Understanding Rhythm and Broken Rhythm in Sparring by Badger Johnson

I’ve talked in other essays about the use of music and tempo and time, and the use of beats to augment your martial arts training. Someone was asking me what the concept of ‘broken-rhythm’ meant. They said that Bruce Lee was actually listening to ‘weird’ Indian and maybe African music with headphones and trying to use that to give him an advantage. Then they said that Joe Lewis, his partner and student back in the day, and a tournament and early full-contact European and American kickboxer champion said that Bruce Lee was a master of broken-rhythm.

To clarify I said that the first kind of training learning unconventional musical beats was not the same thing as Joe Lewis was talking about. To simplify I said that the first kind was ‘internal broken rhythm’ in which you would be trying to move in a way that was not ‘standard’, or the convention beat of say 1-2, or 1-2-3-4, which we see in typical music, but was trying for a non-standard type. The second type involved a person finding the opponent’s rhythm or beat and following it for a short period then ‘breaking their rhythm’.

What is Internal Broken Rhythm?

For simplicity's sake you could say the first type was Internal Broken Rhythm, and the second type was External Broken Rhythm. Both are equally important methods but to understand them it’s better to explain each one separately.

The use of 'unconventional' or unusual beats in music is a way to give a person/fighter a library of internal beats in addition to his normal standard way of moving. In music we have a number of different notes and rests of different duration and other elements, such as grace notes, and triplets, which are 'off the beat' or 'insertions' or moves or rhythms which are between the normal beats.

We also have things like long beats and staccato beats. By adding to your internal repertoire or library you can then almost 'hum along' and use that internal song to guide your external movement and footwork. In Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) they make use of 'insertions' inside an already non-simple way of moving their stick(s) so that while the opponent is following their sticks, they are adroit enough to put in between their strikes or parries, a quick insertion, deluding, or eluding their attempt to follow, or parry and thus gain a 'hit'.

This is what Bruce Lee was trying to do. You can google 'grace notes' for a better explanation if you don't understand the musical notation or subsequent movement. One of the great ways that FMA can work to 'defeat' a typical eastern or western martial art is that they tend to follow a triplet or 'three-in-one' beat, while typical martial arts in the past at least followed a one-two-three-four or in music, 'standard time'. This move to a non-synchronous three-beat follows somewhat 'in between' the beats of standard time and essentially can 'get there’ (to the target) first.

The .gif below is a pretty good example of ‘Internal Broken Rhythm’ (IBR) in Return of the Dragon. Look near the end of the .gif just after Bruce Lee does a low leg check kick. Just before he follows with a high kick watch his right hand. He does three quick, though slight hand movements. This is a pretty good indication that he’s doing a triplet count in his head to subdivide the beat and initiate the kick to the head on an odd beat (maybe on three or five of six ‘beats’).

Another advantage to IBR is that it allows you to move 'faster' than someone doing 'standard time' even if that standard time is already fast. If you go 1-and 2 and I go 1-and-a-2, then you have two movements and I have three counts. So you might be playing an internal 'song' of 1-2-3-4, and I'm doing '123-123-123-123' on each downbeat (triplets) which is the Filipino timing in Sinawali (which means 'weaving' in Filipino), and you see here you can have an opportunity for two insertions or a parry and an insertion to each of your opponent's single 'beats' which they would perceive as faster and also a bit confusing to them as they struggle to keep up but even if already moving quickly will be, for a moment, behind the beat and thus miss a parry and get hit.

What is External Broken Rhythm?

The other type (Joe's reference) of "Broken rhythm" or what I’m calling external broken rhythm is the visible movement and footwork and then changing that and attacking in a way to try to find the opponent's 'natural rhythm' and then kind of follow it so that you're almost 'taking turns' as you see in a lot of dojo sparring or a ‘match’, then suddenly, using various changes ups, you 'break the opponent's rhythm' and get them on the wrong foot or moving the wrong way or get inside their movement, allows you to 'score' while they are caught up in their natural rhythm. Those might include a ‘stutter step’, a switch step, a switch kick and things of that nature. Bruce Lee was a master of this using his understanding of the way people move.

The .gif below is an example of ‘External Broken Rhythm’, in that Bruce Lee has timed Bob Wall’s own rhythm and is waiting or timing an ‘insertion’ or ‘interruption’ (a type of interception that his style is based upon), and as Bob initiates, Bruce Lee is ‘spring loaded’ to land his kick as Bob squares up, proving a good target, and getting a direct and solid hit.

How do we use this in practice?

To give a quick how-to addition to the topic of 'Internal Broken Rhythm', if you go to the workout area and throw some light strikes while humming a waltz, which is ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, (emphasis on the first beat is a waltz beat), then suddenly change your internal 'song' or tune you're humming to a Jazz tune or another type which might be 'ah-One-ah-Two-ah-Three' and put in a quick little flick before the previous 1-2-3 you'll find an 'insertion'.

Layering all these concepts lead to his impression of extremely fast speed

So I suspect what Bruce Lee was doing to seem 'super-fast' and able to get in his technique, is he was combining (with his natural speed advantage and use of 'non-intention' speed and MPH speed, and non-telegraphic speed), moving while humming an internal tune which was so 'strange' or unconventional to the normal person doing a waltz or a standard 1-2-3-4 beat internal rhythm that they just could not keep up. When he combined this with his natural ability to break your rhythm using footwork and timing and being able to see what you were likely to do next, he not only had you at speed and rhythm, he also had you on the 'wrong foot' as well. No wonder his student-opponents’ would be flummoxed. (See my other essays on what non-intention speed is.)

Now consider this, which was ahead of its time, that all of this he was doing was invisible to the student, and I seriously doubt he would explain it quite well enough for them to know what he was doing, let alone learn it themselves, it made him seem truly magical. Yet it's a simple layering of several concepts which can be learned fairly well by an intelligent and dedicated trainer using progression and practice, even solo practice. Even his direct students say that broken rhythm is not understood and I have doubts they understand it themselves (as combination of internal and external broken rhythm, breaking up your own rhythm and also breaking the opponent’s rhythm to your advantage).

One very common method of seeing external broken rhythm was Muhammad Ali's 'Ali-shuffle'. This was not used to showboat, but was use to distract and to break the opponent's rhythm, because the opponent could not tell when he was going to 'break out of the shuffle and throw a strike, but it also increased his internal 'hummed rhythm' so he was on super-speed and got in as an 'insertion'.

Muhammad Ali demonstrates his "Ali Shuffle" for Wilt Chamberlin

As advanced as it was, I think that if Ali had 'hired' Bruce Lee as a trainer, and Lee was willing to tell him about internal and external broken rhythm (which I think Ali did almost naturally, not as an intellectually derived plan), and was willing to explain non-intention and non-telegraphic movement that he could have made Ali even better. However, at the time, these were all closely guarded secrets for Bruce Lee. He did let out the 'name' broken rhythm, because that was an already known subject, but he didn't really explain it in depth as I just did above.

