Common thread

[GouRonin]

In any of the arts I have studied they always emphasize posture. The same posture in fact. The concept of a pole for example keeping the back straight. Has anyone else noticed this? Comments? Ideas?
:asian:

 

[TLH3rdDan]

yeah gou i have noticed that in all the styles ive studied... the only exception that i have noticed is a few styles of kung fu i know there are a few stances in southern mantis where the spine is not striaght and also snake monkey and the drunken styles seem to stay away from that but as to ideas concerning it... i was always taught and have taught it was for proper balance and distribution of weight and power

 

[arnisador]

It was always strongly emphasized in any style of karate I studied, and in Tai Chi; not so in FMA.

 

[Dronak]

In the style of long fist that I'm studying now, we're always supposed to have our back slightly curved. Our instructor said it should be "like a new moon". We keep our chest upright so our upper back is basically straight, but because of the lowness of the stances we have to kind of shift our hips and this results in the lower back being more curved. But yeah, I wouldn't be too surprised if the common factors among different arts all used similar analogies in teaching them.

 

[D.Cobb]

In the style of American Kenpo, I studied, it was always put across as being like a carousel horse, every movement we made had to be based around the idea of a pole straight through us, and if we adjusted our height, it was to be up or down that pole.
--Dave

 

[Turner]

All of the martial arts I've studied place a lot of emphasis on keeping a straight spine. The pole running from the top of the head into the ground is a common imagry that I've been taught and that I teach. Its basis is in the physics of your strikes. As we all know, when you punch one arm/hip needs to move at the inverse of the other arm/hip in order to have the circular motion needed to generate power and fluidity. If your spine is bent you will lose that synch and your technique will not be as powerful or fluid.
Anatomically speaking, when you have your spine straight, your organs are less compacted so that you can breathe deeper which allows you to strike harder.

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by Turner

. Its basis is in the physics of your strikes. As we all know, when you punch one arm/hip needs to move at the inverse of the other arm/hip in order to have the circular motion needed to generate power and fluidity. If your spine is bent you will lose that synch and your technique will not be as powerful or fluid.

What about boxing? The boxing I've tried had a curve in the upper back, or you can't close infront. The punches are great, and even adopted by some karate fighters in free fight situations. ie. look at thai boxers?

But all the Japanese arts I know of emphesize straight back posture. But it's not just because it's most effective, but it has a physcological aspect too, and I believe it has to do with the way MA developed in japan, see " Zen and the Way of the Sword : Arming the Samurai Psyche by Winston L. King"


/Yari