Beit: wm Clete om ares Academy JEET KUNE DO Il US. $285 + Canada $3.25 Printed in USATo ee Can One Art Function in all Four Ranges? i by Robert W. Young —L Ss Pesartale neces alize that all fighting takes place in specific ranges, which are commonly designated as kicking, punching, trapping and grappling range. Many have also learned that proficiency in only one range does not guarantee success in a street fight: because real confrontations can flow from one range to another in the blink of an eye. Therefore, in this decade of martial arts multiculturalism, students often look to other styles for supplemental skills which their primary art may not teach. For example, a boxer may decide to study savate for kicking, wing chun kung fu for trapping and judo for grappling. Yet hundreds of thousands of martial artists around the world see no need to search outside their own art for these varied techniques. Practitioners of the Korean style of self-defense known as hapkido claim to be privileged to study an art famed for its powerful kicks, varied hand strikes, effective trapping-range techniques and versa- Practitioners of the Korean art of hapkido claim it Includes techniques which function in kicking, punch. ing, trapping and grappling | range. These techniques are often combined: A trapping movement can lead to a joint lock, which, in turn, can lead to a throw. s_ In this article, Karate /Kung Fu Illustrated—with help from Chong S. Kim, an origi nal student of hapkido-founder Choi Yong-sool who has taught the art for more than 37 years, and Stephen Petermann and Jeffrey D. Harris, branch instructor: in the Jang Mu Hapkiko Association—examines the is- sue at hand: Does hapkido effectively cover all four ranges of combat? (agsTe./ KUNGFU Ri USTRATED~ pRcamchan mes:Kicking Range Perhaps more than any other country’s arts, those of Korea come well-equipped for fighting in kick- ing range. Hapkido is no exception. Yet its leg techniques differ from those of many other arts because of the tremendous power imparted by pivoting the supporting foot and fol- lowing through with the leg motion. “In hapkido, the goal is to deliver as much impact as you can,” says Peterman, who has practiced the art for 22 years. “If you don't add those last few inches with the pivot of the foot, you're holding some- thing back, So you pivot on all your kicks; that gives you the ability to get. six inches [of reach] the person didn't think you had and to move your energy farther toward him.” Hapkido divides kicking range ac- cording to distance, and certain kicks fit into each category. “How do you kick an opponent when you're face to face?” Petermann asks. “Let's say you want to get out, of a situation and retreat, but you feel you need to defend yourself while you're doing it. You can turn and do a scooping back kiek or in- ide kick, even face to face. If you're going to grapple with him, you might still use a heel kick to hit him on the tailbone or thigh while re- treating. Just because you're face to face doesn’t mean you have to grapple; you can still kick.” Harris, who has studied hapkido Jeftrey Haris (right) and Mark Chemeleski square off (1). As Harris punches, Chemeleski blocks with an inside kick (2}, then retracts the leg (3) and side-kicks Harris in the neck (4). He then puts his foot down, pivots and delivers a turning back kick (5). for 17 years, identifies several ranges within the art's concept of kicking range: very close, where knees are used; medium distance, where a front-leg front kick will work; greater distance, where you can use a rear-leg front kick; and the greatest distance, where a jumping front-leg front kick or rear- Jeg jump kick ean be used. “We don't just train close; we don't just train far,” Harris says. “We train in all the ranges so we can defend against. those ranges.” For practical self-defense, though, Harris advises beginners to stick with the basics. “The low- to mid- range kicks work best for self-de- fense,” he says. “The high spinning heel kicks and [similar techniques} are extremely difficult, especially in a fighting situation, but they're not impractical because you're also dealing with the element of sur- prise. Who's going to expect you to Jump into the air, do a 360-degree spinning heel kick and land it?” “The high, middle and low kicks are very important because they give you better choices, better op- portunity,” Peterman adds, “When you're fighting a particular stylist and he defends middle- or high- body very well, you can kick him low. In styles where they tend to squat more and place more weight on the front leg, obviously a sweep- ing kick will not work. But because of that disadvantage, a high kick can be more successful because he can’t get out of range quickly enough.” Low-line hapkido attacks can knock a leg out from under you or even tear flesh and break bones, Harris claims. “We have kicks to the DECEMBER 1904 — KARATE ( KUNG FU ILUSTRATED 23knee, shin, ankle and feet; sweep kicks to the back of the leg; stomp- ing kicks; kicks in which you grate the blade of your foot down the front of your attacker's shin and end with a stomp on his foot and a twist at the bottom for good measure,” he says. “There are also hooking kicks to the back of the leg, blade kicks to the shin and muscle-tearing Kicks.” Not surprisingly, some Korean arts have been criticized for having too many specialized kicks that might never get used in real life, Outsiders are sometimes left won- dering why more practical leg tech- niques are not emphasized. “First, younger students have to accom- 4 [KARATE | KUNG FU ILLUSTRATED. Harris (left) faces Chemeleski (1). As he. punches, Harris moves fo the outside (2), then attacks Chomeleski's eyes and face with his open hand (3). plish the basies—the front kick, in- side kick, outside kick, side kick and roundhouse kick,” Petermann says “If they don't accomplish those, the