Attack the attack.

Off the back of my last post i thought i would share some ideas on Xing Yi’s combat strategy that are applicable to most systems of MA. The first one is to ‘Attack the Attack’.

One of the key methods we find in Xing Yi is the idea of attacking the attack as a method of defending the attack. Now this might sound a little complicated at first but we can break it down into several easily digestible chunks. 

1. Basic Premise

What does attacking the attack really mean? Well you can look at it like this. When the opponent begins their flurry or method you move in on a good line attacking them with various methods appropriate to the open gates created by their attack. This idea is seen in some good boxers and MMA fighters where as their opponent begins an attack they will really go forward and put huge attacking pressure on. Fedor and Crocop were masters of this principle.

2. Timing

Timing is an interesting concept here. We are trying to recognise the instant an attack is forming or formed and attack inside the timing structure of that attack. 

3. Focus

Here  we work to overcome the incoming intent with pinpoint focus, driving our attack through the attack of the opponent in unrelenting combination.

4. Unrelenting

We are trying to overwhelm their attack instinct. It is not enough to just throw a punch as they punch .. though this may well end the encounter if you do it well! We need to have that hunting mindset of subduing some prey.

5. Angulation

One of the most important points is that our attack is NOT stupid! We need to have a good line on their attack and go in on an angle that is not in opposition to their angle. If you just flail in ... you will get knocked out!

6. Power

The power of our attack needs to be extreme and overwhelming. The force we put through to them needs to be centred but not easy to escape or deal with. (good xing Yi’s speciality.)

Try some drills to work on this idea of attacking the attack. Start with slow movement sparing and try to recognise the formation of the attack in the opponent. Then you can up the speed, pads and power. We can also work with mitts to bring out this principle, and i will post some methods on yuotube when i have time.

NEW CLASS - Monday 7th January 2013

IMA / Combative Fundamentals Class

Starting Monday the 7th January 2013 I will be holding a new session for those interested in Combative training from the ground up.  

With the information base coming from the internal arts and real combat experience the Fundamentals training will combine innovative body work training, realistic combat drills and combat methods for all ranges and situations. 

The aim of this 1 year training is to bring about a good level of skill within a year. I will back up the weekly training sessions with a monthly 4 hour evaluation session to give more detail and see where the group is at any point.

An rough outline of the course is shown below. Please not that although the first few months will be focused primarily on health, fitness and body development the program will always include some 2 person training in all sessions and all work is combat relevant. The sessions will work top to bottom so for the first few months this can be viewed as a health and fitness class in many respects.

At the end of these first sections you can expect to be, stronger, leaner, more co-ordinated and better able to move with purpose.

Please inform anyone that is interested in training from the ground up, be them experienced martial artists looking for a new dimension to training or complete beginners looking for something new.

This going ahead is based on numbers so please let anyone you can know!

Body skill training

-          Basic Body strength

-          Basic Connection

-          Flexibility

-          Fluidity

-          Natural movement

-          Contextual movement patterns

Line training

-          Targeted tissue development

-          Linking the body

-          Continuation of body skill training

Level 1 Training

-          Fundamentals of stand up wrestling

o   Listening Skill

o   Push & pull

o   Twist & cross

o   Catch the joint

o   3 pillars of throwing and take downs

-          Fundamentals of striking

o   Mechanics of alignment

o   Mechanics of generation

o   Force transfer

o   Placement

o   In/out – open/close

-          Continuation of Body skill training

Level 2 Training

-          Range training and Listening skills

o   Free work feed drills

o   Movement flow drills

o   Kick>punch>elbow>grapple listening drills

o   Multiple opponent flow

o   Pad work

-          Knife

o   Check training

o   Move training

o   Hit training

o   Flow drills and integration of strategy

-          Self defence considerations.

o   What is it

o   What do we need to be effective

o   What DONT we need!

-          Continuation of body skill training.

1 YEAR MARK

Level 3 training

-          Advanced h2h combat training

o   Will be explained at this stage **

-          Advanced Self defence

o   Will be explained at this stage **

** This part of the training is reliant on the foundation/fundamental training that precedes it and the content is not usefully explained unless that training has been completed. No secrets, just reliance on previous fundamentals.

UKIMA training session Clip.

This is an overview of a recent UKIMA training session covering application of some Pi Quan concepts, held at Seishin Dojo MMA & BJJ centre in Gloucester UK.

Covered was:
Relevant warm ups,
Bodywork, 
Connection,
Striking
Angulation
Gripping to control retreat
Tempo and Rythm 
Movement
take downs
and free work.

