When you look at an expert in any art, one thing they all have in common is that they make what they do look easy. Whether it be throws, disarms, evasion skills or joint manipulation, an expert is able to do them in a way that doesn't seem to take any effort. So how is it that the techniques can be done so effortlessly by an expert?
Position and Leverage Over Power
When a student is first learning a technique, they don't yet understand the finer points of leverage and its relationship with positioning. Instead they often revert to using strength as they push and muscle through their movement. Some think that they simply need to do it faster, or harder (or both) to get the technique to work.
During this phase of their development, a skilled teacher is needed to make corrections. Many of these corrections are along the lines of correcting your position, posture or moving the contact points. The instructor will often say "here, not there", or "try it this way", but will almost always say "slow it down". This is important because as I often tell my students; if you can't do it slow, you can't do it right! |
Many of the techniques of self defense and martial arts are meant to throw a person, break or manipulate joints, or take them down. Many of the techniques were meant to allow a smaller person to overcome a larger and stronger adversary. That being the case, it would make sense that the techniques should not require you to be stronger than your opponent to work.
This means we can use our tension levels and strength exertion as a gauge to see if we are doing it right. It's funny how often I hear students say "wow, that was so easy" when they get it right. So if what you are doing requires strength, you are doing it wrong!
This means we can use our tension levels and strength exertion as a gauge to see if we are doing it right. It's funny how often I hear students say "wow, that was so easy" when they get it right. So if what you are doing requires strength, you are doing it wrong!
Economy of Motion and Timing Over Speed
Much like the difference between strength and leverage, moving efficiently and timing may give the illusion of moving fast. To move efficiently we have to train to remove any unnecessary movements before a strike and adopt a posture that allows us to do so. This will take a bit of training but will be well worth it. The biggest hurdle in the beginning is minimizing the internal tension and hesitation that causes a lag between the decision to move and moving. |
Powerless Effort
A good way to test to see if you are caught in powerless effort is to be aware of the ways your energy resources are being used compared to the effect it has. The physical energy thieves to your energy resources are:
- Bad Positioning - Whether its standing too far to effectively strike, or trying to execute a technique while in the wrong position, it is unlikely that you will be able to pull it off successfully without having to exert far more energy then necessary. Get your position first, then the rest should fall into place much easier.
- Poor Leverage - Grab a broom stick at one end and put the other on the floor. Try breaking the stick by pushing a few inches from your other hand. Then try pushing in the middle. It's a simple example but this is essentially the difference we are talking about here. The better use of leverage greatly reduces the amount of force required.
- Tension - Tensing any muscle requires effort. Often tension causes muscles to contract that should be relaxed to allow quick and efficient movement.
- Wasted Movement - Some of the more common ways that beginners waste movement is loading a punch before throwing it by pulling it back, or taking a big step before throwing a strike. Work on minimizing the need for these preparatory movements and you will seem faster, but what is really happening is that you are moving more efficiently, which also saves energy.
Effortless Power
Reaching a level where you move with effortless power will take time, but if you work on correcting your mistakes instead of powering through them, you will get there. Remember the energy thieves and work to correct them. Feel for the proverbial "sweet spot" in both time and space (timing/economy of motion and positioning/leverage) and you'll have bigger training partners... and opponent's dancing with ease! |
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