I will often talk about the basic Principals of MA and how they are the most important thing to learn. so i thought i should go over one of them.
ALL POWER COMES FROM YOUR HIPS
Hopefully you are familiar with that phrase or a similar one to it because your instructor keeps beating you over the head repeating it over and over and over! it is that important.
MA is effective because it uses leverage to overcome a disadvantage in strength or size. and your hips are one of the biggest fulcrums in your body. In fact, one basic principal is leverage, but you hips are so important to this that it is deserving of its own category.
think about it. what makes a kick powerful? often it comes down to the swinging of the hips. to best use your leverage you want to concentrate our energy on the outer most edge of your of your lever. swinging with your foot/leg would be like grabbing a baseball bat by the middle and hoping to have a powerful swing. the full body has to be mobilized. the power at the base of the lever is translated into speed and range. and the longer the lever the more speed and range. of course some power is sacrificed for the speed and range, but that is why we practice to increase that. trying to use your leg to kick would not give you more power, it would instead be like trying to swing a bat that has a joint in it. it does not work. that is not how the bat is meant to work. and MA is no different, it was designed for the whole body.
even upper body stuff like punching comes from the hips. this relates to another principal of MA. use your weight against your opponent. the twisting of your hips when you punch is essential. this action transfers your weight from the side you are not punching on to the side that your are, and if your technique is correct, this weight transfer will add to your power. the inertia of your body weight is used to add power to your strike.
in self defense, if you want to throw someone or take them down again you use your hips. in this case, it is a combination of the two previous advantages. when throwing or flipping someone, you need to use your whole body. but unlike with kicking (a class 3 lever), throwing is using a class 1 type lever action. so this time you need a good central fulcrum, which again is your hips. also, when tripping someone you use the transfer of weight in your hips to get power to take the person down similar to punching.
and finally, although i am sure there are many more examples, the last essential one is in grappling. hips are used a lot in grappling, in many of the ways already mentioned. however there is an additional use in grappling. by bridging your hips up you can gain valuable room which you can use to create an opening for a submission.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
Kata: The Karate Textbook
i did not tag the topic of this post as karate because many MAs have Kata or something very similar. it should be noted, however that the term Kata is a Japanese one taken from karate.
If you have checked out my forum at all, you would have see that recently i posted a topic on the usefulness of Kata when practicing MA. all of the replies stated the many benefits of Kata. The uses of Kata that were stated were primarily: meditative purposes, to strengthen technique, speed practice, and rehearsing combos. there were many good points but those are the few that i thought were the main points.
However, this thread did not completely satisfy me. There were few to no negative points brought up. My main complaint is that it is not needed. You could get many of the same benefits listed by practicing shadow boxing (I would argue that even practicing combos in sequence is not as beneficial as shadow boxing and is on pair with Kata). The thing that i have a problem with is the fact that it is so formal. nothing in the real world is that structured. Neither a street fight nor a sparring match. Shadow boxing gives you that freedom to change up what you are attacking with or blocking based on your own movements and the advantageous movements of your imaginary opponent. it forces you to focus on your movements and extrapolate how someone would react to them. Kata does not offer this. Yes you are suppose to imagine an attacker coming at you, but each time you do the Kata it is that same attacker(s), moving the same way.
This short coming of Kata left me a little disappointed. I do believe that Kata is necessary, but i could not put my finger on why. Personally I do not like shadow boxing. I find it very much like dancing, if that makes sense, and do not use it to its potential because i feel inhibited. In addition, I find that the imaginary sparring matches are very one sided and thus do not prepare you for a real sparring match. The focus of shadow boxing tends to be yourself attacking someone, possibly with a block here and there. It does not train you for when you get hammered with attacks during sparring and your rythem and concentration go out the window. But at least i can see both the positive and the negative of shadow boxing and why it is needed in class. I could not say I could do the same for Kata.
Until this afternoon that is.... As I may or may not have mentioned, the current place I am temping at is right next to a library. During my lunch breaks I go there and read books about martial arts. Today I read one on karate (they did not specify which style) tactics. the book was overall fairly weak, more introductory, but the section on Kata did solve my problem. the book explained that master's handed down techniques through Kata. Kata is, for a lack of a better explanation, a textbook.
This explanation helps me to conceptualize the importance of Kata much better. It is very formalized and ridged because it needed to be to be handed down generation after generation. And the purpose of Kata is to teach techniques, so Kata includes many techniques that are impractical for sparring or shadow boxing, but are still essential and need to be practiced. Kata allows you to practice your full range of techniques while focusing in on the techniques. When i practiced Kata (Poomse) i was taught to do it three times. Once for speed, once for power, and once really slow with perfect technique (reminiscent of Tai Chi). I continue to see the benefits of this, and am glad that i can now articulate it.