What are internal arts

Hi all,

thought i would put together a short video clip of some of the foremost Internal Martial Artists in the world as an overview for people who don't have context for how some Internal Artists train.

This is meant as a tribute to the featured adepts and in no way am i affiliated to them.


Hope you enjoy guys.

Best regards
Chris

FREE seminars on the Internal Arts

hi all, i am now offering FREE seminars to any group or school interested. Please contact me for details. Further information can be found on my site: Thanks.

Click here

Taking the Centre idea 1 - Leading the Centre

The first method for taking the centre i would like to discuss is the method of leading or re-directing the opponents mass, direction or support into ‘emptiness’.

This sounds fairly complicated to the uninitiated i am sure but it is something we have all felt from time to time. Imaging going to lean on a wall without thinking to much and it being a foot further than you assumed, or that feeling when we climb unfamiliar stairs in the dark, stepping on the last step that isn’t there. This is the feeling of falling into emptiness and is partially the feeling we look to recreate with this method of Leading the opponent.

For this method to work we obviously need to have something to lead so to discuss this method i will break it down into what types of things you can lead or do to create an opportunity to lead. Note that all of these methods mix together into one dynamic method of leading the opponents centre and are not to be thought of in isolation.

1. Leading a movement

This is arguably one of the simplest methods of leading the opponent into emptiness and it is seen in many  arts, especially those involved in throwing or taking the opponent down. I define this method of leading thus:

“Capturing an opponent’s movement during its trajectory and redirecting it into space where the opponents centre must compensate.”

This method can be broken down into two distinct parts. 1) capturing the opponents movement. 2) leading that movement.

Both of these things are far easier said than done, and dont work in all situations. Essentially what we are talking about here is recognising a direction of force from contact and then altering it so that it extends to a place where the opponent is not.

It is important to understand that this is not really possible from visual acuity. It requires, in most cases, a point of contact. Luckily the opponent will be striving to touch you in some way, be it a strike a grab or a shot so we are nearly always in a favourable position to use the method from a point of contact.

Exercises to try:

1) Redirect/Lead a push

This simple drill is a good basic introduction to this concept but can be refined and refined until it is quite subtle.

a.       You partner stands feet shoulder width, then steps forward trying to push your chest. Make sure this is a single step and push. The structure should be strong and powerful, not loose and floppy.

b.      From a natural stance you firstly try to connect with his arm as early as possible. Then as the power extends towards you redirect is softly to the opponents front.

c.       Reduce the power you need to do this more and more until it is extremely soft

d.      The aim is for the opponent to have to take a step to regain their balance or for them to go to the balls of their feet.

2Shoulder Barge
This drill teaches subtle redirection using the body specifically. You have to maintain contact and control of the opponents centre and recognise the forward force immediately.

a.       Stand one leg forward one back arms down opponent stands in the same stance, shoulders touching

b.      Opponent shuffles forward and bumps through your shoulder line with his.

c.       You rotate your Axis, and touch the opponents back with your opposite hand.

d.      The aim is for the opponents forward force to be converted to a force into the space infront of him making him go to tiptoes or take a step.

3)      Grip Leading
This is a fun, free training method that really boosts your ability to listen and lead the opponents centre when they apply forces.

a.       Both of you are working to off balance the other here.

b.      Take the same stance (forward back, front on, one leg! You can play with different stances)

c.       Your right hands grip the opponents left wrists (and change after some time)

d.      Then start to move the free hand to pull push the opponents structure around.

e.      Feel the directions of force and lead the opponent into emptiness.

f.        The aim is for the opponent to step or go to heals or toes.

2. Leading a response.

This method is extremely useful for creating the right conditions for an opponent’s centre to be led. It revolves around the natural body reaction of tissues forming up behind a point of excess pressure in order to provide support to the structure and maintain the structural integrity. I define this method of leading thus:

“The method of creating a consolidating response in the opponent and then leading the resulting return to the normal state’

This method can be broken down into 3 parts. 1) apply a force to the opponents frame 2) release the force 3) lead the resulting return to a natural position.

We mainly use this if the opponent is not moving towards you or is maintaining a position, however it can also be used to take an opponent off balance before an encounter happens. A friend of mine who had never done any martial arts but was a long time bouncer had a favoured method that included a very similar principle. He would put his hand gently on the chest of someone that was confrontational, as they talked and waved their arms around they wouldn’t notice they naturally increased the pressure on his hand. When he had enough he would remove the support and turn to take them to the floor in one motion. He was leading their return (actually they over stretched and were not returning but more falling from the removed support ... i will talk about this another time! ;) ). This is a good example of this principle in action, although a slightly crude example for an opponent with no ‘mind’.

