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The target that we choose and the target we reach

There is a big difference from what a beginner thinks he / she is able to do and what he truly can do.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

Differently from a controlled training context, during a real fight (even simple sparring, read The 6 types of martial clash) there are a lot of disrupting elements that hinder our ability to implement our action plans (instinctive or reasoned they are):

Time and space – If we do not know when to hit, from what distance, adopting what trajectories (etc.) we will always be victims of circumstances
Unexpected obstacles – Everything in the combat scenario (read The combat scenario: how to control it) can obstacle us, from the limbs of our opponents to a weapon, to passive environment elements (etc.)
Poor knowledge of ourselves – Our limits, our reaction times, our speed, our current physical conditions, our balance (etc.)
…

The problem is that until our timing (read Timing: the secret of combat effectiveness) and spatial intelligence (read The most important skill in combat) are properly developed (read Martial arts: why speed and power are not enough): the way we engage with our opponents will always be very limited.

Combat interactions: the sphere of precision

Schematically, both in terms of attack and defense, we can imagine a sphere that gravitates around our combat interaction goal, like for example:

An incoming punch to deflect
The chin of the adversary we want to hit
A leg to catch to execute a throw
…

This portion of space represents the area that, once our target is chosen and our action started, we are certainly able to reach.

In relation to this sphere, exist different areas (in order):

Some identify a perfect interaction (eg. doing exactly what we wanted to do)
Some identify a useful one (eg. reaching a secondary target)
Some identify a useless one (eg. missing the target)
Some others identify a counterproductive one (eg. losing balance)

If during training we can try, make mistakes and thus improve, if we want to prevail in a real fight we can not accept anything less than a useful interaction: it can’t be our “driving system” that makes us go wrong, there will already be an infinite number of other aspects that will undermine the quality of our actions.

Let’s therefore see some of the 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s methods to improve our hitting precision (even if most of them are valid for almost all types of interactions).

Striking: how to hit effectively

To overcome the problems related to a leak of precision we can follow these tips:

Slightly direct the blows toward the center of gravity of the adversary – It is not a coincidence that Wing Chun says to focus on the opponent’s center line (and this is not only because in that area there are a lot of vital points); let’s think at a Vitruvian man, when we attack we always have to strive to force more toward the center of gravity of the human’s body (read How to improve balance: tricks and exercises) rather than to the outside (the void); this easy ploy will guarantee us a surplus of effectiveness that varies between 25% and 50% (also because that is generally the slowest part); this does not mean to change our targets but to change (every time is possible) the direction of the force that wee impress in the opponent’s body (let’s see it as a metal sphere, read How to release the maximum power of a punch or a kick)
Hit beyond the real position of the target – It is not a coincidence that Karate says to imagine hitting slightly behind our objective; when we choose a target, we have to structure our move as if we were hitting well beyond its real location, thereby releasing more power and at worst, reaching it, even if the opponent slightly moves away; in Kung Fu, this is not correct in all the possible type of blows but it is a good general rule to obtain the best results in combat
Use meeting strokes – If we have the opportunity (and the impact will not disadvantage us) we can opt for meeting strokes (eg. a front kick against a running aggressor or a punch entering the adversary’s guard while he / she is attacking us with his / her inertia); this way we exploit the aggressor’s energy, we do not risk to get to the target with a too little force and the opponent will hardly be able to dodge
Hit where the opponent will be – We have to learn to choose as target the point where we know our opponent will forcibly be (after a few milliseconds) and not the one where he / she is now; this way we will have time / space to load more powerful shots and who we face will be probably taken by surprise; one of the best implementations of this tactic is to hit where / when the adversary will land, in the location where he / she will not be able to rapidly escape (because of the disposition of his / her weight and physics)
Use softness instead of stiffness – Softness is faster and more effective than stiffness (read 6DKF’s interactions: from the strong blow to the light); we have to adopt as much as possible soft movements of attack / defense (read The path to the soft movements) that stiffen and accelerate explosively only near the target; this will ensure us unpredictability and will prevent damages due to possible collateral impacts (eg. the corner of a wall)
Limit simultaneous muscle chains in contrast – All the muscle chains (read The Muscle Chain (for martial arts) [MINI-GUIDE]) we use must be in harmony to execute a specific task; we have to forget the idea of giving, for example, simultaneous blows (eg. right and left punch); this is a (rarely) viable option only within experts’ reach (with perfect coordination, an impeccable technique and a spatial intelligence able to evaluate millimetrically the distances); in general, in terms of synchrony of actions, it is better to opt for what we call Active Reactions (read Simultaneous attack and defense: the concept of active reactions)
Largely adopt combined blows sequences – We have to rely as much as possible on unpredictable but chained sequences of blows; the reason is that if the first attack is unsuccessful we already have a second, a third (and so on) prompt action to press our adversary (eg. fist, wrist, elbow, palm of the other hand, etc.); a good fighter should be potentially in condition to perform an endless combination but the focus must be on the amount of inertia and energy we put in each strike, low until we cannot find an opening (to save energy and distract), high when we manage to make a breakthrough (to cause damage and prevail)
Avoid the wrong targets – We have to avoid all those areas that, in the present moment of the fight (opponent type, scenario’s conformation, etc.), are uselessly too risky; the point is that there are many points that we can aim to achieve but we have to learn to omit the most uncertain and all those without advantageous subsequent outlets (in terms of openings, danger, etc.)
Attack unexpected but tactical targets -The human body has many areas that are worth achieving directly and many others that may be seen as a sort of “door” to the most vulnerable ones; unless our opponent is very low level, the ideal targets are generally very difficult to be directly achieved but it is not said that to reach them we must hit them first; in a clever sequence, the first step may seem harmless but it can actually only be a way to make inroads in the opponent’s defensive structure
Let’s take what is within our reach in the present – The choice of our general strategy must be decided before the start of the fight but its compositive tactics shouldn’t (read Quick reasoning in combat: how to develop it); the best target to choose is the one that gives us (dynamically) the adversaries’ mistakes, the worst the one we forcibly choose (but let’s distrust of the errors made in moments with no intense interaction, those are typically deceptions / feints, read The deception in combat: the feints)
…

Final notes

A few conclusive tips and thoughts:

Some of these tips may appear simple, others less but they must be largely tested first-person in the live practice of sparring (read Martial arts sparring [MINI-GUIDE]) to become truly functional
It is interesting to note that everything we said is valid both for unarmed combat and with improper / proper weapons (read Improper weapons in a real situation)
In addition to our fundamental technical practices (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///), we can also perform these exercises to improve spatial intelligence, Reflexes and spatial intelligence: an exercise with the tennis ball, Dodges, balance, spatial intelligence and attack: one exercise and Weapon training: advanced exercise for spatial intelligence)
…

In the next article of this series, we will discuss defense.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – Our core technical practices to build real martial skills
Advanced speed and reflexes training – A speed development program for high combat reactivity
How to develop a good timing – Learn to manage the connection point between theory and tactics
Structures for combat: liquid, solid, fluid – A deep explanation of our states of interaction for combat
Advanced combat tactics – How to build good quality strategies made of interchangeable tactics
Basic free hand fighting techniques – The fundamental combat system of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
How to use feints in combat – The art of real-time deception for high-level preparation

In-depth articles

Dragon Motion: the swirling movements – How to load power without getting noticed and in reduced time / space
Shaolin training for reflexes – An ancient practice to make our reflexes more effective

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

With a moving target, how many times can you exactly reach the point that you choose (in percentage)?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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