the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

How does your art use waves and spirals to link together techniques? A typical sequence of techniques could include entering/defense -> strike -> takedown/joint destruction.

I've been watching a lot of applications videos lately, and I find that the guys I like tend to one continuous movement to link together several sub-movements that accomplish the act of defending and attacking. While these sub-movements could be very quick and distinct, there is an overall smoothness to the overarching movement--which tends to come in the form of a wave or spiral--such that the entire action (from defense to finishing) is smooth & continuous, with each sub-movement/technique flowing smoothly out of the large movement.

How do you use waves & spirals to link together techniques? How does your style use waves & spirals to generate power? To defend? I'm talking about general strategy as well as specific examples.

Thanks.

So like, to me, this has a lot to do with dantian movement. The whole body rotates about an axis or a point in virtually any direction. One rotation can easily link to another rotation on a different plane. Think of the #1 and #2 angles from Filipino stick fighting: you can link these angles together in a smooth and continuous spiral, endlessly, like swinging a weapon in a figure eight on either side of you. If you are more of a systema guy, this should be bread and butter. Please share your insights from training outside the CMA box. Once the dantian is a-rotating, feet, fists, any weapons can come into play. The momentum from the overall body movement can be taken and isolated and accelerated into a mini-wave for a quick movement such as a strike.


Just use this image as a guide for the angles, as if always facing the opponent head on.

Examples:

Taijiquan - Chen style - Jin Gang Dao Dui, simplified - rotate along angle #11 and raise hands, rotate along angle #4 and rotate body, rotate along angle #11 to open & then close as you step then transition to angle #5 as you bring right arm up, drop weight and smash along angle #8

Xingyiquan - Hebei - Pi Quan, simplified - from Santi, rotate along angle #3 as you bring lead hand back and turn waist, rotate back along angle #4 as you bring lead hand back forward with Zuan, step forward and execute split along angle #8

Baguazhang - SPC, simplified - from guard with left hand leading kou bu then rotate along angle #3, step out, continue rotating along #3, then along angle #1 (and #3) as you close, angle #12 as you switch hands, angle #8 to finish

We claim that the applications are limitless, but the movement templates are simple. Give us an example of how you go from simple to complex when expressing your styles basic movement chains to specific applications.

In Systema, we use circles, figures 8 and waves. Personally, right now, I find it easier to link techniques with figure 8 trajectories. For example, when punching and doing a figure 8 you can hit 3 different times. Same thing for kicks: a roundhouse kick can become another kick or a takedown after the initial technique.

I mostly use waves for takedowns: if I get a lot of surface in contact with the opponent, the wave will affect his structure along that entire surface.

Just think about vertical, horizontal, and diagonal spirals.

We've got no "techniques" to link, so what you do is determined by what your opponent does, so, at least theoretically*, it should always be one continuous movement. The entire encounter is, at least ideally, one long and irregular wave-spiral.

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* Since I can't become fully empathic with my opponents , one would have to ask them how much of the above is my wishful thinking and how much of it is real.

Hi Dmitri - maybe you have no techniques, but once you have defended you should theoretically be in control. What is your art's strategy/how do you finish?

The strategy, to me, is that you "actively wait" until he makes a "mistake", and then you "amplify" his mistake, which usually (but not always) forces him to make a bigger mistake, etc., etc., like a quick avalanche of his mistakes and your taking advantage of them, until you eventually get a clean and obvious opportunity to hit/throw/lock/whatever.

Of course he might recover from the first one, or you might fail to take advantage of it, in which case you go back to the beginning and "wait" again.

He also might make a really big one from the start, in which case you don't have to "amplify" anything, you've got the opportunity to finish it already.

It may sound like a "slow" game plan, but these "mistakes" and taking advantage of them last a fraction-of-a-second each.

Hope this makes some sense.

I use consecutive waves from my hips down to my feet to facilitate forward movement as an entering strategy.

I call this technique 'walking'.

Sorry, I have no idea

Lol!

Ian wrote:I use consecutive waves from my hips down to my feet to facilitate forward movement as an entering strategy.

I call this technique...

I could have sworn you meant something entirely different from "walking"... But then again, I'm a dirty old man like that.