My Tennis coach would tell me that “It makes no difference how hard you hit the ball if the other guy can’t reach it”.
Something that should be completely obvious to all of us, and I think it is, is that making contact is the only game in town.
And that is coming from a Self-defence guy.
Be it a fist, a forearm, an elbow strike, a headbut, a knee strike, a shin kick or a foot up the watusi, if we do not make contact with our attacker when we interact, it is down hill all day.
Forget style or technique, if we are not hitting them, they are hitting us.
As this thread started off from the IDEA of hitting harder and working to that end, my own experiences tell me that by far the most important thing is to hit first.
To use a quote from my tennis coach back when I was competing at club level, “it does not matter how slow a ball is going if your opponent cant reach it”.
Being first gives us a great, and frequently a winning, advantage.
So the first consideration is how do we make contact before our attacker takes the high ground.
The key is to delay the attack until missing is more difficult than landing the blow.
When we understand it, this is the impetus of the one inch punch.
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Because of what my Tennis coach told me I am more of a results guy than a methodology guy.
There is a huge misconception about warriors and spirituality, mostly based around the Samurai, the ancient Greeks and Spartans practice of meditation and developing a strong sense of ethics.
These legendary warriors where not planning for the next life but rather trying their level best to find a way to survive in this one.
Simply put, meditation and living honestly enabled them to develop the ability to hold the smallest of things in crisp, unblinking focus, while still being aware of the world around them.
Can you even imagine what it would be like to take part in a clash of clans, tribes or states?
The noise would be deafening, horses braying, men screaming, drums and horns blaring and steel crashing into steel, the air filled with smoke and the smell of death.
Not being overwhelmingly distracted amid all of this was almost a super power.
Being focused took it to the next level.
It was this ability more than any swordsmanship or strategy that gave them the best chance of survival.
The favourite tool to help achieve this state was the Zen Koan and the Greeks Cynicism.
In Zen/Chan Buddhism a Koan is a paradoxicalanecdote or riddle without a solution, used to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provoke enlightenment.
Ancient Greek Cynicism served the same end.
“Be here now”.
In the todays society we term these things thought experiments and talk of cognitive dissonance, but the goal is the same.
When we start looking at force from a scientific perspective, as opposed to from a style based position one major benefit is that we open up a multitude of available, workable examples, that many of us are already familiar with being from popular sports of even car crashes.
It is always much better for us when we find our own information, follow our own intuition, but just to get the ball moving here are a few paragraphs that I have copied and pasted from various sites, but mostly here, https://pdhpe.net/the-body-in-motion/
Force, velocity, and field strength are examples of vector quantities that have both magnitude and direction. Speed is a scalar quantity because it has no defined direction and only magnitude. Velocity is a vector quantity having both magnitude and a direction.
2. A change in velocity is known as acceleration. Such a change can be a change in linear motion, such that the “speed” of the object increases, or it can simply be a change in direction. Acceleration is caused by applying a force to an object, whether it be stationary or moving. Acceleration can be positive or negative (often called deceleration) depending on whether the change in velocity is positive or negative.
3. Acceleration can also be uniform or varied. uniform acceleration is when there is a constant change in velocity, such as gravity acting upon a discus flying through the air. More often, however, the acceleration is varied. This could be from an opponent tackling a forward in rugby, with changes in velocity including positive and/or negative acceleration, and multiple changes in direction.
4. In theory, force summation occurs when all body parts act simultaneously In practice, the strongest and lowest body parts around the centre of gravity (e.g. trunk and thighs) move first, followed by the weaker, lighter, and faster extremities.
Summation of Forces, is something we benefit from researching, it is a very important subject if we wish to understand how to maximise effort, by the multiplication of force.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person’s behaviour [as in what we are doing], and beliefs [as in what we think we are doing], are out of alignment and do not complement each other.
ANALOGIES, COGNITIVE DISSONANCE, AND MAKE BELIEVE.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to finish the post I began with 3 bags of cement.
A post about power production, power transfer and power release.
A post prompted by the quest to develop more power, and how to hit harder.
