ARAKAN in Brisbane, Australia - a MA from Burma.

JP · Posted On: 8/27/2009 11:04am

Originally Posted by Erevan

No idea if its legit or not, but was at an expo a few years ago at a booth across from these guys. One of the instructors just slapped a training dummy regularly for about 3 hours. That was enough to turn me off it for life.

Did it look anything like this?

YouTube - Shen Kung Fu Training Dummy

I've always wondered about the martial arts that advocate the slapping as a primary striking tool. Some of the kempo folks do it, the silat guys love it and I think the matrix fighting systems guy are fond of it too.

I just don't know.

Well, hopefully Sang will get one of these guys to spar and then hopefully he'll be able to video tape it... Hopefully.

**2Many** · Posted On: 8/27/2009 7:51pm

Originally Posted by JP

I've always wondered about the martial arts that advocate the slapping as a primary striking tool. Some of the kempo folks do it, the silat guys love it and I think the matrix fighting systems guy are fond of it too.

I just don't know.

Open hand strikes aren't meant to be slaps. If they are slaps, then they're done wrong, to put it simply and bluntly. Open hand palm strikes use the lower half of the palm toward (but not at) the wrist.

The mechanism behind open-palm strikes are akin to throwing a ball, except at the point where a ball is released, the target is struck with the palm. Like a ball throwing action, the power is derived by anchoring the feet to the ground, violent turning of the hips and body, with the arm largely relaxed. When targeting the face, the palm should strike the soft part of the jaw near the cheek with the fingers toward the opponent's ear. When performed with the correct mechanics, it's quite a nasty hit, with most people feeling a shocking "rattle" of the brain and momentary disorientation.

Those who are incompetent at the strike will either slap using the fingers or the base of the fingers, or they push like launching a shot-put. Even worse, some people fall over because they over-commit.

The open palm is preferred over a closed fist for striking the head, because it is less likely to result in an injured hand for the striker. It is also easy to transition between parries using the palm and strikes to the head, allowing easy transition between striking range to trapping or clinching range without having to learn different hand shapes for each.

**bdang** · Posted On: 9/10/2009 10:04pm

hmm I wonder if this is really going to happen... 1 more day until the 12th! I'm curious to know as well. But I'm in Canberra and I can't be @rsed flying to brisbane just to satisfy my curiousity.

**Sang** · Posted On: 9/10/2009 11:51pm

Originally Posted by Sang

if we can find an Arakan for me to spar i'd be happy to do it after my fight on the 12th of September.

Find me one.

**bdang** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 12:23am

Oh - I thought you were going to give them a call and turn up to one of their free lesson.

**Sang** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 12:29am

If i'm injury free i'll do that next weekend. This is a pyramid scheme based on a completely fabricated martial art. There is a special place in hell reserved for scammers.

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 12:50am

I skipped the middle, so correct me if I've got this wrong.

You guys found this "ancient Burmese fighting," one of them finds you back.

We send an Aussie member (or he volunteered) to go test these guys for real.

Did they accept a challenge? Or is this one of those things where you show up, throw the letter at them and say "let's do this," taking care to break their sign afterwards?