"Connection" beats "technique" - Relaxing & changing angles makes you harder to control

[_Simon_]

Stumbled onto this video, and even though I'm not a jujutsu/BJJ guy, I found it incredibly insightful, and it can definitely be applied in others arts.

 

[seasoned]

Stumbled onto this video, and even though I'm not a jujutsu/BJJ guy, I found it incredibly insightful, and it can definitely be applied in others arts.

Great point that is to be used in all aspects of MA... thanks for posting.

 

[Holmejr]

Yes. Virtually every class session I hear “the more they resist the easier it is” comment from our instructor. Way back in the day, in JKD, Danny would have relaxation drills as part of our warm ups. Also, there was a sigh in my MT class that read “fast is jerky - smooth is fast” seems like a common denominator in most physical activities. Good one!

 

[Gyakuto]

Yes, that’s interesting. It‘s a principle I’ve seen across many arts: apply/accept a force as far as possible from one’s centre of rotation to produce a torquing motion rather than a linear one. Torque seems to be less damaging than rectilinear force because they aren’t as ‘opposed’ as much and thus less absorbed into the tissues.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

When you train, you should cover both areas that if your opponent:

1. resists, or
2. yields.

You should be able to borrow your opponent's resisting force, or yielding force, and take advantage on it.

In the OP's video,

- Your right hand push on your opponent's right shoulder.
- Your opponent rotates to his right and yields.
- This will expose his left to you if you know how to take advantage on it.

So the yielding training is not any superior than the resisting training. Your opponent just gives you different opportunity than if he resists.

 

[skribs]

This is a very easy video to watch. A lot of these types of videos have one or more of these failings:

• Poor audio or video quality
• Cameraman spends more time watching the reaction of the folks sitting down instead of the actual lesson
• Bad angles so you can't see what is going on
• Instructor is just rambling and going off on rabbit trails with no clear point

This video, even though it is unscripted and a response to an off-the-cuff question, has a better production quality than most videos that are scripted and supposedly edited. Nice find.

 

[skribs]

The hard part is learning when to be rigid and when to be relaxed. Just like learning when to be at what range in striking, or when you want to take or create space in grappling.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The hard part is learning when to be rigid and when to be relaxed.

Agree with you 100% on this.

If a

- 5 years old kid tries to push you, there is no reason that you should "yield".
- 500 lbs guy runs toward you, there is no reason that you should "resist".

I don't believe yielding is always better than resisting.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Stumbled onto this video, and even though I'm not a jujutsu/BJJ guy, I found it incredibly insightful, and it can definitely be applied in others arts.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
React to hard with soft, and soft with hard.
A person's unbalance is the same as a weight.

I prefer to steal an opponent's energy and redirect it when I can. I will try to disrupt their balance immediately before or as part of hitting them. Controlled self- unbalance is the essence of other arts which I admire.

Everything is circular and returns to the center.

An aggressive opponent will frequently give you the means to defeat them.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The hard part is learning when to be rigid and when to be relaxed. Just like learning when to be at what range in striking, or when you want to take or create space in grappling.

I know you know this, but for others, be rigid at the moment of impact, when the body mechanics are aligned and you bear down, the tenseness of the hara. Application of power rotates up from the base or stance through the hips and shoulders and explodes outwards. Until that moment of chinkuchi, it's controlled relaxation.

 

[drop bear]

The hard part is learning when to be rigid and when to be relaxed. Just like learning when to be at what range in striking, or when you want to take or create space in grappling.

specifically here. You will intuitively try to hold people down which creates that rigid structure that is easy to sweep.

So don't do that.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Understand yielding won't give you any advantage at all. All Taiji guys are good in yielding. But we still haven't seen any Taiji guy in UFC yet.

This tread just remind me a Taiji push hand challenge fight that happened many years ago in Taiwan.

1st round:
- A pushes B. B resists.
- A borrows B's resisting force, pulls B's neck, sweeps B's leg, and takes B down.

2nd round:
- A pushes B, B yields.
- A borrows B's yielding force, pushes B's neck, pulls B's leading leg, and takes B down.