SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

You don’t want your sparring partner knowing that you’re going to attack, do you?  Probably not.  In which case, one method you can use to disguise your attacks is to try and make them move weapon first.

Weapon first means: if you are punching, move the fist first.  If you are kicking, move the foot first.  Sounds simple enough.  It is simple.  It isn’t easy but it is simple.  One of the best ways to achieve this weapon first idea is to have a partner watch you strike.  Standing across from you, they simply name the piece of your body that they see move first when you attack.  If they say “hand” when you punch, you got it!  If they say “head” or “hip” or anything except “hand” then something else moved first and that means you are giving your sparring partner information that they can use to spot your attack early.

Another name for weapon first is independent motion.  The ultimate test of any fighting principle is, of course, does it do anything when you work against an actively resisting opponent?

Faking.  It’s a simple enough concept.  Pretend to do one thing and then do another instead.  In sparring, you are best served faking with a technique that you have already landed on your partner.  This is because when they see the fake (insert name of previously successful technique here) their brain will yell “defend!  That hit us before so do something about it”.

With that in mind, tonight we focused on recognizing our most successful techniques in sparring and trying to use those technique as fakes in order to see what other options opened up.