It also explains why Bruce Lee was not terribly "interested" when Dan Inosanto introduced him to FMA and tried to sell him on the sticks, since Lee was already doing triple times and insertions and had learned it on his own, so FMA didn't really have a huge amount of new stuff there to teach him. He did use double sticks, but he did it his own way which did look a little like the FMA methods anyway. I would hasten to add that FMA is not just about timing and insertions. I'm just talking about that aspect for brevity. Bruce Lee would have looked at it for the cinematic and screen-fighting aspects and thus found it nice to have Dan Inosanto represent an aspect (single stick and long and short) Filipino martial arts in Game of Death. Bruce again uses a lot of broken rhythm in his match against Dan’s character, and even Bruce’s character’s weapon (the wikit stick) can move so much faster and unpredictably that it incorporates an innate capability to break rhythm.

© Badger A Johnson

September 20, 2020

For StickGrappler’s blog

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Please check out Badger Johnson's other essays:

• A Martial Framework
• How To Exceed Your Plateaus
• Adding to Arnold's Six Principles of Success
• 10 Tips on how to analyze a martial art for effectiveness
• "To be a master is very different from being an expert."
• Addendum, Clarification and Expansion of Paul Vunak's Fighting Secrets
• Expanded Ways of Attack
• "Fifty Important Elements in Martial Arts"
• Can Trapping Work?
• The Genesis and Development of Zone Theory
• A few aspects of self-defense training
• Some of the important ten things…
• Over-speed Training - Accessing the Subconscious and the Power of Threes
• Coaching, self-coaching, talent, experience, genetics, opportunity, motivation
• Thresholding
• "I'd Like to Teach the World to Dance"
• Some thoughts today
• "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" 
• Beyond Martial Skills
• Some of the Major Misconceptions or Fallacies of JKD 
• How Bruce Lee may have improved skill using biofeedback 
• The Art of Fighting Without Fighting   
• Not Martial Trained, But Fighting Fit
• Against One Who Scares Us
• What Bruce Lee Taught Us 
• What is Mobile Kicking? 
• Fighting Fit Part 2 - The Seven Essentials 
• How Bruce Lee Trained His Quick Kill 
• Seeing Deeply - the Method and Intangibles 
• Big Picture - Training Martial Arts and Self-Defense 

Read More

What Bruce Lee Taught Us by Badger Johnson

What BL taught us.

Development of short power, with the one and three inch punch. Studied Jack Dempsey and his drop-shift. Knew that the key element of patterns was incorporating the body energy or ground-path and not just arm strength, though didn’t say explicitly. However, also discovered a method of bringing short power just by over development of the forearm muscles and the wrist tilt punch.

Went beyond aphorisms, and flowery sayings, though he did include many from Krishnamurti and Zen sayings. Basically he was one of the first to relate deeper thoughts to personal combat. Others offered thoughts about military goals and tactics or mass combat, like Musashi’s Book of Five Rings and Sun Tzu’s Art of War, but not specifically personal combat.

Emphasized suddenness over sheer strength. Kinetic energy = 1/2 mv² - meaning the mass is much less significant than the velocity.

How to make weak things stronger especially those which are weak even on strong men. Upper back muscles, obliques, forearms, neck, abs, calves. He specifically worked on the bridge arm muscles allowing him to keep his arm raised and not pushed down.

Helped us understand how to analyze what’s important rather than what is showy, though didn’t say how explicitly. Emphasized the individual finding their best methods and abilities.

That hardening a body part is not the apex of MA. Better to harden a body system, such as wrist and forearm power.

It was fairly obvious that he was trying to think outside the box and to see outside the box.

Helps show us the path to self-coaching. Prompted people to analyze their own strengths and weaknesses, and to understand their limitations.

Mentally and physically explained how the build up was like a pyramid, with a base layer and a diamond-like pinnacle. Each level required the build up of the previous level, ending in a sharp point, beyond what might be possible without base building.

Adding nutrition and weight training and cross training even more than it was emphasized before.

How to find the best in other systems and then incorporate into your system.

He was not successful in getting across the ‘my forte may not be your forte’ - people just wanted to copy him.

Rather than tell us outright his secrets he dropped hints which made it worth looking deeper. Sometimes it’s better to hint than to just tell everything. IF you tell everything people undervalue it.

Concepts like ‘Fighting Without Fighting’, ‘Absorb What Is Useful’, ‘Having No Limitation As Limitation’, and other Zen-like sayings were incorporated into the body of knowledge for people to look more deeply into, giving the method more profound implications, and not just a gymnastic routine. (see the essay about the concept of Fighting Without Fighting)

Some sayings such as ‘Empty Your Cup’ are well-known but were not necessarily applied to combat. ”Obey the principles without being bound by them.” is also a good one, showing that to become great one must follow the principles, then, at the top levels of skill, ultimately break them. Interestingly some of his sayings change as one grows in mastery. ‘Hacking Away at the Non-essential’ may have a different meaning to beginners than to those with higher skill.

While others were saying to look for hidden meaning in fixed patterns he said ‘The truth is outside all fixed patterns’.

One thing that it’s important to do is not just to repeat his sayings but delve into the meaning, origin and deeper levels of the concept.

He figured out how to incorporate things like non-telegraphic action, non-intention movement into his fighting style, and using the ‘fast close’, make them actually work in practice. How do you do non-intention? You catch yourself doing a non-intention move and then reverse engineer it, and break it down for study. You can’t ‘intend’ to do non-intention. Once you have non-intention capability, you can then begin to predict or anticipate others’ movements before they themselves realize they’re doing them. This is one of the basis for ‘Attack by Drawing’ tactics.

He brought several fencing concepts into combat, among them, the ‘Five Ways of Attack’. He should have said “there may be more ways of attack than just five but you have to find them”. (see the essay on ‘the expansion of the five ways of attack’)

He taught that there were concepts such as “fitting in” to the opponent’s moves, not just opposing them. He emphasized the need for various types of broken rhythm, timing and tempo. You don’t use broken rhythm you break the opponent’s rhythm.

Not normally mentioned was that he had the concept of stage presentation or stage magic, or setting up the opponent to fail and himself to succeed. He used this whenever possible to give him a better than even chance to effect his moves and concepts. Such things even work in actual conflict, for example putting the Sun at your back and putting the glare into the opponent’s vision.

In movies, went from the endless superficial blocking and parrying to dynamic short fights.

Concept of how to go from zero to sixty in aggression or the use of a kill word and use of self-hypnosis to access the subconscious.

Realized that hardening body parts is worthless without a delivery system. You may have a hand grenade but if you can’t deliver it to the target it’s not worth much.

May have realized, though didn’t say directly, that aliveness, i.e. footwork, timing, resistance and energy were important aspects to have and to train. He did talk about all of them though didn’t give an overall concept.

He realized that for him his talent may have been in fighting but it’s not a very good way (at the time) to make a living so he went into films, instead. The lesson here is that being obsessed with fighting or combat or self-defense is kind of a ‘trap’. You can only sustain your edge or prowess or alertness for a short time. A fighter’s life-span is limited. Using a ‘firing solution’ (striking or engaging) is one of the last best options one should use to resolve conflict.

A few things he had not yet developed:

1. Grappling flow and ground fighting flow - his grappling method was more of a collection of tricks than an understanding of rolling and guard and mount.

