Two Ranges: "In Range" or "Out of Range" (diary entry)

Italian American (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 24.06.15 The fourth lesson in my client’s course on weapons for martial arts cross-training expanded upon the last one, but pursued stick-work and blunt weapons more. We began with a warm-up using rattan canes, going through ranges, working on posture and form, losing up joints and promoting overall mobility. We then began with a simple two-angle two-man drill, again going through different ranges and transitioning as well as variations on footwork. We pieced together a series of simple angles of attack, influenced in part by Peter Lewis and Mo Teague. This was not to learn a particular art, but rather to get an appreciation for general targeting and fluidity through attacks. They covered upper and lower backhand/forehand diagonal slashes, upper and lower backhand/forehand horizontal slashes, upper and lower stabs, and overhand and underhand slashes. We then looked at ways it could translate into empty hand strikes, focusing on the elbow strike. The whole exercise helped my client to better appreciated angles of attack and transitioning. Due to the range offered by sticks, fighters get a good perspective of what can be attacked. I am not a teacher of Filipino martial arts or any weapon art, despite training in several over many years, but I find them to be excellent resources for developing attributes. This is not just in connection with the weapon defence and awareness courses I offer, but also for helping improve combative coordination, dexterity and, not least of all, a better appreciation of target zones. I am not against precision targeting, but I like to make the assumption that things will go wrong under pressure and, for this reason I am often highly sceptical of most pressure point training. I like to condition and cultivate weapons that have as wider range of targets as possible. When I look at the Indochinese attitude towards attacking and counter-attacking, I think of Rocky Marciano’s strategies. Both would “take what God gave to them gratefully”*and attack whatever comes into range. As Mo Teague would say to me, “You are either in range or out of range”. *Thank you Eddy Quinn for that one.