Spontaneous action, sensitivity

[honoluludesktop]

Tony, There is more then one way to win, but IMO, the odds favor moving to strike (first) in reflex to correct distance. If your opponent moves before you in the same circumstance, he will hit you first. There is no way around this except by luck. Of course, for this to work against a physically superior opponent in a real fight, your strike must be sufficient to KO, upon contact.

Using strategy assumes that your opponent moves in a predictable way. Do this, they do that, and you win with this. Doesn't always work that way.

[tonydee]

Tony, There is more then one way to win, but IMO, the odds favor moving to strike (first) in reflex to correct distance. If your opponent moves before you in the same circumstance, he will hit you first. There is no way around this except by luck. Of course, for this to work against a physically superior opponent in a real fight, your strike must be sufficient to KO, upon contact.

Using strategy assumes that your opponent moves in a predictable way. Do this, they do that, and you win with this. Doesn't always work that way.

I believe I understand where you're coming from, but still beg to differ. It's because the first mover has an advantage - if they've an unobstructed attack opportunity - that both sides maneuveur to cross that critical distance while in position to strike. It forms a wavey three-dimensional surface around each pair of people... where one can reach with a fight-altering attack before the other can reach it with a block... whether that's before or after contact... how compromised each party gets in trying to exploit it. Instinctively reading that whole surface is crucial to high levels of fighting ability. Whether it's a crude instinctive sense of distancing and timing, or a refined conscious awareness. The sensitivity comes in seeming to close and drawing the opponent's attack out a moment too soon... while you've got it covered better than they anticipated, or you've withdrawn slightly further than they thought, or are ready to close faster than they thought, or in a different direction. But then, if the opponent's expecting that, it all becomes a cycle of feints and with-held attacks, rushes and combinations, as the target shifts mid-move... that's exactly what sensitivity is about. It's not expecting your opponent to be predictable, making specific moves in reaction to specific stimuli - it's more like flowing between a small set of core defensible positions with an understanding of the totality of possible movements the opponent can make - given the inherent capabilities of the human body - covering them all while pressing them to get desperate enough to try an attack that puts them out of position for too long - the over-commitment. Does it seem too much to cover everything they might do? Not if you're aggressively putting your attacking tools forwards, ready to knock them down if they try anything that even momentarily compromises their defensive position, mobility, stability etc.. All the attacking tools should be held in readiness for any deviation from the defensive position that prevents their successful use. Every move - whether footwork, feint or attack, aims to consolidate even the smallest error into exponentially increasing advantage. That's exactly what all the tai-chi/wing-chun style sensitivity training is for... covering, trapping, withdrawing the power from covered attacks, redirection, circling the limbs back into that core position equally essential for attack or defense, feeling out the attack opportunities.

Of course, someone at the next level up - someone who's just a solid level faster - can cut straight through the "sensitivity" and awareness of someone who's focused on all that complex sensitivity stuff and neglected the practical basics. There are a lot more tai chi guys with 20 years experience who'd get beaten up by even a sports taekwondo guy with 10 years than the other way around, but what's necessary at the very highest levels? Are we putting in enough training hours, or have the instruction or ability, to invest in something with tenuous slow returns? It's a very personal thing to set these priorities. To me, it's quite obvious that for the average person in average physical condition, getting a level up in speed, strength, reflex - the crude physical differentiators - is easier than in sensitivity, but there's not necessarily the same number of levels available of improvement available to both training methods. Getting the training mix right - so you're taking easy wins from both sides and not limiting yourself with diminishing returns - is almost an artform in itself .

Cheers,

Tony

Edited August 31, 2010 by tonydee

[honoluludesktop]

I believe I understand where you're coming from, but still beg to differ. It's because the first mover has an advantage - if they've an unobstructed attack opportunity ........

Isn't that what I posted?

.........IMO' date=' the odds favor moving to [b']strike (first) in reflex to correct distance[/b].......

In this instance, correct distance being the greatest time/space that can be crossed without an effective response. Else, unless feinting, why would anyone attack at greater distance?

[bushido_man96]

Boy Tony, you said a mouthful there. Sparring can appear so intricate when you really start to elaborate on it like that.

[tonydee]

I believe I understand where you're coming from, but still beg to differ. It's because the first mover has an advantage - if they've an unobstructed attack opportunity ........

Isn't that what I posted?

Yup, but I got the impression you were saying it was almost decisive, whereas I'm saying it shapes everything, but doesn't determine it. .

.........IMO, the odds favor moving to strike (first) in reflex to correct distance.......

In this instance, correct distance being the greatest time/space that can be crossed without an effective response. Else, unless feinting, why would anyone attack at greater distance?

Yup - my mistake. There you've qualified it as I did. All about luring the opponent into a miscalculation; that gap between reality and perception, between observation and presumption. Just as an attacker might feint, a defender may feint vulnerability in all its myraid forms - oversight, predictability, overcommitment, reluctance, impatience etc.. Sometimes there's exploration that's neither feint nor committed until the defense takes shape around it.

Cheers,

Tony

[sensei8]

Posts like those of tonydee, I truly enjoy. Martial arts maturity expounds from his posts, and in that, there's nothing for me to add except...

SOLID!!