Review: The Anatomy of Combat

A black belt class instructor recently shared the video Cross Training in the Martial Arts: The Anatomy of Combat with Jaime Clubb. This video brings together impressive instructors from the UK...Rick Young, Mo Teaque, Geoff Thompson, Peter Consterdine, Chris Rowan, Alan Gibson and Iain Abernethy. The premise of this video is that cross-training is at the the heart of all traditional styles. In the history of traditional karate, teachers would encourage students to seek out other types of instruction and bring that knowledge back to the dojo. This video examines "the pre-fight" in depth and the commonly accepted belief that the person who strikes first will usually win. An individual's personal "fence" between themselves and an opponent was also discussed.

We watched the video as part of our advanced class. The instructors were excellent and presented the material in an understandable way. The concepts presented by the instructors on the video became a platform for class discussion. The class talked about the importance of kata, traditional karate and cross-training, the personal "fence", gender differences in regard to the "fence", and the relevance to our own training.

In the subsequent classes, we worked drills according to the concepts presented in the video. We worked on establishing a fence by keeping our arms between ourselves and our opponent. We discussed the "invisible fence" which required our hands to be down but ready. We worked on timing so when our opponent crossed the "fence" we were the first to strike. It was an interesting exercise and we plan spend more time working these drills.

This is an excellent video that I would recommend for practitioners of any style.