Advancing off the line - or - what I learned tonight

Advancing off the line is a very important concept when it comes to striking; creating angles between your opponent's direction of movement and the direction they're sending their strikes is very important if you want to prevent them from using their most powerful strikes.

To simplify this idea a little more than it should be, without moving off the line, a fight/match/bout would simply become what happens when a force meets a heavy object (force is spent/object has to budge/Por que no los dos?).

Moving off the line can also lead to you getting your opponent's back
http://www.markstraining.com/2010/02/self-defence-tactics-taking-back.html
http://www.markstraining.com/2010/02/how-to-take-your-opponents-back.html
which is... It's good, that's all you need to know.

So. What I applied more effectively tonight was something I've been thinking about for a long time now. When I asked my instructor, he said it was a good way of looking at it, so I think it's safe to put it up. Not as some sort of wisdom, more of another way of expressing some common knowledge that martial artists have had probably since 27 seconds after punching was invented (but I'm a slow learner).

Basically, I imagine a circle. My opponent is the centre of this circle, and the radius of this circle is the reach in my arms/legs. To advance off the line, I simply pick a point on the circle, that isn't between my opponent and I, and I move to it. This also works great if you're already in range; it's a great way of staying where you can hit your opponent, but while also minimizing the ways that your opponent can attack you. It's especially handy if you intend to avoid a clinch type situation, which is another kettle of fish entirely.

Anyway, I'll let that percolate for a bit, and maybe (probably not) write some more later.

Thoughts?

Hasta Luego.