Striking...
You guys, be careful! Make sure you get some type of shooting/safety glasses or goggles, as we progress through this stuff, eventually purchase a pair of DeSantis Low Light Simulator Goggles. Then you get your low light stuff down too. Where some kind of safety glasses...these things we do are all about life saving techniques and you do not want a nasty injury, temporary or permanent.
If any of you get really radical with this or other impact weapons, I would suggest you get some sort of mouth protection too. You can buy 3 V-Gar Systems for the cost of 1 permanent cap, and we are talking about something that has the ability to take about 4 teeth out at once...remember that and be careful.
Flexible weapons are an entirely different thing guys...and there are some mechanics involved that are very important...things that you have to understand from the beginning...
Alright, now there are 9 basic angles. Anyone in The Fillipino Arts or the Bujinkan will immediately start from this point, and you should too.
I cannot draw you a picture on here, so you have to use your imagination if you have no experience with this stuff.
You have a a downward diagonal from right to left, this is a forehand strike.
Downward diagonal from left to right, a backhand strike.
These are usually referred to as a #1 & #2 strike, respectively.
Done in a fluid manner, these two strikes performed one after the other form a large Figure 8.
Then you have horizontal right to left.
Horizontal left to right.
Next would be diagonally upwards from the low right to high left.
Then diagonally upwards from low left to high right.
These two diagonal strikes, performed with fluidity, become a Figure 8 strike that is reversed from the front.
I know this is a little confusing, print this out and bear with me.
So far, we have 6 striking angles.
The 7th is vertically straight down through the centerline.
The 8th is vertically straight up, through the centerline.
The 9th is a "thrust," with the weighted flexible weapon, this becomes a snapped, straight in shot at any target, similar to whipping a towel at someone.
Now all of these striking angles change planes, or gates, there is high, middle and low. This is the basic concept that drives the Fillipino Arts, and it is a functional way to grasp the idea that you should address angles instead of specific attacks or defenses. It gives you a basic diagram with which you can practice constantly, it matters not if the weapon is edged, impact or flexible.
What you want to do is start off with just 2 angles and proceed from there, and if that is all you choose to do, pick the 2 angles that are most likely to be a natural progression from your draw.
Whichever angle feels natural coming out of the draw, start there. You can practice all the angles, but to get functional in the shortest period of time, you want the angle right out of the drawstroke.
In any swinging strike with a flexible weapon, think of the arc that weapon takes during solo practice (whipping it through the air) and divide that arc into 3 equal "pieces."
With the arc of the weapon in flight divided into thirds...let's break that down;
The first third is the zone of acceleration, this is where it is drawn and it goes from 0-100 in an instant.
Ideally, anywhere in the second third, the middle zone, is where some sort of impact is going to occur.
The last zone is one of deceleration, in solo practice, you have to have a full understanding of this zone...this is where the "braking" occurs so you do not hit yourself and if you do, the strike is "pulled" like a punch so you do not hit yourself very hard. You need this in case you miss too, or else you take the brunt of the weapon.
While the first 2 zones in this arc are self-explanatory, the third needs to be touched on.
You have to decelerate a flexible weapon in the third zone of the arc. This is a must.
You have to start out painfully slow and learn to "pull" the strike in the beginning of the 3rd zone (is this complicated enough, or are you guys following me?) and as you start slowly swinging this, and actively learning to put the brakes on this thing, you are going to find you have a lot more control of it. It takes some practice at coming out of deployment lightning fast and generating speed, speed=power, then continuin to that point which the deceleration has to happen or you get struck.
Work on this, then we will touch on some other areas.
It is the weekend! Take the time and do not hurt yourself.
