tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29640480.post2161406880495761099..comments2024-03-21T18:54:06.548-07:00Comments on Old Enough to Know Better: Use the Right ToolSteve Perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12079658447270792228noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29640480.post-41595247719396067662008-12-28T14:01:00.000-08:002008-12-28T14:01:00.000-08:00Skip --Makes perfect sense to me. We hear that a l...Skip --<BR/><BR/>Makes perfect sense to me. We hear that a lot -- "Yeah, could be a punch, an elbow, a poke, it doesn't matter."<BR/><BR/>Techniques are expressions of laws and principles. You have to know how to punch without breaking your hand, and when one tool is better than another, but the principles should give you the choice.Steve Perryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12079658447270792228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29640480.post-70984532412638906322008-12-28T13:32:00.000-08:002008-12-28T13:32:00.000-08:00I studied Cuong-Nhu, a vietnamese art for several ...I studied Cuong-Nhu, a vietnamese art for several years that taught 'Principles' as opposed to techniques.<BR/>You learned the basic technique as say, a punch, then as you progressed, you learned that it could be a throw or a push or something else. It's a great way to learn. You learn WHY something works, not just how to do it.Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615918807787208549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29640480.post-87881314938944790612008-12-18T14:16:00.000-08:002008-12-18T14:16:00.000-08:00The thing that constantly blows my mind about both...The thing that constantly blows my mind about both kali and silat is the comprehensive modularity of the way they are set up.<BR/><BR/>In other words, while other arts present things as individual techniques, and then test the techniques, silat and kali present tool-like principles and then teach you many, many ways of applying them.<BR/><BR/>Kali is perhaps more conscious of this effect, and intentionally ingrains muscle-memory movements and body mechanics through the weapon practice that begins early on, then uses them again and again and again throughout the art. This means that when you're taught a new application for movements, you've already practiced the movements hundreds of thousands or millions of times.<BR/><BR/>But silat does the same thing through constantly-repeated and reused juru movements.<BR/><BR/>The thing that keeps me with these arts is not the asskickery-- I kicked ass in my 20s and grew out of that a long time ago-- but the head-explodingly fascinating way that they are set up. <BR/><BR/>The genius of the structure is jawdropping to me.<BR/><BR/>All of this might be analogous to getting very good at two-move chess problems and then being taught a system that applies those movements to any situation that comes up in the game.Stephen Greyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12561935944292699586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29640480.post-10779411651705038982008-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:002008-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:00You're right. If you asked a hundred people to dra...You're right. If you asked a hundred people to draw a picture of a screwdriver they'd probably all come up with something like this:<BR/><BR/>http://www.recipetips.com/images/recipe/beverages/screwdriver.jpgDan Gambierahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04172075070150854447noreply@blogger.com