Phil Elmore
Master of Arts
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2002
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One of the things for which I'll always value my Wing Chun training (I no longer train in Wing Chun directly, but it has had a permament influence on me) are the fighting principles it imparted. I was doing some searching for unrelated material at another forum of mine and unearthed this old post, which remains true:
Guard the Center
Your body is most vulnerable along its centerline. Protecting your centerline protects YOU. A useful corollary is, of course, to focus on attacking your opponent's centerline when possible.
Face the Point of Contact
This helps focus your force. We're not talkign about always squaring off and coming straight in, of course; it's more subtle than that. When I execute a tan sao to disperse the force of an incoming hook, I twist my body slightly while using footwork as needed to "face" that incoming contact for maximum deflection of it -- while striking the opponent simultaneously.
Economy of Movement
Move with purpose -- or you'll run out of breath before you're done. Wasted movement wastes energy and time.
Touch Reflexes
Developing touch reflexes enables you to react without thinking to incoming force, moving around, past, and through it. If you can do this without conscious decision-making you can become truly fast, for you've cut the time-consuming process of determing what you're going to do. Developing your touch reflexes also eliminates, in the long term, the problem of fighting with intent -- of walking into an altercation determiend to do something regardless of its applicability because that's the technique you've chosen ahead of time.
Watch the Leading Elbow
While you focus primarily on the dan tien, the body's center, you also monitor the leading elbow. How it moves determines how that arm will move.
Use Linear Striking Action
"The shortest distance between two points will always be a straight line," intones Jet Li's villain in The One. This is very true. Linear actions can have circular components, however.
Avoid Fighting Force Against Force
I wrote an entire article on this.
Train to Use Two Arms at the Same Time
Simultaneous blocking and striking makes perfect sense. You have two arms; use them both. This is one of the reasons Wing Chun and some other styles fight squared off rather than from the side. Sidefighting eliminates half your weapons, removing them from the opponent's consideration.
Uses Pressure Points to Make Striking Techniques More Effective
This is simply a matter of striking vulnerable targets of opportunity. Learning where the body is vulnerable helps you train to strike those points for greater effect.
Guard the Center
Your body is most vulnerable along its centerline. Protecting your centerline protects YOU. A useful corollary is, of course, to focus on attacking your opponent's centerline when possible.
Face the Point of Contact
This helps focus your force. We're not talkign about always squaring off and coming straight in, of course; it's more subtle than that. When I execute a tan sao to disperse the force of an incoming hook, I twist my body slightly while using footwork as needed to "face" that incoming contact for maximum deflection of it -- while striking the opponent simultaneously.
Economy of Movement
Move with purpose -- or you'll run out of breath before you're done. Wasted movement wastes energy and time.
Touch Reflexes
Developing touch reflexes enables you to react without thinking to incoming force, moving around, past, and through it. If you can do this without conscious decision-making you can become truly fast, for you've cut the time-consuming process of determing what you're going to do. Developing your touch reflexes also eliminates, in the long term, the problem of fighting with intent -- of walking into an altercation determiend to do something regardless of its applicability because that's the technique you've chosen ahead of time.
Watch the Leading Elbow
While you focus primarily on the dan tien, the body's center, you also monitor the leading elbow. How it moves determines how that arm will move.
Use Linear Striking Action
"The shortest distance between two points will always be a straight line," intones Jet Li's villain in The One. This is very true. Linear actions can have circular components, however.
Avoid Fighting Force Against Force
I wrote an entire article on this.
Train to Use Two Arms at the Same Time
Simultaneous blocking and striking makes perfect sense. You have two arms; use them both. This is one of the reasons Wing Chun and some other styles fight squared off rather than from the side. Sidefighting eliminates half your weapons, removing them from the opponent's consideration.
Uses Pressure Points to Make Striking Techniques More Effective
This is simply a matter of striking vulnerable targets of opportunity. Learning where the body is vulnerable helps you train to strike those points for greater effect.
