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Combat training (intermediate level)

An example of execution of Hanging Speedball exercise

In this video, we show a practical example of the Hanging Speedball (read Basic tools: the Hanging Speedball) exercise (in the particular case, Master Kongling practice with an advanced configuration, ideal for intermediate / advanced practitioners).

This training is one of the fundamental technical exercises of 6 Dragons Kung Fu (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///) and it promotes: striking, speed, concentration, spatial intelligence, spatial memory, adaptability, balance, mobility, timing, automatic defense, distances management, precision, trapping, combat instinct and much more.

Simple and practical fighting tips

To accompany the sample video we have also added a few practical tips on how to manage the dynamics of the fight in relation to:

Precision control
Spatial intelligence
Attack / defense
Timing / spacing
…

33 combat tips

Be precise – Each of the blows you throw to your opponents costs energy and exposes you to his counterattack, train yourself to develop the ability to dynamically reach smaller and smaller targets
Use spatial intelligence – All the strength, speed and technique of the world is useless unless you do not develop a good spatial intelligence (read The most important skill in combat)
Hit in sequence – Do not stop; when you manage to strike a good blow, do not stop, take the opportunity to insert a combination of blows continuative and without pauses
Cover the distance – Don’t let your opponents manage distances and fighting spaces; stay attached to your opponent and invade his space forcing him to lose balance and escape routes
Have timing – Gain the ability to hit at the right time, way, speed and power; with the Hanging Speedball practice you will learn how to always be in the condition to attack / defend effectively
Adapt your stance – Find each time a stable, low and close body disposition (read Kung Fu rooting: the pyramid concept); if your stance is not strong you cannot attack or defend in any way
Hit hard – When it is the moment to fight, never hit gently or you will lose the few opportunities that you have to prevail; use softness (read How to combine softness and power) and explosive power to gain speed and power
Use spatial memory – Create a tridimensional mental map of the fighting scenario and trace the moving elements around you; use what you see to imagine the possible consequent trajectories
Control, hit and move – Before engaging, try to stabilize your targets (by making sure you can reach them), hit as long as you can and move quickly when the favorable conditions disappear
Use your blows as loadings – Never load a blow, you will be predictable; use your present attack to load the next one (eg. a left punch loads a right punch, see also Why 90% of your blows can be predicted)
Hit releasing your weight – Instead of charging your blows with loadings, use your weight; one of the most simple but effective ways to hit harder is to involve your inertia in the direction of attack / defense
Move the obstacles and hit – Feel the tension of the joints of the element that is covering the target you have chosen to hit and evaluate the possibility to remove or block it (even temporarily)
Combine the limb’s action – Both in attack both in defense, connect internally and / or externally the power of your limbs doubling their power / resistance
Alternate high and low – Be unpredictable but don’t think about it during the fight; the capability to be not predictable has to be acquired during training and expressed naturally in combat
Connect joints and ends – One of the simplest and fastest sequences is the joints-ends combo (eg. elbow-fist), use it not sparingly (even inverting the order)
Use the Persistent Movements – Read Advanced concepts: the Persistent Movements
Exploit trunk rotations – Connecting (with the muscle chain) the limbs’ action to the central muscles of the body can give you an incredible boost of power / resistance
Use vibrations, avoid loadings – Another alternative to a predictable and poor quality loading is to train our body to use the Fa Jing’s vibrations (start reading Find the maximum speed that we can express)
Point top, hit bottom – Do not show too easily your targets; if you are not able to fight without focusing your targets, concentrate your sight at the base of the opponent’s neck (read The overall view: see everything, do not look at anything)
Transfer inertia in target – If you want to transform a blow in a push you simply have to change your body state to liquid (read 6DKF’s interactions: from the strong blow to the light touch), connect with the target and return solid to transform the impact energy in motion energy
Advance and return like water – Never stop the flow of combat and exploit your movement directions trying to always have the option to rapidly advance or retreat
Use the joints as a pivot – Make your joints flexible and elastic enough to allow them to be the starting point of improvised blows sequences
Body rotations? Only if sure – Never give your shoulders to your opponents if you are not sure that the blow you are preparing will reach the target and will be enough effective
Strike rapidly and return rapidly – The speed of return on guard of a blow must always be greater or equal to that of going
Use legs to catch and move – The lower limbs are more unpredictable in terms of capture and throw, you should learn to master them with the same precision as the upper limbs
After a good blow don’t stop – Not infrequently beginners stop to look at the effect of their blows, it is a very serious mistake, until the struggle is not terminated you cannot stop (lower your guard, etc.)
Don’t forget who is behind you – The most dangerous opponent is always the one who has the opportunity to take you from behind, always keep your opponents under control and (possibly) in your field of vision(read also Avert dangers: the concept of constant attention)
Use limbs to move in the space – The combination of the limbs’ inertia is one of the most favorable methods of movement; it is less predictable, faster, consumes less energy and (fast or slow) it does not stop your flow
Hit and use the soft touch – Read How to acquire the Soft Touch skill
Exploit the muscle chain – The more body elements you can harmoniously include in your movements the more power and less energy consumption you will have (read Use the body power: the muscle chain)
Only focus on what can hit you – Any fighting scenario is full of elements / interactions potentially dangerous or inert, experience and hard training will let you instinctively know what are the few ones that, in the present instant of combat, you have to worry about (this way your mind is clean and free)
Be fast, exploit each opening – During a battle there are endless windows of time-space that can lead us to reach relevant / decisive targets; it is necessary to learn to speed up the calculation capacity of our mind to be able to identify a good quantity of them
Implement the Dragon Motion – Read Dragon Motion: the swirling movements

A note by Master Kongling – It is important to stress that a lot of these tips are not for beginners but they are any way useful to start to enter in the correct mindset.

Conclusions

This exercise, like the other fundamental ones, autoregulates in relation to your speed and with all the other combat capabilities that you possess: this makes it perfect (in its basic version) both for the novice both for the expert.

Notes

The video is provided with manually-created comments, in English
The comments in the video are in some case too fast, you can read them in this article

In-depth courses and guides

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – A video course about the most important exercises of 6DKF
Basic free hand fighting techniques – A learning path related to the basic combat techniques of 6DKF

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Do you have a space to perform this exercise?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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