Recognising your lines of force.

Its been a little while since i have posted any information on here, so sorry about that. I have been very busy training in various arts to expand my knowledge base and test my body skill.  But i have a few posts on the go so will be updating again in the next few days with some more information.

I was recently talking to a friend who was explaining a method of pushing on a wall to recognise what line was in use in a given expression of power. It is interesting that this guy wasn't from an IMA background as this sort of structure testing is something we do quite often.

But this way of establishing the line is just the first step in recognising what is required of the body and its lines when expressing directional power. Lets have a look at some ideas relating to this method.

1) Push the wall.
Here we simple take the position of a specific method, a punch or kick, shoulder bump or elbow strike, while placing the striking surface on a wall. We then push or press against the wall to feel what parts of the body are being engaged. This anatomical line is the one we form up behind the given direction when we make said movement.

This is the first line to recognize and really feel. It will highlight to us what the forming up line is behind a given movement allowing us to tailor solo and power training to developing that line for maximum expression behind the applying surface.

2) The empty lines/areas
Next we need to focus on the areas of the body not involved in forming up behind the applying surface. So for instance, in a straight punch the back leg to front hand may be the primary line of force, so we need to examine the front leg and non punching hand/side of the body.

Once we are able to feel these ‘empty areas’ of the body we need to work to engage them. Or fill them so that they are no longer empty. All the while still applying force along our primary line. We don't want them to be along for the ride but actually contributing directly to the stability of the structure or expression of force.

This is much easier said than done but the aim is to have a unified force  assisted by complimentary forces fed in from areas not required in alignment behind the specified direction.

3) Opposite directional forces
It may seem counter intuitive to have a reactionary force opposing the primary direction, but this is also a requirement if we wish to establish and maintain an equilibrium. When applying force along a direction or around an axis it is easy to ‘overcomit’ our power in said direction making us very vulnerable. The application building of a complimentary but opposite force is needed to retain our centre and balance.

This isn’t an easy concept to grasp but for instance for certain strikes the spine will be used like a bow or a spring, in a bow the tips spring due to the opposing central pressures (otherwise the whole bow would move through space) In a spring the compression is opposed by the solid base or equal pressure from the other side. Without these opposing forces there would be no potential to emit power.

Summary
Actually developing these lines and ideas once recognized is the one of the overriding principles of the internal arts. We are aiming for Maximum efficiency and mechanics in a given direction. But first, as seen above we must understand what the direction actually is inside our body, rather than outside in the resultant motion.

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.

Missing out on Realism.

Recently I watched an interesting video airing on Chinese television at the moment which follows a couple of young MMA and Wing Chun guys travelling around to various masters in China to experience and ultimately test various martial arts.

This episode related to the home of Xing Yi Quan and XinYi. There was some good interesting information in the program and some interesting demonstrations of application of forces etc on opponents, some nice forms and training methods and some good body work on show. But with that in mind look at this video of the exchanges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=91ythWqde-c

When these ‘masters’ of Xing yi came to ‘spar’ with the presenters they found themselves completely unable to apply their method, principle and general combat goal. Why?? Let’s make no mistake, these are good level masters in respected Xing Yi traditions.

The answer is fairly simple really and something that many in martial traditions do not like to admit.

Their training has an absence of realism.

What do i mean by this? Well in my opinion training can be broken down into a 3 areas.

1) BodyworkThis means we are building the body specifically for the combat work it will undertake. This means functional cardiovascular fitness, power, co-ordination, strength and mental capacity. No matter what style or approach to combat you need these basic qualities.
2)Application of force principlesThis is where we work on ‘applications’ of the frame or body to test power and co-ordination against a moving opponent.
3) Testing of combat capacityHere we work on free, unpredictable combative work. This can be sparing, free pushing hands, Situation work, and multiple opponent drills, whatever is not fixed in place.

It is in that 3^rd part of training that we test our ‘Unconscious Competence’. That is our ability to do things well without thinking of doing things well. This is the stage that a lot of people miss out on and is the only way to realistically test how our training is affecting our combative capability.

This is worth thinking about if training IMA’s etc. These guys are at the source, the root and home of Xing Yi and couldn’t perform past the basic level of an amateur sport fighter ... Does your training give you an understanding of your ‘Unconscious Competence’??

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.

