Mr. Keating is known, primarily, as a leading knife exponent. Most of his previous videos have involved the use of edged weapons. Crossing The Bridge goes beyond this giving you tools that you can use when working on either empty hand or weapons lines.
Crossing The Bridge is divided into five chapters, an introduction and conclusion and the three chapters of ‘meat’ in the middle. The video deals with covering the no man’s land between you and your opponent safely and sanely, without the mad rush or wild, uncontrolled flurries so often seen. Before beginning you should know that this is video is best suited for, at least the mid-level practitioner. There are a few things you should have under control that will allow you to really rock with the material presented. First is an understanding of the basics of Chi Sao and Hubud Lubud. Second, be able to use some form of short range punching such as JKD’s Straight Blast.
The material in Crossing the Bridge is based on adhesion. The defensive movements are all designed to allow you to stick to your opponent’s limbs and capture them, rather than repel them. If you are viewing this from the perspective of a hard style martial artist, used to using traditional striking type blocks, this will take some getting used to. Mr. Keating makes a sound argument for the use of parries that allow you to stick and stay with your opponent. Much of the material draws from the Wing Chun/JKD lines that rely on monitoring your opponent’s tools. By doing this, you are half way to your target, you have, in fact, Crossed The Bridge.
The second chapter deals with bridging using weapons. There you will learn how to let your live hand ride the weapon in so that you can bridge, trap and control without the risk of getting your limb broken or cut.
The third chapter delves into more advanced concepts from Aiki-Jutsu and Ching I. You hard style folks will like this. Here he shows how you can hit the offending or covering limb to numb it. Wait a minute, I hear you saying. What about all the stuff that said hard style blocks were not as effective most of the time in combat. Easy, grasshopper, Mr. Keating shows you how to strike and trap while entering using circular motions that let you numb an arm while adhering to it. It’s a different take on limb destructions but one I think you will like.
I highly recommend this video to you, my friends, particularly if you train with self defense in mind. This is a worthy addition to your training library and dovetails nicely with his Trapping Series. The material is explained and demonstrated well, as always in Mr. Keating’s projects. I’ve used the concepts in the real world and they do work. Train hard, train safe.
