Upper Body Arm Applications

Fighting weight is all-important in combat as it affects your speed of response to an opponent's movements; not just in footwork, but also in arm-work. No matter what your frame or your height, do not exceed 200 lbs; as if you do, your reflexes shall be much slower. In combat, one strikes fast and quick with anything one can find, including one's mind, which is the most potent striking tool of all. You have to out-wit your enemy if you want to survive. Usually, when one fights, one will use one's shoulders, one's elbows, one's forearms, and one's hands to strike with. Very rarely are your fists utilized (we are speaking now of the type of fist that's mainly used in non-western boxing---Eastern Boxing---and not the Celtic Fist which is very different indeed); except when one is striking the insides of the arms of the opponents, in order to paralyze them. Striking surfaces of the hands are the heel of the hand and the edge of a hand, plus those three second knuckles: of the forefinger, the middle finger and of the ring finger (this is the Celtic Fist). If one is using an arm to strike, the strike is delivered from the pocket of the opposite arm. This is completely different from what one sees in Eastern arts. How to find this pocket? Well, if one tries to shrug a shoulder, and then moves one's chin in the direction of that shoulder's shrug, one shall find a small cavity inside the shoulder of the arm that is being shrugged. By using this arm pocket, any strike with the opposite arm causes a diagonal swing with that arm, while one's torso turns away from the diagonal swing; in the exact opposite direction of the swing! If the swing is to the right, the torso turns left. If the swing is to the left, the torso turns right. This comes from usages of a sword. The idea is that the torso turns away from an opponent's possible strike when delivering one's own strike; thereby, protecting the torso from possible penetration by the enemy's sword. This is a very important aspect when one strikes with the limbs of the upper body, whether that strike be delivered with one's shoulder, elbow, fore-arm, or the hand. The torso must turn away from the strike. It never turns towards any strike. In addition to granting greater protection for the torso, the strike is able to penetrate further. It's given greater reach. One flings arms away! Any time your arm is thrown out towards an opponent, and your torso doesn't twist away from your opponent; you're in much greater danger of being struck by your opponent. Now, this axiom does not imply to one's vision. Keep both eyes on an enemy at all times: Don't blink. Don't close them. Fore-arm strikes are delivered against the sides of the neck and of the head, while elbow strikes are to be delivered against the base of the skull and to the opponent's throat. The heel of the hand is used against the opponent's fore-head and his heart, while the edge of the hand is used against the opponent's spine. The Celtic three-knuckle fist is used as a slashing weapon against the sides of an opponent's body; to ribs and kidneys, and also against bladder and testicles. Remember all strikes must always be fast and quick and on target.