Equality First

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Equality First

Postby rojcewiczj on Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:48 am

Lately I have come to see that it is better to seek equality before advantage. Often in combative competition there is a desire to overwhelm the opponent immediately, to skip to the end of the engagement. In those first moments of interaction, whether remotely or through direct contact, there is a temptation towards rushing into application. I have found that, while it is possible that you were correct in your measurement by chance or habit and that on contact you take the advantage, without taking the moment to equalize with your opponent you can never be sure. If you begin by equalizing or balancing with your opponent, you can be sure that any action of yours can potentially tip the scales, can take the advantage. How to become equal with your opponent? By placement, posture, angle, timing, there are many aspects that determine equality when it comes to human bodies in motion. While a discreet analysis may be near impossible, equality can be felt in the moment. Like a dance in which one needs to respond to the music with immediacy in order to be "on the beat", so too one needs to be highly sensitive to be "on" your opponent in such a way to come into balance. Equality first is for the smaller person, for the weaker person to come into a relation where their actions can make the difference in what would be an otherwise unequal confrontation. Equality demands anticipation, adaptation. It means to be balancing the scales with your opponent at the same moment you are tipping them.
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Re: Equality First

Postby Greg J on Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:06 am

Hi Rojcewiczj,

Interesting post! Trickery (or, as Bagua and Escrima teacher Maija Soderholm says, "fake and bait") would be another way in which a person who is smaller or weaker can become equal and then take advantage.

I would not, however, dismiss the importance of pre-emptive striking (especially in a self-defense situation). Criminals/ predators choose victims they think will be easy prey, and while attacks are often set up in ways that allow for a few moments of reaction/ response the attacks themselves are generally fast and violent. This is where having some basic knowledge of self-defense law, and knowing what pre-attack cues look like, are critical.

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Re: Equality First

Postby Bao on Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:48 am

"How to become equal with your opponent? By placement, posture, angle, timing, there are many aspects that determine equality when it comes to human bodies in motion."

Interesting choice of words. Words we use are "mirroring", "mimicing" and "adapting". But the meaning is virtually the same.
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Re: Equality First

Postby johnwang on Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:37 pm

I have a friend who only weight 95 lb. He always carries a bottle of red pepper with him 24/7. When he starts a fight, he will open his bottle, throws the red pepper at his opponent's face, jumps in, and beats his opponent up.

It that considered as "equality first"?
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Re: Equality First

Postby rojcewiczj on Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:55 am

Speaking more on how to arrive at equality with your opponent, I would describe the most important quality to generate and balance as dynamic size. Meaning, one must achieve through movement the necessary size to become at least equal to your opponent. It is a simple and potentially disheartening reality that the bigger person has a generally overwhelming advantage on a smaller opponent, like an adult fighting a child. However, in movement and during interactions not all segments of the body are used in every action, meaning the relative size of your opponent will fluctuate based on how they move, on how they respond. This is where training comes in, through training we can learn to maintain and increase our size through movement. Indeed, the bigger the movement the better, when "bigger" is understood as including more of your body in generating the size of action. It is due to our misunderstanding as to how that size is generated that we fall into the trap of waving our arms around and thinking that this movement is so big. Rather, we should seek size in the inclusion of our entire torso and our legs. Having this dynamic size is the secret to more power with less effort, as muscle tension alone shrinks the size of the action by reducing the body to its segments. When you can maintain this size in your actions, any shortening in your opponent caused by their reaction or by their action will instantly serve you in taking the advantage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnfZVDcnwww
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Re: Equality First

Postby Bao on Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:31 am

johnwang wrote:I have a friend who only weight 95 lb. He always carries a bottle of red pepper with him 24/7. When he starts a fight, he will open his bottle, throws the red pepper at his opponent's face, jumps in, and beats his opponent up.

It that considered as "equality first"?


Equality first? Only if your friend had been a woman. ;D
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Re: Equality First

Postby marvin8 on Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:43 am

rojcewiczj wrote:Lately I have come to see that it is better to seek equality before advantage. Often in combative competition there is a desire to overwhelm the opponent immediately, to skip to the end of the engagement. In those first moments of interaction, whether remotely or through direct contact, there is a temptation towards rushing into application. I have found that, while it is possible that you were correct in your measurement by chance or habit and that on contact you take the advantage, without taking the moment to equalize with your opponent you can never be sure. If you begin by equalizing or balancing with your opponent, you can be sure that any action of yours can potentially tip the scales, can take the advantage. . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnfZVDcnwww

What if an opponent takes an advantageous angle and punches you in the face, first? Before, you can get in contact to do your equality?

Advantage first makes more sense, to me.
Last edited by marvin8 on Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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