Monday 29 June 2009

Midget Thai Boxing & Protecting Your Transitions

Somebody emailed me a video of two midgets in a Muay Thai ring, beating the crap out of each other. Aside from the fact that it was demeaning to the midgets (trying to fix my prejudices, but I'm very pessimistic that this wasn't a honourable match to begin with.

Here's the vid.

I showed it to a silat master, cikgu Yazid Abdul Rani. After watching it a couple of times, he pointed out something important. In the last KO that the smaller guy delivers, it works because he launches his attack as the other midget tries to step to get closer.

This, in martial arts, is the principle of attacking during transition. In Silat Melayu, it's often called makan gerak, or interception.

This same principle is used in war, to attack the enemy when they are moving between bases, in economy, to attack the shares of a company and effect a takeover when the whole world is beginning to wake up (remember Mahathir's daring Sime Darby dawn raid?) and in romance, when the rebound girl or guy appears just as you're trying to forget your old beau (and often has damaging consequences).

The only way to protect yourself during transition, is to be fully aware of your surroundings, and prepare contingencies every step of the way. Transitions are when you're weakest, because a lot of change is happening all at once. They are the joints (incidentally also the parts of the body most susceptible to attacks) of the situation.

Keep them safe.

Crouching whiskers hiding pizza.

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