Old and Slow

Ouch. This is what happens when you are too slow when training for Võ Vietnam. I blame it on my old, old age.

I have been doing Võ Vietnam for about a year now, and I have to say I like it very much. More than Tae Kwon Do though? Difficult to say. I miss the high kicks, the spinning and jumping very much, true. On the other hand, Tae Kwon Do is more of a sport than a martial art. In sparring you use protection, you are not allowed to grapple or use throws and sweeps, and all those high kicks are, well, a bit unrealistic.

In Võ Vietnam, on the other hand, you don't use any protection at all, and trust your partner to pull his punches just enough so there is no injury. This means that as a student you only get to fight your professors (there is only one "master", maître Nguyên Duc Môc) - but the better your partner, the more you learn anyway.

There is only one thing I am not too happy about: Generally we don't punch the head - too risky. But I fear that means that our guard is too low, all the time. Nothing reminds you to keep your guard up like a good punch in the nose - just thinking about it is not the same.

But this is a minor quibble, all in all I am very happy to have found such a brilliant style to practice!