Regardless of the style of martial art that one practices,
there are certain universal aspects of technique that are necessary to perform
at a high level of quality and proficiency.
It is not profound to say that good technique contains: precision, speed
and power. But what gives rise to these
elements of a technique and furthermore is there a relationship between these
three and the fundamentals that are used to build these.
Power is a catchall that can be defined a number of
different ways. For the purpose of this discussion we will focus on external
power (weh kong) as opposed to internal power (neh kong) or spiritual power (shim
kong). For our purposes in this discussion we will look at power from the
perspective of mass transfer. When we
strike an opponent we desire to transfer as much of our body mass into the
adversaries vital point with as much velocity as possible. The force we strike
with is a function of mass X acceleration. To increase our power we either need
to move faster or transfer more mass.
The study of martial arts to a large degree is a scientific examination
of mass transfer. We are “Mass Transfer Specialists”. We study the art and science of transferring
our mass or our opponents mass explosively in the direction we specify.
The last sentence of the paragraph above contains two
important elements: explosive (speed) and specify (precision). Being able to
move a large volume of mass slowly while an interesting skill, does not
necessarily provide martial value in an dynamic self defense environment. Bench pressing 300 or even 500 lbs does not
readily translate into a useful combative skill. Strength training is valuable to our overall
health and development, however in regards to executing technique I am focusing
on explosive movement. The faster we
move any given mass the more force we transfer to our benefit. Furthermore while I wish to move that given
mass fast, I do not want it to move randomly.
When I am striking I want to be able to focus the mass transfer quickly
into a very specific target (Kup Soo).
The human body while strong has certain week spots that can be exploited
for our self defense benefit.
Additionally if we look at the unit of force lbs/sq. we see that a given
amount of mass transfer into a small area vs a large area results in a greater
amount of force experienced. Someone who steps on your foot with a sneaker imparts
less experienced force than the same person who steps on you with a high heel.
Hitting effectively with power in combative training
therefore requires both the elements of speed and precision. But which should
you work on first. The military and law
enforcement communities use a phrase that sums this up best. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, fast is
lethal”. Precision starts by training slow, as you hit your target consistently
at a slow speed you then are able to increase the speed until your accuracy
fails. You stay at this speed of
training until such time that your accuracy returns and you are once again
consistently hitting the target at your new speed. This incremental process allows you to
achieve a high degree of accuracy at high speed by programming muscle memory at
achievable speeds. When you are taking
your time and going slow you are giving yourself the opportunity to take
corrective action. If you work to hit a
target at full speed without first trying at slower speeds, you do not develop
consistency in your motor skills and will not achieve the desired results
consistently or quickly. Precision
therefore should be focused on before speed. The way I present this to my
students is: “Precision allows for speed, speed provides power”.
This then begs the question, what tangible factor can a
student of the arts work on to improve their precision? The effective use of mass transfer requires
an intuitive understanding of body structure. Body structure is most directly,
but not exclusively, evidenced by stance. The platform (stance) a student uses
to apply a technique requires stability, consistency and durability. When the student
is working on the precision of a technique it is important that they do so from
a stance that is consistently strong. If the stance is unstable, inconsistent
or collapses under duress it is impossible for a student to consistently
program muscle memory. Through dumb luck
they will occasionally hit the target, but we do not want our safety to rely on
dumb luck, we are aiming for 100% accuracy.
In the martial arts our stances provide the consistent platform on which
our techniques are launched. In order
for a student to establish consistent precision in their technique they must
first develop consistency in the strength and durability of our various
stances. Understanding of course that each stance has its own inherent benefits
and weaknesses. Part of stance training
is to understand which is the optimal stance to use with different techniques
and circumstance and how to transfer effectively and efficiently from one
stance to another. With a well developed platform the student is ready to more
diligently and effectively work on developing their precision which allows for
speed and produces power.
What then is the critical element of all stance work,
regardless of style, that we should establish first and foremost? The simple answer is posture. Poor posture, aside from being unhealthy,
causes a cascading series of problem in the student’s technique. When the
posture is bad it is impossible to have a stance that is consistent, stable and
efficiently mobile. Poor posture is the
critical visible element where most techniques begin to fall apart and problems
arise. Once posture is corrected, the
difficulty a student had hitting the target will often go away. Good posture
allows for consistency and stability in the weapons platform (stance). When you
see a student struggle with a technique it is easy to see that their stance is
often bad as well. Bad stance is not the causative factor it is an indicator of
a deeper issue. The causative factor is usually their posture. In the process
of fixing their stance you will often unknowingly have them fixing their
posture as well. If you focus on the
posture first the stance will almost always correct itself. The more you can get the student to self
correct their posture the quicker you can move them onto more advanced material.
Everything we have discussed up to this point is visibly
tangible or measureable. A force meter can measure how much power is being
imparted into a target, an accelerometer can be utilized to measure the speed
of a technique at impact, we can visually see if a target has been hit with
precision, we can video or photograph the student to show them the quality of
their stance and posture and directly show them how these factors affect their
precision, speed and power. Is there an additional element that has a
demonstrable impact on the quality of their posture? If we compare this example to building a
house. We have framed in the house (stance) using good lumber (posture). The solid framing allowed us to put up the
roof, make the rooms, install utilities, finish, paint and furnish. Making the house functional (precision,
speed, power). We can do all this work but if the foundation is not sound in
very little time the house will begin to experience problems and ultimately
crumble well before its time. Most people think that our stances are analogous
to the foundation of the house but this is wrong, there is something which
offers a better correlation. The
foundation of our martial arts house is core muscle strength. The below the surface strength of our bodies
serves the same purpose as the below the ground foundation of our house. A
person’s posture, balance, mobility and overall strength is profoundly
dependent on their core muscle strength. Our core allows us to connect the disparate
parts of our body into one unified whole.
This allows us to increase the mass we strike with and the speed at
which we efficiently move our mass. Developing core strength improves our
posture which affects our balance and mobility. In short core strength develops
our center, when you understand how to move your center and how you move your
opponent’s center you will have the tactical advantage.
Core improves posture
Posture improves stance
Stance improves precision
Precision allows speed
Speed provides power
If you invert this series of equations you create a tower.
P power measurable
S speed measurable
P precision measurable
S stance visible
P posture visible
--- ----------- -----------
C core unseen
In a tower if one level fails all the levels above it also
fail. You can have good stances but
still be working on precision; if the precision is lacking then the speed and
power are not relevant. You can be
faster and stronger than your adversary but if you cannot hit the broad side of
a barn your technique is not effective.
Once we understand this tower we can begin to effectively and
efficiently improve the quality of our techniques by looking to see which
levels are well established and which are not, then put our focus on the level
that needs our attention not the ones above it. If you are struggling with
developing power in your technique begin to climb down the tower until you find
the root cause of the problem. Most
times when helping students I find the fault in the posture and core areas –
with a little attention in these areas we see dramatic improvement in a short
period of time.
Please share this with your students and martial arts
friends; my personal experience using this tower has definitively impacted my
personal understanding of Tang Soo Do and also allowed me to better help my
students. I hope it provides you with
similar results.
Tang Soo!
Master Scott C. Homschek
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