Balance

[Bill Mattocks]

In the style of karate I study, it is said "A person's unbalance is the same as a weight."

I have found this to be amazingly true. It is sometimes easier said than done, but if you can take away your opponent's balance, even a tiny bit, while maintaining your own, it is very difficult for them to continue to fight you effectively.

I like the old saying. It is easy to imagine a bigger, stronger, faster, and more talented or highly trained opponent than oneself, but imagine them now with a huge log or cement block in their hands that they have to carry around with them AND fight you at the same time. Everything they have trained themselves to do is now awkwardly shifted. Their steps become less certain, their punches and kicks more tentative as they struggle to find their balance AND deal with you. Taking away a person's balance is equivalent to handing them a large weight and forcing them to carry it while they fight you.

It is amazing, for example, what a little sleeve tug or arm pull will do in terms of keeping your opponent from being able to throw an effective kick or punch, while likewise giving your punch or kick tremendously more effective power when it hits them.

Likewise, although I don't concentrate on only one thing when I work on my karate, I do value the small ability I have worked hard to achieve; to settle my weight, to get stuck to the floor, and to keep my center, or as some call it, my 'one-point'.

The concept of balance is, I believe, part of all martial arts styles, but I think it may be generally neglected in favor of the actual blocks, punches, kicks, and so on, that comprise the specifics of a given style.

And yet, if I had to name one thing that has helped me more as a martial artist than anything else, I believe the answer would be balance. Both keeping mine, and taking away my opponent's.

As time goes by, I am also learning that the concept of balance applies to many things beyond martial arts. Keep your balance. Disrupt the opponent's balance. Amazing things start to happen.

 

[Koshiki]

It is amazing, for example, what a little sleeve tug or arm pull will do in terms of keeping your opponent from being able to throw an effective kick or punch, while likewise giving your punch or kick tremendously more effective power when it hits them.

On a somewhat banal, practical, and superficial level, you might say that pretty much sums up Karate. Hitting people while tugging on them.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

On a somewhat banal, practical, and superficial level, you might say that pretty much sums up Karate. Hitting people while tugging on them.

I don't know if I would say it 'sums up' karate, but yes, I think it's got quite a bit to do with it. I guess I was hoping to point out that although balance is a core principle (IMHO), it's often given short shrift in favor of the 'hitting' part without including the 'tugging' part.

 

[Koshiki]

I don't know if I would say it 'sums up' karate, but yes, I think it's got quite a bit to do with it. I guess I was hoping to point out that although balance is a core principle (IMHO), it's often given short shrift in favor of the 'hitting' part without including the 'tugging' part.

Well, no, but if when people ask me about Karate, and they are thinking of kickboxing style sparring at long range, I like to explain it, very briefly, (at least as I practice it) as a martial art that in large part revolves around a pull/strike, or pull/push mechanism, whether in punching, kicking, grappling, throwing. I'm a fan of claiming that the Hiki-te is the most important technique set, or concept really, that in my understanding, karate is frequently the concept of grappling with one arm to support striking with the other, or vice versa.

I completely agree though. Balance is a fight winner across styles. Obviously in an upright grappling/throwing art, but also in combination arts, and even ranged striking. A strike can disrupt balance, the more disrupted the balance the harder to strike back or defend fully, the more likely the next strike finds you as well. Even what little ground fighting I know is in large part a battle for stability and balance. It's hard to do much at all when you're falling.

Great post by the way, on a topic that, as you say, is frequently either overlooked or taken for granted, or perhaps referenced as an obvious necessity, but then never delved into.

That's one reason I like Tai Chi guys. In the space where the average new karate student may have learned a couple kata, and a dozen kihon techniques, and be learning to spar, many tai chi students seem to be still on nothing more than basic pushing drills and balance exercises and games.

Do you ever do what I learned as "elephant wrestling," wherein both players assume parallel stances and grasp forearms, and with gentle application of force, the goal is to move the other player's feet? It may not be a common Karate thing, I'm not sure, but it's my favorite balance/sensitivity drill.

 

[JowGaWolf]

In the style of karate I study, it is said "A person's unbalance is the same as a weight."

I have found this to be amazingly true. It is sometimes easier said than done, but if you can take away your opponent's balance, even a tiny bit, while maintaining your own, it is very difficult for them to continue to fight you effectively.

I like the old saying. It is easy to imagine a bigger, stronger, faster, and more talented or highly trained opponent than oneself, but imagine them now with a huge log or cement block in their hands that they have to carry around with them AND fight you at the same time. Everything they have trained themselves to do is now awkwardly shifted. Their steps become less certain, their punches and kicks more tentative as they struggle to find their balance AND deal with you. Taking away a person's balance is equivalent to handing them a large weight and forcing them to carry it while they fight you.

It is amazing, for example, what a little sleeve tug or arm pull will do in terms of keeping your opponent from being able to throw an effective kick or punch, while likewise giving your punch or kick tremendously more effective power when it hits them.

