Chapter 3: Free Fighting Applications

Wushu training is very extensive. A well-rounded Wushu practitioner must be proficient in many areas of Wushu, including Taolu and Sanshou . Taolu is a term referring to Wushu routines, including bare-handed, weapon, and matching sets. Sanshou refers to free fighting skills. Sanshou literally means free hands, implying the free application of bare-handed techniques in Wushu fighting. A traditional Sanshou fighter is proficient in ti, da, shuai, and na; including the ability to strike vital points and use neutralization skills. For safety reasons, modern Sanshou competitions don't allow the use of na—joint controls. In this Chapter, we will focus on the ti and da applications. We will present 43 of the most commonly used fist, palm, and elbow striking methods; 32 of the most commonly used kicking methods; followed by 36 effective fighting combinations. The techniques can be used for self-defense training, as well as, for Sanshou competition training.

There are many traditional fighting principles and key points that guide practitioners in their pursuit of greater skills. Here we will introduce the Mental and Physical Fighting Principle, the Five Keys of Combat, and Basic Sanshou Strategies. These are only general guidelines. Keep in mind that we are to, "Understand the martial principle, but not be restricted by the principle; and go beyond the principle, but not against the principle ." In terms of Wushu, this phrase implies that martial artists should know how to apply the principles, but should not be restricted by the principles. If we restrict ourselves with general principles that do not fit the time, location, or situation; we will not be able to effectively apply our potential. We should be ingenious in applying our individual characteristics, with the principles as a guide.

This principle can be summarized into mental and physical components. The mental components are: make your opponent afraid of your presence ; be fearless and courageous in your offense ; be ruthless in your offense ; and be mentally alert to the various changing situations . The physical components are: be able to see and strike an opponent’s openings ; be able to continue your advantageous offense without letting up ; be able to avoid, angle, and dodge attacks while staying in distance for counterattacks ; be able to use the hips for a close range strike ; be able to engage and apply neutralizing blocks and hooks with your arms and legs ; and be able to use pengda with all of the strong parts of your body.

Make your opponent afraid of your presence. During combat, your presence, your charged up vitality of spirit can create a tremendous amount of pressure on your opponent. Make your opponent afraid of you, before engaging him. Your fearless and confident posture, your eyes, and vocal release, can scatter his concentration and spirit. His movement will be hindered and slowed, allowing your strikes to be more effective.

Be courageous in your offense. When engaging your opponent, express no fear, strike with speed and power. If you are able to avoid fighting, you would have already attained self-defense. If you must fight, the only reason to engage an attacker should be to strike back, otherwise, walk away.

Be ruthless in your offense. When you do strike, strike hard. In a life or death situation, let your attacker feel that you are ruthless and willing to die to protect yourself and your family! This type of expression will charge up your vitality of spirit and make your opponent think twice before attacking you or your family. It is said, "Ten thousand men can’t stop a person that is not afraid to die ." In competition and training with your partners, this feeling must be restrained to avoid serious injury and to allow for a mutually beneficial learning experience.

Be mentally alert to the various changing situations. You need to be flexible in your mental and physical applications. Be mentally prepared for the many situations that may occur during combat. Stay calm so you will be able to react fast and vary your applications to the fast changing encounters. You don’t need hundreds of techniques, but you do need to be able to apply enough techniques that allow you to vary from one situation to the next. In the presentation of the applications in this book, we will layout techniques in an order that will give you a clear idea of the possible variations to applying the techniques. When engaging your opponent, find his opening or create an opening for your strike. During training with a partner, observe his movements, and learn to set him up for an effective strike.

Be able to see and strike an opponent’s openings and be able to continue your advantageous offense without letting up. When you are in an advantageous position, continue your advances so that your opponent is put in a constant defensive position, with no chance for him to apply his offensive moves.

Be able to avoid, angle, and dodge an attack while staying in distance for a counterattack. If you are in a disadvantageous position, you must be able to dodge your opponent's attack. You can, of course, move far away to avoid his attack. However, when you are far away, you also lose the option to counterattack. It is necessary to dodge your opponent's attack, yet maintain a striking distance to strike with an offensive application.

In actual combat, a sense of distance, your timing, and movement angles are keys to a successful application. A sense of distance is your ability to maintain a proper distance during defensive, as well as, offensive applications. The distance between you and your opponent is primarily adjusted with your stepping. It can also be adjusted with the forward, backward, sideways moving, and turning of your body. To avoid your opponent’s attack, you will have to quickly move your body away from your opponent’s effective striking distance.

Your timing is closely related to your sense of distance. If you are faster than your opponent, the distance between you and your opponent can be shorter before engaging. If you are slower than your opponent, you will have to take advantage of the longer distance between you and your opponent to account for the longer reaction time needed. Even if you are slower than your opponent, by taking advantage of the distance between you and your opponent, you can still become victorious over your opponent. Conversely, even if you are faster than your opponent, you may still be defeated if you don't understand your distance. When both fighters understand this principle, it becomes very difficult for either one to successfully strike the other without a good strategy.

The movement angling is set up by the body movements, including stepping, deflecting, and turning of the body. Basic angling can be seen in an evasive movement by dodging to your left or right to avoid being hit. You can also deflect the incoming attack, thus changing the angle of the strike and prevent being hit. Angling gives you the opportunity to counterattack by staying in range.

Be able to use the hips for a close range strike. When you are in very close range, learn to use your hips to deliver an effective offense. Since your hand and legs may be busy engaging your opponents arms and legs, utilizing your hips will provide an additional advantage for you. The hip strike can be like a powerful spring that shocks your opponent’s balance and allows you to further strike with your legs or arms. Hip movements are also very important in takedown applications.