Fighting predisposition & self defence

Anyone who has worked in the security industry for any length of time will know that there are some people out there who love to fight. They are always ready and willing to get into a combative encounter should the need or opportunities arise. These people are sometimes the ones who eventually turn to combat sports, door work or other less savoury means to satisfy their need for combat, to satisfy their predisposition to fighting.

But can this attitude be learnt or applied to self defence through training and indeed should it?! I am of the honest opinion that it cant.

To say that in order to be effective in a self defence situation you need to be switched on or ready to fight at all times is simply not an option for most people if they are not predisposed to fighting. It is not a practical solution to the problem as it takes mental effort and focus that can often burn a person out, cause tensions and illnesses.

This is where the idea of ‘switching intent’ comes in.

Switching intent is simply going from one thing to another.

But there is more to it than that of course, It is going from one thing to something extremely different in a split second, and remaining functional in both. That is to say it is not simply to react, as reaction can be out of our control.

It can be said that the act of going from Wuji posture in Xing yi to san ti is mind training to switch on to the task to come. To manifest the intent and use it to direct movement. This can be a bit abstract for those that don’t do xing yi however. It is much simpler to describe it thus.

Lets say I am walking along a street and a car mounts the Kerb towards me, in a fraction of a second my intent, focus and body state will change in reaction to the change in situation. However, if I freeze and cover up, I will get hit by the car, this is an example of untrained reaction not being useful. If I leap out of the way then the reaction is useful, I was prepared to act even though I was not thinking of acting.

This is the process of ‘switching on’ to a threat or change in circumstance.

Do we need a predisposition to fighting to go from nothing to something? No. We can learn to focus our natural response reactions so that they become useful to us in a combative situation, so that they become recognisable to us. The action, reaction and focus of intent become one. It is easier said than done however as the majority of this work resides in the mind and can be difficult to consciously recognise.

If I get into MMA or another combat sport and start to heavy spar, compete or train with great coaches, does this reflect the mental change required to go from relaxing drinking a pint with friends to fighting for your life? Simply put, no it doesn’t!

This is not to say that MMA or another combat sport wont give you the tools to finish the encounter once you have switched on... in most cases it certainly will! But will it train you to actually switch on?

So there needs to be a layer of mind training in whatever art you do that will afford the awareness and Trained natural response reaction needed to save yourself. This is accomplished in many varied ways by many difference self defence trainers. But we can say that the need boils down to this:

‘In training,  do not let the mind be comfortable with the situation you get into.’

This is a process of targeted struggle as i have mentioned in previous articles.

If I am in my gym or dojo and we are about to do some combat work, sparring or similar i already have a level of mental preparation that i have set up to deal with the reality that is about to come. This is also true of competition, even though it is a random situation in some respects, it is also mentally preparable. Even if its hard heavy sparring my mind is still prepared for this.

So the training drills need to be focused on how to remove the security of knowing what is to come. This can be achieved in many ways as i have said. But here are a few examples.

1.       Recognising the switch (opening a form)

If your chosen art or method has forms then this is a good way to begin to train to recognise the switch of intent.

-          Stand completely still eyes closed and empty the mind of any notion of form or training

-          The millisecond you open your form switch your mind very clearly onto the task at hand.

-          Repeat.

This is actually a very hard mind training method. The process of loosing thought of training before training is a difficult thing to achieve!

2.       Unplanned Pad slaps
Here we are looking to take the mind from a state of calm to a state of reaction without preparing the person for the work.

-          In groups of 4 have 3 with focus mitts on a 1 without.

-          The one without leaves the room.

-          The three with select a person to make the initial attack.

-          Invite the partner back into the room

-          Walk in a group around the room talking and making idle chit chat. This can go on for 5 minutes or however long it takes for the person to become distracted by the conversation.

-          At that moment the pad man selected to initiate the attack makes his move with a high tempo of slaps to the body and head of the partner.

-          They have to react naturally to the threat

You can layer this training up and up and it becomes a very interesting process, much like Kato attacking Inspector Cluso in the Pink panther movies!

The really important thing with this drill if for the person being attacked to recognise how they switch and for the pad men to wait for however long it takes till the partner is lost in the conversation or whats happening.

In conclusion

It is not necessary to be ‘on’ all the time. Indeed it is an impossibility for most people that are not predisposed to fighting or combat.