I have made numerous videos that while we were in the process of making them appeared to clearly cover all of the bases, but on playback failed miserably.
Why is that?
Because what we are trying to show cannot be seen.
What we think we are doing, especially in training, is not what is happening when we do it, and whats more, again in training, what we tell ourselves we are trying to do frequently cannot even be done.
This creates the condition known as Cognitive Dissonance,
Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person’s behaviour [as in what we are doing], and beliefs [as in what we think we are doing], are out of alignment and do not complement each other.
Something we are aware of, but perhaps underplay, is the fact that the world we think we live in is not the real world.
It is a construct created by our Brain and populated by things that we created in the first place.
Not exactly Blue Pill – Red Pill, but not too far removed either.
Because of this everything makes sense no matter how fanciful or strange it may be.
This is very much part of the human condition and we all fall for it.
A perfect example is the way we use analogies to try to explain complex training ideas.
A personal favourite of mine is the “Coat hanger and the overcoat analogy’.
Our head and shoulders are like a coat hanger hanging on the back of a door, high and steady, and our body is like an overcoat hanging from that coat hanger.
Or better yet the Anchor that hangs from our Butt.
These analogies are very useful to initially grasp a difficult concept but they are a million miles away from any kind of reality.
My head is not a coat hanger, my body is not an overcoat and happily there is no anchor hanging out of my butt.
Yet I still use them and you guys understand them.
These analogies, like all analogies, are so far away from the truth they are as good as ‘Make Believe”.
Because we do not have the words, or do not have the correct components we use analogies made from IDEAs we do have to approximate what it is we are trying to say.
Analogies say to us “It is something like this”.
What analolies do not say however is “But in reality it is nothing like this’.
I am not proposing that we do not use analogies.
Analogies are great tools to make that initial connection to an abstract idea, but if we hope to progress past the abstract toward something we can use we need to translate, transpose and explain the analogy with real science.
But before we can apply scientific thought we must remove all of the make believe.
Our idea of how energy flows through the body like water flowing through a hose is just an analogy,
A very useful and powerful analogy but it is not correct.
Something that is believed even argued about in many Martial Arts is the IDEA that we move our centre, or move from our centre [the counter argument] ,in fact the very IDEA that we have a centre is another analogy.
A very useful and powerful analogy but it is not correct.
Analogies serve a vital function that allows us to climb onto the first rung of the ladder of understanding, but to progress onto a deeper level of understanding we must defer to the widely accepted science, and align with the laws that govern our universe.
We do not need to dig deep, just high school level physics.
The fundamental classical mechanics, that involve forces acting on matter, using the laws of motion and gravitation, throw in a touch of Thermodynamics and finish with a pinch of general relativity, just the bit that treats gravitational fields as equivalent to acceleration.
Even if we think that we have forgotten these lessons our Brain has not, we all know this stuff inside out for the simple reason that it is how we experience the world around us, we live it every day.
A final word.
If for any reason you do not agree with what I am saying here, which is your right as an individual human being, and I would not exactly blame you for it especially as I have disagreed with myself on many occasions, realise that it is not me you disagree with, you disagree with the LAWS, not theories, the LAWS that govern our Universe.
As a non-believer in Established Science, you qualify for free, immediate and lifetime membership to both the “Flat Earth Society” and the “Richard Cranium” Collective.
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
And the Nitty Gritty is understanding the relationship and the interaction between two bodies in space.
Although we are not overtly referencing violence in this discussion we should never let our mind wander, what we do has a purpose, and that purpose is very one dimensional.
Successfully surviving a violent encounter has nothing to do with technique, it is not Tan Sau to Bong Sau to an Elbow strike, it is not about style, structure, power, or even speed, it is not about defending, it is not about attacking, all of this STUFF is useful, very useful, but can easily be made redundant by not paying attention to the things that count, the Nitty Gritty.
And the Nitty Gritty is understanding the relationship and the interaction between two bodies in space.
From a training perspective, this means internalising the Concepts that govern the interaction of two bodies in space.
Pushing a car, hanging out the washing, throwing a Frisbee, or fighting Captain America are equally governed by these basic concepts.
