Space – by Rageholic
“Loi Lau Hoi Sung,
Lat Sau Jik Chung”
I’ve been told by my learned friend to fill the space during our Gung Fu (Wing Chun) training sessions. The concept seemed simple; something that made sense at the time, but I now realize that it hadn’t quite fully formed in my mind, until now.
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to train in a sport kickboxing club with a bunch of jiu jitsu fighters. An interesting environment in which to find myself. However as my training partners are primarily grapplers, much of the time is spent on fundamental techniques, with little theory. One thing I noticed was that the students were not actively encouraged to fill space in the way that I had been taught. In Gung Fu, we fill the space generally by way of a well-timed and precise strike, either to cause damage, or to create a window by which we can escape. As an example, the double jab is a beautiful way of both delivering power or alternatively, as a movement used to plug the gap between you and your opponent. It enables you to keep pressure on the opponent and can be used as an effective bridge for the next shot or to allow you to fall back into immediate cover or to create some distance.
I thought it strange that I never saw the bigger picture of consuming that space while training Gung Fu with my learned friend. Then I realized I spent all that time with him fighting over control of that very space.
Rageholic
