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In combat, power and speed are not enough to reach the excellence

Contrary to what many think, power and speed, alone, have nothing to do with prevailing: in any type of martial clash (read also The 6 types of martial clash).

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).

Any person (male, female, etc.), in normal health and physical condition, already has enough power and speed to potentially prevail on any adversary. As a matter of principle, everything else we add to this is just a “compensation” for our martial weaknesses.

Let’s be clear, we are not saying that speed and power are useless (they remain winning factors): we simply want to stress that what really makes the difference is “precision”, in terms of:

Spatial intelligence (read The most important skill in combat)
Timing to act / react rationally (or semi-rationally, read Timing: the secret of combat effectiveness)
Control over our body, senses and mind
Technique / tactics application and adaptation

The point is that it is always positive to strengthen our body (read Physical conditioning: how it works) but if we really want to learn to fight at a higher level we need to focus mainly on mastering these 4 elements (read How to learn to fight: all the steps).

A note by Master Kongling – Let’s repeat it: it is not a question of putting physical preparation in the background (it would be an incredibly serious mistake, read Why martial arts do not work: 5 reasons) but directing our efforts towards the acquisition of the specific skills we mentioned (read also All the skills of 6 Dragons Kung Fu). While addressing a martial preparation, the problem is in fact that the training possibilities are substantially endless but our time and our resources are not: we cannot get lost in aspects that take us away from the idea of excelling in the fight. Let’s make a trivial example (but that gives the idea): running is as important as for sports disciplines as for the fighting ones but this does not mean that spending 4 hours a day grinding kilometers will teach us to prevail over our opponents. It will never happen. We must learn to make precise functional choices.

The limits of a blind / random martial preparation

Although (as we already said) the development of power and speed is a favorable (and inevitable) consequence of a good martial workout:

Why obtain the entire force of the world if we cannot express it during a stressful situation (read Best martial arts for self-defense)?
Why gain the maximum speed if our mind is unable to coordinate it in terms of useful fighting interactions (read for example 6DKF’s interactions: from the strong blow to the light touch)?
Why become able to punch / kick with a devastating power if we are not able to reach any target?
Why have light-speed reflexes if this leads us to have irrational or even incorrect reactions?
Why train to have high-performing muscles if we do not know how to avoid our opponents using their own strength against us?
Why condition our body to resist every kind of impact if we are not able to intercept the action of our adversaries? Even Iron Body does nothing but make us more resistant than normal (there is no practice or miraculous ointment that will make us invulnerable, read Conditioning check for the impact)
…

What should we aim for then? Precision Control.

The concept of “Precision Control”: what is and why we must aim at it

Even if this may appear counterintuitive, in martial arts, speed and power are like “seasonings” and serve only to exalt the taste of “food”: they are important but alone, they are nothing.

To reach excellence, what we need is something that connects every capability in a rational way and in 6 Dragons Kung Fu, we call this: “Precision Control”.

Precision Control is something not easy to describe (and to understand):

It is the general harmony of our skills, it can be seen as their coordinator, a sort of “tap” that, rotating left and right, regulates the flow of cold and hot water to obtain the ideal temperature
It is the intersection between technique, mind, body and everything else in the combat scenario (opponents, obstacles, weapons, instinct, emotions, etc.)
It is the way we adapt / adjust our psychophysical structure in relation to the stimuli we receive and send
It is the positive result of the synthesis between what we have learned to do, what we need to do and what we want to do
…

How to acquire Precision Control: the ability of the abilities

As for the other advanced capabilities of our school (read for example Advanced concepts: the Persistent Movements), this skill cannot be acquired directly, it is the result of our:

Constant, intense and rational training
Study and experience, theory and practice
Preparation, discipline and concentration

A note by Master Kongling – As any other thing that in life is worth our time, good Precision Control requires a lot of dedication but when we will start to feel it, we will know to be near our highest martial expression.

In the next articles of this series, we will try to make this complex concept more clear.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – The 4 fundamental exercises to build real combat skills
Advanced speed and reflexes training – The advanced martial path toward real combat speed
Mind self-control hacks – How to improve the functionality of our mind and reach our goals
How to develop a good timing – A video course about how to exploit time to prevail in combat
Fa Jing: how to develop explosive power – The last martial skill to develop: power
Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu weapons – The core path of 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s martial weapons
Advanced combat tactics – The most advanced combat tactics of our school

In-depth articles

Speed and quickness – The difference between speed and quickness in martial arts’ meaning
Natural talent and martial arts – The truth behind the highest martial level reachable

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

In your opinion, what is the crucial skill for a fighter?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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