Telegraphing

In martial arts, every time you graduate, move to another level, you don't forget everything you've done. You build on it, but it's always there.

-Melody Beattie

 

Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.
-Mohandas Gandhi

 

 

 

Telegraphing is common in fighting. It is the process of reading another and accurately predict what they will do, or giving physical queues to allow ourselves to be read. Concerning telegraphing, there are multiple levels, or what I like to call tiers. There are five I have come across thus far.
 
The most common way of reading a telegraph is finding where the other is looking. Body language is another which can be read; certain patterns of breathing or physical tensing of the body can indicate a strike is coming and even what kind of strike. Each of the tiers of telegraphing builds upon the preceding ones.
 
0 Tier- A sense of a strike or attack oncoming- This is as obvious as one aggressively approaching you or even cocking a fist back to hit you. This is the basic certainty of an attack coming.
 
1st Tier- An accurate prediction of where an attack is going to go- this is usually done by observing where their focus is on; if looking at the head, a strike will go there. If staring at the body, it will likely go thus. A way to avoid doing this is to stare into their eyes, widening one's vision at the same time. The most strategic way to do this is to look at their mouth or throat, allowing one to keep track of their foot movement.
 
2nd tier- This is where one sets their opponent up; guiding them to where to strike. Lowering the head or arms guarding the head can create an opening, and thus your opponent most of the time will strike at targets they perceive as available. Doing this deliberately, expecting the attack and then reacting to it accordingly is a kind of 'setting up' which by having a strategic foreknowledge allows one to have a position of supremacy and react or counter in the best way possible. Not adopting a specific pattern or sequence of moves or strikes can help limit a skilled opponent from reading you.
 
This is sort of like in chess where one exposes their pawn to be taken by a superior piece, and then taking that piece safely with another. It is the process of taking advantage of that foreknowledge of what the other will do.
 
3rd Tier- Third tier is perhaps the most complex of utilizing telegraphing. Like the others it combines the previous tiers.
 
I will start with an example; it is when one strikes, knowing their opponent's response and then countering it- striking again in a manner which forces them to respond how one wants. There are many ways to achieve this, but it is essentially inducing an opponent to use a move of your desire by setting up the actions and events to induce them into doing the attack you desire. It is absolute control of the situation, and if done skillfully the other will have no idea what they are doing is because you essentially subtly forced them to. How they are responding was specifically orchestrated with that objective in mind by you. If done skillfully, one can control the entire actions in the battle from start to finish.
 
4th Tier- Fourth tier is understanding telegraphing to its utmost. It is knowing how the result of the conflict will be before the match even starts. At its most sublime one can know every move to be made by or even before the introduction or bow. It requires an expert level of reading another; of seeing their 'irimi' before they even make it known by raising their hands and beginning combat. How they will move, how they carry themselves. It requires experience and knowledge; reading their clothing, their intent, weaknesses and even what style they will use without actually having to see the techniques of it. At its simplest level it grants the ability to with certitude know the outcome before it occurs, and using this innate ability to read another and accurately predict what will happen to make or change what one desires within the bout.
 
 
Learning how to read telegraphing will make all the difference in improving oneself in the fighting aspect of martial arts. It is reading their body language- not just knowing what they will do before they do it, but also taking advantage of that knowledge to know how to respond.