Kung Fu Self Defence Close Range session was very effective in delivering an understanding and practice of close range techniques using the elbows and knees.
On a recent trip to Thailand I attended a Muay Thai tournament featuring professional fighters. Of the ten bouts nine ended in a knock out and every knock out was a result of a single elbow strike. Even though Muay Thai also features punches kicks and knees the elbow was the go to strike for a devastating win.
As part of Sifu Steven Orloff’s final grading he indicated that he would conduct a kung fu self defence workshop based on close range fighting techniques featuring elbows and knees. So this would be a great chance to practice some of the techniques similar to those I had seen in Thailand but in Golden Lion style.
This 3 hour Kung Fu Self Defence Close Range Techniques workshop was delivered on Saturday 28th March 2015 at the Rowville centre by Sifu Steven Orloff assisted by Si Jie Jo Baful with 23 students attending.
After a quick warm up, Sifu Steven Orloff reminded us of the need for safety when using elbows and knees. Sifu Steven also mentioned during the workshop that we should always keep a safe distance from our partner to ensure no contact would be made.
Sifu Steven pointed out that an elbow 
strike is essentially the same as a punch only using the elbow rather than a fist and at close range. For example an uplifting elbow is the same as an uppercut and a forward elbow strike is the same as a hook punch.
We drilled the main elbow strikes individually and then combined them into an elbow striking pattern. The elbow drill was similar in nature to the blocking drill of outside, lower, inside and upper blocks, and was formed by an upward, backward, vertical inside and vertical side elbows. These elbow strikes were familiar as we had all practiced them in the bare hands forms as the bow at the start and end of the forms.
We then drilled the elbow strikes with the focus mitts to get a feel for just how close we needed to be to deliver an effective elbow strike. We then moved on to the application of the elbow strikes with a partner as well as using the elbows as blocks. The applications included defence against a straight punch and a hook punch countering with elbow strikes at close range. We learnt that the elbow could be delivered many times very quickly and effectively. We also used the shield bags to include knee strikes and combined with the elbow strikes. The type of knee strike used was close contact so the strike was very quick and very difficult to see or defend by an opponent.
By the end of the kung fu self defence workshop everyone had been careful to heed Sifu Steven advice on being cautious and no contacts with elbows or knees had been made. The workshop had been very effective in delivering an understanding and practice of close range techniques for self-defence using elbows and knees and provided some confidence in dealing with potential conflicts in confined spaces such as crowded public transport, clubs or places where an opponent is very close.
David Mallon, Murrumbeena Kung Fu and Self Defence Student