The Mechanics Of Powering Your Martial Arts Movement

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JowGaWolf

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You covered a lot of ground with that opening statement haha. One that I did not see mentioned is more of a way to augment the power in your strikes using the stretch reflex. Its not really a stand alone method but a way to use your body like a rubber band. There is a physiological effect that occurs due to small organelles in between the muscles where they become ligament. This organelle creates a stretch reflex when the muscle has been stretched to a certain point, causing it to contract. If you are in good control of your kinetic chain you can execute your movments (in general) and as such, strikes, to the timing of the stretch reflex. This is a good way to at a snap to your strikes. It can be combined with the torque to produce a lot of power. So basically its the bodies natural elasticity combined with good timing during sequential movments. Catch the "bounce point" and carry the force through to the next movement to accelerate. There are a lot of sneaky ways to use this to change up the tempo and throw your opponent off too. Works with grappling too. Except you force your opponent to resist a press or pull which causes them to reflexively contract tgeir muscles to resist (if they fall for it) and a beat later the muscles will relax and create an opening. There are some funky tricks you cna do with breath as well.
Thanks for your detailed explanation. At first I was totally lost and didn't understand anything until I got to the end, then I was like. "Oh I know what you are talking about now."

A lot of times we see the same thing but describe it differently and that often gives the assumption that we are talking or looking at 2 different things. It helped a lot when you gave an application example.
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Wing Woo Gar

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It is quantifiable. Mental states are literally the entirety of certain fields of neuro science.

yes, and as a result you can explore where those measurements come and why they are what they are from which will lead to more questions, and ultimately more questions on top of that ad infinitum. And from that we learn more and get better at things.

Regardless of mental state, biomechanics is the same. A lever is a lever and feeling pumped up doesn't change that. Heart is an organ and spirit is a vague nonsense descriptor for a complex mental state of which can be measured. Everything you have listed here, individually, is quantifiable in some regard except individual behavior (as far as I know). But that's not my point. My point is that developing "power" does nothing to help the end goal of increasing damage done to an opponent the basic mechanics of which are already fully understood individually. If you want to explore ways of increasing damage to an opponent then first figuring out what causes that helps. A lot goes into making an overall effective fighter and it is super complex and made of hundreds of parts, but the question of how to get more power is not complex. Does it matter? To most people, no. For others clearly and accurately defining terms can help to find the answers they are looking for. If you want to know which technique has the highest potential for damage, then understanding the mechanics of the human body in an accurate way can help find that answer. You don't need to know it to be a good fighter, you don't even need to know it to be a good coach. But if you ask the question "why" and you want to explore the why then correctly identifying terms helps.
The biomechanics and quality of efficiency is affected by a great number of things, otherwise why do two similar sized people punch harder or faster than each other? If Dirty Dog and I were twins, he might still have a better grasp of how to apply his levers( or wrenches) than I do. If I missed two nights of sleep, i will certainly have an obvious deficit In my proprioceptive capability, which would definitely affect my mechanical efficiency. There are just too many factors involved to get to a useful and applicable equation that fits each human at any given moment.
 
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JowGaWolf

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The Mizong system also uses this principle a lot. The circular movement before a straight punch can confuse your opponent a lot.


I'm thinking if I've seen something similar in MMA. Where small movement's power larger ones.
 

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Perhaps I have revealed my weakness here. One of many I suppose.
Realistically, building them is no different. Select part, put it in place, and secure.
But anyone who thinks tuning a carburetor is easier than EFI is just wrong.
 

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I'm not sure how easy it is to measure and account for my ability to resist pushes while standing on one leg. A free-body diagram can't account for it.

An important quality for understanding science is understanding its limits.
 

Kung Fu Wang

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I'm thinking if I've seen something similar in MMA. Where small movement's power larger ones.
I always think the vertical downward back fist is not powerful enough to knock my opponent down. But if I use wrist grip (small circle) to set up back fist (large circle), That back fist can be powerful.
 

