We had a slightly shorter warm-up last night in chin na class. After that we rolled into the locks. There were two new people in class last night. They appear to be a father and son who have decided to try the kung fu and the chin na. So the newbie group was fairly big.
We taught them wrap hands I and II which was good review for me. In addition these guy were very thick and beefy. In fact their wrists are at least two of mine! So getting the locks to work on them was a challenge. We then reviewed butterfly bores and after that taught them white crane twists its neck.
The big thing I learned last night is that there are five finger chin na that are all related:
- WC nods head
- WC twists its neck
- Lift elbow to break wing (not learned yet)
- Hands embrace guitar (not learned yet)
- WC covers its wings
I will say that WC twists works on beefy guys. Fingers are small and if you know how to lever them size matters not. The main lesson centered on flow and WC twists was used as the illustration: Namely that after a couple years of practicing these five you get to the point that you can transition from one to the next. Why is this important? Say you don’t get WC twists locked in, the opponent pulls up, or he drops his elbow. As long as you have those fingers and understand their shoulder and elbow position in relation to your grip, you have one of five techniques that you could potentially use.
I’m too tired and rushed to look for a video today. However, one of DJR’s latest posts sorta gets at what I’m trying to illustrate here. Notice how they flow from defense to offense to defense using a series of techniques? Kinda the same thing with these five chin na techniques. They can all be used offensively but they are also counters to whatever your attacker may pull off.
Other lessons? Uprooting, getting out of the line of fire, and the “kill shot”. As we get better at chin na we need to think about uprooting our attackers so we can’t be punched–you can’t punch from an unstable base. Related to this is stepping off to the side so your opponent has to at least punch across their body. Finally, the “kill shot” exists in every technique and it’s your window to strike if you are using chin na to distract.
Chin na is a good place to be for the next 1 – 3 years. There are five levels of locks with three certification exams: Beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Getting through all three tests takes five years. My goal is to pass out of beginner then see what’s on the horizon.
If we end up staying in the area I may have to look for the next art. I have a short list of arts I’d love to try but most of them are not offered around here:
- Japanese Jujitsu
- Small circle jujitsu
- Hapkido
- Jeet Kune Do (or some reality varriant)
- Certain styles of kung fu (e.g., Wing Chun, Hung Gar, etc.)
- Certain styles of karate if they better incorporate some sort of grappling
I guess we shall see. Anyhow, I’ll close with a video that’s kinda fun watch. It’s Praying Mantis vs. Hung Gar kung fu. There’s a maxim that we repeat in taekwondo: Every block is a strike. Well Hung Gar is a hard style that teaches that same concept.
(They guy with no shirt is the Hung Gar dude.)
~BCP
