The Devil Is In The Details.....

[Brian R. VanCise]

I thought this post from my blog might start some conversation.

Brought over from my blog: The Instinctive Edge:

The devil is in the details…… What does this mean. The basic definition is that the small details are really important. Without them whatever you are working on may fall apart. This is so very, very true in the Martial Sciences. When training pay attention to the technique you are working on and highlight in your mind the small details of why it works. Listen to whom ever is showing you the technique and ask questions regarding all aspects of it if needed. That way you will be able to replicate them again and again. The small details in the Martial Sciences are essential if you wish to be successful in them or a violent confrontation. During the course of your training always pay attention to the small things. I cannot tell you how many people I have taught that came with previous training who were missing small details in their training. A lot of this I attribute to large class sizes but also to instruction and their own inability to focus in on the details during training. I have had people come to me claiming extensive grappling experience yet they miss way to many of the small details for it not to be understood that they actually had very little training or really crappy training. You see if you do not know the details someone else will. Someone else you may be training with or worse someone could exploit your lack of attention or knowledge of the details in a violent encounter. So in your training look carefully and listen carefully and see the details, understand that they are really, really important. Train with them in mind and you just may see your ability increase exponentially!

The Devil Is In The Details??. | The Instinctive Edge?

 

[seasoned]

Great blog, Brian. It is the details for sure that make a technique work or not. In my art it is these very small details that almost go unnoticed that make the difference between someone good or someone great. For me, within the traditional arts these subtleties begin by strict adherence to the never changing kata that start the process. But, it isn't until you work with a training partner that you begin to own the techniques.

Side note, I have found that you can have a great technician but a very poor teacher. It is for this reason that I personally like to watch the smallest of details when someone is teaching because their body movements never lie.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

The last couple of years I have been focused on gong back to basic techniques I was taught within my early years in BJJ, and learning the fine details that make those techniques actually work under pressure. This process is producing much more substantial results than just learning new techniques.

The funny thing is that I can think I know certain details for a technique, even explaining those details to other people, but every few years I come back and relearn those same details at a deeper level.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Agreed...the devil is in the details.

I have gone back to working with the very basic of basics of CIMA styles, opening and closing of the chest and back and sinking the waist....alnd, like Tony said, I find I am relearning details at a deeper level, and I find I am learning new things as well.

 

[geezer]

Ever notice how for so many "wise old sayings", the opposite is equally true? Let's see (just off the top of my head)... "Haste makes waste." but "He who hesitates is lost." Or how about, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." but "A fool and his money are soon parted"? Anyway you get the drift.

So when it comes to "The devil is in the details", on one hand I agree that it is great advice. On the other hand I've seen martial artists quibble endlessly over detail when they are really applying the same concepts. And when it comes to students, there are those who carelessly miss important details and struggle to advance. Then there are those who obsess almost ritualistically over details and yet never achieve functionality, especially under pressure.

I have a couple students of this second type. They will argue with each other over minutia, but miss the whole objective and flow of a technique. Sometimes I have to remind them to nit-pick less and instead broaden their focus and look at the "big picture", that is the objective they are trying to achieve. When they can get some functionality and flow, then they can come back and polish the bits and pieces.

After reading Xue's post above, I thought I'd add that the process is almost cyclical. Maybe because the details are meaningless by themselves, yet without them you can achieve nothing. Really it's the classic case of synergy. The whole is ultimately much more than the sum of the parts.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Ever notice how for so many "wise old sayings", the opposite is equally true? Let's see (just off the top of my head)... "Haste makes waste." but "He who hesitates is lost." Or how about, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." but "A fool and his money are soon parted"? Anyway you get the drift.

So when it comes to "The devil is in the details", on one hand I agree that it is great advice. On the other hand I've seen martial artists quibble endlessly over detail when they are really applying the same concepts. And when it comes to students, there are those who carelessly miss important details and struggle to advance. Then there are those who obsess almost ritualistically over details and yet never achieve functionality, especially under pressure.

I have a couple students of this second type. They will argue with each other over minutia, but miss the whole objective and flow of a technique. Sometimes I have to remind them to nit-pick less and instead broaden their focus and look at the "big picture", that is the objective they are trying to achieve. When they can get some functionality and flow, then they can come back and polish the bits and pieces.

I believe I ran into this a lot in Xingyiquan a focus (which I was also guilty of for a time) that is almost obsessive on Santi Shi. Yes it is important and yes it is the basic structure but what seems to be missed is that structure needs to move and be maintained and no amount of standing in Santi Shi, be that 5 minutes of 2 hours, is going to teach you how to move that structure, maintain it and utilize it for power generation and fighting. But yet many in Xingyi put to strong a focus (IMO) on just standing.

After reading Xue's post above, I thought I'd add that the process is almost cyclical. Maybe because the details are meaningless by themselves, yet without them you can achieve nothing. Really it's the classic case of synergy. The whole is ultimately much more than the sum of the parts.

Not exactly sure I am following you here but I will add that I would not be learning new things or getting a deeper understanding without the years I have put into this already. And as I move on it is likely I will cycle back to it, therefore making it cyclical

 

[wingchun100]

I think this is why a lot of students come and go from Cichon's Wing Chun. He insists on perfecting techniques rather than teaching a lot of them, and people get mad because they think they should be learning biu jee by their third week. LOL

 

[Touch Of Death]

Here is a detail. Make sure your return motion is on the exact same path as your thrust, and if it is not, why not? Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

[geezer]

Here is a detail. Make sure your return motion is on the exact same path as your thrust, and if it is not, why not? Discuss amongst yourselves.

That's not the way we do it in WC. Or Eskrima for that matter.

 

[drop bear]

Basics are not basic.

 

[Touch Of Death]

That's not the way we do it in WC. Or Eskrima for that matter.

You do a lot of thrusting in EsKrima?

 

[drop bear]

You do a lot of thrusting in EsKrima?

Chain punching. They are circular. I would call that a thrusting punch.