As Self defence trainers we have to find other ways to switch someone on when the time is right. This idea of training the ‘switch’ itself is very helpful if it can be zoned in on and trained as a component unto itself.

What we end up with is a practitioner who leads a normal life without thought of combat, but when the time is right Naturally switches their intent to the task at hand.

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. 

Taking the centre Idea 2 – finding the line through

Following on from the last post on Leading the centre i thought i would through some light onto the subject of projecting the opponents centre or ‘finding the line through’. This is a great skill to have and can create very different striking sensation as well as very useful throwing and take down skills.

What is the ‘line through’.

When i say finding the line through what i mean is the line from point of contact through the structure that disrupts the balance with minimal appreciable effort. Here we are not looking for the opponent to ‘form up’ behind this pressure, but for them to be unable to create any resistance back through that line.

A simple example.

Get your partner to stand with legs shoulder width and locked. Place your fist on their breast bone and gently push. This line is unopposed and can affect their balance with ease and minimal input of force.

Obviously that is just to give an idea, and when applied against a structure with dynamic movement and changing support positions the skill becomes more difficult and refined.

Why find the line through

Finding the line through the opponent’s structure is extremely useful for striking and especially throwing or taking an opponent down. The Line through essentially represents a past of least resistance into the internal body structures (organs, bones etc). For striking this is a very useful idea for obvious reasons!

When it comes to throwing the line through will aid the direction of off balancing (see three pillars of throwing article). You will be able to effect the opponents position with minimal effort and maximum efficiency of direction (see defining martial arts article)

Some exercises

1 - The line through a stable structure

Here we get our partner to stand in the strongest stance they can and try to find the line through.

• Ask your partner to take a strong stance
• Place your hand or fist on the partner approaching him from the front
• Push straight ahead with a consistant pressure. Not enough to make him move.
• Maintaining the same pressure slowly adjust the direction and angle of your pushing force until the partner looses balance. It is VERY important that you dont ‘try’ to push them over but simply let the line find the best route.

Variation –

Your partner maintains doesn’t move their feet but tries to escape your pressure as you constantly change to find the line in a moving structure.

2- Line through a moving structure.

Here the partner is in motion using whatever footwork they like as you try to find the line through.

• Your partner starts from 4 – 6 feet away and walks towards you.
• You place your hand or fist on them and apply pressure to the line through
• The partner should be stopped, pushed back or diverted in their direction.

NOTE: it is important your partner does not try to use their arms to block yours or similar

Variation –

Your partner uses combative footwork as do you, still he is not utilising his arms and your simply applying a force to find the line through

In both of these training methods you should not be ‘muscling’ though the opponent, it should feel like you hardly push at all but the effect is significant. When this happens you have found the ‘line through’.

Spatial Awareness

Sorry its been a while since i have posted any articles. There are some in the pipeline on:

- More on efficiency
- The role of a Martial Arts Coach
- Taking the centre continued
- Fear & stress
- Pressure testing the Internal Arts

.... so stay tuned!

In the meantime i thought i would post this video of some lovely Capoera, which i think displays some excellent spatial recognition and awareness skills.

Defining IMA 2! - Efficiency in Combat

As i mentioned in the previous article, my definition of the internal martial arts is as follows:

Internal Martial Arts are practices to find efficiency.

We have talked about some of the training methodologies and why we train slow as well as fast, but now lets look at how IMA’s look to find efficiency in combat.

Firstly is it fair to say there is a single natural way that humans fight. To a degree, yes! But this is simply a guide not a rule. We are all build the same, two arms, two legs, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones. So there will always be a measure of commonality in how we utilize what we have to combat an aggressor. However, looking at what is most effective in for instance combat sports we see that there is a real and quantitive difference between Brazillian JuJitsu and for instance Muay Thai. Very effective arts but very different outlooks, methods and training methodologies, neither being the 'natural way to fight' but both still highly effective.

IMA = MMA

When i say this it could be thought that I am jumping on the modern combative bang wagon, but nothing could be further from the truth! Mixed martial arts are thought of as a fairly new concept in the west. We think that this idea of cross training or looking at other arts is a modern phenomina brought about by the advent of the UFC. Nothing could be further from the truth. Long before the UFC, long before Bruce lee even ...  the ‘internal martial artists’ of china were cross training and exploring other arts with great enthusiasm.

