Lesson 1: Hard vs. Soft

Ashfalcon finished stretching and regarded his students. “I have heard it said that there are two basic approaches to unarmed combat,” he said. “The first, often called the Hard style, commits everything to each move: you strike with all your strength, block with all your strength, and fully commit to everything you do. The second, generally referred to as the Soft style, does not use as much force, and compensates by making use of the opponent’s energy: on the attack, each strike is ready to change direction based on the opponent’s reaction, and on the defense it prefers redirect an attack instead of meeting it directly.”

“My trainer,” he continued, “says that most actual fighting styles combine these approaches. Very few are entirely one or the other. And in my own experience, most styles begin with hard techniques, and add soft techniques later. That is what we will begin to do now.”

Motioning a pair of students up to the front, he faced off with one of them. “I want you to split up into pairs. To begin with, one of you will work on attacking, and the other on defending. In a minute we will switch. Those of you on the attacking side, I want you to work on this technique.” So saying, he thrust his hand – fingers forward – towards the student’s eyes. The student blocked automatically, and Ashfalcon stopped again. “Notice that the fingers are held together. The thumb is in line with them, tucked in but not folded down across the palm. Try not to tense the hand any more than is necessary to hold the fingers together; this should be a very relaxed motion. Also, do not use all your strength for this; use about half.”

Stepping back, he motioned for the second student to take his place. “The defender can do any of a number of things at this point. An untrained or poorly trained fighter, seeing something coming at his eyes, will generally block as hard as possible. For now, we will work that. I will expand the defender’s reactions in future lessons.”

He paused, then threw his hand at his partner’s eyes again. The student blocked again, but this time Ashfalcon’s hand rode off the block, bending at the elbow to circle around, and came back from the other direction as a hook-punch. “If the defender pushes your attacking hand towards the front of your body, you will use a hook-punch. If he pushes your hand the other direction, your arm will circle the other direction and come over into a back-fist. Your elbow should not be locked at any point in this. Hooks and back-fists should use perhaps seven parts in ten of your strength. I expect you all to have enough control not to actually strike your partners.”

He waited while everyone paired up. “Begin,” he said.

Lesson 2: Soft Defenses

“For this lesson,” Ashfalcon said quietly, “we will look at a different method of defense. Most of you already know the hard blocks from your earlier classes. In those, you use the edge of your arm to smash into an opponent’s incoming attack. There is nothing wrong with those blocks, and I do not expect you to quit using them. However, it is possible to hurt yourself by using them in the wrong situation – against an opponent who is armored when you are not, for example.

“Many of these,” he continued, “will look similar to what you already know. They begin and end in the same basic positions; they cover the same areas of the body. The difference here is one of approach: these blocks are meant to redirect an opponent’s attack, not to smash into it.”

Settling into a middle stance, Ashfalcon brought his arm up for a high block, turning the forearm so that the bone led the way. “This is the hard block that you are familiar with.” Then he did it again, adding a curved motion and a twist of the body to the movement. “This is the first of the soft blocks,” he continued. “From a basic guard position, your hand scoops upwards along the center line of your body. Your torso – shoulders and hips – will actually turn with the arm, just a little bit. The hand comes up, palm inwards, with the elbow below it. Then it begins to turn so that the palm face outward. At the same time, the elbow begins to move towards the outside, ending up in a position similar to the hard block. Your torso will turn to the outside with the elbow; this allows you to make the block without throwing your shoulder out of joint, and will also provide power for whatever you do with your other hand. The idea here is not to stop the opponent’s fist, but to let it slip past you without hitting.”

He paused, checking to see if his students were still paying attention. “The middle blocks for this style reach forward, meeting the attack before it gets close to your body. The idea here is to turn the attack to the side, turning the arm and using the wrist to push. Unlike the hard blocks that you know, you do not want to push your opponent’s attack off to the side; here you simply want to turn it a little bit, far enough out that a little change of direction is enough to cause it to miss. For the soft blocks, you will pushing more forward, out towards your opponent, and only pushing to the side a very little bit. The other advantage to this approach is that if your opponent moves his arm, you can continue that forward motion as an attack.”

That is enough for now, he decided. “Find your partners and try this again. Defenders will use the techniques I have just demonstrated. Attackers, I want you to throw straight punches mixed with hook punches, using both hands. Defenders, this will not work if you try to push as hard as you can. We are making use of small movements and better leverage, not brute force.”