rest of it is wasted. Once they have, they go on to other kicks [accord- ing] to whatever level they're ca- pable of, But the basics have to be good. For beginners, having a kiek for every possible situation becomes overload—they don't really need it.” Yet Petermann, an instructor for nearly 18 years, acknowledges the usefulness of such varied kicking practice. “How often are you going to.use a jump two-man front kick?” he asks. “Probably not very often, but you need to train your body to accomplish these things so your DECEMBER 1994 sic kicks become even better. Cer- tainly we have some very esoteri kicks, such as the toe-in-the-throat Kick. That’s one of my personal fa: vorites, but would it be my first choice in a fight? Absolutely not. Is it one you're ever going to use? Gosh, I don’t know. But it’s still a useful technique, and it improves your overall understanding of what you're capable of.” Punching Range Once inside kicking range, where hand techniques usually take over, hapkido practitioners are quite ca: pable of continuing to defend them- selves. Yet when they speak of punching-range techniques, they don’t mean boxing-style punches. “Most of the punching we do is straight karate-style punching; be- yond that is open-hand strikes,” Petermann says. “A jab is some- thing that is difficult to deal with, but because a boxer isn't trying to put you away with his jab, there's the opportunity to get around it and hit him. Most people know how to jab when they come in; we don’t have to train them. But they don't know how to deliver a very power- ful punch, stab or palm strike when somebody is right up close to them.” In addition to the ordinary straight punch, hapkido students learn both closed- and open-fist strikes for varying distances. “When you're in close and try to punch somebody, that's not the best time” Peterman says. “For theFEA aE most damage, you want him out at the extreme range of your arm. But you have to be able to deal with him up close, so you're going to change that straight punch into a palm strike or stab.” In hapkido, the goal is to make students move away from technique-oriented striking—throw- ing an uppercut and aiming for the floating-rib area—and toward target-oriented striking— wanting to attack a certain pressure point and determining that a precise knuckle strike will best ac- complish that. In other words, an exact target is iden- tified before a technique is chosen. Petermann ex- plains: “If you fight somebody and you just want to punch him, you shouldn't think in those terms. In self- defense, you should think, ‘I’m going to hit this point, not this area.” “Pressure points are very import int when using your ESE TEMS x ED hands, especially when your opponent is more power- ful than you,” Harris adds. “You can’t overpower him with strength, but you can create severe weakness in his body by using the various pressure points.” There are half a dozen good ones all over the body that func- tion well for the average person, he says. But not all hapkido hand strikes target a pressure point, Petermann says. “We hand-strike for a particu- lar target—not necessarily a pressure point, but cer- tainly a weak spot,” he says. Another important strategy of hapkido hand strikes, is disguising what you are doing, Petermann contin- ues. “Very rarely do you see [other arts] put proper attention on looking at the person's eyes, making your face not say, “Here it comes; get ready for it.’ Also, look- ing into a person's eyes tends to make him look into yours; that allows you to sneak your hand up and hit % karan KUNG FU mbUSTRATED ‘Stephen Peterman (right) blocks Chemeleski’s punch and traps his arm (1). Petermann then pulls him forward and strikes his jaw (2), which spins his body in midair (3). him with something unexpected.” Whenever hand strikes are discussed, an issue pops up: Should you opt for open-hand strikes to prevent injury to your knuckles and wrist, or choose closed- hand strikes, which ean inflict more pain on your at- tacker but which may damage your own body? Hapkido promotes the view that the art should include all tech- niques and the student should choose what works best, for a particular target in a particular situation. “Byerybody knows that, if you palm-strike, you'll never hurt your hand,” Peterman says. “But if the target is the bone over the eye and you want to make him bleed so he can’t see what you're doing, are you going to use a palm strike? You may, but you won't accomplish what you want. So you have to use a knuckle strike. Yes, it might hurt you to get that, but if you don’t, you may lose.” Deceen 1994On the street, you must be prepared to exploit any opportunity to stop your attacker, even ifit means risk- ing injury to yourself, Harris says. “As Master Kim is, fond of saying, ‘You don't always have a chance to get to what you'd like, so when you get a chance, you take ita ‘Trapping Range Move a litile closer to your opponent and you enter trapping range, where attacking arms get deflected and immobilized, and knees, elbows and head butts cut loose. Hapkido teaches a variety of hand techniques for trapping range, Harris says. “When your opponent Hapkido stylists aim their head butts at various parts of an opponent's body. Here, Petermann (left) dives headfirst into the groin of Chris Goble (1-2). o KICK HIGH- Now YOU can achiove the dynamic state of total foxy in ess than ‘Brminutes a day, with a minimum of the pain ‘iavally associated with Stretching? 