Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

A Good Point About Self-Defense

real life self defense self-defense xingyi self-defense Apr 11, 2008

My good friend and loyal visitor Evan Yeung wrote this in an email:

"I'm thoroughly enjoying your latest DVD release. I'm halfway through the Beng Chuan section. The applications you've presented are straightforward and applicable to real life situations and some tournament sparring as well. I suppose the magic of Hsing-I is that the base moves are simple (relatively speaking, of course), but are remarkably versatile. John Painter, in his book on Combat Baguazhang, says that in a true fighting situation the complex moves rarely work... when the adrenaline is pumping, tunnel vision is occuring, and tactile sensitivity is going to hell, it's the simple moves that have been drilled that rely on larger muscle groups that take over. I think Hsing-I fits that bill."

I agree with Painter -- in a real-life self-defense situation, you won't have time for a lot of the complex movements. I've thrown out some chin-na movements because they were so impractical in a fighting situation that ...

Author - Instructor

Ken Gullette

I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

A Good Point About Self-Defense

Author - Instructor

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