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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 a 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 man (or woman), in normal health and physical conditions, has already 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” to 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 say that what really makes the difference is “precision”, in terms of:

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

It is always positive to strengthen our body and make it more efficient (read Physical conditioning: how it works) but if we really want to learn to fight we need to focus mainly on these 4 elements (read How to learn to fight: all the steps).

A note by Master Kongling – It is not a question of putting physical preparation in the background (it would be a very serious mistake, read Why martial arts do not work: 5 reasons) but directing our efforts towards the acquisition of specific skills (read All the skills of 6 Dragons Kung Fu). The point is 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. We must make precise choices.

What Precision Control is and why we must aim at it

Although (as we have 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 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 opponent to use 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 opponents? Even Iron Body does nothing but make us more resistant than normal (there is no practice or miraculous ointment that can make us invulnerable, read Conditioning check for the impact)
…

In martial arts, speed and power are the seasonings and serve only to exalt the taste of food: alone, they are nothing.

We need something that connects everything rationally 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
It is the connection between technique, mind, body and everything else in the combat scenario (opponents, obstacles, weapons, etc.)
It is the way we adapt / adjust our body and our mind in reaction to specific stimuli we receive
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 abilities of our school (read for example Advanced concepts: the Persistent Movements), this skill cannot be acquired directly, it is the result of:

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

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

In-depth video courses

Advanced speed and reflexes training – The advanced martial path toward real combat speed
Fa Jing: how to develop explosive power – The last martial skill to develop: power

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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