A few examples:

The primary example of this ‘search and explore’ mentality would be Wan Lai sheng of the Ziranmen (Natural Boxing). His primary teacher was Du Xing Wu but he then went on to learn from a myriad of different teachers and meet many many other martial artists and specialists in various systems.  His books read much like Bruce lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do in their approach.

Then we have masters like Li Cun Yi, Sun Lu Tang, Zhang Zao Dong, Chen Pan Ling etc ... all very famous masters of various styles who cross trained extensively and met and learnt from many other fighters of their era .. that included Western Boxers and Wrestlers!! So this is the Tradition of the Internal Martial Arts.

It is very unfortunate that in many modern martial arts schools this spirit of freedom has been lost, with practitioners not looking beyond their primary style or practice and fervently defending their ‘lineage’ as the one true way. This is often at odds with the people who started the schools they train in!!

If our goal is to strive for ultimate efficiency then we must be free to go and explore, test, experience and train in any method, art, system or practice we choose ... with one Caveat!

You must have roots to your tree first. This is a vital point. To be able to determine what something is, how it works and how it may be useful you must reach a point where your own body map and motion sensitivity are of a good/ high level.

Sometimes you see people who struggle with the simplest of movements while others pick them up straight away. This is largely down to body awareness, sensory awareness and internal awareness. Once you have this root body skill you can make useful observations that you can feed into your own practice. Without it you are in a dark room fumbling for the light switch.

Once you have it though you can explore various other systems somewhat and feed useful information back into your own search for efficiency.

Although I would say my roots are Xing Yi Quan and Aiki, because i have developed a relatively good body map, in recent years i have trained with experts in Russian Martial Arts, I Liq Chuan, Tai Chi Chuan, Ba Gua, MMA and Brazilian JuJutsu and have picked up useful insights and information from all of them. Which leads on to the next point in the search for combat efficiency.

The search and explore mindset

One aspect of IMA’s as i know them that may go against most peoples idea of ‘traditional Martial Arts’ is what i call the ‘search and explore mindset’.  This is a vital part of the training in IMAs in my opinion and is central to developing combat functionality.

Traditionally the idea is to develop some skill in your chosen root method, then go off into the world to experience, test and explore all the Martial arts, artists and methods you could.

NOTE : There is simply no teaching method, no art, no system, not training methodology that can give you the skill and understanding gained from ‘experience’.

This search and explore mindset can lead you to street fighting, ‘door work’, fighting for others or yourself in a real and dangerous environment, to competitions and combat sports and many other testing grounds ... but it can equally lead you to interesting and well thought of figures in the Martial Arts from a variety of styles that have something connected to what you already know.

You may go to one person who is a throwing expert to feed experience and understanding back into the throwing of your personal method, or to a high level tactician for understanding fight craft, or to a Knife expert to get an appreciation of knife work and defence.

This ‘search and explore’ mindset doest take away from your status as an ‘internal martial artist’ for the overall goal remains throughout. You go through periods of training your stuff based on what you know, then go out and test and experience, then come back and train your stuff again. Its a very interesting traditional way of training.

Some may say, ‘you say you do xing yi but thats from judo’. That is only true from a certain point of view. I would say back to them ... "i do my own method, sure my root method was from Xing Yi but my method is my own.

Remember no martial art exists outside of the individual. The concept of a system is a human concept. Really we are all doing our own art!

Efficiency in combat – the fundamentals

Whole body power = The biggest bang for the least fatigue

This is something that is often discussed in Many martial arts but what do we mean when we talk about this from the IMA perspective.  Well it boils down to this difference ... in this instance when punching.

• Muscles firing sequentially, 1 then the next then the next,  from floor to hand(cracks in the system between muscle utilization)
• The body (muscle, connective tissue, bone, internal pressure) being utilized simultaneously without any gap or cracks.

With the right unification of the body through strengthening connective tissue, Aligning the joints, and releasing areas of built up tension we can begin to work with this idea of whole body power as it is meant in IMA. It can be used to drive whipping forces, waves, ramming forces  ... a true diversity of methods.

What will happen when this connection and whole body power begins to work? Ironically people will start to notice that you are very strong without trying and while appearing very relaxed.

This unified power is extremely useful as a general principle for all martial movement which is why it underpins everything we do in IMA (the search for efficiency). We are looking for the biggest bang for the least fatigue .

