newbie san shou question

[BruceSteveRoy]

hi all,
i am new to the whole san shou style of fighting i have a really beginner question. when you are fighting what do you look at on your opponent? where do you focus? do you watch his shoulders? hands? midsection? head? the thing with san shou that i find is that if i am training slipping i am focused so much on where the punch is coming from that if the person was going to kick me i wonder if i would even see it. or vice versa. so i know ovre time and with practice you learn to not have to think about this kind of thing and just do it but as a beginnger to this kind of fighting i would be curious to have your input. what s a good spot to focus on that can kind of show a persons entire body?

[hjt]

hi all,
i am new to the whole san shou style of fighting i have a really beginner question. when you are fighting what do you look at on your opponent? where do you focus? do you watch his shoulders? hands? midsection? head? the thing with san shou that i find is that if i am training slipping i am focused so much on where the punch is coming from that if the person was going to kick me i wonder if i would even see it. or vice versa. so i know ovre time and with practice you learn to not have to think about this kind of thing and just do it but as a beginnger to this kind of fighting i would be curious to have your input. what s a good spot to focus on that can kind of show a persons entire body?

you have to watch everything, since in san shou youre allowed to clinch, shoot and throw. which throws your basic stand up , since now you have to worry about getting kicked, kneed and thrown

[Pork Chop]

to get really technical, i probably center my vision between the solar plexus & dantien, focusing mostly on the upper field of my vision- on the guy's chest & shoulders, but still keeping some focus on his legs and feet.

don't chase hands- watch a guy's chest/shoulders when he punches. if he hits you without moving his chest/shoulders, then he's not getting much on his shots.

never let the feet go unnoticed, because you want to see kicks coming, and they also tell you when a punch is coming & where it's coming from.

[Golden Arms]

Agreed with Pork Chop, I usually watch there or the eyes. Eyes can be good because as people get amped up, they tend to look where they are hitting, but not all do either, so it just depends. I would start looking somewhere like the solar plexus and then just notice where you naturally tend to look and kind of work with it.

[ChoyLeeFat]

i agree with porkchop and golden arms.....i was also taught to look at the spot around the solar plexus.....basically i picture a "cross" or an "X" on my opponents body so i could see where his punchs and kicks would come from....but also keeping my eyes more focused on the upper body....

[YouKnowWho]

Watch the "knee" of your opponent's leading leg.

[Oso]

most all of that I agree with except watching the eyes.

never watch the eyes. the eyes are not involved in any mechanical process of striking. you watch the hips or shoulders because it's nearly impossible to strike with out the movement being shown there. a canny fighter who catches you watching his eyes will fake you out with them. yes, a not so canny fighter can give himself away by looking with his eyes but then again, that same guy is also probably telegraphing with his body as well.

[hung-le]

I agree don’t look at your opponent’s eyes. You should be concentrating on range and defense.

As a newbie you should be watching the mechanics of your opponents movements to get a feel of what he is doing. Then you will start to pick up his attacks.

Metaphysically……..You should be giving yourself mental queue’s. Example, any straight punch to my head I do “X” response. This will start to simplify and speed up your assimilation, because you won’t be mentally debating just what defense to use. Same goes for attacks. Later on as you get good, you will learn how to manipulate these responses of your opponents with fakes and body movement etc...

[Anthony]

The best place to get your knowledge is from the internet. Serveral of us on this forum are unfortunate because we trained for decades before the internet came out. Because of this, all of our knowledge came from our instructor or from the mat (experience, trial and error) at whatever school we were training in.

These days, MAists are far more lucky because so many people are talking about MA on the net. All they have to do is Google their way to mastery and knowledge. I say take advantage. Why wait and train for years. I hope this thread goes on for pages and pages. The more descriptions of how to fight you read, the better fighter you'll become. Youre a beginner so if you can have all your questions answered immediately think of how soon you can quit your school and save all that money.

Serioulsy though, why don't you just ask your instructor. Or, wait and let experience and time answer some of your questions? Or, is that old fashioned?

[Oso]

The best place to get your knowledge is from the internet. Serveral of us on this forum are unfortunate because we trained for decades before the internet came out. Because of this, all of our knowledge came from our instructor or from the mat (experience, trial and error) at whatever school we were training in.

These days, MAists are far more lucky because so many people are talking about MA on the net. All they have to do is Google their way to mastery and knowledge. I say take advantage. Why wait and train for years. I hope this thread goes on for pages and pages. The more descriptions of how to fight you read, the better fighter you'll become. Youre a beginner so if you can have all your questions answered immediately think of how soon you can quit your school and save all that money.

Serioulsy though, why don't you just ask your instructor. Or, wait and let experience and time answer some of your questions? Or, is that old fashioned?


geez...who peepeed in your cornflakes this morning?

it's a good basic question...probly been covered before but no harm in it.

a decent forum, and we'll assume this is one, can be a good clearinghouse for ideas. anyone who is ONLY going to take advice offered here w/o real time experience isn't going to benefit from real time experience anyway.

[BruceSteveRoy]

The best place to get your knowledge is from the internet. Serveral of us on this forum are unfortunate because we trained for decades before the internet came out. Because of this, all of our knowledge came from our instructor or from the mat (experience, trial and error) at whatever school we were training in.

These days, MAists are far more lucky because so many people are talking about MA on the net. All they have to do is Google their way to mastery and knowledge. I say take advantage. Why wait and train for years. I hope this thread goes on for pages and pages. The more descriptions of how to fight you read, the better fighter you'll become. Youre a beginner so if you can have all your questions answered immediately think of how soon you can quit your school and save all that money.

Serioulsy though, why don't you just ask your instructor. Or, wait and let experience and time answer some of your questions? Or, is that old fashioned?

calm down bro. i wold have asked my instructor had he been sitting in front of me at work instead of my computer. as he wasn't i figured i'd ask you fine folks (term used loosely). or maybe the kung fu forum isn't about asking for advice or being offered a multitude of perspectives and exchanging ideas but rather for bickering like children. anyway, with the exception of this guy i appreciate all your feedback. thanks guys.

[Pork Chop]

really not used to that mentality.
if we see a thai kickboxer, a pro boxer, or even a mma guy do something in the ring, if it's legal & we can pull it off, we're gonna steal it.

[Oso]

did some boxing today with a buddy who is going to fight in a tough man next month ( one of the Art Dore events ) I'm going to be one of his corners. should be interesting.

realized that in this instance of only worrying about the hands I had my eyes pointed at his upper chest. I could still see his hips but didn't really care that I couldn't see his feet. normally I look at the belly button area so that my peripheral can catch the whole body.




fwiw, I did pretty well today. my friend has pretty much been working me over the last several sessions. i'd gotten a bit better in my cardio since our last meeting so I was more relaxed and loose.

[Sifu Darkfist]

Two facts,
The shoulders move regardless of the limb or the technique so watch them for the ****hest two ranges (long and medium).

After the gap is closed focus on center of gravity looking for a way to raise it above your own (this is different on different men but is near the belly)

Also Chin down at all times no matter what, do not drop head to remove shoulders from view but do not lift head and expose throat ever.
that goes for ring and street.

[Shaolin Wookie]

Watch the solar plexus, but don't focus on it (it's not going to hit you). This allows you to see both the knees and the elbows in your peripheral vision. Knee movement presages a kick, obviously, and elbows a punch.

I'm sure you know that already....

But I always look for those secrets when I start something new, too....

[Oso]

good points as well.

there's something about how the brain percieves acute vision versus peripheral vision that makes you slower to react to things you see with acute vision. so, best to open up your vision and not look at anything and direct your gaze to the most central portion of the body.