A common mistake some students make especially in Combat Sequences 1 to 4 is not to move their front leg sufficiently from Bow-Arrow to False-Leg or vice versa. Hence the tactics of “shallow” and “shoot” is not effective. It is also important to rotate the waist.

Here are moving one step and moving one and a half steps to attack. Asking the way is essential. It is one of the secrets that ensure “safety first”. “Black Tiger” is executed by rotating the waist with internal force issuing from the dan tian and exploding in the punch. This is another secret, and it concerns internal force.

You can move in to attack your opponent from left-leg mode to left-leg mode. You start with your left leg in front, and end also with your left leg in front, though you have changed from a False-Leg Stance to a Bow-Arrow Stance. Another mode would be used if, for some technical considerations, you wish to have your right leg in front.

Here is the “Shoot Step”, or “Phiew Pou” (Cantonese) in Chinese, in your opponent is far away. It involves three different stances, namely False-Leg, Unicorn and Bow-Arrow, but is performed in one smooth movement.

If your opponent is further away, or if you wish to press in further, you can use a three-step shoot shown here, instead of the two-step shoot shown in the previous video clip. In the three-step shoot, you start by moving your front leg from False-Leg to Bow-Arrow, whereas in the two-step shoot you start by moving your back leg from False-leg to Unicorn.

Grandmaster Wong illustrates various ways of moving in to attack depending on how far away your opponent is. If he is four steps away, you could use a three-step shoot plus a roll-step. These two movements — shoot and roll — should be performed as one smooth movement. Notice that the movement is from left-leg mode to left-leg mode.