Lesson 3: Stances and Stepping

“For this lesson,” Ashfalcon began, “we will be looking at the uses of stances and footwork. To begin, let me put in a word about the difference between stances and stepping.

“All of you know the basic steps – advances, retreats, and pass. Most of you should know the side-step as well. For those who don’t, it works in the same way as an advance or retreat. To step right, you move the right foot first and recover the distance with your left. To step left, you move the left foot first and recover with your right.” He glanced around, not surprised to find most of the class nodding already. They know this.

“These are just the beginning of the stepping patterns you have available to you,” he said, “but before we look at the others, I want to make sure you understand the difference between stances and steps. Stepping patterns are ways of moving. They are designed to let you make use of the four grounds of combat. Stances, by contrast, are ways of delivering power. With the exception of the middle stance – also called the ready stance – you will generally not stay in any one stance for more than a moment or two.”

Again, he studied his students, this time to make sure that he had their attention. “We are now going to look at three new stepping patterns. One is a retreat; the others offer a way to change directions on your opponent. They are intended to help you get around an opponent’s advance, and can be combined with blocks to defend against kicks.”

Pulling over a small tripod, Ashfalcon set a series of illustrations on it. The first was labeled Angled Retreat; the second was labeled Angle Step to the Outside; and the third was labeled Angle Step to the Inside. He demonstrated them briefly, the turned to his students. “Try them,” he said, “and we will look at combining them with blocks and attacks.”

Lesson 4: Low Blocks

Ashfalcon watched as his students assembled for their next class. Some were eager, others indifferent; most simply seemed ready. When they were all present, he motioned again towards the tripod with its illustrations.

“Today,” he said, “we will look at three low blocks and how to combine them with the stepping patterns from our last class.” Settling into a ready stance, Ashfalcon performed one of the standard low blocks: his lead arm hammering down and to the outside. “Once again,” he said, “the new version resembles the one you know.” He demonstrated, slowly. “For the softer version, the arm does not drop straight down. It circles, instead, starting towards the inside and then coming down and out. Rather than striking against the enemy’s blow, your hand turns further out, so that the palm is actually facing downward. Here again, the torso turns to keep the arm in front of it – not a large movement, but enough.”

He glanced at the students, then nodded. “The next block also uses the lead arm. It circles the other way – clockwise, if your right foot is forward. The arm forms much the same angle, but it hooks a low strike and deflects it towards the inside. Again, this is not meant to smash against an opponent’s attack, but to push it off course. This should use considerably less than your full strength.”

He straightened. “Both of those are for use against low strikes. They can be used against kicks, but you still risk damaging your arm against someone whose kicks are powerful… or whose legs are armored. For someone who throws a kick directly at you – a side kick or a snap kick – the incoming leg is blocked with a downward and backward movement of the arm. Your arm should sweep down so that your fist goes past your knee, and stops just beyond your hip. This can be done with either arm.”

He straightened. “Movement is still your best defense against powerful attacks, especially kicks. I want you to practice these three blocks, and then I want you to work on combining them with the footwork from our last lesson. The third block – the downward sweep of the arm – works best with the angled retreat. Blocking to the outside – the first technique we looked at today – works with the angled step to the inside. Blocking to the inside works with the angled step to the outside.”

Lesson 5: Trips and Throws

“For this lesson, we’re going to look at a basic trip and a basic throw.” Ashfalcon glanced over at his students. “You can move into these techniques from either an attack or a block; for simplicity, we will begin with an attack.”

Choosing one of the students at random, he motioned for the Ji’alantin to assume a ready stance facing him. “You will begin with the thrusting hand that you know already.” He put his hand out, fingers extended towards his partner’s eyes. The Ji’alantin responded with one of the soft blocks, extending his arm and rolling his wrist slightly to deflect the attack.

“Good,” said Ashfalcon. “If your partner responds with a hard block, you know how to go around it. If he gives you a soft block, like this, I want you to roll your hand over and grab the defender’s wrist, then pull it down in the direction of your hip. Your right hip, if you began with your right foot forward.” He demonstrated, neatly removing the blocking arm. “At the same time, your rear hand will come forward in a punch. If he doesn’t block… Well, then you hit him. If he does block, it will be with his rear hand. At that point, you will release the wrist you grabbed first, and grab the one he just blocked with.”