We can create a similar situation when we apply a small force through a point of contact. The tricky bit here is you can’t just push the arm as it will move ... you have to put a pressure through their entire structure.

Exercises to try:

1)      Pressing the body
This is a very simple way of feeling the opponent ‘form up’ behind a contact point then recognising the resulting return to centre.

a)      Your partner takes a natural standing position, not a fighting stance

b)      You place your palm on their chest, back, shoulder etc and apply a very gentle pressure to their structure.

c)       Feel the line form up through their body as you apply pressure,

d)      Release the pressure suddenly and observe the body reaction

e)      Now release with control and try to capture that release and push with the other hand align their return line

2)      Pressing the Guard
Here we make a point of contact with the guard and apply a moment of force through their structure, before releasing. Then we must hook onto their structure and lead them off balance as they attempt to regain.

a)      Opponent takes a guard stance

b)      From your guard, put your hand over their guard hand and cover downwards

c)       Aim to find the line into their body and not just affect their arm

d)      Release the pressure as you lead them to their ‘off balance point’ (please read the three pillars of throwing post for information on this.)

e)      Play about with this method while moving, while covering strikes etc.

3)      Close grappling
This training method is used in stand up grappling. Here we want to apply a force in through there structure then as they return we add to the movement and apply the three pillars of throwing and take downs.

a)      Start from elbow to elbow or knee to knee range.

b)      Opponent trys to hold onto you/grab and smother you.

c)       Your aim is to find a good place to apply pressure to their structure

d)      Then release and apply the 3 principles of throwing or take down. ‘off balance point’ ‘remove support’ ‘manipulate structure’

2. Leading the mind.

As esoteric as this method might initially sound it has far more to do with instinctual reaction and visual sensitivity than it does anything mystical. The basis of this method is the ideas of ‘support’, ‘security’ and ‘threat’. I define this method thus:

“The method of creating a mental response to a perceived thread, point of support or positional security that then manifests in the body as tension or movement”

This method is often very useful in the first few seconds of an encounter or before the encounter goes physical. After that point the mental receptiveness of the opponent may not be there to pick up on the presented threat level or capturing methods.

So how is this done? Well there are a number of methods that are used to create a mental response that manifests in the body. For instance if i lift my foot to kick you in the balls you may well react. That is me affecting your body through your perception and that is the sort of method we can take advantage of in this instance.

Unfortunately I am not a good enough wordsmith to put this information into a usable format for people. But if you try the methods above you may start to understand the way the mind is effected by the lack of physical balance. The method of leading the mind is like turning that process around and putting the mind before the body as the point under attack and out of balance.

Summary

So we now have three methods of ‘leading the centre’

“Capturing an opponent’s movement during its trajectory and redirecting it into space where the opponents centre must compensate.”

“The method of creating a consolidating response in the opponent and then leading the resulting return to the normal state’

“The method of creating a mental response to a perceived thread, point of support or positional security that then manifests in the body as tension or movement”

It is a fun and useful practice to try. I hope its helpful.

Next ... Projecting the centre (finding the line through)

Taking the centre (part 1)

Taking the centre of the opponent is a concept common to many martial arts. Some styles may call it taking the balance, some may call it contorting the structure and these are certainly aspects of ‘taking the centre’ as we mean it in the internal arts. But there can be more to this concept than these ideas. In these posts i will try to outline some of the many ideas associated with ‘Taking the centre’.

Firstly some definitions:

Centre.
This is open to interpretation depending on the theory of your style. But for now let define the centre thus:

‘A state where the Mind is in control of the body support, balance and structure creating a physical  stability’

Taking

Here we mean to bring something under our control, or take it away from the opponent.

Taking the Centre

So we can define taking the centre as:

‘Removing the opponents physical stability, their ability to control their support, balance, structure and mind to the point where they must recover before being able to act.’

Why take the centre?

Before i get into how we take the centre of the opponent, i think it is useful to ask the question of why do we aim to take the centre of the opponent.  In my opinion it boils down to these reasons:

1. It breaks the structure of the opponent in such a way that he cannot strike or throw you effectively.
2.  It creates opportunity to strike an unprepared structure. They cant brace to receive the hit.
3.  It allows you to throw/take down the opponent with relative ease.
4. It disrupts the timing and rythm of the opponent.
5. It can nullify Fighting intent (but doesn’t always).
6.  It causes a feeling of insecurity and loss of control.
7.  It triggers defensive reaction instead of offensive.
8.  It buys you time in an encounter to bring the situation under your control.