Likewise, although I don't concentrate on only one thing when I work on my karate, I do value the small ability I have worked hard to achieve; to settle my weight, to get stuck to the floor, and to keep my center, or as some call it, my 'one-point'.

The concept of balance is, I believe, part of all martial arts styles, but I think it may be generally neglected in favor of the actual blocks, punches, kicks, and so on, that comprise the specifics of a given style.

And yet, if I had to name one thing that has helped me more as a martial artist than anything else, I believe the answer would be balance. Both keeping mine, and taking away my opponent's.

As time goes by, I am also learning that the concept of balance applies to many things beyond martial arts. Keep your balance. Disrupt the opponent's balance. Amazing things start to happen.

The reason balance is such a factor is because the body put balance at a higher priority. Between kicking an regaining balance, the body will always choose regaining balance over striking and defending. Chinese Martial arts are big on rooting for this very reason.

Balance isn't neglected in CMAs and you'll hear CMA practitioners talk about standing in a horse stance for a long period of time. Many none CMA systems or maybe non cma practitioners do neglect stance training.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Do you ever do what I learned as "elephant wrestling," wherein both players assume parallel stances and grasp forearms, and with gentle application of force, the goal is to move the other player's feet? It may not be a common Karate thing, I'm not sure, but it's my favorite balance/sensitivity drill.

Yes, we do, but I hadn't heard it called that. We also have a drill that involves karateka partnering up and one removes his obi and uses it as a leash around his or her partner's obi. The 'leashed' karateka then performs basic exercises or simply tries to walk properly while the partner holding the 'leash' attempts by gentle tugs to ruin their balance. Harder for both parties than it seems by description, because the obi 'leash' is tied to the center mass, more or less, of the partner.

If one has ever gotten their 'sea legs' from being on a ship, it reminds me of that sometimes. One learns how to step forward without expectation that one's foot will land when or where one thought it might.

 

[Koshiki]

We also have a drill that involves karateka partnering up and one removes his obi and uses it as a leash around his or her partner's obi. The 'leashed' karateka then performs basic exercises or simply tries to walk properly while the partner holding the 'leash' attempts by gentle tugs to ruin their balance.

Huh, that's a cool one I'd love to start using. I've seen similar things, but with resistance bands, which obviously wouldn't afford the same firmness of tug. Do you ever do it in conjunction with solo Kata, sort of like the shime associated with Sanchin? I'd like to try that, too...

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Huh, that's a cool one I'd love to start using. I've seen similar things, but with resistance bands, which obviously wouldn't afford the same firmness of tug. Do you ever do it in conjunction with solo Kata, sort of like the shime associated with Sanchin? I'd like to try that, too...

I recall having done the technique while performing the beginning of Seisan kata, but I don't recall doing the entire kata that way. Sanchin is an entirely different thing for us. We do Sanchin probably differently than most styles of karate that practice it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The reason balance is such a factor is because the body put balance at a higher priority. Between kicking an regaining balance, the body will always choose regaining balance over striking and defending. Chinese Martial arts are big on rooting for this very reason.

Balance isn't neglected in CMAs and you'll hear CMA practitioners talk about standing in a horse stance for a long period of time. Many none CMA systems or maybe non cma practitioners do neglect stance training.

I'm sure you are right about CMA and balance, but I have no experience with this. Our particular style uses a higher 'horse stance' than is common in many forms of karate, but we still practice 'rooting' or connecting ourselves to the ground in a variety of ways. Over the years, I have become reasonably proficient at it, if not what one would call 'good'. I get by.

 

[JowGaWolf]

You can have fun and experiment with it. If you get into a fighting stance and have someone push you off balance, try to think punch before your body tries to regain balance. This reaction isn't a bad thing because the body regaining balance is what the body should naturally do to prevent falling. People who have problems with this natural response usually fall a lot or have trouble keeping balance. In CMAs the techniques will often cause the opponent to loose balance first before striking. Like you stated, it could be something as small as a tug.

 

[Koshiki]

I have limited experience with practitioners of CMA in general. A little Tai Chi, some Tai Shing Pek Kwar, some Bagua. I've got to say though, the little I've experienced is where most of the balance work I do comes from. I have a passing familiarity with some other area schools, in Ishin Ryu, Shudokan, Naha, Shotokan, various TKD/TSD/MDK places, Filipino, and Western Marital Arts, and none of them seem anywhere near as focused on really training balance or disruption of balance as an isolated skillset. It's mentioned as important, even integral, but then left largely undeveloped and untrained, I guess under the assumption that it just comes naturally.

The exception being a great teacher from within my style who had us do all sorts of balance and awareness training, often blindfolded to remove visual balance from the equation.

Generally though, I have seen it far more in the Chinese arts than in arts from the rest of the world. And I love it.

One of my most stupidly ego-boosting moments ever was a brief comment from one of the Tai Shing practitioners I was sparring a couple years back; "What style do you do? Huh, weird, you move like we do." Woo, validation from the cool Kung Fu guys!