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We cover that extensivel: Petermann describes hapkido’s simple trap- ping philosophy: “It’s OK to just trap his hands so he can’t. smack you, but it’s better to get them out of the way so you can smack him, One of my favorite techniques is to trap the guy's arms, then kick him in the face with an out- side crescent kick.” ‘Traditional hapkido knife defense falls into this range because the attacker's knife-wielding arm often gets trapped before the weapon is taken away or di- rected back toward him, “The general way is to con- = ity To enter grappling range, Peterman blocks Chemeleski's punch (1), then closes the gap and hooks his shoulder (2). Stepping to the outside, Petermann applies pressure to the shoulder (3) until his opponent goos down (4). trol the limb with the weapon using a trapping tech- nique, joint manipulation or pressure-point strike,” “As far as weapons are concerned, when you're fight- ing somebody, concentrate on the thing that can do the most damage but be aware of the others,” Petermann says. “Once you get your hands on the weapon-bearing arm, you're not going to let go of it. ‘You're going to damage it. Many martial artists criticize traditional knife de- fense as too unrealistic for street use, They claim 28 KARATE | KUNG FU ILLUSTRATED trained knife-fighters never attack in the simple, lin- ear fashion often depicted in class. Yet Peterman de- fends hapkido’s knife-defense techniques: “If you put yourself in a situation where you face someone trained in how to use a knife, you are in the wrong situation. Defense is certainly much more difficult. But in a typi- cal situation where the person is out of eontrol, where he is really not a knife-user but just picked up what happened to be handy, how good is he going to be with it?” He claims hapkido techniques directed against such impromptu opponents form a good foundation for self-defense. Hapkido’s trapping-range arsenal also includes nu- merous elbow and knee strikes. “They are some of the most deadly tools beca they can be used very close,” Harris “if your opponent is right on top of you with his arms wrapped around you, you can still use your knees. If he picks you up, you can use your elbows.” Even if he bear-hugs you, Harris you can use your el- bows to wiggle free, then continuously strike with them if he's behind you or thrust with your knees if he's in front. In self-defense in trap- ping range, head butts are much more important than most people think, Petermann says. “When we head-strike a person's head, body or joints, we try to have his energy coming directly toward us while we deliver the strike with our energy. And, when you're doing twists, a fore head becomes a worth- while object to get the pe son hopping. It’s a good fulerum,” “One example is against the side kick,” Harris adds. “As the opponent kicks, we enter, block the kick, trap it and strike with the head to the thigh.” Grappling Range Many would argue that, hapkido functions best at the closest distance of all—grappling range. There, throws, chokes and joint locks become the dominant techniques. With thousands of twists and throws, hapkido seems well-prepared to deal with close-up confrontations. “If you have an opportunity to block a punch or kick, or simply touch somebody, joint locks and grappling come DECEMBER 1904into play,” Petermann says. “That and the kicking part, of hapkido make a perfect balance.” “Usually, when we grab someone, we take him to the ground and finish him, so he is unable to rise again,” Harris says. “Whether we finish with a strike or controlling technique with a twist, or throw him and let the fall finish him, we always take our oppo- nent to the ground; he's never left standing.” Not all hapkido’s myriad grappling techniques work. for all people, Petermann admits, but in a fight, im- mediate selection of an alternate can save the day. “There are pressure points on the body which some people are not affected by at all,” he says. “One of the black belts here has none of the pressure points on his, body that we would like to use, but if you grab his hair, he falls like a baby.” “For the average person, being exposed to hapkido's [more than 3,600] techniques and picking the ones that, work best with your body type is the most practical way of training,” says Harris, who has taught the art for nearly 15 years and was recently selected to ap- pear in Best of the Best III. “But an instruetor needs to know everything to keep the art going,” ‘Throwing is probably the most difficult part of hapkido’s grappling repertoire, Petermann says. “However, if you get the other person off-balance, throwing is easy. That’s why judo tournaments are sometimes very boring: Both guys know throwing and know not to let the other guy get under them. If the other person doesn’t know that, you have a better opportunity to throw. You can create that moment of imbalance, maybe by hitting him in the eyes. And anytime a person gives you a great deal of his power— really throws that John Wayne-haymaker or that full- extension, face-high side kick—he's asking you to use a throw.” “Throwing is effective because the ground does most of the work for you,” Harris says. “Gravity can work wonders. If somebody attacks you with a kick ora punch, you throw him, and he takes you to court, you didn’t physically strike him. He kicked and punched, you moved, and he fell. The ground is definitely your friend.” Abig part of hapkido involves combining techniques from all four ranges in a single, flowing encounter. An advanced practitioner might throw a kiek on his way in, then distract his opponent with a powerful hand strike to the solar plexus. He might then finish with a throw and a standing armbar. “It’s part of ereating a diversion,” Harris says. “Going one place to create a diversion while you go to your real target: striking the legs while you go for the eyes, striking the groin as you go for a wrist lock, or vice versa.” ‘The entire range of hapkido’s techniques makes the art what it is, Harris says. “No one facet is dominant over another. The strikes, twists and throws make it effective. Not always will a twist work well; not al will a throw work well; not always will a strike work well. 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