So here we have an outline of the aims and benefits of taking the opponents centre as i see them. In the next post i will discuss in detail the first method of taking the centre.

Stay Tuned!

Slow training for increased awareness

Awareness is one of the key points of IMA training, be that situational awareness, awareness of our body state or awareness of the moment in combative encounter. How can we really train to enhance our awareness in a free fighting / sparring setting?

Here is an interesting idea for increasing combative competency  through increased awareness.

Higher Speed >lower awareness of force and lines

Lower Speed < higher awareness of force and lines.

This principle of slowing the real fight down to increase our awareness of the nuances’ of the movement encounter may seem somewhat strange to some of the MMA or Sport fighting guys out there but lets examine what slowing the encounter down during training helps us with.

1. Increased ability of the mind to calculate angular change and movement
2.  More opportunity to become ‘in tune’ with the attacker
3.  Longer opportunity to pattern the attacker or break/change rythms.
4.  Awareness of the moment becomes more prolonged

The overriding difficulty with slow mo training is our ability to control ourselves. It is very easy to get excited and change speed. When you see a gap you shoot a fist through it 4 times as fast as the partner was moving!

It is ok, even good, to be quicker than your partner but you will never be 4 or 5 times as quick at real speeds so we need to keep our excitement in check.

Training at slow speeds should be a mutual ‘game’ of stratergy and awareness of the moment. If we work slowly with this idea of ‘play’ then the problem of ‘winning’ can disappear.

Try some slow sparring and see how you get on, after 20 – 30 minutes speed up to full speed and see whats changed. Your overall awareness and movement skill should have increased dramatically.

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

Developing the Legs (Part 1)

One of the key methods in Martial arts training, especially when you read about the old masters, is the development of the legs through deep stance training and a lot of hard focused work!  Often you hear that an IMA master would have spent many years training an external style and mastering its basic foundation training before moving into IMAs. Much of that time would have been devoted to training the legs so that the tree has good roots.

Beyond Kicking there are plenty of good reasons to develop good leg skill. We need good legs to transmit and receive force from the earth,  we need them for good powerful and connected footwork, we need to them to lift and throw people ... the list is a long one!

But what attributes are we specifically trying to develop in our leg training, well here are a few of them:

- Freedom of movement and mobility in the joints,

- Strong lines of connection 

- Endurance

- Power

- Sensitivity.

How do we train the legs to achieve these things?

Here are some basic training exercises to help develop functional leg skill and bring out some of the above attributes.

SQUATS

Clearly the Squat is one of the most fundamental excersises no matter what the discipline. It is a great tool for developing leg strength and how to align the bones of the legs with your direction of force. However beyond the basic squat we have several other ways in which we can train this basic exercise.

- Speed variation

Try performing a squat with variation in speed. You may go down very slowly and then shoot back up, you may fall into the squat as if someone took away your support then stand very slowly. There are a lot of ways you can try this .. but here are a couple of specific drills which are both challenging and useful.

1. 30 breath squat

Perform 1 squat but take 15 breaths to sink and 15 breaths to rise. This should be a very smooth and slow motion with not jerks or pauses.

2. 5 as fast as you can then 1 slow

Perform 5 full squats as fast as you can remembering to breath, then perform 1 squat with 5 breaths down 5 up. 

3. Explosiveness

Using a jump squat drop down very slowly, as soon as you reach the bottom point explode up into a jump, when you land again, very slow drop.

- Height Variation and holds

One very useful way to mix up your squat training is to hold the position every so often at different heights during the squat. Try the exercises below:

1. Step and Squat height variations

Take a forward step and then make a full squat, another forward step 2/3 squat, anther ½ squat, another 1/3rd ... Then turn around and repeat backwards.

2. Hold variations.

No in a static position try to hold  the ½ squat position for 5 seconds as you go down into a full squat. Then the same when you come back up. You can hold for longer and longer or at different points in the squat range.

Integrate breath

Clearly we need to breath to live! But when we  train any sort of loading exercise it can be useful and increase your performance if you actively think about how your breathing as you move through the exercise. The squat is a very useful exercise to start this training on as it acts very much like a pump, changing the pleasures in the body as you move through the exercise. Try these ways to begin to integrate your breath and movement.

1. Breath Pump

As you squat breath out for the entirety of the movement, then as you stand breath in! Its fairly simple, but you should remember that the breath should go out for the WHOLE movement down and in for the WHOLE movement up. Focus deeply on this cycle and repeat very gently and slowly for 8 repetitions. 