If you have checked out my forum at all, you would have see that recently i posted a topic on the usefulness of Kata when practicing MA. all of the replies stated the many benefits of Kata. The uses of Kata that were stated were primarily: meditative purposes, to strengthen technique, speed practice, and rehearsing combos. there were many good points but those are the few that i thought were the main points.
However, this thread did not completely satisfy me. There were few to no negative points brought up. My main complaint is that it is not needed. You could get many of the same benefits listed by practicing shadow boxing (I would argue that even practicing combos in sequence is not as beneficial as shadow boxing and is on pair with Kata). The thing that i have a problem with is the fact that it is so formal. nothing in the real world is that structured. Neither a street fight nor a sparring match. Shadow boxing gives you that freedom to change up what you are attacking with or blocking based on your own movements and the advantageous movements of your imaginary opponent. it forces you to focus on your movements and extrapolate how someone would react to them. Kata does not offer this. Yes you are suppose to imagine an attacker coming at you, but each time you do the Kata it is that same attacker(s), moving the same way.
This short coming of Kata left me a little disappointed. I do believe that Kata is necessary, but i could not put my finger on why. Personally I do not like shadow boxing. I find it very much like dancing, if that makes sense, and do not use it to its potential because i feel inhibited. In addition, I find that the imaginary sparring matches are very one sided and thus do not prepare you for a real sparring match. The focus of shadow boxing tends to be yourself attacking someone, possibly with a block here and there. It does not train you for when you get hammered with attacks during sparring and your rythem and concentration go out the window. But at least i can see both the positive and the negative of shadow boxing and why it is needed in class. I could not say I could do the same for Kata.
Until this afternoon that is.... As I may or may not have mentioned, the current place I am temping at is right next to a library. During my lunch breaks I go there and read books about martial arts. Today I read one on karate (they did not specify which style) tactics. the book was overall fairly weak, more introductory, but the section on Kata did solve my problem. the book explained that master's handed down techniques through Kata. Kata is, for a lack of a better explanation, a textbook.
This explanation helps me to conceptualize the importance of Kata much better. It is very formalized and ridged because it needed to be to be handed down generation after generation. And the purpose of Kata is to teach techniques, so Kata includes many techniques that are impractical for sparring or shadow boxing, but are still essential and need to be practiced. Kata allows you to practice your full range of techniques while focusing in on the techniques. When i practiced Kata (Poomse) i was taught to do it three times. Once for speed, once for power, and once really slow with perfect technique (reminiscent of Tai Chi). I continue to see the benefits of this, and am glad that i can now articulate it.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Sparring Tips
Today i just read a book at the library that dealt with Advanced Karate techniques. unfortunately, there was not much information in it that was useful to me. either it was Karate specific, or it was info that i already knew.....
However, it did inspire me to write my first "real" post. i was thinking about what i read and how i learn those lessons: i have always struggled with sparring. on the surface then, it appears that i should be the last person giving out information on how to spar, but that is a little unfair. the reason is because most the barriers that i face with sparring are mental barriers, not a lack of understanding technique. and further, because i feel deficient in this aspect i have devoted a lot of time to studying techniques.... having said all that, i am by no means perfect and this list is of course not exhaustive.
1) Move in a circle:
i am horrible for this. when someone is closing in on you, your natural tendency is to back up, and keep backing up till you are out of room.... not a good situation! and if you keep backing up then the aggressor stays in front of you. this is a problem because, if they are experienced, they tend to be guarded head on. the trick is to side step to avoid an attack. side stepping will get you out of their line of attack and hopefully open them up for an attack. it is impossible to keep your ribs shielded from all angles, thus if they are attacking you (before you side step) they will keep their guard up for a frontal attack given that that is where their opponent is, thus their ribs along their side is relatively unprotected.
2) Don't be afraid to move into an attack
this i say with caution, because obviously it can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. however, there are many benefits. if you get in close you can choke out a strike. being in close range after you deflect an attack means that you are in striking range for a counter attack.
3) Keep your hands up!!!!
this cannot be said enough! if you don't have your hands up your head is a great target. but keep in mind this is not limited to just your sparring stance. too many people have a great sparring stance until the second they kick or punch and down go the hands. a great way to practice kicking is: put a belt around the back of your neck. get into a proper stance and then grab hold of the belt. then start kicking. you can still move your arms around but they will be up around the face. some of the kicks (like side kick) that requires you to lower you arm to block your leg are fine, so long as your other hand goes up to protect the face. the belt will adjust that. as one hand lowers for one block, the other raises to protect the face.