Change > dealing with the unpredictable.

“No plan survives contact with the enemy”

British military saying.

If there is one thing we can say for certain about real combat is that it is a largely unpredictable endeavour. It is impossible to plan or predict what an opponent will do or when they will do it!

So why do we see so many ‘applications’ where A stick out their arm and B performs 3 techniques to their 1? In ancient times this may have been applicable to sword work, but today we need a more innovative approach. It was this innovative approach that got the IMAists a name in old China.

The IMA’s approach this subject with a clear idea of using principles and the combat ready body rather than techniques to create combat functionality.

For instance Xing Yi’s 5 element fists, although they can be used as techniques for splitting, for drilling etc are also very useful as technical principles for dealing with the unpredictability of a combative encounter. They train the major directions that force can go out or come in and flow seamlessly. Similarly Ba gua 8 mother palms or Taiji’s 8 energies deal with principles of expression or receipt. Without the reliance on set responses you are freed to work as is appropriate to the moment rather than what you think the future moment may hold.

The idea central to IMA’s is this idea of Change in the moment. This can be brought out by structured free sparring drills and high speed training. You learn that the foundation in force vectors will stand you in good stead for dealing with the changes that naturally happen in combat and the more you train at real speeds the more your body will fall back on the lines that have been trained.

"you do not rise up to the occasion, you fall back to the lowest level of your training"

Balance

As mentioned in a previous post, One of the main aims of IMA’s is to keep the opponent in an unbalanced state by taking their centre. I define taking their centre thus:

‘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.’

I have covered some of the methods to do this in previous posts but here is an outline of why we would want to do this.

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

Remembering the defining principle of ‘efficiency’ we can say that all of these things help us to dispatch an aggressor more efficiently than if they were fully balanced and capable of applying force as they wished.

Mind

The will and willingness to fight when it is needed is a very big stumbling block for alot of people. To take that step to really inflict injury on someone else. This is however the trade of the martial artists.

There are essential a few different ways to approach the mental requirement for a combat ready state:

1. Hunting animal mindset - focused, straight to the point and lacking emotional attachment to the situation, getting the job done. (professional Mindset)

2 The fighting animal Mindset - Extreme channelled violent focus.

3. Awareness mindset - No attachment to the an idea of outcome. Working from a position of awareness in the moment.

Most of the fighters of the world you can place into one of these 3 categories or for some fighters you can place them in all three! But from the IMA Point of view we are looking mainly at fighters in the 1^st and 3^rd category. These mindsets fit better with the overall idea of efficiency and lack of tension.

It is important to mention when talking about mindset that this is something that we have to live with in every aspect of our life. It has to be utilitarian in nature, something that can be worked into the process of daily living, something that is natural. It has to help our efficiency in every day life.

With this in mind, for most people, the best mindset to have is the Awareness mindset. His allows us to live in the moment dealing with situations as and when they arise. Not waiting for that spark when the fight breaks out like it could happen any minute. For some people that is the way to be fight ready and it works very well for them.

If we live with awareness mindset then we can combine that with ‘Hunting’ mindset should a problem arise. Then we have the practice of ‘active awareness’ where we are working to finish the job while not planning past the moment.

Awareness boils down to lack of disturbance or distraction. So meditation is a key aspect of training to quiet the mind and remove the disturbance of future or past related thoughts.  For many IMAists Meditation is the key way to bring about mental efficiency.

Next Up – Efficiency every day.

Defining Internal Martial Arts = The search for efficiency.

A question often asked of someone who says they do ‘internal martial arts’ is ‘what are internal martial arts’.

This is a classic and ongoing debate on message boards and between martial artists of varying backgrounds and styles. Here are some of the main definitions that we come across:

• Internal martial arts are those arts founded inside china (Taoist) rather than derived from India via shaolin (Buddhist)
• Internal Martial arts focus on the development and use of ‘Chi’.>
• Internal Martial Arts are soft, external Martial Arts are hard.
• Internal Martial Arts are specifically, Tai Chi, Xing Yi & Ba gua as defined by Early artists from these styles.
• Internal Martial Arts use connective tissue rather than muscle.

Personally however i do not think that any of these classic and much discussed definitions really define what i have found Internal Martial Arts to be. My definition would be this:

Internal Martial Arts are practices to find efficiency.