2. Mobile kicking - he didn’t have a complete concept for ‘mobile kicking’ which is using ‘unweighting’ and a high chamber position to bridge the gap. There is a sequence in Return of the Dragon where he bridges the gap using a short skip step against Bob Wall. But he doesn’t conceptualize this in his writings. Though he only gains a few inches with that kick it uses the principle of dynamic chambering and unweighting to close the gap and land the technique. I don't believe he understood it as a 'concept' since he had not incorporated it into his other kicks and was still doing the step up and chamber which is intrinsically slower.

Real-time of the 4 kicks in this scene

Slow motion on the initiation of the 1st, 2nd and 4th kicks

3. Transitions - may have had entering to trapping to grappling but not so much a concept of grip fighting, pummeling and sprawl. He had not fully incorporated the various methods of wrestling take-downs.

4. Did he have an understanding of or a method of testing for durability, or resistance to punishment? We don’t know if BL had a good chin or was fragile. He had small bones and a small frame.

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Please check out Badger Johnson's other essays:

• A Martial Framework
• How To Exceed Your Plateaus
• Adding to Arnold's Six Principles of Success
• 10 Tips on how to analyze a martial art for effectiveness
• "To be a master is very different from being an expert."
• Addendum, Clarification and Expansion of Paul Vunak's Fighting Secrets
• Expanded Ways of Attack
• "Fifty Important Elements in Martial Arts"
• Can Trapping Work?
• The Genesis and Development of Zone Theory
• A few aspects of self-defense training
• Some of the important ten things…
• Over-speed Training - Accessing the Subconscious and the Power of Threes
• Coaching, self-coaching, talent, experience, genetics, opportunity, motivation
• Thresholding
• "I'd Like to Teach the World to Dance"
• Some thoughts today
• "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" 
• Beyond Martial Skills
• Some of the Major Misconceptions or Fallacies of JKD 
• How Bruce Lee may have improved skill using biofeedback 
• The Art of Fighting Without Fighting   
• Not Martial Trained, But Fighting Fit
• Against One Who Scares Us

Read More

"Fifty Important Elements in Martial Arts" by Badger Johnson

Fifty Important Elements in Martial Arts

01. Air sense - Knowing where your body is in 3-D space. Learned in tumbling, springboard diving, spinning in dance, pivoting in broken field running.

02. Ground sense - Knowing how to unbalance the opponent in top control, how to prevent being swept when in top control. Using the x-guard with up-kicks. Training shrimping, various escapes and rolling to a better position.

03. Contact reflexes - Using various flow drills to learn to coordinate hand movements. Using beats and binds.

04. Understanding ‘aliveness’ - Using footwork, energy and resistance in training, avoiding the static, pushing the dynamic, learning pressure and negative pressure (attack by drawing).

05. Understanding delivery systems - This is the framework used for applying the moves, defenses and attacks in a particular range. Mobility, efficient guard, methods of application. Applies to many areas of self-improvement. Development requires a strong purpose or desire. Includes the essential methods of training.

06. Cardio base training – This the basis for emotional content, intensity and ferocity. I discovered that the basis of high intensity flow is derived from being able to sustain an effort, to surge, to actively recover between surges. Otherwise, after a surge you have a fade.

07. Understanding training zones - Including active recovery, burst, tempo. You have to have experience in all the training zones. Based on Heart Rate max and perceived effort.

o 60 % effort - basic active recovery

o 70% effort - easy

o 80% effort - tempo

o 90% effort - lactic threshold - feeling of pressure, but sustainable

o 95% effort - VO2max training zone - sustainable for 30-40 seconds

o 100% effort - Neuromuscular / Burst and 100% plus effort - sustainable for 15 seconds

08. Strength development – Making areas that are normally weak even in strong individuals strength in grip, forearms, neck, abs, posterior chain, calves, hamstrings (retracting), triceps (jabs), jaw muscles (taking a punch). Mainly involved in maintaining defensive structure and posture, on the ground, head up, issuing power from short chamber position, retracting the weapon, gripping the weapon, grip fighting, resisting a punch (medicine ball training).

09. Fast eyes - Understanding and familiarity with all the ranges - having experience in all the major alive arts allowing nearly instantaneous deconstruction of movement as it happens.

10. Conceptual speed - Feeling of being in the zone, lost in the movement, lack of conscious control; (instinctive flow).

11. Short power development - Since it’s important to be able to strike from where you are, without chambering, development of short power is needed. A ripple or pulse from the hips, closing a fist, shaking the shoulders, sudden inclination or twisting.

12. Ground path power - Being able to ‘sit down’ into an attack, limiting rebound, transmitting all energy into the target. An example is slamming straight of the rear leg all the way up to the forearm and the wrist tilt punch, directing the energy up into the target limiting rebound.

13. Eyes wide open - When sparring, there is a natural tendency is to close the eyes when punched. Through use of training gear, goggles, helmet. Practice keeping eyes open until it eliminates the grimacing reflex.

14. Comfort in Bleeding - fear of seeing one’s own blood, losing the desire to resist or contend at the sight of blood, touching the face, being worried about blood loss. All these need to be controlled.

15. Seeing tells - Developing fakes and feints is important. Part of being able to do fakes and feints is knowing what tells are seen. Pulling back the fist, clenching the fist, face turning red, face turning white.

16. Insertions - Through rhythm and timing developing the ability to insert a technique on the half-beat, though an opening. Developed primarily though Sinawali.

17. Broken rhythm. Attacking into the opponent’s attacks, at start, during development, at the extension. Getting the opponent’s timing and subdividing their beat. In fencing ‘counter time’ is an attack that responds to the opponent’s counter-attack.

18. Footwork – Various methods include penetration step, fencing lunge on heel, krabi-krabong walking step, boxing sidestep. Manipulation of your center of gravity puts you in advantageous positions.

19. Waist bending - Fade away, bob and weave, and other evasive moves done “in the pocket”.

20. Ground flow in grappling - Ability to sense and anticipate the opponents’ moves, using landmarks and proprioceptive senses. When pulled, add energy to unbalance. Ability to unbalance from bottom control. Slow rolling.

21. Active anticipation in grappling - Luring opponent into giving a limb, ducking under and into a collar choke.

22. Grip fighting; wrist control - Wrist control denies the opponent’s attempt to grab. Stripping the grip, gripping to an arm drag, resisting grip being stripped.

23. Wall fighting - Like ground fighting, positional dominance up against a wall or the fence.

24. Ability to relax under pressure - using head or neck control, rubber guard, posture control to prevent posturing up, using various guards, using smothering top control. Closed guard; Open guard; Half-guard; Butterfly guard; Spider guard; X-guard, de La Riva guard; Deep half-guard.

25. Importance of positional dominance over single technique - Single techniques are not guaranteed to work if positional dominance isn’t achieved. In positional dominance you can relatively easily free a limb or technique while preventing a counter attack. With PD, you can flow to neutralize an attempted attack or initiate an attack. There are a few sub-types. Top control, full favor, partial favor, bottom control, partial/full (rubber guard), knee-in-belly top control.

26. Understanding of types of positional control - This includes partial, full, in favor partial, unfavored partial.

27. Use of tools to drive the empty hand. - Learning coordination, reinforcement, augmentation,  training with heavy weapons. Various footwork patterns are developed due to weapons torquing.

