protecting the head with the arms / a realistic approach?

Hi Jason

There are movements which could be interpreted as stylised flinches and instinctive protective movements  in a number of Karate Kata.  Look at the chambering movements for techniques like Gedan Barai and Shuto Uke, head gurads in Sochin, double bladed hand strikes in Pinan/Heian Yondan etc...

Covering the head is natural and should be an important part  of training.  As you say, on its own it won't necessarily stop you from getting beaten up, that's why learning to move effectively from that position is key.

My understanding is that Keysi is somehwat 'sourced' from Filipino MA where such crash entries are common.  I think Keysi maybe makes a little much of it (?) but I don't know, have never studied the style, and will therefore reserve judgement until I do.  Some of the concepts they present interest me, but I find all the glam videos a little off putting.

Protecting the head... if you think of the head as the 'cpu' of the body, then 'crashing the hard drive' is a good way to take csomeone out of commission.  Plus, its interesting that we seem biologically motivated to punch people in the face from an emotional standpoint.

Personally, I break our core defensives into two categoreis, what I call 'parries' and 'crashes'.  Of the two, the area you ask about are represented by the latter.  These are various tactics of protecting the head and hitting the opponent with an EQUIVALENT OR GREATER forward momentum.  Think of two identical cars in a head on collision (identical to remove the effect of one having a lower center of gravity).  If his is going 30 mph, and yours is only going 25mph, that's a net force of 5mph in his favor.  So, you need to hit the threat with the same or greater amount of forward pressure for crashes to work.  I tell students its like "driving your car over" the threat... you should hit them and feel them like a speed bump.

A weakness of crashes is that each position is vulnerable from some angle.  So, if you just stand there and let the threat punch, eventually, his blows will find purchase.  Therefore, I beleive another key aspect of 'the crash done well' is a 'primary' follow-up that is 'attached' to the crash as a combination.

Beyond that, I teach eight basic positions.  Most people would probably say that that is way too many, but I teach them as 'options', with the instruction that the student pick one to work with for an extended period.  SO student one might be working with crash A; while student 2 is working with crash B. 

An example of how that might work in class:  the student is instructed to 'find' a particular throw, say an uchi mata(the follow-up can be anything).  The attack is then left open ended and taken from dialog.  So it might be a push, pull, punch, whatever.  The student applies their crash PLUS their primary follow-up and THEN 'bridges' to the uchi-mata.  So, theoretically, if what we are isolating that night happens to be an uchi-mata (uppercut, leg kick, arm bar, rear naked choke, whatever), they have to 1) first deal with the unrpredictability and pressure of a forward assault in which they have to FIRST navigate the fear of gettiing hit and 'unknown' of the attack. 2)  Successfully discriminate their resulting body position and manage any limb entanglement or off balance they have experienced and 3) then find an entry FROM THAT POINT into an uchi mata (as the example).

We also allow the attacker to role play a little at their discrimination, i.e. what I want the attacker doing a sporadic 'sometimes resisting'.  Meaning, they are not just feeding a dumb attack and standing there being a patsy, but that they are not full-on resisting either.  The idea is to let their resistance ebb and flow in unpredictable bursts, so that a level of instability and spontaneity is maintained which I beleieve closer simulates realistic conditions.  This also eliminates 'brain freeze' a little or 'chess matches' where teh student will make a successful entry and follow-up, then stand there for 10-minutes contemplating the 'best' way to get to an uchi-mata.  If they hesitate, then the attacker is instructed to 'reinitiate' the attack such that it forces a positional change and reaction from the defender.

Of course,  all of that assumes a certain level of ability, i.e. I don't teach a straight uchi-mata this way, I isolate the target mechanic like most people.  But then, once the student has the base nmechanic, we try to put it into a reaslistic and unpredictable context.

Hi Jason,

Jason Lester wrote:

So, is this a realistic approach to defence and fighting etc? If so how come the likes of the formidable Master Matsumura, Master itosu, and Master Motobu etc didnt include and record this in the Kata they created and their fighting systems / methods? Or did they? and if so where is the evidence etc?

