Few or so many techniques?

Few or so many techniques?

Less is more but to use little you need to know a lot!

A short story:

“Taikui was sent by his family to the temple, to learn martial arts and become a monk.

He was entrusted to a master and, after taking the oath of obedience, the master told him to fill a barrel with water, then to take it to palm until he emptied it and repeat the operation for the whole day.

Every day Taikui filled and emptied the barrel, without ever training any other technique, every day he embittered believing that his master did not want to teach him the REAL kungfu, the REAL martial arts.

Two years passed and Taikui was finally allowed out of the temple to visit his family.

Anxious relatives and friends of the village asked him to show them the martial arts learned in these two years, but TaiKui knew no sequence, no taolu, no kata, no move except to take a barrel of water.

Feeling under pressure from family and friends, TaiKui exclaimed, “I have learned nothing in the temple! and in an act of anger he slammed with his palm open on the table.

A dry creaking was heard and the table, made of solid wood, broke immediately in two.

Taikui’s family were delighted.”

Few or so many techniques?

The topic of knowing is a question that is far from trivial but has a wrong assumption that is the technique to what is functional and serves your combat strategy?.

The problem is not only related to knowing the techniques but to knowing how to use them.

Let’s better explain the concept that is inserted within a system or educational path that to be assimilated needs time and training methodologies that are related to the attributes necessary to express that particular technique.

If I have to teach you to defend yourself in a month (the one that is often sold in many “magic” courses) because you have to leave for a mission you can not make a martial path but simply do a few effective techniques repeated indefinitely a bit like in the story you read before to internalize them to the point of working on autopilot when you are under stress.

But often this is an illusion unless you think that those who train for years are stupid or are not intelligently speaking.

Techniques are not born out of an aesthetic issue but to solve problems by providing additional tools when the technical level of both rises and all doors are closed.

To solve that problem, you have to act in amore complexor different way.

This speech simplifying it all as the most influential part are the attributes.

It’s actually not just technical, but a work on many attributes.

The technique must be functional to the strategy

A very articulate technical baggage allows you to have more tools available but they still have to be used based on what you need to do and only if you need to.

It’s different one who fights simple because he knows 3 shots from one who knows 100 but uses 3 because that’s what you need to do at that moment.

“To fight simple you have to know a lot”

Often the problem is that you want to know everything in a short time with the consequence you know so many techniques but not know how to apply them and use any, becoming a collector of techniques not a user of techniques.

The technique you can see as workshop tools should be used based on what you need to build and repair.

As is the case in a workshop there are some tools that are used many and others in rare cases as in the beginning of80/20.

Clearly if you have the tool you can do a cleaner job but the basis always remains to know what you need and want to do to choose the most suitable tool.

In fact combat is made of many things and the quality of a technique is very much linked to the person, to his athletic physical characteristics, to attributes.

“Man is more complex than the tools he creates”

My advice is never to lose the curiosity to learn but to stay very focused on your goals.

Today it is easy to be distracted by the news of the moment but with the risk of taking you astray from your goals.

Better little but done well than so much done bad! One step at a time.

Have a good workout!

Street Fight Mentality & Fight Sport

Andrea