Five Ways to Win- Part 2: When to use many or few troops

Hi, everyone!

I have just been reminded that our merry band of martial arts enthusiasts on Google+ will cease to be on Google+. Many of us have already established our blogs and regular posts on Facebook and Twitter.

I trust that Gmail and Youtube will remain unaffected, though.

Nonetheless- this series still has 3 more posts after this one to go before it's through, though.

So- while it is here- let's get on with it...

As you can probably guess with what you have seen in the previous post- I am not going to write about how to use troops in battle. I am no military strategist in any event and have absolutely no military background anyway.

Still- it is clear to anyone who has read Art of War that Sun Tzu was not a fan of overkills.

He advises against pursuing troops that are retreating. He advises travelling regiments to travel lightly and to rather try to use what they find than to pack large amounts of supplies.

So- proportionality is quite a prevailing theme in his philosophy.

In Chinese martial arts, Karate and Judo we also learn the folly of using too much force, leaning in too far forward and of course- doing too little...

To someone who has never learnt Karate the basic punch (gyakuzuki) shown in the photo above, does not seem suited for a real fight. An uninitiated observer would most likely wonder why the karateka is not using his shoulders to lean in with the blow to give it more power.

Well- Those of you who have been fortunate enough to have attended Karate classes may have seen a demonstration by the Sensei in which he pulls a student into a throw or arm bar after the student complies with his request to throw an over-committed punch.

One would think that one would after such a demonstration decide to never throw in your full weight like that.

Then we get kata with movements like the one shown below:

Actually- this is a very common move in Xingyiquan. The weight either gets thrown forward with a vertical back fist or an uppercut. It can also be done with a straight punch as well...

Being able to know how much of anything to use in any situation is a valuable trait. Chefs can certainly tell you a lot about the importance of knowing the quantities of each ingredient in a recipe.

In striking martial arts this sensitivity to the amount of effort being used is really important in managing distance and blocking. A parrying movement that goes too far away from the body just opens the body up to a follow-up attack that can't be blocked in time.

Backing away too far from an attack makes it impossible to counterattack in time.

In grappling arts we see that using too much force can lead to one getting thrown or pulled off balance. In Taijiquan's push-hands practice moving too little can lead to getting pushed over.

I have once read about a martial arts master who was able to prevent a bird from taking off from his hand just by letting his hand dropped at just the right moment when the pressure from the bird's feet was about to reach its highest point.

All in all- Taoists have known virtues of moderation and proportionality in all things to be in accordance with the Law of Extremes. This law of Taoism holds that anything taken to its extreme eventually creates the same consequences as its direct opposite.

Blinding light makes it impossible to see- just like with darkness.

Extreme heat can kill a person- so will extreme cold.

A wildfire can burn down a village- a large torrent of water will flood it.

I think these are enough examples.

I know that it is quite ease for us to choose to err on the side of the best of two possibilities and then emphasise that choice when we don't really know what to do. This can happen when a restaurant manager has to decide how many hamburger buns to order or an event organiser has to decide how many seats to get ready.

I think, however, that we only ever really learn the exact amounts of any resource to use in any situation by gaining knowledge and experience of a given situation over time- much like you will eventually find the balance in your technique if you keep training long enough.

That about covers what I have to say on the subject. You are, however, welcome to comment on this post here on G+ (while it is still around), Qzone, Twitter or- my personal favourite- Facebook!

That's it for now.

I hope you all have a great weekend and an awesome week ahead!