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Wastelander
Wastelander's picture
Parry-Pass-Check Platform Drill

This week's Waza Wednesday video is short and sweet, but it covers a very good drill that is popular not just in karate, but in many other martial arts, as well. In our dojo, we call it a "key block" drill, but it is more commonly known as a "parry-pass" drill. The drill is relatively simple, but works well for developing timing, reaction, deflection, and limb control. It also serves as a "platform drill," from which many other techniques can be initiated. We show two examples in this video, but the possibilities are endless!

Kevin73
Kevin73's picture

Very nice, I first learned that through Isshin-Ryu as "Kotekitai" as a forearm conditioning drill.  But, like you, I saw the potential that it was so much more.  Very similar to the "hubud" drills in the filipino martial arts.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Nice! Here is a similar drill which I use as a central hub for Goujushio bunkai:

It also applied to other kata too of course. Here is some related Naihanchi / Tekki stuff:

All the best,

Iain

Tau
Tau's picture

Iain: you've also taught this as a drill from Pinan Godan.

Anyone that's familiar with the Filipino Martial Arts will recognise this essentially as the first Hubud drill (correctly Higot Hubud Lubud - tying and untying.) It's a great drill onto which many things can be attached. It's a favoured drill of mine.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Tau wrote:
Iain: you've also taught this as a drill from Pinan Godan.

I am aware of this :-) That would be similar, but because I generally work that off a hook it would be different from the vertical arm shown in the above videos. The same in essence, but different in specifics.

I also teach it off crosses, elbow strikes, hammer fists, upper cuts, arm-locks, groin strikes, etc. I’m also struggling to think of a kata that does not induced passing an arm in / out and hence you could make this drill part of the bunkai study for all kata.

Tau wrote:
It's a great drill onto which many things can be attached. It's a favoured drill of mine.

Absolutely. It’s very flexible and provides a great way to cut though the thicket of limbs and open the enemy up. That’s undoubtedly why it is so prolific throughout all the various systems.

All the best,

Iain

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

It is definitely a very flexible and useful drill that can be found all over the place! We use it for an awful lot, and I'm not surprised that others do, as well! :)

Steve Gombosi
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Kevin73 wrote:

Very nice, I first learned that through Isshin-Ryu as "Kotekitai" as a forearm conditioning drill.  But, like you, I saw the potential that it was so much more.  Very similar to the "hubud" drills in the filipino martial arts.

Yes, most Okinawan styles seem to teach this (or a variation of it) very early as an impact conditioning drill. It's pretty much universal.

MCM180
MCM180's picture

Just curious: how much does the initial parry depend on timing & somewhat fine-motor skills that would vanish in a real fight?  It seems like it depends on catching the fist on the way in, and if you miss, you get clocked in the chin. Can you use more of a forearm block to stop the fist, or would it slide past your forearm and hit you anyway?

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

MCM180 wrote:
Just curious: how much does the initial parry depend on timing & somewhat fine-motor skills that would vanish in a real fight?  It seems like it depends on catching the fist on the way in, and if you miss, you get clocked in the chin.

As a general point, blocking, in all its various forms, is difficult to pull off in reality. It’s not so much a fine motor skill issue, but mainly the close proximity, chaos and rate of fire. We rarely have the opportunity to “recognise and respond” that blocking requires.

When we spar, in a duelling fashion, we have distance, a degree of order, more backs and forth, and recognisable technique. Blocking and countering works a lot better when we duel with each other. It’s far less effective in physical self-protection where being pre-emptive and proactive are much better options i.e. ensure the enemy has to deal with our attacks, proactively taking control of limbs to deny the opportunity to strike, etc.

All of that said, we should still practice blocking for the rare occasions where it can stop us getting hit in self-protection, and for its more applicable use in fighting.

The kind of techniques shown in this thread do not need to be reactive. They can also be used proactively to clear flinches, get past covers, etc. Drilling the method as shown – i.e. back and forth – is good for high-repetition and time-efficient practise, but it needs to be clear it is a training method, not a “as is” representation of a real fight. I think all those in the thread are clear on that; although we may not have explicitly expressed that in this particular thread (although I do talk about that in the Naihanchi video above).

MCM180 wrote:
Can you use more of a forearm block to stop the fist, or would it slide past your forearm and hit you anyway?

The hand is better to clear limbs because it has fingers which can form the hook needed to most effectively redirect. If contact is made with the forearm – as it can easily be – the general method has the arm slide down such that the enemy’s arms finds its way into the hook of the hand regardless. Alternatively, the pass is made to the other limb in a “sticking” (muchimi) fashion.

That’s the issue with short clips: it’s impossible to convey the context and wider issues such as we are now discussing. You could make a video a few hours long on the core drill, and still not have covered all the “what ifs”. The good thing about forum discussions is that we can flesh it out though :-)

I hope that’s of some help and I’ve no doubt others will add their one take on things.

All the best,

Iain

MCM180
MCM180's picture

Thanks, Sensei. That's helpful. It's because I do recognize there's a difference between training shown above and a real self-defense setting that I asked. 

Christian

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

As Iain suggests, this is really a "skill drill" more than it is a direct "application drill." That isn't to say you will never use it against a real attack, but the principles, skills, and attributes it develops are more important than the exact application of the drill. As I've mentioned with a lot of the videos I share, it isn't all that important what your opponent is doing, so much as where you are in relation to them, what points of contact have been made, and where their energy (actual physical energy, not woo-woo energy) is going.

Dillon
Dillon's picture

In addition to practicing this for the occasions where you do have the opportunity to "block" or to use this kind of technique proactively (as a guard clear or what have you) it can be a useful foundation for clearing limbs post clash. My crew plays with a few similar drills (including ones that go from one hand to the other) as a framework for limb clearing after an initial clash, either defensively (cover and crash into them) or clearing a limb that they've put in the way of our initial action. I had moved away from it in class because it felt too sterile, if that makes sense, but it seems to be a useful isolation of the limb clearing/control principle, and so we've gone back to it recently.