For me IMAs go beyond tradition, they are not a system, not a set of preconceived notions that can be put in a box and labelled as this art or that. They are the individuals search for efficiency. So why still call them internal? Well the reason is simple, the struggle to find efficiency is largely introspective. You are constantly looking inside yourself to find the optimum. It becomes more the ‘you’ inside than the label others put on what you do.

This is the best definition of IMAs that i can come up with because the best Martial Artists that i have met live in this manner. Every one of them were researchers of efficiency, none of them were rigid in their notion of what something ‘should be’, none of them were married to their tradition to the expense of their freedom to explore any and all other combat or health practices they wished. But it always came back to THEIR journey ... not the ones who came before.

So, with this in mind lets look at a couple of things that I look to achieve in my IMA practice.

Efficiency of body

The way you move in combat or in any physical action is central to the ideas of the IMA’s. The aim here is to be as efficient as possible for the given task with no excess tension, no forces that oppose the goal and no wasted effort.

To do this we must be able to recognise ‘inefficiency’ in what we do. This is largely a very difficult task indeed!!

Is it enough to get someone fighting full speed and let the efficiency come out on its own? For some people yes i think it is, if they have a very good body map. But for most people,  feeling where they are inefficient in a certain movement requires that we slow the movement down from full speed training to ‘zoom in’ on it.

I have recently read some very interesting articles, books and blogs on the process of learning (see the bottom of the post for recommended reading!) In brief we can say that in order to maximise our ability to recognise inefficiency we need to slow a movement or practice right down and really get inside it. That process amounts to these two things...

1) The Weber Fechner Law
Definition:
describes the relationship between the physical magnitudes of stimuli and the perceived intensity of the stimuli. Fechner's law states that subjective sensation is proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.
In plain English what does this mean for our practice? This Law states that if we move with a high rate speed and muscular effort we decrease dramatically our ability to perceive our efficiency in that movement. The slower we go the more able we are to perceive the efficiency of the movement.

2) ‘Deep Practice’
What does this mean? Basically it means ...’How we learn’ and relates to the process of Myelination in the brain. This process is key to how we learn new things and retain or become better at other things. Myelin can be thought of as the insulation around a wire, The more insulation the less signal is lost. Our ability to increase the Myelin around a certain neural pathway is directly related to ‘how’ we learn.  For the martial artist this is achieved through what is called ‘deep practice’.

" Deep practice, "struggling in certain targeted ways -- operating at the edges of your ability, where you make mistakes -- makes you smarter. Or to put it a slightly different way, experiences where you're forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them...end up making you swift and graceful without you realising it."

If we apply these two ideas correctly then we can begin to maximise our body’s learning efficiency.

The internal traditions already had these two ideas down, the very slow or static training is specifically designed to both zoom in on muscular and structural inefficiency as well as create an environment for ‘targeted struggle’.

Not just fast... not just slow ... but training both!

One thing often missing in some IMA training is the very fast or full speed training. We must also practice at full speed to understand how the body needs to move, then draw that back to the slow movement practice to maximise its efficiency and get inside the movement.

Tai chi is an example of this fast/slow training being lost to the focus on slow training. Traditionally the forms and fighting combinations were performed at real speed, slow speed, mediums speed, with jumps, agile footwork, static footwork etc ... a myriad of ways. 

A great example of how this lack of speed training has effected modern tai chi is how many Tai chi people will stand bolt upright throughout their form, but when they speed up they lead with the head and incline in the direction of travel or force expression ... they do this naturally but do not feed this back into their practice. When you look at older taiji guys you see they knew about this and the lean in their forms reflected the functional requirement.

If we are training for combat then we have to understand that speed, rythm, timing and confusion are fundamental aspect ... you cant just practice slow ... but by the same token you cant just practice fast if you want to obtain the ultimate goal of IMAs ... efficiency.

The body structures.

As you slow down fast movements you will recognise excess tension in the musculature and misalignments that can explain ongoing injuries or soreness whenever your going full speed. What you also notice is that as you work these problems out in a focused way you begin to use a different type of body method.

What the IMA traditions do have in abundance is exercises striving to sort out muscular and structural problems as their primary goal, but more than that, exercise that build the lines of tissue and alignments needed at full speed.

As a real life example of the need to train these tissues, I knew someone who was training full speed doing a slapping motion with his palm and broke a tendon in his wrist. The movement was natural but the conditioning of the structures in use was not there.

