Tonight in sparring class, we wrapped three fighting principles into one technique.

The three fighting principles were: extension, bridging the gap, and independent motion. The technique was the skipping front kick.

In the skipping front kick, you move the lead leg (which is also the leg you kick with) first. This is independent motion. The purpose of this is to disguise the action. If the kick was excuted by first moving the back foot forward, then your opponent would have an easier time seeing the kick coming and an easier time countering the kick.

Next, after moving the lead leg first, you hop forward. This helps cover the distance between you and your opponent, the very definition of bridging the gap.

The final step of the skip kick is to extend the leg. Since the word extend is in the previous sentence, I won’t even bother to point out how the kick includes the fighting principle of extension.

The truth is that you could probably fit all 26 of the fighting principles in there. That may seem like it makes them so amorphous as to be useless. To the contrary, the fighting principles are not exclusive. They are merely ideas that help us see techniques from different angles, thus hopefully allowing us to apply those techniques in different situations.