The Battle with my Terrible Enemy Continues!

            ....or in other words, I still have my cold. Actually it seems to be on the way out. Most of my colds in recent years have been mercifully brief, which I suspect may be due to the protocol I adopt. Since this blog is about keeping you out of harm, I will pass on what I have learnt:-

·         “Feed a Cold” really is good advice. Recent studies seem to indicate food increases levels of Gamma Interferon, which is useful in fighting viral infections.

·         Eat foods containing vitamin C. That taking vitamin C will prevent you getting colds is total bunk, but once you have a cold vitamin C will help you fight it. Usually I would caution you against drinking a lot of fruit juice since they are a way to take in lots of calories without feeling full. If you have a cold calories and vitamin C are what you need so go get a carton. Get some fresh fruit too for deserts and snacks.

·         Eat curry. Chilli and garlic are both very effective against colds. Turmeric has useful properties too and the onions are even a good source of vitamin C. I’ve been eating curry since this cold hit and it is already on the retreat. A high intake of garlic does seem to have some properties in preventing colds, but use a good deodorant too.

·         For those really nasty infections that hit your throat, take honey and garlic. Buy a pot of honey and a bulb of garlic. Peel, crush and chop the cloves and place in the honey. Keep in the cupboard until needed. Both honey and garlic have antiseptic properties so take a spoonful when you throat feels bad. It doesn’t taste as bad as you might think and is actually nicer than many throat medicines. Also can be used as a great glaze for grilled chicken, which is why it is in the kitchen and not the medical cabinet!

·         Oil of Olbas. This is fantastic stuff and a bottle is a permanent part of my travel kit. Sniff the stuff to clear your nose, but make sure it does not touch your skin directly, this is potent stuff! Sprinkle some on your bedcovers and pillow at night. A few drops on the dressing gown when sitting around. Run a hot bath and add a few drops while the water is running

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Quadrants of Parrying II

            My apologies if the last post on “Quadrants of Parrying” was below the usual standard. I was in the early stages of a cold and that is not the best time to try and wrestle with explanations. Some further thoughts on the topic, hopefully a little more coherent.

            Which defensive technique you use against an attack will depend not just on what quadrant  it comes from but also from the relative position of the hand you intend to use. It will be recalled that the original description was in a book on knife fighting and the assumption was that the defender would start in the recommended knife-fighting stance, which for that author had the hand in line with the elbow that was the hypothetical intersection of the quadrants. You may not be in a perfect stance when you have to use your hands to defend yourself, so let us look at attacks from the four quadrants once again, this time with some consideration of where the hand begins:-

            High Outer Attacks. Most High Outer Attacks can be dealt with by the various high outward parries. The Karate Outside thrusting parry was mentioned previously and more circular parries such as the “Wave” or “Window wiper” can be used too. Parries with the radius side of the arm, such as the Wing Chun Tan Sau, using the hand in a palm up position can also be used. An inward parry might be used if the hand started in a low outside position but it is likely that to achieve this you would need to step back and would have avoided the attack anyway.

            High Inside Attacks. High Inside Attacks can be dealt with by any of the inward parries mentioned in the previous post. If you hand was positioned well to the inside, such as near your opposite shoulder then an attack in this quadrant might be deflected with an outward parry.

            Low Outside Attacks. Attacks to the low outside quadrant are dealt with by low outward parries. Very low attacks may be parried outward with the leg instead of the arm. As with all attacks, evasion and avoidance are better than contact.

            Low Inside Attacks. The Low Inner Quadrant is occupied by a considerable proportion of the body. How to parry attacks to this quadrant will depend on the relative starting position of the hand.  If the hand is by your side then low attacks such as to the stomach or groin are deflected by the low inward parry. This is effectively twisting your waist so your forearm swings across, removing the intended target and knocking the attack across the inside gate to empty air. If the attack is at a slightly higher level then the Bong Sau type technique is used with the elbow raised and the hand hanging down. What is interesting about this is the bent elbow allows the arm to fold on contact, absorbing force but still redirecting the attack. If the hand was above the elbow when an attack was made to the Low Iner Quadrant then a low outward parry can be used to sweep the attack out into the low outer quadrant.

