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« on: March 02, 2008, 06:26:23 AM »
I recently received the 'Power' and 'Footwork' DVDs from the original Dog Brothers Martial Arts series.
As the nearest Dog Brothers affiliates are in Scotland and England, this seemed the easiest way to get a taste of what DBMA involves for the moment, especially as I'd heard that these volumes were geared towards solo training. Unlike a lot of people here, I have no background in the FMA, the only frame of reference I have for this stickfighting material is the MMA gym I train in and a few different ASP and baton certifications I've done.
Yesterday I watched the 'Power' DVD and then dug out my heavy rattan stick and tried to mimic Top Dog's approach to power generation and the angles he was using.
A few observations-
- Sometimes it seems like the harder you are trying to hit the harder the stick is to hang onto. I have done ASP certification courses and observed the same phenomenon with people losing their baton during pressure-testing- it's usually the people giving it their all as opposed to the ones taking it easier.
- I think experience of Muay Thai helped with getting the hip in to generate power in my strikes, but the overall structure in terms of stance and the way you use the off-hand is different enough that it felt tricky. I'm used to having my strong side back, and to a degree I didn't know what to do with my offhand beyond getting used to occassionally sending it out as if to check someone trying to crash in. Obviously in a stickfight it would be vulnerable to getting smashed if it's floating around too much.
I hammered on some car tires for a while and also tried out an exercise I glimpsed from the DVD where Top Dog threw a tire and then roof blocked and closed the distance striking to it, to pick it up and repeat. Excellent drill.
While I appreciate that there's only so much you can really achieve on your own, and that's why I've been eyeing up flights to various DB affiliates' training, I'm satisfied that the 'Power' DVD has been a good introduction to the general topic of real-contact stickfighting, and I've got some things to think about and work on.