28. Developing hand-eye coordination, hand-to-hand coordination. - Through repetition, gaming, anticipation, improving reflexes, paired movement is developed.

29. Having a dominant side game and a non-dominant side game. - Flowing from regular to southpaw stances and positions. Learning escapes from position on both sides. Having both a left and a right lead. Having a footwork game from both sides. Spinning left and right.

30. Ability to develop your own training methods – Methods include self-coaching, identifying needs and developing game plans to accomplish those, using journaling to see progress and predict outcome. Knowing that there’s a 2-week lag in training outcome is key.

31. Specific defense in all zones, - Including C-M boxing, peek-a-boo defense, rubber guard, grip stripping, pulling guard, sprawling, wall fighting, grip fighting.

32. Development of various games. – Methods include slow rolling, slow flowing, stick flow, throwing flow, slow striking flow, crushing top game, binding bottom game, x-guard game, pummeling and collar-tie game.

33. Understanding the limits. - Multiple opponents, situational awareness, ambush, disarms, unarmed against weapons.

34. Understanding performance-based training. – Does not matter if one is doing sport or full contact sparring with gear, the proof is in the ability to perform.

35. Understanding low-attribute-based methods. - Your system must be effective for the weak or the small, and not based on overwhelming by power or strength, which can lead to a stalemate. Use of leverage, position, posture and timing.

36. Mastering the Ego (tapping out).  - Some people get to a certain level, but don’t want to test themselves for fear of having to tap out, or have their methods exposed as not effective in certain ranges. A very hard lesson to learn, perhaps best done in play. Slow rolling, catch-and-release sparring. Letting the opponent bring their A-game, putting yourself in bad positions to start.

37. Rooting out hypocrisy, misconceptions and errors in training. - Sometimes we cling to ineffective methods, and keep repeating things which don’t really work. Sparring with a member of your own gym, not going to train in other gyms, entering as a beginner.

38. How to maximize your training dollar. - Some things just can’t be reliably trained on a continuing basis. High attribute skills deteriorate like ring rust. Learn which training aspects are necessary and sufficient to maintain skill and ability and conditioning and make sure you do those consistently. Consistency and longevity trumps almost all systems and styles.

39. Understanding the use of gear. Using the right gear for the right range to prevent injury. Minimizing gear, essential gear (eye and groin protection). Start out with extra gear, over time, working with familiar opponents, reduce gear and not incur injury is important. Learn what gear should always be used, like eye protection. Don’t be afraid to use gear, especially in certain ranges. Use wrestling ear protection, use mouth-guard and spend the money to get a good one.

40. Learning to set goals. - Set up training goals, set short-term, medium term and long-term goals, set up events to enter, keep a journal and analyze it for trends. Learn how to taper, how to catch a peak.

41. Recognizing and understanding transparency. - Transparency is basically reducing inertia. You don’t want the methods to get in the way of training, you don’t want to incur injuries. Reducing the barriers and thresholds to getting out there, making it less of a conscious decision and just something you do, like going to work is key. If something is giving you trouble, look for ways to make it more flexible, more comfortable, while not reducing effectiveness. Putting brakes and shifters on the handlebars of modern bicycles is an example. Going to clipless pedals which promotes efficiency and energy transfer in the power-train s another.

42. Learning how to conceptualize. – Practice going from the specific to the general, general to the specific. Whenever you’re making a specific concept, at the same time try to step back and generalize. Talking about ‘the enemy’ think in terms of ‘how am I the enemy?’, ‘what are the internal and external enemies?’ When generalizing always look to find specifics.

43. Learn how to build your framework of knowledge and understanding. - Find landmarks. Find disparate things, which share aspects. Look for methods of cross-training. Look at things as having a pyramid structure, find the base and the peak.

44. Learn how to find the fun in training. – Enjoying your training is key. Using gaming, turning work into a game.

45. Learn how to let your opponent bring their “A” game. - All too often we try to repress, win, beat the opponent, but if you do, you won’t learn to broaden your own game. Employ this strategy in personal relationships as well. Always try to apply lessons in life to martial arts and apply martial lessons to normal life.

46. Discover what type of learner you are. - Some people learn better with visual, some hands on, some need the written word. Try different methods. When working with students ask questions about how they learn best. If you can come at a problem from multiple angles, you can finally understand it.

47. Discover how to get optimal feedback. – Methods include video taping yourself, working on equipment, getting a partner’s opinion. One of the hardest things is to see one’s self. Work in a mirror, get video of yourself, think of how you would defeat yourself, to uncover limitations. Know your limitations and work within them, but occasionally set up ways to break out of them.

48. Learn how to journal. - How to keep journaling, what to journal, how to use your journaling. Use of electronic journaling, blogging, tracking diet are all important guidelines and landmarks. Since we only benefit from training down two weeks past, we often forget where we were. With journaling you can look back and spot trends.

49. How to develop power. - The hips, the shoulder, the waist, the forearm, the fist, the environment. One clever way to get power is jumping off the cage. Get a rebounder, jump rope, jump on one foot, skip, dance, tumble, use cables and rubber bands. Heavy hands, towing sleds, pushing sleds are ways to add resistance to normal movements.

50. How to bring out your killer instinct. - Base training with bursts, self-hypnosis, imagery, dramatic music while training, watching videos while training (stationary cycling).

-by Badger Johnson 1-19-2015

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Please check out Badger Johnson's other essays:

• A Martial Framework by Badger Johnson
• How To Exceed Your Plateaus by Badger Johnson
• Adding to Arnold's Six Principles of Success
• Badger Johnson - 10 Tips on how to analyze a martial art for effectiveness
• "To be a master is very different from being an expert." by Badger Johnson
• Addendum, Clarification and Expansion of Paul Vunak's Fighting Secrets by Badger Johnson
• Expanded Ways of Attack by Badger Johnson
• Can Trapping Work?
• The Genesis and Development of Zone Theory
• A few aspects of self-defense training
• Some of the important ten things…
• Over-speed Training - Accessing the Subconscious and the Power of Threes
• Coaching, self-coaching, talent, experience, genetics, opportunity, motivation
• Thresholding
• "I'd Like to Teach the World to Dance"
• Some thoughts today
• "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" 
• Beyond Martial Skills
• Some of the Major Misconceptions or Fallacies of JKD 
• How Bruce Lee may have improved skill using biofeedback 
• The Art of Fighting Without Fighting   
• Not Martial Trained, But Fighting Fit
• Against One Who Scares Us
• What Bruce Lee Taught Us 
• What is Mobile Kicking? 
• Fighting Fit Part 2 - The Seven Essentials 

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NOTE:  My sincerest appreciation for Badger's gracious consent for permission to archive his essay to my site.


Please leave a Comment/Feedback for Badger below.

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Joe Lewis passed away 1 year ago on August 31st, 2012.

Joe Lewis passed away 1 year ago on August 31st, 2012. I missed posting on that date. UGH on me.


Last year's entry:

• IN MEMORY OF: Joe Lewis (March 7, 1944 – August 31, 2012)

 Posting the following article in memory of Joe Lewis.

