End Game

In an earliert post I asked "What is the End that your Means is leading to?", or to put it another way 


What are you training for? What situation, what event?


You need to think deeply about this, because if you cannot be specific then you are not training for anything in particular, and if your training is so unfocused how do you know if you are on the right track? How will you know what to use when the Wolf jumps out of the Shadows?
Right now use you imagination to create the most likely scenario where you will use your training, visualise the sequence of events and note exactly where your training becomes operational, and of the greatest importance note when and how it finishes.


All conflicts have a beginning or "Opening", a "Middle" and a finish or "End Game", the opening is usually some form of Verbal exchange { although Silent Ambushes do occur they are so rare it is not worth wasting training time on them because if they are done correctly you get no chance to do anything!} , does your training do any more than pay Lip Service to this phase, does it teach you how to navigate this? Do you have any deescalation techniques? Does it show you how to spot the transition to Violence? Does it advocate Preemptive Strikes?


 Most Martial Arts by Default train from after the Antagonist has attacked, training is the kind that goes "He does that so you do this", a lot of this is a type of Social conditioning that wants people to act more responsibly and not just take out anyone that you have an issue with, is it really what we would want to do if given free choice? The Laws of Physics in our Universe make it very clear that "Action is faster than Reaction" but still we train to react. Does your training allow for this?


When you take Piano lessons you are taught how to play the Piano, and as I am sure you know playing Piano is not giving a Concert, to give a concert you need an understanding of Music, sometimes this is innate, sometimes it is gained through research, it is very difficult too teach understanding, it needs to grow.  Millions of people play Piano, very few spend long enough trying to understand Music to give Concerts.


When you take Wing Chun lessons you are learning how to play Wing Chun, playing Wing Chun is not Fighting.


It is outside the Scope of any Martial Arts School to teach people how to fight, they will all disagree but sadly it is a fact, all you will learn are the Tools that you could use in a fight, if you ever get in one and ever learn how to use the Tools. The onus is on you to decide what Tools you will need and to get familiar with how to wield them, no one needs 15 Punches and 21 defences! Find the ones you trust, that you can perform well and make them your own.


If you survive the initial attack then the "He does this and you do that" training can actually work if you trust it, this is the Middle Game, it is rare that more than 2 blows are needed to get to the "End Game", but if you do not have an "End Game" you could be there all day and eventually one of you will get beaten to Death.


Do you train how to finish the Conflict? How to close down your opponent? Do you have an exit strategy?  These things cannot be taught, you can be advised but at the end it comes down to what you think, and your thinking can be changed by what you research. Read up, ask questions.


This post may at first appear to be negative toward M.A. School training, it is not, without the normal School type training you will have absolutely no skills to help you out of trouble, but you need to get your Instructor to address the problems that are distinct to yourself, and not just stay in the Generic Zone.

More on 2 Statements.

Statement #2. Expansion.

All training in all things is Task Specific, when a Swimmer lifts weights it has nothing to do with Swimming, it is all about body Conditioning, making a new, stronger body that the Swimmer believes will allow him to swim faster and farther with less effort.

The weight training does not replace the act of swimming, on the contrary it usually demands more swimming as you learn to adapt your new body to your old routines, and to integrate the new training successfully requires a knowledge of what you are trying to achieve and an understanding of why you wish to achieve it, after all any outside or support training is simply a means to an end, so we need to know the end we are seeking.
Occasionally some of these imaginary Swimmers get confused and start to focus on the support training at the expense of the "Core Discipline", and then they become weight trainers that swim, and usually swim poorly.

Another direction to take our thinking is this question.   Is all swimming the same?

 Is Breast Stroke basically the same as Back Stroke, basically the same as Butterfly Stroke, basically the same as Free Style.

And if we think it is then is Swimming for recreation, basically the same as Swimming for competition, basically the same as Swimming to save your Life.  

Of the above what do Swimmers train for?

How does this relate to our Wing Chun training?

There are areas of our training that it is easy to attribute more importance to than some other areas, Sil Lim Tao, Chi Sau, Chum Kiu, Bill Gee, and of course Nim Lik  {thought force, power through relaxation} and any other of our favourite practice's.  Once we convince ourselves that any particular part of our training is more important than any other we are just becoming Weight Lifters.
Wing Chun is a System, every part is inter - related and must be in balance. If we become aware that we have progressed in our ability in for instance "Relaxing" Then we must manually integrate the new stuff into everything we know, to fail to do so would mean that you are no longer doing Wing Chun, just "Relaxing", and if some Big Hairy Arsed Biker is trying to do me harm standing there and "Relaxing" all over him is not going to get me home in one piece, neither will doing one of the Forms in front of him nor Chi Sau.

Sifu Jim would often say to us Instructors "if you do not want to punch someone in the Face you should not of picked Wing Chun".  Our system is a Circle, everything we do should eventually be a means to improving our Punching, our Punching should be a means to improve our Chi Sau and so on.

If you focus on just one thing you become that one thing.

Statement #1.  Expansion.

Wing Chun is not Fighting.

What event are you training for?

What is the End that your Means is leading to?

2 Statements and a Question.

Statement #1.  Weight Lifting is not Swimming, most people would agree with this {those that do not are Mentally ill}.

Statement #2.  A organised program of Weight Lifting can improve Swimming Ability, this is even easier to agree with than Statement #1 {again if doubt persists see your Doctor}.

Question.  Does Statement #2 in any way change Statement #1?

This may not at first appear to have anything to do with Wing Chun, but it is the main reason some people just fail to improve.

More to follow.