Pressure Testing & Internal Martial Arts

It is clear that the general consensus among the martial artists of the world is that martial arts like tai chi are mainly for health and have lost any connection with real combat. Although this may be the case in many, many instances the Internal arts were and are actually based in the idea of ‘testing’. But this does not only mean getting in a ring and duking it out! There is a huge amount of testing in the Internal Martial Arts that may surprise most people with its vigour and rigours attention to detail.

Pressure testing the Body

One of the earliest forms of testing that the Internal Martial artist undertakes is the pressure testing of their body. This means both its ability to maintain internal principles under load (positional and external) and under combative pressure.

There are a vast array of ‘testing’ methods for the body in Internal Martial Arts, From pushing hands in Taiji to simply holding postures for long periods of time to work out alignment and muscle usage. But the basics of testing are these:

• Find where tension builds either under load or from static holds so that you can re-align or relax the area and release the tension.
•  Find out how breath and internal pressures are affected under load
• Find gaps or ‘sticking points’ during dynamic movement
• Find movement instability of problems from load or pressure.

These points, once worked out can prove invaluable for the next type of testing that we do in the IMAs.

Pressure Testing the Principles & Skill sets

After we have refined the body and tested it against force we are able to begin pressure testing the principles we train in order to become combatively viable.

This process is a gradual increase of test, adjust and retest but can often start with ‘being thrown in at the deep end’ to give an honest impression of how the mind is acting when conscious control is lost.

As we layer up the Testing of our combative skill set we can begin to test refine and retest the following:

• Movement fluidity
• Listening skills
• Reaction and action capabilities
• Our ability to deal with large volumes of force
• Power generation and Power redirection.
• Ability to change

Both of these testing Phases are then fed into the next phase of IMA pressure testing

Pressure testing the mental Capacity

This is one of the most interesting phases of pressure testing in that it aims to bring out the nature competency (or incompetency) of the individual through focuses but randomised training methods.

From Free sparring to Wrestling to Free Push hands there are many training methods that help to really put the randomised element into the testing of the two above phases.

During this phase there are many layers and ways of maintaining a randomised movement dynamic while still staying within the boundaries of a specific drill. For instance, in a free push hands session you can move with the aim of touching the chest and not, as is common, to push the other guy. This changes the force dynamic and can result in real time movement that will help you or your coach to find deficiencies.

It is also in this phase that people can go off out to other arts and test their skill set and body against other arts and styles.

Return to the First Phase

Once you have been through these phases you can then return back to the first phase, refining your body skill specifically in line with the deficiencies that were highlighted in the preceding phases.

As you can see, there is a good structure to testing ones capability in the IMAs. 

Leaking power

One interesting topic when we look at how movement and body mechanics work to provide optimum force is the idea of force leaking from individual joints during movement. These movements often contradict the overall goal of a movement and are normally confined to a single joint. They can be thought of as cracks or breaks in the power of a motion. Although small in volume the leaking of power from, for instance the elbow, can result in much lower overall efficiency of the limb at transmitting force in a certain direction.

For instance we say that Pi Quan in xing yi has the ‘heavy elbow’ in order to keep the direction of force down and maintain the optimum amount of power expressible in the required direction. However this Pi Quan movement gives us a good opportunity to examine what is meant by power leaking from a joint.

In the example below we see a diagram of Pi quan with heavy elbow, and pi quan with extending elbow.

In Figure 1, we see the back arm drawing back and around and the entire high arm structure maintaining its angles and expressing cleanly downward with no power leaking in the upward direction.

However in figure 2  we see a flatter expression of Pi Quan where the elbow is being used to extend the power forward. In this example the result is a leaking of power in the upward direction from the elbow. This ‘up’ force expression in the elbow will reduce the total ‘down’ force in the Pi Quan movement. This is an example of force leaking from a single joint within the totality of the movement.

It is possible to extend the elbow while minimising the amount of force lose within this movement. You have to be aware of when the tendons are still in use and when they are too extended to be utilised. It is important that the nature of the frame is recognised and the force isn’t allowed to extend too far outside of the structure.

This is not to say that the there shouldn’t sometimes be opposite directional forces in movement, indeed there normally SHOULD be opposite forces happening. What this highlights is essentially a crack or break in the efficiency of the body mechanics.

Such leaking force occurrences are normally limited to a single joint or single point of the body. Our aim is to minimise these occurrences of force leaking out of our frame and maximise the body mechanics at work.

