I'm in a Grapplin' Kinda Mood

Entries for an osoto gari-type takedown on the wooden dummy

Ever since my attempt to learn the sam jei guan (three-sectioned staff) set from Yau Kung Mun, I've been in a grappling state of mind.

That set has two rollouts in it. True, I hadn't practiced them in years, but I figured "What the hell." I did them enough in my teens and twenties that it shouldn't be any problem.

Being laid up with a bum shoulder for several days got me thinking I needed to get back to the basics.

Since the start of this week, I've been doing the maki komis (entries for throws) using my old obi (judo belt) tied around my heavy bag. I'm getting a hell of a core workout from it. I've also been using my mat for something other than stretching.

Today, I warmed up with two sets of 25 maki komis, doing the ippon seio nage (shoulder throw) and the koshi garuma. I settled down with a full-body stretch before getting back into some more entries on the o-goshi (hip throw).

I ran through some Ly Jik Bo before moving onto the wooden dummy. I started out with some trapping drills, working up to some combinations. But for some reason, everything just naturally seemed to end in a takedown. I'd do a chi sao roll, then pak, lap, tan or kan sao a dummy arm while hitting with the other hand, then use the hitting hand to block or grab while I hit with the other.

This went on, always keeping a check on the dummy arm while hitting with my free hand. After three or four hits, I'd move in with a takedown involving a sweep, stomp or kick to the dummy leg.

I've never been one to make it as a pure grappler. But I can make grappling work if I soften up the other guy by hitting him. That seemed to be my strategy with the dummy today.

It gave me a lot to think about, like whether I could use this in chi sao competition. But I didn't take too much time for rest. I took the old bag-of-beebees and worked my grip by throwing it up, hitting it with a claw and catching it. I hadn't done it much lately, but I still eked out the traditional 108.

I closed with a variation of a sweep drill, combining methods from judo and shuai jiao. Stepping around the mat, I would sweep with one foot while pretending to pull someone down with my hands. But instead of doing it empty-handed, as judokas will do it, I doubled up my obi, took each end and snapped it as I did a sweep, to simulate violently pulling someone to one of his off-balance points.

It was a helluvan isometric workout. I had to do my 108 reps in two sets.

My shoulders and lats hate me now.

Getting Back to Basics

"You can't take a shower just pouring water on your body. You also have to use some kind of soap. The soap you use in this case are mantras, which go between the mind and the body....(But) at a certain point, the mantra becomes a hang-up. It becomes another form of dirt. Like Soap. If you don't rinse it off, soap becomes a hang-up, a problem, extra dirt on your body."

Rinpoche Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Lion's Roar"

It's been said that martial arts can be considered a form of moving zen.

If that's the case, I suspect that forms are a moving mantra. Like a mantra, it can be used to purify yourself, mentally, spiritually and physically.

And as Chogyam Trungpa said of mantras, a kata/kuen/hyung can be something done just out of habit, without any thought going into it. When that happens, your form becomes just another piece of clutter, something dirty for which you need purification.

I've been dealing with that a lot since last week's attempt to relearn the sam jei guan (three-sectioned staff). The form includes two rollouts, something that I first learned more than 30 years ago. I was fortunate that my early Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu teachers included breakfalls and rollouts in their training.

An example of a rollout, done by an aikidoka

But over the years, as with other very basic techniques, it fell by the wayside. I became more interested in learning more and new techniques and forms. As a very sore shoulder taught me last week, without strong basics, you haven't got shit.

During my recovery, I decided that I would make a strong focus on the basics become my focus for summer training. I do things like this from time to time. It's good to change your workout, or some focus in your other health practices, to keep yourself fresh. Just in the past two years, I did a lot more with circuit training, calisthenics and, during Lent, I abstained from red meat.

So between now and when Vitaly returns to school, I'll be doing some heavy conditioning combined with sheer repetitions of basic techniques and short combinations. The combinations I practice will consist of both combos that I create as well as short sections from the forms I know.

But I will not do any forms.

Today was my first such workout, after spending Monday and Tuesday's training time to clean my kwoon. I warmed up with a full-body stretch and launched right into some strong Wing Chun basics.

I started out with verticle punches, both standing and with a pivot. I repeated those punches on my heavy bag before going into some straight blasts.

Taking a few minutes to do some sweeping, I spent a good half-hour on my favorite training aid, the wooden dummy. I started my practice on that with some huen sao (circling hands) practice, with various pivots. I also worked on some techniques from chi sao (sticky hands) practice doing, sparking in with the pak sao da (palm block and punch).

Huen sao (circling hands) practice on the dummy

Drawing and improvising from the wooden dummy set, I did 10 runs each of the first two sections. To keep myself fresh, I added some pak sao da's, lap sao da's and elbow strikes after each tan sao(palm up block)/palm strike combination.

So I basically just did a technique I've done thousands of times and added some overkill to it. I don't believe in seeking out trouble. I go to great lengths to avoid violence. The fact that I don't drink anymore has more to do with avoiding violence than with any health concerns.

But when trouble does find me, I want to be ready to end it quickly and efficiently as possible.

Since I wanted to include some weapons work with my training schedule, I did a couple dozen runs of some blocking, thrusting and circling moves, taken from the Luk Hup Guan staff set of Yau Kung Mun.

I closed with a couple of sets of pushups and crunches.