Be able to engage and apply neutralizing blocks and hooks with your arms and legs. The ability to engage and neutralize your opponent’s attack is essential to counterattack. It is also a setup for taking your opponent down.

Be able to do pengda with all of the strong parts of your body. Pengda is a term referring to offensive-defense. Nearly all of the strong parts of your body can be used to strike your opponent. Typically there are thirteen areas that are utilized for applications. They are: your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, hands, and head. Peng refers to both defense, as well as, offense. Da refers to offensive applications. The best defense is often an attack. This doesn’t mean that you always attack first; it means that when you engage your opponent’s attack, you immediately counterstrike as you avoid or neutralize his attack. Your strike is done when his offensive intention is still being initiated.

The five keys are sharp eyes , fast hands , steady courage , firm stance and stepping , and solid power . The eyes are trained to become like that of an eagle or an ape. Learn to be able to distinguish even the minute movements of your opponent, see through to his intentions, and be aware of all four directions. The hands are trained to be fast like wind gusting and thunder flashing. Fast hands can defeat slow hands. If the hands are not fast, even the most amazing hand techniques will not be effective. To be victorious one must be courageous enough to want to defeat an opponent during combat. When you are not afraid, then you can fully utilize and express your sharp eyes, fast hands, and power. It is said, "First there must be courage, then power, and then Kung Fu ." Stances and stepping must be trained to be firm, so that you will have a strong root. Therefore, before one learns how to fight, one must first practice one’s stances. Your power must be sufficient to effectively apply your techniques. The more power you have, the better. Power is an attainment, that can only be gained with training.

To make your techniques effective, you not only need to have good techniques, you also need power. A smooth and accurate application of defensive and offensive techniques will allow you to deliver and express your power. Without power, you will restrict the effectiveness and the delivery of the techniques. Therefore, it is also important to work on strength building exercises in conjunction with technical drills.

In free fighting competitions, in addition to having superb skills and courage, strategy is also very important. Based on Sunzi’s guidelines, Sanshou fighting strategy will depend on the comparative strength and weaknesses between you and your opponent.

If your opponent’s reactions are slower, his movements are not smooth, his endurance is not as good, or he is in a poor defensive position; attack directly. If your technical ability is not as good as your opponent, but your speed and power are greater than his; focus on your offense, put him in a constant defensive position, don’t allow him to have a chance to apply his techniques. This strategy can be used when you are comparatively stronger, have better endurance, and are more courageous than your opponent. Even if your opponent has more experience than you, you can put him at a psychological disadvantage with your offense.

When engaging with an opponent that is good in defense, you will have to use fakes to mislead him into a disadvantageous position before you actually attack. Fake high to make him defend upward, but actually strike low; fake right, but actually strike to the left; or fake with a punch, but actually execute a takedown. You will have to make your opponent react to your fake attacks to make your strike effective.

When your opponent is stronger than you and is continuously attacking you; move around him, avoiding his attack, waiting and looking for an opportunity to strike back. It is said, "When you are stronger, attack the center; when you don’t have the strength, go to the two sides ." Moving around your opponent will render his original attack ineffective and will cause him to have to readjust his posture and strategy, giving you more time to strike back. The agility of the feet and the understanding of timing, angles, and distance, are essential to make this strategy work for you.

A mentally less prepared opponent can be made afraid. You can put some fear in him by striking hard immediately as you engage. You can also hide your strength and pretend to be weak to bring his guard down. When he does, attack swiftly. Use methods to stir up his bad emotions to keep him off centered and leave him unable to apply his techniques effectively.

Every fighter has his own predominately used approaches. Whatever his approaches may be, find it, and prevent him from using it. Force him to use his less familiar approaches. If he is good with his arms, keep him at a distance and use your feet to attack his lower body. If he is good with his legs, use fast takedown techniques against him. If he is good with takedown techniques, keep him at a distance, attack and get out of range right away, don’t let him grab a hold of you. If he is very good in many areas, use a hit and run approach so that he has no chance to apply his techniques.

Once you have discovered your opponent’s weak points, focus your attacks on his weak points. Every fighter has his weak points. Some are poor in defending against kicks, punches, or takedowns. Some have a weak foundation. Some have major faults in their attacks.

If you are stronger with greater technical ability, but lack endurance or if you are stronger, but technically inferior, end the fight quickly. Find an opportunity to strike hard to reduce his fighting and winning spirit. If you have better endurance than your opponent, make him use up his energy. When your endurance is lacking, you must conserve your energy.

A well-rounded fighter can use constantly changing strategies and fighting approaches so that his opponent can’t figure out what he will be doing next. This way you put your opponent into a passive and reactive position.

If your opponent is taller with a longer reach, use punches and takedown techniques to prevent him from being able to apply is longer range. If he is shorter and more agile, keep him at a distance and use long range punches and kicks against him.

There are many opportunities to strike at your opponent. However, the window of opportunity is very short during engagement. It is important to be able to capture the opportunity and use it to your advantage. When you notice that your opponent is not mentally or physically prepared, attack all of a sudden before he is able to react.

You can also attack when you notice your opponent set up, but before he is able to deliver his attack. There are certain small movements before one attacks. Learn to recognize these signals and avoid where the punch or kick is going to land, while striking his weak points. For example, many fighters will pull their shoulder back slightly before thrusting forward, and before they kick they will shift their weight back. After a fighter has missed his attack and in the process of retracting his arm or leg back, is a moment when his initial force has been delivered, but the new force is not yet ready to attack again. Take advantage of this situation by following his arm or leg in and striking to a weak point.

You can also set up an opportunity, by first attacking high to make your opponent defend up. When he defends up and leaves his lower body open, you immediately attack his lower body. You can also attack left, then right or down, then up. Also, when your opponent loses balance and before he regains his balance, attack swiftly to take advantage of the opportunity.