Wing Woo Gar

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I always think the vertical downward back fist is not powerful enough to knock my opponent down. But if I use wrist grip (small circle) to set up back fist (large circle), That back fist can be powerful.
Vertical downward back fist? I am only guessing here, but is that what I call a hanging punch? Do you have a picture or video for people like me that don’t know what that is?
 
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JowGaWolf

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I always think the vertical downward back fist is not powerful enough to knock my opponent down. But if I use wrist grip (small circle) to set up back fist (large circle), That back fist can be powerful.
It varies. If you are using at at the beginning to help generate power then you can use it to deflect or delay your opponent's attack. In my experience people don't know what to make of it so it delays the attack, but I've also used it to deflect in coming punches as well. This case it's not going to be very strong. But if it's at the end of a power generation then it's strong enough to break someone's collar bone or facial bone.

I like using it and have a lot of success with it. I'll put it this way. There have been numerous times where I had to pull the power from it, in order to prevent from hurting my sparring partner.

By the way I agree with your statement. just adding some more detail to it.
 

Wing Woo Gar

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It varies. If you are using at at the beginning to help generate power then you can use it to deflect or delay your opponent's attack. In my experience people don't know what to make of it so it delays the attack, but I've also used it to deflect in coming punches as well. This case it's not going to be very strong. But if it's at the end of a power generation then it's strong enough to break someone's collar bone or facial bone.

I like using it and have a lot of success with it. I'll put it this way. There have been numerous times where I had to pull the power from it, in order to prevent from hurting my sparring partner.

By the way I agree with your statement. just adding some more detail to it.
Do you have a video or picture of this punch just so I know what you are referring to? Please and thank you.
 
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JowGaWolf

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Vertical downward back fist? I am only guessing here, but is that what I call a hanging punch? Do you have a picture or video for people like me that don’t know what that is?
I don't know what a hanging punch is. The veritcal downward back fist uses sinking /contraction /whiping motions to generate the power.
 

Kung Fu Wang

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JowGaWolf

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Do you have a video or picture of this punch just so I know what you are referring to? Please and thank you.

This is one example. Here the back fists is aimed at the face. Do this same motion in the mirror and attack your reflection on the under the eye. Then use the same motion to attack your reflections collar bone and you'll feel that downward strike developing

most people think of them as quick pops, but you can get some serious power out of them so long as you know how to get the power started. In the video. Pulling back the arm starts the power generation. Do this combo right foot forward. Right straight punch - left straight punch - Vertical down back fist.

As you are pulling the left punch is extended that back fist should be at a point where it's "powered." Now try the same thing with just the back fist. No power generation.
 

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Wing Woo Gar

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This is one example. Here the back fists is aimed at the face. Do this same motion in the mirror and attack your reflection on the under the eye. Then use the same motion to attack your reflections collar bone and you'll feel that downward strike developing

most people think of them as quick pops, but you can get some serious power out of them so long as you know how to get the power started. In the video. Pulling back the arm starts the power generation. Do this combo right foot forward. Right straight punch - left straight punch - Vertical down back fist.

As you are pulling the left punch is extended that back fist should be at a point where it's "powered." Now try the same thing with just the back fist. No power generation.
Ok. It is very similar to my hanging punch. Some slight differences.
 

Wing Woo Gar

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This is one example. Here the back fists is aimed at the face. Do this same motion in the mirror and attack your reflection on the under the eye. Then use the same motion to attack your reflections collar bone and you'll feel that downward strike developing

most people think of them as quick pops, but you can get some serious power out of them so long as you know how to get the power started. In the video. Pulling back the arm starts the power generation. Do this combo right foot forward. Right straight punch - left straight punch - Vertical down back fist.

As you are pulling the left punch is extended that back fist should be at a point where it's "powered." Now try the same thing with just the back fist. No power generation.
Thank you.
 

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