Check your frame in your art and see if you can feel where power is leaking from certain areas of the body.

Happy training.

Chris

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.

Cardio training for IMAs

I want to share some of my ideas on Cardio training for combat, specifically relevant to those training in Internal arts, as I think this is a wholly neglected aspect of body work by IMA practitioners.

Firstly i would like to say that the idea of Cardio training in the Internal arts is certainly nothing new! There are numerous examples of famous Internal Martial Artists consistently training cardio vascular fitness alongside their other basic training ... a few primary examples:

• Ueshiba Morehei of aikido running to training areas during his younger years.
• Wang Lai Sheng of Ziranmen Running in the hills every morning, even into old age.
• Sun Lu Tang – running up a nearby hill with his students and often beating them up and back, even into old age.

The list goes on and on so i think we can safely say that Cardio training is not detrimental to the development of internal skill or other IMA training methods. 
Why develop your cardio strength?
The reason is really very simple ... The fitter you are the more ‘battle ready’ you will be. For example, if you work in the security industry as a bouncer and have to have 3 or 4 serious encounters a night, you need to be able to sustain your physical, and just as importantly mental, capacity throughout your period of work.

The saying, ‘healthy body healthy mind’ relates very clearly to a good level of fitness. When the body finds everyday tasks like walking a small distance or shifting things around easy and without effort your mind will be under less general stress.

In relation to combat more specifically, cardiovascular health allows us to be functional for longer, but just as importantly can in some people, help to limit the effect of adrenaline dumps and shock based fatigue.

Functional Fitness
Functional fitness is a term coined by many health professionals to describe a fitness programme that is useful to the goal of the individual. For us as IMAists we need to aim to follow a programme of fitness that will not only build a good base level of cardiovascular capacity but also one that will not build up excessive tension in our frame, muscles or mind.

With this primary idea in mind here are some general training principles to ad heir too.


1) Build up slowly!
Take it from someone who knows how it feels to suffer from ‘overtraining’, you need to start any cardio fitness program slowly and progressively. There is no point in getting out in the hills and running 10K right out of the gate. All you will do is damage your joints, overstress your immune system and seriously ruin your ability to improve your cardio vascular fitness. So take it slow, especially to start with.
2) Listen to your body ... but not too much!
You have to listen to what the body is telling you in any physical training, but its important not to be ruled by those nagging voices telling you to stop 200mtrs from your goal. Always push past this and treat it as mental or mind training, much like meditation. What you should be aware of is how your structure and frame are handling the work, if you have any build ups of excess tension or pain, then slow down, or stop and release that area. 
3) Cool down and warm up properly
To warm up a gentle run is all you need, but, to make it relevant to your internal training, work on your breath co-ordination and tension control as you warm yourself up. Likewise after the exercise, cool down with deep attention of your breathing, body tension and frame state.
4) Dont just stop!
Just as it is important not to undertake heavy training without building up to it, it is also very important not to just stop training without properly slowing down. By this i mean , if you are running 10k 3 times a week and want to take a break, you will need to spend the next couple of weeks reducing your distances to allow your body to acclimatise to the difference. If you simply stop there will be a lot of excess energy buzzing around your body and it will lead to illness and immune system problems.

There are plenty of running, swimming, circuit blogs out there with very detailed methods and training for how to build cardio fitness so I will not go into detail about the hows or provide training plans in this post but you can see some videos i like below.

Here are some more basic things to bear in mind with your cardio training that may help to relate to your IMA training.

Catch the leading force
Especially when running , you can work on catching the leading force. This means that you project your intent to the horizon and follow that line. Like your being pulled to the distance rather than running too it. This is a very interesting training with great depth and can really help to produce sharp focus and forward intent.

Be aware of time dilation
It is very easy to recognise time dilation when doing cardio training, you will sometimes wonder where the 45 minutes went, other times you will feel like that last minute lasted an hour. Become used to recognising how the mind focuses in on specifics or opens out freely. This awareness of time dilation is extremely useful in combat arts ... It allows your work to become much smoother and perfectly timed.

Recognising  tension
This is not just related to body tension, but also directly relates to breathing and mind work. Tension is often created by mental stress, which is exactly what Cardio training can create if the work is hard. Learn to release mental stress through breath work and conscious relaxation, even under heavy training.

Here are some good videos of what i would call functional cardio training from various experts in the field.






If you are training IMAs dont shy away from cardiovascular training, when done correctly it fires up the immune system and give fuel to the engine that drives your IMA body!