Gawi Makki Revisited (Scissors block)

In 2015 I wrote a post on Gawi Makki or Scissors block which you can read here where I outlined a

Author halfheartedly demonstrating
the Gawi Makki in the video clip

few applications on the Gawi Makki. Then as now many people come to the blog searching for combative meaning to seemingless uncombative movements of Poomsae and traditional taekwondo. One concept that I have taken onboard in my own study and practise is the "Parry-Pass" concept of receiving and redirecting the opponents limbs to keep control and create openings instead of waiting for the opponent to give me one. In 2015 I had yet to integrate this concept in a big way, so I did not include my take on Taegeuk Chil Jang's Gawi makki VS Taebaek Poomsae's Gawi Makki. I simply viewed the double Gawi Makki as a way of demonstrating that it works either way (which is up and which is down, and which foot is forward in Taegeuk Chil Jang, and when it is revisited in Taebaek it is simply demonstrated as one example since all variations were covered in Taegeuk Chil Jang.


I still believe that to be a viable way to view it, but when you incorporate the Parry-Pass concept into the mix, you do get a practical reason as to why you have a double Gawi Makki in Taegeuk Chil Jang, VS a single one in Taebaek Poomsae, and that is simply a question of funciton. We know that different looking techniques can have just about the exact same function, but you can also have the same looking techniques having different function.

In March of 2018 I had a week long open challenge where people could submit any technique or sequence in any of the KTA Poomsae and the winner with the most likes, or most submitted technique/sequence would get a short video clip done on said technique or sequence. Christian from Norway had a suggestion on Kawi Makki (or Gawi Makki) which won so that is why I made a clip specifically on that technique. There were suprisingly few people that contributed to that challenge, so a big thank you to those that did (Jan Ivar, Christian and Tom, all from Norway :-) ) but Christian was the one who won. I will probably run a few more like that as I found it to be very fun and its always exciting when you have no idea of the winner is a technique or sequence I know nothing about, forcing me to come up with "something" :-)

I have made a few videos in the last couple of weeks (or months) trying to incorporate more video content to reach those who do not really like to read, or are more inclined to learn by watching instead of reading (visual learners). I have provided a lot of content on the practical applications of Poomsae over the years (from around 2012 on my current blog), but I still do not think that the applications movement has gotten a lot of traction within the Taekwondo comunity. Hopefully videos will help reach a different demographic and that will help spread the applicaitons movement further. On youtube it has not gotten a lot of likes or shares, but on facebook about 4 500 people have watched it which I find to be an impressive number in 1 week.

In this video both applications that I provide is about limb control. The first one from Taegeuk Chil Jang is a Parry-Pass, into a low hammer fist strike, and then an elbow crank. The second one is to retake or simply take control of the centerline when you have either lost it or that is how your arms clashed. Both a foreign concept to most mainstream Taekwondo students today, but reading up on older Taekwondo texts on Makki techniques and you will find that this is not controversial use of the Makki-labelled techniques, nor is it something radically foreign, or new, it is simply something that existed in our root martial arts, which over time has been forgotten, or only partially passed down to us. These applications are simply me putting the pieces together to make sense of the techniques. For those in Norway I am holding a course on practical applications of Poomsae in April. You can find information (in norwegian) and getting a place on that course (theres about 20 places left at the time of writing this) on https://www.deltager.no/participant/arrangement.aspx?id=232563 (the link will be obsolete 15th of April 2018 if you are reading this after that date)

And with all of that out of the way heres the clip itself:

I have also made my youtube channel into a channel for this blog (I only uploaded Taekwondo stuff anyway), so feel free to subscribe to see new videos, lectures etc when they come out, and I have also organised the things I have uploaded into playlists for ease of reference. I have on on poomsae applications, one on partner drills, on on impact training, and one on training equipment. I will make much more use of  youtube now that I am also making videos so if you like what I write, and what I have put out so far, please subscribe.