Martial arts, combat range: control time & space
Combat range management: exploit time and space
In a dynamic scenario, when our body learns to instinctively feel and understand the basic striking distances:
- Long range
- Mid range
- Close range
We can start to fight at a more tactical level.
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).
With this type of proprioception, we can start to use to our advantage “segments” of:
- Space (read The most important skill in combat)
- Time (read Timing: the secret of combat effectiveness)
How? Keeping our opponents (eg. Combat: exploit timing to strike) as much as possible:
- Off-balance
- Off-time
Let’s start by seeing how to build range awareness and then let’s see how to basically implement this skill.
1. How to feel the combat ranges
During a fight, for a not-practitioner or a beginner, the sensation is always to be at the same distance from the adversary (no matter what is happening): this is completely normal and caused by the confusion derived from a so unusual hostile situation (the mind gives in to a sort of “raw instinct”).
A note by Master Kongling – Premising that only from an intermediate level it is truly possible to (voluntarily) exploit time and space to our advantage, it is important to start the necessary conditioning as soon as possible, so: let’s see what the steps to follow are.
At the base of combat range awareness
The first and most simple things to do is to focus on a basic understanding and take our “measures” in a static freehands context:
- Let’s imagine our striking zones like spheres around us (these spheres should be spheroids in reality but to make everything easier let’s imagine their centers always on the same central line (the one we call gravity line, read How to improve balance: tricks and exercises)
- The “sphere” whose radius is our extended leg (starting from the central point of our pelvis) defines the long range
- The “sphere” whose radius is our extended arm (starting from the central point of our clavicle) defines the mid range
- The “sphere” whose radius is half of our extended arm (starting from the central point of our belly) defines the close range
A note by Master Kongling – Important: this is an incomplete and simplified version of the 5 combat ranges recognized by our school (to deepen this topic at a more comprehensive level, let’s read Ideal distance from the opponent during a fight but if we are beginners it is preferable to postpone this subdivision, we have created this temporary one to accustom the new students to an initially complex task).
The striking types for the different ranges
Defined the distances, it is now time to say what types of strikes dominate the various ranges:
- Long range – Let’s focus on kicks
- Mid range – Let’s focus on punches
- Close range – Let’s focus on elbows and knees
A note by Master Kongling – We said “dominate” because in reality (especially in our Kung Fu) there are striking techniques that can cover almost all ranges. What does “focus” mean instead? Simply that (outside precise tactical choices) as soon as the distance varies, we have to immediately adapt our attacks. This may seem trivial but for many beginners, it is not at all, the tendency is in fact to try to persist with the same type of blows to the bitter end, perhaps even going unbalanced. The general reasoning should be: “Is the distance changed? I change the type of strikes” (again, excluding any type of tactical reasoning).
Discover the measures of our body
When a fighter stops fighting for a prolonged period, it is customary to say that he / she must recover his / her measures, his / her distances and this is exactly what we are going to do.
The first thing to say is that:
- Being able to touch a target does not mean automatically being able to hit it
- For example, if our arms can cover (in extension) a distance of 65cm it does not mean at all that the range of our fists can reach that distance
- Considering the mobility of the opponents and the necessary space to impart a certain power, it is reasonable to count at least 10 cm less for each of our striking ranges (especially for a beginner)
- Naturally, the more we train and the more we develop explosive energy, the more we will be able to decrease this gap but let’s not try to get ahead of the times
Understood this, let’s do our tests, standing well straight in front of a wall:
- Let’s extend frontally a leg (parallel to the ground) bent at about 120° until touching it with the entire soil of the foot; the distance between us and the point of contact delimits our effective long range
- Let’s do the same with an arm and we will find our mid range; if we plan to hit with open palms let’s lean the entire hand otherwise the knuckles (read also How to tighten the fist)
- Let’s bend a leg at 120° but leaning only the frontal part of our knee to the wall, the distance between us and the point of contact delimits our close range
Combat range conditioning
Now that we have a notion of what our distances are and what to do when we reach them, it’s time to put theory into practice through conditioning.
A note by Master Kongling – Everything we have said is in fact useless if we do not train our body (and our mind) to be precise, reactive and versatile.
This is our path for combat range conditioning (our fundamental technical exercises):
- For static conditioning, let’s practice Basic Kung Fu exercises: Poles Training
- For dynamic conditioning, let’s practice Basic tools: the Hanging Speedball
- To extend our reach, let’s practice Fabric Cloth Kung Fu Training: speed & reflexes
- To bring everything into the reality of combat, let’s practice Martial arts sparring [MINI-GUIDE]
A note by Master Kongling – It is no coincidence that these exercises always recur and are therefore the basis of our Kung Fu: they have been chosen and studied among thousands of others precisely because of their incredible effectiveness and benefits.
How to exploit segments of time and space
In 12-18 months (of daily training, read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///), we should start to possess a certain:
- Instinctive perception of our combat ranges (not only in terms of distances but also in terms of “travel times”, how long it takes us to reach a certain target from where we are)
- Timing, spatial intelligence, spatial memory and knowledge of combat dynamics (physics, reaction times, patterns, etc.)
It therefore makes sense to talk about tactical aspects related to the control of space and time.
A simple but effective way to exploit mastery of time and space
The type of conditioning that 6 Dragons Kung Fu teaches, offers its students a rare level of perception that touches on what might appear to be a sort of “precognition” but that in reality is just a deep attention and reasoning on the scenario’s elements evolution (read The combat scenario: how to control it).
What we are trying to say is that our practitioners are trained to create a mental map of the environment and to trace the trajectories of everything (they know) is moving and that therefore they can often predict the position that an element will assume before that it happens (in reality it is a bit more complex than this, to deepen let’s read Combat: overcome perceptual limits of body and mind).
The best way to use this skill is to exploit time and space to load stronger (or simply more effective) blows toward targets that, when we start to point, do not exist yet.
Let’s make an example:
- The limb of our adversary is moving from position A to position C (at high speed)
- B is the intermediate point between A and C
- The opponent’s limb is forced by physics to run across that path
- Our experience comes into play recognizing the movement from A to C as inevitable
- We have the occasion to start a movement toward C so as to arrive at the target at the very instant in which the adversary reaches it
- In many cases, this means automatically overcoming the opponent’s guard and the reason is that it is very difficult to pre-set the defense of a target that has not yet been established (or even imagined)
- This spacetime advantage can be exploited in various ways, to charge more powerful shots, recover lost time / space, etc.
Final notes
A few conclusive thoughts:
- Let’s be clear, these are not extraordinary or infallible abilities, they are just calculations that anyone can do, the only difference is that in our school we aim at conditioning ourselves to do them instinctively and in fractions of seconds
- What we described here is only the base, there is much more to say and do to hone this skill
- …
In the next articles of this series, we will deepen the topic.
In-depth video courses
- Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – A simple explanation of the core practices of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
- Advanced speed and reflexes training – A step-by-step path to build real combat speed
- Static and dynamic balance: how to – A course to develop the distinctive skill of an expert fighter
- How to develop a good timing – A deep study of pace, reactivity, patterns (etc.) for combat purpose
- Advanced combat tactics – The most advanced combat tactics of our school
- Combat mobility: how to – How to exploit footwork and inertia to dominate the adversary
- Worst combat errors to avoid – The mistakes that make our martial skills useless
In-depth articles
- Hitting effectively: distances and targets – How and where to bring our blows
- Drastically improve striking: 15 simple tips – How to improve our fighting technique
Questions
Reply in the comments and share your experience:
- Can you predict the position of your opponent’s limbs?
Author: Master Kongling
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