable ghost. If you find someone, tell me and i will write you up some notes on what you should be learning (see if he is a fraud). You can also look for a video from the 1980s on push hands by the much-maligned Erle Montagu (RIP) doing push hands on top of a building in Sydney. Again, I can send you notes.
Note in this connection how that the soft styles of kungfu have no "how to get out of a headlock" training bcs 1) instead they train "how to never let anyone put you into that position" 2) instead they apply general principles rather than specific tactics can get you out of those types of things.
* It doesn't seem like he's outclassing me in physical conditioning or reaction speed, but more of him letting me injure myself by "not being there".
The Chinese internal martial arts are a fucking freak show. At the top levels they are so advanced it makes the western stuff look like a complete joke. But you'll rarely see it. My teacher in Hong Kong, a very senior kung fu establishment guy well known across China, once showed my some incredible cell phone video he had of triad bodyguard training in Taiwan. Man, gi-fucking-gantic Chinese guy who moved with such force and power but at the same time lightfooted as a gazelle. Unfortunately it was kind of his private kung fu porn collection and he wouldn't give me a copy. Scary impressive.
About some things the chinese are extraordinary perfectionists.