Covering the head as a “default action” is a very sound methodology. Like all reactive methods, I don’t believe it should be viewed as the primary method but I do think it is important to have such a cover when things are getting overly chaotic and control is being lost. I think it was Dennis Martin who I first heard use the term “default position” for such covers. I like that term as it makes clear that, “this is what we do when we  don’t know what to do”. These covers are within kata and I agree with John:

JWT wrote:

There are movements which could be interpreted as stylised flinches and instinctive protective movements  in a number of Karate Kata.  Look at the chambering movements for techniques like Gedan Barai and Shuto Uke, head gurads in Sochin, double bladed hand strikes in Pinan/Heian Yondan etc...

Covering the head is natural and should be an important part of training.  As you say, on its own it won't necessarily stop you from getting beaten up, that's why learning to move effectively from that position is key.

Two of the most obvious examples for me are the rising hands at the start of Kushanku / Kanku-Dai / Kosokun (flinch and crash in) and the opening motion of most versions of Naihanchi (where the hand pivot up in front of the face; before returning to a position in front of the groin). In both kata, the following motions show how to move on from the resulting position.

Essentially the idea is that when all is going wrong we do such a motion to buy a little time, to re-orientate and to re-establish dominance. It’s a good “default”, but not a good first option. We only do this kind of thing when we have no choice. The arms are generally put to better use by controlling and striking the enemy i.e. being proactive. The cover / flinch is reactive and is what we go to when control has been lost.

Here are a couple of bits of video that illustrate what I mean:

This shows the Kushanku flinch and follow up and is taken from a seminar I taught in Scotland last year.

This is the preview of the Beyond Bunkai DVD and you can see some examples of the head cover / crash from 6:15 onward (the DVD looks at the cover and crash as it relates to Naihanchi / Tekki in some detail):

Jason Lester wrote:

The covering of the head is nothing new as it is a natural instinct of the human body and this is what this fighting system is based on, however, an untrained individual would cover their head as they were about to be hit or after, and of course when they are having seven bells knocked out of them etc.

It certainly is a natural instinct, but with lots of training we aim to build on that so it becomes a positive way to regain the advantage as opposed to a potentially reactive cower. Your point also brings out the very important issue (which is sometimes overlooked) in that we need to learn to clear such instinctive filches / covers so that our own advantage is not lost. It’s not just about using such things to out advantage; we need to ensure the enemy can’t use them to their advantage too. In kata we see a lot of methods that control the enemy’s limbs to open up paths to the key targets and this is where such are very useful.

All the best,

Iain

Iain Abernethy wrote:

Two of the most obvious examples for me are the rising hands at the start of Kushanku / Kanku-Dai / Kosokun (flinch and crash in) and the opening motion of most versions of Naihanchi (where the hand pivot up in front of the face; before returning to a position in front of the groin).

I use a high-level double forearm block ala Haiwan Uke as a great wedging tactic that gets you in close. 

Colin
Traditional Taekwondo Techniques Blog

I think, again, Iain hits the nail spot on. I see flinch (and flinch-response) moves at the start of Heian Nidan, Yondan, Kankudai, Nijushiho and others. Sadly the Tekki's have lost that hand movement that Iain refers to that's still in many of the Naihanchi versions. Though you could maybe make a case for the opening section of Tekki Nidan.

But in each of those cases they're immediately followed by ideas to help you regain the initiative. And press the attack back helping you recover from the initial flinch response.

Agree with Jon. Infact there are many moves covering this "natural save" in the kata, imho. I would put all kakiwake-uke, openings of heian nidan, heian yondan as a typical example, especcially kakiwake in nijushiho, double-yodan uke in Wankan, of course mid-section of Bassai-dai. I am sure, there are lots of more examples, because, imho, covering head is one of main tasks in combat.

With respect to all of you

osu

frank