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How Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do Techniques Revolutionized Joe Lewis’ Karate Training

 by Jerry Beasley

In the summer of 1968, Joe Lewis sold his karate school to friend and fellow champ Chuck Norris. Following the urging of his teacher, Bruce Lee, Joe Lewis had decided on a new career: offering private self-defense lessons to wealthy clients in Los Angeles. To promote the endeavor, Joe Lewis set up demonstrations at UCLA to prove that jeet kune do was superior to classical karate.

The week before a demo was scheduled, Joe Lewis, who’d taken JKD lessons from Bruce Lee since 1967, would pore over the details with his teacher. They’d work out a program to showcase self-defense techniques using Bruce Lee’s protective gear. The day of the demo, Joe Lewis would drive to Bruce Lee’s house to pick him up, then make their way to the UCLA fraternity that was sponsoring that particular event.

Wearing a suit and tie, Bruce Lee would take a seat near the stage, and Joe Lewis would begin by announcing that jeet kune do was superior to other arts. The karateka would run through a series of JKD strikes and kicks against the focus shields Bruce Lee had brought. “He would spend hour after hour training me to be able to show exactly what he wanted people to see,” Joe Lewis recalled.

As part of the demonstration, Joe Lewis would place a phone book against a volunteer’s chest and, using a JKD close-quarters punch, send him flying backward.

At the end of the program, Joe Lewis would don gear and spar with a karate black belt. His purpose was to show how JKD made it easier for him to hit his opponent. With the audience invariably impressed, Joe Lewis would introduce his teacher, and Bruce Lee would take the stage. “I think Bruce liked the idea that I first demonstrated the skills and then told people that he was America’s top teacher,” Lewis said.

Bruce Lee’s Training Sessions

“Bruce and I never sparred in demos or in training—the subject never came up,” Joe Lewis continued. “The only time I ever saw him spar was when he paired up with Danny Inosanto at the 1967 International Karate Championships in Long Beach, California. Both of them wore full-contact protective gear.”

In their workouts, Bruce Lee and Joe Lewis engaged in something that may have been more beneficial than sparring: interaction drills. “They helped me become cognizant of proper distance, timing and rhythm,” Joe Lewis said. “Those are the cornerstones of tactical fighting, but few fighters ever master them. Most instructors have no idea as to the best way to teach students how to use these skills. With rhythm and timing, a fighter can beat a faster or stronger opponent.”

Despite the fact that Bruce Lee seldom sparred, he encouraged his advanced students to do it. “There is nothing better than freestyle sparring in the practice of any combative art,” Bruce Lee once said. “In sparring, you should wear suitable protective gear and go all out. Then you can truly learn the correct timing and distance for the delivery of kicks and punches.”

Bruce Lee was meticulous when it came to teaching his students how to perform those kicks and punches, Joe Lewis said. “Bruce would make sure my hand was in just the right place, my elbow perfectly in line. He had a specific stance that I was to use. I hear people say there’s no technique in jeet kune do, but the way Bruce taught it, there were techniques he expected you to learn.”

One thing the two martial artists never practiced was kata. Bruce Lee wanted his students to understand that “creating fancy forms and classical sets to replace sparring is like trying to wrap and tie a pound of water into a manageable shape [in] a paper sack. For something that is static, fixed or dead, there can be a way or a definite path; but not for anything that is moving and living, like jeet kune do.”

Sparring, Bruce Lee said, “lives in the moment. The highest technique is to have no technique.” Once the fighter steps on the mat, he no longer represents a style. He’s free to adapt and survive—which is exactly what Joe Lewis strived to do.

Learning Footwork and Jeet Kune Do Techniques from Bruce Lee

“When Bruce and I worked together, he wouldn’t use words like strategy or tactic,” Lewis said. “When we would study fight films, he would point out the importance of why a certain principle or strategy was working. For example, when Jack Dempsey, known for his explosiveness, would bridge the gap against an opponent, Bruce would emphasize to me why his trigger squeeze and quickness destroyed his foe’s defenses.”

Joe Lewis claims that Bruce Lee was fond of the concept of relaxed explosiveness. “This principle was one of the keys to why his system worked so well for me,” Joe Lewis said. “I had many opponents tell me after I beat them that I was so fast that they never saw me coming. Some were so overwhelmed that they would ask me what technique I used to hit them because they never saw it coming.”

The secret of his success was his mastery of the skills Bruce Lee taught. Those jeet kune do techniques were conveyed for the most part during weekly Wednesday workouts at Bruce Lee’s house. Being friends, the two spent many weekends socializing, often watching boxing films. “Willie Pep, reputed by many to be pound for pound the best boxer of all time, was the fighter whose footwork Bruce and I would study,” Joe Lewis said.

“[Muhammad] Ali was another master of rhythm,” Lewis added. The boxer’s footwork can be seen in Return of the Dragon, he claims.

Most fighters today would do well to study the footwork of the JKD founder, Joe Lewis said, because the majority of martial artists still fight by attacking straight in and straight upright. “This outdated style of fighting makes you an easy target,” he added. “When you move using good footwork, called ‘rhythm sets,’ you can keep an aggressive opponent contained, set him up and make it difficult to get hit. If you get hit, movement allows you to absorb and dissipate the incoming energy.”

Demonstrating Jeet Kune Do Concepts

Joe Lewis said that Bruce Lee helped him better understand how to conceptualize the facets of fighting, including ring strategy. “Without strategy, a fighter has no way to anchor his concentration of focus and has nothing on which to base [the] timing [of] his trigger squeeze,” Joe Lewis said. “He’s left without any idea as to how he might best set up his opponent or what tactics would work best against him.”

To clarify, he offered an example: “Anyone fighting a taller opponent must know three basics tactics: how to move on the outside; how to fight him from the pocket; and how to line him up, walk him to the ropes and turn him. I work a great deal [on] teaching the cardinal rules of strategy that I learned over many years. Movement and turning—a couple of things I learned from Bruce—are some of the best tricks I’ve used in competition.”

Joe Lewis was the first to teach such principles to sport-karate competitors. It all started when other fighters began ridiculing Joe Lewis for listing Bruce Lee, whom they identified as merely a kung fu practitioner, as his teacher.

Rewind to 1967. Joe Lewis had just signed on as an official student of Bruce Lee’s, and Bruce Lee was ringside at an exhibition match pitting Joe Lewis against top-rated Japanese stylist Tonny Tulleners. “Bruce sat in the front row behind my corner and coached me between rounds,” Joe Lewis said. “That night, I used a double side kick that Bruce and I had drilled on.”

After Joe Lewis won, Bruce Lee said, “That’s the broken-rhythm principle I taught you.” The fighter went on to win the internationals and the Jhoon Rhee Nationals that year.

By the end of 1968, Joe Lewis had mastered the principles of jeet kune do as they applied to sport fighting. At the U.S. Karate Championships in Dallas, Joe Lewis, undefeated in his 10 most recent title fights, prepared to enter the ring. To quell the complaints he often heard about the “kung fu guy” who never competed, Joe Lewis told the promoter that he wanted to give a JKD seminar before the bout so his opponents would know why he was sold on Bruce Lee. Joe Lewis then demonstrated the principle of independent motion and the five angles of attack.