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Metallurgy

            For this Friday’s humour, a cartoon from https://xkcd.com/1114/ dedicated to my gamer friends and readers. Thanks to Nate for finding this one.

         If you have enjoyed this article or it has been helpful to you please feel free to show your appreciation. Thank you.
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Quadrants of Parrying.

It is interesting how sometimes just a turn of phrase or slightly different view of something can change your understanding of it. You may not know anything new about the subject, but how your understanding of how the different parts of what you know work together changes.

As I remark in my book, blocking/ parrying actions can be described as resembling a diamond shape. A parry with either limb is either Inward/ High, Outward/ High, Inward/ Low or Outward/ Low. Karate is one of the exceptions to this model since the direction of the defensive hand moves are better visualized as being either High, Low, Outward or Inward.

Recently reading a book on knife techniques the author comments that any attack can only come from one of four possible quadrants, which correspond to Inward/ High, Outward/ High, Inward/ Low or Outward/ Low. What was novel to me was that he visualized these four quadrants by imagining a vertical cross shape, centered on the elbow. I suspect this model may originate from some school of the Filipino Martial Arts. For any attack from a particular quadrant there was only one basic defensive move. A high attack on the inside would be met by an inward cut with the point of the blade up, a low attack on the inside by an inward cut with the point down. Attacks from the outside of the elbow would be met with outward cuts, point up or down depending on if the attack was high (above the elbow) or low.

What works with the knife often works with empty hand techniques. Let us consider attacks from the four quadrants (relative to the elbow) and how we are likely to deflect them.

High Outside Attack: Probably the most likely response is the thrusting or outward swinging action we see in the Outward Karate parry. The same fundamental action can be seen in boxing and many other fighting styles.

Low Outside Attack. Most responses are variations of the Karate Low parry. Drop your hand and let it swing to your outside, turning your hips outward. With a knife you would make this as a cut, with unarmed you would deflect with the hand or forearm.

High Inside Attack. This body motion used to counter this attack has a number of variations. First we have the Inward Parry of Karate, using the forearm in an approximately vertical position. This is quite a strong technique and covers a good area. Secondly, we can use the hand to make contact with the attacking limb and strike or push it away. This has a little more reach than the Karate Inward Parry but is less forgiving when it comes to accuracy. Thirdly, we can punch or thrust past the attacking limb and make contact with our forearm. Which variant you use will depend on the actual attack and what you are most adroit at using.

Low Inside Attack. This is an interesting area, since in the Karate model all low attacks tend to be dealt with by sweeping them to the outside. Most attacks that come in under the elbow can be dealt with this way. It is also possible to deflect inward. With a knife this would be an inward cut with the point downward. The thumb will be low and the palm upward to hold the knife edge in the correct orientation. The little finger side of the arm would be the “leading edge”. With the empty hand the low inward parry is more likely to be made with the palm towards you and the thumb side the “leading edge”. Contact area is likely to be the thumb side of the hand or forearm or the outside of the forearm. Actual technique may also vary with the height of the low attack. The above assumes a relatively straight arm is used. For a higher low attack a variation resembling the Bong Sau (Wing arm) of Wing Chun might be useful. Here the contact area will be the ulna edge of the forearm or its outer/upper surface.

            Can you defend with just four basic motions? Possibly.

 

This illustration from the book shows eight defensive moves from JKD and if you look carefully you see each covers one quadrant for either the forward or rare arm. Are the techniques the simplest/most efficient/most fumble-free for a quadrant? In the book I discuss how the P’eng Hinge stance can be used to deflect the majority of attacks with just and outward or inward rotation. There are parallels to this in staff or bayonet fighting too. But there will also situations when an additional technique or variation can do things more effectively. Attacks to the low inside quadrant are a good example of this.

         If you have enjoyed this article or it has been helpful to you please feel free to show your appreciation. Thank you.
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