2. Listening to the Natural Breath 

The natural breath is what your Body requires in terms of oxygen. This natural cycle is very smooth and precise when there are no mental/physical blockages making the breath become stuck. Try performing relatively slow squats and breathing in accordance with your bodies requirements. Here you are merely watching what your body does and not trying to enforce any set breathing pattern. 

Breath integration can be continued in all exercises but it is good to start out with something very simple like a squat.

HIP MOBILITY AND LEG CONTROL

One of the most important factors in training the legs is training their ability to move and change direction at will. There are some very simple exercises that help to build the mobility attribute.

1. Leg hanging & swinging

This method is used to help the hip joint soften up and move unimpeded in its joint.

- Stand on a step with on foot on the step the other off the edge, so the edge of the step should be on along the inside of the supporting foot leaving the other leg hanging.

- Ensure the pelvis is level and that you have something to hold onto for support.

- Gentely swing the leg back and forth, extremely softly. 

- Focus deeply on the hip and release any built up tension with each out breath.

- Repeat for an equal amount of time on each side.

2. Tag the Target

This exercise is suprising demanding to do well! It is a simple game of touching targets that you have laid out for yourself with your big toe.

- Pin small circles of paper to a wall (or use post-it notes) These should range from next to the floor to hip height . You can extend this to shoulder height when you get better.

- Stand close enough to the wall so that you can touch it with your big toe with a bent leg.

- Stand on one leg ensuring that the pelvis stays level. Touch the targets in a random order continuously without dropping the foot to the floor for 30 seconds.

- Change legs

Note: Make sure that you are not leaning the body or tilting the pelvis as you go through the exercise.

3. Kick Walks

This one can look a little funny but has great benefits to the mobility and movement involving the Psoas and adductor muscles.

- stand feet together body upright

- Without adjusting the body at all or moving the arms or pelvis raise the knee and kick out the front holding the leg in place. Knee should be bent and the feeling of lifting should be in the hip. 

- Holding the leg up allow the body to fall forward so that you end in a front lunge with the kicking leg supporting.

- The rear hip should be open and stretched

- Pulling up with the original kicking leg drag the rear leg up and then kick up forward. 

- Repeat the process

4. Leg rolling Adductor/Abductor

Very simple exercise this but it can cause some difficulty in the rest of the body.

- standing on one leg raise the knee out too the side as high as possible.

- swipe inwards with the leg until it is just past straight ahead .

-drop the knee back in line with the standing leg and then repeat.

Be sure to change direction as well to work the outside muscles.

One important point with this exercise is to not have any resulting movement visible in the rest of the body. Make the body tight and tied together so that the arms are not flapping around and your not leaning or wobbling around.

In part 2 i will aim to talk about Power, Sensitivity and Connection training methods related to developing the legs for Martial Arts. Try the exercises above for a month and let me know how you get on. I think you will find a good improvement in mobility and strength fairly quickly.

Fascia 'fuzz' release

This is an interesting video showing the Fascial 'fuzz' that builds in between the body sliding surfaces when we are at rest or when we are injured and movement is inhibited.

I think this very nicely highlights the usefulness of integrating bodywork and movement into your daily routine.

NOTE: this video does show cadaver portions.

The frame from the ground up. (part 1)

The initial ability to stand with a functional frame is an important first stage in IMA body methods.
I thought i would throw up a quick post on some of the points for setting up the body frame ready for standing or movement practice. There is much greater detail that can be discussed, especially in terms of how the anatomical lines spiral and link to each other. But to begin with lets talk about the basics.

1. Feet
The feet are your best receptor for recognising how your body weight is paced. Listen to what the feet tell you in terms of position of pressure. The foot provides and all round receptor to feel motion forward back and side to side. The primary contact points of the feet are generally the toes, metatarsal heads (ball of the foot),  Outer longitudinal Arch and the heal.
To help us recognise and find the central point in relation to the feet, rock back and forward, making the movement smaller and smaller until you arrive at the central point with the balance evenly distributed. Repeat this rocking side to side.

2. The Toes
The toes play a very important role in how the foot connects with the earth. They help to control balance and stability but also allow us to connect more securely with the ground itself. We should lightly grasp the earth as if the feet were plungers or suckers.  This has the effect of activating the ‘bubbling well’ point just back from the metatarsal heads in the centre of the foot, which increases the connection with the earth.

3. Knees
The knee alignment is of huge importance when working with static postures or slow movement training when load is constant. We need to make sure that the knees follow their correct path. The Knee is in essence a weigh transfer joint, allowing articulation in a very strict limited direction, when compared to the hip for example which is what I call a movement joint. If we try to make the knees go in directions outside of this plane they will suffer tissue damage.
To maintain the proper alignment we should make sure than the knee follows the line of the big toe. The knee should be softly bent and relaxed, not locked or overly flexed so that the thigh muscles are working a lot.

