Control of Techniques

With the smaller classes in the colder weather, we have had a couple of chances to focus classes on control of techniques during fighting. The students that have been in the advanced classes have had a chance to start working on this and hopefully picked up some interesting learning. I hope to continue with this over the next few weeks.

The main point of these exercises are:

• If you can do something with control, you can add power later.
• It is much easier to learn in the safer environment.
• It will help you develop because you are less afraid to try new techniques when there is no danger of being knocked on your butt.
• There is less escalation of strength during the fights when students know the goal is to control.
• You will start to learn to feel the attacks that you are blocking.
• Speed of the fight increases allowing the students to learn how to read techniques.
• Less hesitation to throw combinations.

Some of the points we should keep in mind:

• Stay loose.
• Try to learn how much power is needed in your blocks to be more efficient with your energy.
• Concede strikes - if you know that a controlled strike would have hurt you, your reaction should be appropriate (do not try to jump back at your opponent right away as this is not what would actually happen).
• Control your emotions - getting excited will escalate the power of your strikes and ultimately the power of the fight.
• Have fun.

Power vs. Control

A recent discussion I had prompted me to write about training for increased power vs. training of control. I believe that martial arts in general trains people to strike with power, focuses on how to increase your power, focus to drive through your targets, etc. I agree that it is important to execute your techniques properly to generate power including how to set your stance, how to use your entire body, how to turn your waist, how to set your fist or foot, when to tense your muscles etc. All of these things come together to allow you to generate power in your strikes.

I believe it is more of an art to put all of these things together but stop your technique just at the point of impact each and every time. Total control of your techniques to the point of always being able to do damage but never doing damage is much more impressive. Of course you may face a time that you need to defend yourself and need to follow through but if you can control it, you can un-control it. On the surface this may seem straight forward but in sparring, nothing is standing still. You are controlling strikes where your opponent is advancing or you are advancing or the opponent changes direction, etc. All of these things add further complication to controlling the technique. With experience, it is ideal to be able to adjust in mid-strike and further shorten or adjust the point of impact of your strike. The final challenge to this is controlling all of the techniques without slowing down and leaving yourself open during the strike.

Happy sparring.

Independent Body Control

During your training you are taught to be relaxed during a strike and tighten up at the point of impact. The same suggestion goes for blocking. What is next after you are able to do this?

Those that have begun fighting realize that it is not as easy to do during a fight as it is to do during practice of forms. First of all, students seem to tighten up during sparring because it is an uncertain situation. The real interesting trick comes from independent control of the different body parts. Can you be tight with a hand/arm that has just blocked but at the same time continue to be loose with the other hand or leg that is trying to throw your counter attack? Try to separate your different body parts during your fighting and you will gain a bit of a speed advantage over those that are not developed the same way. An interesting exercise may be to hold yourself in a push up position with one hand while using your other hand to try and block strikes thrown by a partner.

The Nervous Kick

I have been training people on their sparring techniques for over 20 years and have been able to get the students of our school to be focused on fighting in a manner that is representative of our style of Kung Fu, Fut Gar Kung Fu. As schools teach free fighting I have often noticed that there is a trend in beginners to kick. Nervous kicks that keep their opponent at a comfortable distance. This is something that is not always the correct way for students to fight as most styles to not focus completely on kicking. I would urge newer martial artists to monitor their fighting to see if they are falling into this habit. Although it feels better to have your opponent at a longer distance, this is not ideal for your future progression. You need to fight in the style that you are learning which probably means you will not throw kicks for your entire fight. Kicking has a purpose as I mentioned in a previous post but sparring in class is the controlled situation that allows you to do the things that are uncomfortable for you. Take advantage of the opportunity to work on perfecting your technique in these conditions.

Fighting During Grading - What Are You Testing?

Many Martial Arts schools employ some sort of grading system to promote students up their rankings. These gradings can lead to a new belt/sash, promotion in title or simply a level or increase within the system. Often the grading process includes fighting to determine that the student is able to fight at an adequate level for promotion. I have seen gradings where there does not seem to be a purpose to them. What are we testing in our gradings? Within my school we actually have a few things that we are testing during the fighting portion of the grading:

• We try to determine that the student is able to defend themselves in a pressure situation.
• We try to press the student to ensure that they are able to control their emotions (fear, anger, doubt, etc.)
• We test to see how the student is able to control their techniques in full speed, pressure situations where emotions are trying to take over.
• We try to ensure that the students get a small taste of how things are in a real fight whether they are winning or losing.
• We test how students adjust and think through the different scenarios that are presented in the grading.
• We ensure that the student is able to use legitimate techniques in the fights.
• We make sure that the student has a very good chance of succeeding in a confrontation.
  

Our team of instructors all went through this to get to where they are today. All of us have these goals in mind as we train the next set of instructors.