Yip Man / Ip Man / Wing Chun

Special mention on Mr. Ip Man or better known as Yip Man.

2008 release of a movie titled Ip Man.

The story line is very much different from that found in Wikipedia

Mr. Yip's claim to fame is most directly due to his most famous student - Bruce Lee

More clips at my website

Seraph vs Neo (Matrix fight scene)

The Matrix trilogy features many fight scenes.

None of them realistic! But it is very much a tribute to the "old" kungfu stylize fights.

Seraph played by Collin Chou vs Neo played by Keanu Reeves.

We know that Keanu is not a martial artist, that's why most of the fight scenes are in slow-mo (in my humble opinion).

Dr. Ruthless - Self Defence

When I saw the video, I was like whoa! But not really in a good way.

The concept and objective of Dr. Ruthless aka Melissa Soalt is great, I wholly support the idea of women fending for themselves.

However, one thing keeps coming to my mind while watching the videos. The thugs seems to be making Dr. Ruthless look good.

Again, position, most of the videos place the attacker in a very "suitable" position to be counter-attacked.

Okay, it may be an idiot first time attacker, but don't you think most criminals would have gone through the run of the mill kicks, scratch, punches...etc?

I find something disturbing about all these, if a criminal wants to take you down, he can and will! Nothing will stop a criminal, yelling of "no" will not help.

Am I saying, Dr Ruthless is a useless program based on the Youtube video? No, of course not!

It can build confidence to react in situations.

It can build awareness. Awareness of dangers lurking.

It can build muscle memory where your brain and muscles act by instinct rather than panic and freezing.

Most of the "moves" in the video? In my opinion, the first two moves are great, kick, punch, elbow...then RUN AWAY...

DO NOT HANG AROUND to complete the techniques.

For a wake up call, watch this again: Click Here

I felt somewhat relieved when I read her advice to women:

4 pillars of safety:

PILLAR ONE: Knowledge of how criminals operate.

PILLAR TWO: Prevention strategies to avoid, deter and escape would-be victimizers.

PILLAR THREE: Physical defense and the use of weapons.

PILLAR FOUR: Survival mind set and fighting spirit.

Read the full message here.

Dr. Ruthless webpage here.

Bas Rutten - Bar fight defence

Now, how practical is this?
Bas Rutten - Bar fight guide
Lots of good stuff - kick ass video!

1. Kick to the groin
Good technique, but usually anticipated by the other guy confronting you. However, it is a very useful tool when used with a follow up flurry of punches, kicks, elbows...etc.
Practicality? As a distraction 100%, by itself? 0%

2. Head butt, punches, elbows
Always use your body as a weapon. Doesn't need refined techniques.
Practicality? 100%

3. Use objects near you - chairs, bottles, tables...
Again, classic smart fighting
Practicality? 100%

4. Knife attack defence
Unless you are Bas Rutten or some martial arts pro, you will probably not be fast enough to block the attack. Kick and run, or just run.
Lock, hold, disarm or counter attack? No way an ordinary folk like me (or you) gonna make it out alive!
Practicality? 0%

5. One hand choke defence
Unless you are good at grappling or have at least some jujitsu, ninjitsu, aikido background, you are not going to be able to execute those moves.
Plus, the person can withdraw his hand forcefully and then your technique breaks down.
Practicality? 0%

6. Back choke defence
Fantastic response that can be replicated by ordinary folks like me. See this useless technique.
Practicality? 100%

7. Knee break
Well, I am not sure if you want to do that. You can always just walk away. What if the whole gang comes after you with knives? Or broken bottles?
Practicality? 10%

8. Arm grab defence
I always wonder why aikido practitioners go through the whole process of reversing a grab when it is so much easier to do what Bas Rutten did.
Well, who am I to question aikido anyway?
Force your hand out and counter punch...that's the way to go!
Practicality? 100%

9. Head grab defence
Good move, but not likely to invoke a "natural" response from a non-professional fighter. Unless you are expecting this attack, most likely you will respond in other ways.
Practicality? 100% powerful but only 20% for actual application.

10. Shoulder grab defence
Complicated moves for a non-professional
Practicality? 0%

11. Grabbing a guy and going to the floor
Well, probably works in MMA, UFC, K1 whatever...but remember? Nobody goes to pubs alone, you wanna friends to come in and kick you in the head when you are busy "tying" up that guy?
Real life, no tap outs.
Practicality? 0%

12. Head lock from the back?
Very good defence, easily done unless the other guy is way way heavier than you are!
Practicality? 85% (discounted because you could be naturally weak and unable to perform the move)

13. Kick defence
Catching a person's leg looks easy for Bas Rutten, but we are not trained to have such good reflexes.
One good way if you missed that guy's leg is to just go in and attack that guy. The attacker just landed on his own feet and is unbalanced (even for a pro), so take this opportunity and go in for a flurry of your own attacks.
Practicality? 100% (if you got his legs)

14. Someone running straight at you defence
Going straight for his mid section, exposing yourself to attacks, well, that is something the other person won't expect.
The attacker will assume that you will defend yourself. So, yeah, good move!
Practicality? 100%

15. Gun
Well, I would advice everyone to forget about doing all those krav marga moves etc, unless you are trained, better just pay up.
UNLESS, you are going to die anyway (revenge attack), then go for it.
Practicality? 50% (depends)

Self-Defence 101

I have added a new menu "Self Defence 101"

I will pick out a few videos of self-defence techniques and see if it is applicable to ordinary folks like you and me. http://www.vchooz.com/discussion.html

Martial arts fans

If you are a martial arts fan or expert, let's exchange links! :)

Movie fights added

Fearless featuring Jet Li has been added to www.vchooz.com

More videos coming up!!

Sumo & Wing Chun

Sumo wrestling and Wing Chun added to www.vchooz.com

Taking longer than expected

I couldn't do any updates to the website becos of the hard disk crash that i experience. Starting from scratch is certainly very tiring. Please give me feedback on my website www.vchooz.com

Problems with PC

Due to my PC crashing, I am going to have to recreate my website from scratch! Sorry for the delay.

The contents are still there on www.vchooz.com

Enjoy videos and information on various arts and even street fights!

Jean Claude Van Damme

Updated the website with information and videos of Mr. Van Damme.

Next up, Wing Chun. Go to my website.

Problems with server

Godaddy's server has served me well for many years. But I was having trouble with it the whole day. The front page took ages to load!

I had to create a new hosting account and reload everything!

But it was well worth the effort.

The site http://www.vchooz.com is still a work in progress, do leave me some feedback!

Decision to set up site

So far, all my websites or blogs are very business based.

I thought I would like to do something fun.

I've always an interest in Martial Arts. I joined Wushu (Chinese gongfu) when I was 16, dropped out because my mum hated the uniform and thought I joined some gang.

Well, I am NOT a martial artists, just a bystander. But I enjoy getting information on martial arts and would like to share it with everyone.

I've added in Aikido, Street fights and Movie fights in my website (all in two days!) and will have more coming up! Enjoy!

http://www.vchooz.com/