3 posts / 0 new
Last post
Spaniard
Spaniard's picture
"There is nothing new under the sun – except the very old.”

I am part of a FB fitness group and, for my part, I try to share clips to give everyone ideas of material from our martial arts class.  I was looking for an example of pummeling for wrestling and found this gem:  Naihanchi/Tekki make the subtle rounds in the new US military combatives program!

Best to All,

Erik P./Spaniard

Mark B
Mark B's picture

Great stuff. It's really interesting to see these guys dealing with the same problems in pretty much the same way. It also serves to illustrate and reinforce why Naihanchi is so important. Thanks for sharing that. Regards Mark

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Good find!

If you have that difficult combination of an enemy that is both strong and flexible, if can be hard to simply slide the arm in. What can help is using one arm to push the enemy’s elbow out slightly before sliding the other one in (Naihanchi’s “reinforced block”). If the elbows are too close, you can reach over the gain control over the enemy’s arms and wedge you other arm into the enemy’s neck to prevent head-butts. You can then deliver axe-handles to the neck and kick the knees too (again, found in Naihanchi). All of that is in this video:

More detail on these methods, and the ways that can be drilled, can be found in my “Beyond Bunkai” DVD.

As per Donn Draeger’s quote, “There is nothing new under the sun … except the very old.” Of course it’s a play on Ecclesiastes 1:9 from the Bible, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” In context, it arguing for the folly of pursuing worldly goals (the things under the sun) as opposed to seeking spiritual insight and living accordingly. However, taken alone, it does reflect the cycle we see in the martial arts. What works, works. Outside of sport (change the rules and you radically change the nature of the fight), there is little new. Human conflict has been happening since the beginning of our species. Fashions change, but what works has been consistent across time, systems and culture.

All the best,

Iain

PS Not sure about knees to the body when your enemy is wearing body armour :-)