Training: Day of the Mantis

TRAINING:

DAY OF THE MANTIS

Preview:

I love Mantis (after all, "Mantis" is my martial arts moniker), and it's one of my favorite work outs.

The Mantis is offensive. It often opens its offense by intercepting and redirecting the enemy's attacks, then trapping them while beginning a crushing attack. The Mantis style uses elbows, knees, kicks, and punches, as well as a special strike called the Mantis Fist.

There are variations to the Mantis Fist. Essentially, raise your hand with all your fingers extended. Then, curl in your fingers, the last two curling to touch your palm, the middle finger pointing down, and the index finger pointing forward slightly down and mostly forward. The thumb then curls slightly and touches the bottom of your index finger's middle knuckle. Then, bend your entire hand down at the wrist. And, voila, you have formed the Mantis Fist. Some say it looks similar to a "beggar's hand," some say it looks similar to a hand holding a pencil or even chopsticks. To each their own. 

The Mantis Fist has various uses. It is used hook the body, strike targets with the fingers, and also smash foes with knuckles or the head of the wrist. It is not a beginner's fist, but it is handy.

Some practitioner's use the curl of the index finger as a hook. This is not my preferred method of hooking, because the index finger is too far away from your body and is a very small hooking surface. The manner in which I apply the Mantis Hook is to use the three last fingers as the primary hooking surface. When I do this, my index finger is relaxed to allow the hook to be more supple. This is simply my preference.

The following is my Mantis Work out.

Warmup:

Windmills: 

• Mantis Fist Hook

Strikes: 

• Mantis Fist Knuckle
• Mantis Back Hand
• Mantis Finger Strike
• Mantis Wrist Cutter
• Mantis Back Hammer
• Mantis Swinging Hammer
• Mantis Arm Sweep

Kicks: 

• Hook Kick
• Snap Kick
• Roundhouse
• Forward Foot Sweep
• Forward Knee

Practice:

Routines: 

• Mantis Hooks to punch
• Mantis Hooks to Kick
• Mantis Hook to cutter
• Mantis Hammers
• Mantis Hook to Low cutter
• Mantis Hammer Sweep & Leg Sweep.

Conditioning:

Pushups:

• Mantis Fist

Core:

• Lifted knee sit ups

Finally, I finish practice with my Basic Mantis Fists Form.

Reflection:

This Mantis Fist inspired workout focuses on the trapping aspects of the Mantis Fist Styles. Using the Mantis Fist (Hook Hand), the routines in this workout are meant to perfect the ability to lock opponents' limbs and therefore control their bodies. The Hook Hand can trap intercept at the wrist, opening opportunities for the other arm to attack. Upon attacking, the hand can retract or catch, drawing the opponents closer in, which opens up close-range attacks such as elbows, knees, stomps, sweeps, and low kicks.

The Basic Mantis Fists Form is meant to teach some basic trapping skills, close range strikes, and to demonstrate different methods for using the Mantis Fist as a strike. The striking techniques generally fall under Mantis Fist Knuckle, Mantis Back Hammer, Mantis Swinging Hammer, Mantis Wrist Cutter, and Mantis Poke; and the hooking techniques focus on hooking with single outside hook, single cross hook, reverse single hook, double hook, and double cross hook.

Traditional Mantis Fist Styles (both Northern and Southern) emphasize close range combat. They utilize trapping, hooking, and close range methods. This work out seeks to emphasize those concepts as well. The style can be a crushing fist, but it can also be used to deal with opponents gently, particularly useful in certain situations.

I hope this has been a handy read. Again, this is one of my favorite work outs.

Enjoy :D