The Origin of the Dreaded Chow Butt Attack

Many of the students of my class have seen it in action and the lucky ones have experienced it live. Of course I am speaking of my butt attack. The attack of throwing my behind into my opponent's solar plexus. How does something like this happen? As silly as the technique is, it comes from sound martial arts fighting theory. The following are the things that lead to the development of this technique:

• Feel the fight and flow with it. To maximize the speed of your techniques you need to stop thinking and just execute. Too much thinking adds brain processing to the technique before executing and every slight hesitation can cost you a fight. Fut Gar Kung Fu as taught to me by Grandmaster Chen clearly defines what to do in specific situations to eliminate the necessity of deciding which technique to use.
  
• Don't resist pressure. This theory is the reason I originally spun around to attack with my backside. Having a technique blocked gave me momentum to spin in the opposite direction.
  
• Always look for opportunities to attack. Just because you are in a disadvantaged position does not mean that you should stop looking for an opportunity to attack. Very successful attacks often are executed at the time when the opponent least expects it.
  
• All body parts can and should be used as a weapon. Although the butt attack is taking it to the extreme, I have always been taught that you can use anything as a weapon.
  
• It worked. When a technique works it is natural (and encouraged) to continue to use it until it no longer works.
  
• Have fun when you practice. OK, this is my own theory but those in my class have seen that we have always run the class this way.
  

The Right Time to Exchange Punches

While watching students fight as part of their training, instructors often break up the fighting to explain that it is incorrect to rush in and exchange punches with your opponent as this shows a lack of technique and seems to not serve a purpose. Generally, Kung Fu training teaches you to block and counter, grab and counter or avoid and counter. This is definitely ideal if you are able to fully disarm a strike while executing a strike of your own. Of course this is generally not the case for most students. I believe there is a correct time to exchange punches as long as you take into account a few things:

1. What are you exchanging? Are you taking a light jab to the cheek while executing strong hook punch to the temple? I would be happy to take this exchange which would likely end the fight. This is an easy decision to make if you are able to make it at full speed.
   
2. What will be the result of your strike as far as body positioning? By this I mean that throwing your strike turns the opponents strike into a glancing blow therefore reducing its effectiveness even if your strike is not a knockout punch.
   
3. When are you making the exchange? This is the point that is normally forgotten. Each combination by an opponent has a main (knockout?) strike. If they throw a jab followed by an uppercut, the uppercut is the punch intended to do the main damage. This can be followed by other techniques. Assuming you can make your first strike the knockout strike, I would suggest that your hard strike be executed right after the opponent's knockout strike. If someone is throwing a 4 strike combination with the first strike being a hard strike, each following strike is a bit weaker than the previous. Take your best strike in exchange for one of the opponent's weaker strikes. This timing will not only give you the upper hand in the exchange but also surprise your opponent as they are expecting you to continue blocking. This assumes you do not believe that you will have the opportunity to execute a clean technique on this particular opponent because as previously stated, it is ideal to execute a clean strike.

These theories take some practice but with experience, you will be able to feel for the right timing during the fight.

Some Math for Those That Survive

I have a good group of students that are considered Instructor-In-Training or Instructor in my school. Not including myself as the head instructor, there are a group of 6 with 3 that have been around since the late 1980's. I thought I would do a quick calculation to figure out how many people have come through over the years.

1. To begin with, I am estimating that 1 of 5 senior students actually stay to reach the level of Instructor-in-Training. This means there were 30 senior students to generate the 6 that are with me today.
2. Only about half of regular students stay to become senior students. So 60 regular students.
3. About half of the people that actually join stay long enough to become a regular student. That means 120 people joined.
   
4. Only about 10% of the people that come in for a trial class actually join the class. This seems low but it is probably accurate based on the fact that we do not run every day and normally recommend that potential students try other schools before deciding on joining. So that would mean about 1200 students have been through our classes at some point over the years.
5. We had classes in a University for about 7 years and during those years, we definitely can add about 30 students a year who joined but did not return the following year after returning from summer vacations. So add another 210 students to get a total of 1410 students to get to the 6 that have made it through.
   
6. I will also add 2 major relocations where we started over with new students in another city (although there are a few students that just seem to relocate to whatever city the school is in) and the number is actually higher.
   

Teaching Kung Fu in a non-commercial style with no long term contracts is definitely a disadvantage as far as retention but my thinking over the years has always to train a smaller group of dedicated students instead of a large group of students that felt obligated to be there because they already paid. Congratulations to those that have made it through. I know there are others in the current group that will join the ranks over time.

10 New Year Training Tips

So you have had a great holiday. You have partied hard, eaten excessively and forgotten what training means. It's time to get back at it. Here are a list of tips to help get you back into the swing of things.

1. Do not think that you will jump back in and immediately be back into the swing of things.
2. Stretch a bit more than you normally would.
   
3. Make sure that you build into the workout by making sure you build the intensity gradually over the course of the class.
4. Try your best but do not get frustrated or discouraged if you are not up to your regular level of performance.
5. Catch up with your classmates but stay focused on training.
6. Spend time remembering your forms and proper execution rather than trying to speed through your forms.
7. Your stances are probably not as low as they feel so go lower.
8. Since everybody is getting back into the swing of things, pay extra attention to other students, especially if you are practicing weapons techniques.
9. Remember to have fun...this is the reason you do this.
10. Most importantly...remember it is bad luck to kill your instructor, even if by accident (this might be a bit of a selfish tip on my part)

2008 in Review

Happy New Year! As we head into 2009 I thought I would take a few moments to recap some of the highlights from 2008 for my school.

• We added a new instructor to the ranks.
• We added a new black sash to the ranks.
• Our advanced class has grown and now is as large as our regular classes.
• I believe that we continue to maintain a base of very dedicated and enthusiastic students.
• I am being forced to dust off previously untaught forms to teach the most advanced students as they reach the end of our regular curriculum.
• We had some new performers during our Chinese New Year demo.
  
• The enthusiasm for free sparring in class has grown.
• The overall quality of the Fut Gar Kung Fu in class has continued to improve.
  

Thanks for a great year and keep training hard in 2009.