4. Pelvis and related level
The pelvis is the base of the body lines. It is a very important area to set up correctly when starting to work with internal body mechanics. We need to look at the tissues surrounding the pelvis as well as the connections too it and the position of the bones themselves in order to set the rest of the body us correctly.
a. Relax the Glutimus Maximus. Your buttocks should be soft and relaxed, this will have the effect of helping to drop the coccyx down levelling up the pelvis.
b. Relax and open the Inguinal Crease. Also known as the Kwa we need to relax this meeting point of the thigh with the hips and let this crease naturally open up. This will further let the pelvis sink and sit naturally.
c. Pull up through the inside line of the legs. This will have the effect of stabilizing and ‘setting up’ the lower frame like the arch of a bridge and will help to maintain exchange up through the Hui Yin (perineum) point.

5. lower back and lower abdominals.
To help the pelvis find the right position we need to release and control the postion and state of the lower trunk of the body. There are two major areas to focus on. The Thoracolumbar Fascia plays an important role in correctly relaxing the lower back. This may take some time to come under conscious control so that you can release the area and allow the pelvis to hand in the correct position.  Also relaxing the transverse abdominis will allow the pelvis to sit even further down in a pendulum style position from the spine.

6. Spine
The spine should be straightened smoothing out the lumbar curve somewhat. But this should not be an enforced process of reversing the curves. The method is to lengthen the spine from the crown of the head. As we have already relaxed the structures around the pelvis the lower back should be relatively flat anyway. So the focus should be on extending to the top of the head, eliminating the outward curve of the upper back and inward curve of the neck. The feeling of pulling the chin in helps to open up the neck somewhat.

7. Rib cage
we want to aim for balance in the setting up of the frame, therefor its important not to collapse the chest inwards or puff it out. But rather keep it naturally in the centre. The rib cage will sit naturally allowing the diaphragm to work well aand keeping preasure of f the lungs and heart. When done correctly the chest will seem to hollow ( not cave in but become hollow inside) and the internal body weight will sink to the lower abdomen.
The other important point here is that the upper back remains naturally centred as well. The back should not be curved out or flexed back.

8. Scapular
The connection through the top of the back between the sides of the body is an important area to ‘set up’ in this initial building of the frame. The scapular should sit flat to the back, sunk and in towards the spine without undue tension in the creation of the posture. This will have the effect of pulling the shoulders back slightly in their socket and allowing the chest to be natural.

9. Shoulders and Arms
The shoulders are important as they are the movement joint for the arms much like the role of the hips for the legs. The shoulders should be sat down in position with the Trapezius muscle very soft and open. The more the shoulders are pulled up by the traps the less connected to the body frame they will be.
The result of correctly seated shoulders is that the arms should have the sensation of ‘filling up’ . Here we need to release the elbow joint by softening as much as possible and letting gravity do its work. The same is true of the wrist and finger joints.

10. Neck, face and head
The head and especially the face is often full of unrecognised tension and emotional residual tensions. If we are going to work freely we need to begin to desolve these points of tension from the outset. Practice releasing the Neck, then the face, then the tissue over the skull with every out breath. As you relax more and more the entire frame should start to be felt as a single unit. Allowing you to begin whatever work your going to start.

As i say there is a lot more detail that we can go into .. in Part two we will talk about.
- Drawing up with the legs,
- Arms and legs like drills
- Winding around the body
- Ming Men and Taodao
- Breath integration
- Intent driven structure setting.

Happy training

Every day training

Training is a funny thing for some people, they go to the Dojo or training hall a couple of times a week, work hard for an hour or two on specific body skills then as soon as they get into the car or walk home they revert back to their way of moving before the session. One of the aims of training should be that it is a constant consideration, a process that happens from the moment you wake to the time you lay down to sleep (even some work can be done while you sleep .... but that's a bit ahead of me currently!)

I would like to give you some ideas on things you can do in your everyday life that will assist your IMA training so in no particular order!

-          Shoulder relaxation at your desk
One thing that we often see in desk jobs and office work is stresses in the upper back and shoulders. A very simple method you can use to work on relaxation of the shoulders and upper back is:

o   Sit with your Keyboard close to the edge of the desk so that your wrists rest on the desk but your elbows hang down.

o   Make sure you sit with a straight spine and your chest open.

o   Work on the elbows becoming heavy like weights relaxing and opening the shoulders.

