MCC - 293 Cane Essentials #5 (By Hook or Crook)

DISCLAIMER:
These clips are for entertainment and general informational purposes only. We are not instructing you, or encouraging you to do or to believe anything, except to view, enjoy, and think. Never forget that martial arts, like any rigorous course of physical activity, presents the risk of injury, sometimes serious, disabling, or even fatal. Actual techniques should only be practiced in a controlled environment emphasizing safety, under the direct supervision of a Black Belt instructor (in whom you have trust and confidence), and only after you have been cleared by your personal physician.

There comes a time in the life of every martial artist where multiple airborne kicks are forever locked in the past, along with full contact, and falls to solid surfaces. I too can remember when I was young and invincible. Frankly, it's now a distant dream!.

An essential tenet of Gun Fu is that every practitioner must continue to improve with each passing year. Generally, skill level should double with each level of rank. In the same vein, you should, like a very fine wine, improve with age, producing your greatest achievements as you approach your final sunset. That is not to deny there are injuries, or even physical limitations which meld into who you are as you mature. But good Gun Fu means finding the answer, and that answer can never be to "give up" or to "quit".

The Cane is often overlooked in martial arts training. Frankly, it combines much of what you can find in the study of Nunchaku, with movement of the Jo, and the lightning strikes of Arnis. Some have even convincingly demonstrated a direct link between the Cane and Sword.

Within Gun Fu, Cane is a complete subsystem, taking 1-2 years to learn (and somewhat longer to master). Typically, those who make the effort puzzle over how they ever overlooked this unique weapon in the first place.

For more information on balance, visit: http://www.ironcrane.com

Used with Permission. Copyright 2000-2012, Mc Cabe and Associates, Tacoma, WA. All rights reserved.