Anyway, that sense of center-weight, of balance, and of disruption I think is a key component which has largely faded out of Karate and it's derivatives, at least around here. Reintroducing it gives, I think, a far more effective understanding of Karate as preserved in Kata. At least for me. My visual reactions are terrible, so I like infighting, I like constant grappling and arm contact. Grabbing and being grabbed necessitates balance work.

 

[JowGaWolf]

For those who haven't done stance training before, after a few months of training you'll begin to become more aware of your opponent's weak stance.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Anyway, that sense of center-weight, of balance, and of disruption I think is a key component which has largely faded out of Karate and it's derivatives, at least around here. Reintroducing it gives, I think, a far more effective understanding of Karate as preserved in Kata. At least for me. My visual reactions are terrible, so I like infighting, I like constant grappling and arm contact. Grabbing and being grabbed necessitates balance work.

Fascinating remarks, thank you!

I would also like to say that in my limited experience, taking an opponent's balance away does not have to be a large thing. An inch, maybe less, can be all it takes to change the opponent's center of gravity and balance enough to strike, and the result of that strike will have exponentially larger effects than it might otherwise have had. I need not knock an opponent to the floor (although that is always good) if I can simply get them to lean in towards me a few fractions of an inch and then attack their solar plexus with a punch or a knee. I sometimes refer to it as asking the opponent to feed me his face so I can hit it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

For those who haven't done stance training before, after a few months of training you'll begin to become more aware of your opponent's weak stance.

Stances, and something I am very bad at, but working to improve - transitions between stances. That's where I can be easily off-balanced, and where my opponents often get me in my dojo. Stance and transition. Hand in hand.

 

[seasoned]

Great thread Bill, nice to see you posting......

Indeed balance is of up most importance. Battles are won and lost in the transition movements where we are most vulnerable. What we strive to maintain is what we strive to disrupt in our opponent. All through kata there are areas that challenge balance.

 

[geezer]

A couple of semi-random observations that seem to relate to the discussion:

In the Escrima I trained, five concepts were stressed: Power, speed (distance and timing), focus, balance, and transition. Each is essential. Maintaining balance during transition can be a challenge.

In my core art of Wing Chun, balance is highly stressed, but unlike some of the deep horses Jow Ga Wolf has shown us, our stances are high and mobile. We often respond to heavy force by moving with it rather than rooting and resisting.

Bill's "sea-legs" reference brought to mind an analogy my old sifu once used, --that of a man walking on ice. If he is experienced and has good balance, you can shove him and he won't fall, he will just glide with the force. In a more upright stance you may root or you may yield, and if you are good enough, you may make either work to your benefit.

 

[JowGaWolf]

A couple of semi-random observations that seem to relate to the discussion:

In the Escrima I trained, five concepts were stressed: Power, speed (distance and timing), focus, balance, and transition. Each is essential. Maintaining balance during transition can be a challenge.

In my core art of Wing Chun, balance is highly stressed, but unlike some of the deep horses Jow Ga Wolf has shown us, our stances are high and mobile. We often respond to heavy force by moving with it rather than rooting and resisting.

Bill's "sea-legs" reference brought to mind an analogy my old sifu once used, --that of a man walking on ice. If he is experienced and has good balance, you can shove him and he won't fall, he will just glide with the force. In a more upright stance you may root or you may yield, and if you are good enough, you may make either work to your benefit.

Root also plays an important role of what type of punches can be thrown. There's no way I can throw a Wing Chung punch effectively in a horse stance that is better suited for Hung Gar and Jow Ga. Wing Chun couldn't throw a Hung Gar punch using a stance better suited for Wing Chun. Our stances affects everything.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

unlike some of the deep horses Jow Ga Wolf has shown us, our stances are high and mobile. We often respond to heavy force by moving with it rather than rooting and resisting.

Agree! The dynamic rooting is much harder to develop than the static rooting. This is why the "single leg hopping" ability is very important. If you can use single leg hopping to go upstairs and downstairs, you will have better balance than most people. If you can have good balance on single leg, you will have better balance on both legs.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Agree! The dynamic rooting is much harder to develop than the static rooting. This is why the "single leg hopping" ability is very important. If you can use single leg hopping to go upstairs and downstairs, you will have better balance than most people. If you can have good balance on single leg, you will have better balance on both legs.

Video One leg hop, fall into cross stance, recover on one leg (mini golden rooster interrupted by pushing hand lol) Note: The pushing hand isn't what stopped me. He thought I was going to go out of the ring but my footing is much better than he realized. If you cover the lower part of my body with paper and only watch my head you can tell that everything is controlled and that I wasn't off balanced.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Video One leg hop, fall into cross stance, recover on one leg (mini golden rooster interrupted by pushing hand lol) Note: The pushing hand isn't what stopped me. He thought I was going to go out of the ring but my footing is much better than he realized. If you cover the lower part of my body with paper and only watch my head you can tell that everything is controlled and that I wasn't off balanced.

I like that "hop back" footwork too. I can use it to retreat 12 feet distance when I were young. As far as I know, that's the footwork that can help me to retreat the maximum distance.