When we attempt to defeat an opponent the set up is essential and equally essential is that the opponent does not discern our intention as it will bring about his downfall. The law of deception reminds us to use set ups that deliberately mislead, for instance a feint, where we would throw a punch to the head but our real intention is to hit the body. The set up punch must be entirely believable or the real intention of the punch to the body will not succeed. Therefore the set up requires the appearance of real commitment without spoiling the real intention.
The law of footwork is crucial to the set up of almost all our martial arts attacks and defences and no technique, no matter how skilful can hope to succeed other than by accident if it is not supported (set up) with good footwork. Footwork is not the only important factor obviously and we must consider carefully the laws & principles that support each of our techniques if they are to be effective. The set up is used in every action we take both in life and martial arts but it is always more effective if the set up is achieved deliberately. Deliberate set ups utilise as many of the other natural laws as possible such as deception, footwork, proximity, priority to name but a few. To achieve life and martial arts mastery one must know of, practice and master the laws both universal and those applicable to specifically to the martial arts.
Consider carefully all your attacks and defences in combat and life and how you prepare them or prepare for them. If you are not achieving your goals in either life or combat look to your set up, your preparation. Are you using the law of hierarchy to put first things first for instance? Are you rushing in without adequate set up? Don’t just look at technique as that is the least important part because a good technique relies on a good set up for it to work and as we have seen the law of set up occurs in many if not all of the other universal laws of life and combat.
As I mentioned before a bad set up is better than none, action in this respect will get some result even if it not the one we want, or doesn’t get us quite the result we want. If it is the one we don’t want then the law of study (review) will be activated engaging our minds to reconsider the action and whether it could have been set up better.
Consider your best and worst techniques for instance, the ones that work for you and those that never seem to work; look at the set up and see how you are preparing it. I would hazard a guess that the techniques that don’t work for you are poorly set up and the converse is true in your best techniques. In life if you are not getting what you want you should not blame circumstances, instead look to your strategy, set up, your preparation and look to improve on that. Once you understand and use the strategic set up process your effectiveness will significantly improve.
Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking again soon on another life and martial art topic.
Best wishes
Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
0800 092 0948
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