Tracy...my brother....you must be out of your ever lovin mind my friend. Trapping from standing is useless...? what. Okay I am just kidding. Anyway I just wanted to reply to your post and say that trapping is great to train and yes you are correct we all need to stay away from the training pitfall of routines. However if you always keep it alive then you will not fall into the routines nearly as easy. Also changing up your training "drills" or how you train it will also help keep you honest. I like to train trapping from the tie-up while you are going thru the different pummeling "drills" as well as working the footwork. This helps you get your timing down as well as help you better understand all that is involved in trapping. Such as body movement, proper distance, sensitivity and foot placement. Also training your trapping while boxing is another great way to improve your trapping. Again this will enhance your trapping ability by helping you understand all that is involved. The last thing is to always train with different people. Do not get "stuck" working with the same work out partner every class. When you do this you will stifle your growth by falling into a "routine", by this I mean if you always train with the same person you will begin to anticipate their energy. You will only rise as high as your partners skill level will allow.

Train Hard Train Smart.

OK, ok so that spit ball won't stick

Tim...my bother it was late at night and I am out of my mind. Tim you are right on the money. The clinch is perfect for trapping and so is boxing. That's what I am talking about, keeping it real my brother. Then training trapping while standing is useful and efficient. Know what you are doing and why you are doing it. We approach the arts of combat with the scientific method. OK JKD’ed (stole) this from a website = Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for the investigation of phenomena and the acquisition of new knowledge of the natural world, as well as the correction and integration of previous knowledge, based on observable, empirical, measurable evidence, and subject to laws of reasoning.

Man that’s a mouth full but that’s what we do. Like the post Kevin made which was right on with the often overlooked criteria of trapping (no fluff just facts man).  And Cory’s 4 phases

1.Cultivation
2. Refinement
3. Application
4. Evaluation

And Tim’s keep it real and train it in grappling.

Hmm….? What else is there?

Anyone?

Tracy

Tracy...always good to read your post. They either make me laugh or make me want to post a reply. This reply is not much. Just wanted to let you know that Cory and I trained some really good stuff with Sifu Larry this past weekend. He gave us a clinic on hubid, I think we probably worked hubid for about 3-4 hours straight. We did some empty hand and alot of knife. It was great. It was great to see Sifu Dan who is looking great as ever and still moves like a young man. Sifu Larry was great as usual and is still a man that I would not want to tangle with. I am glad he and I are good friends. Also Jeff Imada was out there as well as Marc "Animal" MacYoung of the Dog Brothers. Dan was doing a four day Silat training camp. Anyway just wanted to say it was great. Also, just to give ourselves a pat on the back...Cory tested and is now a 1st level Apprentice Instructor and I tested and am now a 2nd level Associate Instructor. Lots of stuff man...lots of stuff.

Train Hard, Train Smart

I had a blast reading through this. First, I want to add my congratulations to Tim and Corey. I know you guys work hard for those promotions and you both deserve. Also congrats to Kevin. It is great to hear from Tracy and Charlie to. As far as trapping goes, I just want to add my two cents. Because of my physical limitations (arthritis) the trapping range for me is crucial. It is one of the few ranges I can function in with the least amount of limitations. I find that the trap itself can be an effective weapon in that most fighters are not well trained in trapping or even effective in it. It is also something that can be used to set-up grappling moves, either standing or ground work, muy thai elbows, low kicks etc. As far as boxing goes, just lok at some old films of Jack Dempsey. He would do trapping on his opponents to move in on them, immobilze their arm and land a punch. As some of you might know, I am studying with Corey on Wednsdays and hope to train with Tim on some weekends when he is ready. I hope to see some of you there.

JOE, WHATS UP BROTHER...IT IS SO GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU. Joe I need to get your address also so I can send you your free t shirt for signing up. It is good to hear your views on trapping in regards to arthritis and how you view it. Also just FYI...I just watched a special on cable tv the other night that was dealing specifically with severe arthritis in the shoulders. Right now there is a shoulder replacement surgery that you can only have done in Thailand and India but the recovery time is about the same as it is for a total hip replacement and the results are unreal. They showed guys on there who suffered for years with pretty much the same problem that you have and after the surgery they were able to do things they have not been bale to do for 20 years with no pain. It was great. Ok, I know that was way off subject but like I said it was an FYI. Yes...the trapping is really great. Cory and I are wanting to put together a stick video where we will show the damage that can be done with a stick...might be cool to have you do a little "Q&A" with us on camera. Talk to you later man.

Train Hard, Train Smart.

