AWCA Notebook

For those unaware, the History Channel airs a program called “Human Weapon” (http://www.history.com/minisites/humanweapon/). With hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff traveling around the world and encountering a country’s art, they spend one week learning from masters. At the end of the week, one of them spars with a champion from that art, hoping to survive it.

Personally, I love this show. It’s interesting and insightful to see some of what most of us will probably never get to experience by seeing up-close and personal how these arts train. The funny thing, though, was their show about Krav Maga and kung fu.

First, on the Krav Maga episode, they were talking about how Krav Maga uses simultaneous attack and defense, and how no other art does that.

Obviously they have never heard of Wing Chun since the art revolves around that fact.

Second, their episode on kung fu “did” have a bit of Wing Chun, but it was exclusively on Chi-sau. Interesting, and while I am unfamiliar with the master that they were working with, he was obviously quite skilled (and the guy puking over the Great Wall of China was an added touch).

Now, every art will say “why didn’t they go into more detail” when it comes to “their” art, so admittedly, this is a bit biased. However, there is so much to Wing Chun, and all they got to see was Chi-sau?

It would have been a lot more interesting if someone would have told them “Wing Chun was originally designed to defeat the Shaolin methods, so let’s compare it to today’s training and see how it stacks up.” Now THAT would have been a great show.

But I guess it also has to be entertaining, too, in order to stay on the air. And again, everyone thinks that “their” methods are best (which is why they train it). Still, this is a great show and I recommend it to everyone who wants to see what other arts are like.

And when you see San-da or Bokator (Cambodian art), you’ll start salivating because it looks like great fun to work with some of those practitioners!

Another great abdominal exercise that improves our Wing Chun (particularly where core stability is concerned) is called the reverse crunch. No, this is not a “traditional” method that was taught to me; however, it has proven to be a valuable addition to improving core abdominal strength.

Lie on your back using a mat or towel to cushion your spine. Place your arms at your sides with the palms facing upwards, and place your legs in the air so that your knees are bent at 90-degree angles. Your hips make a 90-degree angle with your torso. Keep your knees unbent and as straight as possible.

Now, contract your abs so that it feels like your belly button is being pulled toward your spine, while simultaneously gently lifting your hips off the floor. Push your hips upwards toward the ceiling a few inches, keeping your legs extended straight upward.

Hold this position for a count of five and then slowly lower your hips back to the floor. Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps.

In addition to working the abdominals for fitness, this exercise also strengthens the stomach for when you need to go with the opponent to the ground. And while it is fairly simple, it is also a bit difficult to do correctly.

Essentially, it involves trying to pull the belly button in towards the spine. Since it involves muscles that you might not be used to activating, it can be a bit tricky.

Begin by lieing on your stomach. You can also kneel, so try both ways to see which helps you feel the exercise better.

Relax your body as much as possible, then try to use only the lower abdominals to move your belly button inward towards your spine. Hold this position fo 10 seconds, but if it feels easy, then hold for a longer period.

The goal is to hold the contraction until you either cannot feel it or you feel other muscles working harder than the transverse abdominus. When you feel this, let the contraction out.

Repeat this for 3 sets of 15 reps, and over a very short period of time you will find a great deal of strength beginning in your abdominal region.