NaamKyun.com Discussion Forum

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a06PyAI7NLc[/youtube]

Maybe you can be more specific..
I don't see elbow shielding 'all over the place in GGFFK'. I see raising elbows in GGFFK, but in my opinion this is a fundamentally different posture. In my opinion, the typical hung kuen head shielding structure is more like movement #77 in the gung ji books. Typically we are not just absorbing, but sending force as we defend.

I also don't see pau jang as a head shielding technique. You can say it looks [kind of] similar, but I think you would need to make adjustments to the structure/posture to accomodate a shielding technique. I see this as too far from the original technique to call them the same idea.

I say that this is most useful in ring sports because typically the glove adds extra surface area (in boxing) so the opponents attack doesn't slip through. Typically boxers are more concerned about protecting their lower head, ie. their jaw to prevent a knockout from a hook. They don't care that much if a bit of the top of their head is exposed.

In mma this technique is commonly used, but I believe this is more of an 'emergency technique'. When you are shielding it is still possible for a punch to slip over the top because of the small gloves - but the main goal is protecting your jaw and trying to prevent getting knocked out.
For kicks -- I definitely wouldn't recommend stopping a kick this way -- at least not against a strong kicker. While being lessened, the impact will still travel through to your head. From my understanding, it's mostly used as an 'emergency technique'.. when you didn't see that attack coming fast enough and you need to throw up something to protect yourself.

It's a viable technique, and I don't see training it as a bad thing.. I just don't really see it as the ''traditional hung kuen'' way of doing things. But that's certainly not a bad thing from my point of view.. and kudos for training in a more realistic way than most gyms.

markt, trying to understand how you apply the elbow as shown in the sequence around #14, could you elaborate what you learned you do there?

We also learned it as a defense against a ping choi to the head. The elbow passes near the centerline and deflects the fist sideways, yielding to the attackers momentum. After which we grab down, further destabilizing the opponent and forward tigerpalm, as in the set.

Not claiming anything on what is wrong and what is right, I'm sure many things can be achieved with this technique and just trying to catch up something new