Once we have this down, everything just works.
We are all aware that Gravity exerts a downward force on everything on our planet, and as such everything we do is affected by it.
Therefore any movement that does not have a downward trajectory is actively fighting against gravity…
…take a pause and think about that.
To be expected, trying to fight off Gravity requires the use of physical force, which creates muscular tension, which prevents us from entering what I refer to as the ‘Conduit State’.
This condition is quite natural, our job is to observe it and not to create it, it is the state of being where force moves freely through us, in both directions.
If we craft and analogy using water as force, think drainpipe going down and hosepipe going up.
This is what I will address with the next installment, when we look at delivering force via the Kinetic Chain, so for now let’s keep it simple.
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I have at times heard students ask “But how do we use this out in the wild”?
That is the thing, the beauty, or the horror if you are on the other end, we do not use it, we do not even think about using it, it is a training device we employ to observe that this stuff just happens, all we want to do is trust the process and hit the Bad Guy in the head.
I.M.O. Wing Chun is not a fighting art, it is a way to think!
This is a reposting of a previous reposting from August 2021, but it is really well aligned with what we are discussing at the moment, the whole 3 Bags of Concrete is really an Einstein thing, so…
Listen up Tribe!
Albert Einstein was of the opinion that “time is an illusion”.
Without time nothing happens, so nothing moves.
Hence the confusion because of his own words ‘nothing happens until something moves’.
Well, I hear you ask, what does Uncle Albert have to do with Kung Fu?
Here is where I am coming from, I.M.O. Wing Chun is not a fighting art, it is a way to think, it is a philosophy, an IDEA, it is a specific logic.
It is a concept.
This is why it fails so often when people try to use it as it is taught, as a stand-up fighting skill.
I do not think that this was ever Dr. Leung Jan’s intention.
How we engage with the work mentally is more important than how we engage with it physically.
Mental fluidity is essential for us to reach out and touch the ‘Little Idea’.
The ancient Chinese monks that established and expanded Kung Fu, be they Buddhist or Taoist, considered their training as a form of alchemy, turning lead {the initiate} into gold {the master}.
Most of my own training is a hybrid of all the things that have affected my life, Boxing, Judo, numerous diverse sports, cooking, and even music because it is through this eclectic lived experience that I view my Wing Chun.
To be expected, you will see it differently as you have lived differently.
WELCOME TO THE EDGE.
A common issue with all solo training is that we can begin to doubt that we get it, begin to doubt that we are doing the right thing.
Problem solved, there is no ‘right thing, there is only ‘doing‘, use Yoda’s voice when you verbalise that.
So as not to overwhelm us all with too much information I will post a follow-up blog article, I am writing it as you read this so it is fresh info, hopefully in the next few days.
Stay tuned.
The Edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
If this is the case, which it could be, I would recommend immediately activating the “Nike Defence”, you know, run like hell.
Hi Guys,
You may wonder about the title of this piece and its relevance to self-defence, and believe me, it is relevant.
It stems from a conversation I held with our senior students Sam and Costas about the desire to develop more power, or simply put, ‘hitting harder’.
We have all noticed that lately there is a preponderance of videos on YouTube to this end, “How to hit harder”.
My position on this is that for Wing Chun students this type of video is not only of no value but holds the potential to undo all of our good work, let me try to explain.
The essence of Wing Chun, and many other “Soft Style” Martial Arts, is that we develop hitting power by naturally transferring “Body Mass” into a single point of our body and then onto a single point of a chosen target, not by physically trying to impart force by making a “Big Hit”.
No one in my Martial Arts community is lighter than 60kg, as you all know I have always only taught adults. Here in Australia, a bag of pre-mixed concrete is 20 kg, so anyone that weighs 60 kg has the equivalent “Body Mass” of 3 bags of Concrete.
If we think that a 60kg guy cannot naturally hit hard enough, we are saying that dropping 3 bags of concrete onto an opponent will not get the job done?
If this is the case, which it could be, I would recommend immediately activating the “Nike Defence”, you know, run like hell.