Greetings Gary, I am glad you posted a reply to this topic because I always like to talk about trapping. I have been to many other forums and have read where people say that toward the end of his life Bruce no longer trained trapping. I have heard this from several people. However the point that these people are missing is a very big point...Bruce did not move away from trapping because he felt that trapping was useless and did not need to be trained by people. He moved away from it because toward the end of his life he had reached a level in his martial arts skill where he was able to hit his opponent without having to use trapping. He was so fast and so strong and so explosive that he could bridge the gap on his opponent and hit them before they could put up any kind of defense. He would come in with a low kick to their legs and immediately hit them. He was fast enough and skilled enough to where he could attack his opponet and knew what his opponents response was going to be so he could always be 2 steps ahead of them. Unfortunately the majority of us are not that fast nor that skilled so we need to continue to train our trapping. With that being said we also need to make sure we are training our trapping for actual combat situations and not class room drills. Paul Vunak has a video that shows some excellent trapping as does Larry Hartsell. Larry has several videos where he shows some really good trapping, trapping drills, trapping from tie up etc. I train trapping from the tie up and on the ground. What better place to use your trapping than on the ground in someones guard or with someone in your guard.

Keep training my brother and I appreciate your post. Keep them coming.

Gary, first off let me just say that I appreciate your manners and your respect but you do not have to continue to call me Mr. McFatridge, you can feel free to call me Tim.  When I say train your trapping with actual combat in mind I mean train it with the street application in mind. Think about how someone on the street is going to come at you, they are not going to drop into a fighting stance and allow you the luxury of starting off from an engaged position. Many times when people train their trapping they do it from this position. They will start off from an engaged position using one of the four reference points as a starting place. They will either start using the high inside reference point, high outside reference point, low inside reference point or low outside reference point.  In the beginning all of this is fine because the reference points are very good for beginners to learn and it helps them learn the different traps, helps them to learn the different paths that can be taken, and it helps them to learn how to respond to the different energy of different people. There are some other more advanced drills that can be done as well that will help you with your timing and your footwork. In these more advance drills you will have to follow your opponent across the room as you are trapping him. You will start out from either and engaged position or from a disengaged position and once you do the first trap you will stay on your opponent. Once you do the initial trap your opponent(partner) will step back (changing leads) you will then step up and trap again and you will continue this all the way across the floor. This is a good drill, however if you continue to work your trapping from these kind of drills and never make them "live" then you will never reach the level of actual combat. What we like to do is work our trapping from all the ranges in a sparring setting. We will spar our boxing and one guy will have to work his trapping while the other guy is boxing, this will give you a better feel for actual fighting and will teach you how important timing is in a fight. You do not have to go 100% knock the guy out hard. When you spar it like this you will learn to see the openings as they happen and you can move on it. You will also learn how to use your pak sao to jam his punch and trap and hit or in some cases jam his punch and just hit. We will also do the same thing with kicking, you will have to use your footwork again here to zone off from the kick and trap and hit or trap and take down.  Other times we will spar hands and feet and now one of you crashes in and are now in tie-up position...you have to use your trapping from here to counter the tie-up and take him down,lock him out or hit him,hit him, hit him. Did I say hit him? Straight blast works really good from the tie up.   

 Also trapping works really good on the ground. I have talked with wrestlers and bjj guys about trapping on the ground and most of them will not hear it. They do not believe in trapping and think it is a load of crap. I have won grappling matches by using traps to set up a submission.  Just remember there are 5 ways of trapping:

Before the hit: as soon as his hands come up pak and hit

During the hit: as he throws his punch you jam it (pak) and hit

After the hit: he threw a punch, as he is bringing it back to his body you follow it in and trap

He blocks/parries your hit: you trap him

You block his hit: as soon as you make contact with his hand, trap and hit.

Sorry this was so long of a response but I hope it helps.

LOL...I understand exactly what you mean. He does go pretty fast and he does cover alot of material. I will call Cory this morning and ask him to respond to you. I do have some drills but first let me ask you a question...are you doing all of your trapping work on the "dummy" or do you have a partner? I only ask so I will know what drills to give you, I have some drills for the dummy but have some really good drills for you and a partner. At the moment Cory and I do not have anything scheduled for your area. Also I found several schools in the Youngstown, Ohio area. They are not JKD but they are BJJ/MMA type schools. I am waiting to hear back from Larry Hartsell to see if he has any instructors in your area that I can refer you to. Also I will email you the Jun Fan terminology so you will have it and will be easier for you to learn it from a written list than by a video.

Train Hard, Train Smart

 and go with the flow my brother.