-          Standing for any period of time (in a Queue etc)                             
Ok, your not going to stand in Santi in a Queue in public as it might attract some funny glances. However you can do some very good constructive work on the inside lines of the legs while standing in a natural position

o   Stand naturally but squat very slightly down

o   Have the feeling of pulling the feet together on the floor to engage the inside lines of the legs

-          Standing and sitting
Not an easy time to be thinking about training! However this simple practice can be performed from the moment you go to get up out of bed.

o   When sitting in a chair and going to stand have the feet shoulder width, pull on the inside of the legs and extend the spine

o   Follow this leading force to stand, with as little forward lean in the torso as you can manage

-          Washing your hands
to test your speed!

o   Try to shake all the water off your hands with a single motion, (a slap or flick)

-          Walking on busy streets
One for those living in busy cities. It is a very good way to recognise intent, develop smooth movement and all round awareness            

o   Begin to walk in your intended direction

o   Soften the breath and expand the peripheral vision

o   Soften the stride and legs

o   Increase your speed so that your walking at a greater than normal pace

o   Do not allow yourself to touch another person at all, leave and move very smoothly as you walk.

o   Try to avoid the ‘double take’ where you both avoid in the same direction by recognising their intent and movement direction as it happens.

-          Climbing stairs
A good workout for your stepping and leg power.

o   Climb with as smooth a motion as you can at a higher speed than you normally would

o   Avoid up and down jumping motions

o   Aim to glide up the stairs

o   Thighs should rub together with every step and you should be squatting slightly.

-          Walking under a door
This is a good way to develop a certain thing or build a certain strength

o   Select a door in your home (one that you use regularly)

o   Every time you walk under that door in any direction you perform the selected motion or exercise. It may be a pull up, it may be a Beng Quan.

         Opening a door
This is useful for kick training.

o   Whenever you walk through a door place your toes on the bottom of the door without a sound, open the door by the handle but actually push with your foot.

o   Close the door with you foot too.

o   NOTE ... this shouldn’t be kicking doors in!! It is controlling your power output with your legs and manipulating the hip to control and use the legs with precision.

There are many other basic things you can do throughout the day to continue your training but these are a few examples I use on a daily basis. Be creative and find that any action you make can be ‘Training’!

Pack Mentality

During my time in security there were many occasions when I faced more than one attacker or aggressor. This is more the rule than the exception for anyone dealing with violent confrontation. One of the things I learnt to apply was awareness of pack formation when looking at a crowd. I would stand in the DJ box and point out where a fight would most likely kick off 5 minutes before it did and 9 times out of 10 I would unfortunately be right!

Saftey in numbers

One of the primary things that arises in multiple opponent fighting is often that the individuals themselves may not be strong accomplished fighters in many case but, much like in the animal kingdom, are reliant on the whole for power and protection.

It is very easy to see when you work in the security industry how a person on their own may be reasonable and somewhat fearful of confrontation but when surrounded by a few mates he becomes empowered, feeding off the added security and power that a group brings.

This is not only to empower them to fight, but also it gives them the feeling that they may not be so easily damaged should an encounter occur.

Crowd Density

Crowd density has a lot to do with pack mentality and group fighting. By this we mean how many people are packed into a certain area and also are there any obvious Gaps in the crowd density.

The first point is fairly easy to understand. If you have a large volume of people packed together, it is very easy for misunderstandings to occur regarding shoves or accidental pushes.

The second point is also pretty straight forward, if the area is full of people but everyone is avoiding a certain point in that crowd, you can bet that there is something/someone or some group that people don’t want to tangle with in that area.

Diminishing the effect of pack mentality.

So how do we diminish the effect of pack mentality when faced with a potentially violent situation? There are several useful tactics to employ when looking to break a pack of people up:

1) Split their intention.

Used if there are several of you dealing with the pack. Here the aim is to draw the attention of the group away from a single point. You can direct your collegues off to the sides slightly or even better on more acute angles so that the group is having to deal with a greater arc of threat. Then through discussion and dissuasion the effect of the pack as a whole is diminished as their collective attention is split to multiple points. Should physical encounter be inevitable then, much like a pack of wolves circling a flock of sheep, the mentality should be to separate the groups intent to fight. As each individuals chances of injury increases their want to get involved will decrease.

2) Separate individuals

If you are able to subtly separate individuals from the pack you will find the overall intent of the pack drops. This is a much more subtle and difficult method to achieve in real time, and is mainly useful if the pack are aggressive but nervous in nature. Verbal dissuasion and distraction techniques are very useful here along with body angulations. You can begin to separate individuals very subtly while you colleagues manage the rest of the group. Often you will see that this has the effect of turning the attention of the group as a whole to ‘what are they talking about’ rather than violent action.

