The Beginning, the Middle, and the End
My students have often asked, “You seem to know what I am going to do before I get my move started. How do you do that?” I wish that I could tell them that I had some great all knowing psychic ability, but I don’t. Most of the time my answer leaves them even more puzzled than a “crystal ball” secret ever would have.
I couch my answer in a three tiered explanation. One is for their analytical left brain [to communicate a conceptual understanding]; one emotional [to convey a concept to their basal stress reactive primitive brain]; and the last part philosophical [to stimulate their holistic right brain]. I try to weave these three into an answer that will give food for thought and accurately present the concept as a whole.
Everything has a beginning, middle, and an end regardless if an event occurs in a nanosecond or over the course of a decade. So it is with fighting. Learning the master principles of fighting is purely based upon the degree of observation and how one has tuned ones reaction time to the observation. In the beginning of an offensive technique, many things happen before it is unleashed. First there must be a weight shift. This will be followed by a shift of the stabilizing muscles that will hold the shape of the posture that will be attempted. The human body can not strike without this loading phase.
An old classic states, “before one goes up, one must go down (and its opposite),” and also, “before one goes left, one must go right (and its opposite),” and also, “before one strides forward, one must press backward (and its opposite).” If one is “in the NOW” [right brained observation level] and ones own muscles are in a preempted state of relaxed vigilance, instant reaction can be gained, preempting the opponents movement. This is the beginning of a technique.
The point where the initial loading begins to form through the time of transition from the cocked position of the bicep and humerus [guard position], to the pronation portion [activation of the tricep muscles], to the pronation of the quadricep muscles, is the middle of the technique. This is a very important transition. At this point the base leg has changed roles from being that of a post [weight bearing tool] into a driver, pressing hard into the ground as the legs elongate, moving the torso weight to contribute to the weapon’s extension towards the target.
Then comes the end of a technique. That is when the body lowers its center of gravity just before impact to deliver the driving power into the target while simultaneously preparing for the counter shock that will rebound back into the bone alignment from the struck target.
Before one can defeat an opponent, one must first defeat ones self. There is no opponent. We are not fighting. We are two or more people just sharing an event in time together. When is the best time to launch an offensive attack, you ask? In the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of my opponent’s move. Simple, right?
Anticipation is a nervous condition that robs fighting skills. Another old classic states, “If you know your self and you know your opponent, victory is assured! If you know your self and you don’t know your opponent, there will be a defeat. If you don’t know yourself and you don’t know your opponent, YOU will surely be defeated!”
Humility be thy goal,
Master F. G. Blair
