Dude!

Nice work on alerting the authorities and you did the right thing by staying behind your door. I know how you feel mate....

I'll share a little story with you and I hope it (in some way) will make you feel better.

I am a Key holder for a college in the UK and every now and then i'll get an alarm call out in the middle of the night. This one time I get there only to find a group of lads all tooled up tring to break in. I praticed Wing Tsun Kung Fu pretty heavly for three years and at the time of this incident I was at the peek of my training, totally fearless and up for anything anyone wanted to throw my way. Now much to my suprise instead of strolling over and beating the shite out of them. My training kicked in big time and....

I hid!

I crept in to the college and put the fire alarm sounder test on. The fire alarm is bloody loud and the lads downed tools and ran off. Result!

Three years of Kung Fu had taught me to use my head before my fists (or elbows which is my personal weapon of choice) and allowed me quickly assess the safest outcome of a potential confict situation without hurting myself and more importantly anyone else. IMO this is the main reason why anyone should seek out a martial art.

I hate the thought of having to own a gun to feel safe (ok so i'm in the UK so its not an issue but i reallly feel for you guys in the US). If you can i'd recommend trying out Wing Tsun Kung Fu. Here's the link for the Chicago Classes.

http://www.chicagowingtsun.com/Home.htm ... 20WingTsun

The classes will help your confidence and your ability to deal with situations of a similar nature.

Hope this helps

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Another Wing Chun Chuan practitioner here, though I do resort to fists before thought.

Best thing I ever learnt was the preemptive defensive strike. If I suspect I'm going to get hit, I hit first. You'll learn to fight in a phone booth sized area. No stupid holds and throws either, just hit em hard or fast.


Andy will you do me a favour and take a look at a few Nassim Hammed fights and tell me if he employs the same principle of open a path then land a 'turning punch' with his ankle, hip, shoulder and elbow forming a right angle.

I'd swear it is.

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No no and no

Hi Nick,

So you are a ninja! The pre-emptive strike is a winner, but for me it was all about the Chi Sao (sticky hands). Even if they try to punch you, you can annihilate them! We should get a thread for fellow “martial guitarists” to gather!

I'd gladly take a peek and study a few of his fights, beats trying to find something interesting to say about Ceri's Meinl tuba!

To be honest, from the few clips and fights I've previously watched (feel free to point out the right clip) its hard to tell, but he certainly spots any opening and quickly exploits it for sure. So I agree, he probably is using the same principal... but that's about it. For me, his feet are spread to wide and and his upper body leans in towards his opponent to much to apply the stance required to carry out a technically correct "Wing Chun" punch. That and his lack of Wu Sao

As far as "his" punch goes, Its his arm muscles that really give the game away. Look at how small his biceps are compared to most of his opponents. His are way smaller which is a good thing as an over-developed biceps will actually hinder the speed and power of a punch. His triceps which in conjunction with his upper deltoids (which are impressive to say the least) are IMO what enables his speed which in turn gets his fist where it needs to be.

Speed x Mass = Punching Power

So to summarise...

Yes, he uses the open path principal but without the technique (if he did his fights would literally last one punch IMO)

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

There would have to not be a single object over a foot long in my house before i go for my guitar hah.

Andy I must say your knowledge and appreciation of fight dynamics are very impressive. The main thrust of what I was getting at about classic Hammed in his primem is that you see him land all these fast, tiny punches, that unless you look at the bigger picture do nothing. Then all of a sudden it seems like he's completely off balance, one leg in the air, punching at some awkward angle, that turns into a one hit knockout punch. Infact he didnt come unstuck till he started fighting south american guys that are notoriously hard to keep down.

I loved chi sau, particularly when I first started it. I was utterly amazed that my body knew what someone else was doing before my mind or eyes did. I gotta get back to training, the nearest kwoon to me is Peterborough . It must be 4 years since I last trained.

Think I'll have to leave the wallbag alone now.

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No no and no

i agree 100% with Mr Nik and andybighair. good hand to hand is important. it is the reason why i practice both. here in texas, criminals carry guns and it's the reason why i choose do so. i'd much rather eliminate a threat in a non-leathal action without putting an innocent bystander in danger.
but...... here at home, ain't nuthin that beats a good ole' 12 gauge. but, with my dogs, noone really even rings the bell anymore. criminals don't like dogs. it's a fact. i wish i was smart enough to post pics of these 2 beasts but this ain't dog forum.

Your kiddin right. 3.5ft of good hard timber and you'd reach for it last???

I've hit a few people with my Jackson, one of em was trying to steal it. It didnt even go out of tune, rock solid guitar.

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No no and no

There is a saying...

"Never pick a fight with a man who is too old to fight. He'll just kill you."

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You're only as strong as
the drinks you pour,
the tables you dance on,
and the friends you roll with.

SBLS,

These are crazy times we are living in. I am glad you are ok, sometimes when the bad guys get thwarted, they seek retrobution. I know you can handle yourself. Be safe.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

VT BlackStrat, excellent observation. My days of Hapkido, Judo, Taekwondo have been over for some time and honestly even when I was good at those I still got my butt kicked once in awhile.
rkreisher, Bros, I'll be safe, I got out of here for awhile today went to the pawn shop and worked on an Ibanez 7 string and a Washburn Cumberland 12 string, the Ibanez set up was easy and fun after I plugged her into a Marshall to hear my work, the 12 string, a beautiful guitar, has a crack from the bridge to the binding that I didn't want to do anything about right now because you can't see it and the guitar sounds great even with it there. I'm back now so I'll see if those perps come back in the early morning hours again. now that I know the tenant isn't there if they come back I'm taking all of your advice and calling the cops from behind my door. You Bros are the absolute best. Thank you.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

SBLS, "just another tricky day for you", "Sweet Home Chicago" ain't always all that.

Wow Niki you brought up a name from the past that still has me bewildered as to where the hell he disappeared to. Naz was a really good fighter though he annoyed the hell out of me with those ring entrances that took forever the guy had the goods though he was very unorthodox which worked to his advantage. His fights with Manuel Medina and especially Kevin Kelley which is in my top ten of best fights ever were barn burners. After he dropped the decision to Marco Barrera in which he had a return clause in his contract I never heard of or ever seen him again. To this day I have no idea what the hell happened to the guy.