Strength and Ging

Article by Dan Knight added on 3 Aug 2012.

The Difference between strength and Ging

by Sam Kwok, Translated from the original Chinese text written in 1972. "Ging (sometimes Jing) is an important concept for martial arts"

Power for martial arts

Strength is represented by a persons muscles, for example the triceps in the arms the deltoids in the shoulders and lateral muscles of the back. Ging however represents the transfer of energy from the legs using the strength of the body to put power and energy into the strikes, kicks and blocks.

Therefore it is not how much strength you have that defines how good at martial arts you are it is how much Ging you have.

Ging is not continuous or permanent and when you use it unlike muscles there is no fatigue. Once you have it you have it for life. We need only look at footage of the late grandmaster Ip Man just weeks before he died. The power he hit the wooden dummy with was phenomenal especially for a person so close to death. This is because Ip Man had good Ging as he was a great martial artist.

master kwok breaks board using ging

In martial arts it is all about Ging, strength alone is not good for fighting. You do not need big muscles you just need to use what you have effectively. Therefore you do not need to do weight training you just need to develop good Ging (That is not to say weight training will not help, just that is is not essential). Dim Mak strikes use Ging to deliver accurate power for internal damage when striking. The strikes must be as fast as an arrow.

Strength is from the back and you drive it to the fingers through the application of Ging. This is the hard part. Wing Chun's third form Biu Gee develops perfect use of Ging.

The Character on the right represents strength and the penetrating arrow like symbol on the left shows how to use the strength. Together the symbol is Ging.

Originally wrote in Chinese by Master Kwok in 1972



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