“I taught jeet kune do principles, either directly or through others, to many of the top fighters from the ’60s and ’70s,” Joe Lewis said. “Steve ‘Nasty’ Anderson came from our system. Before he started cleaning house with all the top black belts, he’d won 70 straight brown-belt titles. We knew before we made him a black belt that he was going to be great. He was a master of timing and distancing, two key principles which Bruce encouraged me to perfect.”

Joe Lewis’ Favorite Jeet Kune Do Technique

The JKD principles he learned from Bruce Lee still work in the ring, Joe Lewis said. “The problem today is that many instructors never field-test the material they teach. Most of what’s being taught was created on someone’s desktop or in someone’s mind but was never tested. I was Bruce Lee’s test tube. In 1968, during the peak of our training relationship, I won 11 straight championships.”

Joe Lewis contends that the theories Bruce Lee advocated, including putting one’s power side forward, worked for all three original full-contact champs: Jeff Smith, Bill Wallace and himself. “I won my first kickboxing fight using Bruce Lee’s JKD material with my power side forward,” Joe Lewis said. “Jeff and Bill are both left-handed and based their entire fighting careers on putting their power side—their left side—forward.”

One jeet kune do technique remains Joe Lewis’ favorite: the lead-hand punch. He trained intensively with Bruce Lee for nine months to polish it before he tried it in competition. Back in the 1960s, the lead hand was seldom used in karate competition because it was thought to have insufficient power to effect a “killing blow.” Joe Lewis’ secret entailed retracting his hand as though he was doing a backfist, which prompted referees to label it a back-knuckle strike. “Actually, it’s more like a fencing thrust using the fist,” Joe Lewis said.

Joe Lewis contends that the lead-hand strike, done the way Bruce Lee intended it, is a viable technique for the 21st century, whether you’re sparring in a ring, battling in a cage or defending your life on the street. Like most of the moves Bruce Lee taught, it can give you the edge you need to win no matter where you fight.

(Dr. Jerry Beasley was Black Belt’s 2000 Instructor of the Year. A professor at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, he’s written books about jeet kune do and classical karate.)



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Mobility and the Snap Front Kick by Gerald Moffatt

Mobility and the Snap Front Kick by Gerald Moffatt

Date: 1999/01/10 


I had real trouble posting the previous version and I'm not sure it got through - if this is a repost I apologize. Here's the whole series in one go.

****************************************************************************

Here's another of my mini-series for your delectation and edification. Feedback, questions, comments, critiques, even flames are welcome.

There is a discussion of the Thai-style application of the front and roundhouse kicks in the February issue of Black Belt magazine which, while cursory, is a lot better than most of BB's articles. The article discusses using the lead-leg front kick either to maintain distance or to unbalance, disrupt, and set up the opponent for the powerful Thai roundhouse kick. The article also mentions the occasional use of the rear-leg front kick as a power kick. The Thai form of the lead-leg front kick is usually delivered as a thrust or even just a push - kinda, sorta a leg jab. This can be a very effective way to use the front kick. (As an aside, the article even mentions the cross-body bent-knee Thai roundhouse which lands the shin very roughly horizontally across the opponent's thigh. Great move!) The BB article and the thread on Thai kicks and its digression into oblique kicks made me want to bring up a slightly-unusual application of the good old-fashioned front kick that I think would be more popular if it were better known.

To get started I believe that there are three (rather than two) fundamental ways to deliver a front-kick: the thrust, snap, and (the less-emphasized or well-known) rising/momentum versions. I'm going to continue to neglect the thrust and rising/momentum versions (although I think they are effective) to talk about a particular way to use the snap front kick, mostly from the front leg. This kick is definitely not a finisher, even when repeatedly landed - it is a supplementary technique that must be integrated into a more extensive repertoire of hand, leg and other techniques. But it is a quite effective way to use the lead-leg front kick, especially for light- or middle-weight fighters (or any others who rely heavily on mobility as a fighting strategy). It really frustrates, wears down, breaks the rhythm of, and opens up other fighters.

Enough teasing, here's the core idea: the snap front kick is delivered low with no pause or setup, (potentially) on each and every step, and while constantly moving forward, backward, circling, or sideways (usually off the line), and without breaking off from the opponent. If you fully grasp the implications of using the front kick this way, then you can work out the details for yourself without reading further. Or you can endure the tedium while I expound on and develop the concept.

Before getting into how to apply it, let's look at a few subtleties (well, I think they're subtle) regarding how to do it. The first point is that this kick is delivered below-the-belt targeting belly, balls, thigh, knee, or shin. A second key point is that for the sake of fluidity, rapidity, and mobility there is no chambering - the kick starts from wherever the foot happens to be and the foot travls directly to its target. Yeah, I know there's a downside to this - life's full of tradeoffs. Another fluidity tradeoff is that upper body movement/contortions should be minimal, to avoid both telegraphing and over-commitment. Here's a tricky, but quite important, point: the kick is usually delivered not from an *unweighted* foot but from an *unweighting* foot; the delivery of the kick is coincident with weight transfer done for mobility reasons.

I'm going to give some exercises to develop this type of mobile snap kick starting with a childishly-simple preliminary exercise. (I presume you already know how to do a generic snap front kick.) Stand facing a full-length mirror with your feet together. Snap kick with alternate legs. Return to the original position between kicks. (For now I don't care whether you chamber or not.) Make sure you can't tell whether you are kicking or not by looking at your reflection from the waist up; I don't care how low your kick must be or how much power you must sacrifice to accomplish this. Paradoxically, in many of the exercises that follow, you should almost think in terms of how to make your snap kick weaker rather than stronger; it will help develop the other attributes of the overall technique. Later we'll look at ways to get some power back into the move, but even then it will still remain a sting technique, not a finisher. The value of using the snap kick in the way I'm in the process of describing is (mostly) not from the kick itself but from its synergy with mobility and other blows.

For the next exercise start spread your feet sideways about shoulder-width apart (a bit like an "at-ease" stance). Alternately snap kick with each leg (initially at a slow to moderate tempo) and set each foot back to the original position. Don't chamber (in the sense of bringing the kicking foot over toward the knee of the stationary leg before going forward), not even if you feel as awkward as a duck. And again I don't care how low or weak the kicks have to be. Try also to minimize rocking and tilting of the upper body. Once you get this down try speeding up the tempo (but continue to pay close attention to minimizing upper body tilting, etc.) As you speed up you will start to get the feel of kicking as the kicking foot unweights. And you may notice that the alternation of the weighting also "pre-loads" the supporting foot for the next kick - this is the dynamic part.

Now we're going to add a few additional components to the exercise (there is nothing sacred about the order in which I present them - feel free to combine them in any way that works for you. This next bit is to enhance your feel for the technique - it is not quite how it is used in a fight. Experiment with almost (don't get exaggerated about it) hopping from one foot to the other, still landing the feet in the original positions. As you do, try different amounts of bending at the knee of the leg you land on and then push-off/thrust-up from that leg as you transfer weight to the other leg and kick with the unweighting leg. The thrusting up doesn't stop when you have unweighted the leg - the leg continues to rise and becomes the snap kick all in one continuous motion. You begin to see why we don't chamber the kick. I'll come back in a while to discuss how the thrusting up increases the speed and power of the snap kick (and another way of doing it that's even faster).