He paused. “Assuming that you began with your right side forward, You should now be holding his left wrist in your left hand. At this point you will bring your left foot forward, so that it is heel-down and your toes are hooking up and to the right. Most of your weight – about nine parts in ten – should be on your right leg. Your right hand – which has just let go of your opponent’s right wrist – will come up and catch your opponent’s left arm just above the elbow, keeping it straight. You will now pull the arm down and to the left, using your left foot to trip your opponent.”

Looking over at his students, he straightened. “That was the trip. The throw begins exactly the same way. Jab with the fingers extended; grab his blocking arm and throw another punch. When he blocks with his rear hand, you grab the blocking hand.” Several students nodded. “From here, you release the first wrist you grabbed – your right, if you began right side forward. Your left hand will pull your opponent’s arm across his body – to your left – while your right hand comes across and cups behind his shoulder. Your left foot should step up to where your right foot is; then your right foot kicks forward past his right foot. This is where the actual throw occurs: your foot swings back, allowing your hip to displace his, and at the same time you push forward with both arms, throwing him across your hip.”

He demonstrated, and then straightened again. “Now, pair off and try it. Be careful; the trip is not so bad, but the throw will make a mess of your partner’s lower back and shoulder if you don’t take it easy.” He hesitated, then added: “In combat, you do not take it easy.”

Lesson 6: Arm Locks

“For today’s lesson we will look at a simple arm lock,” said Ashfalcon, motioning for one of the students to join him. “As with trips and throws, you can move into these from either attack or defense. For this practice, we will move into them from the attack.”

He set up in a ready stance, facing the student; both of them had the right side forward. “This part should be familiar,” he said, shooting his hand forward with the fingers extended. His partner blocked, and Ashfalcon rolled his hand over to grasp the fellow’s wrist. “It begins in much the same way as the trips and throws,” he said. “However, rather than taking a tight grip on the wrist, I want you to let your hand slide down your opponent’s arm until your thumb and index finger are at the bottom his hand. At this point you push out with your wrist, which should turn your opponent’s palm in towards his chest. At the same time, you begin to turn his arm – clockwise, from the attacker’s perspective. This should twist the wrist, and force him to straighten his elbow; if you turn his wrist far enough, you will force him to bend over as well – or else break his wrist. You should also step to your left as you are doing this. ”

He demonstrated, bringing his partner into an involuntary bow. “From here, your left hand can cross over to break your opponent’s elbow. You can also move the arm up behind your opponent’s back if you want to control him without damaging him. Similarly, you can place your left arm behind his right shoulder and turn, taking him down to the ground. In that case he should end up on his belly, and you should be holding his arm close to the vertical. In all cases, it is critical to maintain control of the wrist.”

He stepped back, letting the student stand. “Find partners and try this; I want to see you work all three variations. Be careful. It is easy to strain someone’s joints this way, even in practice.”

Lesson 7: Counters to Grappling

Ashfalcon began this class with a review of the techniques from the previous two lessons: locks, throw, trips, and holds. “Very good,” he said. “Today we will look at how to counter such techniques. The trick is not to fight them directly; if someone is twisting your wrist and you try to turn against it, you will break your wrist.”

Once again, he set up facing one of the students – a Ji’alantin, this time – with the right side forward. “Move into the wrist lock from the soft block,” Ashfalcon instructed, and then threw punch towards his partner’s face. The Jialantin blocked easily and caught the wrist, turning it in preparation for one of the holds.

Ashfalcon, feeling his arm being straightened, pivoted counterclockwise, putting the captured right arm at the small of his back. He finished the movement slowly: “This allows you to stay upright,” he said. “And if you can put an elbow out as you come around, so much the better. From here, you will use your left hand to reach for the trachea. You will also shift your weight towards your opponent, putting most of it on the lead leg – the left, in this case – so that he will be off balance if he lets go of you. You can discourage this by grasping his wrist with the hand behind your back.”

Stepping back, he said: “Counters to other grappling techniques work in similar ways; you should move with them, rather than pulling against them. For trips, you will want to keep your legs loose and try to step over the tripping foot. Now, however, we will work on what I have just shown you.”