This is a really important point.  It is all well and good to train at full speed to bring out combat efficiency, but without the body to back it up the risk of damage is much higher and for most ... almost inevitable.

So one of the primary goals of IMA training is to build the body that is capable. The body that can be tuned to any skill without fear of injury. The body that can produce huge forces without creating tendonitis or elbow and knee problems.

Anyone that has trained Muay Thai, Judo, MMA or any of a number of arts will attest to the ongoing niggly little problems with the shoulder, wrist, elbows, knees etc. This is largely down to lack of conditioning of the correct structures ... They might have big muscles but their connective tissue is weak. When i trained these arts i had tennis elbow often, had tendonitis in my knee and had hip flexor problems ... nothing major but these little niggles were the result of the training methodology. Most injuries occur in the connective tissue and not the muscle. So why do they happen?

1) too much force to the elastic aspect of the tissue to cope with
2) force produced along a misaligned joint
3) reactive damage from impact.

The structures we aim to train are those that connect the body together, the ones that tie and wrap the joints, the structures that link muscle groups. If these are conditioned then we can move full speed without fear of injury. This is the IMA body.

Here is some interesting information on the role of connective tissue as it relates to understanding proprioception and kinesthesia.

Finding #3:The fascial system is far more innervated than muscle, so proprioception and kinesthesia are primarily fascial, not muscular.

This is a hard concept for many fitness professionals to get their heads around, but it is a fact: there are 10 times as many sensory receptors in your fascial tissues as there are in your muscles (Stillwell 1957). The muscles have spindles that measure length change (and over time, rate of length change) in the muscles. Even these spindles can be seen as fascial receptors, but let’s be kind and give them to the muscles (Van der Wal 2009). For each spindle, there are about 10 receptors in the surrounding fascia—in the surface epimysium, the tendon and attachment fascia, the nearby ligaments and the superficial layers. These receptors include the Golgi tendon organs that measure load (by measuring the stretch in the fibers), paciniform endings to measure pressure, Ruffini endings to inform the central nervous system of shear forces in the soft tissues, and ubiquitous small interstitial nerve endings that can report on all these plus, apparently, pain (Stecco et al. 2009; Taguchi et al. 2009).


So when you say you are feeling your muscles move, this is a bit of a misnomer. You are “listening” to your fascial tissues much more than to your muscles. Here are three interesting findings that go along with this basic eye-opener: Ligaments are mostly arranged in series with the muscles, not in parallel (Van der Wal 2009). This means that when you tense a muscle, the ligaments are automatically tensed to stabilize the joint, no matter what its position.


Our idea that the ligaments do not function until the joint is at its full extension or torsion is now outmoded; for example, ligaments function all through a preacher curl, not just at the ends of the movement. Nerve endings arrange themselves according to the forces that commonly apply in that location in that individual, not according to a genetic plan, and definitely not according to the anatomical division we call a muscle. There is no representation of a “deltoid” inside your movement brain. That’s just a concept over in your cortex, not in your biological organization. Apparently, sensors in and near the skin are more active in detecting and regulating movement than the joint ligament receptors (Yahia, Pigeon & DesRosiers 1993).

Understanding the body training

To the outside observer standing arms outstretched will not relate to combat. But then neither would watching someone in a Gym doing a deadlift or someone on a hill doing sprints. However they are all combat applicable to some degree.

Context is important. If you want to work on connective tissue there are certain ways that can help you to achieve this. The internal arts use slow movement for targeted muscular release, dynamic positional holds, specific twist methods and stretches from finger to toes ...  Modern sports science uses methods like the ‘static partial bench press’ etc. The outcome of such training is that when you return to combat specific training the body is more connected and capable.

Of course all these plus points make sense from a health perspective as well. When we are correctly aligned our torso is open, the internal organs are not compressed or confined and our joints are able to function with all round support and re-enforcement.

Next up ....Efficiency in Combat, cross training, the search and experience mentality.... Stay Tuned!

Recommended reading:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Talent-Code-Greatness-born/dp/0099519852
also ref Myelination props go to Chris McKinley for sharing this information and getting me interested.
http://www.bettermovement.org/2010/why-practice-slow-movement/#comment-20539
http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/fascial-fitness

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

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. 

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.