Building on the previous exercise which started with your feet spread sideways shoulder-width apart, let's introduce another element. Instead of stepping/hopping from foot to foot as we deliver snap kicks replacing each foot in its original position, this time try for distance, lateral displacement, as you push off each time. The feet no longer land in the original position. Do the move purely sideways at first but eventually add a slight twist/reorientation to face your imaginary stationary opponent. With lateral displacement don't waste energy and telegraph your kicks by bobbing your centre of gravity up and down. The rule of "quiet upper body" still applies. Don't emphasize the leg that steps out - instead still focus on the push-off that will add power to the snap kick. While the kicking foot must come over a little laterally, still don't chamber it.

Next level of the exercise: This time instead of moving your foot purely sideways each time, try sideways and backwards at roughly a 45-degree angle. Experiment with the step, hop, and distance versions (and vary the angle). The 45-degree backwards version is the one most used defensively in sparring or real combat.

Next - this one is tough - try going purely backwards. I'm anticipating a bit here but have a partner help you with this one by coming forward at you (have him adjust his intensity so he doesn't overwhelm you while you're learning). The reason for the partner is that your objective is to maintain (or at least control) the distance between you and the opponent without getting run over or backing off too fast/far and losing contact. The pure backwards version is by far the toughest way to practice this - but if you get it right (and your opponent is not too fast) you should be able to neatly tap him in the belly/balls on each step for two or three moves. (If he's fast you should still land one, maybe two.) The reason you want to maintain distance is that you are not depending on the kick to seriously hurt him but to disrupt his attack and permit you to counterattack at any point. The break in your opponent's rhythm caused by your kick is only momentary - you will only be able to exploit it if you can react immediately, not if you must "re-engage" him. (In the exercise you are not yet counterattacking, but you are training yourself in distance management while highly mobile.) Depending on how much pressure your opponent puts on you, you'll probably spontaneously do the second or third step 45-degrees backwards/sideways rather than straight back.

Now try it stepping forward/sideways at a 45-degree angle. Strictly speaking each snap kick will now be a rear-leg rather than lead-leg one, but don't overpower it. The kicks should still be more flick than power. (Later we'll do it the power way, but for now the emphasis is on fluidity and mobility.) Keep working on various amounts of step, hop, distance, slide, etc. And still emphasize the push-off leg. The push-off and the kick with that same foot should be one seamless integrated move with no hesitation or discontinuity.

Now I suppose, for completeness' sake, you could also do the exercise moving straight forward. I haven't found this variant to be particularly useful. It's hard to push back a powerful (but less mobile) opponent with just flick kicks and you would soon bump into him if he didn't give ground. (Remember, we're the ones favoring mobility.) You will find that the kicks become power shots, which is OK, but isn't the mobility strategy we're working on. (The temptation to use power is particularly strong since the kicks are delivered with the rear leg.)

The next level is fairly obvious - try doing the moves in combinations and sequences, either alone or with a partner. (It all reminds me a bit of a Scots lass doing a sword dance.) From here it starts to get a little hard to describe the nuances, so I'll duck that problem for now while I figure out how to approach it and instead talk about a different aspect.

I've talked a bit about how to deliver the snap front kick, but now I want to say something about how to land it and how to step down. There are three main ways to land the snap front kick: ball of the foot (toes curled back), instep/shin and toe-point. Toepoint is risky in the dojo unless you have "toes of steel" but with shoes that aren't outrageously flimsy, the risk is small and the concentration of force on the target is high. BTW, "toes of steel" can be trained, although it doesn't seem very worthwhile if you mostly wear shoes. Also BTW, the instep can be quite vulnerable to damage even if partially protected by a shoe, although the risk is not so high as to disqualify its use. The ball of the foot is fairly safe and versatile, although you can "snag" or bend back a toe in the dojo and street use can sometimes be limited by the flexibility of your footwear.

The way you prefer to land the snap front kick can affect whether you want to use one other good method of initiating the kick. I've already talked about using a bent leg to push-off the (more-or-less flat) foot both for mobility and to launch the kick. The other method uses the calf muscles to push off and speed the kick. Instead of just pushing off flat-footed, push off with the ball of the foot. The heel leaves the ground first. Any cyclist knows that he would throw away considerable power if he didn't use ankle flexion and extension, so we should use it too. This propulsion method tends to favour the instep or toe-point methods of landing the kick, but I have known those who can use the method with the ball-of-foot striking surface. If you like this propulsive method you can augment it by landing on the ball of your foot and then (almost) setting the heel down before springing into the pushoff/kick. This engages the "stretch reflex" of the calf muscles and really adds speed and power to the kick. The main point is: don't use just your hip flexors (psoas, etc.) to lift the leg in preparation for the snap kick, explosively propel it off the floor by pushing down with the ball-of-foot (calf muscles) and/or extending the leg and "unflexing" the knee (quads, etc.). But, remember, if you do this, you mustn't squander the speed and energy by stalling or hesitating, however briefly, in chamber.

Now for the second half of the kick, the part after it lands. Some people favor actively retracting or snapping back the kick. I don't, at least not the way we're using it for mobility. There's no chamber on the way out and none on the way back. I don't like even a hint of slowness (in mobility, not the kick) from having "retracting" muscles contracted. It's part of the reason I emphasize using less rather than more power when learning. Let the kick hit and recoil/bounce-off passively while the "snap" muscles relax (actually just lose their acute tension). Then (it's continuous, without lag or hesitation) put the foot down wherever you wish it to carry you (it's not just a kick, it's also a step). The "retracting" muscles never get used or tensed, muscles are only used (lightly) to guide the foot to its landing zone on the ground. You should feel very relaxed and loose the whole time you are moving around - the kicks are just little blips or pulses in the smooth flow. Don't sacrifice fluidity to "get set" and deliver more power (you'll only violate this rule when you "shift gears" to seriously counter).

But what good are these flicky kicks? Not much, except they work. Imagine you could land a jab at will to your opponent's face - go even further and imagine it's only a slap but you can always land it. The opponent, in principle, should ignore it and walk right through it. And maybe he would, the second or third time he fights you. But right now he's distracted - the slap is nothing but what if the next one were a bilgee? Or what if the next one were a power punch? This kick is the same kind of thing to his belly or balls. It's hard for him to assess it - he just knows he's open and getting hit and that it's breaking up his attacks on you. If it was the only thing you had you'd be dead meat - but it isn't (at least, I sure hope it isn't). And even though I'm discounting its intensity, in reality, with practice, it hits hard enough that, although not usually a stopper, it sure can't be ignored. The opponent is even more aware than you are that if you "set" and deliver it hard he could take serious damage. And for you, it's great to have an uncertain, hesitant, and frustrated opponent.

Now the mobility and range parts come into it. I'm not going to try to discuss all the mobility aspects, just give some examples so you get the flavour.

