Things to avoid in future

*) Trying to hit the upper arm of your opponent with a tao phong cuoc (frontal ascending kick)

It's like this: In Võ Vietnam, the idea is to attack the limbs of your opponent first, because it is more fun to hit somebody who can't hit back anymore because of broken arms/legs. Incidentally, I was dubious whether this would actually work until this weekend, where my friend Igor (yes, he is actually called Igor, but he hasn't got a hunchback or a proclivity for digging out brains. Yet.) from Vevey removed any doubt from my mind by getting his forearm broken during training by the exact same technique.

So the tao phong cuoc is (mostly) used to attack either the forearm or upper arm of your opponent. Attacking the upper arm however, may be a Bad Idea(tm), since this brings up the possibility of a malicious foe (thanks, Serge!) blocking your kick with his elbow. Hence the swelling exhibited on my normally dainty left foot.

Another thing just struck me, when I was typing in the tags: Is it a coincidence that martial is such a close acronym to marital? I think not.