VARIOUS WAYS TO MOVE INTO AN OPPONENT
By the courtesy of Ogingo Videography, Sabah, Malaysia.
Grandmaster Wong demonstrating the "Shoot-Step" during the Sabah Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course
Moving into an opponent effectively requires suitable techniques and appropriate skills. More importantly, you have to ensure you are safe from his counter-attacks.
If all things were equal, the responder has an advantage over the initiator in an encounter. In the process of your attack, as you move in and before you have stabilized yourself is the moment when you are vulnerable to an opponent's counter-attack. For example, as your front foot reaches the ground and you are about to thrust out a punch, if your opponent's snake palm is coming at your eyes or throat, or his kick coming at your ribs, it is not easy to defend against his surprised counters if you are not prepared and trained to do so.
Reversely, if an opponent rushes in to attack you, it is relatively easy for you to strike him in surprise, especially if he is not trained in the principle of “safety first” and thus exposes himself carelessly. Please see Surprise your Attacker with a Counter-Attack.
But not all things are equal. Hence, if you understand and practice combat principles, you can have advantages when you initiate an attack. One important aspect is how to move in safely and effectively. The video clips below show some of the ways how you can realize these advantages
PLEASE NOTE: You can download the video clip onto your own computer and view them at your leisure. Place your computer pointer at the picture or one of the links, and right click. Choose “Save Target As”. Select the directory or sub-directory where you wish to keep the video clip. Click “Save”.
The Importance of Footwork
Grandmaster Wong highlights a common mistake some students make especially in Combat Sequences 1 to 4. They do not move their front leg sufficiently from Bow-Arrow to False-Leg or vice versa. The False-Leg Stance is about half the space of the Bow-Arrow Stance, and the gap should be maintained as such, otherwise the tactics of “shallow” and “shoot” will not be effective. Grandmaster Wong also highlights the importance of rotating the waist.
The size of the video clip is 1.93 MB.
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Moving into Attack with Correct Spacing
Grandmaster Wong leads the class in the practice of correct spacing when moving in to attack. Shown here are moving one step and moving one and a half steps. Asking the way is essential. It is one of the secrets that ensure “safety first”. Notice that the “Black Tiger” is executed by rotating the waist with internal force issuing from the dan tian and exploding in the punch. This is another secret, and it concerns internal force. In other words, those who do not know about asking the way, and rotating their waist correct, would expose themselves to risky counter-attacks and would be unable to explode internal force effectively.
The size of the video clip is 1.63 MB.
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Left-Leg Mode to Left-Leg Mode
Grandmaster Wong shows how you could move into an opponent to attack him if he is about two steps away. Here the movement is from left-leg mode to left-leg mode. In other words, you start with your left leg in front, and end also with your left leg in front, though you have changed from a False-Leg Stance to a Bow-Arrow Stance. Another mode would be used if, for some technical considerations, you wish to have your right leg in front.
The size of the video clip is 0.98 MB.
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The Shoot Step
Grandmaster Wong shows the “Shoot Step”, or “Phiew Pou” (Cantonese) in Chinese. This is a suitable mode to use to attack an opponent if he is about two and a half steps away. Notice that here it involves three different stances, namely False-Leg, Unicorn and Bow-Arrow, but is performed in one smooth movement. If an opponent wishes to bounce away, he would need two to three movements to cover the same space. This means that if one second is needed to make one movement, you would have put your opponent in an awkward position when you attack, because in one second he has only retreated one space whereas you would be right in front pressing an attack on him.
The size of the video clip is 0.91 MB.
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The Three-Step Shoot
If your opponent is further away, or if you wish to press in further, you can use a three-step shoot shown here, instead of the two-step shoot shown in the previous video clip. In the three-step shoot, you start by moving your front leg from False-Leg to Bow-Arrow, whereas in the two-step shoot you start by moving your back leg from False-leg to Unicorn. Re reminded that you should ask the way and rotate your waist as your punch out a “Black Tiger”.
The size of the video clip is 0.84 MB.
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Shoot and Roll in Four-Step Attack
Grandmaster Wong illustrates various ways of moving in to attack depending on how far away your opponent is. If he is four steps away, you could use a three-step shoot plus a roll-step. These two movements — shoot and roll — should be performed as one smooth movement. Notice that the movement is from left-leg mode to left-leg mode.
The size of the video clip is 0.84 MB.
Click here to download.
We wish to thank Mr Godfery Kissey of Ogingo Videography, Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia for kindly provideing us with the videos. (Godfery is also a member of our Shaolin Wahnam Family.) His telephone number is 60-88-731788, and e-mail address is godfery@pc.jaring.my.
LINKS
Review of the Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course in Sabah in March 2007
- Overview 1 : The Fundamentals
- Overview 2 : The 16 Combat Sequences
- Overview 3 : Are They Performing Kungfu Dance?
- The Basics of Shaolin Kungfu Training
- Fundamental Combat Skills
- Defeat you Hand to your Opponent, Victory you Create Yourself
- Avoiding Disadvantages and Seeking Advantages
- Basic Principles and Tactics of Combat
- Skills derived from Sparring can be Rewardingly used in Daily Life
- Some Secrets in Practicing Genuine Kungfu
- Various Ways to Move into an Opponent
- Applying Combat Sequences in Sparring
- Linking Sequences to be More Combat Efficient
- The Secrets of Continuous Cannons
- The Mechanics of Continuation
- Marvelous Techniques Beget Marvelous Techniques
- Perfecting Forms and Developing Force
- Applying Tactics in Combat
- Objectives of Form Training in Solo
- Being Fluent in Kicking Techniques before Applying them in Combat
- Using Tactics in Kicking Attacks and Defences
- Different Levels of Sophistication in Sparring and Fighting
- The Legacy of Uncle Righteousness: Secret of Continuous Cannons and their Counters
- Benefiting from the Experiences and Teachings of Past Masters
- Poetic Patterns Can be Very Deadly
- Moving Back One Step when in Diffiuclt Situations
- Linking Sequences to Form a Kungfu Set
- Felling Techniques in Kungfu are Different from Judo and Wrestling
- Butterfly Palms and Hiding Flowers are Excellent in Countering Felling and Gripping Attacks
- Let Mercy Flow from the Hands
- Benefits of Solo Set Practice — Combat Sequences 13 to 16
- From Pre-Choice Sequences to Free Sparring
- Allying Shaolin Patterns Correctly and Spontaneously in Free Sparring
- Shaolin Kungfu against Boxing and Kick-Boxing
- Shaolin Counters against Wrestling Shoots
- The Secret of Grandmaster Ho Fatt Nam
- Why Shaolin Kungfu is Technically Faster than Boxing
- Shaolin Techniques, Tactics and Strategies against Boxing
- Revealing Secrets of Past Taijiquan Masters
- Overwhelming Opponents with Just One Pattern
- Poetry and Elegance in Effective Combat