PROPER DISTANCE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

 By Phillip Starr

Over the years that I've assisted as an official in tournaments and taught dozens of seminars, I've noticed a crucial element of martial arts application that is often missing from the training of a great many participants...that of Distance. It is crucial; one of the “Three Elements of Combat” (Distance, Timing, and Rhythm) and without mastery of it, effective application of technique is nigh to impossible...especially in a real confrontation.

Ask most martial artists for a definition of Distance, and you'll hear them parrot something about Kicking Distance (long range), Punching Distance (medium range), and something about short range (wherein elbows, knees, and grappling techniques are to be utilized). This is, for all intents and purposes, a child's definition. The more advanced definition is simpler but more “plastic”, and much more profound. Put simply, it is the distance from which one may deliver an effective blow in a single step... that is, a lunging punch).

The Japanese martial arts are very, very sensitive to this concept. Their culture developed around the sword and maintaining a fine awareness of how far a swordsman could step and deliver an effective cut could be critical to survival.

Most Western martial artists begin at a distance that is much too short. This is due to lack of proper training. Rigorous, regular practice of basic 3-step fight for the first several months of training is absolutely necessary in developing a fine sensitivity to proper distance. Oftentimes, practitioners find themselves much too close at the 2^nd or 3^rd punch. The Receiver must learn the adjust his distance with each punch. If he fails to do this, the Attacker will be too close by the time he executes the 2^nd or 3^rd attack.

I recall one seminar I taught where students all wore the foam-padded mittens for basic two-person exercises. And...they'd never done 3-step. A good number of them wore black belts but try as I might, I was unable to get them to even BEGIN at a proper distance! They started off much too close (close enough that the Attacker could easily punch the Receiver without having to advance a single step) and...that's how they sparred as well! A competent fighter would have easily eaten them for so many snacks! They simply had no concept of distance. At. All.

Distance is divided into 3 categories; First Distance is YOUR Distance. That is, how far can you drive out in a single lunging step and deliver an effective blow? This isn't measured in feet and inches. It's a “feeling” and you instantly know when an opponent has stepped into your effective striking distance.

Second Distance is the OPPONENT'S Distance; you must, through experience (and the earliest stage of experience in acquired through the practice of 3-Step Fighting) know exactly how far your opponent can drive out and deliver a powerful blow. Again, this is a feeling rather than a precise measurement.

The Third Distance is MUTUAL; it is the distance that is between you and your opponent and as the two of you maneuver for position, it changes. It isn't fixed at all. It's plastic and constantly changing...and you must be hypersensitive to it.

Training to increase your Distance (how far you can drive out and deliver a strong blow) can give you a tremendous advantage in both sparring and real self-defense. How this is to be done and how it's used are presented in my book, MARTIAL MANEUVERS.