I came across this article on boxing tips for fighting by Frank Benn and found it incredibly interesting. The tips themselves would be of useful to anyone interested in boxing or fighting, and are a highly recommended read. However, I also came across a lot of parallels between the advice in the article and my Wing Chun training, which I’ve been studying for a couple years. Some highlights:

…your defense has to facilitate your offense. Everything “defensive” is really a matter of doing AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE to make him miss while not messing up your alignment to hit him back…Don’t always try to stay out of his reach, or you’ll always find him out of your reach…Like Musashi says, “Do nothing that is without a reason”. Beware of gratuitous and wasteful motions that don’t serve any purpose.

Wing Chun trains fairly minimalist motions, with the notion that your movements should be minor and direct. Your object is to get closer and deliver your strikes as efficiently as possible. The quickest route is a straight line, and your movements shouldn’t bring you in and out of range. Excessive movement is wasted movement, period.

The thing that weakens an opponent’s offense is your own offense. Everything else (e.g. slipping without countering, blocking as an isolated movement) is just prolonging the inevitable.

In Wing Chun, if you can strike first, then do so. Simultaneous attack and defense are emphasized. Sometimes the best defense for an attack is one of your own. As Benn noted later, “Better to give, than to receive.”

Speed is very important. But quickness and suddenness are even more important. Don’t build up in speed. If you do, you will tend to miss against a person with movement, even though your punches are fast at full extension. This is because there is a discernible buildup in your acceleration. Relaxation is important for speed. Don’t tighten your fist up until you’re almost fully extended.

If you’re tense, you cannot move quickly. If you’re using a lot of muscle in the build up to your strikes, you’re moving too slow. Relax until the moment of impact for maximum speed and maximum effect.

Your arms are like two soldiers guarding a fort. When one of them leaves the fort to make war, he has to build a wall to protect his post while he’s gone. Also, in keeping with this analogy the other soldier at such times is extra vigilant.

If you attack, make sure your defense is good as well. In Wing Chun, a default position for the hand is “wu sao”, which has a hand back in rear guard position. It’s unusual to be striking with both hands at the same time, because that means that you have no defense.

In your stancing and movement, do not put more than 60 percent of your weight on either foot *except in brief extreme situations*. i.e. In the course of regular movement stand in balance. One-legged stances, stilted and straight knee stances, overextended forward stances, etc., are a big mistake both offensively and defensively.

If you put all your weight on one foot, you’re limited in your mobility. Keep it about equal, and you keep your options open. Being able to move in any direction will make you less likely to get caught off guard.

The article is filled with many more interesting tips, from someone who has way more experience than me. Check it out.

A relatively unknown martial art is the Russian style of Systema (Wikipedia), which, unfortunately, may sometimes just be referred to as “Russian Martial Art”. This style is most notably employed by some Spetsnaz units (Russian special forces). The style is reported to date back to the 10th century, with the first practitioners being Stalin’s bodyguards; however, only since the fall of Communism in Russia has the art started getting greater exposure, which may explain why it’s relatively unknown in the West. Schools for Systema can be found in Various places in the UK, Canada, and the US.

Mikhail Ryabko is shown demonstrating the style in the video above. The movements are quite reminiscent of Aikido, in terms of redirecting force and dealing with an opponent. While the demonstrations show that this may be a “soft” art, some quick short jabs, weapons, and ground fighting are shown in the demonstration video as well.

Of course, the style is not without its detractors, mostly centering around the psychic or internal parts of some schools. You be the judge:

It also doesn’t help that there are few clips of the highly skilled practitioners, and a lot of clips of the lesser skilled ones, for such a relatively unknown art. From the video I’ve seen, it looks like it incorporates many of the same techniques that are used to good effect in Aikido, Aikijutsu, Judo, and Jujutsu. Is this art good, and if so, how does one determine a good school? Such questions hold true for any style.