Hubud Lubud (Revisited)

In this cycle, we are working on Hubud Lubud (tying and untying), a drill common to many FMA systems - including ours.  I have written about the benefits of this training in prior posts (even using the same picture), but it is worthy of a deeper explanation here.

In my 2014 post (linked above), I explained the Hubud Lubud drill as a beneficial training method and briefly explored some of the ways in which it can be used to build skills and understanding of key FMA principles.  To go a little deeper, I have been using this drill as a platform or blueprint from which I am teaching the following bodies of knowledge:

1) Basic Hubud Lubud Empty Hand Pattern --- the basic drill, done on right and left sides, including various ways to switch from right hand to left hand feeds.

2) Weapons Training --- using this pattern to explore similar movements done with knife/karambit/stick/scarf.  FCS and Doce Pares also include (at least) the stick version of hubud lubud in their curriculum and it makes a particularly nice segue when used to transition from single stick 5-count sombrada to punyo sombrada patterns.  The knife/karambit versions are an effective way of starting to understand passing/trapping with blades, especially in CQB/corto distance.

3) Guntings --- Kali Majapahit's commonly taught hubud lubud patterns include several variations of classic horizontal/vertical elbow and pass/split knuckle guntings.  In particular, we drill a 5  step pattern that includes elbow guntings (inside/outside/sandwich) followed by low and high elbow locks.  Inosanto Kali includes these principles, as seen here in a video by Sifu Paul Vunak.

4) Hakka Kuntao 5 Gates --- Since Hubud Lubud is performed at corto (close) distance, it is an ideal base to develop hakka kuntao flows.  In Kali Majapahit, we use Hubud Lubud (often with an angle 2 reply) to see the common trapping concepts  of Hakka Kuntao, specifically scooping/passing/tan sao/bong sao/fook sao - also known as Hakka "5 Gates".

5) Aiki Flows --- My background in Traditional Japanese Martial Arts (Takeda Ryu Aikijujitsu and Yoshinkan Aikido) instilled in me the importance of learning to control the opponent's hands/wrists, called "Te No Tori" (手の取り）, a kind of Aiki version of Chi Sao.  The framework of Hubud Lubud lends itself very well to these setups, and I teach them often on both right and left sides.  Some of my favorites include applications of Ikkajo, Hiji Shime, Kata Shime, Kote Gaeshi, Ude Garame (short and full), Ushiro Udegarame, Shiho Nage, Shomen Irimenage, Sokumen Iriminage and others.  Using an angle 2 reply (see above) allows drilling most of these on the left side as well.

6) Multiple Angles/Lines --- Most students spend the majority of their training on the basic (angle 1) Hubud Lubud drill.  In fact, variations of this drill include other angles as well.  In particular, angle 5 (straight punch) and angle 2 (backhand) and two of the most common variations.  Hubud Lubud applications also exist for elbow strikes as well (usually received with a Sin 6 outside pass).  Once these are understood, Hubud Lubud can be trained with a combination of different attacks, thus becoming a more comprehensive flow drill.  See also this excellent example done by Guro Peter Weckauf of SAMI Systems.

Furthermore, advanced variations of Hubud Lubud include passing from high line to low line (often including guntings) as a way to drill redirection of the attacks.  This is a very helpful drill for knife defense and knife versus knife flow.

Standard Hubud Lubud etiquette suggests that we respond with whatever attack we are fed (if given angle 1 we give back angle 1, etc), but for a more advanced drill random angles (angle 1/2/5/elbow) can be fed back and forth.

One three-month cycle is barely enough to scratch the surface of all the learning that can be gained from studying this foundation movement and its many applications.  Please consider the above and how you can use this template to your maximum training benefit.

More to come...