On the other hand, beginners to WT can be disappointed or even shocked when they are suddenly expected to strike hard in what they expected to be a soft, i.e. harmless style. The secret of WT lies neither in its absolute softness nor in hard hitting, but rather in a combination of both factors. Only being soft would mean being unable to strike hard, while only being powerful would mean being unable to avoid and give way to superior strength with fast, supple movements. So as a WT-fighter, when do I use softness and when do I use my strength?

When an attacker starts to wade in, causing me to advance my arms to establish contact or strike straight into his attack, my fists shoot forwards on the same principle as a cannonball. This means that the fist is given maximum acceleration and strikes either the target or the opponent’s guard. Or it misses completely and no contact is established. If it strikes the target, it transfers its energy. This impact has a certain effect which depends not only on the vulnerability of the target itself, but also on the impact speed and the area of impact. The greater the speed and the smaller the area of impact, the greater the effect. In principle the same applies if my fist contacts the attacker’s guard. The difference is that my blow has hardly any physical effect, because the opponent’s guard is normally more absorbent that targets on the head or body, and therefore allows less energy to be transferred.

The heavier and more solid the point of impact, the more easily energy is transferred. It is transferred most easily when striking e.g. a brick wall, as anyone who tries it can confirm. In the third case, i.e. a miss, the punching arm will extend without any energy being transferred at all. In all three cases it is however important to be able to follow up with the next action as quickly as possible. If I have struck the target, the next punch should follow immediately – with the other fist in the case of chain-punches, the first one returning to its position ready for another punch etc. If I contact the opponent’s guard instead, I must stick to him and control his arm(s) until a gap in his defences appears. And in the third case I must return to a position that allows further action as quickly as possible.

A brief period of relaxation is necessary for this functional change to occur. If we do not relax between the first and the second action, we lose too much energy within the muscles involved, as they are working against each other. This contravenes the first strength principle: free yourself from your own strength. Normally this means relaxing all the antagonistic muscles that prevent the adoption of a defined WT position, but in this case to prevent the tension in the muscles activated to carry out the first action from hindering the change to the next action. This slows us down and expends energy which is then no longer available for the opponent.

The same applies in the second case, i.e. if the blow strikes the opponent’s guarding arms. Here the muscles must be switched to relaxation mode to maintain contact and feel where the opponent’s energy is going. The characteristics of my WT are defined by the extent to which I am able to switch to relaxation at such a point. The scale extends from super-soft WT to harder procedures which only externally resemble real WT procedures, and right up to really hard styles of whatever name. Of course it is possible to work with more strength, however this always involves the risk that the opponent might specifically or unintentionally use this strength against me. The less strength I use at the moment of sticking to him, the more difficult this will be for the opponent. Once again, the same applies in the third case.

Once I have fully extended my arm with maximum muscle tension, these muscles must immediately switch to maximum relaxation so that the necessary corrective action can be taken at once. This brief phase of softness and relaxation must be followed by maximum tension, i.e. power, to initiate the next action as soon as I can. Which takes us back to the beginning. Efficient WT therefore involves extremely rapid changes between softness/relaxation and hardness. The better a WT fighter is able to switch from 0.1 to 100 (or to 70 if reserves are to remain available) or vice versa in the relevant situation, the better his WT will work.

Text: Sifu Roland Liebscher-Bracht