Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

During a lesson with Caiden, I pontificated on the importance of “K.I.S.S.” I explained to him that was shorthand for “Keep it simple, stupid!” The kid laughed, thinking that was the greatest quote he had ever heard. For the duration of the lesson, he repeated that phrase, laughing at the same time.

Brian Johns and Caiden after I promoted him in December.
Myself and Caiden after I promoted him in December.

What caused me to teach Caiden this phrase?

Some background on this kid.

He possesses a ton of talent, learns quickly, and has a competitive streak. The kid is laser-focused during our sessions. He has an intuitive grasp of going with the flow. After learning the first four Bamboo Spirit Flow Drills, we start to do some free play incorporating only those four flow drills. Not surprisingly, at least to me, he did well. However, during one round, he tried a maneuver that failed. It involved a complicated sequence and broke down under pressure from me.

At that moment, I explained to him what went wrong, and we recreated that sequence. “Caiden, that took about 6 or 7 moves. That’s too many moves. Think of K.I.S.S.”

Him: “Huh?“

Me: “Keep It Simple Stupid!“

The kid nearly died from laughing so hard. After settling down, we returned to his free play sequence, and I showed him a streamlined version of what he could have done. “See what I mean?“

He understood that it’s not simply a matter of knowing the techniques but also of keeping things simple.

I see this issue in FMAs: Too many like to get into complicated moves and sequences. Look, I get it. I did that in my younger days—guilty as charged! But at my age, it makes no sense to practice complicated sequences. Just keep it simple!

I made a video on this a few years ago. I watched an FMA player demonstrate an unrealistic locking sequence, and my reaction was, “MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?“

The sequence was like this:

COME ON, MAN! There are too many places in that sequence where it can fail or where the other player will counter you.

For one thing, this sequence requires too much fine motor control to succeed. I get it; it’s fun to practice sequences like this in class. But an instructor is not honest if they say, “You can do this in the street.”

Next, the sequence assumes that the other partner will comply throughout. How realistic is this assumption? The reality is that there will be either a struggle or the other guy will counter your locking attempts.

Instead, please keep it simple stupid, like the following sequence.

I have several choices in that sequence. The first is driving the punyo into Nathan’s face. He defended that successfully and countered with a #12.

I responded with a #7 thrust. In reality, my response would be a #2 backhand strike to his noggin.

Anyway, his counter was a #1 forehand strike. I cleared that and aimed my punyo at his face. Again, he defended well, and my counter-response was a slap-off (or pak sao in Wing Chun terms).

Why get into complicated locking sequences? I think that they will fail 99.999% of the time. I’d rather hit and counter! Only after softening them up will a lock POSSIBLY work.

Keep everything simple stupid. Your attacks should be simple. Your counters and re-counters should be simple.

I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve asked Master Chuck Gauss: “What’s the counter for this?” Almost always, the counter he showed was quite simple and left me feeling like a moron.

In summary, while practicing locking and trapping sequences in class is fun, it will fail in the streets.

Instead, focus on keeping it simple stupid.

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