Praying Mantis Kung Fu: Palm Block Counter Punch

Series Summary

The forms that the human body takes are an expression of ch’i, the essential energy of the spirit, some would say. Most, if not all, of the Eastern and Asian martial arts emphasize heavily this aspect of the body-spirit relationship. Their aim is to train the body, mind and spirit to work in unison, and to focus and control the chi. Such a weighty task usually requires a lifelong regimen of physical, mental, and spiritual exercise and discipline. In these free martial arts training videos, learn about a particularly deadly form of Chinese gong fu called the tai mantis, or praying mantis, fighting style. In Chinese kung fu, the praying mantis fighting style employs a number of techniques which require quick reactions, force, and agility. In this free video series, a black belt instructor will teach you how to do a number of praying mantis blocks, defenses, strikes, and counter attacks. You'll learn about palm blocks, inward blocks, and low circle blocks. Next, you'll discover how to do forearm, palm, and elbow strikes, in addition to high and low chops and groin strikes. With these tips and techniques, your praying mantis style will render any opponent defenseless in hand-to-hand combat.

Video Transcript

"My name is Wes Rhodes, I'm from the Chinese Kung Fu Academy, and for Expert Village, and this is how you perform the praying mantis fighting technique palm block counter punch. Now this is the technique using the lead hand to block. When the opponent attacks, you're going to block with the left, drive in with the body, positioning the elbow in front of the hips, and driving the punch forward. On impact, you can either hit like this, or you can reach out and twist the hand. So, I'll show you once slow, it's going to look like this, so you can step to the side, and you can drive in either with the right foot, or you can quickly block and drive in with the left foot. Now to show you how it works, start in a fighting position, they step in, you punch, I block, then I drive in, striking the lower body just like that. Do one more slow. One, two, and then do one a little quicker. One, two. See? Now you can either drive this technique very strong and try to force them back, or you can do a quick shot to the ribs. Either way, it's a very powerful technique in your arsenal. Again, we'll try one more try. You can either do this technique driving the left leg forward or you can put a little more power into it and drive the right leg forward. So you step, and then you can step through. That is the praying mantis technique, palm block counter punch."