Through the Back

Several Chinese Martial Arts work with through the back power or a connection through the back. It is indeed a very useful connection for transferring power between the side lines of the body or from one hand to the other. In Japanese arts this partially covered in the Hitoemi Principle or the ‘one line’ idea. 

What does it mean and why is it used?

‘Through the back’ means transfer of power from one side of the body into the other, more specifically from one arm into the other. A very simple exercise to highlight what we mean:

1. Loop a belt around a pole or tree
2. Stand with feet parallel and shoulder width
3. Hold each end of the loop in each hand
4. Pull with one hand
5. The body will rotate around its axis and the opposite side to the pull will go forward
6. Remove the rope and try to create the same response to the one hand pulling back

This is a very clear demonstration of through the back power in action.

The uses of through the back power are many and varied but I will list a few ideas of how it is useful in a combative context

• Receiving with one side while simultaneously projecting with the other.
  For instance, I block a strike coming in with my left arm, the force of that strike immediately travels through the back into the right arm which shoots forward to strike.
• Power in the back hand
  This is useful to hide the source of power from your opponent. When using the back hand to send power to the front you are able to keep the ‘intent’ or weight of force out of the striking side of the body. This is used Extensively in Xing yi and the ‘changing’ strikes it can result in are extremely hard to stop.
• Short Range striking
  Through the back power also enables very short range striking with a large volume of power. Your closest weapon, that is even in touch with the opponent does not need to load before striking as the power comes from the opposite side of the body.
• Twisting throws
  When close in you can pull back on one shoulder sending the other forward when combined with stepping to create a powerful twisting throw.

The area of ‘the back’ that is mainly in use when working through the back.

The Primary muscle groups that the force will transfer through are the deeper back muscles relating to the scapular area of the back. These are the:

• Infraspinatus
• Rhomboideus Major
• Teres Minor / Major
• Deltoids
• lower trapezius.

Understanding the central line

One of the first ideas to understand is that when talking about transferring power between the sides of the body we have to recognise a central line that this force moves around. This is simply the central channel of the body, the spine is the obvious body part that can be thought of as a central channel or point. It is a little more complicated than that but for the purposes of beginning to feel power switching sides the spine is a good starting point.

You can feel that this central channel turned as power transfers across it , this turning is useful (when combined with work with the Kwa etc) to begin the process of ‘winding’ the tissues around the body. This winding helps to load the next strike and fuel your body movement.

In Summary

Through the back power is a primary driver for many arts method of power generation. The ability to switch sides, transfer force between the hands and send force back to the opponent is an extremely useful skill that some teachers have perfected to a very high level. I hope to film a few exercises to help you develop a feel for ‘through the back power’ in the very near future so stay in touch and it should be up fairly soon.