3) Funnel the group

Like sheep moving through a gate, give plenty of space to a group that are acting aggressively but cut off certain routes of escape. This action triggers the flight response in people as soon as they move out of the gap. Like sheep spilling through a gate into a field and running off, often the same feeling of freedom will follow a group moving out of a space through an obvious escape route. It is very important that careful understanding of control and separation occur after the direction has happened, re-grouping can occur very rapidly, especially in an enclosed space.

4) stack the group.

Most clearly useful if your facing a pack on your own. In this instance you try to position yourself in a narrow area so that only a small number of people can attack you at any one time. For instance backing into a doorway or an ally will mean that a maximum of 2 people at any one time can attack, no matter how many you face.

There are many other methods for the professional to use in a potentially violent group situation but these few should give you an idea of some of the principles behind beginning to defuse intent in this sort of an environment.

What are the Chances?

It is more common now to be faced with a multiple opponent attack than simply to face off against one attacker. This is the unfortunate truth of my experienced on the doors. Gone are the times of the honourable duel with two people squaring off and slugging it out. Understanding how a pack forms and the mentality of a pack once its formed should be at the very forefront of the Security professionals mind and be a constant point of awareness and focus.

But more than this, it should also be a central point of avoidance for the person interested in real self defence. Avoiding areas when in a crowd, using awareness of individual vrs group psychology and never putting yourself where you think something could occur are extremely important considerations.

Working in the Recovery Moment

Timing and rythm are two very big factors in effect Martial application. There is quite an interesting aspect to these two points of combat I would like to discuss in this post and that is the focus of work within your opponents mental and physical recovery phase.

What is the Recovery phase?

The recovery phase refers to the points within an encounter where the body and mind are ‘re-centring’ themselves after expression of force, power or intent or after a period of defensive action.

Physically this could mean:

• Moving back or re centring from a failed body movement.
• When retreating back from a strike (either with the striking weapon returning or with the whole body)
• Removing a point of density or tension when in the clinch or grappling (usually to change into another movement or technique)

Mentally this could mean

• After defending a flurry from your opponent where you ‘reset’ and settle down to re attack
• After your failed attack where the mind establishes the next course of action
• After anything unexpected happens that causes the mind to freeze (there are many ways to insight this reaction in an attacking opponent that i will go into at a later time)

Recovery phase is linked quite clearly with visual comfort or acuity. (this is clear from drill 1 below.

Why work within this part of fight rythm and timing?

There are several advantages to working within this aspect of the fight process, most notable that the opponent will not be in a defensive or offensive phase when recovering their mind or centre. You are able to take advantage of their physical and mental lack of expression and take their centre or mind as you begin to apply your work.

This is a very big topic and applying your force or attack at the perfect time is related to awareness of the moment and not necessarily ‘reactions’ as these are too slow. This moment only lasts for a miniscule period of time so you have to already ‘be there’ or it will be too late. However training this idea will eventually bring you to the point where your naturally exploiting this moment of recovery.

Some Drills:

1) Turning from a wall. (visual acuity training, and moment of relaxation when the site is familiar with the scene) Recognising the point of mental physical relaxation.

a. Stand with your facevery close to  a wall, eyes open

b. Your partner stands at varying distances from you each repetition

c. Partners says ‘GO!’ 

d. You turn to face the partner ready to receive a tap to the top of the head

e. Your partner waits for the moment they perceive you relax and tap the head at that point (this moment of ‘settling’ or relaxing should be fairly apparent to begin with)

f. Repeat. 

Note : it important that this drill has the partner at varying distances and has a random tempo/timing to their touch.

2) Slapping palms. (recognising relaxation after a flurry)

a. Hold both palms out close to your head

b. Partner slaps the palms any way they like with a flurry of slaps and backhands.

c. As soon as they stop and go back to guard you try to catch the point where they are re-setting, neither in attack or defence mode, by taping the head.

Note: when done correctly they should be unable to check your tap, even at a lower speed. 

3) Striking pads.

a. Have your partner put some focus mits on.

b. They slap your sides and side of head with focus mits while you cover, check and defend.

c. Then suddenly stop and hold the pads up to be hit. 

d. Not the time it takes to go from defence to offense. This is the recovery phase where you are re-centring and regrouping.

The next stage on from this training is to work inside their rythm. You may be going exactly the same speed as them but quarter of a beat inside their beat. I will talk about this next time.