EAT HIS REAL ESTATE!

 By Phillip Starr

The internal Chinese style of xingyiquan is renowned for its aggressive approach to combat. Rather than stand and block an enemy's attack, the xingyi stylist attacks the attack as he advances explosively forward and “takes the enemy's ground.” After all, no battle was ever won by simply coming up TO the enemy and striking or firing AT him...and not taking his ground. Holding your ground is defensive, not offensive. This is what most practitioners do when they practice basic 3-step and 1-step fight routines; the attacker advances with his attack and the receiver usually steps back, blocks the attack, and then deivers his counter-attack...without ever attempting to “take the enemy's ground.”

And since there's still “space” between the two participants, the attacker could (if he was allowed to do so) effectively block the receiver's counter-attack and deliver a second technique (and maybe even advance again)...and so on. So in xingyiquan, the objective is to either penetrate THROUGH the opponent and/or finish by standing on the piece of real estate that he was standing on when he initiated his attack. There is zero distance between them!

This, of course, requires a careful study of the relationship between distance and timing; distance is measured by time. For instance, will you punch AFTER your leading foot steps forward, will you deliver your attack AT THE SAME TIME that your foot hits the ground, or will your attack arrive BEFORE your foot touches down? It depends on the distance.

Moreover, it's essential that you train assiduously to maximize the distance that you can drive out (in a single step) and deliver an effective technique. For the average practitioner, a distance of about 7-8 ft. can be covered when delivering a lunging attack (that is, advancing the rear foot and strike with the same hand and foot forward). It's considerably less when executing a “reverse punch” - advancing the front foot and striking with the rear hand. With proper training and lots of sweat, the distance covered can be increased considerably. I have had students who could deliver an effective lunging thrust at a distance of about 12 ft.! To do this requires LOTS of daily practice and buckets of sweat...

BUT the object isn't to hit an enemy who's standing 6, 10, or 12 feet away! Even if he's a raw novice, he'll see you coming and evade your attack easily. So, why should you practice so hard to maximize your “driving distance?” Well, consider this...what is the average fighting distance? If you and your partner square off in fighting postures, it's usually about 3 feet. If you can drive out a distance of, say, 10 feet, imagine what will happen if you use the same amount of drive when your enemy is just 3 feet in front of you! He won't even see you move and if he does, there's no chance that he'll be able to evade you or effectively block your attack!

You will penetrate THROUGH him and take his ground! There are training routines for developing this skill and they're described and illustrated in my book, “MARTIAL MANEUVERS.”