I imagine your opponent to be powerful, fairly skilled, but less quick (particularly in footwork) than you. You would be reluctant to fight him in direct opposition (either because of his skill or power) and you will try to fight on the angles. Against such an opponent the main mobility variants will be the sideways and 45-degree sideways/backwards movements. You want to make your lateral moves so he must turn to face you (to bring his centreline to bear). And you want to move again, not once he has lined you up, (and certainly not after) but just as he is lining you up. At the simplest level you can "windshield-wiper" him by repeatedly crossing his centreline to the opposite side. And of course there are those little kicks on each move. (Even some WCers who are used to opponents trying to fight them from the outside lines and who are ready to realign their centrelines, are often not prepared to have to realign so frequently.) Now if you do it this simplistically for too long the opponent will read and time you, so mix up the direction changes, repeats, etc. You will also (unless you are fighting an incompetent) generally have to use your hands to help your disengagements to the outside. The possible hand moves (defensive and offensive) get so complicated, I'm not even going to try to describe them, but they are exceedingly important nonetheless. The problem you want to create for the opponent is never knowing whether to set and pound you or get ready for another movement. Even though the opponent is the aggressor and chasing you, you are in control, because with respect to mobility, you are the actor/initiator and he is the re-actor.

You are avoiding the opponent (while pecking him with those little kicks) but you are not breaking off. As long as you are emphasizing your mobility (you'll counter later) you don't want to break off or disengage but to always be tantalizingly at slightly the wrong angle or just out-of-reach (or, even better, a little closer, just at the limit of his power). And we're talking his hand power - he can't deliver a kick worth anything unless he sets. If you can lure him into overextending or leaning even slightly your little kicks will really start to hurt.

I talked about moving side-to-side and angling backwards (and there is always pure retreat backwards). Forward angling can have two purposes: getting "past" him so it takes a large-angle turn for him to realign his centreline (feel free to punch him once or twice while he's doing this - the "light" counter), or delivering the power kick/knee (or maybe big punch) surprise heavy counter. This is the safest position from which to deliver your big counterattack. But you can also counter on the other angles by uncharacteristically and unpredictably "setting" and delivering a combination (hand and/or foot) - don't stay too long or stop to admire your work - and immediately resume the mobility game. You must set, deliver your combo, and then move off just as he's bringing his heavy guns to bear. Easy to describe, but it takes a lot of experience not to tarry too long.

Up to now I've talked as if you snap kick on every move and that's exactly the way you should do it in solo and partner practice and in sparring the first few hundred times. I joke, but the point is that only when you feel you could kick on every move (even if pressed by a formidable opponent) should you permit yourself sometimes not to. It's not just for the sake of always being able to kick - you will have trained yourself in lightness of foot and mobility. You will never feel as though you are trapped (even briefly) with your weight on the wrong leg pinning you to the floor, while some heavy-hitter unloads on you.

To close this series out I'm going to touch on a pot-pourri of topics.

The first is broken rhythm. At the simplest level this consists in making each step-and-kick in a varying tempo, such as 1…2…3…4,5…6…7,8…9 etc. Now here's the tricky part, even for such a simple scheme. Since the opponent is generally attacking while you are moving, the opponent may set the basic timing rather than you. But even if he sets the rhythm you can break it by occasionally doing a double beat, beat-and-a-half, etc. If you're even slicker, you can attempt to take over the primary rhythm - since the opponent is the aggressor this takes considerable finesse. It's sort of like leading when dancing.

The other way you can break the rhythm as well as punish him is by occasionally setting and delivering a power combination. In terms of footwork rhythm this is nearly equivalent to a musical full stop (even if it involves a kick or two).

Now I'm going to ignore hand combinations and hand/foot combinations to talk just about the more limited (but hopefully more manageable) topic of integrating power kicks into the process. When using the lead-leg snap front kick for mobility the rear leg is generally available as a power followup instead of just continuing with flick kicks. The threat of a power kick followup to the flicky snap kicks is one consideration that prevents the opponent from throwing caution to the winds when turning to face us or chase us. And while the power kick can be a front kick (snap, thrust, or momentum) it doesn't have to be - for instance, a Thai round kick also works well. The 1-2 foot combination is analogous to a hand combo of jab/straight or jab/cross.

But there can be some problems with distance management when integrating power front kicks from the rear leg - if you have maintained contact during your maneuvers, you may be just a little too close. I find that power knees are often the better choice. However, the distance may still be too far for a rising knee. The knee strikes that seem to work best are the forward-thrusting knee and the roundhouse knee. These are especially good choices when you do a forward-sideways step as a counterattack rather than for pure mobility. (And usually don't stop with a singleton knee kick - if you land a hard one go to plum position and give him a few more. Maybe throw in a few elbows for good measure. Then - if he isn't finished - push out, but don't lose contact, and resume the mobility game.)

I want to talk about one footwork move that integrates beautifully into the snap-kick mobility strategy (although it also has many other applications): the scissors lead-leg change. The basic mechanics of the scissors step are simple - from, say, a front stance, change leads by simultaneously moving each leg, landing in a front stance with opposite lead. On completion you have moved neither forward or backward. Try to be light and smooth, and just skim above the floor, without too much up-and-down bobbing of the upper body when you unweight. This move has a lot of uses, such as, changing leads for mobility (e.g., to circle in the opposite direction), retracting the lead leg from a roundhouse kick (or a shoot), or setting up an "instant-return" power kick (front, round, or knee) from the rear (former lead) leg. (And there are even some good wrestling moves based on it.) There are any number of other footwork moves that also work well with mobility, but I don't want to digress into a general discussion of footwork and kick setups.

We'll end with one modification of the lead-leg snap front kick for use at closer than ideal range. To deliver a snap front kick close, really curl your whole back (curl - don't lean back and don't bend forward either) and tilt your pelvis up while bringing your knee high and close to your chest (actually it's not this exaggerated - I'm giving a training description). It feels almost as if you were trying to curl your pubis up to your chin, rather than your chin forward or down. The lift of the knee is not so much to target the kick high on the opponent but to fold the knee a bit more tightly when the opponent is just a little closer than optimum (if he's definitely too close, you're asking to be jammed or dumped on your ass by trying this.) Because of the curl of your back your hands can continue to engage the opponent's and there is not that much telegraphing. (Some telegraphing is unavoidable, but it's way less than if you lean forward or back. Distracting the opponent by keeping his hands busy definitely helps). My personal "feel" for the right range is about when my and my opponent's slightly-bent lead arm would just cross. No chambering and don't hesitate or "pose" with your knee high - the foot accelerates directly from floor to target. Try kicking a wall, progressively inching closer each time, in order to initially "tune" the technique in terms of distance, height (and power) - afterwards refine it with a partner.

Some day I'll describe how to (try to) thwart the snap-front-kick mobility strategy, but for now I'm done.


Regards,
Gerald Moffatt

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NOTES:

• Posted to Usenet's newsgroup rec.martial-arts. Archived with kind permission.
• Posted 10/16/13 as of  4/11/02 mirroring http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/rma/gmkick.html
• There were 1,980 pageviews of this entry on my old archives site

Please check out 2 other articles by Gerald Moffatt:

1. Headbutts or How to be a Nutter by Gerald Moffatt
2. Iron Palm - A Simplified Method by Gerald Moffatt

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