The best time to strike.

This is the million dollar question  ”when is the best time to strike?” A good time to strike is when the opponent is in range, or when he misses and is off balance, or when he is regaining his composure, or retreating, or falling down, or getting up etc, all very good strategic times to strike. 

But we need something solid to hang our hats on when we think of time, as in,  best “time” to strike, we can’t just leave it up to luck.

But how can time be measured? We have talked about time in relationship to music, but in combat it’s not so easy, there’s not a set time, and no continuous beats to judge where you are. We need a reference point. We can use our opponent’s strike as our point of reference.

There is only three times when one can strike the opponent,

1.Before he strikes

2.Simultaneously as he strikes.

3.After he strikes.

Before, during, or after,. Simple!!!

I think most would agree striking before you opponent strikes you is the best. This concept is the corner stone of Jeet Kune Do (JKD). Jeet Kune do in the language of cantonese means, The way of intercepting fist, (Before) We use principles from the style of Savate (French kicking), and the sport of fencing and other straight line approaches to accomplish intercepting.

But not everyone is fast enough to beat the opponent to the punch, if that’s the case you can strike you opponent at the same time as he strikes you, (simultaneous).We use principle’s from Kali, Boxing and others that allow to side step/pivot and evade while attacking the attack.

Finally number 3 (after) This would be counter striking. You may not have a choice because you are just slower then your opponent but you can take advantage by striking a different line immediately after your opponent’s strike, while he is recovering from his attack, for example : He punches your head and you cover an follow up by kicking his shin.

This knowledge combined with the happenstances described at the begining of this post, should give you plenty of options for you to test yourself to understand what is, the best time FOR YOU to strike.

It should be mentioned in theory this is a solid principle IMHO, but in actual combat many other factors come into play to complete a successful strike.