Attacked by a front two hand choke (snake strategy) we employ the crane to clear the hold and then provide a barrage of counterstrikes with a brutally effective combination of elbow strikes with of course a kick to the groin early on for good measure.
Lesson 1. DO NOT fight directly against the power of the choke (directional vectors of their force). It might be tempting to grab the opponent's arms and pull outward (laterally) to become free of the choke. Don't -- it won't work unless they are a small child or in the final stages of cancer treatment. Their force is already squeezing inward on your neck and an outward pull is fighting in direct opposition to this energy. Also the nature of grabbing in this manner will result in your elbows being out and above their elbows which puts your opponent in a position of superior leverage.
Lesson 2. Leverage against the weak part of the grip -- the thumbs. With our hands clasped (never interlock your fingers) we raise our arms up which applies force in an upward path against their hold and allows our elbows to be leveraged and the force to transfer to their thumbs which is the weak link in their grip.
Lesson 3. Simultaneous defense and counter attack. The kick to groin is applied with the clearing motion. Although in this case the kick is not needed to help the clear succeed, it will help position the body weight of attacker back forward to offset the lifting energy of our clear. This is needed to help check our opponent from purposeful or accidental access to their own legs to kick.
Lesson 4: Marriage of Gravity. The trapping motion on the opponent's arms is fueled by the dropping of our body weight as we plant forward and down from the kick to the groin. This pins both of their arms momentarily and aids in dramatically shifting the body weight forward adding to the cancelation of the height zone.
Lesson 5. Sequential Opportunity and Target Prepositioning: Having brought our opponent forward and down and due to our proximity, the next series of elbow strikes are each (in sequence) not only causing injury in their own right but are controlling the timing so that the next action in the technique sequence can be launched. Like a pool shark clearing the table, we do not give an opponent the opportunity to deliver a strike. Furthermore, the target we are hitting has been prepositioned to maximize vulnerability.
METHODS OF DRILL:
1. Try using brute force to laterally pull a front two hand choke off of you. Now compare with just a subtle lift motion using only the thumbs for force.
2. The clearing motion is a natural swing arc with the hands clasped. Students like to separate the hands outward (which is still fighting against the inward pressure of the hold and is a bad idea). Also students like to reach straight upward with hands instead of arcing upwards. This does not apply the lifting force properly. Use sticks or wooden swords and have students drill the arc used to raise and lower a sword properly. The clear is exactly the same.
3. The combination of elbow strikes are useful anytime you are at close proximity to attacker. Drill a variety of attacks and explore how to use this combination. Also experiment with using these elbow combinations in a ground fighting scenario.
4. Drill each of the elbow strikes on a focus target to improve accuracy and power transfer.
5. The technique ends with an outward elbow that unfurls into an outward back knuckle. The back knuckle becomes a "chaser" strike as opponent is being cleared out of range. Put the technique in "movie reverse" mode and start at a further range using the back knuckle first then shuffling into your elbow (Do not even bother with a choke -- you are closing in on the attack.)
6. The initial clear works primarily because it is not fighting directly against the direction of the opponent's force. In additional to a lifting energy, experiment with other directions of applying energy to our opponent's hold that could also work because they are not in opposition to the inward pressure. Remember that in every snake their is a tiger element you can take advantage of with dragon. (Snake is associated with the element of earth. Metal is created by earth and metal is tiger. So just like metal is buried inside the earth the Tiger energy is buried inside the snake. So if you are skilled enough, you can nullify the snake by using dragon to defeat the undercurrent of tiger that beneath the surface. In this case, as they squeeze in on my neck I can actually add to the inward pressure to free myself from the hold. Proceed with caution and control until you get the concept mastered however.
WHAT IS IN A NAME? The "Wings" of the crane (elbows) are used in rapid combination to "devastate" your opponent.
Lesson 1. DO NOT fight directly against the power of the choke (directional vectors of their force). It might be tempting to grab the opponent's arms and pull outward (laterally) to become free of the choke. Don't -- it won't work unless they are a small child or in the final stages of cancer treatment. Their force is already squeezing inward on your neck and an outward pull is fighting in direct opposition to this energy. Also the nature of grabbing in this manner will result in your elbows being out and above their elbows which puts your opponent in a position of superior leverage.
Lesson 2. Leverage against the weak part of the grip -- the thumbs. With our hands clasped (never interlock your fingers) we raise our arms up which applies force in an upward path against their hold and allows our elbows to be leveraged and the force to transfer to their thumbs which is the weak link in their grip.
Lesson 3. Simultaneous defense and counter attack. The kick to groin is applied with the clearing motion. Although in this case the kick is not needed to help the clear succeed, it will help position the body weight of attacker back forward to offset the lifting energy of our clear. This is needed to help check our opponent from purposeful or accidental access to their own legs to kick.
Lesson 4: Marriage of Gravity. The trapping motion on the opponent's arms is fueled by the dropping of our body weight as we plant forward and down from the kick to the groin. This pins both of their arms momentarily and aids in dramatically shifting the body weight forward adding to the cancelation of the height zone.
Lesson 5. Sequential Opportunity and Target Prepositioning: Having brought our opponent forward and down and due to our proximity, the next series of elbow strikes are each (in sequence) not only causing injury in their own right but are controlling the timing so that the next action in the technique sequence can be launched. Like a pool shark clearing the table, we do not give an opponent the opportunity to deliver a strike. Furthermore, the target we are hitting has been prepositioned to maximize vulnerability.
METHODS OF DRILL:
1. Try using brute force to laterally pull a front two hand choke off of you. Now compare with just a subtle lift motion using only the thumbs for force.
2. The clearing motion is a natural swing arc with the hands clasped. Students like to separate the hands outward (which is still fighting against the inward pressure of the hold and is a bad idea). Also students like to reach straight upward with hands instead of arcing upwards. This does not apply the lifting force properly. Use sticks or wooden swords and have students drill the arc used to raise and lower a sword properly. The clear is exactly the same.
3. The combination of elbow strikes are useful anytime you are at close proximity to attacker. Drill a variety of attacks and explore how to use this combination. Also experiment with using these elbow combinations in a ground fighting scenario.
4. Drill each of the elbow strikes on a focus target to improve accuracy and power transfer.
5. The technique ends with an outward elbow that unfurls into an outward back knuckle. The back knuckle becomes a "chaser" strike as opponent is being cleared out of range. Put the technique in "movie reverse" mode and start at a further range using the back knuckle first then shuffling into your elbow (Do not even bother with a choke -- you are closing in on the attack.)
6. The initial clear works primarily because it is not fighting directly against the direction of the opponent's force. In additional to a lifting energy, experiment with other directions of applying energy to our opponent's hold that could also work because they are not in opposition to the inward pressure. Remember that in every snake their is a tiger element you can take advantage of with dragon. (Snake is associated with the element of earth. Metal is created by earth and metal is tiger. So just like metal is buried inside the earth the Tiger energy is buried inside the snake. So if you are skilled enough, you can nullify the snake by using dragon to defeat the undercurrent of tiger that beneath the surface. In this case, as they squeeze in on my neck I can actually add to the inward pressure to free myself from the hold. Proceed with caution and control until you get the concept mastered however.
WHAT IS IN A NAME? The "Wings" of the crane (elbows) are used in rapid combination to "devastate" your opponent.
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