meditation on pain

Last night at the end of my Kung Fu class, my Sifu asked everyone in the class what they learned during the sparring section of class. I replied that I tend to absorb hits so that I can get in strikes of my own. Sifu asked if that was a good thing, and I replied that I wasn't sure so he told me to meditate on the subject. Blogging is essentially a written form of meditation, musing, and mulling, so here shall I muse.

My first Sensei (really the only man I think of when I say Sensei) was a man who believed in speed. He often said, "He who hits first, hits best." That would appear to be a rather simplistic view, but there is wisdom in what he said. Two people hit each other; one man is bigger and stronger but the other man is faster. When the faster man hits, the effects on the larger man can be varied, but more often than not, the man who hits first disrupts the power of the other man's strike. Thus hitting first means the hits you have to absorb are far less dangerous.

As usual, it junt isn't that simple. If the faster man hits first but strikes a non-vital area, there is a good chance that the stronger man will be able to ignore the hit and pound his strike home. In this situation trading hits is a very bad idea. Maybe the faster man might hit two or three hits before the stronger man, but the one good hit from the strong man is the one hit that will count.

Now consider if the faster man strikes the stronger man in the solar plexus, throat, or any number of other vital areas. Consider if the faster man's punch, even if not as strong as the other man's, simply is a better punch and strikes with devastating impact. Either of those strikes will sap the stronger man's power as his body naturally reacts to those hits by flinching. When the weakened strike does hit, that punch or kick will have lost a great deal of power and may be insufficient to hurt the faster man enough to prevent follow up strikes. In this situation trading hits becomes more viable.

A fair question then becomes why would you ever trade blows in the first place? Why not just hit first or block the strike and riposte? Simple: you are going to get hit if you fight. Going into a fight with the attitude that you will not get hit is very likely going to lead to a painful reality check. This is not to say that the opposite is a better attitude! Going into a fight accepting that you are going to get hit and that there is nothing you can do about it is handing free hits to your opponent. The only mindset I think one should have going into a fight is where you accept that you are going to be hit but that you are going te try as hard as possible to either not get hit or at least that you will do your best to mitigate the effects of those hits.

Now consider this scenario: you are the slower fighter. The person you are fighting is able to get shots through your defenses a bit too readily and is fast enough to avoid most of your attacks. What do you do? This is a point where trading blows may be necessary. To hit you your opponent must be close enough to reach you; this means that you should be able to reach him. If you can manage to punish the attacking man every time he comes in to hit you, you have changed the dynamic of the fight, and likely in you favor if you've managed to make your opponent hesitant to attack you.

So do I think that it is a good or a bad thing to accept hits to get in my own? I have to say that it depends on the individual fight. There's no hard and fast rule that applies to all fights. If you're used to being hit, it may be more in your favor to take a hit or two, while conversely if you are not used to getting hit, you may want to take as few hits as possible. I don't mind getting hit and I can dish out punishment to anyone who hits me, so I am going to say that with care and appropriate application, my absorbing hits is perfectly acceptable. Unless I am fighting with my Sifus. Then I am just asking for trouble. Sadly I have trouble backing away from a challenge. I predict bruises in my future.