Timing – Part 3: The preconditions for timing

As an extract from my next book I continue this month the serie of different articles on "Timing" .

"Timing may not be everything, but everything is nothing without the right timing!"
Martial arts adage

The preconditions for timing
Before it is worthwhile to discuss timing in real situations seriously, the five preconditions on which timing is based must be in place:

Consciousness
Nimbleness, looseness, agility, deftness
Physical balance
Physical control, i.e. the ability to project one's entire force into the smallest movement
Tactile sensitivity

Since everything is interdependent in the final analysis, and leaving fighting spirit apart for the moment, one could view timing not only as the sixth precondition for fighting ability, but indeed as the culmination, the overall, below-the-line result.
The WingTsun master recognises timing to be the highest of all the necessary attributes: the king of all disciplines.
While timing may not be everything, everything is nothing without the right timing! Or almost nothing, for we have to admit that even a WT fighter whose timing is not yet quite right has excellent chances against the average opponent if most of the other factors mentioned are in place. However, this means that he must compensate for the lack of perfect timing with speed, power, aggression etc.
A student who fails to give the necessary attention to timing will find that his progress comes to an end in a blind alley. Timing, on the other hand, takes you from success to success, however old and naturally slow you might be.

The 4th and last part of the series on timing will appear here next month: “The hands of the clock turn differently in WingTsun.”

Keith R. Kernspecht

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