4) You don't need to bounce around to stay light on your feet.
we have all seen this, some one bouncing all over the place while sparring. yes you want to stay moving and light on your feet, and constantly moving can make your attacks less predictable (unless you bouncing becomes a rhythmic and thus a pattern, which is generally the case with novices), but that is also a big waste of energy. you have to play around with this one and find not only the right balance for you, but also the one that will work best against your opponent. and it is a good idea to even vary in during one match, keep them guessing.
5) Don't be afraid to get hit.
in styles where you do a lot of contact sparring you wear protection and when sparring people do not go full power (the ones that do usually lack discipline, control, and technique... in other words beginners). and i have found that when ever i do get hit, it is never as bad as i thought it would be. it is all a mental game. train your mind body and spirit.
6) Train with little to no water... in reason
this tip is controversial, but i am not saying to not drink. drink plenty of water through out the day, but during training limit your intake. when sparring in a match, or heaven forbid in real life, you will not be allowed to stop for a drink when ever you want. you will get dehydrated and you will have to deal with it, which will be much easier if your body is accustom to the feeling. the body is an amazing thing and it will develop coping skills if you give it time to practice.
7) Relax!
you body can respond quicker from a relaxed state. and there is no point in wasting energy by tensing all your muscles when they do not need to be.
hope those were helpful!
However, it did inspire me to write my first "real" post. i was thinking about what i read and how i learn those lessons: i have always struggled with sparring. on the surface then, it appears that i should be the last person giving out information on how to spar, but that is a little unfair. the reason is because most the barriers that i face with sparring are mental barriers, not a lack of understanding technique. and further, because i feel deficient in this aspect i have devoted a lot of time to studying techniques.... having said all that, i am by no means perfect and this list is of course not exhaustive.
1) Move in a circle:
i am horrible for this. when someone is closing in on you, your natural tendency is to back up, and keep backing up till you are out of room.... not a good situation! and if you keep backing up then the aggressor stays in front of you. this is a problem because, if they are experienced, they tend to be guarded head on. the trick is to side step to avoid an attack. side stepping will get you out of their line of attack and hopefully open them up for an attack. it is impossible to keep your ribs shielded from all angles, thus if they are attacking you (before you side step) they will keep their guard up for a frontal attack given that that is where their opponent is, thus their ribs along their side is relatively unprotected.
2) Don't be afraid to move into an attack
this i say with caution, because obviously it can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. however, there are many benefits. if you get in close you can choke out a strike. being in close range after you deflect an attack means that you are in striking range for a counter attack.
3) Keep your hands up!!!!
this cannot be said enough! if you don't have your hands up your head is a great target. but keep in mind this is not limited to just your sparring stance. too many people have a great sparring stance until the second they kick or punch and down go the hands. a great way to practice kicking is: put a belt around the back of your neck. get into a proper stance and then grab hold of the belt. then start kicking. you can still move your arms around but they will be up around the face. some of the kicks (like side kick) that requires you to lower you arm to block your leg are fine, so long as your other hand goes up to protect the face. the belt will adjust that. as one hand lowers for one block, the other raises to protect the face.
4) You don't need to bounce around to stay light on your feet.
we have all seen this, some one bouncing all over the place while sparring. yes you want to stay moving and light on your feet, and constantly moving can make your attacks less predictable (unless you bouncing becomes a rhythmic and thus a pattern, which is generally the case with novices), but that is also a big waste of energy. you have to play around with this one and find not only the right balance for you, but also the one that will work best against your opponent. and it is a good idea to even vary in during one match, keep them guessing.
5) Don't be afraid to get hit.
in styles where you do a lot of contact sparring you wear protection and when sparring people do not go full power (the ones that do usually lack discipline, control, and technique... in other words beginners). and i have found that when ever i do get hit, it is never as bad as i thought it would be. it is all a mental game. train your mind body and spirit.
6) Train with little to no water... in reason
this tip is controversial, but i am not saying to not drink. drink plenty of water through out the day, but during training limit your intake. when sparring in a match, or heaven forbid in real life, you will not be allowed to stop for a drink when ever you want. you will get dehydrated and you will have to deal with it, which will be much easier if your body is accustom to the feeling. the body is an amazing thing and it will develop coping skills if you give it time to practice.
7) Relax!
you body can respond quicker from a relaxed state. and there is no point in wasting energy by tensing all your muscles when they do not need to be.
hope those were helpful!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