Hitting someone shares the same science as any collision, and as such the force created is the sum of both forces involved, so if we are 60kg and the Bad Guy is 80kg {Bullies tend to be bigger than their chosen target}, the impact created will be the summation of both forces and closer to 140kg.
Which is of course 7 bags of concrete.
How is that not enough?
And again if that is the case, and it could be, here for sure, we use the Nike Defence.
To fully cover this topic we need to bring in some different concepts, which can end up in a bloated and somewhat confusing video, so I will break it down into smaller, bite-sized chunks.
This video is essentially just an intro.
Despite this there is a way for a 60kg person to drop 120kg onto an opponent without any extra training, yes you get it, hit them twice.
Which to me sounds a lot like what we train to do.
“You can’t beat people up and have them say I love you”.
Here is something for all of us who regard ourselves as Traditional Martial Artists training in a Traditional Martial Art to ponder.
This thought exercise is not pointing any fingers in any direction, but it is something that we should all at least think about.
This is not a new topic, and not just about Martial Arts, back in the late 1960s American comedian Murray Roman had a socially aware record album release called “You can’t beat people up and have them say I love you”.
The same question from a different direction.
“Q”. Do people who believe they are actively involved in improving themselves and evolving into a higher state of being, through the practice of an art such as Kung Fu, believe that violence is the answer to “ANY” question?
This is IMPORTANT.
If we ever find ourselves in trouble, it will be our inner selves that respond to this challenge.
If that inner self does not believe in violence why would it choose to use violence, why would it choose our training?
If you are one of FB community that end a post by wishing people peace and love, which is commendable, this action indicates that you hold yourself to high account, or are at the very least on that path.
If this is you, the chances of you using your training are somewhere “south of zero“.
Or it should be if you are working toward being that person.
In our modern “Social Media World” trendy Maxims are more often quoted than statements of genuine wisdom, maxims such as “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind’ sound fine and dandy until someone rapes your daughter, steals your truck or runs off with your dog.
Yet another FB favourite is “believe in Peace but prepare for War”.
These sentiments have no basis in reality.
If you believe in Peace you Believe in Peace, so why would you be preparing for war, only people who think that violence works prepare for war.
There is nothing wrong with believing that violence works.
But there is plenty wrong with claiming that you do not believe this and then practising how to use it.
Which of course is what the “believe in Peace but prepare for War” people are doing all the while talking of their wish for Peace.
Hypocrisy is not the path to enlightenment.
There are no sides to this discussion, so please do not take one, just think about it, and how you and your training relates to it.
We can train Kung Fu with no intention to use it, no foul there.
But whichever we choose we should be honest.
At the end of the day, we make our own choices, even if we would rather not admit it.
But did our inner self get the E-mail about not using our training if we get in trouble?
Train hard, think deep, choose wisely.
LOVE EVERYONE, BUT NEVER SELL YOUR SWORD. Just kidding.
One of my favourite parable-like stories is the one about the Japanese Tea Master Sen no Rikyū (千利休).
On his retirement he was asked what he had learned after dedicating his life to the practice of Chanoyu, the way of Tea, he answered.
Before Chanoyu Tea was just Tea, during my study Tea became much more than Tea, but in the end, once I finally understood, Tea, once again, became Tea.
For Richard Feynman, the world-famous theoretical physicist it was “If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.”
We all overthink things, and it is at pandemic levels in Wing Chun.
We all somehow forget that the main principle is SIMPLICITY.
Violence is a shit fight, so at the end of the day it is understanding shit that matters.
Hey guys,
As you all know I like playing with swords, and as such I will look for information on Youtube.
You all also know that i do not think that there is any stylistic value when it comes to violence,this is niot just Wing Chun vs other styles, it is also armed vs empty hands.
Violence is a shit fight, so at the end of the day it is understanding shit that matters.
Here is a brilliant video on Swordsmanship that could just as easily be about empty hand fighting.
Instead of doing a diservice and reframing all the points in this vide i think it far better to just post the original.
Enjoy, and hopefully learn and survive.
I quite simply could not have said any of this better.
Wing Chun Sydney, Australia 